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Farmers Only Farmer's Market: Matt Klinker still deserves a promotion

Here are your fresh and stale prospects for this week.  I wonder how they feel being prospects for a first place team.

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Matt Klinker

We've seen Matt on this list before, but he's been better than ever.  He's second in the league in strikeouts at the moment, and is currently sporting a 1.86 ERA in Carolina.  So far this season, he's only had one start where he's given up more than 2 earned runs, and in his last 3 starts, has 19 innings pitched with 1 earned run and 17 strikeouts.  He needs to be in Louisville, yesterday.

Luis Terrero

We have a very interesting player on our hands down in Louisville.  Terrero is a former top prospect, and current journeyman outfielder, but is tearing up AAA pitching right now.  He turns 30 tomorrow, but in his last 10 games, he has a line of .361/.361/.750.  The lack of walks is a little disturbing, but 4 HR and 12 RBI in a week and a half are pretty impressive.  If the current bench problems in Cincy don't work themselves out, this guy could end up as a valuable bench bat down the stretch to a pennant.

Jake Kahaulelio

The Carolina second baseman might be the hottest hitter in the minors right now.  The former 20th round pick out of ORU has a .442/.500/.791 in his last 10 games, with 3 of his last 4 HR have come in that time period.  He could be an interesting player to watch.

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Neftali Soto

Seriously?  Yep.  Despite having a much better year than last year to this point, Soto's hitting .190/.239/.262 in his last 10 games, and is only hitting .167 with RISP so far this year.  That's not the way to win Dusty's heart.

Jon Adkins

Despite being one of the only Reds organization guys on Twitter, the Bats closer has 4 blown saves on the year, and hasn't been pitching well lately.  He's given up 3 runs in each of his last 2 outings, a total of 6 runs in 1 2/3 innings.

Justin Lehr

The Lehrjet was in contention for a rotation spot before the season started, but we're a long way from that now.  He's given up 5 runs in each of his last 2 outings, and is sporting a 6.57 ERA so far this year.  It's tough to believe that Klinker couldn't do a better job with those innings.

 

A recap of the weekend's games after the jump.

Star-divide

  • Louisville lost their series to Rochester over the weekend, with a few high-octane and exciting games thrown in.  They lost Friday 13-4, in Aroldis Chapman's worst start of the season.  Chapmania gave up 8 runs in 3 1/3 innings, walked 3, and struck out 5.   The Bats bounced back on Saturday with a 12-9 slugfest win, with Yonder Alonso stealing the show with a 4-for-5 night with 6 RBI.  Zack Cozart and Chris Burke had 3 hits each as well.  Matt Maloney had a great start on Sunday, but the Bats lost 4-3.  Maloney went 5 shutout innings, only giving up 3 hits, until Ben Jukich gave up 4 in the 7th to lose it.  Yonder had two more hits in this one, and Chris Valaika did too.  Up next: Louisville finishes their series with Rochester at 7:05.  No starter listed for the Bats.
  • After a horrendous beginning to their season, Carolina is starting to get hot, winning all three of their games over the weekend.  On Friday, they beat Tennessee 10-9, with their insurance run in the 9th essential to withstand the 2 runs the Smokies answered with in the bottom of the inning.  Dave Sappelt had 4 hits to lead the offense, and Jake Kahaulelio had 2 hits and drove in 4 runs.  Travis Webb gave up 2 runs in 5 innings in his start.  In other news, what does Matt Klinker have to do to get promoted?  He pitched 7 shutout innings on Saturday, only giving up 3 hits.  Joe Krebs pitched 2 perfect innings to close out the 2-0 winEric Eymann had three doubles, and Sean Henry went 2-for-4.  The Mudcats won in dramatic fashion on Sunday after blowing a 6-5 lead in the 9th by scoring 2 runs of their own to a 8-7 walkoff win.  Dave Sappelt drove in the winning runs with his second hit of the ballgame.  The story of this one was Daryl Thompson, who left the game in the 5th, reportedly pointing to his shoulder.  Let's hope it's not too serious, it'd be a damn shame if Daryl had another serious injury right after he's started having success after his last one.  Up next: Tom Cochran takes the hill against Jacksonville at 7:15.
  • Lynchburg wasn't so lucky, losing all 3 games to Winston-Salem, 6-3, 7-5, and 6-4Mark Serrano gave up 2 ER in his 5 innings on Friday, with Josh Fellhauer's 3 hits fueling the offense.  Devin Mesoraco hit his 8th HR of the year on Saturday, and Scott Carroll had a good start on Sunday, only giving up 2 runs in 6 innings before his bullpen blew it.  Up next: Curtis Partch takes on Wilmington at 6:05.
  • Dayton lost 2 of 3 over the weekend to split their series with the Great Lakes Loons.  They lost 5-1 on Friday.  Alex Oliveras had 3 of the Dragons' 7 hits, and Justin Walker gave up 5 runs in his start.  After scoring in the top of the 14th on Saturday, they gave up 2 runs in the bottom to lose 4-3Andrew Means had 3 hits for the offense, and Jacob Johnson pitched a good game, giving up 2 runs in 6.  Donnie Joseph needs a promotion too.  He went 2 innings of relief in this one, only giving up 1 hit, and striking out the other 6 hitters he faced.  Mercy.  The Dragons came back on Sunday and won 6-2Mariekson Gregorius and Frank Pfister had multi-hit games, and Pedro Villarreal had a quality start, giving up 2 runs in 6 innings while striking out 6.  Up next: Dragons are off Monday.

