MacPhail spends big on young talent
In some baseball circles, Orioles president Andy MacPhail is viewed as financially conservative. He cut his baseball teeth with the perpetually small-market Minnesota Twins. Now, with the Orioles, he is knee-deep in a rebuilding effort that has already included dealing away two of his best players for 10 cheaper alternatives. He has also gone on record as saying, in most circumstances, he doesn't believe in giving big dollars to free-agent pitchers.
Yet MacPhail doesn't fully buy his financially conservative tag. Not necessarily. I think I try to pay attention to applying resources in the most efficient or effective manner," MacPhail said. "I suppose you would think that could be considered fiscally conservative. And there are areas that I have been. But there are other areas I haven't been."
While MacPhail was with Minnesota, the Twins made outfielder Kirby Puckett the highest-paid player in the game and Frank Viola one of the highest-paid pitchers.
In his 12 years with the Chicago Cubs, that club doled out several eye-popping contracts, including Sammy Sosa's nearly historic, four-year, USD 72 million extension.
He also wasn't shy about paying handsomely for highly touted but unproven draft picks, something that seems to be carrying over to his Orioles regime. Consider this: In the two summers MacPhail has overseen amateur signings, the Orioles have spent $14.6 million total in bonuses. In the four previous years, the Orioles spent USD14.5 million, according to Baseball America.
Those numbers are a bit misleading. The USD 14.6 million in 2007-08 includes USD 9.2 million for two players, 2007 first-round pick Matt Wieters (a club-record USD 6 million) and 2008 first-round pick Brian Matusz (USD 3.2 million). In contrast, the Orioles spent USD 1.3 million on draft picks in 2004, partially because they didn't sign top pick Wade Townsend. This year, the Orioles signed 36 of 50 draft picks (and five nondrafted free agents) for a total of USD 6.9 million in bonuses, the 10th-highest in the majors. They would have been in the top seven had they signed a couple of high school pitchers, including Gaithersburg High's Kevin Brady, who decided at last week's deadline to attend college.
Last year, the Orioles' USD 7.7 million in signing bonuses was the most spent in the league. According to Baseball America, in the previous four years, the Orioles didn't crack the top 10 and were dead last in 2004.
"As long as you can properly evaluate players and [MacPhail] feels comfortable with those evaluations, he's going to do whatever he can to give you the financial support to sign those players," Orioles scouting director Joe Jordan said. "I think that's been the process since he's been here."
Jordan wasn't always so confident, though. With Jordan's recommendation, the Orioles took two risks in 2007, selecting Wieters with the fifth overall pick and Texas Christian right-hander Jake Arrieta in the fifth round, knowing both were represented by super-agent Scott Boras and would be challenges to sign. Within two weeks after the draft, MacPhail was hired to oversee the Orioles, and Jordan and the rest of the front office were unsure how the dealings with Wieters and Arrieta would be affected.
"I didn't really know how to react, but I felt like what was done was done and we had drafted two very talented players, one of them arguably the best player in the draft," Jordan said. "I was concerned, but I was really just curious as to how he would handle it."
Both negotiations went down to the deadline, but Wieters signed a record deal and Arrieta agreed to a USD 1.1 million bonus. The two are considered among the Orioles' brightest prospects. "This year and last year, the idea was to make an investment in the infrastructure," MacPhail said. "We did reduce what the major league payroll has been, and we have been able to put that money in the infrastructure."
Pre-MacPhail, the Orioles had just one draft pick receive a bonus of more than USD 2.5 million), left-hander Adam Loewen (USD 3.2 million). The Cubs had four draft picks receive signing bonuses of USD 2.5 million or larger while MacPhail was there. Paying big money to amateurs, however, doesn't guarantee success. In fact, none of the four Cubs who received USD 2.5 million or more bonuses under MacPhail, Mark Prior, Corey Patterson, Lou Montanez and Bobby Brownlie -- is still with the franchise. The philosophy has an inherent risk, MacPhail said. But he'll assume it, compared with the cost incurred by filling holes with free agents.
