Farm Fresh: 5/1/2011
by APV on May 1, 2011 8:40 PM EDT
in Week In Review
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PrintEverything seems right in the baseball realm of Cleveland these days...
Columbus Clippers: Luis Valbuena
The return of Jason Donald and Josh Rodriguez has created a small battalion of infielders in Columbus. It seems as if someone is going to need to go soon. After a hot week (9-24, 3 HRs), none of them are hitting better than Valbuena at this point (.300/.355/.543). Valbuena, who is 25, is younger than Donald and Rodriguez, but older than Phelps/Chisenhall/Kipnis, and seems the most uncertainly positioned within the organization. Valbuena's chance at occupying a role in Cleveland seems to exist only in the narrowest of cracks between the current Cleveland roster and the more organizationally valuable guys right behind him.
Akron Aeros: Chun-Hsiu Chen
2010 breakout Chun-Hsiu Chen has not made much noise in 2011. And yet, if you look at his line, .288/.316/.493, it isn't so bad for a 22-year old AA catcher. Most of this has come in the past week, as Chen has caught fire, 8-21 with 4 HRs, raising his line to a respectable level. Chen has not yet found the strong plate discipline he displayed the past two seasons, just 3 walks against 19 Ks, but his line is certainly encouraging. The catching depth in the organization right now, particularly from an offensive standpoint, is impressive.
Kinston Indians: Giovanni Soto
A year ago Kevin Goldstein said this about Soto:
Fantastic command and good secondary pitches; if velocity projects like some scouts think it will, he could turn into something.
This week he said this:
19-year-old precision lefty with sink, but sits in the mid-to-upper 80s; if he can fill out and gain some velo, the Indians might be on to something here.
Reports out of Kinston this year are that Soto has indeed increased his velocity. Soto put up his first scoreless outing of the season on Wednesday, going six strong innings (3 hits, 1 walk, 6 Ks). Soto's been a bit up and down in his four starts thus far, but his overall line 15 hits, 7 walks, 20 Ks in 20.2 IP is worth watching.
Lake County Captains: Jesus Aguilar
I almost gave this slot to Aguilar last week after a 3-HR game. He followed that performance up with two more HRs this week, giving him 6 already on the season. Last year's Lake County HR leader hit a whopping 13, meaning as of May 1st Aguilar is well on his way to topping that number. Aguilar's overall line, .253/.341/.532, shows a nice combination of power and patience, despite having some contact problems (20 Ks) and a sub-par BABIP (.264). Aguilar is a 20-year behemoth Venezuelan (6'3", 240), whose defense is never going to be anything, so he needs a great bat to make his way up the organization.
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How are they going to deploy the battalion? So it’s in rough order of importance… Chisenhall, Kipnis, Phelps, Donald, Valbuena, Rodriguez? So basically everyone sits once every six games while everyone else rotates among 3B/SS/2B/1B/DH? Or does Rodriguez sit more than the others….
I almost wonder if they’ll do something unexpected. Seems like we’d be selling pretty low on Valbuena but I’m not sure what else they can do.
I won’t be happy to see Valbuena go. But I also like Huff, so I’m probably a moron.
by APV on May 1, 2011 9:49 PM EDT up reply actions
You can have my conductor’s hat as I have stepped off of the Huff train.
by The DiaTriber on May 2, 2011 11:04 AM EDT up reply actions
Donald > Phelps until proven otherwise in the bigs.
I agree that someone has to go.
by Jay on May 2, 2011 9:58 AM EDT up reply actions
Phelps and Moncrief leading their respective leagues in walks.
And check out Cory Burns’ line in Akron:
7.2 6 2 1 1 0 17 (7 saves, and yes, that’s 17 K’s in less than 8 innings)
We’re being raved on Mike & Mike in the morning! “The Indians are for real and their not going anywhere.”
"I want my unwarranted optimism back." -Dilbert
Just saw Dave Winfield saying some fairly nice and objective things about the Indians, I assume Golic or did they have a guest on?
"Ok everyone listen up! I've just invited Dave to suck it!"
You know of course that Golic’s from Cleveland – St. Joe’s I believe. They talk a lot – waaaaay too much in fact – about the Mets too, because the other Mike is Mets fan.
Our best players wear suits.
Not really…he’s more of a Yankee fan than a Mets fan, but he doesn’t have a big baseball allegiance.
Chen gets highlighted in Goldstein’s monday morning 10-pack today:
…Catchers with his kind of bat are a rare commodity, but his ability to stay behind the plate remains in doubt. In 160 career games at catcher, Chen has been charged with 35 passed balls and 15 errors, and while he’s made some progress so far this year, he remains well below-average defensively…
It gets mentioned a lot that Chen will likely need moved from behind the plate, but then it becomes a question of where do you place him? First base seems to be a popular opinion. Maybe right field?
"Ok everyone listen up! I've just invited Dave to suck it!"
