When people are promoted in a company in many cases they leave a void. That is, there is no one good enough to replace them so they just pick the next guy in line, even if he is incompetent.
So it goes with the Cleveland Indians.
In another move whose timing can only be described as moronic, the Indians fired Manny Acta today.
What is to be gained by this? There are 6 freakin' games left!
Were the Indians ticked at Acta because he won 2 games in Chicago, jeopardizing their 4th slot in the draft next year?
Aside from that, what on earth could have caused them to fire him now?
Manny Acta stinks as a manager. I said when he was hired that it was a joke to have a guy who stunk it up in Washington as your manager. As I wrote before, his teams have tanked it after May in every year except when they stunk equally bad before and after May. Saying he did the best he can to win is like saying I did the best I could to be a major league baseball player. Lots of effort, no talent. Like me, Acta should have given up after little league.
But firing him now? Did Dolan fall asleep in June and just wake up now? I don't think so. But then why?
Here is my theory. Antonnetti knows he is gone and he was going to get the pleasure of publically humiliating Acta by dumping him now, during the season. Say what you want about Acta stinking but Antonnetti is the real cause of this mess. Between Antonnetti and Shapiro/Mirabelli/Grant, this franchise is so messed up it could very well, as I predicted after the Jimenez trade went south, not have another winning season for 10 years.
Now, that being said, they do have a GOOD chance to win next year if they invest in three players (#2 starter, power hitting RH firstbaseman AND left fielder) and if everyone has a good to great year. While you may laugh at this it is very possible. They really have a pretty strong team if they can get a couple or three pretty good players. No superstars like Pujols or Miguel Cabrera or Konerko but solid from 1-9, 1-5 and in innings 7-9, with REAL depth in the pitching staff.
This team, with the right manager, can win next year. I wonder if the Indians are thinking that manager is Sandy Alomar Jr. and wanted to snag him before his contract expired.
I hope so because if they canned Acta because they were upset with his perfomance this year, they were only about 60 games too late (actually almost 500 games too late for my taste). But, with that clown Antonnetti at the helm and with Shapiro apparently taking a hands off instead of hands around Antonnetti's throat approach, they could have really thought that firing your manager with 6 games left made some sort of statement to the fans about the team's desire to win next year.
So, Acta is gone and Antonnetti should be gone. If life was built around poetic justice, Antonnetti should be banned to being a vendor next year at the Prog. That way the few fans who show up will have the opportunity to tell Chris up close and personal what an idiot he is and how much they REALLY don't like that he has doomed this franchise to 10 years of bad, bad baseball.
Vinnie Rottino playing, Manny Acta fired. Yep, polish up that resume' Chris. You are on the street in days!
Thursday, September 27, 2012
Saturday, September 15, 2012
Time to shut Zach McAllister down!!!!!
The Washington Nationals are making news by shutting down their young stud pitcher, Steven Strasburg in the middle of their first playoff run in, well, forever. That's right, they are in line to go the playoffs for the first time in their franchise history and they are shutting down maybe their best pitcher? Yes, they want to limit his innings coming back from Tommy John surgery.
So why am I telling you this?
The Indians have just lost Josh Tomlin. In 2010 Tomlin pitched 180 innings. The most he had pitched before that in a season is 145 innings. Flash forward to 2012 and Tomlin, pitching badly, goes down with Tommy John surgery.
Carlos Carrasco pitched 181 innings in 2009, the year the Indians got him in the Cliff Lee trade. The most he had ever pitched before that was 159 innings when the Phillies probably overused him two years before that in low A ball in as a 19 year old who had never pitched more than 83 innings!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Flash forward to 2011 and Carrasco had TJ surgery.
You could make the same case for Hector Rondon when he transitioned from rookie ball to Lake County in 2006. Ditto for Alexander Perez in 2009.
The Indians and other teams have had a philosophy where they don't want a starting pitcher's innings to increase by over a certain amount each year. They feel that puts extra stress on the pitcher's arm that, while it may not show up the next year, will show up in a few years in either worsening performance or in shoulder or elbow surgery.
So, here we are in the lost season of 2012. We need to speak about Zach McAllister.
The most innings McAllister has pitched previously in a season was in 2011 when he pitched 173 innings which was up from the 150 innings he pitched in 2010. At this point McAllister has pitched in 172 innings. He is likely to get 4 more starts in the 18 remaining games. That could push his numbers over 200 innings.