"As a club, it's easy to spend a couple extra million (for draft picks) opposed to what it costs in major league free agency," he said. "All of a sudden, the risks look more attractive, even though the odds are such that the vast number of players in the amateur world won't work out."
Signing and properly developing draft picks, MacPhail said, bolsters a franchise even if those players don't become stars. And he's brought that mind-set here. "One of the ways to try to develop depth in an organization, in a system, is through the amateur draft," he said. "To get those players you have to be looking for things that make sense up and down the draft."
Copyright 2008, The Baltimore Sun
Chattanooga: Lookouts's Stubbs promoted toTriple-A
Chattanooga Lookouts center fielder Drew Stubbs was promoted Tuesday morning to Triple-A Louisville. In just 26 games with the Lookouts, Stubbs hit .315 with eight doubles and nine RBIs.
Stubbs entered this season ranked by Baseball America as the No. 5 prospect in the Cincinnati Reds organization and the No. 100 prospect overall.
Just last season, outfielder Jay Bruce played 16 games with the Lookouts before his Triple-A promotion. Bruce began this year as Baseball America's No. 1 overall prospect and received his big-league call-up earlier this summer. Lookouts manager Mike Goff said Tuesday he believes the Stubbs promotion is permanent and not a temporary move because of injury. See tomorrow's Times Free Press Sports section for more information.
Copyright 2008, Chattanooga Publishing Company, Inc.
Kalkowski Named Nebraska Louisville Slugger Player of the Year
The following information was provided by Grand Island Senior High:
Islander graduate Kash Kalkowski was recently named the Louisville Slugger Nebraska Baseball Player of the Year. The National High School Baseball Coaches Association and Baseball America magazine are co-sponsors of the award.
Louisville Slugger is synonymous with baseball--they've been in the game since 1884. Baseball greats such as Babe Ruth, Ted Williams, Joe DiMaggio, Jackie Robinson, and Hank Aaron all used Louisville Slugger bats, as do current stars Derek Jeter, Jim Thome, Alex Rodriguez, Prince Fielder, and Ken Griffey, Jr.
Copyright 2000 - 2008 WorldNow and NTV.
Moose makes Baseball America's Prospect Report
Travis "Moose" Mattair has lifted his batting average to .255 and earned mention in today's Baseball America Prospect Report.
The Southridge High grad went 3-for-5 on Sunday, which included his second HR of the season and his 15th double for the Lakewood (N.J.) BlueClaws in the South Atlantic League. The 19-year-old third baseman went on a tear this past weekend, going 7-for-12 in three games. He's driven in 40 runs in 90 games this season in the league considered as low Class A.
He now is listed as 6-foot-5 and 210 pounds, so it would appear as though he's grown an inch and lost five pounds since being drafted last year in the second round by the Philadelphia Phillies. Tri-City Dust Devils starter Christian Friedrich, the Colorado Rockies' first-round pick this year, made today's BA list with his eight-strikeout outing in Eugene, during which he lower his ERA to 5.73.
And, if it makes Seattle Mariners fans feel any better, Chris Tillman, the key pitching prospect given up in that now ill-fated Erik Bedard deal, gave up five hits and walked four in four innings of work Sunday for Baltimore's AA club in the Eastern League. His ERA is 3.11.
2008 Tri-City Herald, Associated Press & Other Wire Services
Cardinals farm director likes system's progress
When Jeff Luhnow's phone rang Tuesday morning, the caller wanted to know about Richard Castillo and the five innings of no-hit baseball the 18-year-old pitched the previous evening in his starting debut for Quad-Cities.The caller had read all about Castillo in Monday's game reports and wanted to know more. Luhnow was happy to share all he could about the right-hander from Barquisimeto, Venezuela, who the St. Louis Cardinals vice president of scouting and player development says "is kind of a mystery guy to a lot of people right now."
