Cleveland Sports Forum

Why does Toni think it appropriate to clutter up the web with paragraphs about some 5'9" 19th round draft pick who likely will not be seen above a ball.

Columbus will have room once Chisenhal comes up in June. Until then Phelps will be used everywhere.

rusty2 wrote:Columbus will have room once Chisenhal comes up in June. Until then Phelps will be used everywhere.

Astute point!

Brian (Toledo): The Indians Alex Lavisky has hit 5 homeruns this spring. Does he have 30 homerun potential?


John Manuel: I hadn't seen that, but all our reports pre- and post-draft had him with above-average raw power. I'd still adjust my expectations down from 30 for a catcher, those are exceedingly rare. I know they miss Lavisky at Ga. Tech, where he was penciled in to start this year if he'd made it to school.

Brian (Toledo): If Alex White continues to develop a third pitch, and remains a starter, who would you compare him to on the Major League level.


John Manuel: Ha, pretty huge ifs Brian. I can't think of many starters off the top of my head who use a splitter anymore, but if you can think of any, that would be your comp. I think White is pretty unique, and I've held for a while that he once had a plus slider, so his ability to spin it should still be there. But the slider remains below-average, so he might be better off focusing on commanding his two-seamer and four-seamer, using his split and just going with those pitches. He would have to have almost Schilling or Prior-like command to get away with it as a starter—that's the last 2-pitch starters I can think of—but it's more likely for him to have premium command, it seems, than for his slider to come back.

To replace Nick Weglarz, I guess:

The Cleveland Indians picked up outfielder Bubba Bell today for cash considerations from the Boston Red Sox and assigned him to the Columbus roster. Bell, 28, batted .293 for Pawtucket last season with six home runs and 49 RBI. He is a career .292 hitter in six minor-league seasons in the Boston organization.

Tony's long exposition on longshot prospect Eric Berger

New look, same old Berger

Left-handed pitcher Eric Berger looks a lot different these days.

If you saw Berger you would almost thing he was wearing a costume. Gone is the short haircut and clean shave, and in is much longer and free flowing hair and a mustache that would make Rollie Fingers proud.

The image change is just Berger showing another side of his unique personality, but he says there really was no inspiration for the change and that it was just something that happened.

“There was no inspiration,” said Berger about going with the big mustache. “I just didn’t shave in the offseason and when I cleaned up I just left it as I never had a moustache before. I figured I would try something new and the guys seem to enjoy it. It’s just a different look and a different year, so I am having some fun with it.”

New look or not, the soon to be 25-year old pitcher in three weeks knows he needs to have a much better season than the one he had last year. In 23 combined starts at Double-A Akron and Triple-A Columbus last year Berger went 5-6 with a 4.90 ERA. It wasn’t a terrible year, but he really struggled in the early going because he was recovering from an oblique injury at the end of spring training and then he struggled at the end of the season when he got a call to Columbus (5 GS, 5.84 ERA).

Berger struggled with his command last year, mostly the result of an inconsistent release point in his delivery which he had trouble correcting when he was a little off in games. Maintaining his delivery and learning how to make quicker adjustments to re-find his release point is something he has focused on in spring training.

“When you lose your release point its how quickly can you get it back,” said Berger. “I don’t want it to be the next inning or batter, I want it to be the next two or three pitches. I think that is the biggest thing is when you lose the release point to get it back as soon as possible.”

Berger doesn’t have dominating stuff as he throws a low 90s fastball and compliments it with a good curveball and developing changeup. He added a new wrinkle to his arsenal late last year when he began incorporating a cutter into his pitch mix. He really likes the pitch and plans to use it a lot more this season.

“I’m looking forward to throwing the cutter more this year,” said Berger. “At the end of last year I started mixing it in and now I am looking to use it a good amount as I like it a lot. So far I have been getting some good double play balls from righties and getting it on their hands a little bit. I’m looking forward to going fastball in to cutter in so it looks like I am doubling up the fastball and it sneaks in on them.”

In addition to getting better with the cutter and maintaining his delivery, Berger wants to improve his strike throwing ability and more consistently pound the zone. If he can get better with throwing more consistent, quality strikes, as a left-hander he has a chance to pitch in the big leagues.

“I just need to throw first pitch strikes, get ahead in the count, and double up when necessary,” said Berger. “I need to get the strike percentage up in all categories and [if I do that] I think I will be good.”

More from Tony including No Good News on Knapp

Notebook:

Knapp slowed: The Indians are being very cautious with right-handed pitcher Jason Knapp this spring. He is not hurt, but the Indians have him on a very conservative throwing program and he will not be ready to open with an affiliate when camp breaks today. He is expected to remain in Arizona for an undetermined amount of time to allow him time to get himself ramped up to pitch in games and at the same time improve the strength of his shoulder. Since he threw just 28.1 innings last year he is going to be really restricted with his inning workload this season, so one way to do that is to delay the start of his season. When he is ready to pitch, he is expected to be assigned to High-A Kinston. The best guess as to when that might occur is sometime before the end of May.

Goedert smash: Infielder Jared Goedert may be on the 60-day disabled list, but he is playing spring games out in Arizona and will continue to do so until the early part of May. Playing with Akron on Friday, he played first base and went 1-for-3 at the plate with a solo home run.

Pictures please: As noted a few weeks back, I was able to take a lot of pictures of players while I was at camp out in Arizona. For those who I have made arrangements with already, I will be sending them to you soon. I have a couple thousand pictures to sort through, edit, and file away, and I plan to have that all done by next weekend.

