Kuzul

The 2014 MLB draft has come and gone, and it’s time to re-rank the Indians‘ top prospects.

The team made one of the best selections in the entire draft when University of San Francisco outfielder Kyle Zimmer fell to it at No. 21 overall. The Tribe followed that up with two more solid selections in lefty Justus Sheffield and University of Virginia outfielder Mike Papi.

The Indians had a fantastic draft and made some major additions to a rather weak farm system.

The three names mentioned above all fit into this list, along with a few other newcomers from within the system.

The farm system is still rather top heavy, and it’s loaded with middle infielders, but it’s improving, and this draft went a long way toward continuing that trend.

All stats are current through play on June 12, 2014 and are courtesy of Baseball-Reference.com, unless otherwise noted.

Begin Slideshow

The Cincinnati Reds should trade Johnny Cueto. There, I said it. It’s like taking a Band-Aid off. Do it quickly, and it doesn’t sting as much.

So the Reds should trade Cueto, right? They’re three games under .500, 7.5 games back of the division-leading Milwaukee Brewers and 2.5 games back of the much better St. Louis Cardinals, who sit in second place in the NL Central.

Both of these teams (the Cardinals more so than the Brewers) are better set up for success than the Reds. Among NL teams, the Reds rank in the bottom third in runs scored, hits, home runs, RBI, walks, batting average, on-base percentage, slugging percentage, OPS+ and total bases.

In addition to the anemic offense, the Reds have a less-than-ideal situation coming down the pipe in which they’ll have three starting pitchers—Cueto, Mat Latos and Mike Leake—all due for contract extensions following the 2015 season.

Beyond their concerns for the 2014 season, though, the Reds’ farm system drops off significantly after the organizational top five. What they do have, however, is a plethora of pitching prospects who could help to fill the void left by the decision to trade one or more of the team’s arms up for extensions in 2015.

Ken Rosenthal of Fox Sports believes the Reds will at the very least entertain offers on the three pitchers mentioned above, as well as on closer Aroldis Chapman.

There’s no doubt that Cueto would provide the team with the best return value, so let’s take a look at why they should trade him and what some potential return packages could look like.

The Offense Needs Upgrading

So the offense is fatally flawed, right?

Need more convincing than what I gave you earlier? Consider the performances put forth by starting position players not named Joey Votto, Ryan Ludwick, Devin Mesoraco or Todd Frazier, as they’re the only ones producing to this point.

The offense has been horrifyingly incompetent. The light-hitting Billy Hamilton hasn’t exactly set the world on fire, but he’s right around some of the early projections for his 2014 season.

The most troubling things, which you may have already noticed, arise when you compare his stats—remember, this is a player who hit a total of 13 home runs over 502 minor league games—to those of some of the players who were expected to truly help carry the offense.

Jay Bruce, a perennial 30-35 home run threat, owns a .320 slugging percentage through his first 36 games. Part of this may be due to the meniscus injury he suffered—he just recently returned from that surgery—but it’s certainly worth noting that he’s being outslugged by Hamilton.

Zack Cozart has pulled his regularly scheduled disappearing act for the third straight season now, and with no viable replacements coming through the system—the closest thing the team had to that, Tanner Rahier, has already been moved to third base—it may be a good time to look at upgrading the position by adding either a top-tier prospect or a current big league player.

Team-Friendly Contract Status

Take a quick look at some of the pitchers dealt during the year over the last four seasons, and you’ll notice some major differences between Cueto and the pitchers listed above.

The first thing is that most of these pitchers—excluding Dan Haren and Doug Fister—had at maximum one year left on their current contracts. Fister and Haren are the only two exceptions to that trend. Haren had two seasons left on his deal, plus a club option for a third year, while Fister was still under club control with arbitration-eligible seasons in 2013, 2014 and 2015.

Cueto‘s deal is similar to that of Jake Peavy’s. Peavy joined the Red Sox just after the midway point of the 2013 season and had another year (2014) on his current deal, plus a player option for 2015. Peavy’s player option has some stipulations set in place regarding his innings total, so it’s still unclear as to whether or not that option will actually materialize.

Even so, Peavy was owed $14.5 million for the 2013 and 2014 seasons, and his 2015 player option is worth a whopping $15 million.

Cueto, however, is owed just $10 million this season, and his club option next season clocks in at the same amount. Even if a team was looking to cut ties with him at the commencement of the 2014 season—highly unlikely—the acquiring team would be out just $800,000.

