Herrmann Living A Dream In The Minors

This is an article from September 2007, but with Herrmann being Rule 5 eligible I thought some who missed it on TheClevelandFan.com the first time around may be interested in it. In the coming weeks, I'll continue to post several more of these older articles that were written before this blog began a year ago.Behind door number one you have an Ivy League education with a degree in economics, and a job lined up out of college to make over $100,000 a year. Behind door number...

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Jeff Stevens on Smoke Signals tonight!

With Halloween just two days away, we have a little "treat" for everyone tonight in a special edition of Smoke Signals which airs tonight Wednesday 10/29 at 9:30 p.m. ET. Stevens will be calling in around 10pm, and as always we will have a candid conversation with yet another player in the Indians player development system.The show was moved up from Thursday to tonight because of some Halloween obligations (um, like our annual pumpkin carving on Halloween Eve!). In addition to talking wiht Stevens, Paul and I will be talking Tribe baseball and...

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Winter League Wednesday Round-up

Arizona Fall LeagueYou saw in our Arizona Fall League update yesterday how Indians prospects are fairing in the league. Let's just refresh your memory with their overall numbers for the Winter season. Player Updates: - LHP Chuck Lofgren - 6G, 5.2IP, 15H, 25R, 18ER, 10BB, 5K, 28.59ERARHP Erik Stiller - 6G, 7.1IP, 16H, 19R, 12ER, 3BB, 7K, 14.73ERARHP Josh Tomlin - 4G, 10IP, 23H, 17R, 14ER, 2BB, 10K, 12.60ERARHP Neil Wagner - 6G, 8IP, 8H, 7R, 6ER, 7BB, 3K, 6.75ERA3B Wes Hodges - 12G, .385(20-for-52)/.407/.712/1.119, 5 2B, 4HR, 17RBI1B Beau Mills -...

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AFL Update

The Surprise Rafters are sitting at the bottom of the AFL standings, with a record of 4-13. The Rafters pitchers continue to get knocked around, and its not just the Indians prospects who are struggling. On a more positive note, both Beau Mills and Wes Hodges participated in the AFL "Rising Stars" game this past Friday, and both played well in the exciting victory for the AFL's National Division. The National squad trailed 5-1 going into the bottom of the 8th when Beau Mills hit a one out single that was followed up by a Hodges walk, his 2nd of...

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Major League Comps Part 2

Click here for part one which posted last MondayWelcome back to part two of my minor league comparisons. This piece will handle the bigger names in the Indians’ minor league system.First off is last year’s number one pick, Beau Mills. He has only one completed year in the minors so it was a bit tricky to find a solid comparison, but one player that stuck out was Xavier Nady. Nady was actually a year older than Mills was at high A, but Mills had the advantage of a partial year of minor league experience beforehand.Player Hits 2B HR BB K AVG OBP...

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Winter League Sunday Round-up

Arizona Fall LeagueThe Surprise Rafters record sits at 4-12 for the season and they sit in 3rd place (3 teams) of the AFL National Division, 5 games behind the first place Peoria Javelinas.Player Updates (10/22 - 10/25): -LHP Chuck Lofgren - Lofgren struggled again on 10/22 allowing 4 earned runs in 2IP, but actually lowered his ERA to 35.31 for the season (4.1IP, 12H, 19R, 17ER, 8BB, 3K).RHP Erik Stiller - Stiller worked 2 scoreless innings on 10/23 to lower his season ERA to 13.50 (6.2IP, 15H, 17R, 10ER, 2BB, 5K).RHP Josh Tomlin - Tomlin worked...

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Delmont Miller Passes Away

Minor league baseball lost a great person today. Delmont Miller, 42, passed away today from a massive heart attack.For those that don't know, he was the scoreboard operator at Kinston for 22 years, and has had the job since he was 20-years old. I had the opportunity to meet Miller at Kinston, and while he was unique in every way, he was a wonderful person.Here is a link to a short article of which a much longer one should post on their site tomorrow morning.http://www.kinston.com/articles/miller_50580___article.html/delmont_david.htmlDelmont Miller,...