The question is, do we risk it? The answer is no. I think we shut him down after his next start, which is Wednesday, September 19th. That will give him a career high in innings but no an excessive increase over 2011 like the increase he had in 2011 compared to 2010. I think increasing his innings significantly for the second straight year could easily lead to a problem. Maybe not in 2013 but the risk would go up in 2014. If we are going to compete next year we need guys like McAllister to be injury-free and productive.
No sense burning out his arm this year. We have Gomez to backfill McAllister's spot in the rotation now that Huff is starting again. Time to shut McAllister down. I hope the Indians are listening!.
So why am I telling you this?
The Indians have just lost Josh Tomlin. In 2010 Tomlin pitched 180 innings. The most he had pitched before that in a season is 145 innings. Flash forward to 2012 and Tomlin, pitching badly, goes down with Tommy John surgery.
Carlos Carrasco pitched 181 innings in 2009, the year the Indians got him in the Cliff Lee trade. The most he had ever pitched before that was 159 innings when the Phillies probably overused him two years before that in low A ball in as a 19 year old who had never pitched more than 83 innings!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Flash forward to 2011 and Carrasco had TJ surgery.
You could make the same case for Hector Rondon when he transitioned from rookie ball to Lake County in 2006. Ditto for Alexander Perez in 2009.
The Indians and other teams have had a philosophy where they don't want a starting pitcher's innings to increase by over a certain amount each year. They feel that puts extra stress on the pitcher's arm that, while it may not show up the next year, will show up in a few years in either worsening performance or in shoulder or elbow surgery.
So, here we are in the lost season of 2012. We need to speak about Zach McAllister.
The most innings McAllister has pitched previously in a season was in 2011 when he pitched 173 innings which was up from the 150 innings he pitched in 2010. At this point McAllister has pitched in 172 innings. He is likely to get 4 more starts in the 18 remaining games. That could push his numbers over 200 innings.
The question is, do we risk it? The answer is no. I think we shut him down after his next start, which is Wednesday, September 19th. That will give him a career high in innings but no an excessive increase over 2011 like the increase he had in 2011 compared to 2010. I think increasing his innings significantly for the second straight year could easily lead to a problem. Maybe not in 2013 but the risk would go up in 2014. If we are going to compete next year we need guys like McAllister to be injury-free and productive.
No sense burning out his arm this year. We have Gomez to backfill McAllister's spot in the rotation now that Huff is starting again. Time to shut McAllister down. I hope the Indians are listening!.
Wednesday, September 12, 2012
Why is Brent Lillibridge still with this team?
He is pathetic.
Can someone please explain to me why Juan Diaz is not up here right now?
No one can seriously think that Lillibridge should be on this team next year. Not only is he bad but that would require that he occupy a roster spot all winter, something that for a small market team is unthinkable: expose another player to the Rule 5 draft to protect a AAAA guy who is a dime-a-dozen and can signed to a minor league deal any day.
While Diaz may not be completely ready, he is already on the 40 man roster and actually HAS a future in the majors. He should waive to Lillibridge on the way up as Lillibridge is on the way down.
C'mon, Antonnetti. The tryout is over and Lillibridge sucks. Dump him and bring up Diaz!
Can someone please explain to me why Juan Diaz is not up here right now?
No one can seriously think that Lillibridge should be on this team next year. Not only is he bad but that would require that he occupy a roster spot all winter, something that for a small market team is unthinkable: expose another player to the Rule 5 draft to protect a AAAA guy who is a dime-a-dozen and can signed to a minor league deal any day.
While Diaz may not be completely ready, he is already on the 40 man roster and actually HAS a future in the majors. He should waive to Lillibridge on the way up as Lillibridge is on the way down.
C'mon, Antonnetti. The tryout is over and Lillibridge sucks. Dump him and bring up Diaz!
Monday, September 10, 2012
The Phillies call up Darin Ruf. It makes you wonder.
The Phillies, like a lot of teams, have what are called organizational players.
The plain fact is that this is not tennis. You can't play the game by yourself. Baseball is a 25-man game (24 in some minor leagues). If you have 5 real prospects on your roster you are doing well. Who are the other 20 guys? They are organizational players, guys who probably have little chance of getting to the majors but who cling to that hope, working their way up to the ladder to AAA where they hope they can get that chance to play in the bigs. For some, like the legendary Moonlight Graham in "Field of Dreams", it is just to play at all in the big leagues, to fulfill a dream born in childhood. For others, it is to try to carve out a career as a big leaguer. Still, what drives a lot of these guys is the love of the game and the chance to play it at the highest level, for whatever their reason.
