Lots of great holiday day baseball today!

Clippers won big over the Tides, 12-4. ... Morimando 7 IP, 9 H, 4 ER, 1 BB, 2 K. ... Yandy 2-5 in his return. ... Papi making himself at home in AAA, 1-2 with 2 walks and a RBI.

Akron lost 6-4 today to Bowie. ... Mitch Brown 2 more perfect innings of relief, 1 K. ... And Lineras keeps his ERA at 0 with 1.2 scoreless, 3 K. ... Krieger 2-4. ... Bradley 0-4.

Pannone gets the start for Akron tomorrow.

Hillcats go down to Salem 4-3. ... Loopstok 1-3 with SB and walk. ... Marabell 1-3 with walk. ... Castro 1-4 with double.

And the Captains lose to the Hot Rods of Bowling Green 5-3. ... Chu 2-3 and a walk. ... Ice 0-4.

Hillman is getting the start tomorrow for Captains, didn't start today.

Indians Prospective‏ @indiansPro

RHP Travis Banwart placed on 7-day DL (Shoulder)
RHP Julian Merryweather promoted from (AA) Akron

Congrats to Lynchburg #Hillcats RHP Matt Esparza on his promotion to (AA) Akron. In 47(IP) this year Espzarza w/ 40(SO) & 3.26 ERA

Indians Prospective @indiansPro
Lake County transactions
RHP Luis Jimenez promoted from Extended Spring Training
RHP Cesar Ventura promoted from Extended Spring Training

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Congrats to Lake County's RHP Aaron Civale on his promotion to (A+) Lynchburg. In 57(IP) this year Civale w/ 53(SO) & just 5(BB) #Indians

Civale did not exactly "earn" that promotion based on his most recent start, but I think he should be able to handle Carolina League, as a college draftee from 2016. Merryweather up to AAA surprises me; he's pitched well but not lights out. Maybe just a fill-in for now?

on the other hand, Merryweather's stats are quite solid Overall:

50 2/3 IP 37 hits 10 walks 52 strikeouts. 3.38 ERA
first game was a disaster, 5 runs in 2 innings, so ERA since then 2.62

Go for it!

That save by Trenton Brooks is an interesting one; He's an OF and used to close a game in his pitching debut. It was all relievers for the Captains, so I guess no arms were left for the finale.

Notes on other relievers:

Just took a look at Dalbert Siri's pitching stats and discover he's registered 24 strikeouts in only 13 1/3 innings. He's a 6-2 righthander. Ought to see him moving up to Lynchburg.

Mitch Brown hasn't allowed a run all month, 2 hits in 12 innings, 4 walks, 13 strikeouts. He's gone as long as 3 innings. I wonder if there's any chance he could be tried back in the rotation? As a 2nd round pick [or was it 1st round supplemental] they made a big bet on him. Getting a setup reliever for that price is not likely all they hoped for.

Good to see you back, Civ. It was all HB all the time for a few days there. And that gets old quick.

BA highlights for the last few days, mostly been noted already by Hillbilly:

Saturday games:

CLE AA Bradley, Bobby 1B 5 0 1 1 .230
CLE AA Chang, Yu-Cheng SS 4 0 0 0 .197 BB (16)
CLE AA Krieger, Tyler 2B 4 1 1 0 .250 2B (13), BB (15)
CLE AA Mathias, Mark 3B 2 0 1 1 .241 2 BB (5)
CLE AA Mejia, Francisco C 4 0 4 0 .340 2B (10), BB (6), SB (1)
CLE AAA Diaz, Yandy 3B 3 0 0 0 .306 BB (17)
CLE AAA Rodriguez, Nellie 1B 4 1 1 4 .109 HR (4)
CLE HiA Castro, Willi SS 3 0 0 0 .290
CLE MAJ Zimmer, Bradley PH 1 0 0 0 .280
CLE AAA Merritt, Ryan 5 8 2 2 2 1 3.99 W (4-5)
CLE HiA McKenzie, Triston 5.2 4 4 3 2 8 2.84
CLE MAJ Armstrong, Shawn 1 2 1 1 0 1 6.00


Sunday games:

cannot find it

Monday games:

CLE AA Bradley, Bobby 1B 4 0 0 0 .228
CLE AA Chang, Yu-Cheng SS 4 0 0 0 .191
CLE AA Krieger, Tyler 2B 4 0 2 0 .253
CLE AA Mathias, Mark 3B 3 0 0 0 .226
CLE AAA Diaz, Yandy 3B 5 2 2 0 .311
CLE HiA Castro, Willi SS 4 0 1 1 .290 2B (9)
CLE LoA Ice, Logan DH 4 0 0 0 .212
CLE MAJ Zimmer, Bradley CF 4 0 1 0 .290 2B (3), SB (3)

I gave my computer a rest, and meawhile hosted a whole lot of my wife's relatives. So I had an occasional chance to check out the box scores and be impressed with Bradley's steady improvements, not concentrating on home runs. And lots of hits for Mejia. And good power display by Loopstock at Lynchburg and Capel at Lake County, although not sure either of them is going to get far.

I am disappointed that Jones and Benson have not been seen. Neither of them appears on the preseason Mahoning Valley roster either. Hope they rate something better than return to Arizona.

You guys may remember for a year I mentioned how much I loved the Indians draft in 2014. There were so many guys from that draft I thought had great potential. Even trading away Sheffield and Feyereisen, two of the guys I liked, there are still a group of guys I like. Zimmer, Allen, Bradley, Papi, Merryweather, Carter.

One of the reasons I kept saying how much I liked that draft was because there were so few I liked previously.

And unfortunately the last couple years they have went back that direction for me.

Benson was just a terrible pick. Whoever was pounding the table for that kid should be fired immediately. He makes Russell Branyan look like Rod Carew.

2015 not much better. I'm not going to beat them up for taking a gamble on Aiken though. I was intrigued at the time. At least McKenzie is looking great.

Papi certainly has turned himself around; he was the real weak link among the top picks in that draft and now he's moved himself up to Columbus. Won't be slugger but could be a solid hitter for average; I don't anything about his outfield defense, do you?

I see there are 23 names on the Arizona roster, which won't leave much room for 2017 draftees. Some [e.g. Jonas Wyatt] are on the DL. Neither Hockin nor Hentges is on any roster; I thought we were supposed to expect them in games this summer?

Jones, Benson, Ulysses Cantu, Hosea Nelson, Samad Taylor all from last year's top 10 rounds are all listed here. The youngest on the roster is the first 21st century birthdate I've encountered on a roster:
Diarlin Jiminez, 17 years, 2 months, 2 weeks old. A 6-5 180 RHP from the DR.

Ulysses is a pretty good name for a power hitter.
Other interesting names, although none up to Sicnarf standards, are Tahnaj, Daritzon, Skylar, Dakody and Roger.

From what I've read, Civ. Papi is just average in the field. Not great speed and not great jump on balls. But catches what he gets to and has an above average arm.

which means he's certainly not a right fielder. We have a pretty good left fielder in Cleveland. Which leaves his role as a backup RH bat in left, at first, and at DH. Not sure we need that in Cleveland. Maybe he develops into a useful trade piece. Sounds like a more useful fit in the NL where he could fit in well as a regular pinch hitter as well as a potential regular at 1st or in left.

To a degree I guess he's rather like Yandy, with a weaker arm. Walks a lot, line drive hitter, not a lot of homers.
One more injured OF [and a good debut in Columbus] and Papi could make it to Cleveland this year.

checking the 2014 draft list, Hockin and Hentges were way up there. Been injured most of their careers, but if truly on the mend, still have plenty of time to develop; both turning 21 this summer.