I don't know about you, but when the parent club isn't performing well, I tend to focus on the farm.  As therapy goes, it's not great, but the price is right.

I've noticed what appear to be changes in pitching roles.  At Lake County, it looks as if Carlton Smith has been moved to the bullpen.  He's had three short relief stints since July 21.  Kinston's Ryan Edell, who has had a good season as a starter, was used twice in relief last week.  At Akron, Reid Santos pitched an inning of relief yesterday.

Is there something system-wide going on here?  Are they trying to protect guys by limiting their innings without actually shutting them down?  Is it a coincidence that these guys are all lefties (our system is rich in lefties)?

Then, speaking of lefties, there's Ryan Morris:
http://web.minorleaguebaseball.com/milb/stats/stats.jsp?n=Ryan%20Morris&pos=P&sid=milb&t =p_pbp&pid=502047

Small sample size, I know, but Morris was drafted in the 4th round out of a NC high school in 2006, and they seem to be treating him like an elite prospect.  Has anyone seen him pitch?