I chose Jose Ramirez as my breakout position player before the start of the winterball season. He hasn't given me any reasons to choose otherwise.

I've been procrastinating on my breakout pitcher. I've decided to choose Jose Colon.

Three years ago, I chose Espino & Espino. Two years ago I chose Chen & Chen. They were pretty successful for me. I broke the chain with Danny Salazar and Andrew Campbell in 2012. Perhaps Jose & Jose will be a charm in 2013.

Good luck. I think Jose R has a lot more chance to succeed than Jose C, who has the look of organizational filler, but we'll see.

This happened a week or two ago but don't think I've seen it posted. Perhaps he can replace Murata as your favorite Asian Indian Joe?

Cleveland signed 21-year-old Japanese righty reliever Kota Kobayashi, who played in the minors for the Yokohama organization for three seasons. The Bay Stars drafted him out of high school in ’09 and released him in November.

I'll have to say that I'm not familiar with this guy, Civ. Whoever he is, I've never read about him in any of the Japanese papers I read.

Wasn't Kobayashi the name of that old reliever we carried a few years ago who wore out after the All Star game after years of pitching about 40 innings a season in Japan. Maybe this is his kid

Didn't Kobayashi win a hot dog eating contest?

Anyway, I wouldn't get excited about a kid that was in the Japanese minors and was cut.

Didn't Kirk cheat with the Kobayashi Maru to get through Star Fleet Academy?

Don't be such mugs. Kobayashi isn't his real name. It's Keyser Söze.

Site update: IPI name change coming

By Tony Lastoria

December 17, 2012 ShareThis

As some of you may have seen in a tweet I sent out last week, Indians Prospect Insider will soon be no more.

No, it is not closing up shop and going away. Instead, this site will become Indians Baseball Insider. We are going from the IPI to the IBI, and the change should occur sometime between now and the next two weeks.

So why the name change? Well, simply because this site has grown to be a lot more than just a minor league and prospect destination for Indians fans. We also now provide a heavy amount of coverage of the big league team, so the site name has been adjusted accordingly.

When this site started five years ago back in October of 2007, by request of several readers it was simply made to be a blog to organize and collect some of my postings from other sites and become an informational hub for anything and everything relating to the Indians minor league system. But about two years ago I started writing a weekly Sunday column “Tribe Happenings” that focused mostly on the big league team, and more and more articles popped up on a regular basis about the Indians.

Then this past year we had a unique daily game recap called “Second Thoughts” that we ran after every Indians game and Jim Pete started his weekly staple “Corner of Carnegie and Ontario”. Last year we began to dabble into covering the Indians offseason moves and all the activity at the winter meetings a lot more, and this offseason we have really intensified our coverage of the Indians’ offseason activities.

Recently, over the past few months when talking to several different people in the industry, I have been asked why we limit ourselves to being just a prospect site when we can be so much more. They felt that the “prospect” label really limited the site with regards to how serious it could be taken when talking about the big league team. After talking to several of the IPI staff and some loyal readers, most everyone was in agreement, so the decision was made to change the name.

Now, it should be noted that just because the name has changed does not in any way mean that the coverage of the Indians’ minor league system and all the prospects is going to change. Nothing is changing on that front as there will still be an insane amount of coverage and there is no other place that you will be able to find the abundance of content on the prospects and teams in the Indians system and such detailed and informed articles on the players and so forth.

No other functionality with the site is changing other than you will see some updated graphics and logos on the site. This site will continue to be the only place you need to go for everything relating to the Indians farm system, and as always new ideas and features for the minors are in the mix for the coming season!

What is changing is the level of coverage of the Cleveland Indians. The big league team. In addition to the minor league stuff, we plan to be a top source for information on the team with everything from breaking news and rumors to game recaps and analysis/commentary pieces. This coming season I have some new features and ideas I have planned for the big league team, and will get into them when the time comes.

In a nutshell, the name change is simply to bring all the teams under one umbrella. To make it an all-inclusive name that includes all the teams and players in the Indians system. To be THE #1 place on the web for all things Cleveland Indians. As our new motto says, “From Goodyear to Cleveland and from the Minors to the Majors, your source for everything Tribe.”

I think that sums it up well.

Indians sign Martinez, Jeroloman

By Tony Lastoria

December 19, 2012 ShareThis

The Cleveland Indians today announced they have signed free agent right-handed pitcher Joe Martinez and catcher Brian Jeroloman to minor league contracts with non-roster invitations to Major League camp.

Martinez, 29, spent 2012 in Triple-A Reno where he won 7 straight starts in May and June and made one relief appearance for the Arizona Diamondbacks in April. He spent 2011 in Triple-A Columbus in the Indians organization and was named playoff MVP after recording the win in the Triple-A Championship Game vs. Omaha. He has appeared in 19 Major League games over parts of three seasons since 2009 and owns a career Minor League record of 63-55 with a 3.92 ERA in 190 games (163GS).

