As we all await the finality that will be the CC Sabathia-to-Milw transaction, it is somewhat understandable that some of us, particularly those of us who like to know who/what exists in the organizational pipeline, would be involved in attempting to envision the longterm vision, the big picture, the significance of what is supposedly being added.
Huntsville, Alabama Stars' OF Matt LaPorta is the sole confirmed piece in the package of compensatory return for MLB's premier LHS. Few dispute that his is one of the sport's most promising minor-league bats. Words of praise assess him as a monster at the plate, though perhaps a butcher in the OF. That describes an Albert Belle without the rage.
Let's hope so.
In the meantime, he is at least a much-needed RH slugger to help 3b Jared Goedert complement promising lefty sluggers Nicholas Weglarz and Beau Mills in future Tribe batting orders. Should smallish LH Taylor Green (5-10 180) accompany LaPorta to the North Coast and, as anticipated, convert to 2b, Cleveland would figure to have quite an encouraging core developing on the farm.
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The report that both LHS Cliff Lee and CF Grady Sizemore led all vote-getters in balloting conducted among their AL peers for starting slots in this summer's All-Star Game simply astonishes. That one of baseball's worst teams can boast two such talents eliciting such endorsements from their customarily-crusty contemporaries is a truly amazing development, one that somewhat indicts both GM Mark Shapiro and field manager Eric Wedge.
That those two decision-makers cannot construct a winner around such outstanding commodities does not sing their respective praises.
What is more, it is quite distressing to see less-heralded organizations exceeding pre-season forecasts for themselves, in no small part because of the managing skills of their field generals while a nearly-unanimous World Series favorite flounders 14 games below .500 at a time when its manager does nothing whatsoever to adjust his team's approach.
Consequently, it constituted perfect contrast to have just witnessed a weekend sweep at the hands of Ron Gardenhire's Minnesota Twins, a ballclub that recently bid farewell not only to its best pitcher, Johan Santana, but arguably its best position player/leader, as well, in Gold-Glove CF Torii Hunter.
What is more, Gardenhire's squad has gone two seasons now without spectacular southpaw Francisco Liriano, still managing to find themselves 13 games up on the tribe, 12 games over .500 and but a single game out of first place in the division.
Gardenhire's club is fundamentally sound, pesky, balanced and relentless. They bunt, run, slap to make contact, produce in the clutch and generate enough offense to outscore their opponents with regularity. Their success is not a matter of superior talent, but inspired approach, consistent player development, focused play and creative deployment of available personnel.
While it is no one's wish that another man should lose his job, it should be noticed what responses materialize from both Shapiro and Wedge, now that the personality of this particular season has fully manifested.
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Should it be that any of you missed it, be encouraged to archive a recent article authored by Indians' beat writer Jim Ingraham of the Lake County News Herald and the Lorain Mourning Journal. In it, one of the area's very best sportswriters details the putrid draft record of the Cleveland baseball team, particularly in Round One since the selection of Manny Ramirez.
That being said, would now not be the perfect time to promote LH 1b Michael Aubrey, switch-hitting leadoff OF Trevor Crowe---who has been on an absolute tear at AA Akron---and maybe even RH 1b/DH/3b Matt Whitney? All are former number-one Tribe draftees.
Crowe might encourage Wedge to consider Sizemore for the three-hole, while Aubrey should certainly get most of the starts at first, where Ryan Garko has been dreadful (15 extra-base hits in 275 ABs, .244 BA.) In fact, it is hereby reiterated that Garko should revert to the catcher position, to job-share with Kelly Shoppach and to open first base for other candidates.
Whitney is not exactly ripping it up at AA Akron, muddling along at .253, though his recent production has improved. It is suspected the young man, who went last winter to the Washington Nationals in the Rule 5 draft only to be returned before spring training was completed, may be more than a bit discouraged and distracted by his own failure to advance as anticipated.
While that certainly does not recommend him for MLB-readiness, the humanity of the individual must be acknowledged. Whitney had been called by then-farm director John Farrell the best RH-hitting bat prospect to come through the organization since Manny. This was just before he tore ligaments in his ankle fetching an errant basketball in the vicinity of an in-ground water sprinkler during spring training of 2005.
