Cleveland Sports Forum

The two highest-ranked prospects in the Fall League this year -- Minnesota's Byron Buxton and Cleveland's Francisco Lindor -- would also be facing off in the title game, but Buxton was sidelined by a finger injury, and Lindor recently left to play for Puerto Rico in the Caribbean Games.

XXII Central American and Caribbean Games,

Veracruz 2014

Every four years one of the most important sports events in the Central American and Caribbean Region takes place: The Central American and Caribbean Games.

The Central American and Caribbean Games, Veracruz 2014 are a regional sports event much like the Olympics. There are competitions in 36 sports, 12 of these lead to qualification for the Pan American Games, Toronto 2015.

The Games began in 1924 thanks to an initiative from the Mexican Olympic Society, with the objective of raising the competitive level of the athletes in the region.

Veracruz was given the chance to host the Games in 2009 by the Central American and Caribbean Sports Organization (CACSO). It will be the first time the Games take place outside of Mexico City.

About 5,700 athletes from 31 countries in the region will be participating in 46 disciplines, showing over a million spectators what will be an international multi-sport fiesta that will show off the love of sport through culture, passion and excitement.

The XXII edition of the Central American and Caribbean Games, will take place from November 14th to 30th, 2014 in the city of Veracruz and 5 subsites:

Boca del Río
Xalapa
Tuxpan
Córdoba
Coatzacoalcos

There is now a feeling to share with the world: the Central American and Caribbean Games belong to Mexico, to the people of Veracruz and to you. These are your Games.

Let’s make this event something unique that has never been seen before. Let us join in on this great experience that will be Veracruz 2014.

Feel your Games!

Let us live a unique and memorable experience that will show, once more, that sports are not just competition, but they become an entire celebration.

Saturday games:

CLE ABL Campbell, Andrew DH 3 2 2 0 .222
CLE DL Ciriaco, Audy 3B 3 0 0 0 .182 BB (1)
CLE DL Ramirez, Jose 2B 4 0 1 0 .188 CS (1)
CLE PRL Perez, Roberto C 2 1 0 0 .250 2 BB (11)
CLE VL Aguilar, Jesus 1B 4 2 1 2 .280 2B (3), BB (7)
CLE VL Moncrief, Carlos DH 3 0 1 1 .303
CLE VL Monsalve, Alex C 0 0 0 0 .294
CLE VL Urshela, Giovanny 3B 2 1 1 0 .398 3B(3) [just keeps hitting and hitting and hitting]

The cast of pitchers in winter ball is short and uninteresting

CLE DL Paredes, Edward 0.2 0 0 0 0 1 0.00
CLE PRL Romero, J.C. 1 0 0 0 0 1 0.00

From J.L on LGT Tribe site:

Giovanny Urshela has suffered a knee injury while playing in the Venezuelan Winter League. My Spanish is not good enough to provide a perfect translation of this article from El Universal (a major newspaper in Venezuela), but from what I can piece together, he suffered the injury during Saturday's game. The severity of the injury is not yet known, and Urshela was to undergo an MRI on Sunday, the results of which are not yet available. His manager is not optimistic that he will be able to return before the end of the VWL season, which is in January. I have to think that even if his knee is cleared, the Indians will request that he not play.




Urshela is leading the VWL with a .398 batting average, a fantastic carryover from his breakout season with Double-A Akron and Triple-A Columbus this year. Urshela was previously known as an excellent fielder with a so-so bat, but if he can sustain the success he had, he could be one of the best prospects in the farm system. Some have discussed the possibility of him taking over at third base for the Indians as soon as this summer, if Lonnie Chisenhall can't rebound from his second-half slump.

More details on Urshela's condition as they become available. At this point what news exists is from Spanish-language outlets. I know we have many LGT community members who are fluent, and anything you're able to piece together for the rest of us would be appreciated.

Sunday:

CLE DL Paredes, Edward 0.1 1 0 0 0 1 0.00
CLE DL Tejeda, Enosil 1.2 3 2 2 1 2 7.71 L (0 - 1)
CLE PRL Romero, J.C. 1 0 0 0 0 1 0.00 Sv (1)
CLE PRL Soto, Giovanni 3 1 0 0 0 4 0.73 W (2 - 0) [having a good winter; perhaps he wins a roster spot? another lefty Elvis Araujo recently signed with Phillies]

CLE ABL Battaglia, Ryan 1B 5 2 3 1 .175 2B (4)
CLE PRL Pantoja, Alexis SS 2 0 0 0 .000
CLE VL Aguilar, Jesus 1B 4 0 1 0 .278

Report on Arizona Fall League from Jim CAllis at MLB.com

INDIANS
Best Performance: Right-handed reliever Grant Sides posted a 1.59 ERA -- with more strikeouts (13) than baserunners (12) -- in 11 1/3 innings. He has a mid-90s fastball and a hard slider, but his control needs more work.

