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2021 Minor League Thread

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We certainly have a lot of possibilities for the bullpen.

Its a two edged sword.

On the one side, having so many decent looking options means that over a period of time, Tito should be able to find a bullpen that he is comfortable with.

On the other side, every time we call one up that isn't on the 40 man, we are in danger of losing somebody.

Just to get thru this season, we are certainly going to lose some good looking young arms.

Of course, thats better than not having anybody you care about losing.
 
The current forty man roster is comprised of 20 position players and 20 pitchers. The pitching staff the club will break camp with will be 13 pitchers. The remaining group of seven guys consist of four raw rookies ( two dedicated starters being stashed to protect from Rule V, two RP's also being protected).. In a round about way.. the choices for replacements are limited.. essentially, three guys..

Tito likes to dissect his bullpen into two parts.. the winners and the holders. Games that the tribe is leading in when the starter is being pulled goes to the the winners group. This year, that could be Wittgren, Clase, and Karinchak.. the holders are Maton and Hill.. From the remaining three guys, two are converting starters while two are recents adds, one who HAS to be on the roster to be kept.

Figuring out the pen comes down to deciding on the last two guys.. or three if the Rule V guy is not retained..

Simple it is not.. but that's why Tito, DeMarlo and Carl make the big $$$...

Thoughts?..
 
Keith Law ranks the Cleveland farm system as second best in all of baseball:

2. Cleveland​

Cleveland’s system was already on the ascent before the recent trades that sent Francisco Lindor, Carlos Carrasco, and Mike Clevinger away for prospects and young major leaguers, but those just added even more depth and potential upside to a system that already had both of those things in spades. They’ve drafted for upside, especially in the first round, for several years now, which has meant a lot of long-developing high school prospects who are now starting to bubble up into full-season ball enough where we can talk reasonably about their impacting the major-league team, complemented by ridiculous depth in shortstop prospects signed as international free agents. They’re far deeper in position players, mostly guys up the middle, than in pitching, where the pipeline that gave the major-league team guys like Clevinger, Shane Bieber, Zach Plesac and more is starting to dry up enough that they may need to refocus their efforts on adding arms in the next draft or two.

 
Keith Law ranks the Cleveland farm system as second best in all of baseball:

2. Cleveland​

Cleveland’s system was already on the ascent before the recent trades that sent Francisco Lindor, Carlos Carrasco, and Mike Clevinger away for prospects and young major leaguers, but those just added even more depth and potential upside to a system that already had both of those things in spades. They’ve drafted for upside, especially in the first round, for several years now, which has meant a lot of long-developing high school prospects who are now starting to bubble up into full-season ball enough where we can talk reasonably about their impacting the major-league team, complemented by ridiculous depth in shortstop prospects signed as international free agents. They’re far deeper in position players, mostly guys up the middle, than in pitching, where the pipeline that gave the major-league team guys like Clevinger, Shane Bieber, Zach Plesac and more is starting to dry up enough that they may need to refocus their efforts on adding arms in the next draft or two.

Great news for the future, but I noticed he didn't mention any outfielders, just the "ridiculous depth in shortstop prospects".

Minnesota is ranked 8th, Detroit 12th, KC 15th, and the White Sox 22nd.
 
Law's comment about the Indians needing to focus on arms in the next draft or two..should make anyone who reads what he has to say.. take a step back and consider what he's really saying..

A focus on arms? smh..
 
Law's comment about the Indians needing to focus on arms in the next draft or two..should make anyone who reads what he has to say.. take a step back and consider what he's really saying..

A focus on arms? smh..

Huh?
 
Law's comment about the Indians needing to focus on arms in the next draft or two..should make anyone who reads what he has to say.. take a step back and consider what he's really saying..

A focus on arms? smh..
@Gson
I will disagree with you. Look at his full statement: "They’re far deeper in position players, mostly guys up the middle, than in pitching." I would not disagree with that. We have more depth guys in the field then on the mound. That doesn't mean the Tribe has no pitching depth in the minors or at the lowest levels. Just that its behind the position player depth..
Especially after the recent graduations of Bieber, Plesac & Civale....
 
