Lindor finished with 3 hits, one a double, and a walk, but caught stealing twice. He's hitting 458. Aguillar single and double. Moncrief double and two walks. Adams and Haley each a shutout inning of relief

Moncrief this year has 45 walks vs. 77 strikeouts; in High A he had 46 vs 126; in Low A 76 vs. 158.

http://www.milb.com/milb/stats/stats.js ... x&sid=milb

Carolina a winner, too. OF's Myles, Smith and Greenwell 2 hits each. Myles is turning around a slow start, perhaps a marginal prospect. Rarely seen Alex Lavisky with 3 hits, hitting 245

http://www.milb.com/milb/stats/stats.js ... x&sid=milb

Monday's notable lines:

CLE AA Aguilar, Jesus 1B 4 0 2 1 .264 2B (24)
CLE AA Lindor, Francisco SS 4 2 3 1 .458 2B (1), BB (8), 2 CS (2)
CLE AAA Diaz, Juan 2B 5 2 1 1 .233 HR (7)
CLE HiA Smith, Jordan DH 5 2 2 1 .268 2B (19)
CLE AA Adams, Austin 1 0 0 0 0 1 2.41 W (1-1)
CLE AA Haley, Trey 1 0 0 0 0 1 4.94 Sv (5)
CLE AAA Bauer, Trevor 9 6 3 2 4 4 3.84 W (5-2)
CLE LoA Baker, Dylan 5 4 3 3 6 3 3.62
CLE MAJ Lee, C.C. 0.1 0 0 0 0 0 0.00
CLE R Lovegrove, Kieran 6 3 1 1 1 6 3.86


Lovegrove along with Baker and Brown were top picks in 2012.

Indians Agree To Terms With Leandro Linares

By Steve Adams [July 23 at 11:21am CST]


The Indians and 19-year-old Cuban right-hander Leandro Linares have agreed to terms on a $950K bonus, according to Ben Badler of Baseball America. The Tribe was said to be close to a deal in the $1MM vicinity over the weekend.

Badler calls him one of Cuba's top young pitchers and writes that the 6'3", 200-pound Linares sits 89-93 mph with his fastball, topping out at 94 mph. He also flashes a plus curveball at times and throws a potentially average changeup, according to Badler. Pitching in Cuba's 18U national league last season, he posted a 1.91 ERA with a 76-to-46 K/BB ratio in 66 innings. Not surprisingly, his command is the biggest issue for scouts.

Because Linares is younger than 23 and hasn't played in a Cuban professional league for at least three years, his signing comes out of the Indians' international bonus pool. Cleveland began the 2013-14 signing period with a pool of $3.64MM and has previously signed Dominican shortstop Willy Castro for $850K and outfielder Junior Soto for $600K.

He also flashes a plus curveball at times and throws a potentially average changeup, according to Badler.

Flashes? Does that mean he only can throw it once in a while?

Potentially average change up? Does that mean his change up stinks and has to work hard to get to "average"?

Not surprisingly, his command is the biggest issue for scouts.

No command....sounds like Ubaldo.

BA notes these Tuesday lines:

CLE HiA Naquin, Tyler CF 4 2 2 2 .284 HR (7), BB (36)
CLE MAJ Gomes, Yan C 4 1 2 2 .263 HR (7)
CLE AAA Salazar, Danny 4 3 0 0 0 6 3.28
CLE HiA Anderson, Cody 5 8 4 4 0 6 2.54
CLE MAJ Allen, Cody 1 0 0 0 0 1 2.13

And the one we unwisely let get away

BAL MAJ McFarland, T.J. 1.2 1 0 0 1 1 3.99

Double-A Akron second baseman Jose Ramirez hit the disabled list this week because of a twisted right ankle he suffered in a game on 7/14 in a collision in the field. In 84 games he is hitting a solid .278 with 3 HR, 31 RBI and .705 OPS. The timing of the injury has allowed the Indians to avoid making a roster move with the promotion of Francisco Lindor, though the Indians have said if Ramirez was able to play that Lindor would play shortstop and that Ramirez and Ronny Rodriguez would split time at second base and designated hitter and also mix in a game a week at shortstop. Considering all three are priority middle infield prospects, this is something they probably will not do for long – if at all – and might just be lip service with the impending trade deadline and Rodriguez (or Ramirez) close to a promotion to Columbus.

Wed boxes:

http://www.milb.com/scoreboard/index.js ... d=20130724

Highlights:

19 year old LH 6-5 Luis Lugo 5 2/3-2-0-0-2-6 1.47 at Mahoning Valley
19 year old LH 6-3 Kenny Matthes 3-0-0-0-0-4 1.50 at Mahoning Valley
21 year old LH 6-2 Kyle Crockett 1-0-0-0-1-1 first game after promotion to Lake County
20 year old LH 5-11 Shawn Morimando 6-3-2-2-2-5 2.88 in Carolina
26 year old RH 5-11 Austin Adams 1-1-0-0-0-1 2.35 in Akron

Rehabbers in Arizona:
Levon Washington 2 homers among 4 hits and 5 rbi, avg is 531; Not sure why he's not been promoted
Matt LaPorta yes he's still ours 3 hits, one homer avg is 500; Not sure why he's not been released
Kyle Bllair 24 year old RH 1 shutout inning in 2013 debut. 4th round pick in 2010, had era of 5.16 and 7.03 in his first two full seasons.

