Branyan out for Opening Day
H/t to supersizeme. Branyan was 0 for 0 in spring training appearances and took batting practice for the first time this year just yesterday. The brass could still surprise us by giving Marte or Brown the job temporarily, but it seems more likely that LaPorta will start the year at first, with Kearns taking LF or possibly a cameo for the much-unproven Brantley.
about 2 years ago
Jay
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And Carrasco just walked 5 in 3.2 innings. He struck out 7, but if this was the game he needed to convince Acta he deserved the #5 slot, he whiffed.
Huff just needs a non-disaster outing to nail the last rotation spot.
Also Grudz was a late scratch, no word on the reason.
ewww. You didn’t even mention the worst part. 5 runs; all earned.
... Paul Hoynes is a really great guy ...
Yeah, reading between the lines, the Indians had already given Huff the job, though they haven’t said so in public yet.
I kind of figured it was that too, but had a thought that the Indians were already losing faith in Masterson as a starter before spring had already ended. Laffey to the pen ended that thought but I thought there might be a “shocker” kind of move where Masterson was sent back to the pen, and Talbot, Huff, and Carrasco all made the rotation.
Still, very unlikely.
He’s looked good early (the games is on tape delay on MLB Network) but he must lose it very quickly. Makes me sad.
Looked like he lost his release on the fastball in the 3rd inning – it started sailing off the plate. But he showed some great offspeed stuff. Its been a very encouraging spring for CC – he turned some heads and showed why he was a top prospect for Philly.
I think it will be a good competitive rotation at Columbus. If some of Rondon’s fastball control rubs off on CC, and some of Carrasco’s offspeed effectiveness makes an impression on Rondon, they could both see time in Cleveland this summer.
Can’t we just somehow combine all the positives from every pitcher in Columbus and produce some sort of “super prospect”?
nine fingers on ten hands, five on each side of his body thereby offering said super pitcher the ability to decoy release point with four hands. Good luck picking up the rotation on that pitched ball.
by hans on Mar 28, 2010 7:52 PM EDT up reply actions 1 recs
I imagine the severed head is up there with Dave Stewart’s low hat brim stare down of the hitter. Very intimidating.
They seriously need to give the job to Marte. If he proves he can hit, he can go to 3b when Brantley returns and the team can slot Peralta and Asdrubal back to SS and 2B.
LGT's resident moderate Yankee hating fan.
So, like…
Kearns, Grady, Choo
Marte, Jhonny, Droobs, LaPorta
by “when Brantley returns” do you mean Branyan?
... Paul Hoynes is a really great guy ...
I think the Jhonny-at-Shortstop ship has sailed, and it’s in the next time zone.
If Marte wins the third base job over Peralta, Jhonny’s going to be either on the bench or traded. Probably the latter.
Probably, and it’s sad. Jhonny had a much better UZR/150 than Cabrera had last year. Not that I think UZR is the end all defensive metric, but I think Peralta isn’t nearly as bad at SS as most people make it seem, and Cabrera isn’t nearly as good. I still like Cabrera, though. The problem is that I don’t like Valbuena.
LGT's resident moderate Yankee hating fan.
Isn’t UZR/150 pretty unreliable for sample sizes < 150?
Though I look right at home, I still feel like an exile
by Manhattan Tribe Fan on Mar 29, 2010 6:16 AM EDT up reply actions
The Angels’ announcers were speculating that Carrasco might be tipping his pitches. That would be a fairly benign interpretation of his tendency to melt down suddenly, as he did today. Benign because it ought to be farily easy to fix, no?
by ken from alexandria on Mar 28, 2010 8:41 PM EDT reply actions
I don’t know if I buy it. How do you strike out 7 guys tipping pitches? I would think the walks are the bigger issue.
He was tipping that they were going to be balls by allowing them to evaluate past experiences?
Welcome back, Sandy! ATALECG...
by USSChoo on Mar 29, 2010 12:04 AM EDT up reply actions 1 recs
Hmm…maybe the statement about Carrasco wasn’t just to put the pressure onto Huff, but also to put the pressure on Carrasco and see how he’d react.
Been thinking about this with the way Carmona is going…. I wonder how much the shift from hard ass manager and laid back pitching coach to laid back manager and hard ass pitching coach (granted, Belcher may or may not be that… just kind of reminds me of what he was as a player) is going to ultimately play out.
Not to hijack the thread or anything, just hadn’t heard anything related to it anywhere… so apparently no long term deal for Asdrubal Cabrera?
Acta says LaPorta will start at first base, while a decision on left field will be made Thursday. Michael Brantley is competing with Trevor Crowe and Austin Kearns for the starting job.
... Paul Hoynes is a really great guy ...
According to Pluto, it will be two of Brantley, Crowe, and Kearns that make the team. Pluto thinks its Brantley as the starter in LF with Kearns as a right-handed outfielder off the bench. Makes sense in that Crowe sucks and has to be the worst of group right now.
