SB Nation User Blog: APV

Game Thread: ALCS Game Four

APV — Wed, 15 Oct 2008 00:11:09 -0000

...and whatever other games are played before someone gets the motivation to post yet another FanPost. Does this baseball thing ever stop.

I don't know who is pitching for either team tonight (Wakefield and Sonnastine), but it seems somebody (Carlos Pena) just hit a 2-run HR for Tampa over the Green Monster. And then Longoria goes back to back. Tampa is just shelling Boston. But then again, a year ago tomorrow we were ahead of Boston 3-1 in the ALCS. So hopefully someone on Tampa watched that series. Is this 75 words yet?

Hafner going in for surgery

APV — Mon, 13 Oct 2008 23:05:29 -0000

Hafner going in for surgery

From Castrovince, Hafner's officially going in for quasi-exploratory surgery this week. I guess Pluto says the surgery for Hafner is one reason the Indians might be reluctant to part with Shoppach (Garko>DH, Martinez>1B, Shoppach>C). Not sure about that, but as I said elsewhere, this is one of those strange instances where you hope they do find something wrong in his shoulder.

Wedge on the off-season (PD)

APV — Wed, 01 Oct 2008 00:49:06 -0000

Wedge on the off-season (PD)

A lot of interesting quotes from Wedge on plans for the off-season and beyond.

"In my exit meeting with Mark Shapiro and Eric Wedge, they told me they're trying to find another...

APV — Tue, 30 Sep 2008 16:53:11 -0000

"In my exit meeting with Mark Shapiro and Eric Wedge, they told me they're trying to find another infielder," Peralta said as he cleaned out his locker Monday morning at Progressive Field. "They don't know if it's going to be a second baseman or a third baseman."

If it's a second baseman, Asdrubal Cabrera is expected to move to short with Peralta moving to third.

"When I start playing winter ball, I'm going to call Mark to see where I should play," Peralta said.

http://www.cleveland.com/tribe/index.ssf/2008/09/peralta_open_to_a_move_to_thir.html

Minor Pitching Leaders

APV — Fri, 26 Sep 2008 02:43:32 -0000

K. Dixon, 157.0

F. Herrmann, 150.0

S. Wright, 147.2

D. Huff, 146.1

C. Smith, 146.1

Relief appearances

R. Newsom, 56

R. Rundles, 55

L. Perdomo, 55 (31 w/CLE)

V. Pestano, 54

N. Wagner, 48

Wins

J. Judy, 12

K. De La Cruz, 12

C. Smith, 12

J.D. Martin, 12

Multiple tied w/11

Saves

R. Newsom, 30

V. Pestano, 24

L. Perdomo, 20 (18 w/CLE)

R. Bauer, 15

E. Buzachero, 10

ERA

Starters

A. Miller, 1.88 (6 starts, 28.2IP)

J. Sowers, 2.08

E. Berger, 2.11

S. Lewis, 2.40

D. Huff, 2.52

D. Salazar, 2.87

K. De La Cruz, 2.98

Relievers

M. Popham, 0.78

T. Mastny, 1.78

R. Bauer, 2.08

L. Perdomo, 2.36

J.D. Martin, 2.41 (including 9 starts)

