From: The Indians
The Indians today acquired CA DAMASO ESPINO from the Kansas City Royals in exchange for cash considerations. Espino, who has been assigned to AA Akron, has spent the season in a reserve role at AAA Omaha (13G, .167avg). He has split his 9-year professional career in the Cincinnati and Kansas City organizations, reaching the Triple A level for the first time this year.
With Jake Westbrook back in Cleveland nursing a sore elbow, the Indians pitching rotation is going to take another hit, and who starts tonight in anyones guess. Word is Westbrook began feeling the pain following his last start on May 28th. Westbrook had just returned to the Indians after spending four weeks on the disabled list because of a strained left intercostal muscle. The right-hander joins Fausto Carmona on the DL as the team now has 2-of-5 starters hurt.
The best guess to get a quick call-up and start is Brian Slocum from the Bisons. He has not pitched since Thursday, making today his normal start date. He is 3-4 on the year in 11 starts with Buffalo, with an ERA of 5.66. In his last start, a 10-2 loss to Toledo, he went 5 innings, allowing 8 runs on 7 hits, walking four and striking out 8. Other Bisons starters that likely would have gotten the call if they had not pitched in recent days include Matt Ginter (pitched last night), Jeremy Sowers (pitched Sunday).
Not that it means much, but as of 6:45 this morning, Yahoo Sports had Jeff Harris listed as the the starter for the Indians tonight. Harris is with the Bisons as well this season, and is 2-3 with a 5.11 ERA in 5 starts.
With the arrival of the Cincinnati Reds’ super prospect, Jay Bruce and the spark and attention that he has created, I wanted to see if we had a possible, “Bruce Almighty,” of our own, waiting in the wings. Who I found was Jordan Brown. He is a recently promoted first baseman for the Buffalo Bisons. According to Clevelandfan.com, Indians Ink, and Scout.com, Jordan is the top hitting prospect in the organization.
Brown was selected in the 4th round of the 2005 draft. He hit .290 with 15 HR, 87 RBI and an .831 OPS and won the Carolina League MVP Award in 2006 while at Kenston. Last year at Akron, his .333 batting average won him a league batting title, and he also finished 1st in the league in hits (161), 6th in runs (85), 4th in doubles (36), 9th in RBI (76), 3rd in on-base percentage (.421), 11th in slugging percentage (.484), and 5th in OPS (.906).
Brown is one of the best players in the system at making consistent contact. He has low strikeout totals where he strikes out only once every 8.5 at bats for his career and has virtually a 1:1 walk to strikeout ratio for his career. Brown has some power, but by no means is he a power hitter. Scouts say that has 20-25 home run power. Baseball America rated Brown as having the best tools, best strike zone judgment, and as the best batting prospects in the Eastern League last year. He has been compared to players such as, Sean Casey, Mark Grace and John Olerud. He also has some prowess on the base paths.
Jordan has been promoted to the Buffalo Bisons this season and is currently hitting .290 in 34 games, with 38 hits, 16 doubles and 0 home runs. The future looks bright for this #1 Prospect, but whether or not he will become the next big thing in 2008, is something that we will just have to wait and see.
The Indians sent out the following earlier today:
The Indians today signed OF BRONSON SARDINHA to a minor league contract…He will report to AAA Buffalo …Sardinha, a first round pick (34th overall) of the Yankees in 2001, hit .323 (10-31) with a 2B, 3B & 5RBI in 8 games for AAA Tacoma this year after going to big league camp as a non-roster invite with Seattle… Sardinha spent 7 seasons in the Yankees system from 2001-07 and appeared in 10 games last year in the Bronx (3-9, .333, 6RS, 2RBI)…He owns a minor league career batting average of .267 (839-3146)
Not much to this, other than the team announcing it’s staff of minor league coaches for 08:
The Indians have announced their minor league managerial and coaching assignments for the 2008 season.
Akron Aeros (AA) — Mike Sarbaugh
Kinston Indians (A) — Chris Tremie
Lake County Captains (A) — Aaron Holbert
Mahoning Valley Scrappers (A) — Travis Fryman
Gulf Coast League Indians (Rookie) — Rouglas Odor
Sarbaugh, 40, spent the last two seasons as manager in Kinston, the Indians high-level Class A farm team. He was named manager of the year in the Carolina League after leading the Kinston to both the first- and second-half titles.
Tremie, 38, managed at Lake County last year. Holbert, 34, spent last season as hitting coach for the Cincinnati Reds rookie league team in Billings.
This will be the first coaching assignment for Fryman, 38, who retired from the major leagues in 2002 after five seasons with the Indians.
Odor is returning for his second season as manager for the Indians rookie league team.
Matt has covered Major League Baseball and the "other two" Pro teams in Cleveland since 1994. He has been on the beat of the Indians in full-time mode since 1996, working for various raido and print networks around the country.
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