2015 Browns Position Previews: Offensive Line
July 31, 2015Ray Farmer says relationship with Mike Pettine is great
August 1, 2015The Cleveland Indians had one last trade to sneak in just ahead of the 2015 MLB trade deadline. They traded left-handed reliever Marc “Scrabble” Rzepczynski to the San Diego Padres in exchange for 26 year old Abraham Almonte (ESPN’s Keith Law was the first to report though he misspelled Rzepczynski in his rush).
Scrabble was seemingly struggling overall this season pitching 20.1 innings with his worst ERA (4.43) in three career seasons with the Indians (0.89 ERA in 20.1 innings in 2013 and 2.73 ERA in 46 innings in 2014). However, much like many members on the staff, his peripheral numbers indicated that he was pitching far better than his ERA demonstrated as he had a FIP of 2.98 and his strikeouts per nine innings rose above 10 for the first time in his career.
The soon to be 30 year old Rzepczynski is making $2.4 million in 2015 and is eligible for his third and final year of arbitration this offseason.
The 5-foot-9, 210 pound Abraham Almonte is no stranger to trade deadline deals as he was traded on July 31, 2014 from the Seattle Mariners along with RHP Stephen Kohlscheen to the Padres in exchange for right fielder Chris Denorfia.
The switch-hitting Almonte will not be found on any of the Padres top prospect lists as the Dominican product is now at a slightly more advanced age for a player who has been rotating between AAA and MLB the past three seasons. Almonte has had quite the story as he has overcome questions about his height, a fight with alcoholism, and hamstring injuries to slowly work his way up the ladder in the minors.
In 227 games at the AAA level over the past three seasons, Almonte has a slash line of .288/.369/.437 while demonstrating a good mix of speed and power combination (mostly doubles power) with 45 doubles, 10 triples, and 21 home runs. Unfortunately, those numbers drop to precipitously in his 115 games over the same three seasons in MLB. He has a slash line of .233/283/.336 with 17 doubles, one triple, and five home runs in that time.
Due to the relatively short time spent at the MLB level, Almonte is not eligible for his first arbitration year until 2018, therefore giving the Indians more time to allow him to develop. The Indians announced that they will be sending Almonte to Triple-A Columbus Clippers and calling up outfielder Jerry Sands to take Scrabbles place with the MLB club.
However, there is always a chance that things will click at the MLB level and Almonte should just be entering his prime seasons. Plus, he becomes one more player in the competition with Tyler Holt, James Ramsey, Jerry Sands, Lonnie Chisenhall, and Jose Ramirez to hold onto the fourth outfield position (or possibly the center field spot while waiting on Bradley Zimmer).
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