Article: How Did Cleveland Acquire Its Top Talent?

[Nick Nelson]

Derek Falvey is no doubt eager to begin his tenure as Chief Baseball Officer of the Minnesota Twins.

 

There's just one hold-up: the Cleveland Indians team he helped build is chugging toward an improbable World Series berth.

 

There are worse excuses for being late to the job.Cleveland's deep run into the postseason – despite an avalanche of ill-timed key injuries – does nothing but reinforce the decision to hire Falvey. This is an extremely well constructed ballclub, which breezed to an AL Central crown with 94 wins before sweeping the Red Sox out of the ALDS and jumping out to a 3-1 lead over Toronto in the ALCS.

 

Falvey of course doesn't deserve full credit for shaping this championship-caliber roster, but since being named director of baseball operations with the Indians in 2012, player acquisition has been one of his primary focuses. In the prior years he held lesser positions with varying levels of input, and he surely helped influence many of the organization's decisions dating back to his start in 2007.

 

So I thought it would be interesting to take a look at how Cleveland came upon the players that have formed the foundation of its impressive title run.

 

Corey Kluber: When the Indians acquired Kluber in a three-way trade at the 2010 deadline, he was a 24-year-old in Double-A with a history of control problems. Cleveland gave up very little to get him. We all know where it went from there.

 

Francisco Lindor: He was a high first-round pick that the team nailed. Cleveland took the Puerto Rican shortstop eighth overall in 2011, and he ascended quickly to his present status as a big-league star.

 

Carlos Carrasco: The team's No. 2 starter came over from Philadelphia in the Cliff Lee blockbuster of July 2009. He's the kind of hit that the Twins failed to get when they traded Johan Santana. Carrasco is out for the year after a line drive broke his hand in September, but he was a big part of the club's success this season.

 

Andrew Miller: This is one of my favorites, and representative of a mindset that I hope the Twins inherit. The Indians traded a big prospect haul to acquire Miller, but not because they wanted an upgrade in the ninth. Cleveland has used the outrageously dominant reliever as a bullpen horse, deploying him strategically to work multiple innings and demoralize opponents late in games. His performance in these playoffs may end up being the most impactful of any relief arm in postseason history.

 

Cody Allen: Of course, it's nice when you have a lights-out guy like Allen in the ninth that enables you to utilize Miller as a flexible weapon. Allen was a 23rd-round draft pick in 2011 that Cleveland simply hit the jackpot with. He has been a fantastic closer for three straight years.

 

Danny Salazar: He was an international signing out of the Dominican Republic back in 2006, one year before Falvey joined the organization as an intern. While the new Minnesota CBO didn't play a part in finding Salazar as a teenager, the right-hander did develop into a quality big-league starter during his time in the front office. Like Carrasco, Salazar has been unavailable to the Indians in the postseason.

 

Mike Napoli: He's the kind of player Terry Ryan could never seem to find during that decade where Minnesota couldn't quite get over the hump. The Indians needed a big right-handed power bat so they signed Napoli to a one-year, $7 million deal. The veteran slugger delivered with 34 home runs and 101 RBI.

 

Carlos Santana: Another excellent find from another organization's system. The Indians acquired Santana in exchange for Casey Blake at the 2008 deadline. Yes, that Casey Blake. Santana was a rising talent in the Dodgers system but rose to elite prospect status after the joining the Indians. He became a quality catcher in the majors before concussions forced him into a 1B/DH role... sound familiar? But unlike Joe Mauer, Santana remains an outstanding offensive asset. Falvey was merely an assistant in Cleveland's scouting department at the time of this trade but he learned the ropes under Mark Shapiro, the two-time Executive of the Year who pulled it off.

 

Trevor Bauer: The Indians traded for Bauer, a former third overall pick and top-rated pitching prospect, right after Falvey assumed his role as director of baseball ops. Bauer came over as part of a sprawling three-team swap. At the time Bauer was a highly touted young hurler with questions surrounding his control. He hasn't fulfilled his promise as a top-tier big-league starter yet, but he has improved his command and at 25 still holds plenty of upside – as long as he takes it easy with the drones.

