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2021 Minor League Thread

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2 Logan Allen's in AAA. Somebody please give one of them a nickname!
Logan S Allen started in the rotation for CLE this season. He is out of options after this season. Strong chance he is no longer in the organization by Thanksgiving (dfa).

Logan T Allen was a 2020 CLE draft pick and made it to AA Akron this season.
 
Logan S Allen started in the rotation for CLE this season. He is out of options after this season. Strong chance he is no longer in the organization by Thanksgiving (dfa).

Logan T Allen was a 2020 CLE draft pick and made it to AA Akron this season.

I dont think we will get rid of all three of Mejia, Allen and Hentges, but I wouldn't be surprised if one or two go while whomever is left is a bullpen arm in 22...
 
I dont think we will get rid of all three of Mejia, Allen and Hentges, but I wouldn't be surprised if one or two go while whomever is left is a bullpen arm in 22...
And that (in bold) is the point..
IF Mejia is granted a 4th option, he would have the inside track since he could move between the MLB & MiLB rosters.
Logan S & Sam Hentges are out of options.

The chart from Indians Pro is suggesting Logan S is pitching as a starter in AAA Columbus... I have a very hard time seeing that happening.
 
And that (in bold) is the point..
IF Mejia is granted a 4th option, he would have the inside track since he could move between the MLB & MiLB rosters.
Logan S & Sam Hentges are out of options.

The chart from Indians Pro is suggesting Logan S is pitching as a starter in AAA Columbus... I have a very hard time seeing that happening.
Agree with the "very hard time seeing" comment.. A guy who's got less than a couple dozen starts as a minor leaguer.. and not a reliever, being promoted to one step from being a ML'er?.. highly doubtful.. doubtful indeed...
 
I dont think we will get rid of all three of Mejia, Allen and Hentges, but I wouldn't be surprised if one or two go while whomever is left is a bullpen arm in 22...
I could see Logan Allen Sr being moved for a non-40 man rostered prospect..

Both Hentges and Mejia will stick.. both in the pen.. imho..
 
The list is speculative, but it has a few problems.

First, Allen sr has no options.
Second, it doesnt mention Stephan, who IMO will be given a look as a starter.
Third, it assumes that Moss will be let go...which, because of his injuries, might be true.

But mostly, all such lists should begin with the assumption of health. The entire list goes kaflooie if our MLB rotation is healthy on opening day.

Which puts a rotation of Morgan, Morris, Battenfield, Pilkington, and Stephan in Columbus....which would mean goodbye to McCarty...and also to Scott, if Stephan stays in the pen.

Akron would begin with Allen Jr, Espino, Curry, Cantillo, and one of Gaddis or Burns.

The one not chosen is back in LC, along with Hickman. Everybody gets backed up after that.

We literally have more starting pitchers than we have teams to put them on.

Obviously, injuries will thin things out a bit...and should be planned for.

But a lot of these kids won't be in the org come spring.
 
The list is speculative, but it has a few problems.

First, Allen sr has no options.
Second, it doesnt mention Stephan, who IMO will be given a look as a starter.
Third, it assumes that Moss will be let go...which, because of his injuries, might be true.

But mostly, all such lists should begin with the assumption of health. The entire list goes kaflooie if our MLB rotation is healthy on opening day.

Which puts a rotation of Morgan, Morris, Battenfield, Pilkington, and Stephan in Columbus....which would mean goodbye to McCarty...and also to Scott, if Stephan stays in the pen.

Akron would begin with Allen Jr, Espino, Curry, Cantillo, and one of Gaddis or Burns.

The one not chosen is back in LC, along with Hickman. Everybody gets backed up after that.

We literally have more starting pitchers than we have teams to put them on.

Obviously, injuries will thin things out a bit...and should be planned for.

But a lot of these kids won't be in the org come spring.
Why would Stephan be sent to Columbus to be stretched out as a starter? We have plenty of starting pitching depth that will be in Columbus next year and a dearth of relievers up here at the moment.
 
Why would Stephan be sent to Columbus to be stretched out as a starter? We have plenty of starting pitching depth that will be in Columbus next year and a dearth of relievers up here at the moment.

Because that was the original plan for Stephan... He has always been a starter so they wish to get him more starting experience and see if that the right road for him in the end or not. So we may not see much of him in 22 cause they are developing him as a starter...
 
The pen isn't as thin as fans think.

Clase
Karinchak
Sandlin
Mejia
Hentges
One older vet.

Thats a pretty good start.

Stephan wasn't acquired to be a reliever, although because of the rules, he had to be there this year. The staff has been working with him all season with the idea that he would be looked at as a rotation piece. Of course, adding Pilkington and Battenfield might have changed things.
 
The pen isn't as thin as fans think.

Clase
Karinchak
Sandlin
Mejia
Hentges
One older vet.

