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The Pitching Pipeline

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?

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Re: The Pitching Pipeline
Interessting contemplation
c'mon now dawg....

by GermanysTribeFan on Jul 30, 2007 8:45 AM EDT   0 recs

Re: The Pitching Pipeline
ken - yes, they've been putting selected starters in the pen to save their arms, Smith and Edell among them. Cleveland may get have to respond to the same issue with Carmona later this year if it looks like we're playoff bound - get him some rest somehow to prevent a major increase in innings from last year.

Apparently they're doing it on a case by case basis, taking into account age, previous year's innings, recent history of arm trouble, etc. Despite this attention, pitchers still get hurt at a maddening rate. Witness Huff, Sipp, Martin, Miller, etc. this year.

And yes, Morris' promotion to Lake County has gone very well so far (2 starts). But keep in mind they already have 2 starters in their rotation that are his age or younger and have already logged 20 or so starts - the sample size is pretty lopsided still. Safe to say he is one of many talented teen arms on the Tribe farm right now.

by mcrose on Jul 30, 2007 11:46 AM EDT   0 recs

Re: The Pitching Pipeline
Thanks for your reply.  I hate to think about the Tribe sans Fausto, even for a little while.
ken from alexandria

by ken from alexandria on Jul 30, 2007 3:20 PM EDT to parent up   0 recs

Re: The Pitching Pipeline
Well if we neeed to rest him a little because we've clinched a playoff berth, I'll be pretty happy. The tough decision would be deciding if and when and how to give him a break if the playoff chase comes down to the wire...

by mcrose on Jul 30, 2007 3:47 PM EDT to parent up   0 recs

They could compensate for that by skipping
some of his starts in late August to September, perhaps with a sixth starter like a Laffey, Sowers, Lee, Smith, Harris, DuBose, etc.  That would be one way to cut down on Carmona's IP without shutting him down or moving him to the bullpen (though I'd doubt they'd do that now anyway.)

Just my 2 cents.  :-)

Go Tribe! :-)

by indiansfan on Jul 30, 2007 9:43 PM EDT to parent up   0 recs

Re: The Pitching Pipeline
If I remember correctly, Morris got 2nd round money. He was clearly thought of more than a 4th rounder, but there was some signability questions. So highly touted, left handed, and performing well at his first stint at low A. What is not to like?

by oxforddave on Jul 30, 2007 3:49 PM EDT   0 recs

Re: The Pitching Pipeline
Exactly.  According to Baseball America, his bonus was $500,000, which does seem like a lot for the fourth round.  Huff, Wright, Rodriguez, and Hodges got more, but Morris got a larger bonus than either McBride or Davis, who were drafted just ahead of him.  The big dropoff ($161,000 for Chris Archer) was just after the 4th round.  Morris was the first HS kid drafted last year, so if he's doing well at LC he's on the fast track.
ken from alexandria

by ken from alexandria on Jul 30, 2007 4:16 PM EDT to parent up   0 recs

Re: The Pitching Pipeline
This year there's been a lot more pressure this year to stay to slot $$ for the first few rounds. It'll be interesting to see if and for how much they sign their current 4th round pick, TJ McFarlane. Supposedly a deal has been pretty much agreed to for some time, but no announcement as of yet.

Also on point, we just signed our round 32 (I think that high) pick, big HS righty Joe Mahalic, to a bonus over 200K.

by mcrose on Jul 30, 2007 5:05 PM EDT to parent up   0 recs

Re: The Pitching Pipeline
In what way was he thought of as a 4th rounder?  He was ranked #62 in BA's pre-draft rankings, which would put him solidly mid-to-late second round.

The Indians pretty much never give anyone much beyond slot money, unless there is a clear-cut case where a player slid due to signability issues.  They often take fliers on those kinds of players, however, and they don't hesitate to pay them based on their would-be slot.

It's kind of surprising just how many players they draft and sign this way, and it's slick.

by Jay on Jul 30, 2007 5:29 PM EDT to parent up   0 recs

Re: The Pitching Pipeline
Yes, it is "slick," and it requires that scouts know the kid and his family as well as the player on the field.  And it's one of the reasons I've been keeping my eye on Morris.
ken from alexandria

by ken from alexandria on Jul 30, 2007 6:05 PM EDT to parent up   0 recs

Re: The Pitching Pipeline
Remembering just a few  years ago, they let this guy walk away unsigned.  He felt he was a first-rounder, and all 30 teams disagreed.  The Indians drafted him in the 4th round and refused to give him second-round money.  Signed by the Rangers in the next year's draft, he's sort of a poor man's Ryan Goleski.

by Jay on Jul 30, 2007 5:31 PM EDT to parent up   0 recs

I remember Ben Harrison from the Univ. of
Florida - he was one of the few guys we didn't sign of our top picks; Alan Horne is the only other one I can recall from recent memory.  

Looking at Harrison's stats from The Baseball Cube, yes, he's not doing as well as Goleski at the same age/level.  Don't forget as well that many of those decent numbers, like the .293/.397/.520 line at High-A Bakersfield and the .282/.341/.491 line at AA Frisco (SSS understood) he put up in 2006 at age 24 were respectively in the California and Texas League, two notorious hitter's league, so I don't think he's even as close to Goleski as a hitter as the numbers would imply at first glance, and Goleski isn't that much of a prospect to begin with, so really, I think the Indians made a very wise choice to let him return to Florida and get redrafted.

Does anyone know how much Harrison signed for with Texas?  I take it it wasn't for 1st-Rd. money this time?  

As for Horne, he's having a decent bounceback for the Yankees after TJ surgery (I think,) but is not really young for the league he's in, so I think he's a decent prospect, but not at the level of a Miller, Lofgren, or even a Laffey (only because of Laffey's advanced progression and AAA success at age 22, compared to Horne's AA success at age 24, not because Laffey's stuff is better than Horne's - most would probably say Horne's stuff is better than Laffey's.)

So, overall, I think the Indians not only do a good job of signing talent that might go unnoticed or falls farther than they probably should, based on their talent, but I think the Indians also do a good job of letting those draftees who think they should get higher-round money go unsigned - so far, it hasn't really hurt them, outside of maybe Lincecum, and being that he was a 42nd-Rd. pick, it probably would have been very difficult to sign him anyway, especially since there were questions about his mechanics and whether he could stay consistently healthy with those mechanics.  I'm not sure the Indians can be faulted too much for that, as everyone bypassed Lincecum many times in that draft before the Indians drafted him.

Just my 2 cents.  :-)

Go Tribe! :-)

by indiansfan on Jul 30, 2007 10:33 PM EDT   0 recs

Re: The Pitching Pipeline
Young Morris pitching the early game for the Captains today. You can listen at welw.com if you are inclined.

by mcrose on Jul 31, 2007 10:58 AM EDT   0 recs

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