Minor Issues: Mills hits 20th HR, Martinez Goes Deep in Rehab Game

Bryan Bullington got beat up pretty well in the Bisons loss to Pawtucket. Brad Snyder went 1-3 with a RBI and two runs scored.

Akron got beat up but that was hardly the story for the Aeros. Victor Martinez DHed and hit all four times. He went 2-4 with his FIRST HOME RUN OF THE YEAR! Yes his first, how nuts is that.

Meanwhile, the Aeros continue to just falter in the standings. Still hopes to the Wild Card but ya gotta pick it up Akron!

Beau Mills.. 2-4, number 20 on the year with 84 RBI, what a man. Kinston lost but they scored and Beau Mills is just awesome. Hector Rondon did go 6 plus but gave up five runs.

So-so start for Eric Berger in Lake County. He pitched 2.1 innings giving up just one run. That was the lone run against Lake County as they scored five to top Rome. Dustin Realini with 2 RBI and a 2-4 night for Matt Brown.

As if we didn’t know it already, Adam Miller’s season is over. I really think the bullpen is in his future.

Also the Indians didn’t spend as much as the Pirates or Red Sox did in draft pick signings.. Then again they picked 29th and don’t exactly spend a lot of money. But they still spent around $7 million.

Minor Issues: Buffalo, Kinston Have Big Nights

Buffalo laid an absolute beat-down on Rochester last night. It started by knocking around former Indian and Buffalo Danny Graves. Oh my god.

Offensively there is just too much to go over. Michael Aubrey went 4-5 with two runs knocked in. Crowe, Linden, Velandia, and Cannizaro all knocked in two. Brad Snyder went 2-5 with three batted in.

Lost in all of it was Aaron Laffey who gave up just two un-earned runs in his six innings. He gave up just three hits but he did manage to walk four.

Akron got three hit and beat-up. Frank Herrmann gave up three runs in six innings, but took the loss.

Um Yikes.. What was with all the offense for the Indians farm teams last night? Kinston puts up 14 runs on the board and allows just two hits. Carlos Santana and Carlos Rivero with three-run home runs by each. Beau Mills added his 19th in addition to his 3-5 night. Lucas Montero knocks in three. Shawn Nottingham was shining for 7 innings, allowing just two hits, and striking out nine hitters. Josh Judy added on with 2 perfect innings and 4 strikeouts. Yikes! That’s 8 in a row for the Kinston club to pull within 2.5 games of Myrtle Beach.

When in Rome, the Captains lost to the Braves. Matt Brown and Mark Thompson with a pair of hits each, but it isn’t enough to support Ryan Morris’ five innings of one run ball.

The Scrappers had a comfortable 7-2 lead after 7 innings.. Then Jamestown hung a 9 spot on Mahoning Valley. The Scrappers added three in the 8th in response but couldn’t muster up anything else and they lost by one. Tough luck. David Roberts and Mark Rodrigues with the tag-team implosion.

Lonnie Chisenhall went 4-6 with a pair of doubles and three runs batted in. Cord Phelps went 4-5 with three runs scored while Michael Valdez went 3-5.

Tracking the Olympics

Matt LaPorta turned in a much better game than he did the previous night against Cuba. He got hit by a pitch and garnered a four pitch walk from Akron teammate TJ Burton, but he still is pulling everything. His defense also cost the United States at multiple times.

Jeff Stevens was foregone in the 9th of a 1 run game because Brian Duensing was pitching that well. Burton pitched the one inning for Canada and he loaded up the bases, only to get out of it.

Nicky Weglarz got a hit in the game and yes he is very tall.

LaPorta 0-2 with a BB
Weglarz 1-4 with a R

Minor Issues: Lewis Called up; Tribe Signs Draft Picks

Buffalo made a few additions to their roster with the call-up of Zach Jackson. The first was bringing up Scott Lewis to take Jackson’s start in last night’s game.

He was greeted in a rude way, giving up 5 runs, 4 earned, off 8 hits and 4 walks. He completed just five innings and rung up three hitters. The Herd lost despite matching the 11 hit total put up by Rochester

Buffalo also lost Armando Camacaro to Akron because of the Toregas injury, so they got Kinston’s Jerad Head. Head homered in his first game. The Herd also brought back Jeff Harris (paper move) to replace Brian Slocum who was also put on the disabled list. Morgan Ensberg was put on the inactive list.

JD Martin was filling Lewis’ spot in the Akron rotation and his return was a success. Martin pitched 5.2 innings giving up just three hits and no runs with four strikeouts. Chuck Lofgren claned up in the 6th and went two more of his own, while Randy Newsome picked up the save despite giving up a run. Nate Panther went deep and Josh Barfield went 0-2 in his first rehab game.

