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So, it looks like we might finally have a good Molina.

Las Vegas 3 at Iowa 7

The 51s could only manage six hits, four of them in the 6th, resulting in their only three runs. Needless to say, it was not enough, as the Iowa Cubs got to Brad Mills for 4 runs on 11 hits in only 5 innings. Still, Mills managed to strike out 6 against 0 walks, and get 5/7 outs on the ground. Clint Everts and Winston Abreu gave up 1 and 2 runs in 2 and 1 innings of relief, respectively. At the plate it was a pretty meagre day for Vegas. Mike McCoy, Danny Perales, David Cooper and Adam Loewen all doubled, with Cooper and Travis Snider accounting for the last two singles. Brett Lawrie went hitless and made an error.

 New Hampshire 2 at Portland 1

This one was a dandy, folks. Henderson Alvarez was sharp in his second AA start, scattering 6 hits in 6 innings and allowing Portland's solitary run. He walked 2 and only struck out 2, but got 10 groundball outs to 1 flyout. New Hampshire would take the lead for good in the 7th, as Mike McDade and Moises Sierra singled, and Mark Sobolewski would eventually single with two outs to cash McDade for the winning run. Moises Sierra and Anthony Gose were the only Cats to reach base at least twice. Gose had a pair of walks to go with a pair of stolen bases, while Sierra rapped out three singles; he's now hitting .289/.341/.454. Yohan Pino, Bobby Korecky and Alan Farina were perfect in an inning of relief apiece, striking out four in total.

Charlotte 9 at Dunedin 10

The DJays tried their best to blow this one, they really did. They scored a rouge in the first to go with a converted touchdown in the second, cruising to an 8-0 lead. Nestor Molina continued his phenomenal run, giving up a solitary run in the 6th. He did walk a batter to lower his 45/4 K/BB ratio, however he made up for it by striking out 10 Stone Crabs. On 3 hits. So yeah, pretty good. He's allowed 14 runs in 46.2 innings, and allowed 1 run or fewer in 7 of 9 starts. After he left is when things started getting ugly. Aaron Loup gave up a home run, a double, then walked and hit a batter, then another bases clearing double. Frank Gailey got the team out of trouble and pitched a scoreless 8th, but in the 9th Matt Wright could only get one out to go with three singles, then Wes Etheridge promptly gave up a triple which would also score. Charlotte had runners on first and second with one out before Etheridge managed to close the door for good. Better late than never.

Meanwhile Dunedin knocked out 13 hits, and were assisted by 3 Charlotte errors. Ryan Goins had 3 of those hits, all doubles, and also walked. Brian van Kirk singled twice, Jon Talley homered and Justin Jackson and Kenny Wilson both singled and walked.

Fort Wayne 5 at Lansing 1 (6 Innings)

This one only went 6, I'm assuming because of rain, as half of the Midwest League was rained out yesterday. Markus Brisker, Marcus Knecht and Lance Durham all doubled and K.C. Hobson had the only other Lugnut hit, a single. Meanwhile Daniel Webb gave up all 5 runs in 5.2, although 2 were unearned. Guess who? It was his 28th, a throwing error. He also walked three and struck out 3.

Three Stars!

3rd Star! Henderson Alvarez - 6 IP, 6 H, 1 ER, 2 BB, 2K, 10/1 GB/FB

2nd Star! Ryan Goins - 3/4, BB, 3 2B, 2 R, 2 RBI

1st Star! Nestor Molina - 6 IP, 3 H, 1 ER, 1 BB, 10K, 6/1 GB/FB

 

Too Much Molina | 23 comments | Create New Account
The following comments are owned by whomever posted them. This site is not responsible for what they say.
MatO - Thursday, May 26 2011 @ 09:51 AM EDT (#235511) #
Because Molina's K/BB last night was only 10/1 his season K/BB dropped to 11.00 from 11.25.
greenfrog - Thursday, May 26 2011 @ 09:55 AM EDT (#235512) #
Kevin Goldstein of Baseball Prospectus included both Travis D'Arnaud and KC Hobson in his latest Future Shock column, calling D'Arnaud one of the hottest hitters in the minors. He said that Hobson needs to show more "in-game power" (as opposed to BP power?) before he's taken seriously as a prospect.