 

Tyler Naquin: The surprise rookie performance of 2016. Naquin was a rather ordinary prospect before breaking through with an .886 OPS in his first MLB campaign. Now he looks like another first-round pick (2012) that paid off for Cleveland.

 

Jason Kipnis: The two-time All-Star second baseman was selected by the Indians in the second round of the 2009 draft.

 

Michael Brantley: Setbacks in his recovery from 2015 shoulder surgery kept Brantley off the field for almost the entirety of this season. This makes Cleveland's success all the more astounding given that the outfielder is arguably their best position player. Brantley is another example of the Indians getting strong value back when trading a superstar. He came over from Milwaukee in the 2008 CC Sabathia deal. Another fine stroke from Shapiro, who is incidentally now CEO of the Blue Jays team that Cleveland is on the verge of ousting.

 

CONCLUSIONS

During Falvey's time in Cleveland's front office, the team has acquired star-caliber talent through almost every avenue: free agency, trades, draft, international market. Hopefully his involvement with these moves – or at least his exposure to the process behind them while working under some highly effective execs – will enable him to bring an edge over to a Twins franchise that has failed to produce nearly the same fruitful results in its player acquisition efforts.

 

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[tobi0040]

Great article Nick.

 

Terry never seemed to take that all of the above strategy. It was roughly the same approach year after year. The guys we signed on the international front, free agency had low ceilings.

[Kwak]

Built the team one guy at a time. They started this effort in 2008--so, not an overnight success.

 

In the Napoli discussion I will take exception to the statement about "the kind of player Ryan could never find..."--Jim Thome. Who signed for the ridiculously low salary of $1MM.

[Loosey]

 

Built the team one guy at a time. They started this effort in 2008--so, not an overnight success.

 

In the Napoli discussion I will take exception to the statement about "the kind of player Ryan could never find..."--Jim Thome. Who signed for the ridiculously low salary of $1MM.

The Twins won't need 8 years.  They hopefully have most of the offense in place that will lead this team.  We need him to use his past experience to find the pitching staff the team needs to make any sort of progress. 

[Seth Stohs]

 

Great article Nick.

Terry never seemed to take that all of the above strategy. It was roughly the same approach year after year. The guys we signed on the international front, free agency had low ceilings.

 

Like Sano, Kepler, Polanco, Minier, Diaz, Ynoa, Javier...

 

Ryan/Twins current front office did all of those things with the exception of trading someone like Cliff Lee or CC Sabathia successfully. 

[Parker Hageman]

The Wall Street Journal had a great article on how Cleveland assembled their team. The biggest thing the front office emphasized -- beyond developing two-way players internally which Nick highlighted above -- was in-filling with platoon players. 

 

Brandon Guyer. Tyler Naquin. Rajai Davis. All these guys had significant platoon splits and had positional flexibility. 

 

 

“Obviously everyone seeks out the guy who can do everything—hit pitchers of both sides, play great defense,” said Cleveland general manager Michael Chernoff. “But unless you develop that guy internally, it’s pretty hard to go out and get him without a huge amount of resources. So we’ve definitely looked to plug holes with guys that are good complementary fits.”

 

 

That mindset goes far beyond what the Twins front office was thinking just a couple years ago. When sitting down with TR, I asked point-blank what he thought about building the team with some platoons in mind. 

 

"Not too much," he told me. "I'm too much on platoons. I'm not on that too much. I think we need to have players that can get 600 plate appearances, 500-something plate appearances. Third baseman, shortstop, second baseman, first baseman, catcher, and left, center and right. That's kind of what good teams do."

 

Well, yeah, but if you can't find that guy, you can do the next best thing and give yourself a platoon advantage. 

 

And yes, it requires buy-in from the manager too. 

 

This matchup-centric thinking doesn’t just apply to hitters. The Indians also led baseball in getting the best pitching matchups, primarily through the way manager Terry Francona uses his bullpen. Indians pitchers had the matchup advantage 54% of the time, against a league average of 47%. The Indians are the first team to lead the majors in both hitting and pitching matchup edge since the 1985 St. Louis Cardinals.

