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Indians Designate Beau Taylor For Assignment

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The Indians are designating catcher Beau Taylor for assignment, Mandy Bell of MLB.com was among those to pass along. Right-hander Cam Hill is going on the 60-day injured list, per Zack Meisel of the Athletic (Twitter link). The moves clear a pair of 40-man roster spots for outfielder Ben Gamel and lefty reliever Oliver Pérez, who made the Indians’ Opening Day roster. Cleveland will need to make another 40-man move to accommodate the addition of right-hander Bryan Shaw.

Taylor has only managed 60 MLB plate appearances between the A’s, Blue Jays and Indians over the past two seasons. The 31-year-old backstop carries a .256/.373/.385 line over parts of three years at Triple-A. In addition to that high minors productivity, Taylor still comes with a pair of minor-league option years, so it’s possible other clubs will have interest in him as a depth catcher. Cleveland will have a week to trade him or place him on waivers.

Indians Announce Roster Decisions

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The Indians have informed first baseman Jake Bauers, lefty Oliver Perez, infielder Yu Chang and outfielder Ben Gamel that they’ve made the Opening Day roster, the club announced to reporters (Twitter links via Ryan Lewis of the Akron Beacon-Journal). First base prospect Bobby Bradley, outfielder Bradley Zimmer, veteran righty Blake Parker and young lefty Kyle Nelson have all been told they will not head north with the club.

The slate of decisions means that Bauers, who is out of minor league options, will get one more opportunity to fend off Bradley. Bauers didn’t show particularly well this spring, slashing just .200/.429/.280 in 35 trips to the plate. Bradley’s .303/.314/.636 output trounced that, but we’re looking at small samples of data and it’s common this time of year for clubs to be averse to losing out-of-options players on waivers.

Bauers is still just 25 years old and is a former top prospect himself, although he didn’t play in the big leagues last year and carries a rather marginal .214/.314/.377 slash in 811 career plate appearances. Bradley, 24, got an opportunity in the big leagues last season but stumbled with a .178/.245/.356 line in 49 trips to the plate.

With the Indians optioning both Zimmer and Oscar Mercado to Triple-A this week, it appears that Gamel, who’d been in camp as a non-roster invitee, will be one of their primary options in center field. He could split time with Amed Rosario there, although Cleveland’s experiments with him in the outfield thus far in Spring Training have been somewhat adventurous. Gamel has more experience there and seems likely to see plenty of opportunity despite a tepid .212/.316/.364 showing in 38 spring plate appearances.

Chang’s case for a roster spot improved earlier in camp when veteran Mike Freeman was traded over to the Reds. The 25-year-old Chang hasn’t hit much in parts of two seasons with the Indians in 2019-20, but he’s also received just 97 plate appearances in the Majors. Perez, meanwhile, has spent the past three seasons in Cleveland’s bullpen and thrown quite well, so it comes as little surprise that they’ll bring him back for a fourth year. Parker came to camp with a decent chance to grab a spot but has been clobbered for a dozen runs in 6 1/3 innings. His track record in the big leagues is obviously quite a bit better than that disastrous showing, but it’s not hard to see why Cleveland went in another direction after that audition.

Though the team has announced its decisions, the moves themselves aren’t yet formal. Both Perez and Gamel were in camp on non-roster deals, as was veteran righty Bryan Shaw, who made the club earlier in the week. All three will need to be added to the 40-man roster between now and Opening Day, so the Indians clearly have some roster tweaking on the horizon.

Indians To Re-Sign Oliver Perez

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The Indians and veteran left-handed reliever Oliver Perez have agreed to a new deal, reports MLB Network’s Jon Heyman (via Twitter). It’s a minor league deal with an invitation to Spring Training, tweets Tom Withers of the Associated Press. The 39-year-old Perez has spent the past three seasons in Cleveland. Perez is represented by the Boras Corporation.

