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After Tough Loss to Iowa Cubs, What of Triple-A Rosters?

A Reintroduction

In the long tradition of the Portland Sportsman “bringing people together,” the tag team of Thomas King, gracious St. Louis Cardinals fan, and Dan Woytek, reluctant but ardent Chicago Cubs fan, were assigned to cover the thirsty Portland Beavers game Thursday night against the Iowa Cubs at PGE Park. For the unwitting, outside the exemplary and sometimes over-publicized rivalry between the New York Yankees and Boston Red Sox, the rivalry between the St. Louis Cardinals and Chicago Cubs is possibly the most intense intraleague rivalry in baseball, tempered only by the inability of the Chicago Cubs to win any significant baseball games, ever. So in covering this late-season AAA baseball game on one of the more beautiful summer nights in recent memory in Portland we, Thomas and Dan, have been able to break down barriers in Cubs/Cardinals relations and produce the subsequent report, which is mostly about baseball and kinda about the August 20th Beavers game. [For a boring recount of the actual game, try this.]

PGE Park Update – A Discussion

Due to the overall lack of political will, suitable location and proposition to turn PGE into a soccer-only facility, Portland Timbers/Beavers owner/uberrich guy Merritt Paulson has recently been shopping the Beaver stadium idea outside Portland city limits. The city of Beaverton has seemingly taken the bait and is looking into building a stadium for the Beavers.

Dan: Thomas, what’s your instant reaction to the Beaverton stadium building development?

Thomas: Having been a Beavers fan for nearly an entire season, I’m appalled by the idea that Portland would lose AAA baseball to the ‘burbs. As you said last night, there can’t be more than a handful of baseball parks as beautiful as our own PGE (nee Civic Stadium). It sure did look beautiful last night, didn’t it? The powder-blue sky, the creeping ivy, the imposing, windowless Oregonian building hulking over the left field wall… And I mean, the Beaverton Beavers? Really?

For the curious, Dan, what is the latest episode in the new stadium saga?

Dan: Beaverton city government is working better than Portland, basically. These are sad days for those hoping to keep baseball in the city of Portland.

What really irks me is the increasing inability of Portland city government to get its act together and in the meantime allowing Merritt Paulson to reneg on his promise to fund the construction of the Beavers’ baseball diamond. Regardless of the setting of the park and how that might change once PGE becomes soccer and American football only, the people of Portland get screwed out of a new facility that could be awesome in hosting not only Beavers baseball, but state high school baseball championships, OSU/UO college baseball games, exhibitions and such.

Portland baseball fans subsequently will potentially have to suffer potentially long MAX rides for Beavers baseball in the future. I know that many of the readers of the Sportsman are very interested in Timbers and I’m looking forward to MLS in 2011, but my heart is with America’s pastime and MLS Timbers and Beaverton Beavers isn’t 100 percent attractive for me.

So regardless of the political wrangling, with an attendance of over 7500 last night, PGE really is charming as a baseball stadium right?

Thomas: It’s unfortunate, but the MLS has enough draw and influence to demand a soccer-only facility, and Portland is happy to oblige. Our man behind the lens, one Matt McCormick, took the opportunity last night to scour the park for good angles, interesting nooks, and cooperative light. He came away totally impressed by the facilities. In fact, his photos prove that he was able to infiltrate the ultra-secret third dugout, home to the rich, famous, and scouting.

But if you ask me, moving the Beavers to Beaverton is the death knell of professional baseball in our beautiful town. Sure, the corporate sponsorships will remain (hell, they’ll probably increase), but what Portland family is going to pile the kids into the MAX on an idylic summer evening and shuttle down to the old (new) ballyard in Beaverton to watch the Lucky Beavers play baseball? I just hope it’s a ploy to get Portland off its collective ass and make something happen for baseball now and in the future. If population projections are correct, Portland just might be ready for MLB in the not-too-distant future. But enough of my soap box. What’s happening with Kyle Blanks???

Kyle Blanks Watch!

One of the joys of watching and being a fan of minor league baseball and more specifically AAA baseball is getting to follow prospects that are within one level of “The Show.” Portland Sportsman crush and man-wookie Kyle Blanks has not donned the cream and blue of the Portland Beavers since mid-June, but that hasn’t stopped us from paying attention to his big league progress. Good news for Kyle Blanks’ enthusiasts, he’s starting to crush it, it being baseballs. Playing out of position in right field Kyle is slashing .248/.350/.504 (Batting Average/On Base Percentage/Slugging Percentage) with a slightly inflated BABIP (Batting Avg. for Balls in play) of .325*.