The Phillies just called up Darin Ruf. Ruf is a 26 year old in AA. Twenty-six year olds in AA are not really propsects. They especailly aren't prospects when they are drafted in the 20th round as college seniors out of Creighton Universtiy. The Darin Rufs of the world are organizational players.
Why do I care about the Phillies calling up Darin Ruf? Because this is the organization that the Indians should be. Charlie Manuel is all about the little guy, the guy who has never gotten a chance. When he was manager of the Indians in 2000-2, he ran across one of these organizational players, Chris Coste. The Indians sucked in 2002 but failed to give Coste, who was hitting over .300 for the second year in AAA, even a Moonlight Graham sniff of the majors.
Coste went on to get a WS ring and play in parts of 5 seasons in the majors with over 800 AB and a . .327/.416/.744 slash line.
Charlie Manuel knows that you give these organizational players chances MOSTLY because they have worked hard and deserve it. He gets that your organization makes a name for itself by giving its own a chance when that chance is deserved.
Let's look at the organizational guys the Indians have dissed since Coste with the ML record that year in parentheses after the year.
2012 (20+ games under .500) - Jared Goedert - two good seasons in AAA
2012 (20+ games under .500)- Tim Fedroff - the jury is still out on whether this guy will get his chance, but he should have had one this September and didn't get it. Except for base stealing, Fedroff has it all over Ezequiel Carrera who will probably have 300 big league plate appearances before Fedroff, born 4 months earlier than Carrera, ever gets his chance.
2011 (80-82) - Jerad Head - 17 AB was all the Indians could give this guy
2011 (80-82 - Beau Mills - Probably a reach but it was the guy's best year in the minors. We cut him the next spring. Why not give him a cup of coffee on the way out the door.
2010 (69-93) - Wes Hodges
2010 (69-93) - Jose Constanza
2010 (69-93) - Josh Rodriguez
2009 (65-97) - Jordan Brown - He actually got all of 87 AB the next year but none in 2009 after winning, in succession, the league batting crowns in A, AA and AAA. But no ABs in 2009 after hitting .336 at AAA.
There are a number of other examples, some of whom, like Coste, reached the majors once they left our organization (e.g. Jonathon van Every).
Then we have the very undeserved September callup of Nuiman Romero a number of years ago when other guys who performed much better never got called up, some of whom NEVER made it to the majors even though they deserved a callup more than Romero.
Add to those guys the prospects we have given away for virtually nothing: Brandon Phillips, Jeremy Guthrie, Willy Taveras, Luke Scott, Ryan Church, Macier Izturis, Cory Burns after giving them insufficient or NO chances even when they had sterling stats in the minors and you have a pattern of the Indians not giving their own real prospects a decent chance and not even giving their organizational soldiers who have performed a well-deserved 'cup of coffee'.
The problem is that, in those years we have had to endure the likes of Brent Lillibridge, Shelley Duncan, Chad Durbin, Aaron Cunningham, Travis Buck, Justin Germano and others, all when there were REAL prospects who could have gotten a chance.
We just aren't real good at giving our own prospects a decent chance...or even giving our producing organizational guys their afternoon in the sun.
As I have said before, this is an organization that is gaining the reputation of favoring AAAA guys over its own prospects and not giving its organizational guys their ML experience.
I am pretty sure prospects in the Phillies organization are much more positive about their chances of getting to the majors if they perform well than similar prospects in the Indians' organization.
When you are a small market team you can't be doing these things or you become the Kansas City Royals who, BTW, are ahead of us in the standings now with us playing Lillibridge, Hannahan and Kotchman and the rest of the AAAA guys we have been parading through here in recent years.
The plain fact is that this is not tennis. You can't play the game by yourself. Baseball is a 25-man game (24 in some minor leagues). If you have 5 real prospects on your roster you are doing well. Who are the other 20 guys? They are organizational players, guys who probably have little chance of getting to the majors but who cling to that hope, working their way up to the ladder to AAA where they hope they can get that chance to play in the bigs. For some, like the legendary Moonlight Graham in "Field of Dreams", it is just to play at all in the big leagues, to fulfill a dream born in childhood. For others, it is to try to carve out a career as a big leaguer. Still, what drives a lot of these guys is the love of the game and the chance to play it at the highest level, for whatever their reason.
