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2021 Minor League Thread

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Would have thought after the Dodgers minor leaguers were caught raping women in their appt that MLB would never do this (if they paying rent then they would hold some responsibility) but here we are. Good move.
 

Some more Richie coverage. The critiques of his arm strength, continue to give me that LF over CF thought. Makes me feel we found our Michael Brantley heir to LF. :chuckle::cool:

Honestly I don't care where he slots, I just find Richie to be one of my favorite straight ball players type and confident in his floor in the majors.
 

Some more Richie coverage. The critiques of his arm strength, continue to give me that LF over CF thought. Makes me feel we found our Michael Brantley heir to LF. :chuckle::cool:

Honestly I don't care where he slots, I just find Richie to be one of my favorite straight ball players type and confident in his floor in the majors.

He's gonna be on a 40 man roster in 22 and with time spent in AAA in 21, he's got a legit chance of MLB time in 22.
 
He's gonna be on a 40 man roster in 22 and with time spent in AAA in 21, he's got a legit chance of MLB time in 22.
Oh I know for sure I will see him in Cleveland at some point next year unless he's traded. I'm just kind of hitching some wagons as people do here. First was Rocchio is my favorite SS and that's who I want to be the true long term heir and now it's Palacios. Unless the FO somehow get a real stud (which I just don't see happening with this organization) give me Palacios as my LFer of the future, maybe even out of camp or like a month or two into the season.

I think ideally I'm starting to feel like I'd be ok with the 2020 approach to an extent again in 2021 as far as fleshing out some of our internal options and youth. Let them pick their favorite between Kwan and OGon for a remaining 40 spot maybe run with them in LF to trial it out and then pop my boy Richie in there if they fail. I just hope none of these guys get the leash Bauers got. On Bauers, I'd like to clarify part of my problem with his leash length was the comments Tito made during his one exit interview and the whispers of his approach in general to the game.
 
Oh I know for sure I will see him in Cleveland at some point next year unless he's traded. I'm just kind of hitching some wagons as people do here. First was Rocchio is my favorite SS and that's who I want to be the true long term heir and now it's Palacios. Unless the FO somehow get a real stud (which I just don't see happening with this organization) give me Palacios as my LFer of the future, maybe even out of camp or like a month or two into the season.

I think ideally I'm starting to feel like I'd be ok with the 2020 approach to an extent again in 2021 as far as fleshing out some of our internal options and youth. Let them pick their favorite between Kwan and OGon for a remaining 40 spot maybe run with them in LF to trial it out and then pop my boy Richie in there if they fail. I just hope none of these guys get the leash Bauers got. On Bauers, I'd like to clarify part of my problem with his leash length was the comments Tito made during his one exit interview and the whispers of his approach in general to the game.

It is too bad Kwan isn't much of a threat on the base paths. Seems like that hurts him pretty well. One thing I really like was his power outburst this year was homers, not doubles waiting to become dingers. If he had any real speed it seems like that would help his stock a lot. Also in a SSS of 26 games in AAA he had 14BB against 8K. Really want to see if he has more in the tank..

Palacios probably needs a bit more time in AAA, especially if we go for an outfield commit (sounds good to me) and other 2nd base options duke it out. A hot spring/trades/etc. changes that outlook of course.
 
It is too bad Kwan isn't much of a threat on the base paths. Seems like that hurts him pretty well. One thing I really like was his power outburst this year was homers, not doubles waiting to become dingers. If he had any real speed it seems like that would help his stock a lot. Also in a SSS of 26 games in AAA he had 14BB against 8K. Really want to see if he has more in the tank..

Palacios probably needs a bit more time in AAA, especially if we go for an outfield commit (sounds good to me) and other 2nd base options duke it out. A hot spring/trades/etc. changes that outlook of course.
Kwan is a bit of an enigma, for me anyway. Can't help but notice his production and wonder if a good portion of it will translate.

The same can be said about Palacios. In just over 100 AB in Columbus he slashed 292/434/416/849. He had 25 BB and 28 SO. That screams ready for an opportunity to prove himself in my mind. Even if it is a relatively small sample.
 
I like Palacios.

But he has the grand total of 600 PAs in pro ball. Thats the equivalent of one MLB season. He has always played at an age older than his level. He has very little experience in the OF.

And we can't keep everybody. We can't keep him and Kwan and Gonzalez and Mercado and Zimmer and Johnson and Chang and Miller and Clement and all the prospects we have to keep. Plus, it's not only the 40 man. We have to have enough realistic MLBers to field a contending team in Cleveland. The 40 man can't be stuffed with prospects and fringe players.
 
I like Palacios.

But he has the grand total of 600 PAs in pro ball. Thats the equivalent of one MLB season. He has always played at an age older than his level. He has very little experience in the OF.

And we can't keep everybody. We can't keep him and Kwan and Gonzalez and Mercado and Zimmer and Johnson and Chang and Miller and Clement and all the prospects we have to keep. Plus, it's not only the 40 man. We have to have enough realistic MLBers to field a contending team in Cleveland. The 40 man can't be stuffed with prospects and fringe players.

