Update: 1/23

Just a quick update today on some of the news around the system. Not much is happening as players are getting ready to report to spring training in a little over a month. That said, several players have come up in the news the past few days.

As I mentioned here last week, right-hander Randy Newsom has started a new company which allows fans to invest in minor league baseball players at www.realsportsinvestments.com. Baseball Prospectus wrote an article the other day on it, check it out. The article has some great insight into the financial hardships minor leaguers face, and also showcases Newsom’s very interesting business venture.

The Lake County News Herald wrote a piece a few days ago on outfielder Ryan Goleski. Goleski talks about his struggles last year and how he is preparing himself to come into this season better focused. I have always been a big Goleski fan, and if healthy I think he is in line to have a very good bounce back season this year. The Indians have a BIG need in the outfield at the major league level and have lots of depth at the position in the minors, but no one really stepped up last season to stand out. Hopefully this year someone does take their game to the next level to separate themselves from the others an get a crack at the long-term left field opening in Cleveland.

First baseman/outfielder Jordan Brown was also recently featured in an article in the Cleveland Plain Dealer. The article talks about his outstanding plate discipline and off the charts makeup. Brown will be in Triple-A this year, and has a good shot to play with the Indians at some point this season in left field or at first base. While it was not mentioned, Brown is expected to play some outfield this year. He would have played outfield more least season, but a knee injury he played through the last half of the season relegated him to first base full time.

Some may remember right-hander Mike Eisenberg’s blog last year called Berg’s Blog where he wrote almost daily on his trek through his first full minor league season. It provided some great insight into the life of a minor leaguer and what goes through their heads when they experience failure or success. Eisenberg scrapped that blog and started his new one which he owns at www.eisentower30.com. Check out the site, as instead of just baseball Mike will be writing almost daily on politics, doing movie reviews, current news topics, and some baseball as well.

Last, you may or may not have noticed some scouting reports were added to the scouting reports section. As I noted a few days ago, I am in the process of updating this site and bringing all the reference material up to date, and the first is to give one link access to all the scouting reports for every player from my recent Indians Top 50+ list. Right now, I have about 35 of the scouting reports listed on the left panel for quick access, and the remaining 40 should be up within the next week. Also, each of the nine articles from the Top 50+ list are also linked on the left panel as well under the “2008 Top Prospects” heading.

Posted in: Jordan Brown,Mike Eisenberg,Randy Newsom,Ryan Goleski