Back to Life; Back to Reality
November 21st, 2009 | by johnhoyos |Ok. Ok. I suppose its time to get serious.
The Indians are not trading for Roy Halladay or Vernon Wells. They’re not signing Chan Ho Park and they’re not courting Marco Scutaro. The rumors of Kevin Millar sightings at the Rock N Roll Hall of Fame may have been exaggerated.
On Friday, the Indians filled up their 40-man roster completely, protecting some of the more Major League ready players from one of the better farm systems in Major League Baseball. They also didn’t try to pull anyone off the roster like Chris Gimenez or Anthony Reyes. This doesn’t mean they may not try remove them at some point, particularly if they find the right free agent pitcher this off-season, but they are there for now.
I’ll leave the analysis of which prospects were more or less deserving to be rostered to the professionals, the general consensus is that Jordan Brown and Jeanmar Gomez were no-brainers. Leaving Matt McBride exposed for the Rule 5 draft on December 10th seems to be the most debatable snub. With Wes Hodges having shin surgery recently, the list of players that can DH against lefties starts and ends with Andy Marte. (This just in, that’s not a really good list.) However, McBride has no position and seems unlikely to stick on a Major League roster for a full year.
On the subject of Marte, I really feel the Indians need to cut ties with him. Perhaps try to trade him in a multiple-player deal where he provides some added value and gets you a starting pitcher? Well, there I go again, stretching reality to the outer limits. Marte isn’t yet eligible for arbitration; he doesn’t have enough service time. After this year, however, he will be and that will force the Indians hand.
There’s another player on the roster that the Indians could consider cutting, catcher Wyatt Toregas. His fate is likely to be determined by the Indians ability to come to terms with Kelly Shoppach, who is eligible for arbitration. If I’m the Indians, I offer him arbitration. He made just under $2 million last year and hit .214 after hitting .261 the previous two seasons. Having a catcher with some experience (hard to call him a veteran at this point in his career) to work with the bevy of younger talent that’s sure to be on the mound in 2010 would make a whole lot of sense. Offer him a minimum raise and he’ll likely lose arbitration. He’s worth every penny at $2.6 million. At that point, the Indians have an expendable roster spot that they can use to bring in a starting pitcher.
So now we wait to see what this team is going to do. Teams have until December 1 to come to terms with players requesting free agency. Then the winter meetings come rolling along a week later with the Rule 5 draft at the end of the week.
The reality is that we’ll just have to wait and see. You never know.