Sky-High Value

Johnny Cueto‘s value is never going to be higher than it is at this very moment. 

Take a look at current MLB pitchers ranking in the top five in ERA, strikeouts, WHIP and WAR for the 2014 season:

Cueto ranks first in every category except for strikeouts and at this juncture is arguably the best pitcher in all of baseball. In addition to that, he has a more established track record for success than a lot of the pitchers in these rankings, including the likes of Julio Teheran, Masahiro Tanaka, Dallas Keuchel and Jason Hammel.

Among the seven other pitchers who have longer and more effective careers, Cueto has arguably the best contract situation of any of them, as he’s owed just $10 million for next year’s club option. In fact, among those seven, Cueto ranks in a tie with Yu Darvish for the lowest salary owed in 2015.

Cueto is functioning as the best pitcher in baseball right now, and it isn’t very often that this type of pitcher becomes available, much less with a year left on his contract.

The Awesome Return Package

The Reds’ farm system isn’t that deep. A quick look through Baseball America‘s prospect handbook for the 2014 season will show that only five players grade out at 55 or higher their 40-80 scale.

One of those players is Billy Hamilton, and he’s already graduated to the big league level. Another, Robert Stephenson, is a starting pitcher, but that part of the system is hardly an area of concern.

The other three players, Phillip Ervin, Jesse Winker and Yorman Rodriguez, are outfielders. Ervin is a somewhat stocky outfielder who figures to lose a step as he matures—you can likely rule out center field. Winker is a solid hitter but will likely slot in as a left fielder with average power at best.

Yorman Rodriguez has a shot to be a great regular in the outfield as well, but he carries an extreme level of risk and, given the continuation of his sky-high strikeout rate this season at Double-A Pensacola, there’s a strong possibility he could flop or turn into a fourth outfielder a la Chris Heisey.

In addition to the names above, The club has a number of pitching prospects making waves this season—Michael Lorenzen, Nick Travieso and Ismael Guillon—all of whom figure to be ready for either mid-2015 or at the start of the 2016 season.

Aside from Robert Stephenson, there are no can’t-miss impact players in the Reds’ system. In short, there’s a lot of room to upgrade.

Trading Cueto could net the Reds two elite prospects and possibly a third mid-level one to boot. 

Consider the teams who are at or near the the top of their respective divisions, who also need help in the starting rotation in order to either get them over the hump or help secure their division leads:

The Dodgers are also a team with immense minor league depth, and although they possess, by the numbers, one of the better starting rotations in baseball, they find themselves 7.5 games back of the NL West-leading San Francisco Giants, putting them in prime position to deal for some additional help in the starting rotation.

That’s a good crop of seven teams who could use some help in the starting rotation.

Of the teams in the list above, the Red Sox, Rangers, Blue Jays, Yankees and Rockies find themselves in the best all-around position to make a deal. From that group, the Red Sox, Rangers and Rockies are in an even greater position in relation to their ability to provide the Reds with a sufficient package of prospects.

Here are some possible trade packages the Reds could expect to receive in dealing Cueto to any of the teams listed above:

The return packages from the Rockies, Rangers and Red Sox would be the best of the group, and each of the proposed trade packages would give the Reds some valuable pieces, including middle infielders—particularly shortstops—and an outfielder who could lock down left field with the departure of Ludwick following the 2014 season.

The Rockies package would give the Reds a little bit of everything.

The team possesses two elite pitching prospects in Jonathan Gray and Eddie Butler, the latter coming to Cincinnati. Butler would give the Reds a second starting pitcher prospect with ace-like potential, and given his recent development trend along with his performance this season at Double-A Tulsa, he could be ready for big league action as soon as mid-2014.

In addition to Butler, outfielder David Dahl and shortstop Trevor Story would also find their way to Cincinnati. Dahl has five-tool potential and provides decent pop at the plate, outstanding defense and potential for middle-of-the-order success.

Story is a bit more of a wild card, and while he projects to be a solid big league shortstop at maturity, there are some legitimate concerns surrounding his plate discipline and pitch recognition skills after posting strikeout rates of 22 percent and 33 percent in 2012 and 2013, respectively.

Any of the trades listed above would suffice, however, and would net the Reds at least two top-tier prospects, and in some cases a third mid-to-low-tier prospect.

Wrap-Up

The Reds are likely to trade at least one arm this summer.

Once Latos returns, the team will possess six starters for five spots. While the team could easily return Alfredo Simon to the bullpen in an effort to shore up what has been a rather disappointing unit this season, they could just as easily perhaps trade one of those starters and upgrade their farm system.