 

 

[ScrapTheNickname]

I thought when the Indians signed Rajai Davis it was a sign the FO was wasting their time on old mediocre fill-in veterans.

 

He didn't have a great year, but he did steal 43 bases ... maybe something about chemistry that defies the stats as well ... and ... today is Davis's 36th birthday. Oh, ain't that sweet.

[The Wise One]

The Wall Street Journal had a great article on how Cleveland assembled their team. The biggest thing the front office emphasized -- beyond developing two-way players internally which Nick highlighted above -- was in-filling with platoon players. 

 

Brandon Guyer. Tyler Naquin. Rajai Davis. All these guys had significant platoon splits and had positional flexibility. 

 

 

That mindset goes far beyond what the Twins front office was thinking just a couple years ago. When sitting down with TR, I asked point-blank what he thought about building the team with some platoons in mind. 

 

"Not too much," he told me. "I'm too much on platoons. I'm not on that too much. I think we need to have players that can get 600 plate appearances, 500-something plate appearances. Third baseman, shortstop, second baseman, first baseman, catcher, and left, center and right. That's kind of what good teams do."

 

Well, yeah, but if you can't find that guy, you can do the next best thing and give yourself a platoon advantage. 

 

And yes, it requires buy-in from the manager too.

Are you sure that platoon means the same thing to both of you? Old time platoon was 2 guys, one position. So if you ask him about platoons, of course he is going to say no. If you asked him about building a roster with player flexibility you might have a different answer. He did trade for Punto and Gardenhire started him multiple positions.

[Kwak]

 

The Wall Street Journal had a great article on how Cleveland assembled their team. The biggest thing the front office emphasized -- beyond developing two-way players internally which Nick highlighted above -- was in-filling with platoon players. 

 

Brandon Guyer. Tyler Naquin. Rajai Davis. All these guys had significant platoon splits and had positional flexibility. 

 

 

That mindset goes far beyond what the Twins front office was thinking just a couple years ago. When sitting down with TR, I asked point-blank what he thought about building the team with some platoons in mind. 

 

"Not too much," he told me. "I'm too much on platoons. I'm not on that too much. I think we need to have players that can get 600 plate appearances, 500-something plate appearances. Third baseman, shortstop, second baseman, first baseman, catcher, and left, center and right. That's kind of what good teams do."

 

Well, yeah, but if you can't find that guy, you can do the next best thing and give yourself a platoon advantage. 

 

And yes, it requires buy-in from the manager too. 

It's very difficult to platoon players when a team carries the excessive number of relief pitchers like the Twins. Teams can play the match-up with the hitters or with the relief pitchers. Trying to do it with both isn't possible for more than one inning.

[SarasotaBill]

After the Rays/Twins trade (Young for Garza), the Rays GM said it was much easier to replace a OF with a platoon than find a starting pitcher.

 

I know that sounds simple but the Twins were stuck in the 1970s concerning platoons.

[Vanimal46]

I hope what Cleveland is doing with Miller becomes the new trend in the MLB. Stick your best pitcher in the situations where it matters most in a game. Could happen in the 6th to get out of a jam and kill the momentum... Could happen in the 7th when the opposing team's 3-4-5 hitters are due up, etc. I'd like to see a time where rigid bullpen roles are a thing of the past. 

[Winston Smith]

 

Built the team one guy at a time. They started this effort in 2008--so, not an overnight success.

 

In the Napoli discussion I will take exception to the statement about "the kind of player Ryan could never find..."--Jim Thome. Who signed for the ridiculously low salary of $1MM.

Didn't Bill Smith sign Thome?

[Kwak]

 

Didn't Bill Smith sign Thome?

Bill Smith was the GM in for the 2010 season. He "assumed" the title in September 2007 and held it until the end  of the 2011 season.

[Parker Hageman]

It's very difficult to platoon players when a team carries the excessive number of relief pitchers like the Twins. Teams can play the match-up with the hitters or with the relief pitchers. Trying to do it with both isn't possible for more than one inning.

