Dave Cokin’s Hardcore Baseball: Neglected talent

Pardon the rant, but if there’s one thing that drives me nuts, it’s when teams with obvious needs refuse to promote high-end prospects who are absolutely ready and deserving of an opportunity to prove themselves in the show.

I completely understand that in many cases, the reluctance to promote a player is strictly business. The longer a team can keep a prospect on the farm, the longer they can own him without worrying about arbitration. And it also may mean an extra year of service time until said player can opt for free agency.

I’ll completely endorse this tactic when the team is a non-contender, or there’s no pressing need at the player’s position, or if the prospect is simply blocked by a capable veteran already at the major league level.

That’s why I haven’t been at all critical of the Orioles letting Matt Wieters log a good portion of this season in the minors. Baltimore isn’t going to contend for anything right now and Wieters at least needs to prove he can handle AAA before moving up.

Plus, it’s also good business for the most part, although I would submit that whenever Wieters does get the call, the Orioles will see a spike in ticket sales.

Several teams have made the decision that their best prospects are of more use with the big club than at some lower level.

Congrats to the Rockies for putting Dexter Fowler on the field right away. The Tigers have both Rick Porcello and Ryan Perry contributing with the big club. Derek Holland is a future starter for Texas, but meanwhile he’s learning the ropes in the bullpen.

The A’s decided to let young pitchers Brett Anderson and Trevor Cahill sink or swim at the major league level. The Cardinals could easily have sent Colby Rasmus down for more seasoning, but he’s plying his trade in St. Louis. Even the inept Nationals and the skinflint Marlins have their best kids upstairs.

So what in the world is with the Braves, Indians, Pirates and Rays? Tommy Hanson, Matt LaPorta, Andrew McCutchen and David Price should all be in the majors right now, and the fact they aren’t is ridiculous.

The Braves sure aren’t the same organization we all got used to seeing for so many years. All you need to do is see what the back-end of their rotation looks like right now and then take a look at what Hanson is doing at Gwinnet. He’s 0-3, but he’s completely dominating AAA. Hanson’s ERA is 2.18 and he’s got a smashing 7/29 BB/K ratio in 20.2 IP.

Sorry, but there’s no justification for a supposed contender starting someone like Jo Jo Reyes ahead of Hanson.

The Indians are going with a substandard combo of Ben Francisco and Trevor Crowe in left-field. Francisco has been horrible and Crowe is no more than a fringe prospect. I’ll admit LaPorta is not exactly Gold Glove material, but how can an apparent contender in a soft division not get this guy’s bat in the lineup?

LaPorta is flat out destroying International League pitching. He’s 24/63, which works out to only a .381 BA, with five homers, 14 RBI and only six whiffs. And that’s following a spring training where LaPorta clearly outplayed his competition.

I find this to be totally absurd, and it supports my long-held contention that the Indians don’t really care about winning. They’d like us to believe they’re a “victim” of being stuck in what they themselves refer to as a small market.

First of all, that’s a load of crap. Cleveland is not a small market. It’s not New York or Los Angeles, or Boston or Chicago, but it’s absolutely not a small market. Indians fans need to stop buying into this line of bull. And the Indians need to bring up LaPorta yesterday.

I discussed McCutchen’s situation with Pittsburgh yesterday, so I won’t bother to rehash that. Besides, it’s the Pirates, and they haven’t gotten anything right since Barry Bonds left town.

Finally, there’s the mind boggling David Price situation with the Rays. He’s putting up pedestrian numbers at Durham, and I’m not surprised. Price was very displeased about getting sent down after what he did last fall and he’s got every justification for being really hacked off at the organization.

Tampa’s reasoning for sending him down is a total lie. The real reason he’s there is so that he won’t be eligible for arbitration next winter as a potential Super Two player. It’s the same garbage the Twins pulled with Francisco Liriano last summer when he should have been with the big club.

As for Price, you can bet that he’ll never sign a long term pact with the Rays and will get out of town as soon as he’s eligible for free agency.

That last point is something to remember down the road. I have little doubt that when the time comes we’ll see Hanson, LaPorta, McCutchen and Price leaving their present organizations in search of greener pastures.

The Braves, Indians, Pirates and Rays will play the hackneyed and phony small market card and the local talking heads and the fans will buy it, hook, line and sinker. I won’t, though.

Each of these players knows full well that he ought to be in the bigs right now, and I sure won’t blame them for filing the current snubs from above in their individual memory banks. Neither should you.