The Phillies just called up Darin Ruf. Ruf is a 26 year old in AA. Twenty-six year olds in AA are not really propsects. They especailly aren't prospects when they are drafted in the 20th round as college seniors out of Creighton Universtiy. The Darin Rufs of the world are organizational players.
Why do I care about the Phillies calling up Darin Ruf? Because this is the organization that the Indians should be. Charlie Manuel is all about the little guy, the guy who has never gotten a chance. When he was manager of the Indians in 2000-2, he ran across one of these organizational players, Chris Coste. The Indians sucked in 2002 but failed to give Coste, who was hitting over .300 for the second year in AAA, even a Moonlight Graham sniff of the majors.
Coste went on to get a WS ring and play in parts of 5 seasons in the majors with over 800 AB and a . .327/.416/.744 slash line.
Charlie Manuel knows that you give these organizational players chances MOSTLY because they have worked hard and deserve it. He gets that your organization makes a name for itself by giving its own a chance when that chance is deserved.
Let's look at the organizational guys the Indians have dissed since Coste with the ML record that year in parentheses after the year.
2012 (20+ games under .500) - Jared Goedert - two good seasons in AAA
2012 (20+ games under .500)- Tim Fedroff - the jury is still out on whether this guy will get his chance, but he should have had one this September and didn't get it. Except for base stealing, Fedroff has it all over Ezequiel Carrera who will probably have 300 big league plate appearances before Fedroff, born 4 months earlier than Carrera, ever gets his chance.
2011 (80-82) - Jerad Head - 17 AB was all the Indians could give this guy
2011 (80-82 - Beau Mills - Probably a reach but it was the guy's best year in the minors. We cut him the next spring. Why not give him a cup of coffee on the way out the door.
2010 (69-93) - Wes Hodges
2010 (69-93) - Jose Constanza
2010 (69-93) - Josh Rodriguez
2009 (65-97) - Jordan Brown - He actually got all of 87 AB the next year but none in 2009 after winning, in succession, the league batting crowns in A, AA and AAA. But no ABs in 2009 after hitting .336 at AAA.
There are a number of other examples, some of whom, like Coste, reached the majors once they left our organization (e.g. Jonathon van Every).
Then we have the very undeserved September callup of Nuiman Romero a number of years ago when other guys who performed much better never got called up, some of whom NEVER made it to the majors even though they deserved a callup more than Romero.
Add to those guys the prospects we have given away for virtually nothing: Brandon Phillips, Jeremy Guthrie, Willy Taveras, Luke Scott, Ryan Church, Macier Izturis, Cory Burns after giving them insufficient or NO chances even when they had sterling stats in the minors and you have a pattern of the Indians not giving their own real prospects a decent chance and not even giving their organizational soldiers who have performed a well-deserved 'cup of coffee'.
The problem is that, in those years we have had to endure the likes of Brent Lillibridge, Shelley Duncan, Chad Durbin, Aaron Cunningham, Travis Buck, Justin Germano and others, all when there were REAL prospects who could have gotten a chance.
We just aren't real good at giving our own prospects a decent chance...or even giving our producing organizational guys their afternoon in the sun.
As I have said before, this is an organization that is gaining the reputation of favoring AAAA guys over its own prospects and not giving its organizational guys their ML experience.
I am pretty sure prospects in the Phillies organization are much more positive about their chances of getting to the majors if they perform well than similar prospects in the Indians' organization.
When you are a small market team you can't be doing these things or you become the Kansas City Royals who, BTW, are ahead of us in the standings now with us playing Lillibridge, Hannahan and Kotchman and the rest of the AAAA guys we have been parading through here in recent years.
Wednesday, September 5, 2012
Chris Perez, you're an idiot!
You know, baseball players, hell, people in general, get to blow off steam once in a while.
However, when you're an idiot, I guess you just feel you can do it all the time.
Most of what Perez says is true: fans who won't pony up for tickets because they don't have the money but were able to pony up for Cavs tickets when they were hot. Yes, the economy is depressed. But surely there are 40,000 people that have enough disposable income (or 160,000 with one quarter of enough disposable income) to support this team.
What Perez says about making trades and signing free agents is correct. However, we made the Jimenez trade. We tried to sign Beltran and, truth be told, Willingham. They just got better offers, all things considered, elsewhere.
You know, if Chris Perez was still in St. Louis he would probably be setting up Jason Motte.