Perez has had something of a late-30s renaissance in Cleveland, pitching to a combined 2.67 ERA and 3.22 SIERA in 91 innings since landing with the Indians back in 2018. His strikeout and walk rates trended in the wrong direction during last year’s shortened slate of games — likely a function of facing more right-handed batters than left-handed batters in a season for the first time since 2014. The three-batter minimum rule for relievers is a detriment to specialist relievers like Perez, but he held his own against righties, who managed only a tame .229/.341/.286 batting line in 41 plate appearances against him.

The Cleveland bullpen is clearly lacking in stability, though fireballer James Karinchak looked every bit the part of a dominant closer in 2020. He’ll be set up by steady Nick Wittgren and the talented but still inexperienced Emmanuel Clase. Righty Adam Plutko figures to give the team some long relief and spot-start innings, and Cleveland has also brought Blake Parker, Heath Hembree and Bryan Shaw into the fold on minor league deals similar to their pact with Perez.

Latest On Zach Plesac, Mike Clevinger

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The Indians made a statement over the weekend when they optioned right-handers Mike Clevinger and Zach Plesac to their alternate training site in the wake of the pair’s violation of MLB’s Covid-19 protocols.

Buster Olney and Jeff Passan of ESPN shed further light on the details leading up to the decision to option the two right-handers. Olney reports that multiple teammates considered opting out of the season if Clevinger and Plesac immediately rejoined the club. Passan further reports that veteran lefty Oliver Perez was one of those players, and he adds that Francisco Lindor “was outspoken as well” (though there’s no indication Lindor threatened an opt-out). Plesac took to Instagram last week to lament that the media had overstated his violation of the league’s protocols, but his six-minute rant only further angered teammates, according to both Olney and Passan.

Right-hander Adam Plutko was candid when addressing reporters on the issue last week. That was before Plesac’s video, wherein he stated, “I know how important it is that we must follow these certain procedures,” despite having violated those procedures just 96 hours prior. Asked if he’d seen the video, Indians skipper Terry Francona said that he had and plainly told reporters that he “was disappointed” (Twitter link via Ryan Lewis of the Akron Beacon-Journal). Plesac has since deleted the video from his Instagram.

Beyond the immediate competitive aspects of the move to option both players, there are also some potentially major service time implications. Passan points out that Clevinger, if he spends 20 or more days at the alternate site, would have his eligibility for free agency pushed back by a year. Because service time is prorated in 2020, each day of the schedule is akin to 2.77 days of big league service time. Clevinger needs to spend at least 48 days of this 67-day season in the Majors to cross into the next service class. That had been considered a given prior to the season but is now a scenario very much worth monitoring. Plesac will graduate to the next service class regardless, but he may no longer be on pace for Super Two status, as he previously was.

The Indians, of course, have a noted high-risk player in Carlos Carrasco, who missed much of the 2019 season following a leukemia diagnosis. Carrasco stunningly was able to return to the mound in September, earning American League Comeback Player of the Year honors in the process. Even looking past any health risks in the locker room, though, both the Marlins and Cardinals have had their schedules blown up by Covid-19 outbreaks within their clubhouses. Violation of the league’s health-and-safety protocols comes with the risk of creating a third such situation. Given that the rest of the team — and the overwhelming majority of big leaguers in general — appear to be following those protocols and remaining at the team hotel when on the road, it’s understandable that teammates were outspoken in their disapproval.

The manner in which the club handles the situation moving forward remains to be seen. Optional assignment rules dictate that both Clevinger and Plesac will need to spend 10 days at the alternate training site unless either is recalled as a replacement for a player who is being placed on the injured list. There will surely be trade speculation leading up to this year’s Aug. 31 deadline, although there’s no indication yet that the organization would take such a drastic action.

For now, the Indians can carry on with a still-strong rotation of Shane Bieber, Carrasco, Aaron Civale and Plutko. Lefty Logan Allen, already on the big league roster, is one option to make a start if needed. Right-hander Jefry Rodriguez, who made eight starts for Cleveland in 2019, is another option down at the team’s alternate site.

