Last year I wrote a piece about the excessive amounts of dead weight that existed within the Tribe’s organization that was unnecessarily taking roster spots from individuals whom were more deserving. This list included such players as Jerry Sands, Carlos Moncrief and Zach Walters. At the time I posted that article, I believed (and still do) that the Indians were giving playing time to players who had no business receiving such playing time. Well, Moncrief was eventually demoted and then released, as was Sands. Walters remained in Columbus for the remainder of the season where he would never take an at-bat away from another player in Cleveland ever again, a move I wholeheartedly agreed with.
Going into this season there still existed fair amounts of “dead weight” within the system that could benefit from a healthy trimming, starting once more with Walters. The problem with Walters was that he had no position. Yes he possessed great natural power at the plate, but he could never make contact enough to put it to any consistent use. Naturally I agreed with the Indians’ decision to ship Walters off to the Dodgers for cash considerations.
I was also in support of the Indians’ decision to cut ties with James Ramsey just a year and a half after he was acquired. The biggest impediment to Ramsey ever receiving time in an Indians uniform was his age. Ramsey was drafted out of college as a senior when most top-level college prospects enter the draft after their junior years. This meant that Ramsey would always be 1 year older than his fellow college draftees and in baseball that can mean a lot. The best example of the affect this can have on a prospect is seen in Tyler Naquin. Naquin was drafted the same season as Ramsey, but Naquin was a junior when he left Texas A&M. Even though it’s just one year, college juniors are seen as players with more room for growth and they have not yet reached their full potential while seniors are viewed in a much different light. Seniors are seen as those players who are not likely to improve as much as other players, or else they would have been drafted the year before.
Ramsey suffered from such a stigma. He was seen as having reached his full potential and unlikely to get much better. Ramsey also had another major setback to deal with which came in the form of a terrible season in 2015. Last year, Ramsey’s slash line was a miserable .243/.327/.382 with 12 home runs. He’s always been a patient hitter, consistently drawing walks at a superior rate, but his downfall last season was that he simply wasn’t making contact often enough to be effective at the plate. To make matters worse, Naquin was promoted to AAA alongside him and was having a much better season. He was seen as a better prospect and, as aforementioned, he was a year younger. In other words, Ramsey’s time was running out. After a very poor spring and another batch of outfielders soon to be on their way to AAA Columbus, Ramsey was sent to the Dodgers with Walters in a move I believe was in the Indians’ best interest.
With Walters and Ramsey gone the Columbus outfield is not filled with fringe prospects who the Indians will feel the need to promote because they are “next in line.” Rather, Joey Butler, Robbie Grossman, and Michael Choice are filling more of a placeholder role with the organization this season. Butler and Grossman have played at the big league level before and in a pinch they can fill in on the Indians’ roster, but should the need present itself for a player like Bradley Zimmer or Clint Frazier to get a look in AAA, the club has no reason to be loyal to them over their big time prospects.
This is important not just for this season, especially since I’m not sure Zimmer or Frazier end up in Columbus this year, but for next year as well. The most likely developmental path for Zimmer and Frazier is that they will both begin the season in AAA Columbus in 2017. Zimmer, being older, may reach Columbus by the middle to end of 2016. The last thing the Indians want is to have players like Ramsey and Walters taking a single at bat away from the organization’s top two prospects. While I understand there is a human element to the game and loyalty to players is in a good thing, there has to be a limit. The Indians have the opportunity to create a sustained period of success that continues after today’s core players have left the team or have reached the downside of their careers. But that can only happen by getting prospects the experience they need at the appropriate times. So here’s to hoping that we never have to live through a Jerry Sands-type player stealing at bats away from a prospect ever again.
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