19 year old RH OF Josh McAdams 3 hits in a doubleheader for Mahoning Valley hitting 256
19 year old 1B Nellie Rodriguez double and 2 hits for MHV, hitting 325/395/500/895
18 year old SS Dorsyss Paulino single and walk in Lake County 240/291/349/640 but much stronger since a very slow April
20 year old C Eric Haase double and triple in Lake County 239/305/435/740
22 year old OF Tyler Naquin single and 8th homer in Carolina 286
19 year old SS Francisco Lindor single, avg drops to 414

Single, double and home run for Lindor last night in Akron. He's pretty likely to be Baseball America's No. 1 on the weekly Hot Prospect list. My figuring has his avg for the week at .461 plus he's drawn 5 walks, for OBP of 548, two doubles and a triple and a homer make his SLG 731 So the OPS is 1.279.

Remember he's known primarily for his outstanding defensive skills and was rated a top prospect for those alone. He was No. 5 on the BA Top 50 prospect list at midseason and won't be dropping any lower than that based his debut in AA. He won't turn 20 until November.

Here are all Thursday box scores. Matt Packer won his 10th for the Aeros. Hagadone blew the game for the Clippers (4 in the 9th). Rare 2-walk day for Gio Urshela, that makes his season total 12. More solid pitching for Mahoning Valley (draftees Sulser era 1.93 and Heller era 1.59). SS Juan Herrera with his first homer.

http://www.milb.com/scoreboard/index.js ... d=20130725

Yesterday's notable lines (BA only includes players were on their Top 30 preseason, so the new draftees and this year's breakout stars, of whom we don't have many) are not included

CLE AA Lindor, Francisco SS 5 2 3 3 .441 2B (2), HR (1)
CLE AA Urshela, Giovanny 3B 2 1 1 0 .272 2B (19), 2 BB (12)
CLE AAA Diaz, Juan SS 5 1 2 2 .236 2 2B (17)
CLE AA Haley, Trey 1 0 0 0 1 2 4.76

Lindor btw winds up No. 9 on the Hot Prospect List, which really means nothing since some guys had good weeks and/or hit a bunch of homers. But as far as Top Prospects we will remain among the very topmost.

Since I was away for a week, our minor league teams were on break. Some notes: Danny Salazar again made the Hot Prospect List last Friday and that was before his 5 no hit 8-K innings.
Nellie Rodriguez, last I looked, leads the NYPL in homers and OPS.
Luis Lugo another 6-5 19 year old pitcher contiinues to dominat NYPL hitters.
Tyler Naquin missed about a week after being hit by a pitch, but he's back, still with the Mudcats
Jose Ramirez is back with Akron; he and RonnieRod are alternating DH and 2B. Lindor hitting about 320 in AA.
Jose Flores still averaging about 1.5 K per IP in Aeros bullpen.
DiceK with his best start of the year, 7 innings, 1 run.
TJ House has been much better since his return from Cleveland. Could be useful as a long LH reliever when the rosters expand.
Kyle Crockett 2013 4th round pick is the first in a full season league, 1 run allowed in 5 Lake County innings for the lefty releiver.
Another Lefty 2013 pick, Kenny Matthews, also has been very effective for the Scrappers. And Lugo, mentioned above, also is a lefty.
Levon Washington has been healthy for about a month now, and is back in Lake County, hitting about 350. He's age 22 by now.
Matt Laporta continues his rehab in Arizona. He must be at least 26 by now, isn't he?
Josh Tomlin worked 2 innings in Arizona, and one in Lake County, all shutout.
Trey Haley is on the 40 man roster and has a good ERA for Akron but has walked well more than 1 p;er 2 innings.
Tim Fedroff also is replaceable on the 40 man roster for the September call ups. He's hitting in the 255-265 range with a few homers, not too many steals or walks.
Could consider Carlos Moncrief for callup although he's in AA; his splits vs LH are awesome. OPS in the high 900s.
Chen Lee, Preston Guilmet, Matt Langwell, Blake Wood all pitching good relief for Columubs. Will we promote everyone?

Yes on Moncrief, he was good in Spring Training and I think Francona liked him.

It would be cool if he got the chance to help out. At present I assume that the promltions will be:

Carrera as a pinch runner
Diaz as an extra infielder.
Lots of pitchers: Salazar, Pestano, Lee and Hagadone immediately.
Then any among: Carrasco, House, Langwell and Guilmet when the Columbus season ends.
I would not expect Bauer; Salazar and Carrasco are enough depth in starting pitchers and no reason to use Bauer in the bullpen.
Tito will love a 15-man bullpen.

We could use some other bench depth, but there are no other catchers on the 40 man roster nor worth promoting. The other position players on that roster are Fedroff, who is DFA material, and Phelps who has been out for a month so can be put on the 60-day DL to make room for someone else.
There is no one at Columbus -- Carrera and Diaz inlcuded -- who really is worthy of a promotion. They'll probably pick up some players off waivers for the stretch run.