Beau Mills was up to his usual tricks, going 2-2 with a run and 2 walks in the Kinston win. Cumberbatch and Rivero had two hits as well as Roman Pena knocked in a run. Carlton Smith pitched 6 shutout innings, giving up just four hits and striking out two. Vinnie Pestano picked up his 7th save and struck out two.

Solid hitting display put on by Lake County, pounding out 13 hits for 6 runs in their win. Ron Rivas had three of the hits and knocked in a run. Matt Brown continues to hit with a 2-5 night. John Gaub picked up his first save. Dustin Realini was the lone Captain without a hit, but he walked twice.

Mahoning Valley laid the smack down on Oneonta? Okay… The top four hitters combined for 11 of the 14 hits. Lonnie Chisenhall and Jeremie Tice went 3-5 with two runs scored and two and three runs knocked in respectively. Donnie Webb scored two as well, going 3-4 with two knocked in and Cord Phelps went 2-5 with a pair of triples. Anillis Martinez pitched three no-hit innings in relief.

GCL was partying after a two run-eleventh gave them a one run victory over the Blue Jays. Jason Smit with the walk off HBP.

Draft pick signing galore…

Zach Putnam signed on the dotted line for the Indians. Putnam was the 5th round pick out of Michigan and had a year of eligibility remaining. He’ll be going to the Scrappers.

They also locked up Catcher Roberto Perez, Edwin Burns, and Tim Palincsar.

Rivals is reporting that TJ (Glenn) House has signed for a one million bonus. He was a big get for the Tribe farm system.

and finally it looks as if Trey (Curtis) Haley will be signing today before the deadline. That pretty much means the Indians signed every single pick within the top 20 rounds minus one and locked up guys like Stowell and House. That Byrd money was put to awesome use.

Tracking Nick Weglarz

Matt LaPorta is looking awful.. I’m typing this up at 2 AM in the morning to be posted later in the morning when I wake up, and just watching him at the plate is awful. He also made a bad error in left field.

Howevaaa. Nick Weglarz put on a mammoth performance against the same Cuba team that LaPorta went 0-4 against.

Weglarz went 4-4 with three runs scored and knocked in, including two home runs. One being a mamoth bomb. Holy Shishkabobs. Now that is some major partying going on there by Weglarz.

Against South Korea, Weglarz.. Weglarz went 1-4 with two strikeouts.

Yet another Minor League Happenings, focusing on the likes of Santana and some Kinston folk.

Minor Issues: Dixon and Aeros sent to 2nd Place on Late HR

Buffalo is out of action for the second night in a row and Kinston got rained out, so yet another quiet day for the minor league system which will soon becoming to an end.

The Aeros actually hope to play a little longer into September though. Last night’s loss didn’t help as Akron was defeated on an 8th inning home run. They are now one game back of Bowie for the division lead. Kevin Dixon pitched 8 solid innings, giving up just the two runs until he got to the 8th and surrendered the solo shot. Nate Panther with a solo home run of his own.

Matt Brown’s home run was a part of the 4 run 6th inning put up by Lake County in support of Chris Archer and his 5 solid innings in a Captains win. He gave up just one run off 6 hits. Adam Davis with a par if ribbies as well.

The Scrappers got four hit, Phelps, Chiz, Tice and Simpson with hits, Phelps had the lone extra-base hit. Ouchsir.

Rafael Vera was partying for the GCL team, going 3-3 with 2 RBI in the Indians victory of the Tigers.

DSL lost a rain-shortened game against the Diamondbacks SLASH Reds.. Two teams? That’s not very fair! I don’t want to deal with Brandon Phillips AND Conor Jackson.. oh wait what.. Quite the line for Wady Pinales. 2 innings, 2 hits, 3 runs, 1 ER, 2 walks, 1 k. Gotta love DSL baseball.

Lot’s of catching up to do in terms of stuff over at Minor League Insider..

Tony Lastoria’s quote from Ross Atkins suggests Scott Lewis could get the September call up in order to reach the innings the Indians want him to get to. I don’t think they were considering him for Byrd’s spot tomorrow, but he’s on the 40 man roster, so if September rolls around and they want him to get some more work in, it wouldn’t be out of the realm of possibilities. It can’t hurt, can it?

With that, David Huff will reach his innings limit around the end of the season. So he won’t be called-up any time soon. That pretty much puts the starting pitching at Laffey and Lewis. I really doubt we see Matt Ginter pitch another game and Jeff Weaver even make a single apperance for the Tribe. The 40 man roster spots are precious and will be needed, so why screw around with Weaver?