WHIP

Starters

D. Huff, 0.96

S. Lewis, 0.97

E. Berger, 1.04

R. Edell, 1.16

S. Wright, 1.17

Relievers

J. Tomlin, 0.96

D. Morales, 0.96

T. Sipp, 1.01

T. Mastny, 1.08

L. Perdomo, 1.09

S. Elarton, 1.09

BB%

Starters

S. Lewis, 3.4

R. Edell, 3.5

J. Halama, 4.2

D. Huff, 5.0

R. Young, 5.0

Relievers

J. Holt, 2.3

W. Ramirez, 4.0

J. Montero, 4.1

J. Tomlin, 4.2

J.D. Martin, 5.8

Starters

E. Berger, 28.9

D. Huff, 24.8

K. De La Cruz, 24.5

H. Rondon, 24.0

S. Lewis, 22.1

Relievers

J. Gaub, 37.5

J. Stevens, 34.2

T. Sipp, 34.1

T. Mastny, 31.2

R. Bryson, 29.9

BB/K

Starters

S. Lewis, 6.31

D. Huff, 4.93

R. Edell, 4.71

R. Young, 4.43

E. Berger, 4.09

Relievers

J. Holt, 9.71

J. Tomlin, 6.59

T. Sipp, 4.18

J. Montero, 4.07

B. Hinkle, 4.00

Sheffield Cartoon

APV — Wed, 24 Sep 2008 14:04:49 -0000

Sheffield Cartoon

Minor Offensive Leaders

APV — Sat, 20 Sep 2008 16:44:38 -0000

This is a list of some of the Indians minor league offensive leaders (pitching leaders coming later). This includes player’s season totals in the minors across all levels, and for those who joined the team via trade, their performance in other organizations. There isn’t a great way to do this that I know of, so I might miss a few guys here and there.

OPS

C. Santana .999

M. Laporta .924

T. Linden .885

B. Mills .880

C. Gimenez .873

T. Crowe .867

ISO (HRs/XBHs)

A. Abreu .287 (11/31)

M. Laporta .260 (22/48)

C. Santana .242 (21/65)

B. Mills .219 (21/58)

T. Linden .199 (17/45)

BB%

C. Gimenez 16.2

M. Ensbert 15.8

C. Santana 15.7

N. Weglarz 15.6

D. Realini 14.5

B. Greenwell 9.2

B. Simpson 9.6

L. Chisenhall 10.5

M. Mcbride 10.6

A. Rodriguez 11.9

LD%

R. Mulhern 21.5

L. Chisenhall 21.0

J. Brown 20.1

C. Rivero 19.5

B. Mills 18.6

Batting Average

C. Santana .326

C. Phelps .312

M. Brown .308

C. Gimenez .304

T. Crowe .302

Speed (sort of...3B + SB – CS)

L. Montero +50 (3/60/13)

A. White +25 (4/32/11)

J. Constanza +23 (6/23/6)

M. Thomppson +18 (3/19/4)

J. Rodriguez +16 (10/12/6)

MLE OPS (via minorleaguesplits.com)

M. Laporta .740 (.229/.332/.408)

T. Linden .739 (.239/.350/.389)

C. Gimenez .725 (.246/.366/.359)

T. Crowe .723 (.248/.331/.392)

C. Santana .720 (.227/.340/.380)

Akron Aeros

APV — Fri, 19 Sep 2008 20:02:25 -0000

Last but not least, the Akron Aeros. Akron finished the season 80-62, qualifying for the Eastern League championship before falling to the Trenton Thunder. Akron has been the launching pad for many of Cleveland's top prospects for a long time. Hopefully this season's batch will maintain that tradition.