I kind of like Kearns as the interim starter in left with Crowe the fourth outfielder until Branyan is ready to play. Brantley is better then Crowe but the arbitration thing means he would have to go down later. As has been stated before it’s not the Indians MO to break camp with a prospect that will be spending time in the minors later. I’m assuming Kearns defense is still good enough to play every day.
by Pa tribefan on Mar 29, 2010 12:39 AM EDT up reply actions
As has been mentioned in another thread, how do the Indians make room on the 40-man roster for Kearns, Wright, and Grudz? Making room for all three is tough. With the roster full currently, they could send Hector Ambriz back and drop Sowers, but they still have to put someone on the 60-day DL or trade or waive someone else.
Is Jordan Brown or Wes Hodges or Wyatt Toregas or Anderson Hernandez worth so little?
by Deep South Ken on Mar 29, 2010 12:21 PM EDT up reply actions
if grudz makes the team, hernandez will have to be designated. he has no options on top of being on the roster.
obviously wright can take ambriz’s spot. seems like rivera will have to wait till closer to his deadline.
kearns is the the one without an obvious foil on the roster. it looks like he has a job, so that’s going to be the tricky one. only obvious choices seem like sowers and brown because of their injuries, suckness and depthchartedness
I realize that it’s because of the Valbuena Service Time Conundrum, but some people are acting like Grudz has been on a Kearns-like tear. He’s hitting 233/258/333 this spring in 30 ABs.
... Paul Hoynes is a really great guy ...
candidate? I think they’re already printing newspaper headlines to the effect.
by hans on Mar 29, 2010 8:29 PM EDT up reply actions 1 recs
Only a candidate? WHAT MORE DOES HE HAVE TO DO
Is this the whale section?
by sarcasmdave on Mar 29, 2010 11:09 PM EDT up reply actions 4 recs
I would assume that it’s…
1) Return Ambriz (unless they like him enough to stow him on the DL)
2) DFA Wes Hodges (no longer a third baseman, not enough bat for first base)
3) DFA Anderson Hernandez. They’d have to anyways because he’s out of options.
seems like there could be a taker for hodges out there after his hot spring. is jim bowden still in baseball?
I don’t think Hodges will have enough bat for first base, but I doubt he get’s DFA’d until we no for sure if he doesn’t develop it.
60 man DL seems to be the way to go (Brown).
Baseball clubs don’t get to know things for sure. They have to play the odds.
Hodges has never had an impressive season. He was decent in 2008, age 23 in Double-A, in a season when he really needed to be breaking out. In 2009, age 24 in Triple-A, he was miserable and probably played hurt after missing two months.
Between his past injuries, his bad defense and his consistent, all-around lack of impressive numbers at the plate, there is little reason to think he will magically become an impressive player at age 25.
As stuart dean implied below, he’s never shown enough bat for 3B, so why should we think he’ll suddenly show enough bat for 1B? This is the kind of prospect that you DFA, or that you fail to roster before Rule 5 if he isn’t already on the 40-man. Maybe you’re not sure he sucks, but maybe you should be.
What on earth prompted them to move him to first in the first place?
Though I look right at home, I still feel like an exile
by Manhattan Tribe Fan on Mar 29, 2010 11:43 PM EDT up reply actions
I’d put a DFA of Toregas pretty firmly on this list as the signing of Redmond means that Toregas is the back-up in Columbus all year. The imprudence of keeping a 27-year-old C who has little chance of seeing the parent club this year on the 40-man is I think where the Kearns spot opens.
by The DiaTriber on Mar 29, 2010 1:42 PM EDT up reply actions
What does this do to our depth, though? Do we then consider Gimenez our third catcher-in-waiting in Triple-A, until we’re ready to promote Santana?
Sure, I could go with that.
I wouldn’t discount Toregas following the path already traveled by Gimenez this off-season off of the 40-man and right to the Columbus roster.
3rd catcher in waiting in AAA is pretty far off of my radar in trying to figure out who fits where when camp breaks.
by The DiaTriber on Mar 29, 2010 2:06 PM EDT up reply actions
Toregas is pretty highly regarded in terms of having the requisite skills to be a good backup. I wouldn’t be surprised if he didn’t make it through waivers.
If he’s really being considered, my expectations just sunk a little lower.
by The DiaTriber on Mar 29, 2010 3:59 PM EDT up reply actions
Toregas just seems like an underutilized asset. Excellent defensive rep as a catcher, who has occasionally shown a little bit of pop in his bat. He’s never had any use for us given our catcher depth, and yet we haven’t positioned him to be worth anything.
That’s true and the time to utilize Toregas was probably if they could have figured out what to do with C/1B and Shoppach/Vic/Garko troika after the 2008 season so Toregas was the back-up catcher.