Quick Hits: Angels, Ohtani, Rojas, Revenue, Lefties

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A few brief words of update on the Angels. Billy Eppler said during a press conference call that the team is considering various options for Shohei Ohtani this season, including “delaying him a little bit”, relays Jeff Fletcher of The Orange County Register (link). We’ve already heard that the club plans to keep him on an NPB-esque pitching schedule this season as he continues to work back from Tommy John surgery, but it’s uncertain if “delay” in this case means he’ll be held out of action late into Spring Training, or further.

Meanwhile, Maria Torres of the LA Times reports, from that same call, that Eppler acknowledged that the team “can add” to its already “strong” group of pitchers (link). That’s not a definitive statement, and the club’s opportunities to add might be dwindling now that one more arm is off the open market as of Saturday evening. Torres also reports that 26-year-old prospect Jose Rojas will receive an invite to big league camp this spring after a Triple-A season in which he hit .293/.362/.577 with 31 home runs.

More from around the game…

  • Declining attendance be damned—MLB’s revenue streams are flowing fine. According to a Saturday piece from Forbes, gross revenues for the league were a record $10.7 billion for 2019, up from $10.3 billion last year, according to industry sources who spoke on the condition of anonymity. And the upward slant should continue in future years; as noted by Forbes, the league’s deal with Fox television kicks in during the 2022 season and that deal alone has a reported value of $5.1 billion. For those wondering, MLB player payroll and benefits came in at $4.7 billion last year—leaving plenty of pie to go around for administrators, front-office types and ownership figures. The league has seen adjusted revenue growth of 386% since 1992.
  • ESPN’s Sam Miller took a closer look at the forthcoming thee-batter rule, including its real-life implications for several veteran LOOGYs. Miller coins the term “Ollies” (in honor of Indians journeyman Oliver Perez) to represent any appearance that is set to be outlawed under the new rules–which require that pitchers face three batters or get the final out of an inning before being replaced. Perez led the league with 22 such “Ollies” in 2019, while Andrew Chafin, Alex Claudio and Adam Kolarek all logged 15 or more such appearances. Of course, the forthcoming change didn’t stop the Brewers from re-signing Claudio earlier this offseason, so we can all rest assured that left-handed specialists aren’t going anywhere for the time being.

Oliver Perez’s 2020 Option Vests

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Oliver Pérez came on in the sixth inning of yesterday’s Indians game to strike out Royals first baseman Ryan O’Hearn. In the process, he locked in $2.75MM, as Zack Meisel of the Athletic points out (via Twitter).

Cleveland’s biggest signee of this past offseason, Pérez was guaranteed just $2.5MM for 2019. However, that pact came with a 2020 option that vested for $2.75MM yesterday, as the lefty appeared in his 55th game of the season. It would escalate to $3MM if he entered 60 contests.

As MLBTR’s Mark Polishuk noted when taking inventory of every vesting option around baseball, Pérez seems likely to take home that $3MM maximum salary, with over a month remaining to get into five more games. Given his production, the club will no doubt be happy to keep cutting the checks.

While he hasn’t been quite as otherworldly in 2019 as he was last season, Pérez has been more than effective, again putting up sparkling strikeout (29.3%) and walk (6.1%) rates with run prevention numbers to match (2.83 ERA). While that production has been in short stints (he’s logged just 35 innings in those 55 games), his per-batter dominance has been a boon to a bullpen that’s been the league’s best at keeping runs off the board. There’s no doubt the 38 year-old will be happy to be back next season, as he recently told Meisel he planned to continue playing regardless of his contract status.

If there’s any reason for concerns about this development, it could be that pitchers with Pérez’s skillset will be diminished by the forthcoming three-batter minimum for relief pitchers. Left-on-left specialists, particularly, seem most threatened by the rule, which is likely to kick off in 2020 and could enable opposing managers to stack their lineup with opposite-handed pinch hitters to put the pitcher at a platoon disadvantage. While Pérez handled right-handers reasonably well between 2017-2018, they’ve teed off on him this season, and pitchers as reliant on a slider as Pérez is tend to have sizable platoon splits.

That said, $2.75MM (or $3MM) remains a reasonable price to pay for a pitcher who’s been so effective in his time in Cleveland. In pursuit of a playoff spot, whether it be the AL Central or Wild Card game, expect Terry Francona to lean heavily on the wily southpaw down the stretch.

