May 22, 2013

MLB News: Indians Trade 1B Beau Mills to Cincinnati

June 22, 2012 by 25 Comments

The Beau Mills era in Cleveland has officially come to an end as the Indians have traded the long-time minor league first baseman to the Cincinnati Reds for cash.

Mills, the 13th-overall selection in 2007, had long been the poster boy for underachieving draft picks of the naughts, selected one pick ahead of Atlanta’s Jason Heyward who was an All-Star during his first year in the league.

The 6-foot-3-inch, 220-pound Mills had a promising start, clubbing 21 home runs and driving in 90 for the Kinston Indians at age-21, but failed to gain any traction though the other, more-elevated clubs, seeing his OPS drop year-over-year with the Akron Aeros and presently hitting .197 (with 34 strikeouts compared to 25 hits) as a 25-year-old in Columbus. Following the trade, Mills was immediately assigned to the Reds Double-A franchise in Pensacola.

In a recent address, Indians manager Manny Acta exclaimed his disappointement with the bats at the higher levels of his team’s system, but reiterated that the hitting at the lower levels is improving by the day.

[Related: Expanding the MLB Playoffs and Unintended Consequences]

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  • Natedawg86

    For cash? Bad pick CLE. 25 year old 1st round 13th pick given away for cash. Draft better!

  • dwhit110

    A: Beau Mills is one of the many reasons Brad Grant is now in charge of the draft, who has, as you’ve asked, drafted better.
    B: We’ve known for 2 or 3 years that Mills was a bust. Trading him for cash isn’t really telling us anything that we didn’t already know.

  • Natedawg86

    I know man but I am still a little heated that he never even really made it up to the show. If you draft someone in the first round, they should make it to the team before they are traded for a bag of bats and balls

  • DontbringLBJback

    If he can’t hit .200 in the minors, how’s he gonna make it to the show? Let’s thank Cincy for giving us some cash for the washed up wasted pick. It’s a bizarre trade. National league team takes a flier on a 1B when they’ve got Joey Votto signed for 12 years? Huh?

  • Natedawg86

    Not saying he deserved a shot at the show, and was thinking the same thing about Cincy

  • DMohio

    Another stain on Shapiro’s draft history.. Great at evaluating talent on other teams (in trades), but historically a very poor drafter. Too many picks like this. Brad Grant has done well though to be fair.

  • Garry_Owen

    Darn. Was really hoping that we had traded 1Bs, straight up. Oh well. Votto would have looked real nice in a Tribe uni.

  • 5KMD

    Shapiro didn’t draft. You can get mad at him for not hiring the correct people to draft, but not for the draft itself. Or you can, I don’t care.

  • DMohio

    ? As the general manager, the draft was on him… What fantasy world do you live in?

  • The_Real_Shamrock

    It really hurts when you look at teams like the Red Sox and Angels who while paying incredibly in free agency still manage to produce players like Nava, Middlebrooks and the phenom Mike Trout.

  • 5KMD

    I guess I live in the fantasy world where people delegate responsibility. Shapiro didn’t make those picks, John Mirabelli did.
    Again, blame Shapiro for allowing Mirabelli to be the draft guru, but Shapiro didn’t make the picks. Very few GMs do.

  • DMohio

    I get that but you’re wrong if you don’t place the responsibility of the draft on Shapiro. I don’t care if he actually called the commissioner or wrote down Beau’s name, Shapiro drafted Beau Mills

  • 5KMD

    OK, it’s Friday so I’m going to let this go. I get what you are saying and I think you get what I am saying. We are arguing two different things. Have a great weekend, I mean that.

  • Steve

    Which picks did Mark Shapiro personally make that were blatantly wrong, and we knew it at the very moment he made the pick?

  • DMohio

    Mark Shapiro was named General Manager in 2001. You never know if a pick will be a bust at the moment it is made, but generally 3-4 years after you expect them to start showing signs of production (depending on their age when drafted). Shapiro turned the GM job over to Chris Antonetti at the end of 2010 season. Here are his first-round picks: 2001- Dan Denham (bust); 2001 – Alan Horne (bust); 2002 – Jeremy Guthrie (bust); 2003 – Michael Aubrey (bust); 2003 – Bradley Snyder (bust); 2004 – Jeremy Sowers (bust); 2005 – Trevor Crowe (bust); 2007 – Beau Mills (bust); 2008 – Lonnie Chisenhall (too soon to tell); 2009 – Alex White; 2010 – Drew Pomeranz; 2011 – Francisco Lindor; 2012 – Tyler Naquin.

    Brad Grant became Director of Amateur Scouting at the start of 08 season. The draft picks have improved greatly since Grant took over scouting, but it still falls on Shapiro. Those drafts from 2001-2007 produced 2 players who at least have had moderate playing time at MLB level (Sowers and Guthrie), but the rest are total flops. You can’t get that with your first round picks with our payroll.

  • Harv 21

    Scott, no evidence he “underachieved.” He didn’t ask to be picked there. Times like these I invoke Paul Brown’s statement to the lost driver of the team bus: ” I don’t blame you. I blame the person who hired you.”
    For all we know Beau has fulfilled reached a great deal of his potential. Given the Tribe’s draft history over about a decade, that’s more likely than him having underachieved.

  • 5KMD

    So did Shapiro become a better drafter when Grant took over or he just do HIS job better by hiring a guy more competent in scouting to run the drafts?
    If you are hanging the entire draft on Shapiro then he’s learned from his mistakes and is doing a great job now, right?

  • DMohio

    Again – I know that Shapiro isn’t actually drafting these people. But whether you like it or not, the responsibility falls on him. You seem willing to accept that, so why be difficult?

  • matt underwood

    I agree – this is on Shapiro. You have a scouting director, but he answers to him. As GM, he must have full control and knowledge of all players in the org.

  • nj0

    Stand out from the ’07 draft? Josh Judy – 7.07 ERA, -0.2 WAR

  • 5KMD

    I guess the final word on this is whether you give Shapiro credit now for the recent “good” drafts. If you say yes to that, then I’m done.
    If you acknowledge that the drafting is now better (since Grant took over), blame Shapiro for the past drafts, but don’t give him credit for the current ones then your argument is flawed.
    I’ve actually really enjoyed this back and forth, not trying to be difficult at all. Wish we were at a game with a couple of beers discussing it.

  • DMohio

    Fair enough. I’m saying that overall Shapiro has done a poor job drafting. I give him credit for Chisenhall, White, and Pomeranz, but I also discredit him for 01-07 failures. I’m saying big picture Shapiro was a poor evaluater of draft talent and that it really cost this team.

  • JacobWFNY

    Saw earlier that there will be very little cash involved in this trade; supposedly it’s just a formality. Poor Beau, but I agree with folks here that we’ve all known of his “bust” label since ’09.

  • 5KMD

    Cool. I’m saying Shapiro waited too long to replace Mirabelli but we agree he failed at the draft for a long time

  • Jay

    The Dolans needed a little spending cash now that the casino is up and running.