 

 

That's sort of the point. Cleveland was able to mix and match their bullpen exceptional well because of investing and deploying arms in situations that maximize their strengths. The Twins could have at least built the bullpen with that in mind. 

[wsnydes]

 

I hope what Cleveland is doing with Miller becomes the new trend in the MLB. Stick your best pitcher in the situations where it matters most in a game. Could happen in the 6th to get out of a jam and kill the momentum... Could happen in the 7th when the opposing team's 3-4-5 hitters are due up, etc. I'd like to see a time where rigid bullpen roles are a thing of the past. 

If they do win it all, I imagine that would be one of the first things copied.  I think that would be a sensical managerial adjustment and improvement to the game.

[wsnydes]

 

That's sort of the point. Cleveland was able to mix and match their bullpen exceptional well because of investing and deploying arms in situations that maximize their strengths. The Twins could have at least built the bullpen with that in mind. 

Or even used the one they had in that manner.  Tonkin is a prime example of that.  In fairness, I think the pen was kind of cobbled together in the first place, much to your point.

[bird]

And Nick, you didn't even mention one of their smartest moves, which was Terry Francona. If he brings only one experience to the table successfully here, finding a good manager wouldn't be the last thing on my list.

 

Good point by Parker on the Twin's critical deficiency in thinking regarding platooning. A major weakness of Ryan/Gardy/Paulie for sure.

 

Free Agency has been used sparingly by Cleveland, more sparingly than by the Twins in reality. Hope this tendency makes its way over with Falvey.

 

If you look at Cleveland's minor league system right now, it's clear they are doing things right, although, with any team, luck and timing are not inconsequential factors. For example, Naquin was the 14th pick, but the second best college position player on the board after Zunino. Before anyone rips the Twins by using this as an example, you can be sure that no GM in baseball would give up Buxton for Naquin today.

[bird]

 

Didn't Bill Smith sign Thome?

 

 

Who signed Willingham?

[Mike Sixel]

Can we have one thread that isn't BS vs TR, please? Pretty please with ice cream on top?

[ashbury]

Who signed Willingham?

He came to mind too, but the point being made concerned the good teams where another player might have put them over the top.

[Nick Nelson]

 

 

In the Napoli discussion I will take exception to the statement about "the kind of player Ryan could never find..."--Jim Thome. Who signed for the ridiculously low salary of $1MM.

Fair point (although as mentioned above, that was Bill Smith, not TR). I was thinking more of the Rondell White/Craig Monroe years, and when the best Twins team of the entire run (2006) started Phil Nevin and Jason Tyner at DH in the playoffs. 

[Winston Smith]

 

Bill Smith was the GM in for the 2010 season. He "assumed" the title in September 2007 and held it until the end  of the 2011 season.

I understand that but you were giving Ryan credit for signing Thome when he was signed by Smith.

[dxpavelka]

Have to disagree just a little bit with the statement that Napoli is the type of guy that Ryan could never get.  Someone else mentioned Thome in response to that statement but actually Josh Willingham's first year here was almost a mirror of Napoli's first in Cleveland, right down to the salary.  Granted, the next 2 years didn't work out so well but I'll take 35 home runs and 110 RBI for $7 million six ways to Sunday.

[Mr. Brooks]

Have to disagree just a little bit with the statement that Napoli is the type of guy that Ryan could never get. Someone else mentioned Thome in response to that statement but actually Josh Willingham's first year here was almost a mirror of Napoli's first in Cleveland, right down to the salary. Granted, the next 2 years didn't work out so well but I'll take 35 home runs and 110 RBI for $7 million six ways to Sunday.

I think he meant as a final piece for a contender.

Willingham was a nice value, for that first season, but it was just as a band aid during some awful seasons.

Where was a signing like that when, as I think Nick said, we were rolling with Jason Tyner as DH in the playoffs?

[Winston Smith]

Willingham was really a replacement, at a cheaper price, for Cuddyer. He wasn't that finishing touch to get the team over the hump type move that Nick was talking about.. 

[Linus]

There are no secrets to building a winning team. All teams try to pursue all avenues to improve. It all boils down to execution, making good decisions and some luck.

