Rudy Owens, Justin Wilson On Indianapolis Roster

by Charlie Wilmoth on Apr 6, 2011 12:51 PM EDT

CATCHER

INFIELDERS

Chase D'Arnaud

OUTFIELDERS

PITCHERS

***

Tyler Yates, who isn't on the roster, apparently has some sort of injury - shocking, I know.

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Yates

The other day when Meek had his first bad outing and couldn’t find the plate, I had a moment of panic. I wasn’t really listening to the radio, and I thought it was Yates, not Meek.

by JRoth95 on Apr 6, 2011 1:01 PM EDT reply actions

Gorkys

So what do they do if Gorkys has 3 really good offensive months in Indy?

Obviously, it will depend at least somewhat on what Lambo, Bowker, and Pearce do (not to mention Diaz and Jones), but what’s the end game with Gorkys? Is there any way (short of a rash of injuries/utter incompetence) that he reaches Pgh before September? Is there any way he’s a starting OF in 2012?

Now that he’s so close, I feel like it’s time to have some idea about his future. I’ve never really thought of him as more than a stopgap or tradebait, but what would it take for him to get 300+ starts with the Bucs?

by JRoth95 on Apr 6, 2011 1:05 PM EDT reply actions

well first he'd have to learn to hit

would be a great problem to have, though!

by Garrett122 on Apr 6, 2011 1:19 PM EDT up reply actions

Given the awful display last year (.660 OPS in Double-A), you could argue he needs a full season of good batsmanship before getting a starting job in the major leagues

by Adam Reynolds on Apr 6, 2011 1:36 PM EDT via mobile up reply actions

That's weird

Why was I remembering that he was hitting well before his injury last season?

That was the whole premise of my question. With an AA SLG around .345, he needs to OBP close to .400 before we can even think of him as MLB material, regardless of glove.

So yeah, a full, good season in AAA, and maybe he’s in the mix next spring. He’s still reasonably young, so there’s no rush bringing him up.

by JRoth95 on Apr 6, 2011 2:14 PM EDT up reply actions

He was hitting well before got hurt...

but he was so bad before that his good performance could bring his overall numbers up only so much. He got hurt too soon.

by Slick1 on Apr 6, 2011 3:22 PM EDT up reply actions

Seriously

In April and May his wOBA was 0.252. Dreadful. In June and July it was 0.415. Excellent. Both his luck and his performance improved. His BABIP was 0.298 for the first two months, but 0.411 for the second two. And his line drive percentage rose from 13% to 20%.

Viva Clemente!

by Roberto on Apr 6, 2011 5:15 PM EDT up reply actions

Just guessing

But I think it would be a lot like a Neil Walker situation. He would have to play his way onto the field, and force someone’s hand with extended good play. But if he does, I don’t see why he can’t be up next year

The glare of the spotlight is harsh, and the pressure that success breeds immense. We revere our heroes, but expect much. And criticism can come as easily as praise.

by glass0941 on Apr 6, 2011 2:38 PM EDT up reply actions

I'm probably most excited about/interested in Justin Wilson.

I’ve been a big fan of his and love his combination of Ks and GBs. If he only can get his control down. At worst, he should be a competent lefty out of the pen.

Everything that guy just said is bullshit . . .thank you

by Scranton on Apr 6, 2011 2:09 PM EDT reply actions

so who are the ringers on this roster?

By my count, there are 10 obvious organizational/AAAA/“depth” players:

Dusty Brown
Wyatt Toregas
Brian Friday
Andy Marte
Corey Wimberly

Brian Burres
Chris Leroux
Dan Meyer
Justin Thomas
Tim Wood

and I suppose arguments could be made to add Gallagher, McCutchen, and Valdez to the list. what do y’all think?

by gonfalon on Apr 6, 2011 2:16 PM EDT reply actions

We knew going in

that there was a talent gap between the 4 young guys now in Pittsburgh and the next wave (such as it may be) of positional talent coming up. Lambo and D’Arnaud are probably the only serious candidates for being part of the MLB team in ’12.

