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2021 Minor League Thread

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No such thing as "punting" a season in baseball, IMO. It's either you have established talent at the MLB level or you don't.

Indians have too much talent in their rotation and bullpen that even trading Ramirez (which isn't happening) wouldn't stop them from floating around .500 all year.

If you want the Indians to "punt" a season and get a high draft pick, they need to trade half of their rotation and bullpen for that to happen (or have all of those guys hurt for a majority of the season).

Indians have reloaded their farm while compiling the best record in the American League over the last 5 years. They don't need to "punt" seasons to build up their pipeline.
 
Prospects or lack there of is not the issue for Cleveland at the moment. When you are a perennial playoff contender, the ability for greenies to earn their stripes in the majors is a lot more taxing on a team trying to win as many games as possible. Being mediocre is what allowed us to wait out JRam, Brantley, etc. as they progressed. Santana, Kipnis and Lindor were able to contribute immediately - but this usually not the norm, unless you are a top notch player.

Falling out of contention this season could be a blessing in disguise and allow us to ponder the future a bit more freely.

Pessimistic take: We have lost quite a few "blue chippers" and the FO did little to replace them..

Optimistic take: We are in a position to see how much true talent we possess and, if it breaks right we have a ton of quality/controllable players for the next several years.

If we are in the thick of it which I think is likely, I expect a trade deadline similar to 2016. We will be willing to trade top prospects to fill holes, for the rest of the season and beyond. The fairly loaded 2022 FA list should present some interesting options on the 2021 trade market.
 
Also, about to be a monstrous influx of permanent stateside talent coming from the Dominican Academy the next few years. That place is going to have a profound effect on the next decade of Indians baseball.

Should see a lot of Gabby Rodriguez, Angel Martinez, Junior Sanquintin, and Richard Paz. Lot of guys in the Dominican really like Daniel Aguilar too. Couple smaller lefty starters the organization likes, but one monster in Miguel Cordones who the organization will more than likely treat as a 6'6 blank canvas.

But a lot of people in the organization love Angel Martinez. Some higher ups favorite prospect in the entire organization already.
 
@WhoAzcue - take a look at Bimbo's post.. Our old bud Richard Paz is still making some noise!
 
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BimboColesHair said:
Kid has worked very hard moving to catcher. Great eye at the plate too, which coupled with his size makes him tough to K.

Also, not many people born in Altoona, PA playing in the Dominican Summer League.
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Looks very disciplined at the plate - just like his pops.. Hope he is able to start driving the ball more as he matures. I assume he is fluent in both English and Spanish - do you know for sure?
 
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BimboColesHair said:
Also, about to be a monstrous influx of permanent stateside talent coming from the Dominican Academy the next few years. That place is going to have a profound effect on the next decade of Indians baseball.

Should see a lot of Gabby Rodriguez, Angel Martinez, Junior Sanquintin, and Richard Paz. Lot of guys in the Dominican really like Daniel Aguilar too. Couple smaller lefty starters the organization likes, but one monster in Miguel Cordones who the organization will more than likely treat as a 6'6 blank canvas.

But a lot of people in the organization love Angel Martinez. Some higher ups favorite prospect in the entire organization already.
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Sure is a lot to like in the tribe pipeline. I'm very interested to see how quickly Hankins and Aquino rise. It took Plesac. Civale and Bieber about a year to go from A ball to the bigs.
 
thestatman said:
Sure is a lot to like in the tribe pipeline. I'm very interested to see how quickly Hankins and Aquino rise. It took Plesac. Civale and Bieber about a year to go from A ball to the bigs.
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Aquino???
Who is this Aquino you are referring to or were you meaning Daniel Espino (top CLE draft pick the year after Ethan Hankins)????

You might want to remember that Plesac/ Civale/ Bieber were all picked out of college while Hankins & Espino were taken out of high school.. That will play a factor on how fast guys develop & move thru the farm system...
 
MadThinker88 said:
Aquino???
Who is this Aquino you are referring to or were you meaning Daniel Espino (top CLE draft pick the year after Ethan Hankins)????

You might want to remember that Plesac/ Civale/ Bieber were all picked out of college while Hankins & Espino were taken out of high school.. That will play a factor on how fast guys develop & move thru the farm system...
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I assume he does mean Espino. Hawkins could of made it to AA in 2020 if he was crushing it.. So do you start him there? He is a tough one to slot for me but A+ sounds about right.

I am expecting and hoping we see quite a bit of early/mid season promotions in the minors this year. Wouldn't be surprised to see multiple prospects play 3 levels this year. Like Valera for an example. Should start in A+, and get pushed to AA at some point for sure.. But if he is destroying A+ - do you leave him there for more than 30 games? How long does he stay in Akron if the bat looks "legit" 50 games? The rest of the year?

I am pumped!!
 
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Good bit of people within the org think Espino has a chance to be the #1 prospect in the organization after this season.

Kid came back with a grown man body and lost 0 of the flexibility that made him special in the first place. Word is his 1st full go pen he was touching 101-102 (he's training in GA) and he has nasty off speed stuff already. Should make quick work of A ball and end in AA this year.
 
Criznit said:
I assume he does. Hawkins could of made it to AA in 2020 if he was crushing it.. So do you start him there? He is a tough one to slot for me but A+ sounds about right.

I am expecting and hoping we see quite a bit of early/mid season promotions in the minors this year. Wouldn't be surprised to see multiple prospects play 3 levels this year. Like Valera for an example. Should start in A+, and get pushed to AA at some point for sure.. But if he is destroying A+ - do you leave him there for more than 30 games? How long does he stay in Akron if the bat looks "legit" 50 games? The rest of the year?

I am pumped!!
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Pumped to see what Daniel Espinoza and Ethan Hawkins do too.
 
Aquino???
Who is this Aquino you are referring to or were you meaning Daniel Espino (top CLE draft pick the year after Ethan Hankins)????
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A.Aquino, with the Reds and who has been mentioned on here by some as an add to our outfield collection of wannabes, was ruled out of options yesterday. He might be the 27th or 28th guy for the Reds on their 26 man roster. May be available shortly fwiw.
 
BimboColesHair said:
Good bit of people within the org think Espino has a chance to be the #1 prospect in the organization after this season.

Kid came back with a grown man body and lost 0 of the flexibility that made him special in the first place. Word is his 1st full go pen he was touching 101-102 (he's training in GA) and he has nasty off speed stuff already. Should make quick work of A ball and end in AA this year.
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Love Espino, my favorite 1st round pick in recent drafts, but please make somebody tell him that mid 90s is fine in A Ball. The TJ rate of teenagers throwing that hard is crazy. It's a matter of when not if.

Very nice to hear about the DSL talent. I'm kinda intrigued about their 19/20 class that has yet to debut. More of a quantity over quality approach, but lots of profiles they've found success with in the past.

I guess one of those smaller lefties is Hugo Villalobos. Statistically the most interesting DSL arm coming (probably) over.
Any information on Jesus Lara? Reading statistical tea leaves, he's checking a lot of boxes.
 
I loved both Carter trades. Both trades garnered us two immediate and productive players.

And if you want to trade Jose 'and others', which others do you want us to trade.

I have no interest in trading for production that 'might' happen five years from now. I also don't care that there seemingly is no outfield prospects, because I see a ton of them....starting with Rosario, Naylor, Johnson, Jones, Valera, and almost every MIF prospect.

But the main difference between posters that want to go into full rebuild and those that want to go into the opposite direction is that the those who don't want to rebuild see this team as a contender right now.

Chicago and Minnesota have better 26 man rosters, but we have a lot more depth....and the Chisox have already lost a big piece.
 
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