I have zero qualms with ejecting Johnson (at all) and either Mercado and/or Zimmer (a little hesitation - no need to remove both) to keep Kwan. Palacios only had 1 year of pro ball before this season and never played above low A and that was a whopping 20 games. Had injury or Covid not happened, I suspect he'd already be rostered.

In a vacuum, I take him over Clement any day and it forced, probably Chang as well.
 
In the GM thread, I kept both Palacios and Kwan. But no way am I depending on them to provide anything at all to the Guardians next year. Prospects are fine, but productive MLB players are the only thing that count next year.
 
One younger prospect that IMO is getting overlooked a bit when talking about prospects that should be considered for R5 protection is Johnkensy Noel.

Across three levels he had an OPS of 1.005 with a K rate of 21%. His EV is elite....and he doesn't hit the ball on the ground.

He had an XBH every 7.8 at bats.

When folks say they are looking for an impact bat, they mean power. This kid is the most powerful bat in the org, and does it without being a windmill at the plate. I prefer contact to power, but Noel has both.

He can't run a lick, though.

Since he is only 20 and is in A+, there is a legitimate thought that nobody would choose him in the R5, but Baltimore picked Santander out of A+ at age 21, even though he was hurt. And when all is said and done this winter, Noel will be considered a better prospect.

If it came down to Gonzalez or Noel, who would you keep?

In spite of his numbers this year, Gonzalez is not considered a real prospect. But he is MLB ready. And if he isn't protected, he will be gone.

Noel is not close to MLB ready, unless somebody is willing to stash him for a year. But he is a legit prospect, and put up even better numbers than Gonzalez.

It may depend upon what the FO plans to do. If they decide to bring in two MLB outfielders, there is no real opportunity for Gonzalez in Cleveland, and I see no way that the FO views Gonzalez as a better option than Valera in 2023.

Is it worth the risk, no matter how small, of losing Noel in order to hang onto Gonzalez?
 
One younger prospect that IMO is getting overlooked a bit when talking about prospects that should be considered for R5 protection is Johnkensy Noel.

Across three levels he had an OPS of 1.005 with a K rate of 21%. His EV is elite....and he doesn't hit the ball on the ground.

He had an XBH every 7.8 at bats.

When folks say they are looking for an impact bat, they mean power. This kid is the most powerful bat in the org, and does it without being a windmill at the plate. I prefer contact to power, but Noel has both.

He can't run a lick, though.

Since he is only 20 and is in A+, there is a legitimate thought that nobody would choose him in the R5, but Baltimore picked Santander out of A+ at age 21, even though he was hurt. And when all is said and done this winter, Noel will be considered a better prospect.

If it came down to Gonzalez or Noel, who would you keep?

In spite of his numbers this year, Gonzalez is not considered a real prospect. But he is MLB ready. And if he isn't protected, he will be gone.

Noel is not close to MLB ready, unless somebody is willing to stash him for a year. But he is a legit prospect, and put up even better numbers than Gonzalez.

It may depend upon what the FO plans to do. If they decide to bring in two MLB outfielders, there is no real opportunity for Gonzalez in Cleveland, and I see no way that the FO views Gonzalez as a better option than Valera in 2023.

Is it worth the risk, no matter how small, of losing Noel in order to hang onto Gonzalez?
I keep Noel over OGon personally but I won't get too upset if the front office chooses differently because how far away Noel is. A couple critiques though of the FO if they do choose OGon, I feel they should have given him some looks late in the season imo if they were planning on rostering him and if they roster him he better be given a real long look in camp. That said with OGon's inability to take walks, I'm not expecting much.
 
I keep Noel over OGon personally but I won't get too upset if the front office chooses differently because how far away Noel is. A couple critiques though of the FO if they do choose OGon, I feel they should have given him some looks late in the season imo if they were planning on rostering him and if they roster him he better be given a real long look in camp. That said with OGon's inability to take walks, I'm not expecting much.

If my last spot is between OGonz and HRam, it's OGonz every time...

I have a hunch though we may see a trade like we did with Mark Mathias a couple seasons ago.
 
I keep Noel over OGon personally but I won't get too upset if the front office chooses differently because how far away Noel is. A couple critiques though of the FO if they do choose OGon, I feel they should have given him some looks late in the season imo if they were planning on rostering him and if they roster him he better be given a real long look in camp. That said with OGon's inability to take walks, I'm not expecting much.
Additionally Noel will be a real hard one to loose, almost as tough as Santander was then. When Santander left he was about the only power hitting prospect we had in the system. Noel is arguably the best power bat prospect we have and honestly he plays at the moment two positions we could be thin talent wise in 3B and 1B, I also feel he's athletic enough to where he could corner OF. I understand 3B isn't that big of a concern because a few of our SS could slide over there after Jose but looking at some internal 1B options, none are very exciting.
 

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