Connecticut Defenders 2009 Roster

So I agree, I think the Giants let him warm up in San Jose, then push him to AAA. It’s not like being with Decker in Connecticut would help Posey any more, I would hope the Giants have Manwaring (or whoever is the roving instructor on catching) living with Posey for the 2009 season.

5’10" 195

I thought the "Giants way" was to be allergic to hitters with BB’s. Or am I getting my revolutionary slogans’ mixed up again?

double-B all-Giants team:

C – Bruce Bochy
1B – Bob Brenly (bit of a stretch)
2B – Brad Boyer
SS – Brian Bocock
3B – Brock Bond
LF – Barry Bonds
CF – Brett Butler
RF – Bobby Bonds
SP – Boof Bonser
SP – Bud Black
RP – Bob Bolin

oh, right. I forgot they’re moving next year.

yeah. I never understood that.

Or the Wotus treatment.

Joe Morgan would be interested in a managerial post.

or even then Baron and I

If he can do that then get Posey another glove because WIlliams will be catching with the Giants for a very long time

.275 in Dodd would be a monster season for a light hitting catcher.

I need confirmation!

EME needs to bash more baseballs.

Denker’s career minor league line: .276 / .376 / .454
Williams’s career minor league line: .213 / .306 / .314

I just got the word today that he’s hurt. My source didn’t elaborate on his status other than that. I’d asked about Snyder and my source says he’s almost certainly headed to CT. I’d expect if my source did know anything about Anderson aside from the injury he’d have told me.

How many times can I use the word “source?”

Where is that map of the US when need it?

I’m sure it contributed to his maturity and mentality of approaching his work. He stated that he was a bit immature before that.

But bulking up a bit also helped, too.

IAWTR?

Long time no see, man!

I would have to ask, however, who close would affiliate with Richmond? The two most obvious cities, Baltimore and Washington, seem pretty happy with their current Double-A affiliates. Baltimore’s affiliate in Bowie is perfectly placed for them, while the Nationals seem happy with the city-owned team in Harrisburg, which is about equidistant to D.C. as Richmond. The Reds seem happy with Chattanooga, and I doubt we’ll see Richmond and the Braves on good terms for a little while…

Of all the obvious close choices that are local, the only one that seems possible is Pittsburgh, who is currently affiliated with the Central Pennsylvania Altoona Curve. Altoona remains obviously much more local, but it also has had attendance issues of late. That said, it’s still a recent ballpark and they haven’t had as many issues as Norwich did (As recently as 2006, BA was lauding the organization and attendance in Altoona), so even that seems far-feched.

Amen! steve S is back!

The park is a damn power blackhole relative to the rest of the Eastern League. He was good on the road, though, and that was what was masked by the horrendous home park skewing his overall numbers. Same for Bowker and Sandoval’s nice stats there, they were really great on the road, but their home park reduced them to merely among the good.

That’s the problem I’ve been writing about for many years now. Nobody ever tries to hit one way in one park, and another way in another park, few people adjust to the ballpark. That is why there is talk that hitters who adjust to the Green Monster in Boston get screwed up on the road.

So if they do terribly in Connecticut, not realizing that it’s the ballpark, not them, then one day they will screw around with their good batting mechanics (assuming they are good) in order to make things happen in Connecticut. That could eventually screw them up so that when they are on the road where conditions are normal, they are just screwed up. After all, they are not major leaguers yet, and if they are struggling, even if it is the ballpark’s fault, then they will eventually yield and fiddle with their batting stance, and so forth, all the things that made them successful up to then. Particularly if you are forced to repeat another season in AA and Dodd.

That’s doable when you have a lot of position prospects coming up the system, he wouldn’t be the first prospect who could have a decent major league career screwed by circumstances. But when our farm system was so vacant of position prospects, you need to do all you can to understand who actually is doing well and who actually is doing poorly. You don’t throw away a position prospect who could be viable when you have so few. You don’t screw the position players with such a ballpark.

Without understanding from management that it’s the ballpark, the players are forced to make a decision. They need to either have the strength of conviction that what they are doing is the correct batting stance and not let Dodd Stadium get to them, trusting that his talent will out, or they find a way to not let it bother them, whether it be finding God, Scientology, Visualization, hypnosis, or your mama told you so.

Otherwise, a prospect who could have been a good contributor to your MLB team gets lost in the minors instead, another in the long line of prospects who failed. That could have been Ishikawa if he didn’t figure out how to trust his talent and not be affected by the circumstances he was stuck in. Now he’s our starting 1B, luckily the Giants never released him, and if he can be successful, according to one researcher, he would be one of the few minor leaguers to repeat A-ball and still be successful in the majors.

About Richmond, yes, there is the strong possibility that the Giants would have to find another affiliate because the new owner has been very open about wanting to be an affiliate of the Washington Nationals. The scuttlebutt is that they would be willing to become a Class A affiliate of Washington at some point. I’ve seen no rumors that they are interested in any other MLB team.

What I’m most happy about is the Giants prospects no longer has to play in Dodd Stadium after 2009. So even if we lose Richmond at some point, and it would be nice because Richmond is a neutral park with their previous team, I think it’s great that we’ll be leaving Dodd after this season. Hopefully they can find another AA affiliate where the park is neutral, just as long as they avoid Dodd.

I still wonder why they bothered moving to the Eastern League, the Texas League seemed like a good locale, though there is the heat of summer that wears players down. Maybe they should split the difference and get a team in the Southern League, they already have Augusta, GA, then the two teams could be near each other, and be in a better weather area.

Plus, I think the MLB team is in need of CFs, so it’s nice to have one close by.