The caller was William DeWitt Jr., the chairman and CEO of the Cardinals. "Mr. DeWitt asked a lot of questions about him, and I was happy to tell him," Luhnow said Tuesday during a visit to the Quad-Cities. "Castillo is a player a lot of scouts shied away from because he is a 5-foot-11 right-hander. What we saw as we tried him out was a young man who knew how to pitch, who had good command of the strike zone and who could compete. That's why we signed him as a 16-year old."
He is also an example of the type of growth the St. Louis organization has seen in player development in recent years. Nine players from within the system have made major-league debuts this season and despite injuries that have riddled the Cardinals' pitching staff, St. Louis took the field Tuesday night with the National League wild-card entry if the season had ended. Luhnow said that is a credit to the job done this season by major-league manager Tony La Russa, pitching coach Dave Duncan and his staff.
"It also speaks to the job that is being done by the coaches throughout every level of the organization. The system is working, producing players the way it is supposed to," Luhnow said. Luhnow said first-year Cardinals general manager John Mozeliak, who worked his way through the organization's player development and scouting ranks, is committed to the renewed emphasis St. Louis has put on developing its own talent through an expanded farm system. Since joining the Cardinals in 2003, Luhnow has overseen growth in the Cardinals' operations in Latin America, including the opening of a baseball academy in the Dominican Republic and the establishment of operations in Venezuela. He has developed proprietary player evaluation methods to assist in player personnel decisions and in 2007, his first year as farm director, he watched the organization add a rookie-level club in the Gulf Coast League.
"We've had a plan in place that we continue to execute. With the addition of another short-season club, we expected to dilute the win-loss record of our minor-league clubs the past couple of years, and that has happened as we have grown with youth," Luhnow said.
"Right now, most of our affiliates are the youngest clubs in their leagues, including here in the Quad-Cities, but we are growing this organization the right way. In the first half, our clubs finished .500 or better at every level, and that is encouraging."
All of the Cardinals' top-10 prospects, as ranked by Baseball America, are players who have come up through the St. Louis system. Luhnow said he believes the Cardinals achieved their objectives in baseball's recent draft. "We're excited about what we selected. There are righties, lefties, speed, power. It's a good hodge-podge of talent that we hoped to chose," Luhnow said. Luhnow said he hopes that part of that hodge-podge, first-round draft pick Brett Wallace of Arizona State, can be signed within the next week. The hard-hitting Wallace is expected to begin his pro career in the Quad-Cities.
"He's a player we felt arguably had the best bat in the entire draft class," Luhnow said. "The question for us is what position he will play in the big leagues. Initially, third base is where he will begin."
Once that happens, the evaluation process will begin. That is nothing new. In addition to reducing injuries, a goal that has been realized during the two seasons the system has been used, one of the reasons St. Louis expanded its tandem-starter system this year to the high-A level is to better evaluate the pitchers in its system.
"Simply, it gives us a chance to see more pitchers. Nick Additon here is a perfect example. In a standard five-man rotation, there is a good chance he would have been a bullpen guy coming out of spring," Luhnow said. "He worked his way into a starting opportunity now that we have settled into a five-man rotation by making the most of a chance he may not have had without the tandem setup. It's a system we see working."
Luhnow finds himself saying that a lot these days. "Things are going well now and we may even be a little ahead of schedule," he said. "I'm sure there will be some bumps along the way as we proceed. That's to be expected, but I like the direction that we are headed. It's good for everybody."
Copyright 2008, The Quad-City Times, Davenport, IA
Rays Sign First Overall Pick Tim Beckham
The Tampa Bay Rays today signed shortstop Tim Beckham, the first overall pick in the 2008 First-Year Player Draft. Beckham, 18, was drafted by the Rays out of Griffin High School in Griffin, GA on June 5. Beckham, who received a USD 6.15 million signing bonus, will report to the Rays Appalachian League affiliate in Princeton, W.V., to begin his professional career. Baseball America ranked Beckham as the No. 1 high school prospect in the country entering the draft. The right-handed hitter batted .482 (53-for-110) with six home runs, 13 doubles, 41 RBI, 58 runs scored and 23 steals in his senior season, leading Griffin to the Region 4-A Championship and to its first state championship series since 1981.
