First Cuts of Spring
Grilli, Putnam and White go to minor-league camp. KDLC optioned to AA (not sure what that housekeeping means).
UPDATE: Treat this as your gamethread as well. CLE-MIL. Lineup is here.
almost 2 years ago
afh4
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Also, I’ll dump this here, homageclothing.com, an Ohio-based t-shirt company that does a lot of OSU stuff and has one of the best Cleveland Indians shirts going (a "10 cent beer night" one) has put on a little March Madness sale that brings all the t-shirts down to $20 or below.
Putnam seems to be on a fast track since being drafted and concentrating solely on pitching. Made it to AA in his first year, impressed enough to be pushed back into the rotation for ’10, now perhaps to AAA and back in the pen.
KDLC was the only one of that quartet on the 40-man roster. Is that way his transaction was different?
The game is on MLB Network at 5 pm.
"Ignorance more frequently begets confidence than does knowledge..." C. Darwin
For what its worth, PECOTA has them allowing 10 more runs than our team, and scoring about 50 less. We’re up to 83 wins! Enjoy today’s shallow victory, Milwaukee!
WTH? 83 wins for the Tribe???
"Ignorance more frequently begets confidence than does knowledge..." C. Darwin
THIS Tribe?
Tribe in 2010!! Maybe.
by indiansfan20062000 on Mar 15, 2010 4:58 PM EDT up reply actions
Not be be confused with the Lakota Indians.
by supermarioelia on Mar 15, 2010 7:15 PM EDT up reply actions
Yeah. And this umpire sucks. Kearns called out looking a fastball at the shins.
Welcome back, Sandy! ATALECG...
Yeah, like every start. Jake too.
Tribe in 2010!! Maybe.
by indiansfan20062000 on Mar 15, 2010 4:42 PM EDT up reply actions
We’re on our first losing streak of the spring. Get it out of your systems now boys!
Tribe in 2010!! Maybe.
by indiansfan20062000 on Mar 15, 2010 4:32 PM EDT reply actions
I don’t have a TV or an actual radio, so listening or watching on the internet is my only option. Is there a non-Brewers feed that I’m missing?
That’s better than what I have: watching MLB’s boxscore. Talk about SLOW!
Tribe in 2010!! Maybe.
by indiansfan20062000 on Mar 15, 2010 4:49 PM EDT up reply actions
That’s better than what I have: watching MLB’s boxscore. Talk about SLOW!
Tribe in 2010!! Maybe.
by indiansfan20062000 on Mar 15, 2010 4:50 PM EDT up reply actions
This isn’t faster than the boxscore, but has a little more info when it comes:
http://mlb.mlb.com/mlb/gameday/index.jsp?gid=2010_03_15_clemlb_milmlb_1
Is it this slow?
"...maybe this year, there's no gorilla" - YoDaddyWags
by woodsmeister on Mar 15, 2010 4:51 PM EDT up reply actions
What’s worse, even with the boxscore, we have an internet download cap. Can’t go over a certain amount in a day or it’ll run like dial up.
Tribe in 2010!! Maybe.
by indiansfan20062000 on Mar 15, 2010 4:56 PM EDT up reply actions
Well, as much as I want to complain about satellite, it’s not NEARLY as bad as dial up.
Tribe in 2010!! Maybe.
by indiansfan20062000 on Mar 15, 2010 5:21 PM EDT up reply actions
Huff getting hit hard. Kearns misjudged Fielder’s liner then the relay to the plate was nothing short of awful. Luckily, none of the members involved seem to be opening day starters.
Welcome back, Sandy! ATALECG...
Fielder stranded at third. Two groundouts (one nice play by Chisenhall), and a routine fly ball turned into an adventure by that lesser guy in left field. He made the catch though.
Anything interesting going on? I’m getting nothing.
Tribe in 2010!! Maybe.
by indiansfan20062000 on Mar 15, 2010 5:19 PM EDT reply actions
OK, yeah, I guess that’s right. I die a little every time he starts.