Best Prospect: The best infield defender in the AFL, Lindor is also a switch-hitter with some pop and excellent instincts in all phases of the game. After hitting .265/.324/.429 with three homers, he could take over at shortstop for Cleveland early next season.

Roster additions due by end of the day on Wednesday. Prospects eligible for the draft must be protected — i.e. added to the 40-man roster — before that time to prevent their possible selection in Rule 5.

I'm not worried that we're going to lose anyone valuable. I'm simply curious if the Indians find enough talent to fill the roster. Most of the players we want to make sure we keep are not yet eligible.

Prospects become draft eligible after four or five pro seasons: Four years for players who are 19 or older when they sign their first pro contract; five years for those younger than 19.

After Wednesday, clubs can continue to add major-league free agents to their roster, even if it requires a corresponding space-clearing move but are prohibited from adding any player from their minor-league system.

From the 18 year old signing group out of the 2010 draft Tony Wolters has 5 years in, so he gets a nod. No one else seems likely to be added. Second rounder LeVon Washington has not excelled and not yet reached AA. Alex Lavisky cost us seven figures and he's maybe improved a little as Wolters' job-sharer in Akron. Robbie Aviles is the only other guy left from that draft (excluding Tyler Holt who is already on the roster.)

There are bunch of pitchers from the 2011 draft who are worth securing:
Reliever Shawn Armstrong who reached AAA; Starter Cody Anderson who had a breakout 2013, a breakdown 2014 but Baseball America says the Indians still like; LH Ryan Merritt who has unimpressive stuff but was very successful with it last year in Carolina; 25-year-old RH reliever Grant Sides has pitched well in Arizona but at that advanced age has all of 1 inning in AA; RH starter Will Roberts had a pretty good year with Akron in '14 but doesn't look like more than an organizational player. The only position players worth considering, but not much, is Bryson Myles.

The best I can do for finding eligible International free agent signees is to look at the Arizona League and Dominican Summer League rosters in 2010. There is one serious candidate: Luigi Rodriguez a pretty good OF whose progress how slowed of late due to some injuries. Also catcher Alex Monsalve is eligible but hasn't developed far in his 5 years.


We have 35 on the roster so 5 spots to fill and more if we drop some guys like Scott Barnes and Bryan Price who are well beyond 25 and have not achieved much.

I forgot the most obvious: Urshela who was actually eligible last winter but at that point not playing at his current level. Maybe there's someone else from the previous class who will be protected along with him. That reminds me: Soto, too, is a possibility. We've already lost Araujo, both at this point in their development are lefty relievers, I'm sorrier to lose Elvis than I would Soto.

Not much to notice here now that's Urshela's out:

CLE PRL Perez, Roberto C 2 0 0 0 .237
CLE VL Moncrief, Carlos DH 4 0 0 0 .288
no pitchers

Tuesday in the sun:

CLE DL Ciriaco, Audy 3B 0 0 0 0 .182
CLE DL Ramirez, Jose 2B 5 1 3 1 .217 SB (1)
CLE PRL Perez, Roberto C 4 0 0 1 .214
CLE VL Aguilar, Jesus 1B 4 0 0 0 .265 BB (8)
CLE VL Moncrief, Carlos RF 3 0 2 2 .301 2B (4)
no pitchers

I stole this from Joe's winterball folder where I seldom roam:

According to reports out of Venezuela, information from an MRI performed Monday on third baseman Giovanny Urshela’s left knee showed a PCL tear. He is scheduled to fly to Cleveland and be examined by Indians personnel on Thursday to determine the proper course of action; however, surgery is expected and he should be sidelined from all baseball activities for at least six months. This would mean that his season probably won’t start on time and that barring any setbacks he may not return to the field until May or June at the earliest next season. While none of this is yet official until the Indians themselves get a chance to evaluate and diagnose him, this is an almost worst case scenario for him and the Indians. They are lucky it was not an ACL tear which would keep him out of action a little longer, but the PCL tear is almost as bad and really impacts the depth at the third base position for the Indians for at least the first half of the season next year.

Indians pretend that they have so many good players they can lose in Rule 5 draft that they have some really tough choices to make. That theme is mandatory for the following article.