"We are thrilled to add an athlete of Tim's talent and character to our organization," said Andrew Friedman, Rays Executive Vice President of Baseball Operations. "That we were able to conclude the signing process just two weeks after the draft is a testament both to the relationship that our scouting staff formed with Tim and his family, and of course to Tim's enthusiasm for the game. He has true five-tool potential, and we look forward to helping him develop his unique abilities."
Among high school prospects entering the draft, Beckham was ranked by Baseball America as the No. 2 "best pure hitter," the No. 3 "best defensive player," and No. 2 "closest to the majors." ESPN.com and Baseball Prospectus ranked him as the No. 1 prospect in the 2008 draft. Beckham hit .512 as a junior with six homers, six triples, nine doubles, 39 RBI and 20 stolen bases, earning honors as the 2007 Baseball America Youth Player of the Year. Last summer he was named the MVP of the Aflac All-American High School Baseball Classic in San Diego after leading the East to victory. Last August, Baseball America ranked him as the "best batting prospect" at the 2007 Area Code Games, held in Long Beach, Calif. Baseball America also tabbed him the No. 1 prospect in the East Coast Showcase in August 2007, "best batting prospect" and No. 3 prospect overall at the 2007 World Wood Bat Association tournament in Marietta, Ga., and the No. 4 prospect in his class at the 2006 WWBA tournament.
Beckham became the first No. 1 selection to be drafted out of a Georgia school since Mike Ivie (San Diego Padres) in 1970, and the third such player overall (also Ron Blomberg, New York Yankees, 1967). The Rays also drafted Tim's oldest brother, Jeremy Beckham, an infielder out of Georgia Southern University, in the 17th round. Jeremy signed with the Rays on June 10 and is currently playing for the Princeton Devil Rays. Twenty-four of the Rays 50 selections have now been signed to contracts.
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Lost cause: Wizards lose pitcher, game
Mat Latos walked off the mound in obvious discomfort. The right-handed pitcher, the No. 3 prospect in San Diego's organization according to Baseball America, had just thrown a pitch to Dayton's Michael McKennon in the sixth inning of Wednesday's game at Memorial Stadium.
Latos, fresh off a stint on the disabled list with a left intercostals strain, left the game with a similar injury. The Wizards lost a pitcher, and then the game, 5-4 in front of 2,198 fans.
"Everything was fine the first inning. It looked fine, I felt fine. I was a little overexcited about being back. That second inning, the first-pitch fastball to the second hitter, the ribs popped again," Latos said. It feels like there is a knife in my ribs right now. It's the same area, the bottom ribs."
The loss, combined with West Michigan's 4-1 victory against Lansing, means Fort Wayne (35-31) and the Whitecaps are tied for second in the Midwest League's Eastern Division. Both teams have four games remaining in the first half. The Wizards close with three games at West Michigan. The top two teams in both divisions make the playoffs. Latos had been on the disabled list since May 22. He replaced pitcher Tyler Davis on the roster. Latos relieved starter Aaron Breit in the fifth inning of a tied game. After the first two batters reached, he struck out the next three to get out of the inning. Dayton's Denis Phipps began the sixth reaching on an error by first baseman Felix Carrasco. Latos exited after the next pitch to McKennon. Brandon Gomes entered and the Dragons scored twice to take a 5-3 lead.
"It sounds like it's the same spot, the rib. He felt something in there, so we had to get him out," Wizards manager Doug Dascenzo said.
The Wizards scored once in the sixth on an RBI single by Drew Cumberland. The shortstop had three hits. But Fort Wayne left two on base in the inning, and 12 in the game.
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