The resultant damage cost him the range necessary to man his former position of 3b, restricting him to part-time duties at both DH and 1b. Predictably, it also cost him quality developmental time. Now 24 and coming off a failed attempt to stick with one of baseball's worst rosters---though Washington did have both Nick Johnson and Dmitri Young in front of him---Whitney's subpar numbers may be more indicative of what formerly retarded Crowe's ascent, some measure of self-pity and depression attributed to again finding himself two rungs short of the big-leagues.
Therefore, it may be craziness to imagine Whitney merits an MLB audition, but it might nonetheless be time to test him, as well as Crowe and Aubrey, during what remains of this otherwise wasted 2008 campaign. Younger prospects are now nipping at their respective heels and it is otherwise likely neither Aubrey nor Whitney will be around next year at this time. Aubrey, in fact, will be out of options once this summer ends.
Platooning Aubrey and Whitney at 1b would not only afford the brass an extended examination of both, but it might deliver some of the offensive punch this ballclub needs. Minimally, Aubrey's elevation would mitigate the need for Dellucci's southpaw swing in the order's bottom half. No one has ever questioned Michael's ability to stroke it, so long as he is healthy, which admittedly has not been often the case.
Crowe, once considered on a par with Bosox Jacoby Ellsbury as a do-it-all ignitor, might provide base-stealing and small-ball sparks while representing an alternative to the Shin-Soo Choo/Franklin Gutierrez tandem in the corner OF spot opposite Ben Francisco.
Ideally, Trevor renders expendable both Dellucci, a proven off-the-bench contributor in both leagues, and Gutierrez, an excellent defensive CF prospect. Exchanging those two for additional young developmental pieces should be next on Shapiro's agenda, along with the liquidation of SS Jhonny Peralta.
One of baseball's axioms says that a true hitter will always hit. If the ability is in there, it will come out regardless of the competition. Assuming Farrell, who coached his Red Sox pitching staff to a world title in his first season in a big-league dugout, knows of what he speaks, Matt Whitney may not be as overmatched in MLB as his modest AA stats might indicate.
At the very least, using the balance of July to sample what it is Crowe, Aubrey and Whitney have to offer at the highest level would allow the organization additional clarity as it prepares for yet another next season.
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By this time, it has been fairly confirmed that the rest of the Brewers' payment for CC will include a pair of mundane minor-league pitchers and a player to be named later, possibly the aforementioned Green.
It is now clear neither Casey Blake nor Jamey Carroll will be accompanying Sabathia to Suds City. It had been thought here that both would be superb additions by the Brewers, inasmuch as both 3b and 2b are trouble spots in Milw.
Bill Hall occupies the former post, having converted from 2b to CF and, this year, to third. Recently, he's been platooning with the often-times castoff LH Russell Branyon, much to his dismay and discontent. Three hits yesterday raised Hall's average to .227. Similarly, 2b Rickie Weeks' .208 excites no one in Wisconsin.
Conversely, it was imagined deposed Brewer closer Derrick Turnbow, now laboring at AAA, might have become part of Milw's payment. Another RH, the huge Seth McGlung, who submarined Cleveland's 2005 pennant run when he was with Tampa, was another Shapiro was thought to envision for his needy bullpen. In fact, it is believed CC will bump McGlung from the Milw rotation.
C/1b/3b/OF Eric Munson might also have been a serviceable reserve addition for the Tribe, particularly given the dearth of LH bats, his uncommon versatility and the idea of returning Garko to the tools of ignorance.
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Lastly, it is quite a profound development when an ownership group that promised to construct around starting pitching and to deliver necessary capital once winning seemed imminent---so long as fans stepped up to support their product---would allow an in-his-prime homegrown pitching ace, the reigning AL Cy Young Award winner---to depart before his 28th birthday. Particularly when the young man claims to love the city, the team, his teammates and his role as clubhouse leader.
It is therefore sincerely hoped that the Dolans will re-sign CC Sabathia when free agency commences this winter, perhaps aided the fondness his absence from Cleveland might create within him. This will be the Vallejo, Californian's first experience performing in another city for another organization, after all. And he'd be returning to an enhanced roster, at least theoretically.
Failing that, it is heavily upon the owners, their GM and their coaching staff to see to it this ballclub is very soon among the best in baseball. To go from within a single home win from the World Series to where things now sit in so short a time is not a recommendation for any of them.
Read the complete post at http://www.xanga.com/MALeonard/665035825/laporta-balances-future-order.html