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The 2020 Cleveland Indians

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5 spots left could mean flexibility for 3-1 type trades

Per indianspro
#Indians players added to camp not on the current 40-man roster:

RHP Espino
LHP Gose
RHP Hankins
RHP Hill
RHP Leone
RHP Morgan
LHP Nelson
RHP Sandlin
C) Naylor
C) Taylor
2B) Bracho
SS) Clement
INF) M. Freeman
SS) T. Freeman
3B) Jones
OF) Valera
 
I was really hoping to see Rocchio listed on the taxi squad, although he could still fill one of the final five spots.
 
Can someone explain why Indians listed Plesac, Civale and Karinchak as optioned already? The others make sense as they wouldn’t be on 30 man to start, most likely. Plus, 40 - 12 options = 28 to start vs 30 allowed. Can’t see how those 3 don’t start in Cle as roster is at 39 w/o Clase ... so they can add one of Freeman, Hill, Gose or Leone without cutting anyone else.
 
The rumors of the Indians conducting a fire sale within the next few months may or may not be true. But they fall in line with the idea that multiple small and mid market franchises may not be able to remain financially viable, unless they sell of their most valuable assets...at which point they become competitively unviable.

Six or so franchises that become unviable from a financial and/or competitive standpoint could very well lead to contraction. The problem is compounded by the fact that there will be almost no financial difference between being a playoff contender or a bottom feeder.

Both the owners and the players have a huge financial stake in making sure that every franchise remains both financially and competitively viable. Contraction would lead to fewer jobs...at smaller contracts..for the players, and a precipitous drop in franchise values for the owners.

Unfortunately in the every man for himself world of pro baseball, very few on either side care.

They might in two years, but by then it may be too late.
 
Can someone explain why Indians listed Plesac, Civale and Karinchak as optioned already? The others make sense as they wouldn’t be on 30 man to start, most likely. Plus, 40 - 12 options = 28 to start vs 30 allowed. Can’t see how those 3 don’t start in Cle as roster is at 39 w/o Clase ... so they can add one of Freeman, Hill, Gose or Leone without cutting anyone else.
They were optioned back in March when the season was put on hold
 
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Good move to leave five spots open. It gives them flexibility to sign free agents or make trades if there is a run of illness at one position. However, with 55 players to work with and only 60 games to play it's extremely doubtful they will need to go looking for more major league players.

They may end up wishing they used a couple of those spots to give prospects some valuable work.

I'm wondering what the 15-man crew training at Classic Park will do. I imagine a lot of work in the batting cages and bullpens. Maybe games against the Pirates taxi squad?

Also, once the Indians get down to 30 players do the 10 cut players work out at Classic Park or do they stay and train at Progressive, doing individual workouts when the team is on the road?

With the minors shut down all the Indians minor league instructors and coaches can descend on the Prog and Classic Park for intense individual training sessions with our top prospects. The coach-to-player ratio will be amazing. It will be like all the organization's coaching expertise will be concentrated on our 23 best prospects instead of being spread out over six minor league teams and 150 players.

Are the other 100+ farm hands going to be working out in Arizona?
 
Good move to leave five spots open. It gives them flexibility to sign free agents or make trades if there is a run of illness at one position. However, with 55 players to work with and only 60 games to play it's extremely doubtful they will need to go looking for more major league players.

They may end up wishing they used a couple of those spots to give prospects some valuable work.

I'm wondering what the 15-man crew training at Classic Park will do. I imagine a lot of work in the batting cages and bullpens. Maybe games against the Pirates taxi squad?

Also, once the Indians get down to 30 players do the 10 cut players work out at Classic Park or do they stay and train at Progressive, doing individual workouts when the team is on the road?

With the minors shut down all the Indians minor league instructors and coaches can descend on the Prog and Classic Park for intense individual training sessions with our top prospects. The coach-to-player ratio will be amazing. It will be like all the organization's coaching expertise will be concentrated on our 23 best prospects instead of being spread out over six minor league teams and 150 players.

Are the other 100+ farm hands going to be working out in Arizona?

I feel like a lot of the rest of the farm hands will train at home with one v one type of sessions with coaches via skype/FaceTime/zoom. They will want everyone to keep their distances from each other and its possible in due time team facilities in arizona, DR and other places open back up, but for now it will be a lot of personal training at home with personal chats/group meeting via online.
 
How do you train at home? Pitchers need high speed photography and computers that measure speed, spin, and break. Batters need to hit live pitching. Infielders need infield practice.

I suppose pitchers could throw in their backyards with a video camera that records their movements. Pitching coaches could break down the film and make suggestions to refine their mechanics. Maybe the pitchers could get their wife or girlfriend to operate a radar gun if the team will send them one.

I don't know how a batter practices hitting at home. Find a buddy who's a pitcher and go to the local ballfield or out in the desert with a bucket of balls, I guess. Pay some kids to shag.

It would be better to have the minor leaguers in Goodyear working out in small groups at different times of the day. At least they have pitching machines for the hitters and mounds for the pitchers to throw off. They could have pitchers pitching to batters so they face live pitching. They could work out in small groups, then do weights or speed work, long toss, whatever while the next group takes the field.
 
Here is the future "what could have been?" roster

 
The rumors of the Indians conducting a fire sale within the next few months may or may not be true. But they fall in line with the idea that multiple small and mid market franchises may not be able to remain financially viable, unless they sell of their most valuable assets...at which point they become competitively unviable.

Six or so franchises that become unviable from a financial and/or competitive standpoint could very well lead to contraction. The problem is compounded by the fact that there will be almost no financial difference between being a playoff contender or a bottom feeder.

Both the owners and the players have a huge financial stake in making sure that every franchise remains both financially and competitively viable. Contraction would lead to fewer jobs...at smaller contracts..for the players, and a precipitous drop in franchise values for the owners.

Unfortunately in the every man for himself world of pro baseball, very few on either side care.

They might in two years, but by then it may be too late.

Fewer jobs, yes. I'm not sure about smaller contracts for those guys that are there. Without those weaker teams, there would be less revenue sharing for the wealthy clubs. In any case, contraction would be much worse for bubble players who might lose their job entirely as opposed to everyone else. That creates a divergence of interests within the players association because the higher end players have less of an inventive to make compromises intended to support weaker teams.
 
:conf (2):

I.......

Don't think @CATS44 post had anything to do with what you said or at least anything i could find. So calling him out 4 times in a post isn't cool.

Forum related there is absolutely a non 0 chance the season doesn't even get started. And i know ive been playing gloom and doom but i would be shocked if this season finishes through the playoffs.
...and I fall somewhere in between. I definitely agree on the non-zero chance of it even starting...all the more so on finishing the playoffs, though I would not be shocked if they "get it in". Events are fluid and certainly there is variation between states. We really do not have a sense of how situations and state responses will come in to play, but on we go...
 
Francona's Indians teams have historically started very slow, and this year that would be a death sentence. It may not be popular, but it is realistic to envision the Indians out of contention after the first month. And given this season is nine weeks, if you are tooo far out after a month, the economics say you have to cut bait rather than fish.
It is certainly possible, but not a scenario I find likely. This front office will plan for all contingencies, of this I am sure, but that is just doing their job.
 
Sorry Q, wrote my post before I got down to yours. But even after I read your post, I am not sure that I would revise anything I put in mine. So if you don't think it is fair game for me to respond in the way I did, I am more than happy to avoid it, as one of the points of my post was that it had no place here.

I appreciate that - I do think you got a bit thick in the weeds with that prior post.
 
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