David Price Update

by R.J. Anderson on Apr 22, 2009 7:25 AM EDT

Durham

In Price's third start of the year he went five innings, allowing two hits, a homerun, walking one, and striking out five. Not too shabby for someone on a strict pitch count. Price's tRA in Durham is a rotation high 5.47. Thus far he's allowed 33.3% line drives, per StatCorner, and 41.7% grounders while generating 10.1% swinging strikes. Frankly I don't entirely trust that line drive rate.

Wade Davis has a 12% swinging strike rate at Durham to go with his 2.42 tRA. Mitch Talbot has been nearly as good, and Chad Orvella, Dale Thayer, Winston Abreu, Randy Choate, and Dewon Day all have tRAs sub-3.00. That's pretty impressive considering only one of those players is actually on the 40-man roster.

It's nice to see Reid Brignac, John Jaso, and Chris Nowak hitting well, although I wish Matt Joyce and Justin Ruggiano would join them, and relatively soon.

Montgomery

Aneury Rodriguez had his best start of the season; going five innings, allowing a homer, walk, and striking out three while getting 9 groundball outs and 6 via the air. Ryan Reid made an appearance, allowing a hit, walk, and striking one out during an inning of relief. Desmond Jennings played the role of DH, going 0-4, and Rhyne Hughes went 0-3 with tres strikeouts.

The talk of Jeremy Hellickson hitting a wall in Double-A seems premature. His tRA thus far is 1.90, slightly better than Heath Rollins 2.14. Outside of those two and Eduardo Morlan, the Biscuits pitching staff has been an absolute mess; only five pitchers have tRAs below league average thus far.

Offensively things aren't much better. With the exception of Desmond Jennings and Rhyne Hughes, nobody else on the Biscuits roster has a wOBA above league average. That's a remarkably poor team.

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Comments

Pitching is not a problem

in this organization

However hitting is

I review the minors daily and besides Jennings,see little help

As for Brignac, his 314 OBP at AAA is not too exciting

by Raymondo on Apr 22, 2009 7:54 AM EDT reply actions

I'm starting to think that tRA in MILB is pointless.

The batted ball data is just too unreliable.

by rglass44 on Apr 22, 2009 9:35 AM EDT reply actions

For reference,

his FIP so far is 3.79. Not great, but it is certainly a lot better than 5.47.

by rglass44 on Apr 22, 2009 9:44 AM EDT up reply actions

Yeah.

This is the first time I’ve had an issue with the LD% of a pitcher. 33% is pretty ridiculous considering his other numbers look fine. Any pitcher allowing that many liners isn’t going to last in the league.

by R.J. Anderson on Apr 22, 2009 11:16 AM EDT up reply actions

On Sickels blog...

there were a couple of debates about it, and there were just so many weird outliers. I wish I could remember, but it was generally weird happenings b/w LD/FB.

by rglass44 on Apr 22, 2009 11:18 AM EDT up reply actions

I wonder what MinorLeagueSplits says.

by R.J. Anderson on Apr 22, 2009 11:24 AM EDT up reply actions

Gammons says keep an eye out on May 1st for Price.

www.draysbay.com

by Tommy Rancel on Apr 22, 2009 9:51 AM EDT reply actions

Sonny to the pen?

by rglass44 on Apr 22, 2009 9:58 AM EDT up reply actions

Niemann

Sonny has stuff much more effective as a starter. His approach is a starters approach. I relaly enjoy watching him work. I tihnk Niemann is a more than capable starter but also feel he can be a highly effective reliever which we desperately need.

by FreeZorilla on Apr 22, 2009 10:27 AM EDT up reply actions

I think this has been the plan all along

However, I say both are in the pen by 2010 anyway.

www.draysbay.com

by Tommy Rancel on Apr 22, 2009 10:31 AM EDT up reply actions

Value

I’d rather not see Sonny come out of the pen. His value is as a starter and therefore his trade compensation would provide more value to us than his work out of the pen.

by FreeZorilla on Apr 22, 2009 10:46 AM EDT up reply actions 1 recs

Thats fine assuming you trade him after this season.