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Weekend Rundown

Time for another Saturday rundown to recap all the happenings in the system from this past week as well as a few news items:• I had left-hander Matt Meyer on my weekly radio show Smoke Signals this past Thursday. Thanks again to Matt for coming on and best of luck the rest of the way. This coming Thursday I’ll have right-hander Jeff Stevens on, and every week going forward a player should be on as a guest. Smoke Signals can be heard live every Thursday from 9:30-10:30pm ET, and is available to download at anytime.• There is some concern among fans...

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Smit Goes From Outback To The Pros

This is an article from August 2007, but thought some who missed it the first time around may be interested in it. In the coming weeks, I'll be posting several more of these older articles that were written before this blog began a year ago.The Indians dipped into the outback last year to nab 16-year old Jason Smit, a promising, young prospect out of Australia. When he signed with the Indians in July, Smit was widely considered a top ten International prospect.At 16-years...

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Smoke Signals tonight @ 9:30pm with Matt Meyer

Another edition of Smoke Signals airs tonight Thursday Oct 23rd at 9:30-10:30pm. Paul and I will discuss the strengths and weaknesses of the organization at each position from majors to minors, and try to hone in on the positions of need and what to do this offseason. A 10pm, the talk will shift over to the winter leagues where we will run down the Hawaii, Arizona, Dominican, Venezuela, and Mexico leagues to see how the Indians players are performing out there. Left-hander Matt Meyer will be on around 10pm to discuss how he is doing and also give...

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Winter League Wednesday Round-up

Arizona Fall LeagueThe AFL is now moving into it's third week and you saw in our week two review yesterday how Indians prospects have been fairing so far. Let's just refresh your memory with their overall numbers for the Winter season. Player Updates: - LHP Chuck Lofgren - 4G, 2.1IP, 8H, 15R, 13ER, 7BB, 1K, 50.14ERARHP Erik Stiller - 4G, 4.2IP, 14H, 17R, 10ER, 2BB, 4K, 19.29ERARHP Josh Tomlin - 3G, 9IP, 15H, 10R/ER, 2BB, 9K, 10.00ERARHP Neil Wagner - 4G, 5IP, 3H, 3R, 2ER, 5BB, 2K, 3.60ERA3B Wes Hodges - 8G, .333(11-for-33)/.371/.576/.947, 2 2B,...

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Hodges and Mills Named to AFL's Rising Stars Roster

Phoenix, Arizona — The Arizona Fall League stages its third annual Rising Stars Game at 7:15 p.m. on Friday, October 24 at Surprise Stadium, the spring home of the Kansas City Royals and Texas Rangers. The Rising Stars Game is scheduled for a World Series travel day to fill a void for baseball fans.Scouting and minor league directors of every major-league organization, in consultation with Fall League Executive Director Steve Cobb and his baseball personnel staff, selected the players for the showcase. Each major-league organization is represented...

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Arizona Fall League Update

Week two of the Arizona Fall League saw the Indians pitchers getting lit up across the board, lowlighted by a 28-1 loss by the Surprise Rafters yesterday. Josh Tomlin, stellar up until yesterday, got the start and gave up 9 ER in just 2 IP. Even with that poor outing, Tomlin's ERA stands at 10.00. Not to be outdone, Erik Stiller came in and gave up 7 runs (2 ER) including 2 HR. Add that to Chuck Lofgren's continued struggles (50.14 ERA!), and on the surface there has to...

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Major League Comparisons

The season is done and now the analysis begins. Most Tribe fans out there see an Indians team that, with a few changes, could be at the top of their division next year. To acquire the players to achieve that, however, the Indians will have to trade some of their top specs this winter. So the question is: How can the Indians ensure they trade players who are the least likely to make impacts later? One method I propose using is comparing the minor league stats of top prospects this year to those of some of the current major leaguers. In other words,...

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