Tribe Happenings: Should Marson open in Cleveland?

Marson is happy to be in Cleveland,
but how long will he stay there?
(Photo: Getty Images).

Some news, notes, and thoughts from my Tribe notebook…

Everrett, Marson need to make most of opportunity

There were no real big surprises with the final roster decisions the Indians made at the end of spring training.  Right-hander Josh Tomlin was awarded the final spot in the rotation, Jack Hannahan earned the third base gig, Travis Buck annihilated pitching this spring to win the final outfield spot, and right-handed relievers Frank Herrmann, Vinnie Pestano, and Justin Germano all pitched lights out in spring training and made the opening day bullpen.

If there was any surprise it may have been infielder Adam Everett making the team as the utility infielder and catcher Lou Marson making the team to be the caddy for Carlos Santana.

Everett is not that much of a surprise as the Indians' focus this spring was on defense, and he can certainly pick it; however, if not for a hand injury to infielder Jason Donald there is a good chance that Everett would not have made the team.  With his play early on in camp Donald was almost a sure thing to be the third baseman, and after the way Hannahan performed he likely would have been the utility infielder.  Donald should be back later this month, so Everett will need to make good on the limited chances he gets the next few weeks or his stay could be a short one.

As for Marson, he should be thanking his lucky stars that Donald got hurt.  Donald’s injury in some ways created a butterfly effect of sorts because the Indians had to use a roster spot for Everett, a spot they may have preferred to use for catcher Paul Phillips at the end of camp.  But with Everett on the team and with little wiggle room with regard to the 40-man roster the Indians sided with Marson as the opening day backup catcher.

Marson is still only 24 years old, which is still considered a baby for catchers.  He is still learning and still has room for development, particularly as a hitter.  Burying him on the big league roster as the backup catcher where he may - if he is lucky - play two games a week is not a good way to finish off his development.

Marson may only have a future as a backup in Cleveland because of the presence of Santana, but many around the game still view him as having starting potential if he can show more consistency as a hitter.  With that in mind he should be in Triple-A Columbus playing everyday to try and improve in an area that is his greatest weakness and improve his overall value to the organization, and potentially other organizations as well.  Having him as the backup in Cleveland really stalls any potential progress he could make.  Plus, it is not like the team is going to be a win or two better this year with him or someone like Phillips or Carlin as the backup.

This is not a knock on Marson at all as from a defensive perspective he is the best option as the backup catcher on this team.  But at the plate, Phillips and even Luke Carlin are no worse right now, and both of those guys are no slouches defensively either.  Also, Marson has development opportunities left that it makes a lot of sense to try and take advantage of now while we can.

There is no guarantee that sending Marson to Columbus to open the season would fix anything with his hitting, but it is worth a shot, especially since catchers take time to develop.  He is still apparently having the same issues at the plate as last year when you look at his abysmal spring performance, so playing two times a week in Cleveland and working in the cages is not going to do him any justice.

Of course all of this could be moot once Donald comes back and the roster is updated in a few weeks and Marson is potentially shipped off to Columbus at that point.  The bottom line for me though is I am more for continued growth and increasing value, which would be possible by sending Marson to Columbus for a majority of this season.  Playing him in Cleveland all year potentially stunts both his growth and lowers his value.

Opening thoughts

The Indians lost 15-10 to the Chicago White Sox in the season and home opener at Progressive Field on Friday afternoon.  They also fell behind by a score of 14-0 by the fourth inning after their ace Fausto Carmona was touched up for an astounding ten runs on eleven hits, two walks and two home runs in 3.1 innings of work.

That all said, beyond the outcome of the game and the poor performance by Carmona and then long man Justin Germano, there were actually more positives than negatives to take out of the game.  If you look up and down the box score and graded the performance of every player in the game, you would no doubt give Carmona and Germano an ‘F’ for their performance.

But what about the rest of the players?

Frank Herrmann and Vinnie Pestano looked great in their season debuts combining for three innings of work and allowing one run on two hits, no walks, and had eight strikeouts.

From a hitting perspective it is hard not to like ten runs and 17 hits by the Tribe lineup.  Six players in the lineup had multi-hit games and the only one who went hitless and was any kind of a disappointment was Austin Kearns although he at least drew a walk.

Shin-Soo Choo only went 1-for-5 and made a base-running blunder on a Travis Hafner bomb to the center field wall, but he is the least of our concerns.  The guys we wanted to see come out and get off to a good start did, at least for one game.  Guys like Michael Brantley (2-for-5, 2 RBI), Asdrubal Cabrera (3-for-5), Carlos Santana (3-for-5, HR, 3 RBI), Travis Hafner (2-for-5, RBI), Matt LaPorta (2-for-5, RBI), and even Jack Hannahan (3-for-5, HR, RBI).

So, yeah, they lost the game.  And yes, they fell behind 14-0.  But the way they came back and put up ten runs when they could have just rolled over and gone through the motions to close out an unwinnable game showed me something.  Also, when evaluating specifically on a player level and not a win-loss level, there were a lot of positives from yesterday for the team to build upon.

As the old cliché goes, it was only one game.  But if you look at it objectively this was a positive stepping stone to build on for the rest of the season.  This season could be a lot of fun as this lineup and bullpen has the potential to be pretty good, but the key will be finding a way to make that shaky starting rotation more consistent.

