Here is our top prospect list from the year of the Miller trade.

https://www.minorleagueball.com/2015/11 ... s-for-2016

Zimmer ranked 1, Frazier ranked 2.

Sheffield ranked 6th, Plutko 10th.

Name me 5 better prospects in our system right now better than Plutko? Who is 3-1 with big club.

Plutko had a 1.27 ERA in Lynchburg in '15. ... Had a 2.86 and 3.27 ERA in AA Akron over parts of 2 seasons in '15 and '16. ... Then injuries started bothering him. He had a horrible season last year pitching with hip pain. Had offseason hip surgery and is now back where he was.

In Lynchburg Sheffield had a 3.59 ERA. ... In AA Trenton last year he had a 3.18 ERA.

Say what you want but I am fine with my opinion.

And you'd be a huge dumb dumb to trade a prospect like McKenzie, Bieber, or Mejia for a set up man. Plenty of those guys available.

When Klubers contract is up, I do not believe we will be able to resign him. Sign Bauer at all costs, he is the next Kluber.

Bauer signed a 1 year / $6,525,000 contract with the Cleveland Indians

2018 Contract details by year 27 $6,525,000 $6,525,000 $6,525,000

2019 Trevor Bauer Contracts, Salaries, Cap Figures 28
ARB 3

2020 Trevor Bauer Contracts, Salaries, Cap Figures 29
ARB 4

2021 Free Agent Year 30
UFA

Sources: MLB contract specifics generally collected from Baseball Prospectus & Rotoworld.

Sign Bauer at all costs, he is the next Kluber

Absolutely! He keeps himself in such good shape that I'd make an exception to long-term deals for pitchers and tie up him for years to come.

No more long term contracts.

2-3 year extensions may cost a little more up front but saves you from being stuck with a poor performer.

I generally agree, but without some long-term deals with guys reasonably expected to remain stars for ?5 years, they have to keep on producing star level talent from the farm system year after year. Do you have another Lindor or Ramirez on the horizon? Have to be lucky to get someone who turns out as good as they are.
Clearly more than 3 years for a pitcher is very risky. I just have confidence that Bauer can be one of the few kids whose arm can be reasonable projected to stay healthy for maybe 5 seasons. Is that a good idea? I dont' know, but since it's someone else's money, I would recommend it.

Isn't Frankie 's agent, Boris.

There are big-money teams that don't care if they have to eat some bad contracts. The Indians, however, are a couple of bad contacts away from imploding. Combine that with overrating their young talent is a recipe for a return to the bad old days.

seagull wrote:There are big-money teams that don't care if they have to eat some bad contracts. The Indians, however, are a couple of bad contacts away from imploding. Combine that with overrating their young talent is a recipe for a return to the bad old days.

That used to be true but you only have to look at this past offseason to see it no longer is. This past offseason:

1. Young stat driven front offices deemed long term contracts as bad investments. Especially pitchers. The data said so, period, and all front offices read that same data these days. Hence none were signed. JD Martinez of all guys, arguably the best hitter in baseball wanted a 8 or 10 year deal and he got 4.

2. Teams (yes even the Yankees) did NOT want to get over the $197 million team threshold. That totally deterred spending. Now they care. If the Yankees didn't have that obnoxious Ellsbury contract on their books they could have signed a top starting pitcher. Instead they sat it out.

Jon Heyman reporting teams including Indians showing interest in a couple of the Marlins relievers, Kyle Barraclough and Drew Steckenrider. Still lot's of rumors regarding the Indians interest in Zach Britton too. Unfortunately the big market Red Sox are showing interest in him too.

Since taking over as the Marlins closer at the end of May, Barraclough is now a perfect 6-for-6 in save chances in 10 scoreless innings. In fact, he hasn't allowed a hit in the entire month of June, his long blemish being a walk. His season ERA is down to a stifling 1.05 with a 35:16 K:BB.