Suggested poll question: who will be the #1 overall pick in the June 2011 draft? I think it's a great question, because even at this late date, there really is no consensus. Cole? Rendon? Starling? Bundy? Hultzen? At this point, I have no idea who I would pick. Maybe one of the latter three - Starling or Bundy because of tremendous upside, or Hultzen because of how advanced he is (maybe like Romero in the 2005 draft?).
sam - Thursday, May 26 2011 @ 10:17 AM EDT (#235514) #

Why not, who would you like to see the Jays select with their first pick?

 

There hasn't been a poll in a while.   

bpoz - Thursday, May 26 2011 @ 11:05 AM EDT (#235517) #
H Alvarez only threw 73 pitches in his 6 IP. Definitely impressive to me. Pitch count?
Mike Green - Thursday, May 26 2011 @ 11:16 AM EDT (#235519) #
Justin Jackson's hit last night was a triple rather than a single.  He's now at .325/.421/.480 for the year with a nice 21/26 W/K rate.  He could be promoted at any time.  The F-Cats have Tolisano in the utility role with Sobolewski at third and Nanita at second; there are a couple of different possibilities for re-arrangement of talent.
Mike Green - Thursday, May 26 2011 @ 11:20 AM EDT (#235520) #
One more Molina note.  So far this season, he's been absolutely devastating against LHH with no HRs allowed and a 2/33 W/K.  It might be a sample size fluke but it's the kind of fluke I like to see.
Jonny German - Thursday, May 26 2011 @ 11:34 AM EDT (#235521) #
On a Molina tangent, I just discovered that the catching Molina brothers are named thusly:

Benjamin Jose Molina
Jose Benjamin Molina
Yadier Benjamin Molina

"Yadier" was quite the burst of creativity in naming!
Chuck - Thursday, May 26 2011 @ 11:43 AM EDT (#235522) #

Just as the name Jeeves portends a life of servitude, the name Molina suggests that you better enjoy squatting if you want to make a life in baseball. Apart from the trio of Molina brothers (presumably sired by a man named Benjamin), there have been three other Molinas in the majors, two of whom took up catching.

Izzy Molina (from the US)
Gustavo Molina (from Venezuela)

Gabe Molina was an American pitcher and not a very good one. I'm not sure why he didn't consider the obvious position change.

The universe does not seem predisposed to non-catching Molinas. Just a cautionary note.

Mike Green - Thursday, May 26 2011 @ 12:52 PM EDT (#235533) #
On a more sombre note, I wondered if there had been any Nestors who have played in MLB, thinking of course of the umpire Nestor Chylak. 

It turned out that there had been one, Nestor Chavez, who pitched 1 shutout inning at age 19 in September for the Giants in 1967.  He made 13 starts in the PCL in 1968 (with an ERA under 4), but died in March, 1969 in Venezuela in an air crash.

Matthew E - Thursday, May 26 2011 @ 01:07 PM EDT (#235535) #
Well, there's also Alfred Molina, who played Satipo in Raiders of the Lost Ark and many other roles in many other movies; there's the song "Molina" by Creedence Clearwater Revival, there's Lt. Carmen Molina, a supporting character in a series of novels by Carole Nelson Douglas...
85bluejay - Thursday, May 26 2011 @ 01:32 PM EDT (#235541) #

btw, with Posey out for some time (broken leg) - i would have no problem with the Jays shipping our Molina to SF.

MatO - Thursday, May 26 2011 @ 05:01 PM EDT (#235550) #
LV played an afternoon game today beating Iowa 6-3 with Lawrie getting back on track (I was worried there!) going 3-5 with a 2B.
Chuck - Thursday, May 26 2011 @ 05:16 PM EDT (#235551) #

btw, with Posey out for some time (broken leg) - i would have no problem with the Jays shipping our Molina to SF.

This might be the opportunity that the retired Flying Molina has been waiting for. He does know that pitching staff.

dan gordon - Thursday, May 26 2011 @ 06:22 PM EDT (#235555) #

They''re going to MRI Posey today - he might have knee ligament damage too, in which case, he's out for the year and the Giants will have to get a catcher.  No way they go the rest of the year (hopefully including playoffs) with Whiteside and Stewart.  Posey is a huge loss for a team that relies on him for a big part of their offense.  They'll probably go for Bengie Molina, but the Jays Molina does have the 4th best OPS in the AL among catchers with more than a handful of AB's, behind only Avila, Martin and by a whisker, Arencibia.  Now who would have figured those 4 would be the top 4 OPS catchers in the AL?  Obviously, Molina is unlikely to stay there for long, but Avila looks like he's having quite a breakthrough, and Martin, a nice comeback.