If Wade Davis continues to progess at his current Rays he will be ready come opening day 2010. If you can move Sonny for something of value in the offeason then do it. Even though we know Sonny is a quality starter, he lacks the “stuff” of Edwin Jackson and I think that hurts his value. That’s not a knock on Sonny, but it’s the perception of soft tossers. If you can’t find value for Sonny on the market then I can easily seeing him moving into the bullpen as a J.P. Howell/Lance Cormier type and being very valuable.

Of course salary and arbitration all plays a role in this.

www.draysbay.com

by Tommy Rancel on Apr 22, 2009 11:01 AM EDT up reply actions

OH yes

I am very excited for the Wade Davis era. Our staff will be insane. Somewhere there has to be a GM smart enough to see Sonny’s value. Great location, works fast, and mixes mulitple pitches. Not an easy skill set to duplicate. There are far more guys that can throw 94-95. HIs performances vs the Sox caught a lot of league attention last year.

by FreeZorilla on Apr 22, 2009 11:05 AM EDT up reply actions

That was RJ bait.

by rglass44 on Apr 22, 2009 10:44 AM EDT up reply actions

Why?

I’m just as excited for Davis as I am Price.

by R.J. Anderson on Apr 22, 2009 11:15 AM EDT up reply actions

Sonny as opposed to Niemann.

by rglass44 on Apr 22, 2009 11:19 AM EDT up reply actions

I've said all along if Niemann is better, then I'd have no qualms moving Sonny.

Seriously, you people act like I haven’t said repeatedly that I would trade him for equal value or move him if he’s the weak link. Same goes for every other player — minus Evan and Shields due to their contracts.

by R.J. Anderson on Apr 22, 2009 11:25 AM EDT up reply actions

YOU PEOPLE! WHAT DO YOU MEAN YOU PEOPLE!?!?!?

Jock snifer.

by rglass44 on Apr 22, 2009 11:28 AM EDT up reply actions

My comment was RJ bait.

by rglass44 on Apr 22, 2009 11:19 AM EDT up reply actions

R.J. bait about Sonny/Upton is so 2008.

Get with the program, nowadays it’s Brignac/Gabes.

by R.J. Anderson on Apr 22, 2009 11:39 AM EDT up reply actions

Gabes suck and Brignac is as useful as a beignet with no sugar.

Swav or Die.

by SRQman on Apr 22, 2009 1:09 PM EDT up reply actions

I heard that this morning.

Sounded to me like he was just making stuff up, not reporting anything he knows for sure. (I don’t mean that in a bad way.)

Beyond the Boxscore // Calling BJ Upton lazy is lazy.

by Sky Kalkman on Apr 22, 2009 11:38 AM EDT up reply actions

It's decent conjecture.

That would be after four Triple-A starts, and pushes the service time back. Plus, by then he’ll be able to throw closer to 90 pitches per start.

by R.J. Anderson on Apr 22, 2009 11:40 AM EDT up reply actions

His arm is ready to throw 90+ pitches per start now, they're just not letting him.

Tools Whore

by Tyler on Apr 22, 2009 11:49 AM EDT up reply actions

Yes, but that's what I meant.

In terms of his pitch allowance, it should be near 90.

by R.J. Anderson on Apr 22, 2009 12:28 PM EDT up reply actions

Well, now I did.

Officially consider me a name dropper.

Sadly, we never managed to work up the courage to just show up with a bottle of booze. My friend’s pop said David left the place in worse condition than after the nights we’d have 40+ person parties.

by Suttree on Apr 22, 2009 4:50 PM EDT up reply actions

We had this discussion a few days ago in a GDT

Someone from Durham hinted in their Twitter that last week would be Price’s last home start. We plotted out the days and found out Price’s starts would all come on the road until May 1st.

Also, May 2nd is the slot for the 5th starter for the Rays, which is a Saturday home game against the Red Sox.

It’s conjecture to say the least, but the pieces fall into place well.

by ReasonableDoubt on Apr 22, 2009 11:41 AM EDT up reply actions