The Major League portion of the Rule 5 draft is over and the Indians both lost and acquired a player. On the way out is Chuck Lofgren, a lefty without great velocity who has struggled mightily since a breakout season in 2006. His 2007 season was marred by personal tragedy and at the time there was speculation that he would return to form as he was able to leave that tragedy behind. It's become increasingly clear, however, that whatever magic Lofgren was using in Kinston wasn't playing at higher levels; his K/9 fell to a career low 5.9 in 2009 while his BB/9 was over 3 and, well, that's about all you need to know. Lofgren's chances of success in the major leagues are essentially limited to being a LOOGY: he has generally held lefties down in his career but not in any stunning way and, frankly, I think you'll see Lofgren back in the system this season. 

The Indians' chose Hector Ambriz from the Arizona Diamondbacks. Ambriz is a 25 year old righty who BP described thusly in its 2008 player comment:

Your basic command-and-control right-hander spat out by innumerable college programs, Ambriz is a UCLA product the Snakes snagged in the fifth round of the 2006 draft who mixes his off-speed stuff well and spots his fastball. Challenged to work deeper in games in the second half of his full-season debut, he not only averaged an inning more per start, but his strikeout rate improved from 7.5 per nine to 8.2, and he generated more grounders. High-pick, big-program pitchers are supposed to be able to handle High-A competition, but if he can pick up more steam while getting up to Double-A, he'll sneak onto people's prospect radars. 

After that comment was written, Ambriz struggled in AA (4.94 ERA) and fell off anyone's radar. However, in 2009 Ambriz blew AA away in 5 starts with a 32:6 K:BB rate over 29.0 IP with only 7 runs surrendered. That works out to a 2.17 ERA and a promotion to AAA where his walks rose, his K's fell and his performance suffered. However, Ambriz finished the year strong (check out those September splits) and on the year he posted a 3.85 FIP (4.94 actual), sort of impressive for a guy who's not a strikeout pitcher. He does get some groundballs but not enough for anyone who follows the Indians to get excited. 

Ambriz is surely going to compete for a spot in the Indians' pen and, with his lack of explosive stuff, I guess his upside is a rich man's Jensen Lewis. I'm not sure what the Indians are going for here but I guess we can hope the club has found some good scouts and listened to them. For what it's worth, AZSnakePit thought his risk of claim was low but, then again, that's what we said about Lofgren. I doubt Ambriz wins a spot out of ST but I'll withhold judgment until Mark Shapiro finds a second to pull the wool over my eyes. 

This of course means that the Indians kept Yohan Pino, Matt McBride, Carlton Smith, and anyone else you were worried about. 

UPDATE: Ambriz kept a blog for MLB while he was in the AFL last year. It's sparse but oddly compelling.

Manny Acta and the Cleveland Indians have announced a press conference for tomorrow morning where they will announce that Alvaro Espinoza has been hired to a newly minted position: On/Off-Field Coordinator With Regards To Preparing For A Mid-1990s Style Run Of Success. Acta was enthusiastic about the hire in a chat with the media on Thursday. "When we decided to create this position, there were a lot of big names that people threw out. Roberto Alomar's name came up. So did Albert Belle's. Manny Ramirez called and expressed his interest in being interviewed. But, when we really thought about it, we wanted to find a guy who knew what it was like to prepare for that run-a guy who did the yeoman's work, who helped turn a hapless franchise into a perennial contender without a bat or a glove."

Mark Shapiro echoed Acta's sentiments in an exclusive interview with Paul Hoynes, saying "You know, we were looking for a guy who was a catalyst for the magic of the 1990s, even if it was in a way that made no sense. We ran a lot of metrics and the two things that we were able to correlate most strongly to the Indians change in fortunes from 1993 to 1995 were the House of Representatives passing the 'Contract with America' and Espinoza." Shapiro added with a laugh, "I don't have much political pull but I sure as heck can go find and hire Alvaro Espinoza!"

Espinoza, who had been serving as an infield coach for the Scranton/Wilkes-Barre Yankees, seemed excited if a bit confused. "I am very excited to get to Cleveland and start working with the players," Espinoza said before he quickly added, "I've been told specifically that I am not supposed to do any coaching, so I will not do that. I am supposed to be around and just sort of be there and also plan events that remind me of things that I did in the early to mid-1990s."

When pressed for more details, Espinoza gave a wry smile and revealed some of the events he was already planning. "Well, we will definitely all be learning and doing the 'Macarena.' I remember doing that and when I spoke with Jhonny Peralta he said he already knew it. Grady has agreed to wear a multi-colored blowy shirt and a bowl cut, which I think will be huge for the team. We're also arranging a laser tag event."

Espinoza hesitated when asked if he thought he could help spur this squad to a 90s style run. "I mean, Shapiro and Antonetti have been wearing fanny packs for years," he said with a shrug.