If Selig expands the playoffs to ten teams, maybe he’ll expand the rosters to allow teams to start using a rover.
My watch is broken... it's stuck on Tribe Time
#suckitLaw
by Turkmenbashi on May 2, 2011 12:14 PM EDT up reply actions 1 recs
3rd? I mean, a lot of 3rd basemen move behind the dish, can the opposite be done? I like Chiz, but having an alternative plan would be nice.
"Spring Training wins are good for the soul."
So is Chen! Perfect.
"An intelligent man is sometimes forced to be drunk to spend time with his fools" -Hemingway
by notthatnoise on May 2, 2011 10:13 PM EDT up reply actions
For the first time since 2007, I’ve paid next to no attention to minor league box scores. Hopefully, I can continue to rely on people like you while replaying Hamilton home run calls over and over.
I went to the Lake County game yesterday here in Lansing and Carlos Moncrief hit a home run to lead off the game that almost left the stadium completely. He absolutely destroyed it.
Yeah, he looked plenty fast on the steal.
Not too many plays for him in center. The one that sticks out was that he chased a gapper in right center and unleashed a gigantic throw to the shortstop to prevent the hitter stretching it to a triple.
He also had a pretty gigantic baserunning error on a line drive right at the third baseman. He was on first and just took off. He was standing on second when the first basemen caught the ball doubling him up.
Cole Cook also was not bad, good control, but it was hard to tell much, other than it seems like the Lansing team is pretty terrible at making solid contact or Cook is good at missing bats.
On the infield clog, Could we trade Everett for cash once Goedert comes back (early June) and promote Donald? I am against ruining the chemistry but what long term/current value does Everett bring? Could be more vaulable to another team with infield issues (Phillies).
Baseball fans are junkies, and their heroin is the statistic. - Robert S. Wieder
i’m still surprised they didn’t work out a trade with the pirates for rodriguez.
i’m not personally giving up on valbuena.
i’m not sure i can figure what the kind of return on one of these guys should be. i feel like they’d deal for low minors talent rather than something for the big club.
i’m pretty sure my next sentence starts with i’m.
How valuable is Kipnis as our future at 2nd? Would it be crazy to deal him for an MLB starter that presented an upgrade over Tomlin/Talbot/Gomez and rely on one of Donald/Phelps/Valbuena to be an average 2nd baseman over the next 3-4 years?
I guess it may come down to who we could get in return. Shields? Niemann?
interesting… how long is Shields signed for? If it’s just this year, I feel like we’d shoot higher.
"I want to be playing at the end of October or the end of September -- not just at the beginning of April." —Grady
Shields would cost a bunch (ala Grady), from Cot’s:
2011: $4.25M
2012: $7.0M club option ($2M buyout)
2013: $9.0M club option ($1.5M buyout)
2014: $12.0M club option ($1M buyout)
How long do you think it will be until somebody replaces Everett? I hop Jason Donald comes up soon and takes a few ABs away from both Cabrera and Hannahan.
One of the veterans has to play themselves completely off the team before they mess with the roster, I think.
"Spring Training wins are good for the soul."
play themselves completely off the team
That sounds to me like playing atrociously, and in that case, I disagree. This is a competitive year for the Indians as of right now, so if Donald looks like an obvious upgrade I think we’ll see him in the major league infield. I have loved Hannahan so much, that I really wonder about Donald vs. Orlando
USSChoo is right…pay attention to what the players and what Acta say about Cabrera. Nothing is happening short-term. The only way Cabrera loses significant at-bats is either due to a) injury, b) the Tribe falls out of contention, or c) his OBP falls so far below .300 that they really have no choice. At his and the team’s current production level, there is no way he loses at bats to Donald or really anyone else. Whether or not we as fans think Cabrera makes too many outs or that his range isn’t very good at 2B.
I’m a Donald fan, but I don’t see him as an obvious upgrade anywhere on the current roster.
by Jay on May 3, 2011 8:04 AM EDT up reply actions
Scott Barnes… yikes, gave up 4 HR’s tonight. Then again, Columbus scored 18 runs. We have got to flip Valbuena or Donald.
That’s crazy. Nobody gives up four home runs in one game.
by Jay on May 3, 2011 12:54 AM EDT up reply actions 5 recs
I knew that Andy Sonnanstine wouldn’t disappoint. He also has given up two to Ben Francisco in the same game, which should count as four.
"Spring Training wins are good for the soul."
Well, to be fair, it’s only happened 985 times in the big leagues. Things don’t really start to sink in until quadruple digits.
Fewest batters faced to give up 4 HR: 5, Pat Mahomes in 2001.
Michael Goodnight with a great start for LC today (6IP, 1H, 1R, 2BB, 10K). Carlos Moncrief had two more hits, including a double (10).
Moncrief, by the way, has an organization-leading 16 XBHs
by APV on May 3, 2011 3:46 PM EDT up reply actions
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