@Gson
I will disagree with you. Look at his full statement: "They’re far deeper in position players, mostly guys up the middle, than in pitching." I would not disagree with that. We have more depth guys in the field then on the mound. That doesn't mean the Tribe has no pitching depth in the minors or at the lowest levels. Just that its behind the position player depth..
Especially after the recent graduations of Bieber, Plesac & Civale....
Also the key word of 'may' right before 'need to refocus their efforts on adding arms in the next draft or two.'
 
@Gson
I will disagree with you. Look at his full statement: "They’re far deeper in position players, mostly guys up the middle, than in pitching." I would not disagree with that. We have more depth guys in the field then on the mound. That doesn't mean the Tribe has no pitching depth in the minors or at the lowest levels. Just that its behind the position player depth..
Especially after the recent graduations of Bieber, Plesac & Civale....
I like our depth of arms in the system.. how they're spaced.. and what each of the guys bring to the table.. The pitching depth is very strong.. very strong indeed..
 
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Keith Law ranks the Cleveland farm system as second best in all of baseball:

2. Cleveland​

Cleveland’s system was already on the ascent before the recent trades that sent Francisco Lindor, Carlos Carrasco, and Mike Clevinger away for prospects and young major leaguers, but those just added even more depth and potential upside to a system that already had both of those things in spades. They’ve drafted for upside, especially in the first round, for several years now, which has meant a lot of long-developing high school prospects who are now starting to bubble up into full-season ball enough where we can talk reasonably about their impacting the major-league team, complemented by ridiculous depth in shortstop prospects signed as international free agents. They’re far deeper in position players, mostly guys up the middle, than in pitching, where the pipeline that gave the major-league team guys like Clevinger, Shane Bieber, Zach Plesac and more is starting to dry up enough that they may need to refocus their efforts on adding arms in the next draft or two.

Baseball America also released its Farm System Rankings on 2/10/21.

Tampa still #1 & followed by Seattle, Toronto, Detroit & Atlanta in the top 5.
San Diego is #6 & followed by Baltimore, Minnesota & LA Dodgers
Cleveland comes in at #10.

Edit: Full list for BA has been pieced together (thank you to those that forwarded the last few teams I was looking for)...
 
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Keith Law ranks the Cleveland farm system as second best in all of baseball:

2. Cleveland​

Cleveland’s system was already on the ascent before the recent trades that sent Francisco Lindor, Carlos Carrasco, and Mike Clevinger away for prospects and young major leaguers, but those just added even more depth and potential upside to a system that already had both of those things in spades. They’ve drafted for upside, especially in the first round, for several years now, which has meant a lot of long-developing high school prospects who are now starting to bubble up into full-season ball enough where we can talk reasonably about their impacting the major-league team, complemented by ridiculous depth in shortstop prospects signed as international free agents. They’re far deeper in position players, mostly guys up the middle, than in pitching, where the pipeline that gave the major-league team guys like Clevinger, Shane Bieber, Zach Plesac and more is starting to dry up enough that they may need to refocus their efforts on adding arms in the next draft or two.


What he maybe missing is that the pitchers we have now except for McKenzie weren't really prospects that were highly ranked or top 100 types. So the FO maybe planning on some polished guys like Cantillo, Morgan, Gaddis, etc to make leaps like Bieber, Plesac, and Civale made.
 
Law dropped his full organizational top 20 today:

1. Triston McKenzie
2. Bo Naylor
3. George Valera
4. Tyler Freeman
5. Nolan Jones
6. Brayan Rocchio
7. Gabriel Arias
8. Lenny Torres
9. Daniel Espino
10. Ethan Hankins
11. Jose Tena
12. Aaron Bracho
13. Angel Martinez
14. Gabriel Rodriguez
15. Tanner Burns
16. Carson Tucker
17. Owen Miller
18. Isaiah Greene
19. Junior Sanquintin
20. Carlos Vargas

Full write-ups are included in the article ($)

 

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