Chris Gimenez (1.024 - 55 games), Wyatt Toregas (.945 - 47 games), and Trevor Crowe (.888 - 49 games) all spent part of the season playing very well if not dominating the Eastern League. Gimenez did so by putting up a comic-book like 52-33 BB:K ratio before advancing to Buffalo and falling flat. Toregas did so by showing an impressive power stroke (ISO .278) after getting demoted from Buffalo. Crowe did so by doing a little bit of both, while getting helped out by a slightly inflated .364 BABIP. Of the three, Crowe has done the best in Buffalo.
3B Wes Hodges was the constant in Akron's lineup, leading the team in extra base hits (50) and posting a solid .290/.354/.466 line. Hodges hit RHP much better than left (.869 vs .679) and hit all but one of his 18 HRs against RHP.
Matt Whitney set a career high for games played (129), which is nice. Unfortunately the surge in power he showed last year (32HRs, ISO .246) which threatened to make him relevant again, faded this year (10 HRs, ISO .136).
Ryan Goleski, Stephen Head, Nathan Panther, and Brandon Pickney are all still with the organization. For now.
So is Bronson Kiheimahanaomauiakeo Sardinha (admittedly, I just like looking at that middle name)
Joshua Rodriguez formed a pairing with Chuck Lofgren (more on him later) as probably the two most disappointing prospects in the Indians organization this year. Rodriguez made his way onto a lot of off-season prospect lists thanks to his respectable .811 season last year in Kinston while playing a middle infield slot. He struggled in Akron to a .241/.335/.359 line. He kept up a good BB%, but everything else fell off for him. Rodriguez was sort of a marginal prospect to begin with in my view, now he'll enter next year trying not to be the next Goleski/Mulhern/Snyder.
Kevin Dixon, Ryan Edell, and Frank Hermann carried the bulk of the Aeros starting pitching load (75 starts between them), but all look more like organizational depth than anything resembling a legit prospect. Edell's got the best single skill of the three with an impressive 21BBs in his 144 innings. Hermann did a good job of not allowing HRs (9 in 131.2IP). Dixon does a lot of things "ok" across the board.
Lofgren's season was a disaster. The only real positive to say is that he didn't suffer a major injury. What he did do was completely forget how to pitch and lose his confidence. Relegated to the bullpen after coming back from time off he fared marginally better. Scouting reports suggested his stuff was still there, he just needed to work on some mechanical issues related to the repeatability of his delivery in order to improve his horrendous control. Lofgren, somewhat amazingly to me, is still just 22. Maybe he needs to spend the winter with Cliff Lee.
JD Martin, who is not 22 (25, actually), put together a very solid season out of the bullpen before joining the rotation at the end of the season (79.2IP, 71K, 19BB, 2.49 ERA).
Steven Wright had a successful half-season audition for the role of "next year's Kevin Dixon/Ryan Edell/Frank Hermann". Way to go, Steven.
Scott Lewis and David Huff dominated in their time in Akron.
Randy Newsom recorded more saves (29) and walks (29) than Ks (28). I'm going to guess you don't see that combination too often among closers.
After a few hiccups, Tony Sipp showed a strong recovery in Akron's bullpen coming back from TJ (21.2IP, 32K, 7BB).

Mahoning Valley Scrappers

APV — Fri, 19 Sep 2008 19:33:59 -0000

Fifth in the series of brief recaps for each of the Tribe's affiliates. Mahoning Valley, whose roster primarily consists of recent college grads and high-school draftees and international signings in their 2nd or 3rd year in the organization, finished the season with a 31-44. Despite that record, there were actually a number of interesting performances for the Scrappers. Again, guys at this level are so far from contributing that you should never really get excited, but it is nice to see good starts from recent draftees anyway.

The biggest name in the Valley was 2008 1st round pick Lonnie Chisenhall ("the Chisl"). Chisenhall signed early, let the Scrappers in games (68) and ABs (276), and had a nice debut (.290/.355/.438). Lonnie led the team in 2Bs (20), tied for the team league in HRs (5), and struck out in just 10% of his ABs in his first exposure to wood bats. Solid debut.
Lonnie played SS for Scrappers but the Indians have been planning to convert him to 3B this offseason. But Tony Lastoria has this quote from John Mirabelli on the Chisl's defense: "I think we are going to look at it in Instructional League this month. He has actually played better at shortstop than we thought he would. He has made some improvements, and obviously having Travis there has helped him a lot with his feet, range and his throwing. He has had some experience there before and he did play third base at South Carolina so it is not an altogether new position for him. I think that with the skills and tools that he has it should be an easy transition for him, but I will tell you we are pleasantly surprised with how he has handled shortstop."
Second baseman Cord Phelps, who signed late in part because of his role in the CWS with Stanford, led Mahoning Valley in OPS with a combined .312/.376/.454 line. Cord is a couple of years older than Lonnie, so it is more important he hit the ground running. His debut sets up the possibility of the Indians being a little more aggressive in his placement or promotion next season.
CF Tim Fedroff was another late signee who hit the ball well (.319/.382/.407).
3B Jeremie Tice faded in the second half of the Scrappers season, but had been OPSing over .850 going into August. His final line, .274/.349/.418, was still decent.
19/20 year old catcher Robert Alcombrack, who last year did well in the GCL (.833 OPS), struggled in the Valley (.656).
A lot of pitchers who put up good looking K:BB numbers, but got pounded around nevertheless. PJ Zocchi led the team in starts (15) and innings pitched (69.2), while putting up 57Ks and 17BBs. 88 hits allowed led to a less attractive 4.91 ERA.
22-year 2008 Dartmouth draftee, Russell Young, faired better in his 15 starts. Young struck out 62 against just 14 BBs and finished with a 3.38 ERA. Allowed 2ER or less in 7 of his last 8 starts.
Eric Berger, another 22-year old 2008 draftee (out of Arizona), pitched well enough in his 8 starts (34 innings) to get a late season call up to Lake County. Berger struck out 41 while allowing just 9 free passes and holding opposing batters to a .203 average.
Brad Hinkle, Michael Mcguire, Carlos Arias, and Daniel Morales also put up pretty decent numbers.

