JPN366

QUOTE (scenario @ Apr 25, 2008 -> 08:37 PM) Interesting. I would have thought they'd bring Shelby up for a week and see how he looked against AA pitching. He hasn't played in over a week for Winston-Salem.

...Victor Mercedes placed on the DL.

...and Shaun Babula is demoted to B'ham. Harrell and Omogrosso are on the DL, so I don't know who will be the fifth starter for B'ham. Carlos Torres is now the fourth starter.

Nanita was awesome in 2006 and okay in 2007. I think having Richie Hebner as a batting coach last year hurt a lot of Barons players. Wes Clements has a much better approach with B'ham this year (i.e. lots of basehits). I started calling Nanita "Mr. Souvenir" two years ago because he fouls off like 5 or 6 picthes an at bat. Another tidbit about Greg Paiml, he graduated from high school at age 16 and college at the age of 19. Well...I can't say that the educational standards of Hoover High School and the University of Alabama are that great. But, I'm sure Greg is a smart kid considering how quickly he finished school.

QUOTE (BearSox @ Apr 15, 2008 -> 10:59 PM) what's Link's stuff like? Low 90's? While we are on the subject, how is Lujan's stuff? Yes and good.

QUOTE (whitesoxfan101 @ Apr 15, 2008 -> 08:41 PM) Strange outing for Poreda tonight. He got a tough luck loss, but had a good line: 5 innings, 6 hits, 1 run (earned), 1 walk, 5 strikeouts. The one weird thing is he didn't induce a single groundout all game (0 groundouts, 9 flyouts). McCulloch was very good tonight in a 2-1 Birmingham win over Mississippi: 6 shutout innings, allowing only 2 hits, 6 strikeouts, and a 9 groundout, 3 flyout ratio. The one downside was he had to pitch over 4 walks. Also, two relievers we got in 2007 trades continue to pitch well for Birmingham out of the pen, as John Lujan (Chris Stewart deal) and Jon Link (Mackowiak deal) threw scoreless innings. Lujan had a 1.13 ERA, Link a 1.35. Yeah, McCulloch wasn't super sharp, but pitched out of the jams well. I hope he continues to prove me wrong, B'ham will need him to pitch well. Omogrosso is already scratched from his next start. Link is good, classic closer, keeps you on edge, but gets the job done. Lujan is quietly effective.

QUOTE (scenario @ Apr 15, 2008 -> 11:56 AM) I've had some conversations with a guy from Texas on another board who's met Kyle several times. Says Kyle works at baseball camps for kids and helped teach his son to pitch. Says he's a great guy. Could be that he's just struggling with the adjustment since his promotion late last season. He looked pretty good in the Carolina league where he won Pitcher of the Week 3 times. Of the 17 different pitchers who won the award last season, only 3 of them won it more than once. And McCulloch was the only guy who won it more than twice. I'm glad he works with kids, but he may reserve his niceness for them. That was just a quick first impression though. But, that's neither here nor there. Yeah, I think he's struggling a little bit in AA. The Southern League is a hell of a lot tougher than the Carolina League. But, like I said, the jury is still out. He's pitching tonight, so we'll see. The M-Braves are the worst team in the league.

QUOTE (scenario @ Apr 15, 2008 -> 12:03 PM) What do you see (or not see) with McCulloch? Pitches? Command? Mound presence? Anything specific that concerns you? Or a combination of things? I've seen him make one start this year, and a handful last season. He hasn't gone past 5 innings. He's gotten lit up in all but one of the starts. None of the tangible stuff seems to be an issue. I don't think he's ready for the Southern League. The jury's still out, but I don't think he'll turn out to be any good.

QUOTE (scenario @ Apr 14, 2008 -> 10:02 PM) Ahhh... thanks. I missed the hit against Link when I looked earlier. You've been to a couple of the Barons games so far, right? What do think about the players you've seen so far? I have season tickets, 6 for 6 so far. I think that the Barons could have one of the best rotations in the Southern League. Clayton Richard has pitched well since his shaky first start. Brian Omogrosso was impressive in his first start, didn't waste pitches & hustled to the mound. Cassel and Harrell will do fine. McCulloch is the one to worry about. He is the only player on the entire team who concerns me. I'm not holding my breath that Valido will ever hit. His errant throws are also annoying. He works counts well and is fundamentally sound, but just doesn't hit. Collaro hasn't jacked one yet, and that's all he's good for. For some reason, he hasn't played outfield yet this season. He looks like a lame horse when he walks. Schnurstein is doing alright. Kinda off to a slow start, but he hasn't played here since 2006. He's starting over. But, his defense at first base is first rate. He's saved a lot of throwing errors from occuring. And, he's showing a lot of leadership. Nanita's off to a hot start like I said. Mercedes is the ultimate sparkplug. Always gives 110%. Armstrong isn't hitting much, but doing well behind the plate. So far 6-5, but all close games. The Barons have been blown out a lot over the past two seasons.

