Cleveland Sports Forum

The hope with Logan Allen is that we will polish up yet another diamond in the rough, like Kluber and Carrasco and Clevinger and Bauer. We have a pretty decent track record at finishing off other team's pitchers. And now with Bieber and Civale and Plesac we're getting better developing our own pitchers too

Back on the bump for the first time since being diagnosed with acute myeloid leukemia in June, Carlos Carrasco was in his comfort zone Monday night. The 10-year Major League veteran made a one-inning rehab appearance in the Eastern League, yielding a walk while striking out one, in Double-A Akron's 7-4 loss to Harrisburg at Canal Park. "Those two-and-a-half months for me were unbelievable," he told reporters after the game. "I learned a lot and I worked a lot on myself too."

The radar gun also helped erase his angst. "The first pitch was 97 [mph]," Carrasco noted to MLB.com. "Right away, I looked back to the scoreboard because I just wanted to find out what I was pitching -- 97. It felt great." Carrasco entered in the sixth inning. He walked Rhett Wiseman, then coaxed a flyout to center field by Andrew Stevenson. Wiseman was thrown out by catcher Logan Ice while attempting to steal second base for the second out. The right-hander whiffed Phillies No. 6 prospect Luis Garcia on a 3-2 pitch to end the frame. He finished with 16 pitches, nine for strikes.

"It was a lot of emotion," he told the media. "Those two-and-a-half months, my family has always been there. I was really excited to see my kids smile."

The 32-year-old has made only two relief appearances over the past five seasons with Cleveland. Pitching out of the bullpen Monday night required a different mind-set.

"I felt a little bit nervous," he admitted. "As soon as I started throwing in the bullpen, everything was back to normal. For me, it was like we were playing an extra inning. It was something way, way different."

Carrasco has a 4-6 record with a 4.98 ERA in 12 starts this season with the Indians. He stands 83-68 with a 3.78 ERA in 219 big league appearances.
According to the American Cancer Society, acute myeloid leukemia starts in the bone marrow, where new blood cells are made, and most often quickly moves into the blood. AML typically develops from cells that would turn into white blood cells, which help the body fight infections.

Acute myeloid leukemia is one of the most common types of leukemia in adults. Still, AML is uncommon before the age of 45. The American Cancer Society reports the average age of people first diagnosed with AML is about 68.

"This is what I have," he told the media. "I want to get stronger, working on myself. The only thing I put [in my mind] is good thoughts, never bad. Just coming back home, with my family, I forget what I had."

We probably lose this trade in the long run:
Tigers SS Willi Castro, Triple-A Toledo: 3-for-4, R, 3 RBIs -- Detroit's No. 11 prospect extended his modest hitting streak to eight games as the Mud Hens shellacked Indianapolis, 12-4. The Puerto Rico native is batting .388 with 15 RBIs and 12 runs in 16 games during August. At 22 years old, Castro ranks sixth in the International League with 73 runs scored

Angel Martinez with a double; Jr. Sanquintin with 2 singles and our DSLers hold a 6-2 lead. Their pitching is capable of losing any lead however

There is a name for those dresses too. Dindles, or Dirdles, or something like that. I’d buy one for my wife if she would wear it on a Saturday night at home.

My Aloha shirt and the wife's Muu Muu are ONLY worn in the house.

that's right dirndl. My wife mentioned that; I remind dirndls as something girls wore in third grade.
I thought my aloha shirts were kind of cool, but my wife informed me that they were more appropriately donated.

on another subject recently touched on, what are anyone's thoughts on the Boudreau and Feller awards? I'm disappointed with the pitching Plesac, of course up so fast he hardly has a minor league record. Civale could earn Feller, although he has had a sort of short minor league season too for a couple reasons. But McKenzie [who?], Hentges and Oviedo who were the only guys beside Hankins in the top 10 have been lost causes. Hankins looks fine but only short season so short on stats, too.

yesterday:

Tom a single; Haase a homer and a non-homer
Kyle Nelson first AAA save

Another stinker for Hentges 4 5 6 6 4 4 [2-12]

Naylor doubled. Fermin singled and stole a base. Delgado single and double

Rocchio heading to the NYPL all star game tomorrow with a two game home run streak, that's 3 for the year and 4 for the career, and 2 steals. Also singled.
JohnRod also stays hottish with a single and double.
Brennan two singles; Diaz single and double.

Mets designated RHP Brooks Pounders for assignment.