If he could just get that OPS to 700 (which is near wherer his MLEs are the last two years) rather than 600.
What’d he do?
Tribe in 2010!! Maybe.
by indiansfan20062000 on Mar 15, 2010 5:31 PM EDT up reply actions
i guess that sounds about right. feel like someone’s missing. say what you will about our starting pitching. i love our depth.
Tomlin certainly deserves to advance to AAA, and Paulo Espino would be most likely to round out the Akron rotation in that case.
sowers at least as long as his rehab sting lasts. then if he comes up, laffey or huff have to come down – unless they lose talbot trying to move him down. (assuming no other injuries)
So your concern is that none of our first 10 starters on the depth chart will be injured, which could create a Triple-A roster crunch?
Legit BWAHAHAHAHAHA.
No, not really.
Long way to go yet. I keep thinking Sowers is heading for a true DL stint – if his shoulder was hurting last year and is still hurting this spring, something’s wrong.
Not that Tomlin needs to hold down a spot in AAA – he just doesn’t need to stand in the way of someone like Espino who’s younger and needs to advance. Pen or rotation, Tomlin has already proved to be a valuable org guy.
has duncan even played yet?
and if so, did he wear an indians or a yankees uniform?
by Brick. on Mar 15, 2010 5:51 PM EDT reply actions 3 recs
Is the pitching as bad as the box scores indicate or is it due in part to our outfield?
Tribe in 2010!! Maybe.
by indiansfan20062000 on Mar 15, 2010 5:56 PM EDT reply actions
Yes our pitching is bad? Or yes it’s due to the outfield defense?
Tribe in 2010!! Maybe.
by indiansfan20062000 on Mar 15, 2010 5:58 PM EDT up reply actions
it’s arizona state right? not being picky, just making sure i’m thinking about the same disappointing players. the maroon and yellow one.
MLB announcer talking about “expected RBI production in the Spring”. Who has any expectation about spring training RBIs?
http://sports.espn.go.com/mlb/spring2010/news/story?id=4998218
Tribe in 2010!! Maybe.
by indiansfan20062000 on Mar 15, 2010 6:22 PM EDT reply actions
Check that….it might just mean he’s getting the same downward action on his fastball he got as a minor leaguer. +50% GB-rate in 2008.
I’m definitely feeling a little better about starting the season with Westbrook, Masterson, Carmona, Huff and Talbot. I have no idea how long that group would last, but I’m feeling ok with it.
I have such a soft spot for Laffey, but I can’t help but agree with you on Huff and Talbot for the rotation.
I have been assuming that Huff is the odd man out, and there’s still plenty of time for doubts or injuries to develop about one of the other guys regardless. Still, I have to admit that Huff has started to make the case that demoting him would be ridiculous.
Huff was a big favorite of mine a year ago. I shouldn’t be so influenced by one off-year; the man has a little bit of a track record.
Huff is gonna FIP 4.35 this year. Or lower.
by Gradyforpresident on Mar 15, 2010 8:16 PM EDT up reply actions
Are you reading my thoughts? I have this strange hope that Laffey edges out Talbot. And I doubt Huff will become a 2008 Lee this season, but I see him doing already this year.
/facepalm
Um. No? I’m sorry, I don’t see how what I said and what you said are in anyway alike. I said that while I like Laffey immensely, I hope to see Talbot and Huff take the rotation spots to open the season. You… didn’t.
You read my mind about having a soft spot for Laffey. I do agree that Talbot and Huff will take the last two spots on the rotation. You said you hope to see these two start the season in Cleveland in a later post. I wouldn’t mind seeing Talbot in the bullpen and Laffey in the rotation. That would be one solution to the option issue. Not going to happen unless Talbot’s arm/elbow causes him to limit his pitch count. Guess I wasn’t clear enough.
I’m not a huge fan of the ’let’s let a guy that’s out of options on the team because we are so afraid he will be great on another team’ mindset. But most teams, if not all, do this.
