Wow, people had Luis Ordaz stories? Who knew?

Sorry for the lack of a post yesterday; since it was minor league opening day, I’ve been scrambling to get my Coming Attractions spreadsheets totally ready. It looks like month-by-month splits for everybody, and lefty-righty for AAA, unless I find an easier way to do them. The depth chart will be updated with Actual Rosters™ soon after I write this, and the player pages will be up by next friday. (Note: the starting rotations are guesses, particularly in the lowest minors, where I didn’t even know who the starters were.)

Lots of interesting stuff happened in the minors. Junior Spivey–you can rest assured I’ll be following him a lot–went 2-4 with a double, two walks, and a strikeout in the Redbirds’ extra-inning loss to Oklahoma. Pretty nice debut. Other AAA notables: Chris Duncan hit 3-6 with two strikeouts; Anthony Reyes, probably more nonplussed than the usual opening day starter, went six innings, allowing nine hits and four runs (three earned.) He struck out three and walked nobody, and–I’m sure Tony and Co. noticed this: had an 11:3 groundout-flyout ratio. In AA Springfield, 2005 draftee Nic Stavinoha went 2-3 with a walk in his high-minors debut. Reid Gorecki went 2-5 with a double and a triple, and Cody Haerther went 1-5 with a double, but starter Jordan Pals had the misfortune of pitching to Brandon Wood, the shortstop who hit 51 doubles and 43 home runs in A ball last year. He very quickly adapted in his AA debut, hitting a two-run shot in his second at-bat.

The player of the day in the system was first baseman/colossal bust Mike Ferris. Considered a big steal and a polished college power bat after the Cards nabbed him in the second round of the 2004 draft, he proceeded to hit .199/.295/.295 in his first pro turn, with the short-season New Jersey Cardinals. Nevertheless, good things were still expected out of him as 2005 began with him manning first in low-A ball. Instead, they got a line of .230/.334/.399, with 16 home runs in 439 at-bats. He turned it on a bit as the season drew to a close, so maybe his third time through the low minors will be the charm. He certainly started off right, going 2-5 with two home runs for Palm Beach. 2005 first rounder Tyler Greene went 2-4.

Not a lot to report out of low-A Quad Cities’ 6-3 loss. The first of the 2005 first rounders, Colby Rasmus, went 0-4 but did throw out a baserunner at home; Randy Roth, an otherwise-uninteresting 10th round college 3B from last year’s draft, got my attention when he slugged .630 in the Appy League. He scuffled soon after in short-season A ball, but he won the Quad Cities job anyway and went 1-4.

So, about the majors. I was hoping to see control-freak Marquis, from the last half of 2005, but he instead decided to go with quintessential Marquis to start the year. He struggled in the sixth inning, he smacked a double to provide himself some run support… I didn’t get the chance to watch the game, thanks to school obligations, but I’m sure he did some jumping around on the mound when good things happened. It’s sad to see Albert’s home run rate projection slip all the way down to 162, but maybe somebody else will be able to pick up the slack. Meanwhile, this confirms it: Jason Isringhausen is out to screw with our heads. After his Hitchcockian game two save, VEB, The Birdwatch, and bellyitcher all bemoaned his daredevil streak. (On that note, I highly approve of Rob’s “Baron von Isringhausen” nickname.) So, naturally–because he lives to keep us as confused as possible–he comes in with the sweep on the line and mows the Phillies down. Seeing as he’s already got the most gutwrenching 2.14 ERA since time began in the books, maybe he’ll elect for something a little smoother this time?