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If the current bench problems in Cincy don’t work themselves out, this guy could end up as a valuable bench bat down the stretch to a pennant.

This made me smile because itt’s a legit concern about the Reds, and not a rediculous spring training prediction. I could get used to this first place stuff.

Wake up in the clubhouse feeling like Ken Griffey.

www.nextyearisouryear.blogspot.com

by chazerize on May 17, 2010 7:48 AM EDT reply actions  

Word in the street is that the Reds are going to sign former Yankee international signee Felix Perez.

The Cuban outfielder signed with the Yankees for $3.5 million but the contract was voided due to some age-gate related issues. Anyone have any info on this guy?

by Brian B on May 17, 2010 9:13 AM EDT via mobile reply actions  

Bunch of info in the game recap from yesterday

but since this is an appropriate place too:

He’s not signed yet, but rumor is he’ll sign for around $500k. He’s apparently 25 now, so too old to be a hot prospect, but there is some upside.

He’s rumored to be a plus defender in CF, very fast, and has raw tools at the plate. At his age, though, I’d imagine he’s destined to be a 5th OF type. He’d have to refine his plate approach in a hurry to be relevant as a potential starter.

see what I did there with uzr? it’s like a LOL cats saber-pun combo.--Verka Serduchka

by nycredsfan on May 17, 2010 9:34 AM EDT up reply actions  

oh crap i didn't see that in the game recap.

i just posted a fanshot so feel free to delete if it’s too redundant.

"Now onto more important things: Punching Errorlando Cabrerror in the fucking tits." -Geki

by GrooveLeg on May 17, 2010 9:36 AM EDT up reply actions  

Fitting the theme of today's FO, here are other players who need to be promoted yesterday (and I totally agree on Klinker. Is Justin Lehr really blocking him?!)

Devin Mesoraco-.333/.421/.625 with an organization leading 8 homers. He needs to move to AA and be challenged.

Donnie Joseph-35 Ks versus only 6 walks in 18.2 IP. He has more Ks than any of the Dragon’s starters. He hasn’t given up a homer, and has only given up 9 total hits. (fewer than anyone on the team who’s pitched more than 3 innings.) He’s clearly too good for the competition, and no one is blocking him as closer in AA.

Sean Henry-I understand why Alonso was promoted instead of him, but Louisville could probably use another OFer, and Henry is doing really well in AA (which he’s repeating). He’ll be 25 in August, so they need to promote him and see if he’s a real prospect or not. AA isn’t really proving anything.

see what I did there with uzr? it’s like a LOL cats saber-pun combo.--Verka Serduchka

by nycredsfan on May 17, 2010 9:41 AM EDT reply actions  

i dont mind Klinker staying in AA

i think the conventional wisdom is that the difference between AAA and AA is relatively small. AA is populated by top prospects, AAA by journeyman. it wouldnt bother me a bit if he was in AA until the draft. if he’s there all season pitching like this then we may have a problem though.

by Charlie Scrabbles on May 17, 2010 9:53 AM EDT up reply actions  

Yeah, I'm not sure I buy that.

I know it’s just one example, but look at our organization. Most of our best hitting prospects are in AAA. Even last year, a good chunk of the best hitters spent a big part of the season in AAA. Plus, even if it’s populated by journeyman, they are more likely to be players with plate discipline who won’t chase pitches as much, so there’s still value in him being there.

