Twenty Minor Leaguers Released

According to Scout.com, the Padres have released twenty minor leaguers over the course of spring training. The list:

Andrew Albers
Tyson Bagley
Anthony Contreras
Brett Dowdy
David Erickson
Nick Hall
Allen Harrington
Chadd Hartman
Sean Heimpel
Brett Holland
Derrick Loop
Kyle Loretelli
Cameron Monger
Eduardo Perez
Tom Porter
Danny Putnam
Keoni Ruth
Dylan Tonneson
Kurt Wideman
Robert Woodard

I’m not going to dissect all 20 of them because 1) I don’t want to spend that much time and 2) I doubt many people care about most of these players (they’re not notable), so I’ll only hit the important ones.

Bagley is a huge (6’8″ 250) righty who posted nice strikeout numbers in short-season Eugene for two seasons. However, he was 24 and hadn’t even made it to full-season ball yet.

Dowdy is a solid defensive infielder who posted a .794 OPS at AAA Portland in 2008. However, his bat collapsed to .237/.281/.313 in 2009, and he’s now 28.

Erickson was a 32nd round draft pick last year who posted a 2.58 ERA in short-season ball and didn’t allow a homer; however, he was 23. Still, it’s surprising he didn’t get a chance to throw in full-season ball.

Harrington was a very solid Low-A pitcher from 2007-2009, but couldn’t handle the high-offense Cal League (7.13 ERA last year).

Loop pitched in the Red Sox organization last year, excelling at High-A with a 2.33 FIP and 10.48 K/9. However, he’s 26 with very little experience in the upper minors. Still, he’s one of the more surprising cuts.

Another surprising cut is the speedy Monger, who hit .295/.357/.429 with 29 steals in Rookie ball last year after being drafted in the 27th round. He’s only 21–this is a bit of a head-scratcher.

Perez, a reliever, had a solid age-21 season at Fort Wayne last year, with a 3.14 FIP. Again, either this system is really deep or there should’ve been room for him.

Porter struck out 21 batters in 21 innings in Rookie ball, and didn’t allow a homer, but he was a couple months shy of his 23rd birthday.

Putnam, a former major leaguer with the A’s, hit an underwhelming .247/.324/.407 with Portland last year after coming over from Oakland in a trade. He’s a decent minor league filler guy, but at 27, he’s not particularly interesting.

Ruth is a no-power infielder with a career .277/.326/.361 minor league line. He made it as high as Double-A last year, and actually hit solidly in 15 games there. Still, he’s 25, and was likely a Triple-A lifer at best.

Woodard owns some solid minor league numbers, but missed nearly all of 2009, is now 25, and has barely seen High-A.

Overall, there are a few guys (particularly Monger) who may have deserved a longer look in the minors, but most of the players were very obviously expendable. Best of luck to all 20 of these guys as they try to catch on with other organizations or perhaps independent leagues.

And hey, if talented guys like Monger and Perez are getting released, the system should be pretty stocked, right? (One would hope).