it was posted on the Indians home page that Gosling, Romero and Scott Lewis were all sent to AAA dropping the 40 man roster to 33. Westbrook and Reyes are still on the 60 day DL and will need to be removed and either DFA or put on the 40 man.

I wonder if they will cut anyone else and who will be added to the 40 man roster. I would not be upset if Ohka and Marte were let go before the Rule V deadline.

getting ohka out of cleveland should be one of the high priorities for this offseason. that guy is a joke. i dont think he ever lived up to the expectations ppl had of him.

He had 2 winning seasons when he won more than 10 games. But only 3 sasons with an ERA under 4.00. If they either thought they were going to contend or didn't have ant prospects close to ready for the majors, I might want them to keep him. But if they keep him, he will be getting innings that should be used to develop a prospect. It would not upset me to see them cut Shoppach too.

I can't see them offering arbitration to Shoppach.

I wish they would do it before the deadline to set the rosters before the Rule V draft. Thay will probably not gt anything for him anyway.

With the uncertainty regarding Laporta's health it would surprise me if Marte is not on the 40 man. If Laporta can't go Marte would be the favorite to win the first base job, barring an unlikely FA acquisition. I agree with VOR, Shoppach will be dealt or DFA'd. He won't be on the 40, and neither will Ohka. If all that happens, and Jake is added and Reyes released as is expected, that leaves 8 open spots on the 40 man. That's going to be interesting to see who gets added. It surprised me a little Lewis was not kept on, but we have so many pitchers just like him. I think Pino, Brown, Lofgren, Hodges, Welgarz and Mills are probably locks to be added.

I wonder if Brown's season has made Marte expendable? The way Wedge handled Marte still has me steamed. I was not one to push for Marte to get the call up. I felt his record spoke for itself. But once they decided to call him up, Andy should have been given every chance to demonstrate if he were a major leaguer or not.

I agree on your choices of who should be protected with the possible exception of Mills. Is he in a position where he needs to be protected? If not, I would wait for a season. As for Shoppach, I would want them to release him before the deadline for the Rule V eligible rosters.

Can't give you an explicit reason why but I still think Marte can help us. He was misused by Wedge his whole time in Cleveland and Wedge just seemed to have judged him already. When he came up this year after tearing up AAA he sat and played sporadically and didn't produce. Then Wedge I believe was forced to play him and he got hot. Then he hit a little slump and didn't play regularly the rest of the year. I think Lovullo will be on the coaching staff, and their's a chance Nunnally, the hitting coach at AAA who got more from him than anyone has could be also. I'd like to see the guy get 3 months of solid time and see what he does. He appears to be a streaky hitter so he's going to have his ups and downs. I don't think he's ever going to be a great player but he could put up say Casey Blake type numbers, which isn't bad. Laporta's health is a concern. As for Brown, his lack of power hurts his chances to play first base, and from what I've heard defensively he's a liability wherever he plays. I think he could be a decent bat off the bench, if he can play some OF and 1B.

Mills probably will start the season in Columbus. So yeah, it's certainly possible to put him on the 40 man roster.

I do not think Ohka will be on the roster but I also do not think he deserves the hate that is thrown his way.

Ohka is a niche product and he performed very well in that niche. That is to eat up inning as a veteran long man/spot starter for a very poor pitching staff. The problem was not Ohka, the problem was that we have the niche that he fills so well.

I just haven't taken the time to see if there is a need to put him on the roster. If there is no need, they shouldn't waste the spot on him. They can always add him if he suddenly erupts into the mega prospect they thought they were getting when the drafted him.

Everything I read about Marte said he was successful at Columbus because he was up against minor leahue pitching. There are no two ways about it, Wedge mishandled Andy. My only reluctance to dumping Marte is his age. I don't think he can succeed in Cleveland. He needs a change of scenery. In reality, it all depends on how many roster sopots are available and who do they need to protect.

well he tore it up in the 2nd half of the season for Akron and he won a lot of games by driving in runs. He certainly is worth consideration.

If I have calculated correctly, they do not need to protect him for another year. So it would make sense to protect someone else who could be selected in the Rule V draft. if he ets it together and demonstrated that he is ready, they can add him to the roster and dump someone who has become a disappointment. If they don' need to protect him, there's no need to protect him.

This does not mean he is worth les than other players. I still see him as a viable prospect. And next year, if he continues to develop, they should protect him by adding him to the 40 man.

He won't be added unless they call him up.

No need to.

yeah I'll agree with that. I liked what I saw of him in the 2nd half, he just has to have game plans at the plate.

That's is what I have been trying to explain to people. He won't need to be protected for another season.

I wonder how his future would have been affected if his dad had become the manager.

To be honest I saw a TON of Beau Mills this year.

I'm not sure if he's a major leaguer or not. Granted, the MAJORITY of my seeing him occurred in the first half of the season, but he doesn't strike me as a guy who is going to hit for enough power or average to be an everyday guy.

His defense is pretty tight though, FirstInning.com recently named him the most efficient first baseman in all of minor league baseball.

If that translates, he'll probably a 6-8 hitter who we can wait on to become a better hitter, simply because of his D.

I have only seen him play once. It must have been a good day because even his outs were impressive. His defense was supposed to be his downfall. Maybe he worked so hard on that so he hasn't been concentrating on his hitting until the last half of the year. Right now, LaPorta might be in his way but things can change quickly.