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Miller's 2011 will likely be his last chance to make the big leagues (Photo: Ken Carr) |
What if…
Spring training is here once again.
The entire Cleveland Indians roster is now in camp, and once again - even if only for a little bit - hope springs eternal for fans of every baseball team around the country. Yes, even for the Cleveland Indians. A lot of "what ifs" are flying around, and because of that there is a glimmer of hope even for teams like the Indians who at the outset of the season are not expected to be much of a factor in pennant races later in the season.
Sticking with the "what if" scenarios for a moment, has anyone ever wondered, "what if” Adam Miller had never injured his finger?
If you want to look back at one injury or move that has really impacted the Indians' organization in the past decade - maybe even longer - it has to be the injury to the flame throwing right-handed Miller.
Back in 2007, Miller was one of the best young pitching prospects in the game. Sports Illustrated magazine that year named him to their "Dream Rotation" which was an up-and-coming dream five-man rotation compiled by 11 high-ranking major-league executives. The five man dream rotation included Miller as well as Boston's Daisuke Matsuzaka, Philadelphia's Cole Hamels, New York Yankees' Phillip Hughes, and San Francisco's Tim Lincecum. Miller is the only one in that dream rotation who has yet to appear in the majors.
All of those pitchers have helped their clubs win a World Series since then. Last year, Lincecum was a huge help to the San Francisco Giants success in coming out of nowhere to win the World Series. In fact, you take him off that team and they arguably are not much better than the current Indians team.
It was all set up for Miller to succeed in 2007. He dominated in spring training that year and was set to have a cup of coffee at Triple-A Buffalo and then make his big league debut sometime that summer. When Jake Westbrook went down with an elbow injury in late May that year and Jeremy Sowers was ineffective, the Indians would have called Miller up but because he was hurt they had to scramble and instead called up Jason Stanford that June.
But imagine for a moment had Miller remained healthy in 2007 and became what Lincecum has since become. He would have come up that June and made an immediate impact to the team by joining forces with C.C. Sabathia and Fausto Carmona in the rotation and might have been the difference for the Indians in the playoffs that year in getting past the Red Sox in the American League Championship Series and win the World Series.
More importantly, going forward the Indians would have had Sabathia, Carmona, Cliff Lee, and Miller in the rotation in 2008 and that season may have turned out a lot different with three aces pitching at the front of the rotation. Plus, even after the Sabathia and Lee trades the Indians would still today have a very good one-two punch of Miller and Carmona at the front of the rotation for the next several years.
But of course, what if.
That along with "wait 'til next year" have been the taglines for Cleveland sports fans for decades.
For those who don't remember…
Miller's career took a sharp turn for the worse in May of 2007 when he injured the last digit on the middle finger of his pitching hand. It was not thought to be much of an injury then, but it ended up serving as the starting point to all kinds of complications with the finger going forward.
Miller went to spring training in 2008 healthy, but shortly into camp a blister formed on the finger which shut him down for a short time and he had to open the season in extended spring training to get caught up and then went to Triple-A Buffalo a few weeks later. By the end of May his season ended when he had to have season ending surgery to repair a broken callous on the finger. He has not pitched in a professional game since.
Since then Miller has tried to come back several times. He rehabbed from the finger injury the rest of the 2008 season and was able to go out to the Dominican Winter League that offseason and pitched quite well and his stuff was still there. After his encouraging performance in winter ball, the Indians decided to make him a bullpen option going into the 2009 season and went so far as to say that if he was healthy he would make the opening day roster.
But it was never meant to be for Miller as a few weeks into spring training in 2009 his finger once again started acting up. After some experimentation with changing his grip of the ball and delivery, he was eventually shut down and underwent career threatening exploratory reconstructive surgery to try and fix the problems once and for all that he was having with his finger.
It was a very involved procedure, the first of its kind really, and resulted in two separate planned surgeries. The first one in April of 2009 repaired the flexor pulley system by replacing two pulley ligaments in the finger with a tendon from his wrist and put a silicon rod in it so scar tissue would not form around the tendon. He underwent the second planned surgery in July of 2009 to clean up the scar tissue as a result of the first surgery and attach the new tendon from his leg to his middle finger. He began a throwing program in November of 2009, but again had some issues, so a third surgery in December of 2009 was performed to stabilize the flexor tendon reconstruction in his finger.
After the third surgery Miller and the Indians were very cautious with him last year as he did not start throwing a baseball until the summer. He got back on a throwing program around July and did not have any setbacks at 60, 90, or 120 feet so moved on to throwing bullpen sessions and had no problems there either.
At the tail end of the season Miller made his return to the mound by pitching one game in Instructional League and pitched well. That one appearance was enough for him and the Indians to be encouraged for this upcoming season so they shut him down for the rest of the offseason to continue rehabbing and strengthening his finger.
