Nationals Farm Authority

Gildea was a 2007 9th round draft pick out of Florida State as a draft-eligible sophomore. In his 178AB for the Lake Monsters, Gildea hit 247/362/348. The 21-year old switch-hitting outfielder shows patience at the plate. His line-drive swing has the potential to develop into more extra base power as he transitions to wood bats. His speed on the basepaths is above average (16/23 SB in 52 games).  He should start 2008 in Hagerstown.

Peralta was acquired by the Nats from the Boston Red Sox in September of 2005 for a weekend’s worth of Mike Stanton. Peralta made the biggest impression in Hagerstown where he had a 3.19ERA, 1.06WHIP, 54 strikeouts and only 22 walks over 48IP. He is likely to begin 2008 with the P-Nats in Woodbridge.

In today’s Prospect Blog, Baseball America’s Matt Eddy breaks out how each member of each MLB’s top 30 was acquired. For the Nationals, it was the following:

• College = 9
• JuCo = 1
• High School = 12
• Draft/Follow = 1
• International = 2
• Trade = 4
• Rule 5 = 1

We know the Nationals top 10 already …

1. 1B Chris Marrero
2. LHP Ross Detwiler
3. RHP Collin Balester
4. OF Michael Burgess
5. LHP Jack McGeary
6. LHP Josh Smoker
7. RHP Jordan Zimmermann
8. LHP Glenn Gibson (I’m going to leave him here for the time being)
9. OF Justin Maxwell
10. RHP Colton Willems

The next step is trying to figure out BBA’s top 30 using the break out above and educated guessing

College (9)

1. Detwiler (new to the organization in 2007)
2. Maxwell (ranked #18 by BBA in last year’s prospect book)
3. Zimmermann (new to the organization in 2007)
4. IF/OF Kory Casto (#4 last year; I cannot see him completely dropping out of the top 30)
5. RHP Zech Zinicola (#6 last year)
6. RHP Adam Carr (#19 last year)
7. LHP John Lannan (#20 last year)
8. For the last two spots, they could be arms like RHPs Brad Meyers or Adrian Alaniz (both new to the organization in 2007) or repeating arms like RHP Marco Estrada (#22 last year) or LHP Cory VanAllen (#28 last year); or it could an OF like Mike Daniel (unranked in 2007)
9. see above

Junior College (1)

1. There are not many JuCo guys to choose from here. I’d guess it could be RHP Hassan Pena (unranked in 2007)

High School (12)

1. Marrero (#2 last year)
2. Balester (#1 last year)
3. Burgess (new to the organization in 2007)
4. McGeary (new to the organization in 2007)
5. Smoker (new to the organization in 2007)
6. Gibson (#7 last year)
7. Willems (#3 last year)
8. 2B Stephen King (#9 last year)
9. SS Ian Desmond (#10 last year)
10. OF Jake Smolinski (new to the organization in 2007)
11. The last two could be any of the following guys, from 2006: OF Stephen Englund or from 2007 IF Steve Souza or CA Derek Norris
12. see above

Draft/Follow

1. RHP Brad Peacock is one of only a handful of draft and follow guys still in the organization (CA Brian Peacock and LHP Ryan Buchter are the other recent ones) [Peacock was unranked in 2007].

International (2)

1. IF Esmailyn Gonzalez seems like a pretty safe bet (#5 last year)
2. OF Rog Bernadina would be my guess, but I could also see them tabbing one of the arms from the Nationals Dominican academy like RHP Juan Jamie or RHP Marcos Frias or LHP Randy Almonte [none were ranked last year]

Trade (4)

1. RHP Garrett Mock is a safe bet. Mock was acquired from Arizona in the Livan Hernandez deal (#12 last year) [LHP Matt Chico is no longer eligible]
2. RHP Jhonny Nunez was acquired from the Dodgers in the Marlon Anderson deal (#14 last year) 
3. As is RHP Shairon Martis who was acquired from San Francisco in the second Mike Stanton deal (#15 last year)
4. My money here is on 1B Andrew LeFave who was acquired from Milwaukee in exchange for Ray King

Rule 5 (1)

1. 1B Matt Whitney is my guess here. The only other choice is OF Garrett Guzman. CA Jesus Flores does not meet rookie eligibility (>130AB in 2007).

Any guesses?

