• Changing RCF's index page, please click on "Forums" to access the forums.

2021 Minor League Thread

Do Not Sell My Personal Information
We could literally field an entire team, except catcher, with MIFs who will have to be put on the 40 man in November or are already here. And have enough left over for utils.

Hernandez
Chang
Rosario
Gimenez
Clement
Miller
Freeman
Arias
Rocchio
Palacios
Bracho

If you add two catchers and a DH, that's an entire active roster.

And it doesn't include Jose, who was originally a MIF.
 
Everything you say here Wham seems reasonable, but I just don't have a grasp on the pulse of this team right now and many decisions will be determined by factors that have yet to be revealed.

One thing I am confident in saying is that they are headed for a MIF logjam in short order. Maybe Miller takes over 3B next season. Maybe Rosario can transform himself into a good CF. Even if those things happen the depth goes much deeper than that.

I don't think Jones will ever play 3B, but maybe I'm wrong.
Assuming Tyler Freeman is our second baseman of the future and either Gimenez or Arias is the shortstop, where does that put Miller, who Tito raved about?

He uses the whole field, and he has a knack of being able to bring his hands in and keep the ball fair down the left field line. He’s just a really good hitter. - Tito on Owen Miller, 3/21/21

Miller is kind of stocky and looks more like a third baseman to me, which got me thinking about putting him at third and trading Hosey to save $26 million and bring it a boatload of blue chippers. Nolan Jones is another possibility as is Amed Rosario, but it looks like both of them are strictly outfielders going forward, although Tito did compliment Jones' defense at first base so that's something to keep in mind if Bradley can't cut it.

So with the addition of Jones and Amed Rosario to the outfield the logjam is shifting there as they join Naylor, Daniel Johnson, Mercado, Luplow, Harold Ramirez, and Zimmer. Which is why I think Eddie Rosario might be a one-and-done. If he doesn't have a great year the Indians can probably replace him with a much cheaper option. If he has a great season he'll price himself out of their market.

I suppose Miller could be our UIF next year (or this) if he can beat out Chang.
 
I still don't understand the interest there seems to be in acquiring another boatload of talent by trading away some of our best players.

We already have a boatload of talent, so many that we can't put them all on the roster. In addition to the MIFs that have to be added this year, we also have to add Valera and several pitchers, in addition to all the young pitchers we already have.

No matter how good they become, they can't all play in Cleveland.
 
Totally agree with Cats on this. I'm a prospect nerd, but we have to build around the likes of Bieber and JRam, not trade them away. The only player I'd consider trading is A. Rosario and maybe Plesac next offseason.

I count up to 20 legit prospects that will become R5 eligible next offseason. With a very young 40 roster, we'll be lucky to add 8-10 of them. If anything, we need to be buyers now or at the deadline.
 
We could literally field an entire team, except catcher, with MIFs who will have to be put on the 40 man in November or are already here. And have enough left over for utils.

Hernandez
Chang
Rosario
Gimenez
Clement
Miller
Freeman
Arias
Rocchio
Palacios
Bracho

If you add two catchers and a DH, that's an entire active roster.

And it doesn't include Jose, who was originally a MIF.

The question is, if Gimenez proves he can be a legit everyday SS, what do we do with Arias? Freeman and Miller can play SS but weren't projected to be there long term so they could probably easily translate to 2B and 3B. Clement will be the utility guy since he knows how to play in the OF.

Amed is a short term guy with the fact he is already in arbitration so I don't expect him to finish his contract here. Hernandez is a stop gap and if JRam doesn't sign a contract extension we cannot exactly keep him either. So if we end up trading Amed, JRam etc it makes sense on paper. Hence why I think we will buy and sell in 22/23 because we need to max the talent we have.
 
What we do is get as much value as we can out of our prospects by trading several of them.

Once upon a time we had three really good looking prospects, all drafted as centerfielders in the first round. Two of them became concensus top 25 prospects. Both were higher rated prospects than anybody we have today.

Fans drooled over them just as much, maybe even more, than they are drooling today over our MIFs.

Which one gave us the most return? The one we traded.

The other two combined to give 3.7 fWAR over a total of nine seasons..and one has clogged up our 40 man for years.
 
The question is, if Gimenez proves he can be a legit everyday SS, what do we do with Arias? Freeman and Miller can play SS but weren't projected to be there long term so they could probably easily translate to 2B and 3B. Clement will be the utility guy since he knows how to play in the OF.

Amed is a short term guy with the fact he is already in arbitration so I don't expect him to finish his contract here. Hernandez is a stop gap and if JRam doesn't sign a contract extension we cannot exactly keep him either. So if we end up trading Amed, JRam etc it makes sense on paper. Hence why I think we will buy and sell in 22/23 because we need to max the talent we have.
Flat out, not all of them are going to be good.

Gimenez might prove to be nothing special, Arias or Freeman might suck, Miller might be a AAAA guy, etc.

These types of things tend to sort themselves out.
 
Totally agree with Cats on this. I'm a prospect nerd, but we have to build around the likes of Bieber and JRam, not trade them away. The only player I'd consider trading is A. Rosario and maybe Plesac next offseason.

I count up to 20 legit prospects that will become R5 eligible next offseason. With a very young 40 roster, we'll be lucky to add 8-10 of them. If anything, we need to be buyers now or at the deadline.

What do we do if we cannot extend JRam? We have internal replacements on paper for 3B so it's not like we cannot replace him in theory.