[Parker Hageman]

It all boils down to execution, making good decisions and some luck.

 

 

"Luck is the residue of design." Branch Rickey

[frightwig]

One concern here: a lot of the foundation for this Indians team was built by Mark Shapiro when Falvey was an intern or an assistant in the amateur & international scouting department. Since Falvey rose to more prominent roles in the front office (co-director of baseball operations in 2012, assistant GM this year), the Tribe's acquisitions record isn't as impressive.

 

In 2012

 

FA's: Most notably Johnny Damon, Dan Wheeler, and Casey Kotchman. None really panned out.

 

Trades: Steven Wright to Red Sox for Lars Anderson, who never pitched in the majors after the trade, later thrown into the Trevor Bauer deal. Wright has gone on to post a 3.58 ERA in 263.2 IP with Boston, and was an All-Star this year. Clearly, this was a mistake.

 

Draft: 1st round pick Tyler Naquin, who just had a fine rookie year at age 25 (2.5 fWAR, 0.9 rWAR), although they passed on Corey Seager, Michael Wacha, Marcus Stroman, Stephen Piscotty, and Lance McCullers in that round.

 

2013

 

FA's: Michael Bourn, Nick Swisher, Scott Kazmir, Rich Hill, Jason Giambi, Daisuke Matsuzaka, Matt Capps. They got one good year, out of three, from Swisher. Kazmir had a mediocre season, did better after leaving for Oakland. Hill had a poor season, left for Boston after the year. Bourn was an expensive bust. Giambi was washed up. Matsuzaka and Capps washed out.

 

Trades: Esmil Rogers to Jays for Mike Aviles and Yan Gomes. This looked pretty shrewd in 2013-14, although now it seems that Gomes may have been a flash in the pan.

 

In a 3-team deal, they traded Shin-Soo Choo, Jason Donald, Tony Sipp, and Lars Anderson for Trevor Bauer, Matt Albers, Brian Shaw, and Drew Stubbs. They basically swapped Sipp for Shaw and one year of Albers, and sold high on Choo in exchange for Bauer, a highly-rated pitching prospect with control problems and questions about his temperament and character. Four seasons later, Bauer is a #4 starter who will go down in 2016 postseason lore, but for the wrong reasons. As things stand, honestly, it doesn't look like they got great value out of the chips they were holding here.

 

Jeanmar Gomez to Pirates for Quincy Latimore. A mistake. Gomez has been a good reliever for Pitt & Philly, while Latimore was a bust.

 

SS prospect Juan Herrera to Cardinals for Marc Rzepczynski. Good short-term value here.

 

Draft: 1st round (5th pick) on Clint Frazier, rated #53 prospect before this season by Baseball Prospectus, #44 by Baseball America, traded last summer to the Yankees in the Andrew Miller deal. In the 4th round, they picked pitcher Kyle Crockett, who made a splash in 30 IP as a reliever in 2014, but has struggled to stick in the bullpen since.

 

Lost Hector Rondon to Cubs in the Rule 5 draft. Oops.

 

2014

 

FA: David Murphy, Shaun Marcum, John Axford, Jeff Francouer, Nyjer Morgan, Aaron Harang, George Kottaras, Mark Lowe. Murphy did fine at the plate for 1.5 years, although his defense wiped out his value. Axford was so-so, but waived in August. Morgan played in just 15 games, Kottaras played in 10 before he was waived. Marcum missed the season. Harang and Francouer didn't make it out of spring training.

 

Trades: Drew Stubbs to Rockies for Josh Outman. Traded in one poor year from Stubbs (who rebounded the next year in Colorado) for one meh half-season from Outman (sold for cash to the Yankees that summer).

 

Justin Masterson to Cardinals for James Ramsey. Sold low on Masterson for a bust.

 

Asdrubal Cabrera to Nationals for Zach Walters. Again sold low for a bust.

 

Vinnie Pestano to Angels for Michael Clevenger. Swapped a reliever for a pitching prospect who had a 5.26 ERA this season, in his rookie year at age 25.

