Friday, May 26, 2006 |
Jaffe On The Prospect Worriers
Jurgen (Montreal): At what point do Stoneman and the Angels brass get seriously worried that their top position prospects can't seem to cut it in the majors? I thought Mathis and Kotchman would be regulars by now, and while I was bearish on McPherson, I didn't think he'd actually be worse than Rob Deer.Jay Jaffe: I think it's far too early for Stoneman & Co. to get too worried, at least in the grand scheme of things.
Kotchman was playing through mononucleosis and was considerably hampered by how weak it made him. He had a good little stint last year that suggested his power was developing nicely, and I don't think you can take this year's results without keeping in mind his illness.
Mathis' minor-league numbers didn't suggest the second coming of Piazza; they just needed an alternative to Jose Molina and he was the first cowboy out of the chute. Within BP, folks are higher on Mike Napoli, and the early returns on him (.306/.359/.556) are promising. He won't hit for average but has a nice set of secondary hitting skills and has been cast as a Mickey Tettleton/Gene Tenace type.
McPherson clearly needs to do a better job of making contact. I know that his long swing has some scouts saying "I told you so," and he may be the bust of the bunch. With Brandon Wood, Erick Aybar, Howie Kendrick, and others in the pipeline (not that they'll all wind up third basemen; bet on Wood), his future probably isn't in the Angels' organization anyway.
JERED WEAVER HAS BEEN CALLED UP!
Curiously, neither the milb.com article nor the Angels' Web site indicates who he has replaced. The roster on the Angels' official site actually has 26 active players listed.
I can only assume that the Yam will be DFA, unless they decide to go with 12 pitchers (unlikely) and option Erick Aybar, who hasn't played much.
: 5/26/2006 01:31:00 PM
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