St. Louis Cardinals Community Top 30: Forced Recount?
TOWER GROVE — The St. Louis Cardinals pending acquisition of San Diego shortstop Khalil Greene — and I write “pending” because every move the Cardinals make is always “pending a physical” (now called the Miller Rule) — has a ripple effect beyond the team addressing the biggest hole in its middle infield. It will mean a revision and reshuffling of this Community Top 30, the Baseball America Top 30, and so on.
Multiple reports, including this one late last night by Post-Dispatch beat writer Joe Strauss, has the Cardinals nearing a deal for the Padres shortstop, though the names of the players going west have not been disclosed. Two minor-leaguer pitchers are involved, both of whom finished last season in the minors and were not on the major-league roster. It’s likely at least one is in the Top 30.
Apologies for not getting a poll up yesterday, but the news of the day and multiple assignments kept the keyboard humming with other articles and projects. As you may have noticed or may yet see.
When last we left the Comm Top 30, nearly 300 people had voted for the No. 16 spot in the poll. Pitcher Adam Reifer, perhaps the most intriguing power arm of a growing stock of plus-90 throwers in the syste, edged Tyler Greene with 30 percent of the 279 votes. This Greene, the one recently added to the 40-man roster, will be part of the next entry here at Bird Land. As for the other Greene, the one about to be added to the 40-man roster — when it’s clear the prospects it took to land the shortstop we’ll recast the Top 30, shifting everyone up a notch and likely redoing one spot.
So, the poll for No. 17 today could be actually for tomorrow’s No. 16.
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Derrick Goold said he was going to Mizzou for capital-J journalism, but after growing up in the Time Zone Baseball Forgot he was really drawn to MU sitting between two major-league cities. Goold joined the Post-Dispatch in 2001 after working for The Times-Picayune and Rocky Mountain News, covering sports from LSU to NHL and every level of baseball in between. 
Walters is interesting…
His 2007 season was tremendous. He split the season among Quad Cities, Palm Beach, and Springfield. At those three levels combined he was 12-6 and allowed only eight homers.
What happened in 2008? The record was okay at 9-4. But a 4.87 ERA, 66 BB (The walks were way up from a year ago), and he gave up 17 HRs.
Most beleive his stuff to be very average. He has a FB that reaches somewhere from 86-89. From what I’ve heard his FB tops out at 90 MPH. He does throw strikes, but the numbers don’t show that in 2008. Just a total turn for the worse for P.J. Walters when you compare 2007 and 2008. Thoughts?
walters has had success because he has a very deceptive change-up that is a good strikeout pitch. he doesn’t throw hard, and he won’t ever be a front-end starter, but he managed 10 wins between AA and AAA. he’s pitched at least 150 innings in the past 2 years and consistency should stand for something. he could project to be a durable innings eater at the bottom of an ML rotation, a la jeff suppan. he gets my vote here.
I agree consistency is valuable…
As for Greene…
Apparently, he has a lot of holes in his swing. Another major concern is his poor plate discipline. Combining, his 2008 stats (he spent time at both Springfield and Memphis) Green walked only 33 times, but K’ed 134 times. That should be a major concern. He is already 25 years old, and unless he makes some major strides, I can’t see him as anything more than a utility type player. I’ll go with P.J. Walters…
I voted for Lance Lynn. I like that Tyler Greene is a good athlete. He steals bases, has great power for a middle infielder, and apparently is a good fielder with a good arm. However, he’s 25, has been injury prone, and struggles to make consistent contact. There’s no reason to think he’ll start making better contact at the MLB level. His SAT would be Kahlil Greene with more speed/base stealing ability on the good side and some guy you’ve never heard of on the other - full of unrealized potential.
Where does Richard Castillo fit in with the top thirty??