QUOTE (scenario @ Apr 14, 2008 -> 10:15 PM) Nice closer outing for Jon Link at Birmingham. 1 inning... 3 up... 3 K's... I think he might be worth starting to pay attention to. He did a nice job for us last year after we acquired him (from San Diego for Mackowiak). And this year, 4 saves, 8 strikeouts, 1 walk, in 6 games... with a 1.59 ERA. http://web.minorleaguebaseball.com/milb/st...&pid=456899 Richard pitched well, but the bullpen let the M-Braves back in it. Link is good, kinda bulldoggish. He did give up a double, but closed it out. Nanita is en fuego, already has 10 RBI's on the season, two of which were tonight. Plus he stole a base and hustled on a sac fly by Schnurstein. Gartrell also manufactured a run.

"Gahh...I hate it when my 'Lil' Mauer' retracts."

"Ugh...that's the last time I f**k a waitress on the south side. Backdoor beauty my ass!"

QUOTE (BigEdWalsh @ Apr 7, 2008 -> 10:56 PM) Charlotte lost 11-4. Bourgeois: 1-4, R. Fields: 1-4, R, RBI. Lucy: 1-4, 2B. Russell: 1 IP, 2 K. Birmingham trailed 1-0 in the 8th and scored twice going on to a 2-1 victory. Omogrosso: 6 IP, 2 H, 1 BB, 6 K Derek Rodriguez: W, 1 IP, 1 BB, 2 K. Link: SV, 1 IP, 2 K Kannapolis lost 4-1. Lowe: L, 5 IP, 5 H, 2 ER, 2 BB, 3 K. Mabee: 3 IP, 1 H, 0 BB, 3 K. Logan Johnson: 2-3, BB, solo homer, hitting .625 in the early going. Great pitchers duel in B'ham until the bullpens blew it up. Omogrosso is the shiznit. Always ahead in the count. Victor Mercedes drove in the tying run, then scored from second on a wild pitch. Great game.

QUOTE(danman31 @ Apr 6, 2008 -> 08:24 PM) Yeah, I thought Whisler was noteworthy to me because I'm surprised he's even in AAA. Barons lost 5-2. Cassel struggled. Tennessee 5, Barons 2 Hogs got PPD again... Anyone know how the Sox got this Socolovich guy? I think they got him in the David Aardsma trade.

QUOTE(scenario @ Apr 5, 2008 -> 05:47 PM) Makes sense. We needed someone who could actually play in the outfield. After seeing our outfield opening night... Bourgeois in left, Dewayne Wise in center, Brad Eldred in right... it seemed obvious we'd have to pick somebody up. Collaro is a right fielder, good arm, kinda slow.

Charlotte added Jeff DaVanon, so Thomas Collaro was demoted to Birmingham and Noah Hall was put on the DL.

Winston-Salem will play a double header tomorrow too.

QUOTE(scenario @ Apr 4, 2008 -> 08:26 PM) Yep. Just saw that Birmingham got postponed too. Hmmm... I was listening on Internet radio about 1/2 hour ago and they thought they'd get it in. I sat in the drizzle waiting for it to start. They got within 10 minutes of starting and called it. Double header tomorrow.

Bad weather might postpone the Barons/Smokies. It looks like it will rain all night.

QUOTE(NorthSideSox72 @ Apr 4, 2008 -> 09:44 AM) Hm, Phillips getting the start over Lucy. Interesting. Haeger was pitching. Phillips is probably better at catching knuckleballers. Although, he has more AAA experience in general than Lucy.

QUOTE(Markbilliards @ Apr 3, 2008 -> 11:45 PM) Should be in Charlotte http://web.minorleaguebaseball.com/news/ar...sp&sid=t494 Should be. Isn't.

Anybody know where he is? Not on Charlotte's roster.

Harrell pitched great, looked sharp. You would never know his missed almost 18 months after shoulder surgery.

The Charlotte Roster is up now. Three guys on the DL. Getz is there. Andrew Sisco is missing.

It's up to the individual teams to update the rosters on their MiLB.com websites. I remember last year the media relations people for Charlotte were not very helpful at all. They acted annoyed at just the simple question of a jersey number. So, they'll probably wait until game time to update Charlotte's roster.