New Minor Leagues Happenings that focuses on the GCL squad. It’s nice to see some info on these guys, because most of them are even greenier than the kids in Mahoning Valley. I’ve made sure to update on Abner Abreu because he looks like he could be a special player. The quote from manager Rouglas Odor makes me think that is true.

Tracking Matt LaPorta

After hitting three solo shots in the exhibition series with Canada, and going goose-egg on us yesterday, Matt LaPorta made this last one count.

LaPorta had a 3-run jack that helped power the United States to a 7-0 victory over the Netherlands.

In other news, the game is in progress but Nick Weglarz went deep for Team Canada.

Minor Issues: Snyder Making Sept Bid; Fedroff Debuts

You think Brad Snyder is eager to get to the big leagues in September? Considering his clock is running out, he might want to show the team something here in these last few months. He’s been doing that and last night he went 2-4 with an RBI. Michael Aubrey knocked in the game winner in the top of the tenth inning as the Herd won again. David Huff went 5 solid, giving up one run off 3 hits. He walked one and struck out six.

Akron got held to two runs off just three hits as they lost in Indians-like fashion to Trenton. Akron is now just one game ahead of Bowie for the division lead. Frank Herrmann pitched 7.1 innings of shutout baseball, giving up just 4 hits and striking out 8. The lead couldn’t hold up as Reid Santos gave up a three run shot in the bottom of the ninth.

Beau Mills knocked in number 81 and Carlos Santana went 2-4, but the big blast was provided by Roman Pena playing his second game for Kinston. Pena hit a three run jack in support of Jeanmarr Gomez’s 7 innings of shutout ball. Kyle Landis, fresh up from Lake County as well pitched a perfect 8th. Kinston picked up a four game sweep.

Lake County did not play once again while Mahoning Valley fell. Despite pounding out 8 hits ccompared to Tri City’s 7, the Scrappers scored just one run. Tim Fedroff went 2-4 with a double in his Scrappers debut.

Minor Issues: Aaron Laffey Dominant in 2nd Buffalo Start

You think Aaron Laffey wants to mess around in the Minor Leagues any longer?

Last night he made a bid to prove that he was ready to go back up to Cleveland after he hurled 8 scoreless innings against the Iron Pigs. 4 hits, no runs, 1 walk, 9 punch-outs. The question now becomes, who do you send down?

The idea.. Trade Paul Byrd…. I hope.

Wes Hodges and Brandon Pinckney powered the Aeros with 2-4 and 3-4 nights and 1 and 2 RBI respectively.. Scott Lewis pitched 7.1 strong with just one run off four hits and 5 strikeouts. Chuck Lofgren finished the game up striking out a pair.

Kinston won and Beau Mills upped his RBI total to 80 with a two run double. Jared Goedert had a solo home run and a 2-5, 2 RBI night. Johnnie Drennen also hit a solo shot to tie the game late, Mike Finocchi didnt allow a hit, but walked three in his 1.1, yet he picked up the win.

Lake County was suspended due to rain, and Mahoning Valley fell. Ryan Blair hit a two run home run and Cord Phelps collected two more hits.

Here is a piece on Dallas Cawiezell of the Captains. Dallas made the SAL All-Star roster this year and according to the story on Minor League Magazine, he’s just a “country bumpkin”.

Minor Issues: Teams Split Double Headers and do some Mashing

The Herd lost to the mighty Iron Pigs as John Halama had a very weird line.. 7 innings, but 11 hits and a walk that amounted to 7 runs. Brad Snyder went 1-4 with two RBI and Chris Gimenez went 3-4. Aaron Laffey goes tonight in his second start for Buffalo.

Akron not only bashed the hell out of Trenton in the second game of a double header, they shut them out. Stephen Head continues to rip, going 2-4 with two RBI but the big night belonged to Mr. 3 Ryan Goleski.. On 8-8-08, Goleski went 3-3 with 3 runs and 3 RBI. He hit two home runs and walked once. Brandon Pinckney has a three run homer. JD Martin, Reid Santos, Tony Sipp and Scott Roehl combined for a four hitter with just one walk. Akron probably forgot they played game one. Kevin Dixon went six strong and Bronson Sardinha homered in the loss.

Another bashing happened thanks to the K-Tribe. Carloton Smith went 5 strong, giving up just 2 hits and no runs. Carlos Santana scored two runs, Niuman Romero knocked in two, and Carlos Rivero went 3-4 with three runs knocked in.

Lake County won the first game in exciting fashion. Mark Thompson hit a sac fly in the bottom of the tenth to give the Captains a win and his third RBI of the night. Ron Rivas went 4-5 with two runs scored and an RBI. Joanniel Montero got pounded for 7 runs in 2 plus innings as the Captains lost the second game.