2020 Vesting Options Update

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With over two-thirds of the 2019 season in the books, let’s check in to see how seven players are progressing towards possible vesting options in their contracts.  For those unfamiliar with the term, a vesting option is an agreed-upon threshold within a player’s contract (usually based on health and/or playing time) that, if achieved, allows the player to alter the terms of the contract for the next season, and perhaps beyond in some cases.

Some vesting options aren’t reported, so it could be that more players beyond this septet could also be playing towards gaining more guaranteed money or contractual freedom for the 2020 season.  For now, let’s examine just these seven names…

Yonder Alonso, Rockies: Under the terms of the two-year, $16MM deal Alonso signed with the Indians in the 2017-18 offseason, his $9MM club option (with a $1MM buyout) for 2020 becomes guaranteed if the first baseman first passes a physical, and then hit plate-appearance benchmarks.  Unfortunately for Alonso, he has only 287 PA this season, so he’s on pace to fall well short of reaching either 550 PA in 2019 or 1100 total PA in 2018-19 — either of which would’ve caused his option to vest.

Andrew Cashner, Red Sox: Having struggled through six starts since coming to Boston in a trade from the Orioles, the Sox have a legitimate performance-related reason for moving Cashner out of their rotation.  There would also be a financial motive involved, as Cashner’s $10MM club option for 2020 would become guaranteed if he amasses 340 total innings in 2018-19.  After today’s abbreviated outing against the Angels, Cashner now has 279 2/3 IP over the last two seasons, putting him within distant range of causing his option to vest if he keeps receiving starts.  (Incidentally, the option could also vest into a player option if Cashner hits the 360-inning threshold.)

Sean Doolittle, Nationals: The closer finished his league-high 47th game of the season today, giving him 82 games finished since the start of the 2018 season.  Should Doolittle reach 100 games finished, the Nationals’ $6.5MM club option ($500K buyout) on Doolittle for 2020 would vest into a mutual option, giving him the opportunity to opt out of his contract and enter into free agency.  This is definitely one to watch down the stretch, since with the Nats in a postseason race and the rest of their bullpen struggling, D.C. won’t hesitate to use their closer for every save situation possible.  Manager Davey Martinez has used Doolittle in a traditional late-game role, so shifting him into high-leverage situations outside of the ninth inning to cut down on his games-finished numbers would be a risky (and controversial) tactic, to say the least.

Chris Iannetta, Rockies: With 110 starts at catcher since the beginning of the 2018 season, Iannetta won’t reach the 220 catching starts he needed to convert the Rockies’ $4.25MM club option on his services for 2020 into a guarantee.

Wade LeBlanc, Mariners: The unique extension signed by LeBlanc in July 2018 carried three $5MM club option years for 2020-22 that can all vest into guarantees.  That 2020 option turns into guaranteed money if LeBlanc throws 160 innings in 2019 and doesn’t have a left arm injury at season’s end.  A month-long IL stint due to an oblique strain earlier this season almost certainly ended LeBlanc’s chance at the 160-inning plateau, as he has only 98 IP thus far.  While he’s still eating a good share of innings as a “bulk pitcher” behind an opener in most outings, it seems likely that LeBlanc won’t reach his vesting threshold.

Brandon Morrow, Cubs: Morrow’s two-year, $21MM deal carried a 2020 vesting option worth $12MM, or a $3MM buyout.  It wasn’t actually known what the terms were of this option, though since injuries have kept Morrow from pitching since July 15, 2018, it’s safe to assume the option won’t vest, and Morrow will be a free agent this winter.

Oliver Perez, Indians: The veteran southpaw appeared in his 49th game of the season today, so barring injury, he’s a lock to hit the 55 appearances required to guarantee his $2.75MM club option for 2020.  He also seems like a pretty safe bet to lock in even more money, as that option will be guaranteed at $3MM if Perez pitches in 60 games.  The Tribe likely won’t at all mind having Perez back for another season, as the reliever continues to dominate left-handed batters.

