40 Man Roster Additions In; The O DAWG?!

They surely waited around long enough.

It wasn't till about 9:30-10:00 last night that the Indians let their choices be known for the 40 man roster. As you may know, the Indians needed to add players they wanted to protect from the Rule V draft to the 40 man roster by yesterday's deadline.

So even if they do drop someone like Edwin Mujica, they can't save Jordan Brown at this point.

But wait sir, hold on a minute.. They only added five players?

Yes that's correct. They added just five prospects to their 40 man roster, leaving one spot open. For what?

A move, I guess.

They need the wiggle room in case they make a move, right? right!

Wrong.

Is keeping someone like Edwin Mujica really worth it at the expense of losing Jordan Brown or someone with potential like Chuck Lofgren?

Let's use Brown as the example though.

Officially, the Indians added the following:

Outfielder Trevor Crowe, Starting Pitcher Hector Rondon, Relief Pitcher Jeff Stevens, and Catchers Carlos Santana and Chris Gimenez.

Jordan Brown, as previously thought, not there.

Does Jordan Brown's value really not outweight Edwin Mujica's?

Brown: Position Player, Will Have Options, Not Major League Tested, Still can be regarded as a prospect with upside.

Mujica: Relief Pitcher, Will NOT Have Options, Major League tested and has looked awful most of the time, MLB has a book on him and just how crappy he looks.

I thought the decision was clear. Keep your spot open, cut Mujica, maybe he gets through waivers, if not it's not a big loss, and keep a valueable guy who could realistically get chosen, start a year on a Major League Roster, be stashed by a bad team like Pittsburgh (who don't have spots, so scratch that for now), or Seattle, and be gone forever.

Whatever.. Move on..

Those are our five additions.. Much of the waiting provided speculation that the Indians were working out a deal, large or small to clear more room on the roster. Wasn't the case.

But it does beg the question that Tony Lastoria brought up. Are we really going into next season with five catchers on our 40 man?

I mean really? Gimenez or Toregas... One of the prospects or Shoppach.. Someone HAS to go.. There is just no reason to have three guys there and our future guy.

Chuck Lofgren, Jordan Brown, Stephen Head, and possibly Randy Newsome are a few of the names that could be out there for the taking. Lofgren and Brown will most certainly get a look. If they get taken is another story.

The reason being thrown around for Brown's non-rostering has to do with a possible injury. Maybe they are taking a chance on the fact that team's avoid him because of it.

All of this went down on Smoke Signals the Indians radio program from the Cleveland Fan. Chuck Lofgren happened to be on when the press release was given out and Jordan Brown is going to be on the program next week.

Looks like things are staying the same pretty much in the Indians Minor League Staff.

Let's talk about Orlando Hudson. There is a REASON I didn't even put him on the targets list. FIVE YEARS AND 50 MILLION DOLLARS!

Are you kidding me?

Hoynes says the Indians are interested.

That would be disaster.

There is a former D'Back we talked about though. Jose Valverde and Mark Shapiro would be interested.

"If Valverde is available, he's another guy we'd explore," said Shapiro.

It looks like for some odd reason we are in on Orlando Cabrera.

I guess the Indians are still talking to Casey Blake's agent, but not making as much progress as the Minnesota Twins are. If he want's three years, I don't want him.

Interesting thought by James Pete of the Tribe Report. Could Chuck Hernandez's hiring be a way to get Freddy Garcia? Interestingggggg indeed.

Massive update to the offseason board and 40 man roster.. Check it out.