NBA Buyout News: Done Deal, For Hughes That Is
February 24, 2010Russell Branyan’s Addition Will Impact Younger Players
February 24, 2010With so little excitement surrounding the 2010 Indians season, Baseball America says you should get juiced about the future. In their annual Top 100 Prospects list, your Wahoo Warriors have five of the top 65 players. This is tied for second with the Cubs, trailing only the Tampa Bay Rays who have seven. There is no surprise who is listed.
#10 Carlos Santana – Odds are you will probably see the top prospect in the Tribe farm system at some point this season. The catching position is being kept warm for him by career backup Mike Redmond and two guys who will probably be career backups in Wyatt Toregas and Lou Marson. Everything you hear about him we hope to be true; could be the second coming of Victor Martinez.
#31 Lonnie Chisenhaul – The former top Tribe draft pick in 2008 made his debut in Akron last year and is rising fast. The third base position currently being occupied by Jhonny Peralta will be his by no later than 2012. He rakes line-drives to all fields and is just 21 years old.
#44 Nick Hagadone – A hard-throwing lefty who came over in the Victor Martinez trade was the Red Sox first round pick in 2007. This is his first full year post-Tommy John surgery so the velocity should be back. The 23-year old may start in high A ball, but I fully expect to see him in Akron’s rotation this season.
#64 Jason Knapp – The most controversial member of the Cliff Lee trade has shoulder surgery in September. Not a great sign for a 19 year old. That said, he continues to show up on the lists of top prospects because of his monster fastball. He was expected to make a full recovery by Spring Training, but you know the Indians will be extra careful with the man they held out for in the July trade with the Phillies. When ready, he will be in A ball.
#65 Alex White – The 2009 first round pick has been viewed by many scouts as a potential dominant back-end bullpen guy, even though he was a front-line starter at University of North Carolina. He is closer to the majors today than either Hagadone or Knapp. Even new Tribe manager Manny Acta was excited about his first glimpse of White. “It was refreshing to see those young guys throw the ball like they did,” said Acta. “The (Jeanmar) Gomezes of the world … (Kelvin) De La Cruz and Alex White. Granted it was just a bullpen, but it was nice to see what the future looks like here.” It would shock nobody if White makes his big league debut in the bullpen this season, but the Indians would be wise not to rush him.
The top five prospects in the eyes of Baseball America are Atlanta OF Jason Heyward, Washington RHP Stephen Strasburg, Florida OF Mike Stanton, Yankess C Jesus Montero, and Baltimore LHP Brian Matusz.
16 Comments
Phew I feel so much better now…let me call for my season tickets pronto!! 😉 Seriously though if your into prospects and young guys this is great but if you want to win and win a championship this doesn’t provide much hope other then maybe sitting and waiting and praying that multiple years later these guys develop and deliver. Outside of Santana none of them will have any sort of impact whatsoever for probably a year or more and two of the three pitchers (Hagadone and Knapp) have already had arm issues.
Don’t you mean 5 future yankees/red sox/dodgers?
Brendon… we will have them for 7 years and maybe as much as ten, then goodbye
I’m surprised that Hector Rondon didn’t make the list.
Three top prospect pitchers and no Carl Willis to screw them up. I can’t wait!!!
Obligatory Negative Statement:
I hope the Indians can win something before trading them away. 😛
Two guys coming off of major arm surgery.
Just sayin’.
@6 I couldn’t have said it better myself, wait, I did see #1! 😉
And they will be traded too! Carlos Santana really will be the next Victor Martinez! Hopefully he doesn’t have a kid who asks if they are still an Indian, good grief that killed me.
These lists are never wrong.
When you trade Cy Young winners in consecutive years for prospects, you better have 5 of the top 65.
It speaks to the depth of the system that the Indians have 6 minor league guys ranked in the top 100 here (http://projectprospect.com/article/2010/02/23/2010-top-100-prospect-list), but only Santana and Chisenhall are on both lists
Alternate Title: Future New York Yankees Shopping List
Mike Stanton is an outfielder now?
Lou Marson is not slated to be a career backup. He was going to be Philadelphia’s starter this year, has a strong arm, and is, even at this point, probably a guy who will hit .260-.270, 15-20 HR per season. He’ll be good trade bait once Santana is ready.
Marson is a good player. I actually like him a lot as a prospect. Not so sure about 15-20 HR’s for him ever, considering his highest season total in the the minors was 7 and his highest slugging percentage .416. But I love the .433 OBP in AA in 2008. Seems a lot like Jason Kendall to me, and that isnt a bad thing at all.
I thought Branyan would be on this list.