Lake County Captains

APV — Sat, 06 Sep 2008 17:31:27 -0000

The Captains season is still alive as they are in the Sally League playoffs, but half-time of a bunch of Saturday football games is a good time to put one of these together. Lake County was just 34-36 in the 2nd half of the season, but qualified for the playoffs thanks to a 41-29 1st half record. The Captains this season featured a number of older position players, presumably with limited ceilings, but also a lot of interesting pitching arms, both young and old.

Richard Martinez, a 20/21 year old (June DOB) Venezuelan, didn't debut in the LC till June, but finished with a pretty decent line (.304/.413/.452). I don't know much about Martinez aside, as he has had fairly limited action in the GCL in 2007 and Burlington in 2006 (The Indians lowest level affiliate prior to their entrance into the GCL). Neither young nor old, and spending almost all his time at 1B or DH, not exactly exciting, but someone to periodically look at in the boxscores.
Roman Pena and Karexon Sanchez tied for the team lead with 39 XBHs. Pena's been around for a number of years, but just turned 22 and plays CF. Sanchez is a just-turned 21-year old Venezuelan making his full-season debut and played mostly 3B this season. They've got higher positional value than Martinez, but both also share atrocious plate discipline. Again, barring a major breakout next season these guys aren't exciting....
Ron Rivas, a 20-year old Dominican SS also debuted mid-season with the Captains. Not exactly a power guy (0 HRs), but got better at the plate as the season went on (.370/.420/.494 in August).
Chris Nash is a big (6'4" 230) 1B who garnered some discussion prior to the season. Got off to a terrible start in April (.624 OPS), but seemed to be turning things around in May (.834 OPS) when he got injured. Didn't come back till the end of July and wasn't the same after that.
The Ryans (Miller and Morris) played a major role in LC's successful first half (7-2 2.03 ERA, 6-1 2.50 ERA, respectively) and a similarly important role, although with the opposite result in the second half (1-5 5.64, 3-6 5.07).
Kelvin De La Cruz was a more constant cog in the Captains pitching staff until his promotion to Kinston (8-4, 1.69ERA, 95.2IP, 96K, 34BB).
A pair of 19-year olds in the starting staff, Chris Archer and Joey Mahalic, had mixed results but will be interesting guys to watch next season. (ditto for Joanniel Montero)
The real heart of the Captains team this season was its bullpen. Lots of interesting player lines. 2007 draftee Jonathan Holt logged the most innings out of LC's bullpen with 76 innings. Struck out 68 guys in that time, but more impressively, only walked 7. In the 2nd half, in 38.2IP, the 22-year old struck out 37 and walked just one guy. 1.
Josh "Judge" Judy finished the season 12-1 out of LC's bullpen (80Ks, 25BBs, 74IP). Had two successful weeks in Kinston at the end of the season..
Look at the lines for the following 4-players. Can you spot which one is CC-trade prospect Rob Bryson?

64IP, 44H, 32BB, 100K, 3.38 ERA (23-years old)
67IP, 49H, 26BB, 84 K, 3.88 ERA (20-years old)
59IP, 47H, 20BB, 73 K, 1.97 ERA (22-years old)
37IP, 35H, 12BB, 48 K, 3.16 ERA (21-years old)

So the age is a big of a give-away, but Rob Bryson is the 20-year old. The others are John Gaub (23), Kyle Landis (22) and Paolo Espino (21). How many of those guys have you heard of?