Trail Droppings 2043-14 ST Decisions - First Cuts

[indiansfan]

ST Decisions - First Cuts

At the end of Sping Training the Calgary Pioneers still had 46 players in camp. The team needs to get that down to 27 by Sunday. After putting 3 of the team’s starters on Injured Reserve, players getting sent down to Saint Paul or Duluth started getting their notifications. Here are the players send down so far.

C - Howard Burton - Hitting .346 wasn’t enough to earn the left handed hitter a spot on the roster. Burton will go down to AAA for the third time and continue to work on his defense. He has nothing more to prove with his bat and will be called up if either catcher falters.

INF - Jack Douglas - Douglas never really got a chance this Spring with the glut of infielders in camp. He will go down to AAA and get a year of seasoning.

INF/OF - Juan Valverde - The team experimented with Valverde in the infield during camp. He will continue to work on his fielding at 2B and 3B at Saint Paul. The team thinks he has the makings of a great utility player who could start when needed. Hitting .184 in 38 at bats didn’t help Valverde’s case.

OF - Hadji Ufanisi - He has a solid Spring hitting .310, but he has never played above AA. Ufanisi will go to Saint Paul and continue to gain experience with a hope of playing in Calgary next year.

OF - Juan Lopez - Making the jump from A ball to the BBA would have been quite the achievement and Lopez hit BBA pitching at a .269 clip this Spring. He also worked on playing right field so he can cover all the outfield positions. He will start the year in Duluth, but he won’t end the year there.

RP - Arev Yaghian - The Rule 5 pickup finished camp with a blister on his pitching hand. The team will use that excuse to add him to the IL to hold on to him longer as there isn’t a spot for him right now.

RP - Felipe Rosado - He only came up for the last 2 weeks of camp to work on his new role in the bullpen. The team liked what it saw, but he will need some more time in AAA before he can complete his conversion.

RP - Jose Gonzalez - He had an impressive camp posting a 1.50 ERA in 6 innings and walking nobody. Gonzales pitched at Duluth last season and the team will try to find a spot in Saint Paul for him to continue to work on his slider.

These cuts bring the roster down to 35 players, 8 more will have to go. The team will have to make their final cuts by Sunday. Decisions still have to be made in several areas including the rotations, bullpen and starting 2B.

[recte44]

Off Topic

RP - Arev Yaghian - The Rule 5 pickup finished camp with a blister on his pitching hand. The team will use that excuse to add him to the IL to hold on to him longer as there isn’t a spot for him right now.

Day to day for 3 days. That's dirty pool.

[indiansfan]

You got to do what you got to do

[DugoutDesperado]

The last 3 are always the hardest for me.