Minor Happenings: Notes 11/7

Just a couple random notes this morning:

First, the deadline to add players to the 40-man roster and make reserve lists at Buffalo, Akron, etc for protection from the Rule 5 Draft is November 20th. If you are not familiar with the Rule 5 Draft and what it is, a good, brief description can be found here. The Rule 5 Draft will take place at the end of the Winter Meetings on December 6th.

Right-handed reliever Randy Newsom is in the Arizona Fall League (AFL) getting some additional work in. He is Rule 5 eligible, so the Indians are probably getting an additional look at him before they have to make a roster decision on him on whether to put him on the 40-man roster. He has been writing a diary for Baseball America on life in the AFL, and the submissions have been outstanding. His latest piece posted yesterday.

Team USA gets ready to play in the World Cup in Taiwan today, and one Indians prospect was selected to the team: right-handed reliever Jeff Stevens. Here is Baseball America’s short writeup on him in their preview:

Stevens is a quality reliever who posted a 2.81 ERA, 102 strikeouts and 25 walks in 83 1/3 innings between high Class A and Double-A in 2007. He mixes his fastball and changeup well, although his breaking ball is fringy. He profiles as a middle reliever in the majors, and Johnson should be able to call on Stevens in key situations in the tournament.

Stevens is someone the Indians are very high on, and is a pitcher they feel could make the leap to the majors at some point in 2008. He is being fasttracked, and if he performs well early in 2008 could move as quickly as Jensen Lewis did last year. I’ll have a full detailed scouting report of him when the Top 50 list posts in January.

Speaking of the Top 50 list, here is the tentative schedule for its release:

Thurs 1/3: 2008 Top 50 Prospect Intro and focus on guys who just missed
Mon 1/7: Top 50 Prospects 41-50
Tues 1/8: Top 50 Prospects 31-40
Wed 1/9: Top 50 Prospects 21-30
Thurs 1/10: Top 50 Prospects 11-20
Fri 1/11: Top 50 Prospects 6-10
Sat 1/12: Top 50 Prospects 1-5

So be on the lookout for that. There will be detailed scouting reports for all 50 players, as well as brief ones for another 10-30 players who just missed the list. All will be stored on this site in the Scouting Reports section, and will be stored on TheClevelandFan.com as well. Also, I am printing 300-500 copies of the 2008 Top 50 list after it posts on-line, and the copies should be available in February-March. So, if anyone is interested let me know in advance. At most, it will be $5 as I am selling these at cost.

Posted in: Jeff Stevens,Randy Newsom