/facepalm
But it’s not a matter of keeping Talbot on the roster instead of Laffey because you’re afraid he will pitch well for the Orioles. It’s that if Laffey and Talbot are relatively close at the close of ST, you can stash one guy in the minors but not the other. Thus, Laffey can’t edge out Talbot. That’s not to say he couldn’t crush/kill/destroy him. He just can’t edge him out.
The crowd that wants Laffey likes to act like he’s the obvious choice over Talbott. This is plainly not true. Laffey’s actual numbers, his peripherals, are not very good. At all.
Yeah, the Brewers announcers finally acknowledged him after he scored. Dude looks like he hasn’t hit puberty yet.
Brantley gets “23”:
Gotta love the Shap comment: “He’s 22 years old, he had a solid but not special Triple-A season, and he had 100 good plate appearances up here, whatever that means”
“There’s benefits to him being on the Reykjanes portion of the mid-Atlantic Ridge,” Shapiro added. “It might be useful for him to play alongside a three-armed grabens, whatever that is. It could go a long way toward solving some of our bench issues. Or there’s benefits to him being a medical transcriptionist. Nothing special, just having a solid, transcribe-above-your-age season. We could get an early read on the waiver wires that way.”
Sped thru the game on the DVR and have some comments.
- Brewers had no problem squaring up Huff. Basically, he needed to avoid hitting the white part of the plate with the stuff he had today to have any chance. Still, he had thrown well to this point, and some of the hits were well-placed.
- Obviously, Talbot looked good. Threw strikes with all his pitches. First time I’d seen him. Good changeup, and I liked that slurve he threw.
- Rivero made one fine play in the hole, and made one superb play up the middle, spinning around and throwing in one motion to retire LGT fave Carlos Gomez. Not sure about his range based on the scouting reports I’ve read, but he definitely has the arm to play short.
- Weglarz had a nice double to the gap in left-center, the second time this spring I’ve seen him drive the ball there. I like that approach, but he was late on the other fastballs he saw, including striking out to end the game on an 83-mph fastball from noted fireballer John Halama. Threw it right by him. I’m no hitting coach, but his elbow almost points straight up when he loads…just never really see that, and my guess is that he needs to clean that up. But otherwise I like what I’ve seen…if he stays healthy, maybe he breaks out a little this year.
- First time I’d seen Carlton Smith. Good movement on his sinker. Wouldn’t rule out him being able to help, even this year.
- Raffy L had nothing today. That effort looked more like last year than what we’ve seen thus far in ST.
Do you feel like elaborating more on Talbot’s pitches?
Hard to believe we have anything in Carlton Smith, who had only 4.5 K/9 as a reliever against Double-A hitters.
It seems inconceivable that Weglarz couldn’t catch up to Halama, so what was really going on there?
Hard to believe we have anything in Carlton Smith, who had only 4.5 K/9 as a reliever against Double-A hitters.
I’d concur that the slider Smith threw to get his lone K was an impressive looking pitch. Nice late sharp movement away from the hitter.
From what I saw, he had a four-seamer that sat around 93, a two-seamer, slider, and changeup. Scouting reports suggested the change was maybe his best pitch, and I can see that. Like I said, I thought his slider was pretty good, and a Castro piece quoted Shapiro as saying that coming into camp they had his slider as his “third pitch”, which is scoutspeak for “fringy.” But he said it’s been “surprisingly good”. I don’t know, first time I had seen Talbot. He may have nothing next time out.
Well, I wasn’t quite saying that Smith was a top prospect and that he’d be up by May and dominate. ;) But as Adam says below, he has had good ground-ball rates. And from the sinker I saw him throw (92-93), I can understand why. He really handcuffed Redmond on one, which led to a passed ball. His ceiling is probably as a middle reliever, but I can see him as a guy who potentially could help this year.
Maybe Weglarz was protecting against a breaking ball and got caught off-guard. Who knows? But he does seem to be thinking left-center in the few at-bats I’ve seen him have this spring, and ultimately that’s a good thing.
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