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Steve Johnson picked by Giants - Was it a mistake not to protect him?


ChaosLex

Was it a mistake not to protect Steve Johnson now?  

317 members have voted

  1. 1. Was it a mistake not to protect Steve Johnson now?

    • Yes
    • No, the Giants won't keep him. He'll be back with the O's soon
    • No, it's no big loss regardless of whether or not the Giants keep him

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I'm a little upset we lost Johnson, but I'm hoping he comes back.

On the bright side, I didn't see Perrault, Thall, Abreu or anyone else from the organization get selected. Is this correct? If so, I think we can look at that as a silver lining. Perrault and Thall could still be part of our bullpen in the future.

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That may be all he develops into, but that is definitely not his ceiling. Unless you are talking about maybe the ceiling on the first floor of a 2-3 story house.

His numbers in the minors have been very good, while he may not have top-of-the-rotation stuff, he's not some guy you just look at and all you think is maybe a fringe BP guy at the absolute most.

You would be surprised. I don't think I talked with a scout who sees him as a starter and most think he's a fringe major league prospect, despite the numbers. I wanted to like his stuff, I really did, but in the three times I saw him, I just didn't see anything that screamed major league starter to me.

Maybe he'll prove everyone wrong, but the chances are he's guy a lot of people will be saying to themselves, "Why was I all fired up over him?"

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His dad has been trying to teach him that for years and it hasn't taken, so I seriously doubt Righetti will have any better luck.

But his Daddy Dave doesn't know the "secret grip." If he had, daddy would have had a stellar 15 year major league career instead of 5 mediocre years with 3 different teams......;)

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Even Johnson realizes there's a good chance he'll be back:

From Steve Melewski's blog:

It was a happy homecoming of sorts when Steve was traded from Los Angeles to the Orioles in July. What were his emotions today?

"It's excitement. The Orioles have been my hometown team my whole life. I am thinking that, as much as I want to make that team, if it doesn't happen and odds are it won't happen, I come back to play for my hometown team. It's not a bad thing at all.

"If I don't make the Majors I come back and have a chance with the Orioles."

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Johnson will make a nice MR for SF this season. Despite his flyball ratio, he doesn't give up a ton of dingers and he misses a lot of bats. And his flyball proneness won't be much of an issue in the NL West with 3 pitcher's parks in AT&T, PETCO and Chavez Ravine.

I was pretty impressed with him when I saw him at Fenway.

The Orioles just lost a valuable future reliever IMO.

Here's a shock!! :rolleyes:

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That may be all he develops into, but that is definitely not his ceiling. Unless you are talking about maybe the ceiling on the first floor of a 2-3 story house.

His numbers in the minors have been very good, while he may not have top-of-the-rotation stuff, he's not some guy you just look at and all you think is maybe a fringe BP guy at the absolute most.

That's exactly what I thought of him after seeing him in about 5 starts the end of last season actually. His numbers are good because he's not afraid to pitch to contact and use his defense, and hitters at those lower levels still don't know when to lay off pitches like those and wait for the really good ones. His stuff just was not impressive in the least, not hard enough to be a power pitcher, not enough movement to be a good control guy. Stats are misleading and they tell you where a pitcher has been but not always where they will be. Not saying 100% I'll be right or anything, there are always guys that buck the trend, but I would go with Tanaka in the pen over SJ on the deception value he has alone.

John Stephens had better stats at those levels, and that worked out really well for him later huh?

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Guest rochester

Wow! 6+ pages on losing Steve Johnson in the Rule V draft. I agree that there are some others (Hughes?) that I would not have protected before Johnson but c'mon - 6+ pages!

I really hope that AM does not spend this much time commiserating over the fact that Steve Johnson was selected in the Rule V. His time is better spent elsewhere

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But his Daddy Dave doesn't know the "secret grip." If he had, daddy would have had a stellar 15 year major league career instead of 5 mediocre years with 3 different teams......;)

Ok, ok, you got me there...but if that DOES happen, our next big acquisition better be Reghetti so that he can teach that secret grip to every one of our pitchers :)

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No doubt but everyone knew that Stephens was a guy who threw mid 80's at best. Maybe the scouting reports on Johnson are wrong. I've seen reports that had Johnson throwing 90ish and topping out at 93. His slider was reported as decent if not good. Sure, the strikeouts he's gotten at lower levels may disappear at higher levels. Again, I've never seen the guy pitch to I in the end, I defer to you, Tony, and AM on that one. Just seems to me from the scouting reports (Baseball America) and the numbers that the guy has at least some potential. Also, he's always been a starter and none of us know if his velocity might bump up a little more in that role.

Low 90's seems about right, I can't remember if I ever saw him hit 93, but 90-91 was about right I think. The problem with that is, a straight 90-91mph fastball is VERY hittable. Remember that he had JUST been called up to AA right before we got him, and then the guys that saw him in Bowie had never seen him before, had he been there another month or two I'd be willing to bet his numbers don't look as impressive. The first time you see a guy you might not get a read, but that next time you see them, you'll be ready.

He's just a guy that will let you hit the ball, but he's not going to put it right in the sweet spot, you'll get wood on it, just not good wood. That will change as he moves up and the guys have better batting eyes. That is one of the reasons why I said that he needed to start in Bowie, he's gotta go more than one turn through the league, see how hitters adjust to him, and see if he can readjust himself before you move him up to AAA.

ML hitters will lay off of those pitches that he uses for flyball outs, and when he has to come back out over the plate to get a strike they will make him pay. I dunno, I could def. be wrong like I said, but like Tony mentioned, I talked to 2 scouts myself that didn't expect him to reach the majors, and if he did it'd be as a RP.

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If Steve Johnson wasn't related to Dave Johnson, no one would really know who he is or really care he was gone.

I liked the idea of Steve in the org, I am a sucker for the whole "legacy" thing, but at the end of the day I don't think that there was any real need to protect him. I don't think he will stick on anyone's roster this year.

If nothing else he will get a taste of the bigs, come back to us and won't be any worse for the wear.

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Its not any kind of a loss but the Orioles certainly should have protected him over some of the guys they did protect.

So, for me, its a poor decision but one that doesn't matter...Of course, we should never be happy with them making poor decisions, no matter how minor they are.

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I don’t understand why people have to bash his dad. Hey, did you play 12 years of pro ball with parts of 5 seasons in the big leagues? Did you lead a team in wins in the bigs? Stop the bashing. Let’s face it, dad might not have been Nolan Ryan, but he did more than you guys did. Maybe with less physical talent than you had. That’s not easy to do. Steve seams to be the same type of guy with more talent. Also, seams to have his head on straight. Why can’t you just say “Good Luck”? You can project all you want. Steve and his dad have done more than all you guys. But, you want to keep tearing them down.

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Not a big deal, probably.

Still a mistake, though, by a guy who doesn't make many.

This is basically how I feel. Not a huge loss, bit still, depth is depth. Even if he only had a 5% chance of becoming a decent big league starter and a 10% chance of becoming a decent reliever, I'd still like to have him around. You get enough of those guys and someone will beat the odds.

Hopefully he comes back to us, but certainly not something worth getting upset about. Anyone know anything about Snyder?

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If Steve Johnson wasn't related to Dave Johnson, no one would really know who he is or really care he was gone.

I liked the idea of Steve in the org, I am a sucker for the whole "legacy" thing, but at the end of the day I don't think that there was any real need to protect him. I don't think he will stick on anyone's roster this year.

If nothing else he will get a taste of the bigs, come back to us and won't be any worse for the wear.

He had a VERY good year. I like him... never really liked his dad.

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