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With the minor league season winding down, some players are looking down right tired (Lansing, I'm looking at you) while others are trying to finish strong (Hello, Auburn).


Lehigh Valley 4 Syracuse 3 (Game 1)

Brett Cecil was roughed up for four runs in 5.1 innings thanks to six hits and four walks. He also struck out five. Minor league vet Chris George finished up the game. Travis Snider went 1-for-3 with a run scored and Pedro Lopez was 2-for-3. Russ Adams had two RBI.

Syracuse 4 Lehigh Valley 1 (Game 2)

Mike MacDonald allowed one run in four innings on five hits and no walks. He also struck out one. Bill Murphy received the win with three scoreless innings. Danny Sandoval was 3-for-4 and Kevin Mench went 2-for-4 with two doubles. Buck Coats was 2-for-3 and Curtis Thigpen went 3-for-3. Russ Adams hit his 14th homer of the year.

Binghamton 5 New Hampshire 0

New Hampshire never seems to hit on the nights that I write reports and this night was no different as the batters managed just four hits. Jacob Butler had two of them. Minor league vet Marty McLeary stated for New Hampshire and allowed two runs on seven hits and three walks over 6.1 innings. Seth Overbey was roughed up for three runs in the final inning of the game.

Dunedin 9 Tampa 1

The Jays in Dunedin have not mailed it in yet as the club is preparing for the post season in a big way. Five hitters had two hits or more including Matt Liuzza, Cory Patton, David Cooper, Brad Emaus and Adam Calderone. David Corrente made his return from the Olympics and was 0-for-4. Aaron Wideman received the win despite allowing eight hits in six runs... Only one batter crossed the plate. Chad Blackwell pitched two scoreless innings.

Dayton 2 Lansing 0

Lansing hitters are definitely feeling the strain of the long season and they managed just five hits and no runs, which has been a theme for almost a month. Jonathan Jaspe was 2-for-4 with a double. Justin Jackson, Eric Eiland and Raul Barron also had hits. On the mound, Luis Perez allowed just one run in five innings with five strikeouts. Alan Farina returned after a lengthy stay on the DL and pitched a scoreless inning. Frank Gailey struck out five batters in three innings.

Auburn 15 Jamestown 2

Auburn has been playing pretty brutal ball lately but the club collectively broke out with 15 runs on 20 hits. Jonathan Del Campo was 4-for-5 with his second homer of the year. Adam Amar was 3-for-5 with two doubles. Joel Collins continued his torrid pace with a 2-for-3 night and three RBI. The catcher is now hitting .356 and clearly should not have been left in short season ball for two straight seasons! Matt Wright, who had a brilliant college career, pitched four solid innings and allowed no runs. Andrew Liebel worked three scoreless innings and struck out four. Dan Miller allowed two unearned runs in two innings and also struck out four.

Gulf Coast - Done for the year

Three Stars:
3. The Dunedin offence
2. Adam Amar for a 3-for-5 night with two doubles and a walk
1. Jonathan Del Campo for going 4-for-5 with two doubles and a homer

Will the Season End With a Bang or a Whimper? | 14 comments | Create New Account
The following comments are owned by whomever posted them. This site is not responsible for what they say.
ayjackson - Friday, August 29 2008 @ 12:43 AM EDT (#191483) #
Andrew Liebel was a completely boring draft pick, but I'm actually looking forward to seeing how his career progresses.  He has four average pitches and will use all of them.  If he can develop above average command, he should move quickly through the system.
youngid - Friday, August 29 2008 @ 12:45 AM EDT (#191484) #
Looks like Snider's been called up now.  I assumed they'd wait until may or june next year, but interested to see him play.
Jays2010 - Friday, August 29 2008 @ 12:52 AM EDT (#191488) #
For those who know more about comparables, how does David Purcey compare with Rich Hill? Both seem to have fantastic left arms, good size for pitchers and control issues. Is this a good comparable (as far as current major leaguers) or is there a better comparable?
TamRa - Friday, August 29 2008 @ 01:08 AM EDT (#191489) #
He's not current but, IMO, the best comparable for David Purcey is Al Lieter.



youngid - Friday, August 29 2008 @ 01:09 AM EDT (#191490) #
Rich Hill only throws a fastball and a curveball, whereas Purcey is mostly fastball slider, with the occasional curve and changeup.  Purcey also has about 3MPH more on his fastball than Hill. 

Hopefully Purcey doesn't follow Hill's career path. . .

Jays2010 - Friday, August 29 2008 @ 04:30 AM EDT (#191493) #

Obviously being Leiter's comparable won't necessarily make Purcey as good/bad as him, but still a flattering comparison. Thanks for the info. I found it amusing when Keith Law recently compared David Cooper to Lyle Overbay (which many other people have compared him to as well) in that being compared to Overbay was an insult 2 months ago, but a compliment 2 years ago. Based on this logic, I suppose Kevin Ahrens looked much better at the beginning of 2008 when Chipper Jones was an MVP candidate. Alas, I doubt this will affect his actual contribution to the Blue Jays.

Anyway, here's hoping that Purcey can follow the path of Edison Volquez and prove the talent evaluators who deemed him a back-end starter/bullpen guy wrong, and can put his big-time arm to proper use. JP needs all the non-Baseball America darling players he can get to contribute at the major league level in order to show that his drafting has not been too bad, and is getting better all the time.

