To make room for Bencomo on the Hot Rods roster RHP George Jensen was assigned to extended spring training. Jensen had an 11.57 ERA over 2 starts, allowing 13 hits and 5 walks over 7.0 innings while only striking out 2 batters.
The Charlotte Stone Crabs have activated SS Hak-Ju Lee from the 7-Day disabled list. Lee has been recovering from chicken pox since the end of spring training.
To make room for Lee on the roster the Stone Crabs have released OF Gabe Cohen, the Rays 29th round pick in the 2009 draft. Cohen batted .293 for the Bowling Green Hot Rods last season but was only hitting .154 through 4 games this year with Charlotte.
Montgomery will also have to make a couple moves comning up since Wrigley & Matulia are reportedly headed that way.
ReplyDeleteWow, 293 BA last year and gets cut after 4 games. Looks like the Rays didn't give Cohen a real shot.
ReplyDeleteRegarding Cohen, Hard to understand when they have a whole flock of outfielders who never hit .293 in their professional careers and continue to hang around the organization for years.
ReplyDeleteThey have some outfielders playing who should really wear skirts, they way they hit the ball.
Last Anon - If you're gonna read this site, there's one word you must always have at the front of your mind - projection. It's not what you can do or have done, it's all about what you might do in the future. Maybe they should wear skirts, but hey - they have potential. Sarcasm off.
ReplyDeleteAnon-
ReplyDeleteYou are missing the point of this site. Do me a favor and ready the title. It says "Rays Prospects". If this site were focusing on who could help teams in the minor leagues, it would be named differently. Doug, Kevin, and the others have had to say this multiple times: This is a prospect blog that focuses on finding, observing, and even ranking the top talents of the organization on how they will contribute to the Ray's in the future.
There are many minor league blogs out there that you should check out. Rays Prospects actually does a very good job at following other players and the teams also. The main focus is on propsects though, and you should respect that.
I know that it has been said before but everyone uses the terms "Prospect" and "projection" like its a sure thing. The fact is that there have been many "prospects" that have done nothing, and a lot of late draft picks who do perform but get little or no chance because of the late pick status. I truly believe that players are keep around because of money invested in high draft picks
ReplyDeleteYou bring up a good point about low picks. However, how many have done well without having a significant increase in stuff or ability? Next to none.
ReplyDeleteWe here love Scott Shuman. A later pick, but his stuff has picked up.
Many prospects fail. Many fewer non-prospects never do anything.
Related to your previous posts and taking another look at Cohen consider the following. Aside from Ty Morrison who's ability to steal bases combined with his age is hard to argue with, I would take Cohen over Biell or Rogers. His bat just played significantly higher at the same level last year. With only a year sepearting the three guys the determing factor has to be round drafted in. Remember what we wrote about him when he got drafted: built like an adonis, he has an above average arm, speed, and power.
ReplyDeleteWhat we must remember is that this is business and only so many guys can play at one time. Sometimes the right guy doesn't play or isn't labeled a prospect, even though he is the better player.
"Many prospects fail. Many fewer non-prospects never do anything."
ReplyDeleteMy point is that the "non-prospects" unfortunately do not get the chance to do anything. Im not saying the Cohen would absolutely improve year after year, What I am saying is that he was succeeding at the levels he was playing and do we really know that he would not continue to improve. Projecting is not an exact science and means nothing to me.
I don't know who agrees with me, but I truly consider any player in the system a Prospect.
Performance>Projection
I don't think there is any disputing the fact that the higher picks get a longer look. The question is why? Usually people point out the bonus money, which could be a part of it, spend six figures to sign a guy and you want to give him every chance to succeed.
ReplyDeleteBut I think the primary factor is the same as the reason they were drafted high to begin with - they had tools/skills that stood out. Whatever tool/skill that was worth the high pick (and bonus) is probably still there, so the team wants to give them the time to convert it into performance.
Lower picks might handle the New York-Penn Leauge, Midwest League, even the Florida State League. But without the standout tools, they eventually hit a wall. The tools guy may struggle at the same levels, but if he puts it together, he could make it all the way to the majors. That's why they get more chances even with less performance - they have a better chance of making it all the way to the majors.
Of course even most of the tools guys fail, take a look back at the Rays past drafts, how many picks from the top 10 rounds have made it to MLB? And that's no slam on the Rays, they are one of the better organizations at drafting. It's just very difficult to project young amateur players, even best ones fail at a high rate. Even 1st round picks fail quite a bit.
As far as lower round picks and NDFAs, let's face it, they don't cost much (bonus or salary) and you have to field a full roster for all of the lower level teams. You've probably heard the term roster filler, well that's sort of what they are, the few top guys can't play all by themselves. The org hopes the lower picks pan out, but realistically very very few will. Go back and look at the past drafts at rounds 30-50, very few are even still in the system even in recent drafts, let alone close to MLB.
Remember there are roughly the same number of players in the overall organization every year between all 10 teams (plus some injury rehabs). So for every draft pick or free agent that is added, someone has to go. That leads to a lot of turnover. Is every decision correct? No. But it's about as good as humanly possible. There are 29 other organizations all pumping millions of dollars annually into player development, and I don't see any that clearly have shown that they are better at it than the Rays.
Anon-
ReplyDeleteYou have to remember one thing. We are talking about how they will contribute to a major league team. How many of these "performance not projection" guys make it? Close to none.
I know you don't like it and all, but most of these guys don't do well in the majors. There is the occasional guy, but almost all these performance guys with little to back their performance fail IF they hit the majors.
There is a reason for it. Alot of these guys are old for their levels and use experience to beat the opposistion.
Just going off the current Ray's roster, only the backups and Fuld (until he is a backup) were "performanc not projection" guys. Shields was drafted later, but when he showed his stuff, he had many believers.
Bowling Green's OUTFIELD is hurting- I don't mean physically, but, rather, due to its LACK OF HITTNG. Maybe they could have used Cohen's bat to temporarily help them out.
ReplyDeleteNo doubt all of the above comments elude to things that are evident in many major league organizations. From a tools perspective we have to remember this. We drafted Cohen for tools not for numbers. He was the 2007 PAC 10 freshman of the year and unanimous first team freshman all American. He reportedly took a tumble because of injuries and then left as a junior despite a poor season to see if he could rediscover production with his tools in a first class organization. I'm just saying the Rays should have thought twice on this one given that aside from Brandon Guyer and Todd Glaessman (if he ever hits), this was their best right handed power hitting outfielder.
ReplyDelete