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2021 Minor League Thread

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Now consider this: IF Palacios is capable in the OF (and I saw him gun down a runner trying to stretch a base-hit into a double during gm 1 of the doubleheader on 6/4/21), it would change the equation/ possible need for more OF help in CLE after 2021.
If we kept Santander, how much different would the conversation be?

@BimboColesHair ... or was it @Derek ? Someone was a huge Santander fan before he ever became available for the rule 5 draft.

I even wonder if the "Indians can't develop a hitter!" narrative would be shouted with less vitriol.
 
If we kept Santander, how much different would the conversation be?

@BimboColesHair ... or was it @Derek ? Someone was a huge Santander fan before he ever became available for the rule 5 draft.

I even wonder if the "Indians can't develop a hitter!" narrative would be shouted with less vitriol.

It was Bimbo... He about lost all his marbles when Santander got taken...
 
Santander was well loved on the IBI boards back in the day as well. Not by me so much, but leaving him exposed/loosing him definitely ruffled some feathers.
 
Santander was well loved on the IBI boards back in the day as well. Not by me so much, but leaving him exposed/loosing him definitely ruffled some feathers.
True and while I was dismayed by that exposure/ loss, it wasn't the player loss via the R5 that annoyed me the most.

That goes to the lose of RHP Hector Rondon..

I'm still fuming over that one today...
 
They were never going to protect Santander. The Indians made the right move.

They were coming off game 7 of the World Series with pretty much their entire roster coming back and he just had off season shoulder surgery, there was no spot for that on their 40 man while doing as much as possible trying to get back to and win a World Series.

The frustrating part is the Orioles gamed the system, IMO, which good for them for exposing that flaw. They got a good look at him in Spring Training of 2017, he had a minor setback with his shoulder that was strong enough to play through still, but they put him on the 60-day until mid-August when they were out of everything and rosters were about to expand.

By doing that they were able to get almost a full Spring, 20 days of minor league rehab, a month and a half of an MLB season, and 2018 Spring Training to evaluate him to decide to keep him before meeting the Rule 5 requirement of 90 days on the active roster. Most teams just get Spring Training or ST and a month of the MLB season to evaluate their rule 5 guys and make that decision.

Why the only concern this year with the rule 5 is that situation. A guy that is hurt/has off-season surgery that someone can slip through on the 60-day to get an extended look.
 
The problem wasn't in not protecting Santander, it's the complete inability of the team to draft/sign and develop an outfielder (not you Tyler Naquin) for going on over two decades. The team finally started discovering and developing starters in the last few years after a desert only occupied by apparitions of Josh Tomlin and Daniel Salazar, so maybe the drought in the OF might end.
 
Capping things with "drafted/signed" sure is a way to make an argument disingenuous, as if traded players like Choo and Brantley were finished products when they came to Cleveland.

Have the Indians been good at developing position players, much less outfielders, recently? Hell no.

For the last 20+ years though? Come on.
 
The Indians seem to have found the magic pill for developing pitchers. But very sketchy on position players. Brantley and Choo, while not drafted, became very good players. But the vast majority, Zimmer, Naquin, Chiz, and others seem to have trouble. You can argue about Frazier's ceiling, but he is a steady mlb player.
It will be interesting to follow Valera's development. Like Obi-Wan. He's our only hope!
 
@BimboColesHair

Are you still planning on posting your thoughts on the Akron lineup? Would really like to hear your thoughts on such an interesting/eclectic group.
 
@BimboColesHair

Are you still planning on posting your thoughts on the Akron lineup? Would really like to hear your thoughts on such an interesting/eclectic group.

I had to leave that series abruptly so I didn't get a good look. Only got to see 1 game of the series.

Scheduled to go back in a few weeks.
 
Holmes has a lot to prove. He hasn’t produced at anywhere near an acceptable level since being a high draft pick. He’ll need to keep up a solid pace for a whole season to get into any serious future plans. Let’s keep our fingers crossed!
 
1) Find kids that can hit a baseball regularly.

2) Find kids that can hit and are also shortstops. A kid who is playing shortstop in the Dominican or Southern California has natural athletic ability, meaning the capability of playing other positions.

3) Stir them together and simmer for five years.

That is the recipe for successful building of a MLB offense.

The former recipe was to find big kids with big athletic abilities, but limited to the outfield or corner positions. The ability to hit a baseball was a secondary consideration. Then teach them to hit a baseball. Stir them together and simmer and simmer and simmer. The result is what we have had mostly.
 
Is the rebirth of Quentin Holmes legit?

First bomb last night, a night after this.


@BimboColesHair whats the org. view on him?
Still very young at 21 who is an athlete trying to develop in to a baseball player with many tools. A bigger version of Miguel Dilone with more pop. Between Holmes and Will Benson maybe one of them will surprise
 

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