Seuss was a 2007 27th round draft pick out of California Baptist University. The 22-year old righthanded outfielder hit 293/349/398 in 69 games for the Vermont Lake Monsters. His performance was strong enough in 2007 for the Nationals to include Seuss in their 2008 Accelerated Spring Training program. I imagine he could start the 2008 season with the P-Nats.

The 19-year old Dean was a 2007 7th round selection out of high school in Texas.  He’s projectable at 6′3″ and 175 pounds. His repertoire is highlighted by an 88-92 mph fastball and a hard breaking ball. He still needs to finetune his mechanics but held his own in his initial professional experience in the GCL going 3-1 over 9 appearances with 26 strikeouts and 11 walks over 31 innings of work. He’ll likely be in extended spring training until the season in Vermont begins.

Coming it at #23 is a holdover from the Montreal Expos, OF Edgardo Baez. Baez was a 4th round selection in the 2003 draft out of a high school in Puerto Rico. While Baez’ stock has slid some over the past couple of seasons, he’s still only 22 years old and has a strong enough defensive ability to remain on the radar. In 76 games for the P-Nats, he batted 278/366/437 with 10 home runs over 270AB. He has the arm to be an above average RF. His ceiling is a #4 or 5 outfielder and it will be his defense that determines how far he’ll go. He’ll likely begin the season in Harrisburg though regular playing time might be a challenge.

On the pitching side, is a product of the Nationals effort in the Dominican Republic, Federico Tanco. The 21-year old RHP showed dominance (12.7K/9) and control (1.3BB/9) over his 75 innings of work. He was a key cog in the starting rotation in the Dominican Summer League.  He’ll need to take the next step this season in order to have the chance to be a viable contender for a major league role. Hagerstown would be the ideal starting point for him in 2008.

At the conclusion of the 2008 season, the Player Development Contract (PDC) merry-go-round will get spinning in earnest again. There are going to be several MLB teams with expiring PDCs (see here). The Nationals will see their PDCs expire in Columbus, Hagerstown and Vermont.

The rumors are already out there about the chances of some new shifts in MLB/Triple-A partnerships (plus the Braves may be relocating their Richmond affiliate further south to a suburb of Atlanta). Expiring in 2008 are the following Triple-A agreements:

International League (AAA)

• Buffalo Bisons - Cleveland
• Columbus Clippers - Washington
• Durham Bulls - Tampa Bay
• Indianapolis Indians - Pittsburgh
• Lehigh Valley IronPigs - Philadelphia
• Rochester Red Wings - Minnesota
• Syracuse Chiefs - Toronto

Pacific Coast League (AAA)

• Albuquerque Isotopes - Florida
• Colorado Springs Sky Sox - Colorado
• Fresno Grizzlies - San Francisco
• Las Vegas 51s - Los Angeles Dodgers
• Memphis Redbirds - St. Louis
• New Orleans Zephyrs - New York Mets
• Omaha Royals - Kansas City
• Portland Beavers - San Diego
• Round Rock Express - Houston
• Tacoma Rainiers - Seattle
• Tucson Sidewinders - Arizona

Several of these agreements seem most likely to simply be renewed. Philadelphia is beginning its partnership with Lehigh Valley in 2008 so it’s almost a lock they’ll re-up some time in 2008.  PDCs for Colorado, Las Vegas, Memphis, Omaha, Round Rock, Tacoma and Tucson also seem likely candidates for renewal. Florida/Albuquerque and Mets/New Orleans could be open to changes.

There are rumblings from International League affiliates that change is a strong possibility:

• Syracuse might be angling to partner up with the Mets
• Columbus is scheduled to open their new ballpark in 2009 and there has been discussion the Clippers might be targeting the Cleveland Indians to open it up, further co-locating Cleveland’s affiliates (their Double-A affiliate is in Akron)

That would leave the Nationals and Blue Jays (from Syracuse) without a partner with Buffalo (IL) and New Orleans (PCL) as the unpartnered Triple-A franchises. Buffalo and Toronto would seem like an ideal match from a proximity point of view (they are less than a 100 mile drive apart). So, when the dust settled, the Nationals would have a choice of returning to New Orleans or trying to convince Indianapolis (Pirates), Rochester (Twins) or Durham (Rays) that they’d be a better partner for the next two seasons (minimum) or the worst case scenario (from a getting players back & forth POV) Albuquerque.

