Yesterday, the Indians designated long time prospect, Carlos Moncrief, for assignment to make room for Giovanni Soto and Michael Martinez on the 40 man roster (T.J. House was also taken off the 40 man roster by moving him from the 15 to the 60 Day DL).
Moncrief was never a top prospect, but he was a nice story and has some solid strengths. Drafted initially in 2007 by the Phillies, he didn’t sign until the next year when the Indians took him in the 14th round. Taken as a pitcher, he played in that role for just two seasons at the rookie level before giving it up for the bat. In 2010, he was a poor hitter, but showed some power as the center fielder for the Mahoning Valley Scrappers. He was better the next year in Lake County, hitting 16 home runs and since has been a consistent source of power for every team he’s been with. He has been with a lot as well, playing twice in the Arizona Fall League, once with Carolina of the Puerto Rican Winter League and once in Venezuela with the Aguilas de Zulia.
The Indians had to place Moncrief on the 40 man initially to protect him from the Rule 5 draft and, until now, he has stayed there. He has struggled in both AAA and AA this year, but has a cannon for an arm in right, has decent range in the outfield and can hit for power (132 doubes, 29 triples and 76 home runs in his 696 game minor league career). Not even in the realm of the AAAA player, even having Moncrief on the 40 man in the first place was questionable. It is still possible that nobody claims him and he could come back, but the question is, would the Indians even want to retain him and if not, why was he on the 40 man in the first place.
As mentioned a few times this year (also this outfield specific piece by Kevin Gall), the Indians minor league system is overloaded with aging players who will likely never help the Major League team in any real manor. Contrary to the actual purpose of the minor league system, a large percent of the AAA club is filled with these place holders, like Moncrief, who have no legitimate chance in the Majors, rather than top prospects who could. Even though those two articles were written quite some time ago, the Indians haven’t addressed the problem. The Clippers roster contains 13 players who are older than or will be 28 by the end of the year. By the time a baseball player is 28, he should already have a few years in the Majors under his belt and be set for his prime.
In order to keep other teams from stealing these older players, either through the Rule 5 draft or after through waivers, they need to be protected on the 40 man roster. Here, it appears the Indians are guarding their pennies like they are made of gold. On that roster are included:
- Tony Wolters, a 23 year old converted catcher who has never learned to hit and is still in AA.
- Jesus Aguilar, a 25 year old who can only play first and the Indians are obviously not interested in playing at the Major League level.
- Zach Walters, a 25 year old who is either strike out or home run and has been a lot more of the former recently.
- Tyler Holt, a 26 year old defense only outfielder, who the Indians have tired of enough not to have on the MLB roster.
- C.C. Lee, a 28 year old reliever who has struggled in three MLB seasons and hasn’t impressed in AAA since 2013.
This doesn’t include the below average contributors currently on the MLB roster, like Mike Aviles, Ryan Raburn, Ryan Webb and Gavin Floyd. For a team that should have a primary focus on 2016 rather than trying to dig their way out of a large hole for 2015, there are still quite a few roster spots being used by players who won’t likely be around for the next turn.
While it may not have come off that way, removing Moncrief from the roster was a good move. If he sticks around after, they may have to deal with more roster issues in the future, but it will be simplified with him off the 40 man. He was likely never going to produce at the Major League level and at some point, he is just holding back those who could, like Tyler Naquin, Bradley Zimmer and Clint Frazier.
Advancing Martinez was smart as well. With Aviles likely leaving through free agency and Jose Ramirez not playing quite as well as hoped, Martinez could be the super utility man of 2016. He is under team control through 2018 and plays as hard as anyone in baseball.
As for the five highlighted above, four could still be called up after the Clippers play-off run is over and they should be. There will be a lot of tough 40 man roster decisions to be made this off-season and knowing whether or not these players are worth another shot will be extremely valuable. While they all maintain value in one way or another, it would not be a huge surprise to see any one of them cut or even all of them prior to the 2016 campaign.
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