Playing at home in the caverns of Petco Park in San Diego, he has jacked 4 of his 9 dongers in the month of August, including one of the inside-the-park variety. On the not so positive side Kyle, who previously unbeknown-st to the Sportsman has acquired the nickname “8-Train” in his time in San Diego, has 52 K’s in 163 plate appearances, which is a lot. Evidently, as Thomas King pointed out hilariously, “Kyle Blanks is not Albert Pujols” (50 K’s in 528 Plate Appearances, 39 dongers), but not many are so despite his non-Pujolsness, Blanks looks like he’s in the Show to stay. And so to Kyle we say, “Play on Playa.”

*League avg. is generally around .300.

Happy Returns, Long Winters- Another Discussion

August in AAA cities is an interesting time. Starting the 1st of the month, MLB rosters can expand to up to 40 players, meaning that soon some of the AAA players will be called up to spend the last month of the season with the big league club. Contending teams can get bullpen or bench help while teams that are out of pennant races get a chance to look at some younger players against baseball’s top-level talent. Dan has previously reported on some the emotions attached to this time of year on these electronic pages.

Thomas: The AAA season is quickly coming to a close, and with MLB rosters expanding on September 1, did you see any immediate help for the Cubbies last night?

Dan: In a word, no. But I think that’s the nature of the AAA rosters this time of year. The Cubs farm system is notoriously weak right now, especially at the upper levels of the minor leagues. There are some marginal MLBers in Iowa right now but most of the best prospects at this point across baseball are really young and at lower levels of the minors.

Thomas: You talked a little about the revolving door of “roster fillers.” Has Chicago (and, for that matter, most MLB teams) already tested the best 2009 prospects at this point of the season?

Dan: It seems as though the top prospects all across baseball come up around June for a couple of reasons. Interleague play is one of those reasons. Especially National League rosters can bring up guys who rake in AAA to DH in American League parks. Also, after this point of the season, players arbitration clocks don’t start so teams can get another cheap season out of them. That’s a really dorky story for a different day though. Iowa Cubs such as Andres Blanco, Bobby Scales, Micah Hoffpauir and Jeff “f7″ Samardzija have seen significant time in Chicago, but none of them are really compelling prospects.

Thomas: Allow me to dork out for one more second: does the arbitration clock have anything to do with a player’s rookie status? Meaning, if a player is called up at this point in the season, is he still considered a rookie the following year, and is it for the same reason that his arbitration countdown doesn’t begin?

Dan: Like Rookie of the Year eligibility?

Thomas: Correct.

Dan: I’m pretty sure it’s different. Guys who are brought up as early mid-June are eligible for Rookie of the Year and are no longer considered rookies the following year. It just contract mumbo jumbo concerning the arbitration process that keeps them from coming up earlier. This year it happened to most notably both David Price of the Tampa Bay Rays and Matt Wieters of the Baltimore Orioles.

Thomas: Dan, tell us a little about the potential MLB impact (or, frankly, just Big Show-ready) players on the Beavers. It seems like the Padres would need as much AAA help as any team in baseball right now. Who do you see making the Bigs in 2009 or 2010?

Dan: It looks like September call ups will likely be a pitcher’s affair. The starter last night, Josh Geer, and his evidently killer sinker could be useful in the pitcher’s park that is Petco in San Diego. Also they just brought up that guy you thought was gonna get called up. Who was that?

Thomas: Ryan Webb. The kid is an imposing 6′6″, listed at 215 lbs (yeah, right), and it seemed from my brief exposure that he was in a different league. Now he literally is. Other than a forgettable try against the Brewers in his second appearance, Webb has thrown five scoreless innings since his call-up. But you make a good point. Of the Beavers who currently occupy a place on the 40-man roster, some half are pitchers. Why do you think that is? And is that common across most AAA clubs?

Dan: I think it’s a little different because Portland has already been raided of their position players earlier in the year namely Kyle Blanks, Everth Cabrera, Will Venable. They are in a serious youth movement right now as the Padres, what’s the word I’m looking for?

Thomas: Rebuild?

Dan: No, suck at baseball.

Thomas: I continue to be fascinated by what binds the aging, not-likely-to-make-the-Bigs players to their AAA teams. As discussed in previous articles, the AAA minimum salaries are equivalent to McDonald’s starting wage, the crowds are often meager, and the accommodations are middling at best (bus rides from Utah to Portland to Las Vegas to Sacramento, ugh). So we were looking closely at those players on the cusp (or not even on the cusp) and thinking, Why?

Dan: There were two first basemen Thursday night that are almost quite literally mirror images of one another, Micah Hoffpaiur of the Iowa Cubs and Valentino “Not from Jersey” Pascucci of the Portland Beavers.

Thomas: You love this Pascucci, one of the three Castoro fratello. What’s so compelling about him?