Chris Perez has made a lot of money here and his success here will make him a lot more in the future. That's one of the great things about a talent- and money-strapped club. Young guys sometimes (though not often in Cleveland) get the opportunity to showcase themselves. Such is the case for Perez. So he should shut the F--- up and continue to pitch well if he wants out of here.
Have his comments over this year been a premeditated attempt to get himself traded? Who knows. My guess is that he is just an idiot.
Let's hope we get a great offer for him. If we don't we keep him, stick a rag in his mouth, and send him out to pitch in the 9th next year. We are a much stronger team WITH Chris Perez and Vinnie Pestano than we are with just Pestano and some trash that some other team wants to dump on us in return for Perez.
This FO has shown no aptitude for turning situations like this into something positive. CC, Lee and others show me that trading Chris Perez at this point (unless we are overwhelmed by a team going for it next year) would be a stupid thing to do.
Not any more stupid than what usually comes out of this guy's mouth. But stupid, nonetheless.
So, FO, don't trade this guy on a knee-jerk. You don't do addition-by-subtraction if you don't even know how to do addition or substraction and the Indians' FO needs remedial 1st grade math, to be sure.
However, when you're an idiot, I guess you just feel you can do it all the time.
Most of what Perez says is true: fans who won't pony up for tickets because they don't have the money but were able to pony up for Cavs tickets when they were hot. Yes, the economy is depressed. But surely there are 40,000 people that have enough disposable income (or 160,000 with one quarter of enough disposable income) to support this team.
What Perez says about making trades and signing free agents is correct. However, we made the Jimenez trade. We tried to sign Beltran and, truth be told, Willingham. They just got better offers, all things considered, elsewhere.
You know, if Chris Perez was still in St. Louis he would probably be setting up Jason Motte.
Chris Perez has made a lot of money here and his success here will make him a lot more in the future. That's one of the great things about a talent- and money-strapped club. Young guys sometimes (though not often in Cleveland) get the opportunity to showcase themselves. Such is the case for Perez. So he should shut the F--- up and continue to pitch well if he wants out of here.
Have his comments over this year been a premeditated attempt to get himself traded? Who knows. My guess is that he is just an idiot.
Let's hope we get a great offer for him. If we don't we keep him, stick a rag in his mouth, and send him out to pitch in the 9th next year. We are a much stronger team WITH Chris Perez and Vinnie Pestano than we are with just Pestano and some trash that some other team wants to dump on us in return for Perez.
This FO has shown no aptitude for turning situations like this into something positive. CC, Lee and others show me that trading Chris Perez at this point (unless we are overwhelmed by a team going for it next year) would be a stupid thing to do.
Not any more stupid than what usually comes out of this guy's mouth. But stupid, nonetheless.
So, FO, don't trade this guy on a knee-jerk. You don't do addition-by-subtraction if you don't even know how to do addition or substraction and the Indians' FO needs remedial 1st grade math, to be sure.
Tuesday, September 4, 2012
Post-2012 Indians Top 125 Prospect List
Top prospect lists created at this time of year are at one time the most easy and most difficult to prepare. So many things change over the winter. Trades, releases, Rule 5 draft and performance in the AFL, Parallel League and Fall Instructs. All those things change the face of a prospect list. Still, below is my best list at the moment. Expect this list to change as gather more information on these players over the winter.
The standards for being on this list is 130 or less big league ABs, 50 innings pitched, or, for relief pitchers, 30 relief appearances. Assumptions made include that Cody Allen and Corey Kluber will not reach 30 appearances or 50 IP and that Russ Canzler will not reach 130 ABs. I have gone to 125 players although most of those guys below 50 are based on very little data.
The thing that is striking to me about this list is that our top prospects are SS, that we have many more question marks than I would like to see at this time and, finally, that there is so much upside to this list that it is umbelievable. Lots of guys with lots of intriguing tools who may not go anywhere or who may blossom into really good ML players. Ronny Rodriguez and Carlos Moncrief are two such guys. Intriguing on a Jonathon Van Every level. Lots of tools but with significant holes still in their games.
If forture is with us we could be looking at a great farm system that appears only to be marginal right now. However, the chances of that are slim. Still, as an Indians' fan that is probably the best you could hope for at this point.
Here goes:
The standards for being on this list is 130 or less big league ABs, 50 innings pitched, or, for relief pitchers, 30 relief appearances. Assumptions made include that Cody Allen and Corey Kluber will not reach 30 appearances or 50 IP and that Russ Canzler will not reach 130 ABs. I have gone to 125 players although most of those guys below 50 are based on very little data.