As such, it’s hardly surprising that we’re left to fill the roster with “depth” guys.

That said, it’s worth noting that you actually need a good handful of such guys in AAA. I mean, it would be super-awesome to have an MLB roster full of good, established players and then have a AAA roster full of legit prospects, but that doesn’t really happen in the expansion/FA era. So instead you need to have a AAAA SP or two in case of injuries, 2-4 RPs for inevitable injuries/inadequacies, and, most of the time, 3 position players (OF, IF, and C) who can be called up at any time to replace someone on the DL without screwing up their development. All of which adds up to… about 10 AAAA guys on your AAA roster.

by JRoth95 on Apr 6, 2011 2:34 PM EDT up reply actions

Kyle Stark has said just that.

He said they can’t have all prospects in AAA because of the need to bring someone north in an emergency.

by MarkInDallas on Apr 6, 2011 2:40 PM EDT up reply actions

Two things: the tales of Aramis Ramirez and the 2008 rotation should permanently keep Pirates fans aware of the need for acceptable, non-“prospect” depth in AAA. It keeps you from rushing guys, and it keeps you from forcing flailing prospects to keep running out there. Dusty Brown will never be a real major leaguer, but if he ends up the last catcher standing between a still-raw Sanchez and Pittsburgh, I’ll be thankful to have him.

The other thing is that this would be (and was) the best criticism of the Bay trade, IMO. Three of the 4 players were supposed to represent immediate MLB help. But, given that the Nady trade had already happened, Hansen wasn’t much needed; given that we had Bautista, we didn’t need LaRoche*; between Jason Michaels, Steve Pearce, and any randomly available RF, we didn’t need Moss either. Every one of those ML-ready acquisitions represented a more talented A or AA acquisition that we didn’t make in that trade.

Now, you can never know what was on the table, etc., and I understand NH’s desire to beef up an already-flawed MLB roster that he was thinning, but I think that trade has a much better chance to grade out a success if it’s structured more like LaRoche-Morris-[AA OF]-[A+ IF] (and if you do that, you can move JB into RF for the rest of the season). AND it would mean that, right now, we’d have an extra prospect or two in AAA.

he was an upgrade, no doubt, and I can see the attraction; but the trades meant that NH wasn’t trying to win in ’08 or ’09, and so JB could have helped us lose just as well as LaRoche could

by JRoth95 on Apr 6, 2011 2:51 PM EDT up reply actions

Yes

That is my beef with the Bay trade. Not enough low minors talent acquired. Only Morris. There should have been at least one other A or AA prospect.

by MarkInDallas on Apr 6, 2011 5:47 PM EDT up reply actions

Makes sense in theory

The problem is, SOMEBODY had to play for the Pirates. In a normal rebuilding situation, a chronic loser like the Pirates has been making at least bumbling efforts at building their farm system. If you follow the BA system rankings over the years, typically even an incompetent org., the Allard Baird Royals for instance, will at least stumble its way to the mid-levels in the rankings. But NH took over an org. that was at rock bottom. There were only four teams ranked below the Pirates. Two were there only because they’d emptied out their systems in trades, one because all their top guys had just graduated, and one (the Asstros) because their owner refused to spend on money on the system.

In the usual situation, there’d have been some C+ type guys at AAA and AA he could have called up, but he didn’t have that. All he had available were zero-ceiling minor league vets who were signed to fill out the rosters. I’d wager that he was faced with an unprecedented problem—a destitute major league team with an almost completely barren farm system.

NH’s approach was to balance his trade acquisitions between former top prospects who hadn’t come through but still had some ceiling, and lower level prospects. I’m not sure he got the balance right and the end results were inadequate, but I see why he approached it the way he did. I’m not sure he had any choice. It’s easy if you’re not in the FO to say, “Sure, go ahead, employ Chris Aguila as your cleanup hitter and lose 145 games.” I don’t see any actual GM ever doing that.

You're entitled to your own opinions. You're not entitled to your own facts.

by WTM on Apr 6, 2011 9:43 PM EDT up reply actions 1 recs