More photos » by Tony Dejak - AP

Try to top those 64 K's, Huff!

Browse more photos »

This is the fifth installment in a 12-part series.

The Cleveland Indians hired John Mirabelli as Director of Scouting in the fall of 1999.  Mirabelli was promoted to Assistant General Manager/ Director of Scouting prior to the 2002 season and signed a contract extension in May 2007 that takes him through 2010.  Later that year he took on an "expanded role in the procurement of amateur and professional talent, both in the United States and abroad" while Brad Grant assumed responsibility for overseeing all elements of the amateur draft.  The Indians have had many young players succeed during this time, though many have been plucked from other organizations.  After the disasters of the previous two years, is it time to fire John Mirabelli and the scouts?

If you're looking for an exhaustive analysis on how the Indians have drafted compared to other teams, or how they've fared with international signings, you'll need to look elsewhere on this site or in the Annual published last spring.  Keep in mind the goal of this series - holding people accountable, regardless if it is actually their fault ("and even if it isn't, it's probably time to fire somebody anyway.").

Firing Mirabelli is probably not a novel idea to LGT readers.  Some may say he hasn't had successful drafts, and others may say he hasn't drafted "high-ceiling" guys.  Or that he hasn't signed an impact player from the Pacific Rim.  Or that he speaks French, but not in Russian.  In any event, I'm going to focus on a few "fireable offenses."

Admittedly, my mostly uninformed opinion from a year ago was that the Indians amateur drafts have been awful.  After getting some perspective from within this site, I've realized that "awful" is an overstatement, and when compared to other teams (particularly in the AL Central), it doesn't look bad at all.  Also, the amateur draft is just one way to add players to the organization.  And no, we're not going to debate selecting "high-ceiling players" for the 10 billionth time, or even the 11 millionth time.

And in Mirabelli's defense, the Indians have only selected in the Top 10 once since 1992.  Budget constraints have certainly impacted their ability to select certain players.  But in the end, Cleveland's highest single-season slugging percentage of players signed after Mirabelli was hired belongs to Ryan Garko, who slugged .483 in 2007.   And of pitchers signed in the Mirabelli era, the highest single-season strikeout total by a Cleveland starter outside of Fausto Carmona belongs to fireballer Jeremy Sowers, with 64 in 2008 (though David Huff is making a charge this year).  Screw it, these are fireable offenses!

Continue reading this post »

Or just another way to show just how bad the pitching is...though it's also worthwhile to note that they've only won 2/3 of their games when allowing less than 4 runs (six with three runs) with an offense that's 4th in the majors in runs scored.  Bad team, bad timing.  Apologies for the (lack of) formatting.

Records by runs scored per game totals:

0-3 runs

Tribe 2-32  .059
Other MLB  214-827 .206

4-5 runs

Tribe 9-11 .450
Other MLB 341-271  .557

6-7 runs

Tribe 5-7  .417
Other MLB 309-99  .757

8+ runs

Tribe 18-3  .857
Other MLB 390-38  .911

Continue reading this post »

Andy just has not been getting the breaks this year.  First, he hasn't gotten much playing time (documented all over this site).  Then he happened to be the first hitter up Thursday after Casilla was hit for the Twins, and paid the price for Ron Gardenhire's bad-loser hissy-fit reaction (which should earn Gardenhire a one-game suspension if MLB is consistent with their rulings).

Then there's this.  In thinking through the makeup of the lineup with Victor, I came to the conclusion that Marte should play every day against lefties, as Gutz and BenFran would play in the OF, Garko would DH, and Blake would play 1B.  The only way he would sit is if Velandia, Choo, or Dellucci played ahead of him (hold comments, please).  Then I looked at the schedule...

First off, the Padres...who throw three righties in a row this weekend.  Oh well, how about next week?  Interleague play on the road!  No DH!!  Garko stays at 1B, Blake stays at 3B, and Marte stays you-know-where.

OK, what about when they return home on 6/24?  What's that?  Oh, Hafner is probably going to be back on that date.  He'll DH, Garko stays at 1B, Blake stays at 3B, and Marte stays you-know-where.

This guy can't buy a break!  And yes, I wanted to ensure the words Andy Marte appeared in the subject line of another fanpost!

Baseball America has published Top Ten rankings by position of the top prospects in the minors, according to them. Some interesting rankings:

Catcher - Matt McBride (5th)
A little surprised here...haven't looked at the numbers lately.  I thought he was having a fine year but wasn't tearing it up or anything. FYI, Max Ramirez is 7th.

1B - Jordan Brown (5th)
Again, a little surprised. Big question here is if the doubles power will translate to home run power.

3B - Wes Hodges (7th)

SS - Cabrera (3rd)

CF - Barton (9th)

RH starter - Miller (9th)
Injuries obviously hurting this ranking.

LH starter - Lofgren (4th)