The thing that is striking to me about this list is that our top prospects are SS, that we have many more question marks than I would like to see at this time and, finally, that there is so much upside to this list that it is umbelievable. Lots of guys with lots of intriguing tools who may not go anywhere or who may blossom into really good ML players. Ronny Rodriguez and Carlos Moncrief are two such guys. Intriguing on a Jonathon Van Every level. Lots of tools but with significant holes still in their games.
If forture is with us we could be looking at a great farm system that appears only to be marginal right now. However, the chances of that are slim. Still, as an Indians' fan that is probably the best you could hope for at this point.
Here goes:
1. Francisco Lindor – SS
2. Dorsyss Paulino – SS
3. Tony Wolters – SS
4. Mitch Brown – RHSP
5. Cody Allen - RHRP
6. Chun Chen – 1B/C
7. Ronny Rodriguez – SS
8. Jesus Aguilar – 1B
9. Tyler Naquin - OF
10. Shawn Armstrong – RHRP
11. Giovanny Urshela – 3B
12. Scott Barnes – LHRP
13. Juan Diaz – SS
14. Giovanny Soto – RHSP
15. Dylan Baker – RHSP
16. LeVon Washington – OF
17. D’vonne McClure – OF
18. Luigi Rodriguez OF
19. Alex Lavisky – C
20. Hector Rondon – RHSP
21. Danny Salazar – RHSP
22. Cord Phelps – Utility
23. Tim Fedroff – OF
24. T.J. McFarland – LHSP
25. T.J. House – LHSP
26. Rob Bryson – RHRP
27. Chen Lee – RHRP
28. Cole Cook – RHRP
29. Nelson Rodriguez – C/1B
30. Alexander Perez – LHSP
31. Elvis Araujo – LHSP
32. Matt Packer - LHSP
33. Austin Adams – RHSP
34. Jose Ramirez – SS
35. Bryson Myles – OF
36. Cody Anderson – RHP
37. Roberto Perez – C
38. Robbie Aviles – RHSP
39. Carlos Moncrief – OF
40. Anthony Santander – OF
41. Corey Kluber – RHSP
42. Felix Sterling – RHP
43. Kieran Lovegrove – LHP
44. Joseph Colon - RHSP
45. Luis DeJesus - RHSP
46. Trey Haley - RHRP
47. Jake Sisco – RHSP
48. Caleb Hamrick - RHSP
49. Dillon Howard - RHSP
50. Josh McAdams – OF
51. Tyler Booth – OF
52. Jared Goedert – 3B
53. Jake Lowery – C
54. Charlie Valerio – C
55. Claudio Bautista - SS
56. Joe Wendle – 2B
57. Jacob Lee - RHRP
58. Alex Monsalve – C
59. Bryce Stowell – RHRP
60. Tyler Sturdevant – RHRP
61. Adam Abraham – 1B/3B
62. Tyler Holt – OF
63. Clayton Cook – RHSP
64. Matt Langwell – RHRP
65. Thomas Neal – OF
66. Russ Canzler - Utility
67. Michael Goodnight – RHSP
68. Preston Guilmet – RHRP
69. Vinnie Rottino - Utility
70. Enosil Tejada – RHRP
71. Jordan Smith – 3B/OF
72. Nick Weglarz – OF
73. Jorge Martinez – 2B
74. Bo Greenwell – OF
75. Jairo Kelly - SS
76. Jordan Henry – OF
77. Brett Brach – RHSP
78. Eric Berger – LHRP
79. Mike Rayl – RHSP
80. Shawn Morimando – LHSP
81. Anthony Gallas – OF
82. Kyle Blair – RHSP
83. Kyle Bellows – 3B
84. Eric Haase – C
85. Joshua Nervis – RHRP
86. Benny Suarez – LHRP
87. Daniel Jimenez – RHSP
88. Louis Head – RHRP
89. Juan Nivar - RHP
90. Luis Gomez – RHP
91. Anthony Vizcaya - RHP
92. Manny Carmona – RHRP
93. Odomar Valez – 2B
94. Victor Cabral – OF
95. Michael Depen - OF
96. Erik Gonzales – 2B
97. Bryan Price – RHRP
98. Paulo Espino – RHSP
99. Josh Martin – RHRP
100. Thomas White - RHRP
101. Jerrud Sabourin – 1B
102. Logan Vick – OF
103. Yhoxian Medina – 2B
104. Juan Romero – 3B
105. Jose Flores – RHRP
106. Todd Hankins – 2B
107. Grant Sides – RHRP
108. Ryan Merritt - RHSP
109. Robel Garcia – 3B
110. Anderson Polanco – RHP
111. Leonardo Castillo – 3B
112. Jeremie Tice – 1B
113. Mason Radeke – RHRP
114. Nick Pasquale – RHRP
115. Jeff Johnson – RHRP
116. Jordan Cooper – RHP
117. Wil Roberts – RHSP
118. Luis Morel – RHSP
119. Rafael Homblert – RHRP
120. Scott Peoples – RHRP
121. Cody Penny – RHRP
122. Luis Lugo – RHSP
123. Alexis Paredes – RHRP
124. Carlos Diaz – RHSP
125. Ramon Rodriguez - RHSP
Monday, September 3, 2012
The stupidity of this organization shows through again!
