M’s Select Reegie Corona In Rule 5 Draft
The M’s used the second pick in the Rule 5 draft to pluck 22-year-old middle infielder Reegie Corona out of the Yankees system. He’s played both SS and 2B, though spent most of 2008 playing second base for Trenton in Double-A.
If you liked Willie Bloomquist, you’ll like Corona. He’s a switch-hitter with very little power who knows how to work the count and will take some walks, and he’s also a pretty good baserunner. His total lack of power limits his upside to utility guy, but Corona’s the type of guy that explains why we’ve always said Bloomquist is so easily replaced. These guys are everywhere.
He’s probably the M’s 25th man/pinch runner/backup shortstop. Very little upside, but fills a decent hole that the M’s didn’t have any internal candidates for.
The M’s also had the Royals select LHP Jose Lugo for them, so they essentially made two of the first nine picks. Lugo was the guy I was hoping they popped at #2, so I’m obviously happy they ended up with him. He’s got a heavy sinking fastball that sits in the low-90s which makes him a groundball-and-strikeout reliever. His slider and change need work and his command isn’t great, but he’s got the repertoire to be a very good LOOGY.
In the Triple-A phase, the M’s plucked Patrick Ryan from the Brewers. You can bet Z knows exactly what he’s getting here, and he’s pretty easy to peg – RH extreme sinkerball reliever with mediocre command and no out pitch. It’s the Sean Green/Roy Corcoran skillset that we all know and love.
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Think we’ll take another dip in the major league round Dave? Is there a precedent for that? Maybe an arm for the pen?
Yea, I wouldn’t be surprised to see the M’s go with a reliever in round two.
Does Hullet get moved off the 25 man roster to make room for Corona?
And if commenters here referred to Bloomquist as WFB, can we refer to Corona as RFC?
I pray this guarantees the princess is moving on to other pony pastures.
The M’s selected Patrick Ryan RHP from the Brewers AA affiliate in the AAA portion.
WFB is long gone, Mousse.
Well Ryan is a reliever.
http://www.fangraphs.com/statss.aspx?playerid=$08629&position=P
Here’s Reggie’s firstinning.com page.
And here’s Ryan’s.
Wow, his name is “Reegie” not “Reggie”. He’s a new candidate for the USSMariner Dave Niehaus Memorial Misspelling Award. How good is his glove? Defensive reputations are usually inverse to hitting talent, so I want to believe he’s pretty slick, but I’d like to find a credible source’s take on his fielding.
Reegie ‘The Smoke’ Corona — a new Safeco cult in the making.
“Wow! Reegie smoked that one!”
“Whoa! Reegie’s smokin’ today!”
“Man! Did you see him steal second? He’s like trying to catch smoke out there!”
Wow, Ryan is a bit of a groundballer. 59% last season, 55% and 76% between two levels last season and 66% in ’06.
Reegie, my bad.
We’ve stepped out of the AAA portion. We’ll see if we pick up anyone in the AA Portion.
I’m sure things could change quite a bit from now until April, but the bench looks pretty good!
Corona – Utility
Chavez/Wlad – OF depth
Branyan/Shelton – 1st and Lefty pinch hitter
Clement/Johjima – Catching
All this without a clear primary DH yet!
Looks like we lost RHP Esparza from AA at least in the AAA portion.
I would’ve rather seen an upside pick, like Morlan or Veal. Seems like a 25th man type would’ve stayed around for the second round. Oh well.
We’ve side stepped the AA portion so it looks like we’re done.
I was expecting slightly more activity from us but no biggie.
Yea, would have liked to see them take a shot on a guy like J.D. Martin in the second round, but that’s the tiniest nit you could possibly pick.
Dave, do you remember the last time you woke up in the morning excited to see what the M’s might do today? I mean, it’s like we get to argue about how many angels can dance on the head of a pin because we don’t have to spend hours and lots of words wondering why the team doesn’t get the fundamental concepts.
Now, I am probably just enjoying the warmth of a string of pretty good moves, and there may be things to disagree in earnest about down the road . . but talk about exciting. I no longer drop by USSM hoping that, at best, the team would pick the least bad decision from a selection of pure garbage (or stumble into a good move for all the wrong reasons). Z may have his work cut out for him, but the guy is proving to be a pretty capable tailor, at least so far.