Jeroloman, 27, was limited to 43 games in 2012 due to a right knee injury. He has spent his entire pro career to date in the Toronto organization, where he was a 6th round selection in the 2006 First-year Player Draft out of the University of Florida. The excellent defensive back-stop tossed out 44% (18 of 41) of the runners attempting to steal off him in 2012 and was named collegiate Defensive Player-of-the-Year by Louisville Slugger in 2006.

Martinez will fill a pitching depth need for the Indians at both the Major League and minor league level at Triple-A Columbus. Jeroloman provides a much needed additional catcher for spring training, and should be in line for a backup role at Columbus.

BA update on our minor league free agents. I hadn't seen many of these signings.

http://www.baseballamerica.com/statisti ... ion=Filter

Tampa Bay is giving Weglarz a try. Reds pick up Cunningham. Only one of our own we have secured is RH RP Jose Flores.

And here's a list of the minor league FAs we've signed. I think these big names have all been posted here previously.

http://www.baseballamerica.com/statisti ... ion=Filter

Indians can't live without more utility infielders

Matt Antonelli Signs with Cleveland
Jan 3rd, 2013 at 6:45 am by Aaron SomersFree Agency
Home » Free Agency » Matt Antonelli Signs with Cleveland

Despite a rough 2012 season between the Baltimore Orioles and New York Yankee organizations, former 1st Round pick (#17 overall, 2006) Matt Antonelli has signed a minor league deal with the Cleveland Indians, according to Baseball America’s Matt Eddy. The 27 year old has spent the bulk of his professional career at either second or third base and could offer some intriguing depth for the Indians this season.

Antonelli got off to a strong start to his minor league career, working his way all the way up to Double-A in just his second professional season. He batted a combined .307/.404/.491 over 629 plate appearances that season, landing him among BA’s Top 100 Prospects (#50) heading into the 2008 season. Things didn’t quite go as planned from there, however, as Antonelli struggled at the plate for much of the 2008 season. He hit just .215/.335/.322 on the year at Triple-A, but still found himself among the September callups by the San Diego Padres. He’d appear in 21 games in the Majors, hitting .193/.292/.281 over 65 plate appearances.

Injury and offensive struggles persisted over the next two years, before Antonelli found himself on the free agent market. He’d sign a deal with the Washington Nationals prior to the 2011 season and would enjoy a nice bounce back campaign. He hit .298/.390/.457 on the year, appearing in 90 games (mostly at Triple-A).

Antonelli signed a minor league deal with the Orioles a year ago, only to find himself released just a few weeks into the season. He’d sign with the Yankees, play for a few more weeks, before ultimately his season would be cut short in disappointing fashion. Between the two organizations he’d appear in just 44 games, batting .201/.324/.286 over 183 plate appearances.

Indians winter development program kicks off

By Tony Lastoria

January 7, 2013

The Cleveland Indians annual Winter Development Program kicked off today at Progressive Field. Now in its 17th year, the Winter Development Program consists of a two week long program for fourteen players in the Indians minor league system. Those fourteen players are:

1B Jesus Aguilar
RHP Shawn Armstrong
CA/1B Yan Gomes
RHP Preston Guilmet
RHP Trey Haley
LHP TJ House
OF Tyler Holt
SS Francisco Lindor
RHP Fabio Martinez
OF Carlos Moncrief
SS Ronny Rodriguez
RHP Danny Salazar
LHP Giovanni Soto
SS/2B Tony Wolters

The Winter Development Program is the brainchild of former GM and current President Mark Shapiro back in January of 1996. The idea behind the program is to hone in on each players’ physical, mental and fundamental skills. Their daily routine involves classroom sessions with various members of the Indians coaching staff, physical conditioning, baseball fundamental work and listening to guest speakers such as former Indians players, local coaches like Chuck Kyle of St. Ignatius, and national personalities like Peter Gammons and others.

The program mostly involves players who are expected to make their Major League debut in the upcoming season, who have recently been acquired in a trade, or are a high level prospect nearing a big league opportunity. It serves as an introduction for many of the minor league players to the Progressive Field facility, big league coaching staff, and the city itself.

The Indians will conduct the program out of Progressive Field from January 7th through January 14th. During their time in Cleveland they will live with host families in the Cleveland area and attend various extracurricular activities as well as other community and charitable appearances and tours of local attractions. In recent years, at the end of the first week they have shifted the program to the Indians Player Development Complex in Goodyear, Arizona to hone their skills on the diamond while continuing to take part in strength and conditioning activities., but there is no word if they will be doing that this year.

Those might be the best of the bunch, but it's not an imposing group. Holt has shown very little to date. Moncrief does everything well except hit for average. That's it for the outfielders.

3 and probably four of the ptichers are relievers. Salazar is the only one who has been impressing outside of the Indians organization as a potential big league starter although House had a good bounce back 2012. I didn't know we still controlled Fabio after we DFA'd him. Haley and Armstrong are promising relievers.

The only serious prospects of the group are the 3 middle infielders.