Big Weekend Update

With no Minor Happenings until next spring and the news these days almost non-existent, for the entire offseason I will be providing a "Weekend Rundown" every Saturday or Sunday that sort of covers all the news from the previous week. Here is the rundown for this week, which actually had a lot of news:

• Right-hander Erik Stiller was on my radio show Smoke Signals this past Thursday October 16th (show can be heard in the media player displaying to the right). He appears about halfway through the one hour show and we talk for 20 minutes about his performance so far in the Arizona Fall League, what it is like out there, how some of the other Indians minor leaguers that are out there with him look, his going from an undrafted free agent afterthought to now a legitimate relief pitching prospect in the system, and more. Michael Brantley's agent Josh Kusnick also called in near the end for 5-7 minutes and gave an update on Brantley as well as the happenings in the Arizona Fall League since he is out there.

• For this week's upcoming Smoke Signals show on Thursday October 23rd, left-hander Matt Meyer will be on to talk about what he is doing and how things are going out in the Hawaii Winter League. I may also get catcher Matt McBride - who is also in Hawaii - to come onto the show and talk about how he is doing and how the transition to the outfield is going. Meyer is for certain, McBride is a maybe at this point. On Thursday October 30th right-hander Jeff Stevens is set to come on the show, and in future episodes I will have players on like Jordan Brown, Matt Brown, Vinnie Pestano, and many others I am working out details and timing with. The goal is to have someone new on every week until the start of spring training.

• Speaking of McBride, Baseball America ran a premium piece on Tuesday about his recent move to the outfield and how he is handling it. To summarize the article, the Indians have not yet given up on McBride as a catcher and the move to the outfield in Hawaii is more a way to help him in his rehab from labrum surgery to his throwing shoulder last offseason and also to give him some more versatility to play elsewhere in the field. When McBride was in Instructional League a few weeks ago he still took part in a lot of catching drills and also worked out in the outfield to help strengthen his arm. With catching prospects Carlos Santana, Wyatt Toregas, and Chris Gimenez above him in Double-A Akron and Triple-A Columbus, some experimentation in the outfield is necessary to see if he could play somewhere else when they want to move him up to Double-A likely in May or June next season (he should start the season as the every day catcher in Kinston). In 15 games so far in Hawaii, McBride is hitting .273 (15-for-55) with 1 HR, 13 RBI, and an .828 OPS.

• Baseball America recapped the AL Central International signings this week. Since this is a non-premium piece, I have linked the article in the previous sentence and have copied and pasted what they said below on the Indians:

Six-figure signings: C Alex Monsalve, Venezuela, 16; Jose Ozoria, Dominican Republic, 16; INF Giovanny Urshella, Colombia, 16;

Top Bonus: Monsalve, $715,000

Summary: The Indians reshuffled their front office in the offseason, promoting Brad Grant from assistant scouting director to director of amateur scouting. Grant assumed the responsibilities of handling the amateur draft from John Mirabelli, who was put in charge of coordinating the team's international scouting efforts. Mirabelli intimated in January that the market for talent in the Dominican Republic was beginning to become oversaturated, so it wasn't a huge surprise that the Indians mined for talent in Venezuela, Colombia and the Far East this year.

Monsalve played shortstop and third base as an amateur, but he will move behind the plate as a professional. Monsalve has a medium frame at 6-foot-2 with room to fill out. He will need time to develop his defensive skills, but it's his potential with the bat that stands out the most. Monsalve is the second high-profile catcher the Indians signed from Venezuela this year, having already given 18-year-old Rolando Petit $295,000 in March.

The Indians weren't completely out of the Dominican, as they landed one of the better shortstop prospects available by signing Jose Ozoria for $575,000. Ozoria has a good swing with good bat-to-ball skills. He has good hands at shortstop and quick lateral movement. Urshella has gap power and clean hands and projects as a third baseman. The Indians had agreed to terms with 6-foot-2 Dominican righthander Edward Pinales, an athletic righthander with a mid- to high-80s fastball, but Major League Baseball suspended Pinales for using a false identity.

The Indians also 18-year-old Dominican lefthander Harold Guerrero in January for a low six-figure bonus. And in late September, the Indians made a splash in Taiwan by signing Chen-Chang Lee. The 21-year-old righthander signed for $400,000, the largest bonus this year for a player from Taiwan.

• The Indians spring training schedule has been released this week. Right now, I plan to go to Arizona either the week of March 14-21 or March 21-28, so hope to see some of you out there. I’ll of course be spending 95% of my time watching the minor leaguers, doing interviews, and providing daily updates on the happenings here, but may take a break one day to go see the major league team in a game at their new stadium to check it and them out.

• On the subject of Goodyear, anyone see some of the pictures from the site yet? The completed player development complex looks incredible, and the players I have spoken to that have been there have said the same thing. That said, Holy Smokes is this new spring training complex out in the middle of nowhere! Obviously this is all going to be built up in time, but the first year or two there it will be very “empty” around the ballpark. Check out the complete photo gallery for yourself. Here are a few from Goodyear’s website:













• Indians new Triple-A affiliate Columbus and the Indians regional sports network SportsTime Ohio (STO) are currently exploring some opportunities to broadcast some Clippers games next year on STO. Nothing is for certain yet, and it may not happen due to the costs of broadcasting such games with such a limited audience, but the Indians and STO are certainly interested in having some games on their network. To me this is a no-brainer move, and when the dust settles I expect at least a 5-10 Columbus games to be aired on STO next year and used to fill the 7pm slot when the Indians are off or have an afternoon game that day.

• In case you were interested, the 2009 schedules for all four of the Indians full-season minor league affiliates have now been released. I linked them in the recently revised “Resource Center” here on the site in the right panel. Be sure to check it out and make plans to see these guys!

• The site has gone through a lot of updates in the past week. Hopefully the improvements are seen as an enhancement, and all the recent reference material that has been added is considered useful. The updates are pretty much done with only some minor tweaking possibly to come. The only big change left to do is update the site title to a custom logo which should come hopefully in the next month or so. Thanks for the patience with all the changes!

• This coming week, I will finally be posting a detailed and comprehensive Rule 5 FAQ on Monday and later in the week plan to unveil the Indians eligibles for this year’s draft and future seasons.

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