CORD PHELPS!! He went 2-4 but those Grapes won again.

New Minor League Happenings on Carlos Santana, Scott Lewis, David Huff, Jon Meloan and a few Scrappers.

Dennis Manoloff sat down with Aero Wes Hodges about his goal of making it to the Big Leagues.

Minor Issues: Mills, Goedert, Santana Mashing

Big Buffalo got a win behind Zach Jackson, who pitched into the 7th inning, giving up 3 earned, off 6 hits with 4 strikeouts. He’s now 3-1 since coming over to the Bisons in the Sabathia trade. Morgan Ensberg went deep and Jordan Brown had a 3-5 game with 1 RBI.

Akron fell to Trenton by a run yesterday. Ryan Edell went 6 solid innings giving up two runs, but Erik Stiller couldn’t hold it giving up three runs. Jose Constanza went 2-4 with an RBI.

A beat down was handed to Salem thanks to Beau Mills and Jared Goedert of Kinston. Mills went 3-5 with a home run and 4 RBI, while Goedert went 2-3 with 3 RBI and 2 walks. Carlos Santana went 4-5 with three runs scored and he’s now hitting .419 since coming to Kinston. Kelvin De La Cruz would have benefitted from the output had he gone five innings, but he could only go 4 giving up 2 runs.

Lake County got suspended because of ran and Mahoning Valley lost to that stupid Grape again. Cord Phelps is a monster though, going 1-3 with 2 RBI and 2 walks. Lonnie Chisenhall is now hitting .280 and he knocked in two more runs himself.

GCL Lost.. Cool Man

Like noted yesterday, the Tribe signed 7th round outfielder Tim Fedroff. The main chips left to fall are Curtis Haley, the 2nd round pick and 5th round pick Zach Putnam a multi-guy from Michigan. If the Indians can sign both of them before the 15th, that will give them their top 14 draft picks.

Some news on the Triple-A front. As we all know, Columbus wants the Tribe and the Tribe want Columbus for their Triple-A team next year. The Indians contract with Buffalo has not been renewed that is up after this year. The New York Mets have interest in Columbus.. Hey New York, BUFFALO is opening up.. Go after them, Columbus want’s Cleveland and they want to reach out to the western part of the state.

Minor Issues: Santana goes deep; Bullington pitches well

I’ve renamed Minor League Update because Minor League Update took too long to type out.. So one more time.. Minor League Update is no Minor Issues.

Buffalo took a 1 run loss yesterday to Indianapolis. The lone runs were scored off Brad Snyder and new addition Andy Cannizaro solo home runs.. Cannizaro was playing second base for the Bisons. Bryan Bullington went 7 un-earned shutout innings. He gave up 2 un-earned runs striking out two.

Akron had a good win last night. Randy Newsome picked up his 26th save and Tony Sipp pitched another solid shutout inning. Jose Constanza has a three run double and Josh Rodriguez, playing 2B knocked in number 46 of the year.

Those damn Pellicans swept the K-Tribe last night. Carlos Santana did go 2-5 with a two run home run. He’s now got 102 total RBI between his two teams. Carlos Rivero went 2-4 with a solo home run and 2 RBI.

Lake County had a late 4 run 8th to take a game over Delmarva. Jeff Hehr went 2-4 with three RBI and Joey Mahalic pitched 5 solid innings giving up just one run off four hits.

Those damn grapes logo team Jamestown beat the Scrappers. Lonnie Chisenhall was the lone man going 3-5 with three RBI. Eric Berger had another good outing, going 5, 1 hit innings.

So Tom Mastny is on his way to Buffalo.. Cannizaro replaces one of the roster spots vacated by the call-up. I’m expecting some more movement though because of a 40 man roster move. We could see the end of Brian Slocum. Dun dun dun!!

MLU: Losing Kinda Night

Chris Gimenez went 2-4 with a run batted in in Buffalo’s loss to Indianapolis last night. David Huff lasted just 1 and 1/3 innings thanks to rain, while Jon Meloan pitched two perfect innings with a strikeout.

Akron lost but they sure did put a whole heck of a lot of hits on the board. They out-hit Altoona 10-6, but lost 3-4. Four different players had two hit nights, including Josh Rodriguez, Bronson Sardinha, Brandon Pinckney, and the man who continues to rip, Jerad Head.

Three Hits and an RBI for Niuman Romero, but Kinston lost on a walk-off hit.

Just a losing kind of night.. Lake County fell as well, Ryan Miller lasted just two innings. The Captains struck out 12 times.

Mahoning Valley had an off-day.

Hey though, Chris Jones pitched 6 innings of one hit ball for the GCL Indians in a win.