TamRa - Friday, August 29 2008 @ 07:20 AM EDT (#191500) #
I'd say Overbay is a bullshit comparison for Cooper given what's been said about his power potential. He's no Delgado but IMO Law was trying to talk him down to invoke Overbay.  Without being a scout, I'd tend more towards saying Youk or Morneau at least in terms of production.

On the Lieter/Purcey comparison...I'm not equipped right now to compare their pitches and speed and stuff....

but both "arrived" relatively late (Lieter was called up the first time young but he never got close to a full season until 27
both are bigger than average lefties (Purcey has 2 inches and 15 pounds on Lieter)
both were known for control issues in development - Lieter went on to be a very effective pitcher without ever fully resolving that issue.

So, a lot of superficial stuff that causes me to make the comparison....so I'm not thinking so much about comparable stuff as i am about a big lefty with control issues who arrived (as a full timer) late and went on to notable success.


whiterasta80 - Friday, August 29 2008 @ 10:08 AM EDT (#191516) #

In fairness to JP, his drafting has gotten alot better, and in 1.5-2 years we'll see that.  That is BY FAR the best area of his GMship at this point IMO. 

Re:Purcey- he has surprised me this year, and maybe he is just a late bloomer. He's definately earned consideration for a rotation spot next year (probably as a #5, but I think he has #3 potential).

I also find it funny that people get so angry about the Overbay comparison for Cooper.

The Justin Morneau comparison is a bit ridiculous for someone who has 5 HRs in 264 professional plate appearances. Morneau had 12 in his first 240 plate appearances (and Snider had 11 in his first 194). He's hitting, but lets not put undue pressure on the kid, expecting him to hit 5th 2 years from now is probably a bit unrealistic.

Personally I think Overbay is actually good comparison, but since people need different names, how about Nick Johnson, Mark Grace, Keith Hernandez, Casey Kotchman, John Olerud, Paul Molitor (- early career speed), Enos Slaughter, or Wally Joyner. Our 50 HR guy is PROBABLY going to have to come somewhere else.

ayjackson - Friday, August 29 2008 @ 11:38 AM EDT (#191529) #
I see that Kyle Ginley is on the Phoenix Desert Dogs' AFL roster.  I hadn't seen that previously reported.  I don't recall the nature of his injury at Dunedin.
Admin - Friday, August 29 2008 @ 01:09 PM EDT (#191539) #
Ginley had an oblique injury.  I heard that his AFL status is provisional based on his recovering from the injury in time for the AFL.
R Billie - Friday, August 29 2008 @ 02:40 PM EDT (#191547) #
I think Cooper compares pretty well with Adam Lind.

Lind age 21:   Auburn - 266 ab, .312/.371/.477, 24 bb, 36 k, 23 doubles+triples, 7 hr, .165 ISO

Cooper age 21: Auburn/Lansing/Dunedin, 264 ab, .337/.403/.508, 29 bb, 43 k, 29 doubles+triples, 5 hr, .171 ISO


Cooper is about 5 months older than Lind at the same point. 
Slightly more patience, slightly more K's. 
Virtually the same isolated power putting up more five more gap hits against Lind's two more homeruns.

The big thing to note about Cooper is that unlike Lind who spent all of that time in Auburn, Cooper's taken about two thirds of his at bats between Lansing and Dunedin, two notoriously difficult hitting environments which can sap power numbers.

So if you believe Lind has about 25 homerun power (which seems to be the case based on this year so far) then I think Cooper will have at least that much and possibly a bit more.  Which is a definite step up in power over Overbay who has only cleared 20 once in his career. 

Let's see what the next couple of years hold for Cooper.

Jays2010 - Friday, August 29 2008 @ 04:00 PM EDT (#191549) #
Overbay, before his hand injury which i think has zapped some of his power, did have 25 HR potential. I believe people said that about him in the minors as well. Whether he ever becomes a 25 HR  threat should not affect whether or not he is a good comparable for David Cooper.  What Lyle Overbay actually achieves in his career will not necessarily be anywhere near his potential. And based on his 2006 season (only his 3rd full yr in the majors) he looked like the type of guy that may only hit 25 HR but still get 110 rbis. If David Cooper becomes an .850-.900 OPS guy and hits the majors in 2010 that will be a solid draft pick.
wacker - Saturday, August 30 2008 @ 12:28 AM EDT (#191578) #
anyone have any or can get some insight on what the organizations plans are for jon talley? catcher, first base, dh, all of the above?
John Northey - Saturday, August 30 2008 @ 09:49 AM EDT (#191588) #
Good question on Jon Talley.  He improved in rookie ball at 19, going 300-348-493 but given he caught just 2 of 16 base runners I suspect they are looking for a new position other than catcher with first base the most likely place given he played 11 games there.  Seems odd how often they DH'ed him though (15 games vs 14 as a catcher).    Given he is listed as 6'4" and 220 lbs I doubt the outfield is in the future or 3B (the other spots you move catchers to).  Given he throws right handed playing first may not be the best for his future as teams generally like left handed throwers there (he bats lefty). 

For Talley's future either he has to up the power further (to the high 500/low 600 slg% level) or improve his catching.  At that level it is hard to say how much pitchers affected it so lets hope the Jays see a future behind the plate for him as that would be both the quickest way to the majors and his best shot at making it (his offense shown so far is plenty for a catcher but low for a first baseman).

Will the Season End With a Bang or a Whimper? | 14 comments | Create New Account
The following comments are owned by whomever posted them. This site is not responsible for what they say.