In my simulators, I would be doing 2-3 prospects for a better one or swapping rule 5 guys (usually to a team who needs that player) for non rule 5 eligible prospects. Though in real life, they don't trade that much at all Hence why we got Greene and Wolf in the Lindor trade since they don't need protected for awhile.
 

They have the Indians ranked as the 13th farm system...
 
I still don't understand the interest there seems to be in acquiring another boatload of talent by trading away some of our best players.

We already have a boatload of talent, so many that we can't put them all on the roster. In addition to the MIFs that have to be added this year, we also have to add Valera and several pitchers, in addition to all the young pitchers we already have.

No matter how good they become, they can't all play in Cleveland.
The Indians need a bigger boat...

...or a better bigger boat..
 
Assuming Tyler Freeman is our second baseman of the future and either Gimenez or Arias is the shortstop, where does that put Miller, who Tito raved about?

He uses the whole field, and he has a knack of being able to bring his hands in and keep the ball fair down the left field line. He’s just a really good hitter. - Tito on Owen Miller, 3/21/21

Miller is kind of stocky and looks more like a third baseman to me, which got me thinking about putting him at third and trading Hosey to save $26 million and bring it a boatload of blue chippers. Nolan Jones is another possibility as is Amed Rosario, but it looks like both of them are strictly outfielders going forward, although Tito did compliment Jones' defense at first base so that's something to keep in mind if Bradley can't cut it.

So with the addition of Jones and Amed Rosario to the outfield the logjam is shifting there as they join Naylor, Daniel Johnson, Mercado, Luplow, Harold Ramirez, and Zimmer. Which is why I think Eddie Rosario might be a one-and-done. If he doesn't have a great year the Indians can probably replace him with a much cheaper option. If he has a great season he'll price himself out of their market.

I suppose Miller could be our UIF next year (or this) if he can beat out Chang.
Miller isn't what I would call "stocky" he's 6' and 190lbs and he moves rather well. He has a bit more physical strength than Freeman which translates into a little more projectable power. Also, like I said before, for Freeman to get the ball over the fence a more frequently will require some changes to his swing. He's a gap to gap hitter and a damn good one so I wouldn't worry about it, but that's just me. If it ain't broke don't F with it. I also wouldn't assume that Freeman will keep Miller off of 2B. I really like both as prospects/players, but if I had to choose one of them right now it would be Miller.

No decisions need to be made hastily at this time, but it's coming. If they wanted to address a position of need via trade ask yourself what would be the best way to do so? If another team is going to give you a much better player/prospect for Freeman and you got Miller in your back pocket then it's a win win IMO. Don't take that as me advocating that Freeman be traded, but some tough choices are looming.

I'm waiting to see how Amed does with the CF transition. It's not going to happen overnight, but he's a good enough athlete to do it. Good Lord having a CF that could actually hit well would be nice wouldn't it?

If Arias continues on his current trend then Caddy bar the door, because he has the glove, arm, and body to be another Carlos Correa. He's potentially that dynamic. Will be interesting to see how they handle him going forward. Thing is, I really like Gimenez and obviously they do too.

I'd like to see some of this MIF depth converted/traded into more SP prospects, corner OF, and/or one more good C prospect. I feel all of our eggs are in Bo Naylor's basket in regards to C. Should injury or underperformance change his path then we're screwed.

Here's another "conundrum" for me. I see Jones as a 1B, and a damn good one that could give great offensive and defensive value. The problem could be Bobby Bradley as he is incapable of playing another position, but his offensive capabilities are through the roof. He's got 50 HR potential all day long. If he keeps Jones off of 1B then that means he is hitting well and that is a very good thing for us Cleveland fans. Hopefully Jones can make a successful transition to a corner OF spot should that be the case. If this happens then I agree that Eddie Rosario is a one and done. Josh Naylor has some influence on that as well, and I'm not sold on him like many here are. I wish I were and I want to be, but I'm not seeing it. I think he's solid, but unspectacular.
 
I think Jones is too athletic to relegate to 1B this early in his career.

As you said, Rosario is on a 1-year deal. I wouldn't be surprised to see Jones manning one of the corner spots in 2022.
 
I think Jones is too athletic to relegate to 1B this early in his career.

Rosario is on a 1-year deal. I wouldn't be surprised to see Jones manning one of the corner spots in 2022.
He could Derek, but his lack of range is an issue. While he's a good athlete, he doesn't cover much ground which is what removed him from SS and likely 3B as well. If you wanted to maximize his defensive value then 1B is the spot for him. Besides, I don't get the "too athletic for 1B" mantra. Is Paul Goldschmidt "too athletic" and he's a much better athlete than Jones? I would think that you would want the best athletes possible at every position, but that could just be me.
 
He could Derek, but his lack of range is an issue. While he's a good athlete, he doesn't cover much ground which is what removed him from SS and likely 3B as well. If you wanted to maximize his defensive value then 1B is the spot for him. Besides, I don't get the "too athletic for 1B" mantra. Is Paul Goldschmidt "too athletic" and he's a much better athlete than Jones? I would think that you would want the best athletes possible at every position, but that could just be me.
I just think his athleticism and arm provide more value as a corner outfielder than as a 1B, that's all.
 
I just think his athleticism and arm provide more value as a corner outfielder than as a 1B, that's all.
You could be right and I hope that you are because we could use a good corner OF real soon.
 

Rubber Rim Job Podcast Video

Episode 3-13: "Backup Bash Brothers"

Rubber Rim Job Podcast Spotify

Episode 3:11: "Clipping Bucks."
Top