Career minor leaguers: A good tool to use

[terrynever]

Yankees' best player this season has been a career minor leaguer, Yangervis Solarte. Maybe that's the new market efficiency. Find one of these overlooked guys in the minors and plug him in. Boston doing it with Holt. You see a lot of polished 4A players in the minors who aren't all that much different than the Brendan Ryans and Jonny Gomes who do make it to the big leagues.
 
I remember watching Brandon Moss in the PawSox locker room, blocked from the big leagues. He was a high .800 OPS hitter with power. Traded to Pittsburgh, then spent a minute with Philly before Oakland scooped him up. He hit 30 homers last year, on pace to do same this season. Oakland, of course, has been mining this resource for years, plucking guys from other team's rosters in the off-season.
 
Most of the 4A players you see in Pawtucket and all the other AAA teams firmly believe they could make it in the big leagues if given enough at-bats and firm backing from management. Moss, Solarte and Holt are just a few of this year's examples. Moss spent six years in the minors. Holt was in his fifth when lightning struck. Solarte had seven years. One of the benefits is they become polished players in the minors, adaptable and coachable if they have the right attitude.
 
How many other 4A players are making an impact this year?

 

[SaveBooFerriss]

I not sure if there is much new about this.  Look at Nelson Cruz, at age 27, he play 103 games in the minors and hit 37 HR in 2008.  

 

[MentalDisabldLst]

Daniel Nava thinks Brandon Moss got off easy.
 
The average age in AAA is 27.  That suggests that roughly half of people in the minors fall into that category: been around for long enough to no longer be a hot prospect, but not so long that you'd expect their skills to be declining and are pretty much just organizational filler (the likes of Darnell McDonald).

 

[terrynever]

I not sure if there is much new about this.  Look at Nelson Cruz, at age 27, he play 103 games in the minors and hit 37 HR in 2008.  

Yeah. I changed the title. New is not a good word.

 

[terrynever]

Daniel Nava thinks Brandon Moss got off easy.
 
The average age in AAA is 27.  That suggests that roughly half of people in the minors fall into that category: been around for long enough to no longer be a hot prospect, but not so long that you'd expect their skills to be declining and are pretty much just organizational filler (the likes of Darnell McDonald).

True. Nava is another example. It's just one of my favorite topics because these minor league veterans are usually the most interesting people in the locker room. They all bitch about the high draft choices getting special treatment, which is true, of course.

 

[Plympton91]

Flashback to the 1998-99 Red Sox. O'Leary, Daubach, Reggie Jefferson, Darren Bragg, and Rich Garces come to mind without looking it up.

 

[terrynever]

Flashback to the 1998-99 Red Sox. O'Leary, Daubach, Reggie Jefferson, Darren Bragg, and Rich Garces come to mind without looking it up.

And those teams won more than 90 games, too.

 

[JGray38]

Geronimo Berroa immediately comes to mind as an early example of the A's doing this. Solid big league hitter in the mid 90's who didn't get a real chance until he was 29 or 30.

 

[Dick Drago]

Duquette was a master at finding those guys. In addition to those cited above, Rudy Pemberton, Arky Pozo, Jon Nunnally, Dwayne Hosey, Jeff Manto, Matt Stairs...

 

[snowmanny]

Flashback to the 1998-99 Red Sox. O'Leary, Daubach, Reggie Jefferson, Darren Bragg, and Rich Garces come to mind without looking it up.

And those guys were all effective players in their late 20's and then basically done by their very early 30's. If players do tend to peak at ~28 or so it makes sense that some players would have the performance level bell curve of their career only reach ML ability for a few years in their late 20's, but they could be perfectly good players (and excellent value) for those few years.

 

[JGray38]

Definitely excellent value for those guys listed above. You'll note that as soon as they start to get expensive in their arb years, they wind up unemployed, usually replaced by someone younger. Matt Stairs was an exception.

 

[mt8thsw9th]

Definitely excellent value for those guys listed above. You'll note that as soon as they start to get expensive in their arb years, they wind up unemployed, usually replaced by someone younger. Matt Stairs was an exception.

They got expensive because Duquette gave them contracts for those quick decline years. That 2001 team was absolutely stacked with dead weight.

 

[terrynever]

Brandon Moss just hit his 14th of season. 30 last year, 21 as a part-timer in 2012 with Oakland. One HR every 14 ABs since 2012. Third in MLB behind Chris Davis and Encarnacion. A's got him on a minor league deal in 2012.

 

[Infield Infidel]

There are a few thing converging here
 
1. Baseball hasn't expanded in 16 years. This is tied for the longest stretch without expansion, and there are no expansion teams on the horizon, so this stretch will be the longest in the expansion era.
 
2. There might be a limit to how many teams there can be, either because there aren't enough viable markets, or because having too many teams will bring each team's chance for a championship down to an intolerable level for fans
 
3. At the same time, there are more good players than ever, if only because of the increase in population. With more good players, teams find it harder to keep players they'd like to keep, while teams like the A's have more opportunities to scavenge players who were solid in the minors but didn't get a full chance in the majors.

 

[terrynever]

There are a few thing converging here
 
1. Baseball hasn't expanded in 16 years. This is tied for the longest stretch without expansion, and there are no expansion teams on the horizon, so this stretch will be the longest in the expansion era.
 
2. There might be a limit to how many teams there can be, either because there aren't enough viable markets, or because having too many teams will bring each team's chance for a championship down to an intolerable level for fans
 
3. At the same time, there are more good players than ever, if only because of the increase in population. With more good players, teams find it harder to keep players they'd like to keep, while teams like the A's have more opportunities to scavenge players who were solid in the minors but didn't get a full chance in the majors.

So many more Latin players, too, over the last 20 years.