Over the years, we’ve heard much about the Cardinals Way – an organization-wide process credited with developing several untouted prospects into major league regulars. More recently, the Pirates Way of developing pitchers has been mentioned more and more frequently. The Nationals have developed their own Way, writes Chelsea Janes of the Washington Post. Janes goes into the details of a system that depends on consistency from the minor league coaching staff. Catchers are a lynchpin in helping pitchers to develop. Coordinators rove between the affiliates as pseudo-quality control officials. The details provide an interesting glimpse under the hood of the Nationals minor league system.
Here’s more from the NL East:
- Nationals reliever Matt Belisle may decide to opt out of his contract tomorrow afternoon, writes Bill Ladson of MLB.com. Belisle inked a minor league contract with the Nationals earlier in the winter. His opt out day is tomorrow. To this point, he’s allowed three runs in five and one-third innings. Washington does appear to have a full bullpen in place without Belisle, making it hard to see a spot for him on the 40-man roster. Belisle himself is unsure if he’ll exercise the opt out. His best years came in Colorado from 2011 through 2013.
- The Phillies still have two or three unclaimed spots in their bullpen, writes Jim Salisbury of CSNPhilly.com. Manager Pete Mackanin said the club may add an arm via trade or waivers. There’s also “a good possibility” the team will roll with three left-handed relievers. Dailer Hinojosa, Jeanmar Gomez, David Hernandez, and Brett Oberholtzer are the four guys with relative secure jobs. Salisbury believes veteran Edward Mujica is likely to make the team too, while Andrew Bailey has fallen off in recent outings. Rule 5 pick Daniel Stumpf may be at an advantage if the organization wants to keep him. He would be one of the lefties. Salisbury has a full account of the 12 relievers still in the mix.
- Injuries to the Phillies outfield could open an opportunity for minor league journeyman Cedric Hunter, writes Salisbury. The 28-year-old received five plate appearances from the Padres in 2011. The rest of his career has been spent in the minors. Hunter hit .283/.331/.420 in 515 Triple-A plate appearances with the Braves last season. He also hit 12 home runs with 11 stolen bases. Mackanin is impressed with Hunter’s work in camp, saying “he’s looked good all spring. He’s squared the ball up as well as anyone all spring and he’s shown a good arm. I like him a lot.” The lefty could make for a useful platoon option with Rule 5 pick Tyler Goeddel.
- Updating a report from yesterday, Braves outfielder Jeff Francoeur is likely competing with Emilio Bonifacio and Michael Bourn for one of two spots, writes Mark Bowman of MLB.com. Bowman suggests the club is set to either trade or release Nick Swisher, but their plans for Bonifacio and Bourn are less certain. Last season, Francouer drew praise from Phillies players and coaches for his role as a mentor. The Braves are in a similar rebuild, adding value to mentor-type veterans.
Should we count the minutes until papi ties this in with his Sox ? = (
Would it be a bother to wait until he posts before you waste space complaining about him?
He’s asleep by now, waiting for the Easter Bunny to come
This is hilarious
Really hoping that the vets the Phillies picked up this year put together some solid first halves. They need all of the lottery tickets – even the 2nd chance ones – they can get from teams at the break.
It’s good to make fans aware of the differences in philosophies of both an organizations’ farm / development systems, and of the differences their individual MLB teams use when playing. Even a casual sports fan understands that football teams and basketball teams have different ways of playing and planning for games. Yet most casual fans that follow baseball think all baseball teams play the same way. Simple things such as explaining that moneyball teams consider “giving up an out” – i.e. bunting, trying to steal bases, playing the hit and run, trying to run for an extra base or throwing a ball on defense to try to cut off an opposing runner trying for the extra base, concern their batters with working counts and hitting foul balls to tire out the opposing pitcher rather then to concentrate on putting the ball in play and into an area the defense is not standing in – is a sin, while a team such as the Royals has the exact opposite philosophy. As Lorenzo Cain stated to MLB Network a few minutes after the Royals won the AL Championship against the Jays, “we don’t like to ‘take walks’, we want to hit”.
This is the problem I have with across the board statistics. As in any professional team sport, the players do not do what the organization wants, else they find themselves on the bench, It is not right to compare statistics as if everyone is playing the same way. The best individual example I’ve seen the past few years is JD Martinez. He tried and tried to adapt to the Astros style of hitting, was mediocre, and finally was outrighted by the Astros. He went to the Tigers, a team that plays in a pitchers park as opposed to the Astros hitters park, and hit 61 HR’s the past 2 years with lines of .315 / .358 / .553 / ,912 and .282 / .344 / .535 / .879. The Tigers teach and play a totally different hitting style then the one the Astros do. It worked well for Martinez….and the Tigers.
A system that tries to shoehorn players into a particular style or cuts them loose isn’t really going to get anywhere. Good coaching identifies a player’s strengths and weaknesses, and coaches them to make the most of what they have. The hard part is accurately identifying their strengths and weaknesses.
Sometimes, a player just doesn’t click for whatever reason, and they’ll end up cut loose. Then when they change scenery, the new set of coaches with a fresh set of eyes find strengths where others had only seen weaknesses. Maybe the player clears his head and gets back to the basics, and discovers a new “groove”. A lot of the guys that switch teams at the same point in their career as JD just needed the right opportunity to shine. And a lot of them I think might have had to learn a solid professional work ethic and weren’t quite at that point when they were 21, 22 years old.