Thats a pretty good start.

Stephan wasn't acquired to be a reliever, although because of the rules, he had to be there this year. The staff has been working with him all season with the idea that he would be looked at as a rotation piece. Of course, adding Pilkington and Battenfield might have changed things.
Agree that adds of Battenfield/ Pilkington might have changed plans. The work Trevor has done in the 2nd half with Blake Parker has also helped him as a reliever.

I really believe the lack of options will be huge when the roster gets adjusted in November. Would rather keep Francisco Perez as a lhp in the pen over Sam Hentges..
 
Agree that adds of Battenfield/ Pilkington might have changed plans. The work Trevor has done in the 2nd half with Blake Parker has also helped him as a reliever.

I really believe the lack of options will be huge when the roster gets adjusted in November. Would rather keep Francisco Perez as a lhp in the pen over Sam Hentges..
Perez over Hentges ? Disagree with this.. even w/ the options (2?) that Perez has..
 
I think Perez is interesting, but Hentges is a massive talent.

Whether the talent turns into production is the question, but the upside is just too much to turn him loose.

Nobody becomes Andrew Miller, but...

If you look at what drove us to the 2016 WS, it was Shaw setting up Allen, and Miller as the hired gun for any and every situation.

We have Allen in Clase. We have two possible hired guns in Karinchak and Hentges. We need to find another Shaw, which could be Sandlin.

I believe in bullpen roles, which...except for Clase...we don't have defined yet. The destruction of the rotation wrecked any chance to do that. With an intact rotation next season, Tito will have the chance to layout a blueprint for the pen.

And he will have lots of talent to work with. I dont see as big of a problem as most others do. I think the answers are already here.

The rotation is key to the pen. How many innings will the rotation give us?

Going by track record, four of the SPs will give us an average of close to six a night.

This is Quantrills first time used as a full time starter, and he has averaged 5.5 IP.
Plesac has averaged 5.8. Civale 6.0. Bieber 6.3.

80% of the time when we are using our regular rotation, the pen needs to cover an average of three IP. Thats a good start.

While pens are always volatile, I like what we have right now. All I want is an elder statesman out there...and we have options already here that might be enticed to stay.
 
All things being equal I could understand the desire to hold onto Sam Hentges & use him out of the bullpen exclusively moving forward. He (and Logan S) could continue to get work in the minors if things were not going well in the MLB bullpen.

But things are not equal. Some have options they can use next season. Others (Hentges/ Logan S) do not options for next season.

Members of this board were ticked off that Jake Bauers was held onto at the start of 2021 since he was out of options although he was clearly out played by Bobby Bradley and others in spring training (and last season and the season before that)...

Take all the LHRP options currently on the 40 man roster: Hentges/ Logan S Allen/ Nelson/ F Perez/ Gose/ A Young.
With all the prospects needing to be protected (or at least considered for protection): you can keep 1 of that 6 man group, maybe 2.

With LH arms like Joey Cantillo, Konnor Pilkington, Adam Scott and others (Hillman/ McCarty/ Herrin/ Lingos/ etc) on the consideration list, there are replacement options if 1 or more of the current gets claimed via waivers or doesnt wish to return to CLE organization.

Would I be annoyed if Hentges or Logan S finally get it figured out pitching for another team... Yes
Would I hold onto either Henrges/ Logan S & expose other prospects to R5/ minor league free agency just so those 2 get another/ last chance in 2022... No

For me, having options for movement to/ from the minors is the key..
If a player is performing in MLB, that is fine/ the plan.
If a player is struggling in MLB, send him out to minors to work it out and plug in another player..
I can follow that pattern when players have options remaining/ available.. If not, then the team is stuck with someone that is not performing well. That leads to other issues/ problems.

Having a great fastball or outstanding breaking pitch is useless if that pitch is unable to be located properly or gets tatooed regularly as they come in flat with an invitation to be hit HARD..

Anyone else recall Nick Hagadone???
 
Valid points, but...

Are you saying that you also don't want to keep any of our OF candidates, outside of Straw and Naylor, because any of them would cost us protecting a prospect?

Or Chang, Miller, and Clement?

Everybody on the fringes that we keep means a prospect doesn't get protected.

I dont think Hagadone is a good comparison. First of all, he was a headache. Secondly, he didn't have near the arsenal that Hentges has. He also walked more batters than Hentges.

As a reliever Hentges has walked only 4 batters in 25 IP. His problem has been gopher balls. He throws them, they go-fer.

But since he was put in the pen full time, his numbers give pause.

7 games
9.1 IP
2 ER...both solo shots
5 H
1 BB
12 K
1.93 ERA

Thats production I dont want to give away.

If I were to rank the left hand candidates for the pen, Hentges is #1 on my hit parade.
 

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