If ever there was a Rick Peterson project, this is it.

My first thought: Holy ####, Francisco Cabrera's still around?

They're losing their one time closer of the future so they can add Aaron Fultz? That seems a little wrong. Cabrera's always had good, really great, strikeout rates and I think he'll turn into a good relief pitcher sometime in the near future. I'd love for the Mets to pick him up. And dump Guillermo Mota.

Cabrera's got great stuff, but he has yet to really control it at the ML level -- he's still striking out 10 per 9IP, but he's also giving up nearly 2HR/9 while walking 6/9. He's out of options & basically eating up a bullpen spot for no reason since he can't be brought in in a close game. I hate to see him go because he's got a lot of talent, but it's like the Jason Davis situation earlier in the year -- he's been given his chances & it's time to cut bait.

Yeah, it was time for Fernando to go. The "one time closer of the future" had become a one-inning mop-up guy, and not a very good one at that.

The kid can throw a baseball through a brick wall and he's got a ridiculous slider, but there was no indication that he's anywhere close to being a good major league pitcher right now. You can't play the rest of the season, in the middle of a pennant race, with a 24-man roster. And that's essentially what they were doing carrying Cabrera.

I wish him luck wherever he lands - preferably in the National League or on a crappy AL team. Although I'd prefer that he not go all Jeremy Guthrie or Brandon Phillips on everybody.

Thats Guthrie, Davis, and now Cabrera.
Something might be amiss with the pitching coach/philosophy in Cleveland

Edit : And any semi-smart GM in Baltimore will keep on claiming them and turning them ove to Leo

Maybe, maybe not, but Davis has been awful with the Mariners. It's almost like he's a double agent sent by Shapiro to torpedo the Mariners' season.

Maybe, maybe not, but Davis has been awful with the Mariners. It's almost like he's a double agent sent by Shapiro to torpedo the Mariners' season.

It just seems that Indians draft all these big arms, and they move through the system fast, and then stagnate at the ML level. can't be just bad luck all the time..

a crappy AL team

My crappy AL team should take a chance on him, but probably won't, because the manager has had enough of pitchers with good stuff but lousy command. Too bad. It's a low-risk gamble, IMO.

If the Rays don't claim him first, he'll be on the Last Train to Baltimore to join his friend Mr. Guthrie.

It just seems that Indians draft all these big arms, and they move through the system fast, and then stagnate at the ML level. can't be just bad luck all the time..

YMMV, but I haven't seen enough to firmly come to that conclusion. Davis was a 21st round pick, a draft-and-follow, and has never really had more than one or two reliable pitches. Releasing Guthrie was obviously a mistake, but this is hardly the first time Mazzone's turned somebody else's trash into something good.

If anything, my take is that the Indians aren't drafting enough big arms. They're <strike>wasting</strike> spending a bunch of first round picks on guys like Jeremy Sowers and David Huff, command-and-control lefties with mediocre fastballs. Brian Tallet in the second round a few years back. The guys with the big arms, Sabathia and Adam Miller (and now Guthrie in Baltimore) have either turned into good pitchers or have been too injury-prone to make it to the big leagues. Justin Hoyman too - he was a second rounder, threw in the 90s in college, blew out his elbow 61 innings into his pro career.

I don't think the Indians' record is appreciably worse than most other organizations. The White Sox gave away Jon Rauch, Joey Devine has tanked with the Braves, Macay McBride (drafted by Atlanta in the first round) hasn't done much, the Yankees have drafted 19 pitchers in the first round since the beginning of the draft - Bill Burbach is the one who had the best career in pinstripes. He went 6-11.

So I'm not really all that worried about it. TINSTAAPP and all that. They've developed Sabathia, Carmona, Betancourt, Perez, and a handful of really promising young pitchers like Jensen Lewis and Edward Mujica. Adam Miller too, if he can stay healthy.

edit: Added a quote from #8.

The White Sox gave away Jon Rauch

And, in 2001, drafted local boy Kris Honel in the first round. Honel announced his retirement this week.