I agree with you completely on the organizational philosophies. JD Martinez is a great example.
I think part of it comes down to each player being the right fit with a certain team and their organziational/coaching philosophies. Not all players will be the right fit on every team. JD Martinez fit into Detroit because of their philosophy, something that didn’t work in Houston. Justin Smoak kinda is another example. Seattle grew frustrated with him since he was an all or nothing hitter, couldn’t hit for contact or average, and struck out a lot. Toronto picked him up, utilized him as a platoon at first, played him in the right situations, and he is thriving. They have told him to go up there to hit home runs and they live with the strike outs.
It’s something that is very interesting to see, especially with the JD Martinez example.
I think the word “thriving” is a bit much for anyone with a .226 BA and <.300 OBP. He can hit home runs might be more apt.
Also, he had a better wRC+ and more WAR with the 2013 Mariners even though his defense was rated significantly worse.
Toronto sure seems to be the home for wayward power hitters these days. If they were in the NL I feel like half their pitchers would hit 20 HR.
So you think teams tell players, “I would rather you hit a foul ball then get an actual hit,” or “Don’t throw out that baserunner and let him take all the extra bases he can.” This is the most ridiculous thing I’ve read in a while. I used to think maybe you were uninformed or so smug that you thought you were obviously much smarter than everybody else and could just rely on your eyeball test. Now I’m convinced you’re just a troll. Good job, I did end reading your comments for a few days before figuring you out.
Bonifacio deserves to play for a contender.. Package him up in a trade, he’s the only one worth value out of any of those players
I may eat these words but was has Bonifacio done the last 3-4 years? Taken up valuable roster space. The Braves signing him was quite perplexing.
Papi’s bedtime and the Easter Bunny are priceless. Nicely done.
Would just like to say: I’m thinking Swisher won’t be waiting long for a gig; though it might be s AAA deal right now.
The Korean guy the O’s signed is struggling hard. And they are looking to see if he wants to go back. Any way the Braves can deal Markakis to the Orioles and let Swiskh and Frenchy handle RF ? I would think the O’s would be interested so Trumbo could be hidden better in LF, than in RF. I would even give the O’s a mid-level prospect to get it done. Would free up RF for Inciarte when Mallex is ready to come up.
If it happens it would happen in June/July when Nick can show he can hit Home runs. His stock isn’t very high right now, so poor play really won’t deter him. Also that would give time for Mallex to slide right in
Why would you want your favorite team to give up a mid-level prospect just so the owner can save money? This is the same idea as the Touki trade that everyone says was terrible for the D-Backs.
Hyun So Kim for Markakis? I’m confused. Are you undervaluing Markakis? Did you not see him play last year? I get you are looking for room for Mallex. I’m looking forward to Mallex at the top of the Braves lineup but I don’t think Kim for Markakis is the right way to achieve this
I didn’t say to trade for Kim I said the O’s are looking to replace him and Markakis would fit the bill.
I wouldn’t say I want to give one up. I said I would be willing to give one up to make it happen. I don’t agree that it would be better to do come June. The point isn’t to get the best prospect possible its to get out from under that contract. The Orioles have the need now by June they would more than likely have fixed their problem. And it’s not that I don’t like Markakis because I do. But the last 2 yrs of that contract is gonna hurt the Braves with Hector playing LF. And also the Orioles don’t need him to hit HR. He always had a good OBP and pretty good average to hit towards the top of the order just doesn’t have the speed.
They do not need another OF Baltimore.
And it also is not about saving money. It would open up playing time for Bourne, Frenchy and Swish to build some value towards the trade deadline. Then Mallex slides right in. I honestly just wish Oliveria could just play 3rd and we could keep Markakis cause towards the end of that contract he will def fit better in LF than RF.
It is about saving money if you’re sending value with Markakis just to get rid of the contract.
I understand why you want to get rid of Markakis. I do not understand why you would want to part with a prospect to do it. I would always want my team to just eat the $$ rather than giving up value to save money.
Why is it everyone sees shipping a .300 hitter is only trying to get rid of him? Markakis hit near .300 last year dyer neck surgery, I am sure the power will come back. But he had value and a team in need.
batting avg doesn’t mean much. when combined with the lack of power and mediocre defense Markakis has very little value. If they could get the O’s to take him for much of anything and pay his entire salary, I would do it.
Batting average doesn’t mean anything? So a guy who gets on base and can turn into a run scored does not mean anything? He hit for contact the full year after neck surgery, the power can and probably will come back. $11M is not the worst AAV out there. Now Freeman’s contract approaching $20M soon, I hope to hell his power and efficiency come back.
It’s not all about saving ownership money. But it is extracting the best possibilities out of the money allowed.
I guess u would know better than me I don’t follow B-more to tough I was just going on an article I read where it stated the O’s were looking for a way to get out from under the Korean Guy’s contract. I believe it said he wants to go back. And the O’s were able to do that for a pitcher they had last year. It also said that if it were to happen the next guy up would be a rule 5 pick from Tampa and I don’t think a win now team would be to happy handing over a spot to a question mark. Also if they were in need of another OF why did they go after Fowler. They have not replaced what was gonna be his presence in the field I know they signed Alverez for the presence in the lineup but I feel that did more harm than good Trumbo is not a hood RF he isn’t even an adequate LF defensively