Goedert and the 60-day disabled list

One of the more interesting quirks with managing a Major League Baseball roster is the use of the 60-day disabled list.  All teams have a 40-man roster that is set and that they use to pull players from to add to their 25-man active roster at the big league level, but in order to add other players not on the 40-man roster the team must create roster space.  This is what the Indians did this past week when they placed outfielder Trevor Crowe and infielder Jared Goedert on the 60-day disabled list as it created two 40-man roster spots to add players to it.

The difference between the 15-day disabled list and 60-day disabled list is significant.  While on the 15-day disabled list a player can obviously come back sooner and he still counts toward the 40-man roster, but with the 60-day disabled list a player must be out a minimum of those 60 days and more importantly while he is still listed on the 40-man roster he does not count towards it while he is on the 60-day disabled list.

Typically players who have been in the big leagues for at least a little bit are the only ones considered for the 60-day disabled list.  The reason for this is because when a player is on the 60-day disabled list they accrue major league service time that counts toward free agency and they also are paid a normal major league salary.  Minor leaguers with no service time are almost always never added to it because teams prefer not to start the service time clocks of young players when they don’t have to.

Goedert’s addition to the 60-day disabled list was interesting this week as he is a zero service time player.  As a result, he will at least earn about 60 days of major league service time and on top of that will be paid a major league salary while on the 60-day disabled list.

For a player like Goedert that is huge as consider that he will make more money in just one week on the 60-day disabled list than he would have if he played the entire 2011 season at Triple-A Columbus.  In addition to that, in the 60 days he is on the 60-day disabled list he will make almost double the salary he has made in his entire five year minor league career from 2006-2010.

The fact the Indians placed Goedert on the 60-day disabled list shows just how much of a roster crunch they were under to add all the non-roster spring invitees at the end of spring training.  By the same token, it was a classy move by the organization for a player they could have tried to take off the roster by sneaking him through waivers.

Yeah, it is unfortunate that Goedert will be stuck in Arizona rehabbing and playing extended spring training games the next several weeks when he probably could have opened the season in Triple-A Columbus.  But at the same time he is going to be making some pretty good money.

Tough break for Crowe

Outfielder Trevor Crowe went into spring training as the odds on favorite to be the Indians opening day fourth outfielder.  With his versatility to play any spot in the outfield, his speed, and his switch-hitting ability, he was a natural fit for the team in the role.

But a few weeks into camp Crowe complained of some right shoulder soreness, more specifically in the rotator cuff area.  The Indians shut him down and had him rehab to see if the soreness would go away, but after he did not respond to their aggressive rehabilitation and treatment program the club sent him to New York this week to consult with a specialist.  Two days after the consultation he ended up having arthroscopic debridement of his right shoulder, a procedure performed by Dr. David Altchek at the Hospital for Special Surgery in New York City.

Crowe has already started his rehab and he is expected to begin a return to play program in about two months, but he is expected to be out of consideration as a big league option until probably at least the beginning of August because he will likely serve two terms on the 60-day disabled list from April 1^st to June 1^st and then from June 1^st to August 1^st.

Predictions

In case anyone was wondering what my predictions for the 2011 baseball season are, I have the Indians winning 80 games this year.  I see a lot of potential for this season to be like 2004 where we go through lots of ups and downs but the team competes and is in every game.  The lineup is on the verge to become one of the better ones in baseball, and with an improved defense and a solid bullpen they could surprise some teams this year.  Their questionable starting pitching is going to be the biggest weakness to sort out if they hope to contend next year – or gulp – this year.

The biggest key if anything for me is that this club gets off to a solid start.  If they can just find a way to win 13 or 14 games in April to open up one game above or below .500 for the first month I think that will go a long way at providing some momentum not only for the development of the team but to also start gaining some attention from the fans.

As for the rest of the predictions, here they are: AL East (Red Sox), AL Central (Twins), AL West (Athletics), AL Wildcard (Yankees), NL East (Braves), NL Central (Reds), NL West (Giants), NL Wildcard (Phillies), and in the World Series the Red Sox beat the Braves.

Parting shots

Outfielder Grady Sizemore and right-handed reliever Joe Smith have reportedly left Arizona and are set to begin a minor league rehab assignment this week.  If both do not have any setbacks they both could be with the club by month’s end. … Infielder Jason Donald is taking groundballs in the field and is expected to start swinging a bat on Monday.  He could also go on a minor league rehab assignment soon and join the team by the end of the month. … On Tuesday the Indians traded infielder Jayson Nix to the Toronto Blue Jays for cash considerations.  Nix lost out in the competition for the third base job to Jack Hannahan and also the utility job to Adam Everett.  He was out of options and the Indians needed his roster spot to add players like Hannahan and Everett to the 40-man roster. … On Thursday the Indians completed a minor league trade when they acquired outfielder Bubba Bell from the Boston Red Sox for cash considerations.  He has been assigned to Triple-A Columbus.  The 28-year old outfielder hit .293 with 17 doubles, 6 homers and 49 RBI in 104 games last year at Triple-A Pawtucket.

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).

Posted in: Adam Everett,Bubba Bell,Grady Sizemore,Jared Goedert,Jason Donald,Jayson Nix,Joe Smith,Lou Marson,Trevor Crowe