I don't remember ever seeing the AZL team/(s) for the Indians with so little star power. Literally, except for Espino and Bracho these guys are no-names to me. Doesn't mean we won't get major league role players or even a regular or two out of the other guys on these rosters but, man, I am glad that I don't have season tickets for these two teams (can you even GET season tickets for complex teams?).
On the good news front, it looks like we signed Ike Freeman as he appeared in an AZL game tonight.
Early returns on our HS draftees from this year are bad. It is really early but they are currently 1-16 and the college guys are even worse, going 0-9. Again, its early by 1-22 out of our draft picks is not really looking good. Things will turn around but you would expect these guys to start hitting soon, right?
Seeing Nick Sandlin in AAA, the guy still has some work to do. I would not have promoted him from AA but, what the heck. Let him learn his trade at AAA. It is the first time he has struggled as a pro and maybe from those struggles he can become an even more dominant pitcher. Hopefully by this time next year we are talking about a dominant bullpen that includes Hand, Cimber, Wittgren, Sandlin, Karinchak and Nelson with others on the cusp. That would be exciting.
How much longer do we wait to bring up Bradley? Hey, he is hitting in stat-inflating Columbus but... saw him again tonight and, while there is a lot of difference between AAA and ML pitching, he is starting to look more and more like I imagine he did in the AZL that first year. And, yes, he is a MUCH better hitter against lefties, meaning he can learn and grow as a hitter. While he will likely never again match in the majors the eye-popping numbers he had in Arizona, I think he is gaining a level of confidence that will allow him to continue raising his walks and lowering his Ks while keeping his 30+ HR power. The BA may suffer a little in the beginning but I could see him being a .280/.360/.540 guys for about 5 years in his prime. If the Indians want to take advantage of that, they need to start accelerating him towards that prime while they still have a quality team on the field.
Talking about power hitters, I don't know what to make of Will Benson. He is repeating a league and that league is the Midwest League, which has been know on MANY occasions to inflate hitters' stats. As much as I don't want to spoil a good thing, I think it is time to challenge the guy with a promotion to high A ball in Lynchburg. I am still not sold on this guy but we need to find out what we have in him.
With Cody Allen's release and Andrew Miller's troubles, I really think that Francona rode these guys too hard and now it is coming back to bite them. Fortunately both signed lucrative contracts the off-season as these might be the last lucrative contracts either ever signs again. Which brings me to Trevor Bauer. Francona is a players manager and a winning manager. I think that is a bad combination. Very few players want to be taken out of a game or not used. Bauer would continue to pitch to the end of the game every time if Francona let him. I don't care how fit the guy is or how he is throwing harder his last inning, it can't be good for his arm to throw that much. It WILL impact him later in his career if not this season. BTW, if Cody Allen wants to come back I sign him to a minor league deal. Maybe he can reinvent himself in Goodyear. I think he winds up with his old pitching coach instead, however.
To end this night, I am still in the same place I was at the beginning of the season. Tee Indians need to stay the course and not trade ANYONE, and that means don't be buyers OR sellers at the deadline. To turn this from a full rebuild to just a reload, we need to have our core here for another year or so until the new guys get acclimated. I thnk we can still make the playoffs this year and
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