The Indians announced that infielder Luis Valbuena has been designated for assignment. Valbuena, who turns 26 on November 30, saw a lot of time at second base for the Tribe in 2009 and 2010, but spent most of 2011 in the minors.
Valbuena has a career .630 OPS in 806 Major League appearances with Seattle and Cleveland, but has wielded a much more dangerous bat in the minors — he has a career .304/.387/.468 line in 937 plate appearances at Triple-A. With this minor league production in mind, it's easy to imagine Valbuena being claimed by a team looking for infield depth.
I wouldn’t be surprised to see the M’s claim Valbuena.
Well, I guess this means the Indians aren’t looking to compete in 2012, right?
That wasn’t even funny. Jokes like that are so overused.
So are complaints like that.
It’s a watered-down sense of humor. That’s what happens when there’s hundreds of commenters with over 1000 comments.
I don’t think there are hundreds of commenters with over 100 comments.. I would say it’s closer to a dozen.
Valbuena would make a nice reclaimation project for the Jays, who are very limited in the minor leagues, when it comes to infielders. He sounds like another Snider. He tears up triple A, but can’t take his game one notch higher. Perhaps a change of scenery, a different team with a different outlook will benefit him.
He’d certainly represent a better infield bench option than Mike McCoy for the Jays. I don’t know about his defensive prowess, but if he’s a capable backup SS/2B, he be well worth the claim.
but but…this guy hit 280/330/470 with 20 hrs for me in mlb 10 the show
You sure? He sucked for me.
You guys can have him. Valbuena has a major hole swinging at pitches away and he gets very pull-happy, despite having fringy power. If I recall correctly, you’ll find a high percentage of his career HRs came at U.S. Cellular. Also, he doesn’t have better than average speed and isn’t a top-notch defender. Any team looking at Valbuena would do better to ask the Tribe what it would take to get Cord Phelps, who has far superior bat-to-all capabilities and is Valbuena’s equal or superior in all other aspects of his game.
Tigers will.Cheap bat good speed could fix 2B problem and leadoff.They will claim him and have him battle for second base and a roster spot
Like to see atlanta sign him to a MiLB contract
Thanks! Glad my name could be of enjoyment.