Miller is scheduled to officially report to spring training on March 1st, though he is expected to be in camp before that. He is an invite to big league camp, but will likely pitch most of spring training in minor league camp as the Indians continue to work him back to being a pitching option for them. He will have no restrictions this spring, so really he and the Indians are going to in many ways let it air out and see what happens.
While Miller has almost no shot to make the big league roster to start the season, if the finger remains intact he could open the season in the Triple-A Columbus bullpen or go to Columbus as a reserve and continue to build himself up and be activated shortly into the season.
If Miller remains healthy, returns to the mound in Columbus, and pitches well, there is no doubt the Indians will call him up to Cleveland as soon as possible to see how he does and to see if there is anything they can get out of him because the finger can go at any moment.
Indians officially sign Cabrera
It took a week, but the Indians finally officially announced the signing of free agent infielder Orlando Cabrera on Wednesday. News of the signing came about almost a week prior to the official announcement, but the Indians never acknowledged the signing because they needed to wait for him to report to Goodyear, Arizona to pass a physical, which he did on Wednesday.
Cabrera, 36, played for the Cincinnati Reds last year where in 123 games he hit .263 (130-for-494) with 33 doubles, four homers, 42 RBI, and had 11 stolen bases. He is a career .274 hitter in 14 big league seasons and has won two Gold Glove awards (2001, 2007). He will wear #20 with the Indians, and is the younger brother of former Indian Jolbert Cabrera who played in 310 games with the Indians from 1998-2002.
Barring injury, Cabrera is expected to open the 2011 season as the Indians starting second baseman.
Three former Indians added as coaches
The Indians announced this week that former All-Star outfielder and fan favorite Kenny Lofton has rejoined the organization and will serve as a guest instructor this spring. He will be in camp from February 22-28 primarily to work with the outfielders and assist all the players with base running techniques.
The 43-year old Lofton may also be experimenting with a potential return to the game as a coach, something that Travis Fryman did a few years ago as a guest instructor. Fryman immediately took to the role and has since become a fixture in the Indians' Player Development Department, so the same could possibly happen with Lofton.
The Indians also announced that Jason Bere and Eduardo Perez will serve as special assistants. Both will be in uniform this spring as instructors, and over the course of the season Bere will assist with evaluating and providing instruction to pitchers in the majors and minors, and Perez will do the same for first basemen. Perez will also continue to serve his role with ESPN as a baseball analyst.
Indians fill minor league coaching void
The Indians announced this week that they have hired 28-year old Tony Mansolino to be the hitting coach at short season Single-A Mahoning Valley. He is beginning his coaching career with the Indians after playing professionally for six seasons as an infielder from 2005-2010. He was a 26th round draft pick by the Pittsburgh Pirates in 2005 out of Vanderbilt University. His father, Doug, is the Infield Coordinator in the Phillies Player Development System.
The new 2011 Indians book is here!
The “2011 Cleveland Indians Top 100 Prospects and More” book is now available for purchase here on my site (upper right-corner). I received my first shipment yesterday, and I have to say it looks great and is much improved with the overall look when compared to previous editions. It will also soon be available at several other retail outlets which I will announce when available. It should also be available at all the team shops this season from Cleveland on down to Single-A Mahoning Valley.
The book runs 228 pages in length and profiles over 175 players in the Cleveland Indians system, with a heavier look into their top 100 players. It also provides tons of information on the Indians payroll situation and player control outlook the next seven years as well as information on the 2010 Draft, their top Latin prospects coming stateside this year, Rule 5 Draft eligibles for 2011-2014, tool grades for over 100 players, complete schedule and affiliate information, and tons more. Order today!
Parting shots
The Indians announced this week that catcher Chun Chen has been invited to big league spring training as a non-rostered player. He had a nice season at two different levels of Single-A last year and is an up-and-coming catching prospect in their system, though was brought to big league camp solely for the experience and to give them another catcher to assist with bullpens for all the pitchers in camp. ... To make room on the 40-man roster for the arrival of Orlando Cabrera, the Indians designated right-handed pitcher Joe Martinez for assignment. He is still in camp as a non-rostered player. ... On the minor league front, the Indians have released right-handed pitcher Kyle Smith whom they picked up in the 2009 Draft out of Kent State.
Follow Tony and the Indians Prospect Insider on Twitter @TonyIPI. Also, his latest book the 2011 Cleveland Indians Top 100 Prospects & More is available for purchase for $20.95 to customers in the US (shipping and handling extra).
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3 comments:
and speaking of "Dream Rotations", "What if" the Indians had signed Lincecum when they drafted him. 2007 could have had Sabathia, Carmona, Miller, and Lincecum. 2008 Sabathia, Lee, Carmona, Miller, and Lincecum.
What is Miller throwing now?? Doubt he's still in upper 90's.
Not in the upper 90s anymore....more 90-93 MPH and touching 94 MPH. Though as he comes back and gets back into pitching shape with his arm the velocity is expected to bump up more.
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