The Mets acquired Pounders from the Indians back in mid-June, but he posted an ugly 6.14 ERA over seven relief appearances with the club. He's been in Triple-A since the start of July

BA addressing the same games:

CLE AA Clement, Ernie SS 4 1 0 0 0.266
CLE AA Gonzalez, Oscar RF 4 0 1 1 0.200
CLE AAA Bradley, Bobby 1B 3 1 0 0 0.263 BB (38)
CLE AAA Chang, Yu 3B 4 1 0 0 0.251
CLE AAA Haase, Eric C 4 1 2 2 0.231 HR (28)
CLE LoA Delgado, Raynel 3B 4 0 2 1 0.130 2B (1)
CLE LoA Naylor, Bo C 4 0 1 1 0.249 2B (17)
CLE SS Rocchio, Brayan 2B 4 1 2 1 0.253 HR (3), 2 SB (12)
CLE SS Rodriguez, Johnathan RF 4 2 2 0 0.240 2B (12)

CLE AA Hentges, Sam 4.1 5 6 6 4 4 5.49 L (2-12)
CLE AAA Allen, Logan 5.2 8 4 4 1 4 7.50
CLE LoA Hankins, Ethan 3.1 6 3 3 3 5 4.97 L (0-2) oops, I forgot to post his line.

in re: Pounders; Woji….. has been in the starting rotation for the Orioles for a couple months now, which certainly isn't saying much, but doing pretty well.
Neil Ramirez has pitched 2 2/3 innings for the blue Jays and as is his norm allowed two homeruns.
Matt Whitehouse was picked up by Hartford where' he's still in AA and has 5.87 ERA
Sean Brady also stayed in the EL after we released him; 3-10 with 4.19 ERA for Altoona.


Did anyone know that Andrew Calica had retired? Just learned that recently; he looked real good when drafted in the Year of the Pitcher, but tailed off quickly

Civ, you asked about Feller/Boudreau winners. My 2 pennies ...

- -

Daniel Johnson ... 291/359/500 ... 17 HR ... 30 dbl ... 6 tpl ... 12 SB
Ka'ai Tom ... 292/381/534 ... 20 HR ... 26 db ... 10 tpl
Bobby Bradley ... .263/340/573 ... 30 HR ... 22 dbl
Tyler Freeman ... .307/376/421 ... 3 HR ... 31 dbl ... 5 tpl ... 15 SB
Bryan Lavastida ... .347/422/489 ... 1 HR ... 16 dbl ... 3 tpl
Yainer Diaz ... 361/391/544 ... 6 HR ... 9 dbl ... 2 tpl

The Boudreau winner would be one of the above. You like the homers or the average and OBP?

I would say, IMO, Tom would edge out Johnson and Freeman. And would come down between him and Bradley. And I think I would, personally, give it to Tom.

- -

Eli Morgan ... 123.2 IP ... 103 H ... 134 K ... 1.13 WHIP ... .225 BAA ... 3.13 ERA
Ethan Hankins --- 51.1 IP ... 34 H ... 55 K ... 1.21 WHIP ... .195 BAA ... 2.28 ERA
Matt Turner ... 58.2 IP ... 54 H ... 37 K ... 1.19 WHIP ... .236 BAA ... 2.91 ERA
Kyle Nelson ... 43 IP ... 25 H ... 62 K ... 0.88 WHIP ... .166 BAA ... 2.09 ERA
Robert Broom ... 56 IP ... 30 H ... 66 K ... 0.93 WHIP ... .154 BAA ... 0.64 ERA

If James Karinchak hadn't got hurt and side tracked a bit I would say he was well on his way to my Feller Award. Nobody was even putting a bat on the ball against him. A reliever would only get my nod if he was that dominate. Well, besides Karinchak we've had another reliever be very dominate this year, the side arming Broom. I think I'd give him my nod.

By the by, I might call Morgan 2nd, and only give him the nod over Hankins cause he pitched more innings at higher levels. Hankins would be on the early watch list for next year though.

I'm with you on Tom with Johnson a close second. For the pitcher I'd probably vote for Morgan based on the innings, but that's a pretty poor field.

I've also sketched in my mind the "starting lineup" for the Indians 2019 prospect all stars:

1. Freeman 2b
2. Jones 3b
3. Johnson cf
4. Bradley 1b
5. Haase dh/c
6. Tom lf
7. Valera rf
8. Naylor c
9. Rocchio ss

on the bench: Benson OF; Fermin IF; Chang IF; maybe Mathias IF

starting pitchers: Morgan, Hankins, Scott, Civale, Espino [although he threw about 20 innings]

a site recently reranked the minor league systems and Indians moved up to 10th. Meanwhile the individual performance this year have underwhelmed