Greetings, everyone.
This is something I would like to do at the Farm throughout Spring Training and may be something we could do throughout the 2015 season. Send in questions during the week to @CardinalsFarm, me (@chase_a_probert), or to any of the members of the Cardinals Farm writing staff and we will try to get to your questions for Monday Mailbags.
So enough preamble, let’s answer some questions:
@scotty_ballgame
@chase_a_probert @CardinalsFarm Any chance Tuivailala breaks camp with #Cardinals? Or is he ticketed for @memphisredbirds or @Sgf_Cardinals?
— Scott Greene (@Scotty_Ballgame) February 17, 2015
Scotty, There are only two ways that Sam Tuivailala returns to Springfield: 1) Tui suffers a minor injury in the Spring, needs a little rehab before moving to either Memphis or St. Louis and 2) Tui has a no-good-low-down-dirty-rotten Spring. I really hope neither one of these outcomes comes about, but I also don’t think that they are likely. My guess would be that Sam starts the season in Memphis. The Cards bullpen seems set for the time being, so unless someone goes down (which is always a possibility), he won’t be needed at the Major League level…yet. It’s been pointed out before, but he could be a bullpen asset down the road. The Cardinals and GM John Mozeliak are pretty good about monitoring innings in the minors, so Tuivailala may be ready to pitch some big innings and be able to provide relief on the existing pen come August/September/October or perhaps even sooner.
@Caedda10
@chase_a_probert @CardinalsFarm Is Springfield going to get a blocked infielder who should be at Memphis, much like Ramsey last year? Who? — Chad Hagan (@Caedda10) February 17, 2015
Chad,
This is a great question. Will there be a blocked player? Yes, maybe even more than one. Will any of them be to the extent Ramsey was blocked? Probably not.
Ramsey, a tremendous talent himself, was blocked by slightly more tremendous talents. In this case, it is more like a bunch of people with different skill-sets but overall the same amount of talent with only so many positions to go around. To go along with that, all of these “ideas” I have I have to lay out in pencil just because what all of this will boil down to will be who wins position or roster battles and who is still healthy.
We’ll start at first. While I think Xavier Scruggs is a good right-handed power bat, the Cardinals signed Mark Reynolds this off-season at a very fair price. Scruggs has been trying to work in the outfield (and may have a good mentor in Jason Heyward) in hopes that it may land him a spot on the big league roster, but this most likely will not happen unless injury strikes. So with Scruggs back in Memphis, he could split time at first and in the outfield.
Jonathan Rodriguez, therefore, might see less time at first because of this platoon-like set-up with Scruggs, but I do not think he will lose enough playing time to merit his going back to Springfield. Springfield, meanwhile, could see the platoon of Luke Voit and David Washington, both of whom has nice lines at High-A Palm Beach. With all the talk of former Missouri State teammate Nick Petree possibly returning to Springfield, Voit seems to be lost in the fray somehow of being in a similar discussion.
The middle infield for the high minors, for the large part, seems to be at the mercy of who wins roster spots at the Major League level. With Ty Kelly, Dean Anna, Pete Kozma, and Greg Garcia battling for back-up spots, the losers of these battles will have to fill the void somewhere. For Kozma, though, he is out of minor league options, so if he is not to win a roster spot, he will have to clear waivers in order to go to Memphis. Breyvic Valera himself could be yearning for a potential MLB roster spot, but could end up rounding out what could be a pretty good Memphis at whatever infield spots remains.
Candidates that could be potentially blocked would sit in the Springfield middle infield. Because of their respective injury plagued 2014 seasons, I think Jacob Wilson and Aledmys Diaz should return to Springfield for the start of 2015. Wilson did get some innings in late in 2014 as part of the Arizona Fall League, but I think with the talent ahead of him and Diaz, there is no need to rush either player in their returns from injury.
With Valera/Garcia/Kozma/Abe Lincoln/Voldermort/whoever playing third in Memphis, this allows Patrick Wisdom to get some more ABs at the Double-A level. Wisdom struggled in his time in Springfield last year, so getting in more innings before making the jump to Triple-A also seems to be a logical move. Alex Mejia also could prove to be a valuable infielder after his nice stint in the back half of Springfield’s season last year.
@AllieSheaK
@chase_a_probert lol. Live from the Albany Chipotle line: what do you think sam freeman‘s role with STL will be this year?
— Allie Kline (@AllieSheaK) February 17, 2015
Okay, so I did some lobbying for this question. Being a former Springfield Cardinals season-ticket holder, Allie and her sister, @karebear30, have seen a lot of St. Louis Cardinals come through the system. Our collective favorite is to be debatable, but one strong front-runner would be Sam Freeman.
Freeman is, at they say, “one of the good ones” whenever it comes to his interactions with fans. Sam is very approachable and very easy to have small talk with. But he is also a student of the game, as well.
During his time in Springfield, Freeman would often look on from his own little spot in the right field bullpen of Hammons Field during games. With the blazing summer setting in the west, Sam would observe through sunglasses, taking note of his opposition: what they did in certain counts, pitches they liked to chase, etc. Being as approachable as he is, one night I happened to greet him with an all-too-common, “What’s up?” in between innings.
Sam’s response: “I’m just hoping to get in this game so I can strike some fools out.”
One of the great responses I have ever heard to any question ever. It has been my favorite story to tell as far as any interaction with a major leaguer goes. But, any who, what was the question? His role?
Well, I hope Sam’s role will be to strike some fools out. Freeman had a great two month run to the start of his season, but he saw fewer innings as his effectiveness diminished. He has had trouble with control through his career, but still remains an effective weapon thanks to a mid-90s fastball and a good slider. But with the Cards returning Kevin Siegrist, Randy Choate and possibly filling a long-relief spot with either Marco Gonzales, Tyler Lyons, or Nick Greenwood, there will not be a need for another lefty. However, much like Kozma, Freeman is out of minor league options.
Perhaps my bias is coming in to play here, but I believe that Freeman is too good of a player to potentially lose to waivers. But with potential unrest on the part of Choate and manager Mike Matheny, the Cards may come to another realization that there is a thing as sunk cost, and ship off Choate. If it came down to it, I would rather gamble on Sam Freeman‘s future than the one year left with Randy Choate.
If somehow, for some reason, this does happen or for some other strange reason the Cardinals carry four left-handed relievers, Freeman is probably left mostly striking fools out in mop-up work until he has proven that he can pitch big innings again.
The post Monday Mailbag, Part I: Sam Tuivailala, the infield(s), and the Legend of Sam Freeman appeared first on CardinalsFarm.