While it would be easy to say that the Reds should skip the formalities and go right after the power-hitting outfielder they most desperately need, one should remember that the teams looking at Cueto this summer aren’t going to be in the market to give up an outfielder with power oozing out of his ears.

Cueto‘s departure would likely spell the end of the Reds’ season, which might sting fans a little bit. However, the offense is not set up for long-term success, and neither is the farm system.

By cutting their losses this year, the Reds could potentially retool for another run next season and be truly ready to compete in 2016.

All stats are current through June 2, 2014 and are courtesy of Baseball-Reference.com unless otherwise noted.

Follow me on Twitter! Follow @TylerDuma

Read more MLB news on BleacherReport.com

The Cleveland Indians haven’t gotten off to the best of starts here in 2014. Over the first quarter of the season, the team boasts an 18-20 record, good for third place in the American League Central.

The team’s pitching staff has been decent, but the bullpen has done most of the heavy lifting. The starting staff on the other hand, has been wildly inconsistent.

Offensively, the team has struggled, ranking in the league’s bottom third in runs, batting average, on-base percentage, OPS and total bases. The team has managed to keep themselves within six games of the division lead, however, and if the Tribe’s offense comes around at any point, they could be poised for a huge run at the top spot in the division.

Like the overall units they compose, some of the team’s players have been very inconsistent as well.

Over the next 12 slides, I’ll look at each individual offensive starter, as well as the team’s bench, their starting rotation and bullpen, grading each along the way. We’ll start with a breakout performer from the 2013 campaign, Yan Gomes.

All stats are current through play on May 12, 2014. Defensive stats courtesy of Fangraphs.com, and offensive stats come courtesy of Baseball-Reference.com.

Begin Slideshow

The Cincinnati Reds farm system isn’t exactly flush with top-tier talent—the organization boasts just two Baseball America top-100 prospects—Robert Stephenson (No. 19) and Billy Hamilton (No. 43). However, there a number of mid-level prospects with the potential to make big gains in 2014.

Some of those prospects are off to tremendously hot starts, and we’ll profile them here. A lot of the names in this piece may not be immediately familiar to the casual fan. But several of them could become household names for Reds fans, with four to six having the chance to creep into mid- or post-2014 top-100 rankings.

We’ll kick things off with one of the Reds’ two first-round picks from the 2013 MLB draft, Michael Lorenzen.

All stats are current through play on May 1, 2014 and are courtesy of Baseball-Reference.com unless otherwise noted.

Begin Slideshow

The Cleveland Indians made a few minor moves this offseason, but nothing that would be considered scale-tipping.

In exchange for Drew Stubbs, the Tribe acquired Josh Outman from the Rockies, and they also signed four players—Scott Atchison, David Murphy, John Axford and Elliot Johnson—to deals that would eventually land them with the big league club—only Murphy and Axford were signed to the 25-man roster.

Most of these acquisitions have already paid early dividends and have helped the Indians maintain their 11-15 record—which would certainly be worse off without them. 

With nearly a month of play behind us, the time has come to grade the Indians’ offseason acquisitions based on their early-season performances. Most have actually performed quite well, but one player has been unbearably bad through the season’s first month.

We’ll kick it off with the only player acquired via trade, Josh Outman.

All stats courtesy of Baseball-Reference.com and Fangraphs.com unless otherwise noted.

Begin Slideshow

The Cincinnati Reds have a very important series coming up against the Tampa Bay Rays. The Reds are 3-6 on the young season, and the Rays come into the series at 5-5 in a tie for first place in the always-difficult AL East.

The Reds need something to turn their season around, and this series presents them with a golden opportunity to either pull within two games of .500, or even things up at 6-6 by the end of the weekend.

It won’t be an easy task, but there are a couple of things the Reds can do in order to ensure that they take their weekend series against the Rays. In addition to helping them win their upcoming series, these five “keys” will help the Reds win numerous games moving forward.

So, let’s get started with the all-important Game 1.

All stats courtesy of Baseball-Reference.com and MLB.com unless otherwise noted, and are current through April 10, 2014.

Begin Slideshow

The Cleveland Indians‘ minor league affiliates have played through the first week of their 2014 seasons. Some of the team’s top prospects are off to great starts, while others, not so much. 

Early-season minor league numbers can be volatile, given the fact that a good deal of prospects are dealing with an adjustment period in their first games at a new level. Others, who have more minor league experience under their belts, tend to hit the ground running and we’ll see a little bit of both over the course of this article.

