The Indians’ first round of cuts to the major league Spring Training roster didn’t have any real surprises. RHP Austin Adams, LHP T.J. House, infielder Jesus Aguilar, infielder Jose Ramirez, and outfielder Carlos Moncrief were optioned to AAA Columbus. Infielder Erik Gonzalez was optioned to A Carolina. The following players were re-assigned to minor league camp: infielder Francisco Lindor, catcher Jake Lowery, outfielder Tyler Naquin, catcher Roberto Perez, infielder Joe Wendle, and catcher/infielder Tony Wolters.

I’m a little worried about Jose Ramirez. He injured his left thumb in late November playing winter ball (requiring surgery) and apparently tweaked his ankle about a week ago while running on a treadmill. I don’t know how much, if anything, those injuries/tweaks affected his getting optioned to Columbus. On February 17, the Indians said he was taking flips in the batting cage but was 7-10 days away from taking batting practice on the field. It seems he isn’t fully recovered. He only had 14 plate appearances for the Indians in 2013, but made a big impression. I like his style and hope he gets/stays healthy.

There are now 53 players in major league camp, and we’re two and a half weeks out from the first game of the season. The roster cuts are just going to get more and more interesting.

 

 

 

The first roster reduction of the spring brings the total number of players in Major League camp to 53.

9 Comments

  • Gvl Steve says:

    Ramirez injured himself on a treadmill? OMG. The guy’s peanut brittle. Remember Escobar?

  • The Doctor says:

    welp, Giabmi is officially out for 3-4 weeks with a broken rib, which means he won’t be on the roster to start the regular season. hopefully whoever takes his place just hits the heck out of the ball and we can justify never putting giambi back on the roster.

    • Kahanca says:

      Why is everyone so down on a guy that, with one swing of the bat, launched us into the playoffs. Have Tribe fans honestly been spoiled by one season of success to the point that they don’t realize what got them there?? Experience (Tito Francona), experience (Mickey Callaway) , experience (Jason Giambi)!! This year’s core players (Caberea, Brantley, Kipnis, Masterston, Allen, Santana, and a couple more) were here before the Triple E (Francona, Callaway, Giambi) were in Cleveland and look what they did after they arrived… (ohh and don’t tell me Bourn and Swish were the difference, both had a major down year)

      • The Doctor says:

        i refute the notion that giambi “launched us into the playoffs”. you could say the same thing about a random mid-july game that was won with a walk off single by some bum like matt carson (i don’t think this actually happened, i’m just using this as an example). literally every single win ended up being important, so attaching undue significance to giambi’s homer just because it happened late in the season does not work for me.

        if anything, what launched us into the playoffs was the final 17 game stretch against the bums of kansas city, houston, chicago (yes, i recognize that giambi game was among these), and minnesota. that’s an amazingly beneficial schedule to have as the season is winding down and you’re fighting for your playoff life.

        it’s easy to get emotionally invested in giambi thanks to his big homer (a moment that would never have been possible if chris perez wasn’t so terrible), but the stats don’t lie: we’re talking about a guy that was worth -0.6 WAR last year. we could have picked up any readily available quad-A free agent and he would have performed better on the field (and he’d probably have been capable of, you know, actually playing in the field as well).

      • Kevin says:

        I disagree with you equivocating Francona and Callaway to a guy that hit under .200. I like Giambi too but that isn’t being fair to the two former guys.

  • D.P. Roberts says:

    Good point, Doctor. As the man said, “I guess the foot’s on the other hand now.”

    It’s one thing to say that Giambi can keep his roster spot because of his “veteran presence.” However, once Giambi is off that 25 man roster, if whomever gets that roster spot is even performing above average, how do you take him OFF the team in order to add Giambi? Can you say “Yes, Player X has been hitting really well, and is able to play several positions on defense, which really helps us out. However, we feel like we’re lacking in veteran presence, and we’re willing to give up that bat and the defensive ability in order to get it.” If you say that, I think it’s more of a knock against the other leaders on the team, rather than a positive for Giambi.

  • SteveO says:

    Of all 12 of the players who were sent down/reassigned, I’d say maybe Austin Adams was the only one who had even a remote chance of making the team (bullpen). No real surprises, as Susan said. I’m assuming the decisions on the next few rounds of cuts will continue to increase in difficulty for the team.

  • Gvl Steve says:

    Giambi’s out? Can we sign Morales now?

  • B.J. Rassam says:

    Nothing too surprising or dramatic in this round of cuts.