Akron recap I: On Thursday, Akron lost to Kinston 5-1 in a 12 inning B-game to give right-handers Mitch Talbot (5.0 IP, 5 H, 0 R, 2 BB, 5 K) and Josh Tomlin (5.2 IP, 2 H, 1 R/ER, 1 BB, 4 K) each a lot of work. Outfielder Jordan Henry (3-for-6, 3 2B, K) and catcher Doug Pickens (2-for-4, R, 2B, HR, RBI, BB) did all the damage offensively.

Akron recap II: On Friday, Akron lost to the Padres 8-4. Center fielder Jordan Henry (2-for-2, R, 2B), shortstop Juan Diaz (2-for-2, R, HR, 2 RBI, BB), and third baseman Kyle Bellows (2-for-4, 2B) paced the offense. Lefty Kelvin De La Cruz went 4.0 innings (3 H, 3 R/ER, 2 BB, 3 K) and was followed with lefty Nick Hagadone who went 2.0 innings (2 H, 2 R/ER, 2 BB, 1 K) and lefty Eric Berger who went 2.0 innings (3 H, 3 R/ER, 2 BB, 2 K).

Kinston recap I: On Thursday, Kinston beat Akron 5-1. Outfielder Greg Folgia (1-for-6, R, HR, 2 RBI, K) and second baseman Ronald Rivas (2-for-4, R, BB) were the main contributors at the plate. On the mound lefty Scott Barnes (3.0 IP, 3 H, 0 R, 3 BB, 3 K), righty Austin Adams (5.1 IP, 4 H, 2 R/ER, 2 BB, 5 K), and lefty Giovanni Soto (3.0 IP, 2 H, 2 R/ER, 1 BB, 3 K) all chipped in.

Kinston recap II: On Friday, Kinston beat the Padres 8-7. Right fielder Bo Greenwell sizzled at the plate going 3-for-5 (3 R, 2B, HR, 2 RBI), and got some assistance from third baseman Adam Abraham (1-for-3, R, HR, 3 RBI) and second baseman Ronald Rivas (2-for-3, RBI, K). Righty-hander Clayton Cook pitched a dandy of a game going 5.0 innings (2 H, 1 R, 0 ER, 0 BB, 6 K). Lefty Chris Jones struggled and in 1.0 innings (4 H, 4 R, 3 ER, 0 BB, 0 K), and righty Adam Miller got some working going 1.0 inning (0 H, 0 R, 0 ER, 0 BB, 0 K).

Lake County recap I: On Thursday, Lake County beat the Reds 5-1. Second baseman Jorge Martinez (2-for-2, R) and DH/3B Tyler Cannon (2-for-2, 2 BB) were the offensive stars of the game. Righty Michael Goodnight went 5.0 excellent innings (1 H, 0 R, 2 BB, 7 K), and lefty Kirk Wetmore went 2.0 good innings (2 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 2 K) and righty Trey Haley went 1.1 innings (2 H, 1 R/ER, 0 BB, 3 K).

Lake County recap II: On Friday, Lake County lost to the Padres 2-1. The Captains managed just four hits, with third baseman Giovanni Ursehla doing all of the damage (1-for-3, R, HR, RBI). Lefty Mike Rayl had a nice showing on the mound going 4.0 strong innings (0 H, 0 R, 1 BB, 2 K), and righty Kyle Blair followed him up by going 4.0 innings (4 H, 2 R/ER, 1 BB, 0K).

Jordan Henry's 3 doubles in two games is something of a novelty. He has been an on-base machine in his first 1+ seasons, plays a very good CF and steals bases, but his power has been very very limited.

A.G. has not been around the new Forum to remind me who I chose for my breakout players of 2011, if I did. I'll therefore jump in now.

Position Players: I probably announced for Giovanny Urshela, our future gold glove third baseman (moving Chisenhall over to 1st where we have no one else). I will do a two-third baseman combo and add Kyle Bellows, who's another fine defender and was a power hitter in college and at Mahoning Valley but his offense was pretty mild last season.

Wife calls. I'll decide my pitchers later today.

Nothing wrong with Knapp. Let's see where he is in August. Glad to see Miller pitching again....

One of the 2010 draftee pitchers will have a big 2011. Kyle Blair is most likely, Cole Cook or Michael Goodnight have good pedigrees too. I guess the easy pick is Blair who made #11 on BA's prospect list before he threw a professional pitch ( or did he pitch a couple innings for the Scrappers). I'll take the low odds this season and choose Blair.

fkreutz wrote:Nothing wrong with Knapp. Let's see where he is in August. Glad to see Miller pitching again....

Kruetz are u knapp's doc? How do u know?

Well Tony's post says there's nothing wrong with Knapp and he knows a little more than we do

Transactions last week:

Cleveland Indians

Signed: LHP Jesse English

Released: RHP Omar Aguilar, RHP Casey Gaynor, RHP Jeremy Johnson, RHP Doug Mathis, RHP Takafumi Nakamura, RHP Julio Ramirez, RHP David Roberts [about a 5th round pick who never pitched well], LHP Vidal Nuno [helped Captains win their title in 2010], C Juan Aponte, OF Trent Baker, OF Kevin Rucker, OF Joel Torres

Removed from 40-man: RHP Jensen Lewis (outrighted to Triple-A)

Optioned to Triple-A: RHP Jeanmar Gomez, RHP Jess Todd, LHP David Huff, 2B Luis Valbuena, OF Ezequiel Carrera