 

Draft: 1st round (21st) on Bradley Zimmer, OF, rated #23 prospect before this season by BP, #31 by BA. Had a good season in AA at age 23, but struggled in 150 PA at AAA.

 

2015

 

FA: Gavin Floyd, Bruce Chen, Shaun Marcum, Jerry Sands, Anthony Swarzak... nothing to see here.

 

Trades: Joey Wendle to A's for Brandon Moss. Swapped a former 6th round pick/middle infielder for a poor half-season from Moss. Wendle had a 69 OPS+ for Oakland this September, at age 26.

 

Brandon Moss to Cardinals for Rob Kaminsky. Somehow they sold low on Moss to get a 20 year-old pitcher who had been a 1st round (28th) pick in the 2013 draft--and was having a good year in High A. This year in AA, Kaminsky had a 3.28 ERA in 25 starts. Then again, he had just a 6.0 K/9. So his ceiling probably isn't that high.

 

David Murphy to Angels for Eric Stamets. Swapped the last couple months of Murphy's career for a SS who hasn't done much in the minors.

 

Marc Rzepczynski to Padres for Abraham Almonte. Their scouts must have liked Almonte, I guess. Almonte is a toolsy guy who occasionally looks good for short periods (I saw him when he came up with Seattle), but may just be a 4-A player. He has a 91 OPS+ in 118 games with Cleveland.

 

Michael Bourn and Nick Swisher to Braves for Chris Johnson. Cutting their losses, is all.

 

Draft: Ist round (17th) on Brady Aiken, LHP. Rated #71 prospect by BA. Had a rough time in Rookie/Low A ball this season. Triston McKenzie, RHP, taken at the end of the supplemental round, pitched very well--especially at age 18.

 

2016

 

FA: Mike Napoli, Juan Uribe, Marlon Byrd, Joba Chamberlain, Tommy Hunter, Ross Detwiler, Shane Robinson, Robbie Grossman. Napoli was a veteran 1B/DH looking for a team that could use such a bat for a year, and Cleveland got him for $7M. But before we get too excited, note that he put up just a 104 OPS+ (1.0 fWAR, 1.0 rWAR) as a 1B/DH this season, and he hasn't really played well in this postseason, either. The rest of this group is a wash-out, pretty much, and it seems that they gave up on Robbie Grossman too easily.

 

Trades: J.P. Feyereisen, Clint Frazier, Justus Sheffield, and Ben Heller to Yankees for Andrew Miller. Everybody is really psyched about Miller right now, because he's been so dominant in the playoffs (9 IP, but high-leverage!). But it's worth remembering that the Indians gave up a lot of talent for that relief ace. Frazier and Feyereisen are Top 100 Prospects, and Sheffield and Heller have very strong track records as relievers in the minors. If Miller helps Cleveland win a World Series, great, but in the long run the Yankees probably will be happy with this trade. To put it another way: this is a deal you might do if you're in 1st place and desperate for bullpen help, but it is not something you should ever do if you're rebuilding a club like the Twins.

 

Colt Hynes to A's for Coco Crisp. Meh.

 

Draft: 1st round (14th) on Will Benson, OF. Struggled in rookie ball this year, but he is just 18 years old.

 

So that's mainly what the Indians front office has been doing the last 5 years, since Falvey moved into positions where he could be involved in maneuvers. Who knows, given full authority, maybe he will work wonders for the Twins. He came up in the scouting department, and Cleveland apparently has done fairly well in the draft. But judging from this front office track record of late, I don't see a lot that makes me think, if Falvey just keeps doing stuff like that, wow, the future in Minnesota looks bright.

[tobi0040]

Seth,

 

It won't let me reply directly on my mobile . But the two international signings that matter (Sano and Kepler) were under Bill Smith.

 

The free agent guys Terry targeted were very different than Cleveland. They targeted guys with upside and they platoon them to maximize their value. So those things and the big flips are a pretty drastic difference IMO.

[biggentleben]

^^^^^^^

 

That is exactly what you get when you scout prospect stat lines and rankings and not the players...oy.

 

Edit: Not Tobi - he posted as this was posting!

Edited October 20, 2016 by biggentleben