Apparently, Dustin McGowan is going to start pitching a minor league rehab assignment, according to The Fan.  Great news.

brent - Thursday, May 26 2011 @ 06:48 PM EDT (#235557) #
I wouldn't promote Jackson so soon. The guy has struggled and struggled through the past seasons. I would just continue to let him tear it up for a while.
92-93 - Thursday, May 26 2011 @ 11:28 PM EDT (#235562) #
Hopefully after tonight we can scrap the idea that Molina is needed to develop the pitchers and start using him only to provide Arencibia a breather.

Nice to hear that McGowan has been throwing and is ready to go on a rehab assignment, but hearing that he only throws one inning every 3-4 days has to discourage a bit. He only has 30 days in Dunedin to right himself before the Jays have to call him up to the majors because he's out of options. Farrell has shown he likes carrying 8 RP but can they really afford to carry a guy that has to be used so sparingly? Hopefully in Dunedin McGowan starts to either throw more often (every other day?) or deeper within the individual outings. We all want to see what McGowan can do again.

I agree on taking it slow with Jackson. He's never really had any professional success so letting him tear it up as a 22 year old in High A probably has more benefit than trying to push him quickly while he's hot and expose him to AA. I especially like his K:BB ratio, and think it's a good idea to have a prospect who is perceived to have a limited ceiling working as a super-utility player. Maddon's Rays have shown what flexibility from your bench players can be worth.
TamRa - Friday, May 27 2011 @ 04:04 AM EDT (#235566) #
I'm sure they will ramp him up some - probably start with 2 days off, then go to a two off/one off/two off rotation.

If he's there 30 days, and ignoring the possibility of off days interfering, I'm going to arbitrarily pick June 3 as his first day.

so he pitches on

6/3
6/6
6/9
6/11
6/14
6/16

that's the last day before Dunedin's ASB, then you have to move him up to NH (or shift him to the GCL team) to keep him on rotation.

6/19
6/21
6/24
6/26
6/28
6/30
7/2

that would be 13 appearances.

all that aside, I'm not at all convinced he'd be claimed if we did put him through waivers - how many teams will use up a 25 man roster spot on a guy who hasn't pitched but 13 live innings in over 2 years?



James W - Friday, May 27 2011 @ 08:57 AM EDT (#235568) #
I'd say it's a greater likelihood that McGowan doesn't start his rehab assignment until Extended Spring Training ends. Mike Wilner thought that was June 5 or 6 this year, but wasn't sure. So you could slide that schedule back 2 or 3 days. Whenever it is, he'll either be in the Jays bullpen before the All-Star break, or he'll be going through waivers.
Gerry - Friday, May 27 2011 @ 09:01 AM EDT (#235569) #

As of May 24 McGowan had appeared in three extended spring games throwing three innings.  In those three innings McGowan had allowed two hits, one walk and recorded six K's.

I am sure that there will be scouts watching McGowan once he goes into minor league games.  If his stuff has diminished the Jays will be able to move him through waivers.  If he still has the good fastball then the Jays will have to keep him on ther major league roster.

Extended ends around the day of the draft, I think it ends June 8th.  If McGowan goes out on rehab then the Jays have until July 8th to make up their minds about him.

Mike Green - Friday, May 27 2011 @ 09:11 AM EDT (#235570) #
I would hope that the club would be looking at high-leverage relief work as the realistic possibility for McGowan rather than starting.

It would be a great story if it works out.

dan gordon - Friday, May 27 2011 @ 09:55 AM EDT (#235572) #

Jesse Carlson had surgery yesterday for a torn rotator cuff and is out for the year.

Giants get a bit of a break as Posey doesn't have torn ligaments, and could be back in 2 months.

bpoz - Friday, May 27 2011 @ 11:11 AM EDT (#235579) #
I too believe the rehab will be started as late as possible. We should be able to follow his rehab progress, maybe even with eye witness accounts.

He must already be at 20 pitches for those 1 inning outings. Maybe he builds up to 35 pitches per outing.

Also how good is his stuff going to be? Closer stuff?
TamRa - Saturday, May 28 2011 @ 06:02 AM EDT (#235633) #
I didn't know the exact date that extended ended. The story (or tweet) i was thinking of said something like "when extended spring ends late next week" which gave me the impression it ended in like the 3-5 range.

Total guess on my part and yes, it's real real obvious you milk ever last day out of that you can before you send him out to start rehapb.


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