So we have now had our second round of September callups. Not included in these callups are either Tim Fedroff or Jared Goedert.
Now I am not saying that these guys are the be-all, end-all and that they are top prospects. They are not. Goedert hasn't shown offensively or defensively he is a ML starter. Fedroff has shown just enough for people to know he is a solid 4th outfielder in the majors, when he is given that chance.
But both guys deserve a chance based on their performance this year and in past years.
Add to this that Juan Diaz did not get recalled, either. He had played well after his demotion from the majors, including playing well at AAA after his promotion there. We had already used up his option for this year and he was on the 40 and would be in the mix to play next year. But he didn't get called up, either. The Indians, instead, chose to look further at Brent Lillibridge who is a AAAA stiff if one ever existed.
Instead, we get this:
Vinnie Rottino - a 32-year old guy who has failed with each of his 5 different ML trials and owns a career .178 ML average. He plays the same positions as Goedert. Bringing him up is a slap in the face to every Indians' minor leaguer who has toiled for years to get at least a shot at the majors. Rottino has had 5 and he has failed each one. This is nearly as much of a slap at all the Indians' major leaguers as the promotion of the undeserving Nuiman Romero was a few years ago.
David Huff - Hey, I love Huff and wish they would have given him a shot instead of getting Derek Lowe this off-season. But it didn't happen. However, Huff performed like horse crap most of the season. Yeah, he would have a good game but then he would follow with a clunker. Four of his last 9 starts were good, 5 sucked. So went his season. Hey, his home ERA in Columbus was much better than his road ERA if you can believe that. To me, these results represent a guy not taking AAA seriously enough. Realize this was his 5th different year in AAA. He also had close to 50 big league starts. Hey, if he doesn't have it any more his performance would have been more evenly mediocre.
Russ Canzler - I have no problem with Canzler getting a callup. My problem is with him getting a callup and Fedroff and Goedert not getting called up. Canzler was dumped by his organization for a couple of bucks because they were going to DFA him. His performance this year was mediocre playing in Columbus if you consider his AAA experience, performance there last year and the fact that he hit .232 away from Columbus this year.
Thomas Neal - Again, no problem taking a look at this guy. Like Canzler, Neal will be a minor league free agent this winter if we don't roster him. Thus taking a look at him makes sense, but NOT at the expense of the more deserving Fedroff, who performed better at AA and AAA this year than Neal performed at AA.
Frank Hermann - I am OK with this one. You can't really complain about one of our guys getting another shot in September, especially when it is probably his last shot here if he messes it up. Relievers can get a lot of September trials.
Scott Maine - See Hermann. Maine has had some success and seeing him now as a reliever, especially without Rafael Perez being available, makes a lot of sense. Still think he is a AAAA guy but the situation is right and he is not blocking anyone so what the heck. In September I am OK with this.
Cord Phelps - Of all the callups this is the only one that makes sense. His numbers, as a second baseman, were as good as Canzler's, all things considered. Plus he has experience at other positions, SS and LF. I mean, when we are giving ABs to Brent Lillibridge, Phelps, as a 25 year old switch hitter, should be getting those ABs.
So, the Indians have once again messed up something really simple. We may still get 1-2 Akron guys called up after the playoffs (Chun Chen, for example) and we may yet see Lonnie Chisenhall and Rafael Perez yet this year.
But not calling up Fedroff and Goedert in light of having Neal and Rottino (and even Canzler) and promotion of Huff after his terrible year, all adds to the reputation of this organization of not giving their own guys a chance and giving unfair chances to AAAA castoffs from other organizations and its failed own prospects.