However, I fear that Toregas’ ship has sailed as an Indian as his usefulness on the 40-man just isn’t as obvious as nearly everyone else on there. Maybe the 60-day DL stash is coming for Sowers or Brown, but if there’s a squeeze, Toregas runs neck and neck with Hodges as a redundancy on the 40-man to me.
by The DiaTriber on Mar 29, 2010 4:13 PM EDT up reply actions
Then something has to give as 4 catchers on a 40-man roster doesn’t make too much sense in a year in which there’s going to be a lot of movement on the 40-man.
by The DiaTriber on Mar 29, 2010 3:55 PM EDT up reply actions
Gimenez seems to be the guy to move off the roster then. Given the options we are considering, Gimenez offers no value right now.
I watched some of the game last night and I’m not sure how much of a disaster that start really was. If you had seen the first couple of innings, you wouldn’t have felt that way. Carrasco was really good early. But he was really wild on his arm side in the last couple of innings, which tells me he was flying open with that left shoulder. From what I’ve read, that’s the number one issue with him. I believe it was Roger who posted something late last year about Pujols telling him that he was really flying open in a spring training game…I don’t have time to search for it now. That would also make it easier for the batter to see the pitch out of his hand, which maybe explains the tipping pitches story.
I also think this mechanical issue may explain Carrasco’s tendency to blow up all of a sudden. Perhaps it’s more mechanical than mental. Anyways, he’s made a positive impression, and if he’s sent down it’s not the worst thing in the world. If he does well in AAA, he’ll be up soon due to injury/ineffectiveness at the big league club.
Yea, I did post a link about Pujols telling Carrasco this in spring training last year. I’ll give it a little search a bit later. Interesting observation if he is doing something similar again.
Yeah, it’s a common problem for almost all pitchers. You’ll often see catchers point to their other shoulder to tell pitchers they’re flying open. Perhaps it affects Carrasco more than your average pitcher. I don’t know. But it appears to be a big deal for him (with limited observation).
From my limited observation he has a tendency to lose some control with men on base. Perhaps that’s due to pitching from the stretch? I don’t know, but it was also notable yesterday that he tried numerous pickoffs (one successful) to both first and second base, “as if” he was thinking about it a little too much.
One can be a mechanical issue, the other simply a loss of concentration and focus.
He’s also a pretty deliberate pitcher that doesn’t establish a real rhythm between pitches. He walks off the mound frequently during almost every at bat.
Stuck indefinitely in Terminal C of Hopkins. If anyone is around, I’ve got my Tribe hat on and a red plaid(ish) shirt.
6 Cabrera, 8 G Size, 7 Brantley, DH Pronk, 5 Peralta, 3 LaPorta, 4 Valbuena, 2 Toregas, 9 Crowe. RHP Masterson.
k
http://twitter.com/hoynsie/status/11329327663
#Indians 1B Russell Branyan, headed for the DL, went 2-for-3 in a minor league game. He homered in his last at-bat.
What I want to know is – did Branyan re-injure his back walking out of the doctor’s office after the physical? Or perhaps later that night, when he was out on the town?
Sorry, but I find this, and the Knapp thing, pretty annoying. It’s one thing to take a chance on a guy who previously had a back or shoulder injury, and another to acquire a guy who has yet to recover. We’re not talking about NRIs; these are guys that we spent real assets on.
but i think that’s part of how we’re getting them at the price we’re getting them. perhaps a fully healthy knapp is off-limits, a recovered branyan is 4M, etc.
I’m sure that’s right, and perhaps its only in mind that the Indians believed that these guys were even momentarily healthy. With that though, should we even be investing this way?
That’s inflated by the Yankees, though. What’s the average, say, AL Central salary?
Figured it out myself. Average salary for someone on a 2009 opening day 25-man roster in the AL Central was $3,428,411.28
Is this the whale section?
by sarcasmdave on Mar 31, 2010 10:52 PM EDT up reply actions
Okay, then.
Branyan’s deal for 2.0M is 58.3% of the average MLB salary. And it’s a one-year deal.
For context, last season’s salaries included:
Carrolll – 2.5M, club option buying out first year of free agency, following a two-year deal
Masa at 3.0M, final guaranteed season of a two-year deal.
Dellucci at 4.0M, final season of a three-year deal.
Not only is Branyan’s salary lower, his overall deal is smaller in scope, too. It really should be viewed as just slightly north of insignificance.
That’s some perspective.
Russel Branyan hit the market with the second-most home runs of any free agent. He started out asking for a 3-year deal between $20-30 million.
We signed him for $5k less than what Jamey Carroll made in 2009.
Steel Nick
Ok, I’m convinced now. I just have to get used to the fact the we are not just gambling on injury-prone players, but actual injured players. It’s a significant difference, but the numbers reflect that.
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