Omar Beltre, Alexi Ogando & The Rangers' 40-Man Roster Situation
Joey Matschulat
Omar Beltre pitches during the Caribbean Baseball Series on February 6th, 2008.If what we have learned over the last 24 hours fully reflects the operational status quo within the U.S. State Department, then mere repentance apparently begets a cold shoulder and an upheld lifetime ban ... and atonement, in the form of schooling Dominican compatriots on the dangers of human trafficking, begets a long-awaited reinstatement. Five years worth of waiting, no less.
What's important now is that the wait is evidently over for the hard-throwing Dominican-born tandem of Alexi Ogando (26.3 years) and Omar Beltre (28.4 years), with little more than a few easy-to-clear procedural hurdles standing between them and reinstatement from the restricted list -- baseball's version of roster purgatory -- to the Texas Rangers' 40-man roster, which is expected to take place sometime during the early stages of spring training.
Of course, the first question that one would logically expect to be asked would concern the wisdom behind guaranteeing two roster spots to raw, albeit extremely talented pitchers whose professional experience largely comprises a smattering of expectedly dominant innings pitched for the Rangers' Dominican Summer League affiliates. A valid concern, especially given that there are no 40-man roster vacancies, but pitchers who can pump mid-90s heat with command are precious commodities; case in point, Baseball Time in Arlington prospect guru Jason Parks stated yesterday that both Ogando and Beltre would rank among his top 15 prospects in this No. 1-ranked farm system.
The expectation for Ogando and Beltre -- an expectation which admittedly may or may not ever be realized -- is clearly one of rapid ascension, facilitated by heightened physical/emotional maturity and, despite the relative rawness, some limited degree of polish. It's entirely possible their dominance won't extend stateside to their potential starting destinations (those being Double-A Frisco and Triple-A Oklahoma City, according to general manager Jon Daniels), but the alluring velocity/command package, paired with what one would hope to be somewhat refined secondary pitches, should at least give them a reasonable chance at success and a possible late-season taste of the majors.
As far as the renewed 40-man roster crunch is concerned, I'm not entirely convinced that Joaquin Arias and Luis Mendoza are the default candidates for disposal; the former has managed to evade management's roster-pruning shears for what seems like years now, while the latter persists in teasing us with his nasty low-to-mid-90s sinker and monster grounder-inducing tendencies, and one doesn't require a terribly vivid imagination to envision one or the other managing to hang around in spite of their respective lack of minor league options.
[Off-the-top-of-the-head roster-trimming alternatives could include the return of Rule 5 draftee Ben Snyder to the Giants, the outrighting of Eric Hurley -- who, despite hopeful thoughts to the contrary, probably isn't a very good bet to meaningfully contribute to the major league product this year -- to the minors, or a trade of somebody in the vein of Guillermo Moscoso, Doug Mathis and/or Warner Madrigal for a prospect not requiring 40-man roster placement. Not one of those possibilities would surprise me if it did, in fact, come to fruition.]
Reader Comments (23)
Do ALL clubs have this 40 man crunch, or do we need better leadership and tallent evaluation?
Hurely? He will undoudtfully go on the 60 day DL at the end of ST. Don't you think he would be claimed by some team?
@Billy
So you think the Rangers should have just gone around with 38 men on the roster the past 5 years in the off chance that these 2 guys got reinstated. Yeas there is a roster crunch right now, but I think its understandable why the Rangers are going through it.
Speaking of the 60, what is the earliest the Rangers put someone on the 60?
@Andrew: I believe it is around the last week of ST.
I agree with the idea that we may well keep Arias as insurance deep into ST, use or trade Mendoza-- Look at where he was on David's graph!-- but not just drop one so promising & young. And it sounds like we could stash Hurley on the 60-day before adding these two prodigal sons. Furthermore,we might trade OBeltre (28) while keeping Ogando (26) to make one more spot on the 40 for our 25th man if he's not yet on the 40.
There's no rush, and some trading in the works before this issue really is one.
Speaking of atonement, I think this is the new "How To Get Reinstated For Dummies." Continually tell everyone how sorry you are with conviction, then do as many relative community service reparation projects as possible. Just ask Michael Vick how well it works. Gilbert Arenas will soon be a beneficiary too.
If the Rangers could receive a bag of baseballs for Madrigal, why haven't they done that deal already?
"If what we have learned over the last 24 hours fully reflects the operational status quo within the U.S. State Department, then mere repentance apparently begets a cold shoulder and an upheld lifetime ban ... and atonement, in the form of schooling Dominican compatriots on the dangers of human trafficking, begets a long-awaited reinstatement. Five years worth of waiting, no less."
Huh? Forgive my ignorance, but what on earth are you referring to here?