Indians Re-Sign Oliver Perez

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The Indians announced Friday that they’ve re-signed left-handed reliever Oliver Perez. It’s a one-year contract with a vesting option for the 2020 season for the Scott Boras client. Paul Hoynes of the Cleveland Plain Dealer reports that Perez will be guaranteed $2.5MM (Twitter link). Perez has a $2.75MM club option that will automatically vest if he reaches 55 games pitched, per Fancred’s Jon Heyman (Twitter link). The option can also vest at $3MM if he appears in 60 games.

Oliver Perez | David Richard-USA TODAY Sports

Perez, 37, quietly enjoyed a surprising career renaissance with the Indians last season, working to a sparkling 1.39 ERA with 12.0 K/9, 1.9 BB/9, 0.28 HR/9 and a 41.2 percent ground-ball rate in 32 1/3 innings of work. Perez’s workload in the Majors was limited by the fact that he opened the season with the Yankees’ Triple-A affiliate after agreeing to a minor league deal in hopes of rebuilding his stock. The opportunity to do so didn’t present itself with the Yankees, but Perez latched on with Cleveland on a big league deal in early June and firmly put himself back on the map as a viable bullpen option over the season’s final four months.

While one might think that Perez will serve as a left-handed specialist, as he has in the past, his dominance in 2018 should earn him opportunities regardless of opponent. Righties and lefties alike were utterly befuddled by Perez last year; he held left-handed opponents to a .194/.215/.274 slash, which is excellent but still pales in comparison to the comical .104/.218/.104 slash to which he limited righties.

It’s been a quiet offseason for Cleveland, with Perez somewhat incredibly representing their first Major League free-agent signing of the offseason. The Indians have been more active on the trade front, though they’ve dealt away more MLB talent (Yan Gomes, Yonder Alonso, Edwin Encarnacion) than they’ve acquired while also losing free agents Michael Brantley (to the Astros) and Cody Allen (to the Angels).

That makes for a puzzling offseason for a club that entered the winter widely expected to run away with its fourth straight division title in 2019. Cleveland may still be the favorites, but improvements by the Twins and White Sox alike will give the Tribe a tougher time in securing a division title — especially considering the lack of improvement this winter. Payroll issues, however, have been said to be a very real limitation in Cleveland after a franchise-record figure in 2018, and it doesn’t seem as if the team is poised to make any notable expenditures between now and Opening Day. All that said, if Perez is able to remotely approximate last season’s excellence, he’ll help to solidify a bullpen that was in dire need of augmentation.

Relief Market Notes: Kimbrel, Brach, Axford

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With Adam Ottavino leaving the board today, only one of the top nine relievers on MLBTR’s top 50 free agent list — the top member of that group, of course — remains unsigned. That seems to set the stage for the next tier of the relief market to kick into action. Cody Allen, Bud Norris, and Brad Brach all earned placements on our ranking but remain unsigned. Other still-unsigned veteran pen arms warranted honorable mention status: Justin Wilson, Ryan Madson, Oliver Perez, Adam Warren, and Tony Sipp. I recently broke down those and other names that are still available.

Here’s the latest on the relief market:

