Updated depth chart...
Indians Prospect Insider: Updated 2010 Spring Training Depth Chart
Mitch Talbot listed as #5 starter.
Guess that means we may finally be rid of Jeremy Sowers.
Also of note, Andy Marte is sucking up one of the backup infield spots. Fuuuuuuuuuuuuuuck. He must have pictures of Shapiro sodomizing an intern.
The upshot of the Branyan injury (was never a fan of that signing anyway), is that LaPorta should be getting his shot at 1B. He's looked good this spring. Hopefully Branyan's coming off the DL right about the time Pronk is making his annual trip and can fill in at DH.
With low expectations going in, this should be a fairly enjoyable season as we'll get to see a lot of pieces of the future. I really like Brantley and looks like he's solidifying himself in LF. I'm excited about LaPorta at 1B. I'm curious to see what Marson can do until Santana is ready (I'm guessing later this summer). Grady looks healthy finally and Choo is IMO one of the more underrated players in MLB. AsCab is solid, Valbuena showed some promise last year.
As for the pitching, when you look at things from a different angle, it feels a lot better. Instead of fretting about them blowing a potential playoff chase, I'm just looking at it as looking at what/who we have for the future. Who knows how Jake will look after 18 months away. Fausto has looked really solid this spring, but who knows with him anymore. I'll show some optimism
if he can string a couple good starts together. Masterson has great stuff, but I'm still not convinced he's be best suited for MR. Huff is what he is. Decent stuff (better than Sowers anyway), and can probably eat some innings. That link is projecting Talbot at #5, and I know jack shit about him. Probably another gas can, so I'm sure we'll see a lot of rotating going on there. Carrasco has looked solid this spring, so hopefully he can tweak some things in C-bus and work his way in there when the other detritus inevitably washes out. I'm intrigued to see how Rondon and Gomez do this year.
The bullpen simply
has to be better than the last two years...I cannot imagine it being worse. Sipp looked a lot better late in the year. I like Laffey out of the BP. Joe Smith can be an effective short reliever. I hope gas can Lewis has a short leash. Perez pitched really well after an awful start and I hope he cements himself in the closer role. I'd like to put the whole Kerry Wood debacle behind us as soon as possible. That will go down as one of the worst acquisitions since jack McDowell. Hopefully Raffy Perez bounces back.
If you look at this year as a stepping stone towards a brighter future, it will be infinately more enjoyable than the past two that were filled with foolish expectations. They're gonna lose 90-95 games, I don't doubt that. There will be some comedy. That 'Major League' screen shot will make multiple appearances in this thread throughout the summer, but this organization is in better shape for the long run than they've been in 6 or 7 years since V-Mart, Pronk, Grady and Lee were breaking in. The farm system is stacked. Santana, Chisenhall, Hagadone, Knapp, Weglarz, Winston Abreu, Alex White and T.J. House are all top shelf prospects. There's a nice stockpile of second tier prospects in Carrasco, Rondon, Gomez, De La Cruz, McBride, Jordan Brown and Beau Mills. There's gonna be lumps, but in two or three years, with some breaks, this could be a very strong team.