As I said before, that methodoly has stunk and HURT this organization in many ways. Why does the ownership of this team allow this to keep happening. At least, it gives the organization a black eye with its own prospects, at worst it makes us look like a laughing stock that good players don't want to play for.
September is supposed to be a fun month for a losing team when you get a chance to look at your own prospects and you feel good for those guys who have, after years of trying, finally gotten to the bigs. Except in Cleveland, where I only feel embarassment for this organization and feel bad for prospects dissed this year and in the past.
Now I am not saying that these guys are the be-all, end-all and that they are top prospects. They are not. Goedert hasn't shown offensively or defensively he is a ML starter. Fedroff has shown just enough for people to know he is a solid 4th outfielder in the majors, when he is given that chance.
But both guys deserve a chance based on their performance this year and in past years.
Add to this that Juan Diaz did not get recalled, either. He had played well after his demotion from the majors, including playing well at AAA after his promotion there. We had already used up his option for this year and he was on the 40 and would be in the mix to play next year. But he didn't get called up, either. The Indians, instead, chose to look further at Brent Lillibridge who is a AAAA stiff if one ever existed.
Instead, we get this:
Vinnie Rottino - a 32-year old guy who has failed with each of his 5 different ML trials and owns a career .178 ML average. He plays the same positions as Goedert. Bringing him up is a slap in the face to every Indians' minor leaguer who has toiled for years to get at least a shot at the majors. Rottino has had 5 and he has failed each one. This is nearly as much of a slap at all the Indians' major leaguers as the promotion of the undeserving Nuiman Romero was a few years ago.
David Huff - Hey, I love Huff and wish they would have given him a shot instead of getting Derek Lowe this off-season. But it didn't happen. However, Huff performed like horse crap most of the season. Yeah, he would have a good game but then he would follow with a clunker. Four of his last 9 starts were good, 5 sucked. So went his season. Hey, his home ERA in Columbus was much better than his road ERA if you can believe that. To me, these results represent a guy not taking AAA seriously enough. Realize this was his 5th different year in AAA. He also had close to 50 big league starts. Hey, if he doesn't have it any more his performance would have been more evenly mediocre.
Russ Canzler - I have no problem with Canzler getting a callup. My problem is with him getting a callup and Fedroff and Goedert not getting called up. Canzler was dumped by his organization for a couple of bucks because they were going to DFA him. His performance this year was mediocre playing in Columbus if you consider his AAA experience, performance there last year and the fact that he hit .232 away from Columbus this year.
Thomas Neal - Again, no problem taking a look at this guy. Like Canzler, Neal will be a minor league free agent this winter if we don't roster him. Thus taking a look at him makes sense, but NOT at the expense of the more deserving Fedroff, who performed better at AA and AAA this year than Neal performed at AA.
Frank Hermann - I am OK with this one. You can't really complain about one of our guys getting another shot in September, especially when it is probably his last shot here if he messes it up. Relievers can get a lot of September trials.
Scott Maine - See Hermann. Maine has had some success and seeing him now as a reliever, especially without Rafael Perez being available, makes a lot of sense. Still think he is a AAAA guy but the situation is right and he is not blocking anyone so what the heck. In September I am OK with this.
Cord Phelps - Of all the callups this is the only one that makes sense. His numbers, as a second baseman, were as good as Canzler's, all things considered. Plus he has experience at other positions, SS and LF. I mean, when we are giving ABs to Brent Lillibridge, Phelps, as a 25 year old switch hitter, should be getting those ABs.
So, the Indians have once again messed up something really simple. We may still get 1-2 Akron guys called up after the playoffs (Chun Chen, for example) and we may yet see Lonnie Chisenhall and Rafael Perez yet this year.
But not calling up Fedroff and Goedert in light of having Neal and Rottino (and even Canzler) and promotion of Huff after his terrible year, all adds to the reputation of this organization of not giving their own guys a chance and giving unfair chances to AAAA castoffs from other organizations and its failed own prospects.
As I said before, that methodoly has stunk and HURT this organization in many ways. Why does the ownership of this team allow this to keep happening. At least, it gives the organization a black eye with its own prospects, at worst it makes us look like a laughing stock that good players don't want to play for.
September is supposed to be a fun month for a losing team when you get a chance to look at your own prospects and you feel good for those guys who have, after years of trying, finally gotten to the bigs. Except in Cleveland, where I only feel embarassment for this organization and feel bad for prospects dissed this year and in the past.
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