So does this spark a Corona drinking game for Reegie? 🙂
With what we have so far, here are my 2009 25 man roster projections:
C Clement, 1B Braynan, 2b Lopez, SS Bentancourt, 3B Beltre, RF Ichiro, CF Gutierrez, LF Chavez. DH Shelton/Morse/Branyan
Bench: INF Corona, OF Balentein, C Johjima
SP: Hernandez, Bedard, Morrow, Washburn, Silva
Middle/Long Releif: RRS, Lowe, Vargas, Jiminez, Heilman. Corcoran.
Closer: Batista
You can add a second Major League Rule V’er to the mix. We got lefty hurler Jose Lugo from the Royals for cash.
He’s now on the Mariners official website roster and noted by the Royals in a press release.
Any info on him Dave?
Wow, rosterbation using just the guys actually already on the payroll. There’s something I haven’t seen for a while.
And if commenters here referred to Bloomquist as WFB, can we refer to Corona as RFC?
He only gets the “F” if he deserves it, which pretty much requires Rizzs to give him verbal fellatio way out of proportion to his value.
I do like all the possible jests on “Corona” though. Hopefully he’ll be a fan favorite like Charles Gipson rather than WFB.
The post has been updated with info on Lugo.
Here’s Lugo’s firstinning page. He seems a little old for the levels he’s been at.
Age/level doesn’t really matter for pitchers.
Does Ryan have to be on the major league roster, or can he stay in AAA? I expect Lugo and Corona will both be parts of the team obviously.
Sad to see JJ go and will be pissed if Morrow is back in the pen…but it was a happy morning indeed with the new direction we are headed in…
Get rid of the double-play turds, and Wash, Batista, and Silva, and I’m the happiest fan alive…
I can’t belive I’m this excited about not only our MLB roster, but of all the prospect brought in with trades, the MILB FA signings and now the Rule 5…
Gonna be a nice weekend…
Ryan goes to Tacoma. Lugo will come to camp and compete for the LH relief spots with Vargas, Thomas, and Jimenez.
Dave, I assume and hope that you’ll be updating the Future Forty again now that we’ve got more prospects coming in. Any idea on a time table for that?
And thanks to you and the other authors for keeping the threads going and up to date in this exciting time…
As long as we’re asking for updates Dave, would you do a post on what we might expect from the rest of the offseason in light of the big trade and the Rule 5 selections? Seems like we still need a DH and maybe a lefty hitting OF, and we still have starting pitchers and a catcher or two to spare.
Man, you guys are demanding.
Conor’s going to be by later to talk about the minor leaguers the M’s got from the Mets. He and I will work on revising the Future Forty and have a new one up before the end of the month.
And we’ll look at how the rest of the roster will shake out next week.
If you have the time, could you expand upon this comment (i.e. why doesn’t it matter)?
Wow, Z moves fast. He moved key members of the bullpen last night, and brought in their replacements in the same trade and the Rule 5. Baker mentions that Z’s been talking to Boras about Fields. I always thought, given his background, Z would take the do-over on the Fields pick. I wonder if moving Putz and Green changes that. Or perhaps the ’09 draft doesn’t offer any better options in the late first round? Anyway, it seems to me we could still use more righties to fight for those bullpen jobs, so perhaps signing Fields isn’t the negative I’d previously thought.
Given the total lack of dollars spent so far, I’m surprised Bradley isn’t getting more attention from us.
Oh, and don’t think we don’t appreciate it, Dave.
I suspect he’d appreciate an addition to the scholarship fund as well as the words.
[OT]
Wow, Z moves fast.
And yet, as recently as the start of the week there were people on here whining that he was moving too slowly and there wasn’t anything to get excited about. There even seemed to be people who thought the Branyan signing, and other moves of that size/significance, was all we were going to see this offseason.
Terry,
It’s pretty simple. If a guy has major league stuff, who cares if he’s 24 and in A+ ball? That doesn’t make his fastball any slower or less lively. George Sherrill was a fantastic relief prospect in his late-20s.
If a guy’s putting up good K rates with below average stuff then you count his age as an extra hit against him because there’s little projectability. For a guy whose stuff is there, though, he can be a decent prospect whether he’s 17 or 30. The older a guy is, the less likely he is to have a HOF-worthy career, but for rounding out a roster with quality relievers you’re not really concerned with that.
Does that make him RFC if we decide we don’t like him?
I think the post’s headline should say Rule V Draft.
I think the post’s headline should say Rule V Draft.
It’s the Rule 5 Draft. That’s what MLB calls it.
There is no Rule V.
Sean Green returns! Wait, do we still have Corco?
Oops, what MLB calls it.
Was there a typo on Reegie’s birth certificate?