C (?)/OF/DH-Eli Marrero
C-Omar Falcon
C-Brian Esposito
1B-Tagg Bozied
2B-Edgar V. Gonzalez
SS-Brendan Ryan
3B-Rico Washington/Travis Hanson?
LF-Cody Haerther
CF-Skip Schumaker
RF-Amaury Marti
DH-Eric Ryan Ludwick
UTIL-Jose Contreras
UTIL-Jolbert Cabrera
Reserve OF-Miguel Negron
SP-Blake Hawksworth
SP-Chris Lambert
SP-Mike Parisi
SP-Mike Smith
SP/RP-Troy Cate
CL-Mark Worrell
SU-Dennis Dove
RP-Andy Cavazos
RP-Kevin Ool
RP/SP-Randy Keisler
RP-Alex Pena
Some of these are tough calls. Stavinoha may have earned as spot in AAA with his strong finish at Springfield, but then he also turned around and tanked in the AFL. Marti on the other hand did not impress at AA, but then .345/.378/.571 for Peoria. Ankiel could be in the OF mix as well. I’ve read that Hanson will get another shot at 3rd base with Memphis, hopefully the parasites stay away this time and he’s feeling 100%. Dennis Dove may or may not start the season in AAA, he didn’t pitch so hot for Springfield in his short stint there, allowing 6 home runs in only 15 innings.
Jon Vuch said that Lambert, Hawkworth have the inside track at the rotation, while Stu Pomeranz and Jordan Pals will get looks as well. Good to see somewhat of more of a homegrown bunch rather then the John Webbs and Dennis Tankersleys of the world. (Though I liked them taking a shot with Tankersley last season, hopefully he finds a place in the Detroit bullpen.)
Filed under: '07 Rosters
Are you sure Marrero’s going to play catcher? I was under the assumption he didn’t (and didn’t like to) play there anymore?
Well, the PD said Marrero is coming to camp as a catcher, but I guess I don’t know for sure
My impression is that Marrero has come to realize that he doesn’t have the bat to be a bench, much less everyday, corner outfielder and that he wants to resurrect his career as a catcher, where his defense was good and his bat an asset.
Typo: It’s Ryan Ludwick at DH, not Eric (who’s been out of baseball for years).
I’m positive that Omar Falcon won’t be on the AAA roster. The rules of the minor-league portion of the Rule 5 draft don’t have any requirement on which level the drafted player is assigned. I’d guess it would be Eli, Esposito, and Hernandez all on the roster, with Marrero and Esposito playing some outfield, with Miguel Negron going to AA.
Another note… I just saw at 26th Man that you recently switched to Firefox. You may find these tools handy. They’re search plug-ins for the baseball cube and minor league splits that I wrote a while ago. I also made versions for IE7, for anyone who’s using that bloated sack o’ ugly.
Good catch Liam on Ludwick, certainly a typo. and I wasn’t aware of the different rules for the Rule 5 for minor leagues, memphisredbirds.com did have him on their roster. Esposito should be up there, you are right, pure oversight on my part and I’ll add him pronto. Michel Hernandez was DFA’d to make room for Wilson, I’m sure he’ll clear waivers but I haven’t heard if they resigned him to a minor deal or not.
Luhnow and Vuch have said on a couple of occasions that Ankiel was already penciled in for one of the AAA outfield spots. I think Marti goes back to Springfield initially. He was absolutely horrible there last year.
This page has a pretty good primer on the minor league phase of the Rule 5 draft.