GP GS CG SHO IP H R ER HR BB SO W L SV HLD BLSV WHIP ERA
35 0 0 0 34.1 9 5 4 2 16 35 0 2 7 7 2 0.73 1.05

Barraclough has always had crazy stuff but tended to be wild. Might be entering his prime years.


Brewers released LHP Boone Logan.

Logan was designated for assignment last week and will now try to find a new home. The veteran southpaw signed a one-year, $1.875 million deal with the Brewers in January, but he struggled with a 5.91 ERA over 16 appearances.

Logan's 2018 stats were really terrible. Brewers fans don't seem too upset to lose him.

The Milwaukee Brewers officially released lefty reliever Boone Logan. While a reunion could conceivably occur in the future, this marks the end of Logan’s Brewers career. Let’s take a look at the highs and lows of the Boone Logan era in Milwaukee.

Boone Logan signed a one-year contract worth $1.875 million with an option on January 5th, 2018. He finally put pen to paper after a ‘will he, won’t he’ that started before Christmas and ran through the New Year. The Milwaukee Brewers had their man. They added another left-hander to their bullpen. This move would allow Josh Hader to work multiple innings, while still providing manager Craig Counsell with a LOOGY for the late innings. This marks the high point of Logan’s time in Milwaukee. The time with optimism.

What went wrong first?

After working his way through the six week slog that is Spring Training, Logan was diagnosed with discomfort in his shoulder and triceps on March 21st. After a few days in limbo, he was officially ruled out for six weeks with a triceps strain.

Logan rehabbed his left triceps and went through the necessary rehab appearance schedule to come back on May 10th.

The bad news is that the Brewers can’t afford to allow him to work his way back into form, and had to release him.

What happens next?

Logan either finds another team, or he goes home until signing a contract next fall. Given the state of bullpens outside of Milwaukee, there’s a good chance that Logan finds a home in the next few weeks. If Logan chooses to wait until next fall, he’ll probably get stuck with a Minor League deal with an an invite to camp. Joining a team now is Logan’s best chance to rebuild his value.


Then what happened?

Well, then Logan had to actually pitch.

In 16 appearances with the Milwaukee Brewers, Logan struck out 14 batters. He also walked 10 batters and gave up three homers. His 6.03 xFIP indicates that his 5.91 actual ERA was actually worse than it looked.

Brought on as a lefty killer, left-handed batters posted a .554 wOBA against Logan in an extremely small sample size.

The good news for Logan is that his velocity wasn’t down. He was struggling with command. Logan averaged 94.0 MPH on his fastball with the Brewers. That’s actually up from 93.9 MPH last year.

Logan was brought in to do a job, and he didn’t do it as well as the team thought he should. The Milwaukee Brewers have an insanely deep bullpen, and couldn’t afford to keep a veteran on a short term contract around. It happens. It’s sad, but it happens. The team has already moved on. He’s hoping that Logan finds success elsewhere…but not against the Brewers.


Logan only amassed 10.2 innings as a Brewer, covering 16 different outings. But after missing much of the first part of the season after getting hurt in spring training, Logan never quite could shake off the rust. Even if his strikeout rates were as good as advertised, he walked 10 batters and gave up 15 hits — including 3 home runs.

Left-handers hit .409/.536/.818 against him, going 9-for-22 with 5 walks, 3 doubles, and 2 home runs. While it’s tough to judge any pitcher on a 20-AB sample, the fact that Logan was supposed to be a luxury and the team already has Josh Hader and Dan Jennings to get tough outs against lefties worked against him.

Perhaps they give him another look.....at Columbus. Then go from there.

Jerry Crasnick @jcrasnick
The #Indians have been scouting the #Orioles relievers. Neil Ramirez and Oliver Perez have done a nice job since joining the Cleveland pen, but Zach Britton, Brad Brach or Darren O'Day would constitute a significant upgrade for the Tribe. Baltimore in sell mode, obviously.

Call me crazy call me kooky but I really think Bieber has passed up McKenzie as our top pitching prospect. I definitely would not include him in any deal next month. But I might include McKenzie now.