The aim of this repeating piece is to help keep you informed as to the performances of the team’s top-10 prospects on a semi-weekly basis. In each version of this article, I’ll recap the player’s 2013 stats, while also providing updated 2014 stats, weekly stats, an overview of the player’s season and week and, finally, an up or down label on the player’s prospect stock.

Bleacher Report’s Adam Wells ranked the team’s top-10 prospects prior to the start of spring training—you can find those prospect rankings here. So, to start the year, that’s the order you’ll find those prospects ranked in this and future versions of this piece.

We’ll kick things off with Adam’s No. 10 prospect, Jesus Aguilar.

All stats courtesy of Baseball-Reference.com unless otherwise noted.

Begin Slideshow

The Cincinnati Reds haven’t exactly had the best of luck in spring training this year.

The team won 90 games last season, but it was tasked with the challenge of replacing Shin-Soo Choo, while questions about rotational depth and whether or not Billy Hamilton would be ready to step in as an everyday player were abundant leading up to spring training.

In short, there was a lot of work to do this spring, and to this point, next to nothing has been settled.

The team is dealing with a number of injuries to key players, and some players who could have helped replace them have proven to be massive busts to this point. Luckily, there have been a few surprises in camp, and some players have seemingly come out of nowhere to make a strong case for inclusion on the 25-man roster at the start of the regular season.

To get you up to speed, I’ve compiled a list of recently cut players, surprise performances, busts and injury updates. Enjoy!

All stats current through Mar. 20, 2014 and are courtesy of baseball-reference.com.

Begin Slideshow

The midway point of spring training has come and gone, and some Cincinnati Reds players have begun to turn in what we could consider “breakout” performances.

It can be difficult to stand out among a group of players including former MVP Joey Votto, All Stars like Brandon Phillips and Jay Bruce, and Cy Young candidates like Johnny Cueto and Mat Latos. However, this group of players has done just that.

The team already made their first round of cuts. One player on this list, Billy Hamilton, is immune to that, as he’s slated to be the team’s everyday center fielder for the 2014 season.

The other two players—Neftali Soto and Brett Marshall—are likely to be sent to minor league camp at some point this spring. But, after surviving the first round of cuts, the duo will be given the opportunity to showcase their skills against a higher level of competition for a little while longer.

In an attempt to further familiarize you with them, and their accomplishments, we’ll highlight the impressive showings of those three players, starting with Billy Hamilton.

Billy Hamilton

Coming into spring training, concerns surrounding Billy Hamilton’s ability to hit and get on base were at an all-time high as he was handed the keys to one of the National League’s best lineups over the last four seasons.

Hamilton’s performance this spring will have zero impact on whether or not he’s the team’s everyday starting center fielder. However, his mid-spring training numbers will go a long way toward alleviating some of the concerns surrounding his readiness for a starting job.

Over 22 spring at-bats, Hamilton boasts a .269/.387/.346 slash line with two doubles, three RBI, nine runs scored, a 3:5 K/BB ratio and six stolen bases. Though his numbers are impressive, it’s important to note that, first, this is just spring training, and second, that Hamilton has faced a slightly lesser level of competition in comparison to some of his teammates.

Hamilton’s also done a solid job of keeping the ball on the ground, and that can prove problematic for fielders looking to rush a play to get him out.

The 23-year-old’s OppQual—Baseball-Reference’s measurement of opponent quality—rating for the spring clocks in at 8.7, slightly below the MLB level of 10, but higher than the 8.0 Triple-A level. Whether his quality of opponents faced is lower than MLB level is irrelevant though, as Hamilton has shown poise at the plate, the ability to work a count, bunt for a hit and draw a walk.

Don’t kid yourself into thinking that Hamilton’s numbers will seamlessly transition into the regular season. Steamer and ZiPS projections have Hamilton slashing .246/.301/.334 and .264/.319/.362, so it’s best to temper expectations for the young speedster.

However, if his displayed ability to work counts and draw walks carries over even slightly into the regular season, Hamilton will exceed all expectations for his 2014 campaign. 

Neftali Soto

Having been with the organization for seven seasons, Neftali Soto is a name that some fans may already be familiar with. However, over the last year or two, Soto has faded into prospect limbo as the team continues to find a position for him to play.

Soto could be a viable bench bat this season, but at just 25 years of age, the team is still looking for any way to keep him in an everyday lineup to avoid stunting his development.