I guess if he’s there until the draft I’m ok with it, but with so many players typically getting promoted then, he definitely should be one of them.

see what I did there with uzr? it’s like a LOL cats saber-pun combo.--Verka Serduchka

by nycredsfan on May 17, 2010 10:14 AM EDT up reply actions  

yeah

i can understand that. im sure MLEs have been studied before comparing level-to-level, but i dont know where.

point is, it’s still only mid-May and he’s only thrown 42 innings this year. i’d love to see him promoted, but i dont think it’s that urgent.

by Charlie Scrabbles on May 17, 2010 10:28 AM EDT up reply actions  

True. Everything at this point in the season is SSS, so it's not that big of a deal

I guess what’s frustrating in his particular case is two things:

1) He’s already 25. There’s a point at which some of this dominance could just be being too old for the league, and I’d like to know if that’s true or not.

2) He ended last year at AAA and then was demoted to start this year. That bothered me when it happened, and I’m just angsty for it to be fixed, especially when Justin Lehr is holding down a AAA rotation spot.

see what I did there with uzr? it’s like a LOL cats saber-pun combo.--Verka Serduchka

by nycredsfan on May 17, 2010 10:34 AM EDT up reply actions  

The second point is why I think it needs to happen

He ended the season there last year, and pitched well in the process. It was surprising to see him start in AA, and the way he’s pitched, it’s ridiculous for the Reds to keep him there.

"aaron harnann is so aweseom" - justin

by BK on May 17, 2010 11:14 AM EDT via mobile up reply actions  

i thought i would have seen END get the green arrow.

he’s been on fire lately. still swinging pretty freely but he’s hit a ton the past few weeks.

"Now onto more important things: Punching Errorlando Cabrerror in the fucking tits." -Geki

by GrooveLeg on May 17, 2010 9:42 AM EDT reply actions  

appendicitis is a streak-killer!

"Red Reporter - An elitist clique full of like-minded douchebags." - BK

by ZJiff30 on May 17, 2010 9:49 AM EDT up reply actions  

Yonder A

Has 7 for 17 at Lousyville. I’m not sure the guy can play anyplace yet but if he keeps hitting that way, what are the odds he could be called up as a PH specialist?

Can such a player actually be taught to be a PH specialist? Some players historically have become that type of hitter but I’d bet they didn’t set that as a goal.

And would such a player be of any value to the Reds?

Analyze, please, and get back to me.

asap, por favor.

"You’ve got to enjoy the moment — enjoy May 16th." — Dusty Baker

by johnu1 on May 17, 2010 1:09 PM EDT reply actions  

eh...

You generally don’t want one of your top prospects to be a pinch hitter. I think if we brought him up, it would be later in the year (or due to injury) and we’d want to see him get regular at bats to continue his development.

"People don't kill people. Burning oreo packages kill people."

by crolfer on May 17, 2010 1:15 PM EDT up reply actions  

He has no position on this team.

If he can hit, that’s all he can do.
(Hint: DH.)

"You’ve got to enjoy the moment — enjoy May 16th." — Dusty Baker

by johnu1 on May 17, 2010 1:16 PM EDT up reply actions  

option already burned

dude signed a major league deal and has been on the 40-man since.

by Charlie Scrabbles on May 17, 2010 1:23 PM EDT up reply actions  

True, and I wouldn't mind seeing him called up for the AL road trips to DH. It might be a nice taster for him

But to answer johnu’s question, it doesn’t make any sense to use an elite-type bat purely as a PH. Being a DH is potentially in his future, but if that’s the case he needs to be traded. Giving him 5-6 PAs a week as a PH severely limits his value, and at this point, his development as well.

see what I did there with uzr? it’s like a LOL cats saber-pun combo.--Verka Serduchka

by nycredsfan on May 17, 2010 1:55 PM EDT up reply actions  

shit, I forgot about this

is he seriously in LF contention if Gomeisyerson doesn’t work out?

"And then there was the USAID guy in Kandahar who drove a giant pink Cadillac, which the locals set on fire one day. If you wanted to destroy something symbolic during a riot, you just could not do better than that. Good stuff." - Ghosts of Alexander

by Cy Schourek on May 17, 2010 3:53 PM EDT up reply actions  

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