Jim, this was explained in a recent Newberg Report. Essentially the two Dominican pitchers, Ogando and Beltre, were banned from entering the United States on work visas for their parts in a human trafficking scam. The scams went like this:
1) they were $convinced$ to get fake marriages.
2) baseball got them work visas.
3) they would get divorced shortly after entry into the US.
Whether duped or bribed into participation, there were about 30 players caught up in this. Apparently Ogando and Beltre got out of their ban by filming public service announcements warning others not to participate in these schemes.
Baseball America had a writeup on this today:
http://www.baseballamerica.com/today/prospects/ask-ba/2010/269457.html
Tim Kurkjian did a writeup today on Colby Lewis. He said Colby's fastball is sitting between 90-95 with that control.
"There is a significant difference in his delivery and arm angle -- he's more compact, he has more of a classic motion, his arm is pointed toward the plate more consistently," Rangers general manager Jon Daniels said. "The quality of competition in Japan is not the same as it is in the big leagues, but strike-throwing is something that translates no matter what level. That walk/strikeout ratio wouldn't have meant as much if he was only throwing 86 [mph]. But he was throwing 90-to-95 with a hard cutter. Other teams saw the same thing."
I figured he had dropped to 88-92 sacrificing his velocity to gain that incredible control that was on display in Japan. There's also some interesting thoughts from Bobby Valentine on how good his control really was:
"The strike zone is tighter over there because of the stature of the guys, and because no umpire over there is giving Colby Lewis a pitch. You can't throw it down the middle of the plate and get away with it over there. There is more contact over there, but less hard contact. He moved it all over the strike zone. You can throw strikes anywhere, right?"
http://sports.espn.go.com/mlb/hotstove09/columns/story?columnist=kurkjian_tim&id=4879385
"Baseball Time in Arlington prospect guru Jason Parks stated yesterday that both Ogando and Beltre would rank among his top 15 prospects in this No. 1-ranked farm system."
Jason, both?
The difference in their ages (26 & 28) seems to differentiate their upside, how much I have no idea.
Shall we work them into altered rankings? Say #13 for Ogando & #19 for Beltre? How were they ranked in '05?
Michael: Jim Callis of Baseball America said they would both rank somewhere in the middle of the Rangers top 30 this year (10-20?). For BA's lists Betre ranked 18th in 2001, 12th in 2002, and 27th in 2006. Ogando ranked 20th for Oakland in 2005. I hope that helps a bit.
Thanks for the explanation, Dave. As I said, I am truly ignorant! But now I understand...
Thanks, Dave. So whom do we rank higher now? Ogando, based on the younger age and success despite his late introduction to pitching?
I guess I would go with Ogando since he has a touch more velocity and isn't quite as old.
Thanks for the link to the article on Colby Lewis.
If he is throwing 90 - 95 mph fastballs with control along with a cutter and has two other pitches no wonder he had a sub-3.00 ERA in Japan. hanging his motion has probably also helped. He used to have a long wide open pitching motion and was said to be somewhat easy to pick up what he was throwing.
Geezes Cheeses the Rangers may have just gotten another ace.
OK, I'm off topic here but how about this little trade right before spring training to answer the right-handed bat hole in the roster:
Moscoso for Allen Craig. Cardinals can't find a place for Craig and Moscoso would give them another internal candidate to fill out their starting 5. I'd even throw Kirkman in as a sweetener. If Craig keeps hitting like he has the last 3 years in the minors, it would give the Rangers an option at DH next year after Vlad is gone, a righty to platoon with Davis this year and spell our lefty-laden outfield occasionally.
I'm pretty sure that spot is reserved for Smoak at some point this season. Not sure Moscoso helped his value any with his performance against Mexico today.
But Smoak was terrible vs LHPs last year-- literally Murphyesque in how dramatic his splits were. I only see Smoak coming after he works on that, and we make room (at DH) for him to share both positions with Davis.
The guys who can play 1st and help us vs Lefties (right now, I think) are Matt Brown and Mitch Moreland. But without a trade (for JWillingham, CRoss, Mitch Maier, Craig?thanks! I'll look into his splits) Moreland would be the best 25th man because (unlike Brown) he plays OF (RF only? Cruz LF, JH CF vs LHPs?) and unlike Gentry he really crushes lefties (nor is he bad vs righties).
Nonetheless, I'm still on my "Trade for Willingham" soapbox, after which Matt Brown would make more sense because he can play 1st AND 3rd.
Michael, I'm definitely behind you on trading for Willingham, but I do have to say that several of the experts that I trust (Goldstein, Callis, Law) believe that Smoak's bad splits and underwhelming AAA #'s were stemming from that oblique strain. They seem to have tremendous faith that he will hit well from both sides. I can't help but believe them.
That's great input that I had missed, Dave. Thanks!