I’ve been doing drafting on the outfielders, and whoa is the minor league situation ugly. The Braves simply didn’t have any usable veterans in the farm, which is a lot of what led to all the rookies last year. If the team had had a decent outfielder in AAA, Jeff Francoeur never would have been called up, but as it was they were playing Esix Snead and John Barnes.
How did this happen? The Braves used to have some useful players on their minor league rosters. Darren Bragg and Matt Franco, for example, in 2002-03. They weren’t great, but they could help in a support role. The guys they have now are totally useless.
And don’t get me started on some of the “prospects” left over after the promotions.
Mac, what happend to the supposed “prospect” status of Gregor Blanco, Onil Joseph, Jon Owings, and Bill McCarthy? Doesn’t Myrtle Beach have some decent outfielders in Steve Doetsch, Brandon Jones, and Matt Esquivel?
Myrtle Beach doesn’t count — I was talking about AAA and AA. Owings hasn’t even made it past Rome yet, and had only a couple of games there. He is certainly a prospect.
McCarthy sucked, then got hurt. Blanco and Joseph just suck; neither of them is capable of more than pinch-running. I discuss them and a couple of others in the article (should be out about the end of next week).
brandon jones is the real deal, but I think he only spent a few weeks above rome last year. those other guys are all (like him) a ways away.
Blanco could still turn out to be decent, though he’s a ways away and in the wrong organization. Has some glove, draws walks, isn’t completely powerless at the plate, and is still quite young.
Which sort of leads to the conclusion that Johnson and Langerhans aren’t going anywhere, no?
I’ll jump on the Josh Burrus soap box again here….I still have high hopes he’ll eventually complete the outfield trio of Burrus/Jones/Francoeur. I don’t know if I’m hoping he’ll make it or if there’s even a realistic shot. He seems to be a good speed / power potential guy. He tore it up in Myrtle Beach then struggled in Mississippi before Katrina hit. I’d personally like to see him have another year in AA then start 2007 in AAA with a good chance of a call up if whoever is filling the space falters.
My guess is either that scenario will happen, or Brandon Jones will leap over Burrus in the organization and play it out instead of Burrus. We’ll see!
PS
Burrus is already on the 40 man roster, for what that’s worth.
To Bledsoe… Yep. It’s even more clear with Betemit, or should be; there isn’t a potential major league shortstop higher than Escobar, in Rome. You know the situation is bleak when L’il Jonny starts looking good.
To secondbass… Burrus is in there. He might have a chance, someday. He was pretty awful in AA, though no worse than everybody else in the post-Francoeur outfield. His minor league record is not as impressive as George Lombard’s was at the same age.
A note, if I didn’t make this clear… It is not intended to be a survey of the full organization. I am not competent to do that, because I don’t really follow the minor leagues during the season. I write up the players who might make the Major League roster out of spring training. I do a full writeup of everyone who should be on there and a summary of the guys who have a shot of cracking the roster if there’s an open spot or someone gets hurt.
Matt Franco and Darren Bragg were not Brave’s minor league players. They came to the Braves from other teams, Franco from the Mets and I think Bragg from Cincinatti. With Chipper Jones playing left for several years and Andruw a fixture in center, the need hasn’t really been there for outfield help. But they sure are loaded with pitchers, catchers and middle infielders. Their outfiled prospects, Langerhans and Francoeur came up last year and Francoeur was obviously ready. Look at Billy McCarthy.
You’re missing the point. I specifically talked about “veterans on the farm” — meaning players who have Major League experience and skills. There isn’t a real difference between major league bench players and any number of AAA guys except luck and timing. Every year, there are fifty guys looking for AAA jobs who are just as good as Franco or Bragg and who could be signed as insurance.
Franco and Bragg were players with significant Major League experience, signed to minor league free agent contracts, and began the 2002 season in Richmond. That 2002 Richmond team also had Damon “The Mayor” Hollins, Ozzie Timmons, and Tim Unroe — all players who had made it to the show (if maybe only briefly) and had Major League skills. Last year’s Richmond squad didn’t have anyone of that level at the beginning of the season — Esix Snead simply isn’t a Major League caliber ballplayer, for all that the Mets once thought he was. Kerry Robinson, who joined later in the year, is a fringe player at best. They certainly didn’t have anyone who had been a Major League regular (like Bragg) or semi-regular/valued bench player (like Franco).
Brandon Jones could be the left fielder in 07. i think Langerhans, Diaz and Johnson should hold it down until then.
Point taken, Mac. I just take any chance I can get to promote Josh Burrus!
I wonder, though, with the possible reduction of the minor league organizations in baseball (yes, I realize it’s a year, maybe more, away from happening)…just how many spare parts players would the Braves want to stick in triple A as insuracne policies? It seems to me it would squeeze out some prospects along the way. You know, not as many roster spots from top to bottom, so somebody would have to go. I suppose the other effect it could have would be that the Essix Sneads of the world would be unemployed and the Darren Braggs would be in AAA. Am I making sense here? It’s all clear in my head, I just can’t seem to articulate it!
Got my two tickets to the Rome hot stove gathering today….I’m taking my daughter. I can’t wait!
I watched Burris play several games at Chattanooga against the Lookouts. He waivered between flashes of brilliance and flashes of uselessness. I think he’s got all of the tools to be a stud, but he’s still walking that fine line where he could also fall the way of Melvin Nieves or Tony Tarasco and be an average outfielder…or worse: Mike Kelly.
Mac, your point is taken.
Ironically, George Lombard is precisely the sort of player you seem to have in mind–he has major league experience (124 games), but now plays at the AAA level. Lombard hit .262 with a .357 with 20 HR and 23 SB (in 28 attempts) at Pawtucket.
I would not give up on Burrus either. Burrus was off to a good start in the AFL before he was injured. The impressive thing about Burrus is that he keeps getting better (his AA stats are now particularly worrying for a player who comes up at mid-season), but he needs to be healthy before he can safely regain prospect status.