Indians depth chart heading into spring training (from Acta's twitter account)
Picture posted on Acta's twitter account. Cunningham over Brantley in LF? Donald over Kipnis at 2B? LaPorta over Kotchman at 1B?
No context behind this picture (other than to praise the club house attendant's handwriting). While this will all be sorted out in ST, still interesting to see the starting point.
3 months ago
millionairesrow
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Oddest thing is Donald starting. And I don’t even know who Diaz is at SS off the top of my head. But yes, this whole thing is weird.
This reminds me of my high school athletic days, maybe the guys who most closely followed the org’s offseason training program are being rewarded, while those who chose to follow their own path are “punished”.
by millionairesrow on Feb 13, 2012 6:57 PM EST up reply actions
If Zeke is on the big-league roster (is that what the pink color means?) on OD, I’ll be pizzed.
by JulioBernazard on Feb 13, 2012 7:44 PM EST up reply actions
I contemplated posting this, but figured I’d do a little detective work first and ask him about LF. No response. (Yet, at least)
Why would you want to give more reps to players who you do not view as starters? Considering the youth on this team, the young starters need to get as many reps as possible this spring. I don’t think this is an honest “here is who would be starting if the season started today” depth chart, but certain people are in front of others, and I think this chart is trying to tell the “others” that they have work to do this spring.
by millionairesrow on Feb 14, 2012 12:30 PM EST up reply actions
My observations – first the names are in two colors. Red = candidate for the position, Black = depth. Within these two categories the names are listed in alphabetical order. So my conclusion is that the only ordering going on is Red vs Black.
Alphabetical theory doesn’t work, because Sizemore is before Brantley and Carrera.
by sandyalomarfan on Feb 14, 2012 10:21 AM EST up reply actions
Sorry about that. That’s what happens when you look at something too quickly. Scratch that theory.
by CaptainPenny on Feb 14, 2012 2:20 PM EST up reply actions
I think it is also a bit misleading as a depth chart. It would take a while for Diaz to get to SS in Cleveland even though he is second on the list. I would imagine Donald and phelps would play ahead of him in case of injury, right?
Same in the outfield. Brantley should be listed somewhere in the left field rotation, Choo should be in the center field list, etc.
Hafner just stands in the batter’s box and observes everything.
Considering Acta tweeted this and that we find it a mystery, how do you think the players perceive this?
I doubt that some of the names on that board aren’t trying to make sense of the ordering and possibly drawing the wrong conclusions.
He later replied on the picture:
Nope… The whole camp, in no particular order
Matt LaPorta is the bane of my existence.
Sure, why not? The implication of the whole post is that Frank Mancini wrote it.
Matt LaPorta is the bane of my existence.
I’m skeptical, but we’ve got a long time to go before opening day.
by millionairesrow on Feb 14, 2012 3:29 PM EST up reply actions
6 more days until spring training, 6 more days until spring training, 6 more days until spring training…
by millionairesrow on Feb 14, 2012 4:44 PM EST up reply actions
Frankly, this whole discussion is stupid.
It is not credible to suggest that the chart represents the real depth chart in order at each position. Not in the least.
Pink is guys that drink coffee with sugar and cream and black is guys that prefer using a money clip instead of a wallet.
Damn, that can’t be right, I’m pretty sure Brantley doesn’t like sugar.
by Brick. on Feb 15, 2012 3:05 AM EST via mobile up reply actions
I don’t disagree that I am pushing a stupid discussion, but your certainty is absurd.
Thanks for the enlightenment.
Pardon me, which way to the pissing match?
My watch is broken... it's stuck on Tribe Time
#suckitLaw
by Turkmenbashi on Feb 15, 2012 3:52 PM EST up reply actions 2 recs
Just to humor you:
Kotchman over LaPorta, all by itself, proves beyond any doubt that it’s not a real depth chart in terms of rankings within each position.
You could make the case that LF is basically a free-for-all, and they currently see Cunningham as being in the lead. That’s entirely plausible.
You could make the case that they are going to make Kipnis beat out Donald or else go back to Columbus or ride the bench. That would require you to believe that both (a) they see Kipnis/Donald as analogous to Hannahan/Chisenhall, and also that (b) they see Kipnis as further behind Donald (in this respect) than Chisenhall is behind Hannahan (since Chiz is atop the 3B list). All of that seriously stretches credulity, but it is not entirely beyond the real of possibility.
Even granting all of that, however, it is absolutely, 100% impossible that they see LaPorta as the starting 1B at the moment, that Kotchman will have to beat him out in spring training in order to earn a starting spot. So that alone, regardless of anything else, makes it at best a depth chart with one obvious mistake on it, akin to writing in “Lofton” when you meant to write “Sizemore.” More likely, given the 2B and 3B listings, just not a serious attempt to make a ranking at each position.
As a final note … if it did represent Acta’s current thinking, he would never have published it. He’d keep it close to the vest.
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