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Weekly Wroundtable: Were Indians Right to Give Up on Luis Valbuena?

Lewie Pollis — Fri, 02 Dec 2011 17:57:17 +0000

This weekend, the Indians traded infielder Luis Valbuena to the Toronto Blue Jays for “cash considerations.”

For three years, Valbuena had been bouncing between Triple-A, where he consistently tore the cover off the ball, and the majors, where he’s a career .226 hitter and has just a .630 OPS. He was as good as gone after the Indians designated him for assignment two weeks ago, but this move officially ended his tenure with the team.

In this week’s edition of the Weekly Wroundtable, we ask: Were the Indians right to give up on Valbuena? Our guest contributors this week are TD from Waiting For Next Year and frequent blog contributor Dale Thomas.

Thanks to TD and Dale for their contributions! Here’s what we all had to say:

TD (Waiting For Next Year): I think the answer to this questions is pretty cut and dry. Sweet Luis had plenty of chances to prove he belonged in the majors. In 2009, he showed some pop and I loved the way the ball stung off his bat the opposite way as a middle infield utility man. The Indians did too, so they handed him their second base job out of Spring Training. The difference in 2010—there was a book on him. Pitchers knew where his weak spots were and they exploited them. That pop was gone, and he finished the season hitting .193. (more…)

Indians Could Regret Trading Luis Valbuena

Lewie Pollis — Mon, 28 Nov 2011 11:50:43 +0000

The Cleveland Indians continued their already-busy offseason this weekend by dealing infielder Luis Valbuena to the Blue Jays for “cash considerations.” Seeing Valbuena moved wasn’t a surprise: his tenure with the Tribe effectively ended when he was designated for assignment last week to make room on the 40-man roster for prospects the team wanted to protect from the upcoming Rule 5 Draft.

On the surface, Valbuena’s departure doesn’t appear to be much of a loss. In his 229-game MLB career (all but 18 games of which have come in Cleveland) he has an atrocious .226/.286/.344 triple-slash (66 wRC+) and -1.7 fWAR; over the last two years he’s been even worse, hitting just .195/.267/.261 and on a pace to be nearly three full wins below replacement level over a full season. And if the Indians had had any faith in his ability to grow as a player, they wouldn’t have booted him from the roster to make room for a player who almost certainly won’t be taken in the Rule 5 Draft.

But losing Valbuena could very well end up looking like a big mistake. (more…)

Indians Roster Danny Salazar, Juan Diaz—But Why?

Geordy Boveroux — Wed, 23 Nov 2011 12:15:03 +0000

Normally, the run up to the Rule 5 Draft is a time for players that seem close to being MLB-ready and have some potential as big-league players to be rostered. In the draft, any minor-leaguer with more than three or four years of MiLB experience (depending on how old they were when they signed) can be claimed and taken by one of the other 29 teams, so each club tries to protect its core prospects by adding them to their 40-man rosters.

That’s why it was so puzzling that Scott Barnes, Danny Salazar and Juan Diaz were added to the Indians’ roster right before the roster-locking deadline on Friday. Rostering Barnes was a no-brainer—he’s a left-handed starter with mid-rotation potential—but Salazar and Diaz are simply unworthy of a roster spot.

(more…)