CLEVELAND -- Teams are tasked with mapping out plans beyond just the Major League roster during the course of the offseason. This week, clubs are facing a deadline that flies under the radar, but one that can have implications in the coming season and for years to come.
Before the clock strikes midnight on Thursday night, [I thought it was tonight, whatever] Major League teams must decide which Rule 5 Draft-eligible players will be added to their respective 40-man rosters. The Indians currently have five open spots on their roster and a handful of interesting prospects currently exposed to the Rule 5 process.

Having more eligible players than available spots makes for some tough decisions.

"It's difficult," said Carter Hawkins, the Indians' director of player development. "Our vision for all of these guys is as a Major League player contributing in Cleveland. So any time you have to make a decision about potentially losing somebody who you feel like can make an impact in Cleveland one day, it makes it really difficult."

The Rule 5 Draft allows teams to select unprotected players from other organizations, but the drafted players must remain on the selecting team's Major League roster for a full season. Drafting a player comes with a $50,000 fee, and the team must offer the player back to his old team for half the cost if the player is removed from the active roster at any point during the season.

Eligible players include those who signed before turning 19 years old and have been in an organization for five years, or older signees who have been in an organization for four years. This year's Rule 5 Draft will take place on Dec. 11 in San Diego during MLB's annual Winter Meetings.

Two prospects who stand out from Cleveland's eligible position players are third baseman Giovanny Urshela and catcher Tony Wolters.

The 23-year-old Urshela, who is No. 13 in the MLB.com prospect rankings for the Indians, hit .280/.334/.491 with 18 home runs, 36 doubles, six triples and 84 RBIs between Double-A Akron and Triple-A Columbus last season. He hit .398 with a .979 OPS in 27 games in the Venezuelan Winter League this offseason before a left knee injury sidelined the third baseman on Saturday.

Urshela, who will be examined in Cleveland by a team doctor on Friday to determine the extent of his injury, is considered an above-average defender at third base. This past season, his offensive production improved due to an altered approach in the batter's box and behind the scenes.

"He's always had great bat-to-ball ability," Hawkins said. "He rarely struck out. He also rarely walked, though. He was extremely aggressive and he continues to be very aggressive, but he was aggressive in and out of the zone. This year, he started being really aggressive in the zone. So he started to drive pitches that he was able to drive.

"Couple that with some gains that he had on the strength-and-conditioning side -- he got more physical. He got a lot stronger. He made a huge effort last offseason, and you saw big strides offensively."

Wolters, 22, is No. 18 on MLB.com's prospect list [dropping this year I assume] for the Indians and has spent the past two seasons converting to catcher after coming up as a middle infielder. He posted a .249/.319/.314 slash line in 94 games at Double-A this year and hit .255 with three doubles and eight RBIs in 15 games in the Arizona Fall League.

Hawkins said the transition to catching has gone well for Wolters.

"A lot of the things that made him good at shortstop and second have translated over to catching," Hawkins said. "It's just the finer points of the game that he continues to learn -- calling a game, helping a pitching staff and just having that deeper understanding of the catching position from a leadership standpoint."

Pitchers worth noting among Cleveland's Rule 5 eligibles include: right-handers Cody Anderson (5.44 ERA in 25 starts at Double-A in '14); Shawn Armstrong (2.41 ERA with 72 strikeouts in 56 innings between Double-A and Triple-A); Joseph Colon (3.39 ERA in 25 starts at Double-A), Will Roberts (4.08 ERA in 27 starts at Double-A) and Tyler Sturdevant (2.65 ERA and 54 strikeouts in 57 2/3 innings between Double-A and Triple-A); and lefties Ryan Merritt (2.58 ERA in 160 1/3 innings at Class A Advanced Carolina) and Giovanni Soto (3.23 ERA and 49 strikeouts in 53 innings at Double-A).

"Unfortunately, we have to make these hard decisions," Hawkins said. "That's part of the game. There are a lot of players that have not been protected who end up being an impact Major Leaguer, so it's not a definite for any of these guys. It's just kind of where they are in their career at this point, and we kind of have to play the game of understanding who's most likely to be taken at a certain time."

[No mention of Luigi Rodriguez who I think might be very valuable than most of those pitchers. I believe Sturdevant may have made a winter roster a few years ago; then he got hurt and his was first good year since. He's probably 27 or 28 by now.]

Wednesday:

CLE DL Ciriaco, Audy 3B 4 2 2 2 .231 2B (2), HR (1), BB (2)
CLE DL Ramirez, Jose SS 4 1 0 0 .205
CLE VL Aguilar, Jesus 1B 5 0 1 0 .261
CLE VL Padron, Raul PH 1 0 0 0 .200
CLE DL Arias, Gabirel 3.1 1 0 0 0 2 1.54
CLE PRL Romero, J.C. 1 1 0 0 0 1 0.00 Sv (2) good winter, or I guess it's actually still fall
CLE VL Rodriguez, Ramon 1 1 0 0 1 1 1.84

Absolutely no surprises here. BA posts the roster additions and a few comments.