It’s going to be interesting to see how these things flesh out.

(later this week, the other expiring agreements)

Hat tip to Basil, formerly of Federal Baseball who pointed this out.

The Braves will move their Class AAA minor-league team to Gwinnett County, [Georgia] according to two people familiar with the situation.

The Class AAA Richmond Braves, the organization’s highest-level minor-league affiliate, could play in Gwinnett as soon as 2009. The Braves’ three-year contract at the Richmond, Va. stadium, known as The Diamond, expires following the 2010 season. However, there is an option to pull out after each season. The Braves must give notice on or before Oct. 1 each year. The Braves have wanted much-need renovations at the stadium for years.

The Nationals current deal with Triple-A Columbus expires at the end of the 2008 season. But before anyone assumes the Nationals to Richmond is done deal, keep in mind that there needs to be an affiliate to move there. Triple A affiliates are in either the International or Pacific Coast League. The Braves are simply relocating their Triple-A affilaite to Gwinnett and likely remaining in the International League.

One way the Nationals can take over in Richmond is if they can identify (or buy) another International League team and get permission to move them there. Or, they can look to moving another of their affiliates to Richmond at another classification (for example, moving a team like the P-Nats from Woodbridge to Richmond).

According to Bobby Williams of the Nationals, the following minor leaguers have been released:

• Zach Baldwin - 2006 31st round selection; LH SP/RP pitched for Hagerstown in 2007
• Greg Bunn - 2004 5th round; RHRP split time between Hagerstown and Potomac in 2007
• Devin Drag - 2007 37th round; RHRP split time between Vermont and Hagerstown in 2007
• Coby Mavroulis - 2005 21st round; LHRP pitched in Hagerstown in 2007
• Buzz Vargas - minor league free agent signed in 2007; RHRP split time between Vermont and Hagerstown in 2007
• Joe Welsh - 2006 32nd round; LHRP pitched in Hagerstown in 2007
• Gene Yost - 2004 20th round; LHRP split time between Hagerstown and Potomac in 2007
• Lindon Bond - 2007 50th round; RH OF split time between the GCL and Hagerstown in 2007
• Erick San Pedro - 2004 2nd round; RH CA split time between Hagerstown and Columbus in 2007.

Hey folks,

I’ve been working on a redesign of the site for a while now, and I’ve finally started implementing it. In this process, though, I expect the occasional hiccup (like the fact that the sidebar at right is messed up). I hope you’ll show some patience for these minor issues while I get things in order.

I hope to have the redesign implemented and kicking by Spring Training.

Thanks to all of you readers as well as Brian for the patience,
Yuda

Press release

The Washington Nationals today agreed to terms on 2008 contracts with infielder Kory Casto, left-handed pitcher Ross Detwiler, left-handed pitcher John Lannan, outfielder Lastings Milledge, right-handed pitcher Garrett Mock, right-handed pitcher Chris Schroder, first baseman Josh Whitesell and first baseman Matt Whitney.   Nationals Assistant General Manager and Vice President of Baseball Operations Mike Rizzo made the announcement.

None of these players are arbitration-eligible so the Nationals determine their salaries, typically based upon service time.

Coming in at #24 on the hitting side is OF Garrett Bass. Bass was a 2007 42nd round draft pick out of Jacksonville State University. In his first 59 games as a professional, he batted 293/325/490 with 6 home runs and 16 stolen bases for the Vermont Lake Monsters. The 23-year old lefthanded Bass comes from a major league family. His father Kevin played 14 major league seasons, primarily for the Houston Astros. Garrett Bass primarily served as the designated hitter but can also play corner outfield. I’d expect the Nationals to challenge him with a start in Potomac in 2008.

The #24 pitcher is another lefthander with a father who was a professional athlete. The 23-year old Jack Spradlin is the son of PGA professional Jack Spradlin. The lefty reliever is a polished pitcher who can throw three pitches for strikes (fastball, curveball, & changeup). In 45 games for the P-Nats, he tthrew 87 1/3 innings striking out 75 while walking 31 with a 1.33 WHIP and 3.92ERA. He fits the mold as at best a lefthanded arm out of the pen. He should begin his 2008 season in the Harrisburg bullpen, but could make noise as a lefthanded option for the Nats later in the season.