Last season—his second full season at Triple-A Louisville—Soto had a decent season, slashing .271/.313/.414 with 15 home runs, 21 doubles, 61 RBI, 54 runs scored and a 103:26 K/BB ratio. Soto’s been raking this spring, posting a .370/.370/.667 slash line with one home run, five doubles, two RBI and four runs scored.

Soto has yet to register a walk in his first 27 at-bats. However, he’s also managed to keep from striking out to this point as well.

Over his the last two minor league seasons—2012 and 2013—Soto sports strikeout rates of 22.7 and 20.8 percent respectively, so to see him go 27 at-bats without registering a strikeout, while simultaneously maintaining a .300-plus batting average, is a great sign.

Soto has played all 13 of his games at first base this season. However, as Jamie Ramsey—The Reds’ Assistant Director of Media Relations—noted last month, Soto is also seeing some work behind the plate during inter-squad workouts.

It’s not quite as exciting as Jamie makes it out to be, as Soto has caught in the past. Back in 2010, the Reds tried moving Soto behind the plate, but the experiment went south in a hurry.

In 10 games as a catcher, Soto allowed two passed balls, and managed to catch just one would-be baserunner, compared to 15 successful stolen bases—a six percent CS%.

According to team manager Bryan Price—via team beat writer John Fay—Soto could catch, but in emergency situations at the big league level.

I imagine there’s never been a manager who didn’t want that third catcher that you have some comfort with. So, if Neffy is with our club and he can do that in a pinch, think of what that does.

The idea is novel, but unless Soto can pick up a spot in the outfield at Louisville this season—which is somewhat unlikely given the team’s minor league outfield situation, then he’s likely showcasing himself as a trade chip.

Even if that’s the case, Soto is having a solid spring.

Brett Marshall

Brett Marshall has bounced around quite a bit over the past four months. Back in December, the Yankees waived the 23-year-old, only to have him get picked up by the Chicago Cubs. Then, just under two months later, the Reds were able to claim Marshall off waivers from the Cubs.

Shortly after claiming Marshall, GM Walt Jocketty had this to say of the young starter—via MLB.com’s Mark Sheldon.

I talked to him and he sounded like a good kid. We had good reports on him. He had one of the best changeups in the Yankees organization. He’s a sinkerballer with a good slider. He’s got a couple of [Minor League] options left.

The move makes sense for the Reds, who have very little big league-ready pitching depth in the minor leagues. Marshall’s changeup and sinker would play very well in Great American Ball Park, so it’s worth a flier—especially when the cost of the acquisition was DFA’ing middle-infielder Henry Rodriguez.

Marshall isn’t a physically imposing guy, and stands in at 6’1″ and 195 pounds, but he generates decent velocity through solid torque in his hips and chest. Take a look at Marshall’s spring-training pitch velocities and usage rates, courtesy of BrooksBaseball.net.

Marshall’s done a solid job of varying his pitches, displaying four pitches with usage rates over 10 percent, and a fifth—his curveball—hovering right around nine percent. 

All of this has culminated in an impressive mid-spring stat line.

Marshall’s walk rate is high, and in the regular season, 9.0 BB/9 would probably leave you looking for a new job. However, generally speaking, that hasn’t been the case throughout his minor league career so it shouldn’t be a concern moving forward.

Outside of his high walk rate, Marshall has been dominant this spring.

His OppQual rating comes in at 8.5, putting him somewhere between the big league and minor league levels. Although Marshall has faced a below-MLB level pool of talent this spring, the opportunity to showcase his skills has resulted in a breakout campaign.

He’ll likely slot in behind lefty David Holmberg as the team’s second call-up if and when the need arises for a starting pitcher. But, should he continue to impress in big league camp, Marshall will greatly increase his chances of joining the team in a starting capacity this year.

Read more MLB news on BleacherReport.com

The Cincinnati Reds have played just nine spring training games, but as we head toward the second week of March, some players are already turning heads with their impressive play. This mix of players includes Reds veterans, non-roster invitees, minor leaguers and rookies all looking to raise their stock within the organization.

While one of the players in this group may look to take his talents to another team after exercising his opt-out clause at the end of spring training, the rest of them have a chance to make a profound impact on the Reds’ success this season. 

We’ll kick off our look at this seven-player group with an established Reds player, shortstop Zack Cozart.

All spring stats courtesy of MLB.com unless otherwise noted. Previous season stats courtesy of Baseball-Reference.com unless otherwise noted.

Begin Slideshow