Cleveland Indians

Cody Anderson, RHP: The converted outfielder has a plus fastball and repeatable delivery, with a slider and curve that are solid. He has solid command and projects as a middle-of-the-rotation starter. [and he was hit very hard in 2014 in his AA debut]

Giovanny Urshela, 3B: Aggressive hitter who makes a lot of contact and rarely walks. Drove the ball better in 2014 than previously. Defensively, one of the best third baseman in the organization. [one of??]

Tony Wolters, C: Making the transition from middle infielder to behind the plate, scouts say Wolters is a good defender, with quick feet and a great arm. At bat, he’s a line-drive, gap-to-gap hitter who does a good job of controlling the strike zone, but has below-average power. [and hit 241 in Akron in 2014]

Ryan Merritt, LHP: Not big or overpowering, Merritt gets by with above-average command and a solid three-pitch mix. He can dial the velocity up and down depending on the situation and flashes a decent change. [unlikely to make it, but who knows]

Shawn Armstrong, RHP: A sinker/slider guy with plus velocity but a history of control issues. The slider has bite, but is inconsistent. [that description impresses, doesn't it?]

The Indians explanation of the five protected:



CLEVELAND -- Given the increasing emphasis on the need for young, controllable talent, sometimes the more impactful roster additions an organization makes in the offseason are the ones that come internally. The Indians made five such additions Thursday as a precursor to next month's Rule 5 Draft.

The five players new to the 40-man roster and therefore protected from that Draft are as follows: Third baseman Giovanny Urshela, right-handed starter Cody Anderson, left-handed reliever Ryan Merritt, right-handed reliever Shawn Armstrong and catcher Tony Wolters. While Urshela and Armstrong are the only two of the five to have reached the Triple-A level, all of them were Rule 5-eligible and thus would have been ripe for the taking by any other Major League club at the Dec. 11 event.

With these moves, the Tribe's 40-man is at its capacity.

While all five athletes are talented, the player of most immediate intrigue for the 2015 Tribe is Urshela, whose pure glove at the hot corner has combined with his greatly improved plate performance to make him a candidate for a '15 callup. The Indians' porous defensive effort in '14, which included 18 errors and minus-16 defensive runs saved in 114 games at third by Lonnie Chisenhall, make Urshela's defensive strengths an asset.

Alas, Urshela tweaked his left knee while running out a triple in the Venezuelan Winter League this month, and he was expected in Cleveland this week for an MRI exam. The Indians did not have immediate information on the extent of that injury and whether it will affect Urshela's readiness for Spring Training. He finished the season the Tribe's No. 13 prospect, according to MLB.com.

The 23-year-old Urshela, a native of Colombia who was signed by the Tribe at 16, split '14 between Double-A Akron and Columbus, hitting a combined .280 with 36 doubles, six triples, 18 homers and 84 RBIs. He made five errors in 220 total chances at Columbus.

Armstrong, 24, also reached Columbus this season. He went a combined 6-2 with a 2.41 ERA in 49 relief appearances between Columbus and Akron, and he pitched three scoreless innings for the Clippers in the International League playoffs. In his Minor League career, he has compiled a 2.43 ERA and an impressive 11.1 strikeouts-per-nine-innings mark in 162 2/3 innings. The strikeout rate alone makes him an obvious candidate for a spot in the big league bullpen at some point in '15.

Anderson, also 24, is a converted outfielder (he made the switch to pitching in junior college) with a low- to mid-90s fastball and developing slider that have put him on the big league radar. He was the organization's Minor League Pitcher of the Year in 2013, though he did take a statistical step back with the jump to Double-A Akron this year. He went 4-11 with a 5.44 ERA in 25 starts for the RubberDucks. The Indians' hope is that when Anderson develops a better feel for his pitches, he'll be more aggressive down in the zone.

Like Anderson, Wolters, a former middle infielder, spent all season at Akron. It was his second season primarily behind the plate since converting as a result of the Tribe's glut of middle-infield talent. Wolters -- ranked as the club's No. 18 prospect by MLB.com -- hit .249 with a .633 OPS. In 66 games at catcher, he threw out 47 percent of would-be base stealers. He finished the year in the Arizona Fall League, where he hit .255 with eight RBIs in 15 games.

Merritt went 13-3 with a 2.58 ERA in 25 starts at Class A Carolina this year, and he followed that up by earning Carolina League postseason all-star honors. He struck out 127 against 25 walks in 160 1/3 innings.