Diamonds in Single A: Clayton Cook

It’s time again for another Diamonds in Single A article. This week I wanted to focus on a lesser known prospect in the Indians system who seems like a great break out candidate for next year—right handed starting pitcher Clayton Cook. Cook was a 9th round selection out of Amarillo, Texas in 2008.  He had been slated to attend Oklahoma but instead decided to get his major league career started.  His fastball currently sits in the high 80’s but has gotten up to...

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Sunday Notebook: Lovullo Out, Sarbaugh In?

I'm finally back from my Thanksgiving trip to Des Moines, Iowa and have a few notes to catch up on: - As reported earlier in the week by the Cleveland Plain Dealer, Triple-A Columbus manager Torey Lovullo has left the organization and has signed on with the Boston Red Sox to be the manager of their Triple-A affiliate in Pawtucket. When Lovullo was passed over for the Indians managerial opening and then not added to new manager Manny Acta's staff, the writing was on the...

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Winter Ball Stats: 11/29 Update

Hopefully everyone had a great Thanksgiving and you are all into the holiday spirit that December brings.  The Arizona Fall League wrapped up a week ago, but the winter leagues are just a little past their midpoint with five to seven weeks left depending on the league.  Here are the updated stats for the players in the Indians organization participating in fall and winter ball.  All stats are through games Friday November 27th. BATTERSLGEAVGGABRH2B3BHRRBIBBSOOBPSLGBrown, JordanVWL.328351191739634211726.407.529Constanza, JoseDWL.26018501113210247.315.340Fedroff,...

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The 4th Option Year & Kelvin De La Cruz

Those familiar with how an "option" works, after a player has been added to the 40-man roster the club is given three seasons where they can option the players to the minors as many times as they want without exposing them to other teams.  When a player is on the 40-man roster but is playing in the minors he is on what is called "optional assignment", hence the term "options". There are a few exceptions on when an option is not used, but the focus here is the...

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2009 Video Recap: Columbus

First off, Happy Thanksgiving to all the Tribe fans out there, and also thanks to all the readers for their continued support with this site. That said, with 2009 quickly coming to a close, I will be posting lots of video shot over the course of the 2009 season. Earlier this month I posted the video I shot from Instructional League while I was out there this year, and today I will post some of the video I have from my visits to Columbus this year. This listing is almost...

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AFL Wrapup

The Peoria Sags finished the 2009 Arizona Fall League campaign in third place in the West Division with a 14-18 record. They were four games behind the eventual champion Peoria Javalinas. The AFL winner is pretty much irrelevant, as the focus is on individual prospect development. With that being said, lets take a look at how the Indians prospects fared this season: Matt McBride had a stellar season in Arizona, leading the circuit in OBP at .511, and finishing 2nd in OPS...

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Against All Odds, Stiller Nears End Of Incredible Journey

If there is one area of the Cleveland Indians minor league system where they have a lot of depth and talent, it arguably is in the bullpen. They have relievers of all different types up and down the system, be it high impact potential prospects or just good middle relief depth options. Power righties or crafty lefties. You name it, they pretty much have all bases covered in the system when it comes to relief pitching talent. While the high profile guys tend to get more...

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2009 Rule 5 Eligibles

With the Indians making their 40-man roster selections, the final listing of Rule 5 Draft eligibles is now known.  Here is the final listing going into the draft which will be held on Thursday December 10th.  This listing will be linked on the right side of the page in the "Indians Resource Center" for easy reference. Pitchers: Dixon, Kevin* Edell, Ryan Espino, Paolo Flores, Jose Herrmann, Frank Jackson, Zach Lewis, Scott Lofgren, Chuck Martinez, Anillins Meyer, Matt Pestano, Vinnie Pino, Yohan Rosario, Gregorio Smith, Carlton Stiller,...

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Winter Ball Stats: 11/22 Update

First off, this is just another reminder that Paul Cousineau and I will be airing a special offseason edition of Smoke Signals tonight from 9:30-10:30pm.  We will be talking about the recent roster moves, coach additions to Manny Acta's staff, and more, and will also have Indians left-handed pitcher Chuck Lofgren on as our guest.  If you have any questions you would like answered on the show, please e-mail us at smokesignals@theclevelandfan.com or feel free to call us during the show at 1-646-716-8012. Anyway, here are the updated stats...

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Reviewing The Indians Roster Decisions

As a quick FYI, Paul Cousineau and I will be airing a special offseason edition of Smoke Signals this Sunday night November 22nd from 9:30-10:30pm.  We will be talking about the recent roster moves, coach additions to Manny Acta's staff, and more, and may have an interview or two. On Friday afternoon the Indians added seven players to their 40-man roster to protect them from the Rule 5 Draft which occurs on December 10th.  The players added were first baseman/outfielder...

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Indians Add Seven Players To Roster

The Cleveland Indians today announced the club has purchased the contracts of the following seven players:  INF/OF Jordan Brown, LHP Kelvin De La Cruz, INF Jason Donald, RHP Jeanmar Gomez, INF Wes Hodges, INF Carlos Rivero, and OF Nick Weglarz. Brown, 25, spent the entire season in AAA Columbus where he was a mid-season and post-season all-star selection and hit an International League-best .336 (140-417) with 35 2B, 1 3B, 15 HR and 67...

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Roster D-Day

UPDATE 11/20 10:30am EST: I have received confirmation that right-handed pitcher Carlton Smith was not rostered.  Again, not a big surprise as while Smith is talented and had a great year the Indians have a lot of depth in the bullpen in Akron and Columbus and can gamble on losing a reliever or two. UPDATE 11/20 10:04am EST:  Have received a lot of e-mails and seen a lot of talk on message boards about Kelvin De La Cruz.  He very well may be rostered, but...

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