Dan: Pascucci’s story is phenomenal. He’s gonna be 31 on November 17th of this year, he’s played 1st base for and been released by four different organizations after playing at the AAA level, played in Japan and has only had a 32 game cup of coffee with the old Expos as a 25-year-old in 2004. His biggest claim to fame is that he played in the last game in Montreal Expo history. He’s never not crushed baseballs too. But we also got a big look at why he might not have played much MLB baseball as he looks less than deft playing a right-handed first base. It has to be a tough time of year for him. He’s not on the 40-man roster, he’s not getting called up this September and he’s probably has to get a job this winter as a plumber or something.

Micah Hoffpauir, a lefty 1st basemen/bad corner outfielder, has been up with Chicago most of the year and was recently demoted. He’ll probably be back up in September, but he doesn’t have much of a chance playing everyday anywhere and is likely past his prime years as he’ll be 30 before opening day next year.

Thomas: So Pascucci’s failure to make the 40-man roster pretty much spells his demise this year, and his age doesn’t augur well for future success. How will History remember the Pascucci era in Portland? Anyway, there are some more hopeful stories, though, right? What about this Drew Macias, who didn’t play last night (lefty against lefty matchup). When I’ve seen him play, I’ve been impressed.

Dan: He’s your man crush, you tell me. Isn’t he one of the few promising, young position players left in Portland?

Thomas: Well, he’s got that sweet left-handed swing, a loping outfield gait, he’s 26 years old, and he’s on the expanded roster. I might look for him to come off the bench in September, at least for the Pads to see what they have. Perhaps he’s potential trade bait in a package deal? You’ve got two young lefties on the MLB team, plus a switch hitter in Chase Headley. There isn’t one among the four Padres outfielders that was born before October of 1982. Not a good scenario for our man Macias. Add to that he has seemingly come down with an injury and is on the DL.

But let’s dig into last night’s game for a moment. Josh Geer was impressive, wasn’t he? Eleven groundball outs and a mere two earned runs over nine innings. The Beavers needed a long outing from their starter after a 13-inning affair the previous night, and that’s just what he gave them.

Dan: He had 11 groundball outs last night but he wasn’t really missing bats, which does not bode well on the way up to the bigs. Also, pitching after that Wednesday night marathon probably helped him get tired guys out. The same thing could be said for J.R. Mathes who pitched for the I-Cubs last night and gave up only one run, with three strikeouts in 8 innings. Geer has already been with the Padres this year so he’ll probably be back there in September. Geer also looked like a National League starter though, at least with the bat in his hand. He had a couple hits too, right?

Thomas: Yes. In fact, he had 40% of the Beavers’ hits.

Dan: National League baseball. The way it’s supposed to be played.

Thomas: I’d like to see the kid hook up with (St. Louis Cardinals) pitching coach Dave Duncan. He makes pitching machines out of groundball pitchers. And, as you said, Petco is heaven for sinkerballers.

Dan: You had to bring up Duncan, can’t we just get along? He turned Joel Pineiro into Cy Pineiro.

Thomas: Apologies.

Dan Anyway, to change the subject, beside a sort of low-energy game last night, this series has been a homecoming for former NCAA champion, Oregon State Beaver, Portland native, and son of evolution lovers, Iowa Cubs middle infielder Darwin Barney. After helping OSU to the 2007 national championship he was drafted by the Cubs in the 4th round of that year’s draft. Despite not really hitting the ball hard all night and his lack of plate discipline at AAA Iowa slashing .270/.302/.333 in 44 games at Iowa, Barney did make an exceptional diving catch on a liner and a couple of slick plays at 2nd base for the Cubs Thursday night. At 23, next year will be a telling one for Barney. His first full year at 24 in AAA will be important in delineating whether he’s a prospect worth investing in or not.

Soundtrack:

Dr Feelgood – Motley Crue
Hey Ya! – Outkast
Tush – ZZ Top (Chad Huffman intro music)
Get Down on It – Kool & the Gang
Runaway – Bon Jovi (Valentino “Not from Jersey” Pascucci intro music)
Fire – Jimi Hendrix
Renegade – Styx (Yamid Haad intro music)
In the Middle of the Night – Billy Joel (Post-game music)

Imagined Soundtrack(not actually played):

Mr. Brownstone – Guns & Roses (NOT Motley Crue)
Rock the Casbah – The Clash (Sean Kazmar’s imagined intro music)

Random Facts Department:

John-Ford Griffin, the Iowa Cubs’ left fielder, was reported to have as many first names as base hits and RBI during last night’s action. One of the hits drove in the go ahead runs in the top of the 8th inning. That one hit equals the amount of hyphens…in his first name. These accomplishments garnered him Clutch Performer of the Night as well as the game’s Best Name Honor. These facts have not been confirmed by Major League Baseball or any of its affiliates.

Photos taken for Portland Sportsman by Matt McCormick.

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