  • The Red Sox are continuing to tamp down expectations of a move to add a closer. As Chris Cotillo of MassLive.com writes, president of baseball operations Dave Dombrowski referred to free agent closer Craig Kimbrel’s Boston tenure in the past tense in comments today. He also suggested the team feels comfortable with its existing options to handle the ninth inning, naming Matt Barnes, Ryan Brasier, Tyler Thornburg, and Steven Wright as possibilities. Needless to say, that’s an interesting foursome for the defending World Series champs to propose as a slate of Kimbrel successor candidates. If there’s still a chance of a reunion with the all-time great reliever, Dombrowski didn’t hint at it. “Sometimes, you have to evaluate where you’re going to spend your dollars,” he said. “We decided to keep back the rest of the core of the club. We like our team a great deal and we think some of the guys internally can do the job. Can we get better? Perhaps. But we’ll see what takes place.”
  • With no future commitments to speak of and a path to contention, the Twins seem to be a team to watch on the market. If nothing else, the club figures to bolster its pitching staff. The aforementioned Brad Brach is among the possible targets, according to LaVelle E. Neal III of the Star Tribune (Twitter link). The Minnesota front office has certainly shown an inclination to limit its risks in free agency, and it stands to reason that Brach will be available for a lesser and shorter commitment than many of the hurlers that have gone off the board already. The 32-year-old had something of a messy 2018 season after a string of productive campaigns, which could make him a nice value proposition.
  • Veteran reliever John Axford is making no secret of his desire to return to the Blue Jays for the coming season, as Ben Nicholson-Smith of Sportsnet.ca writes. With his family rooted in Toronto, the Canadian hurler says it’s where he’d like to be. Axford’s pitch is that he’d be a good mentor for a young team — and, perhaps, will again turn into a summer trade asset. There’s certainly an argument to be made that Axford would be a good fit, particularly if he’s again willing to take a minor-league deal. As Nicholson-Smith notes, Axford is delivering plenty of heat with his fastball, and the Jays still appear in need of some pitching depth.

Quick Hits: Perez, Luzardo, D’Backs

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A few items from around the baseball world as we head into the new week…

  • “There is interest on both sides for a reunion” between the Indians and left-hander Oliver Perez, Paul Hoynes of the Cleveland Plain Dealer reports, though Hoynes doesn’t expect a deal (if any) to happen for at least a month.  Perez is one of many veteran relievers who may be somewhat stuck in limbo until later in the offseason as teams try to wait out the market, though the southpaw figures to draw another Major League contract based on his strong performance in 2018.  After spending Spring Training and the first two months of the season on minors contracts with the Reds and Yankees, Perez landed in Cleveland and posted a 1.39 ERA, 6.14 K/BB rate and an 11.97 K/9 over 32 1/3 innings, posting dominant numbers against both left-handed and right-handed batters.  Even expecting some regression, Perez at worst looks like he could be a LOOGY type.  Outside of closer Brad Hand, Tyler Olson is the only other left-handed reliever in the Tribe’s pen, so there’s certainly a case for Perez to return.
  • Left-handed pitching prospect Jesus Luzardo is drawing raves from both inside and outside the Athletics organization, the San Francisco Chronicle’s Susan Slusser writes, leading to increased speculation that he could begin the season on Oakland’s Major League roster.  The 21-year-old Luzardo jumped from high A-ball to Triple-A in 2018, posting a combined 2.88 ERA, 10.6 K/9, and 4.3 K/BB rate over 109 1/3 total innings.  Those numbers did include a 7.31 ERA over 16 Triple-A frames, however, and two rival scouts felt Luzardo needed a bit more minor league seasoning.  (Left unsaid were any service time considerations the A’s might have about gaining an extra year of team control over the top prospect.)  On the other hand, Luzardo’s widely-praised poise and makeup makes him seem like a good candidate to at least mentally handle the jump to the big leagues, and his talent could also be too much to ignore.  “I don’t see any way he can’t break [camp] with us,” special assistant Grady Fuson said, also favorably comparing Luzardo to several past Athletics arms.  “He’s one of the best things to come along here in a while.  If you take our own history, he has better stuff than [Mark] Mulder. He’s got better heat than [Barry] Zito. You could kind of compare him to Gio Gonzalez at the same point, but with much, much better command.”
  • With the Diamondbacks mired in a disappointing season back in August 2016, the Dave Stewart-led front office proposed a five-year rebuilding plan for the team, the Athletic’s Zach Buchanan reports (subscription required).  Largely compiled by former assistant GM Bryan Minniti, two of the plan’s main components involved trading Paul Goldschmidt and exploring an extension with shortstop Jean Segura, which created an immediate contrast to what the D’Backs actually did when Stewart was replaced by current GM Mike Hazen — Segura was the one dealt as part of a noteworthy trade with the Mariners, while Goldschmidt was kept in the fold for two more seasons, leading the Snakes to a postseason berth in 2017.  The piece is well worth a full read for a look at this potential alternate history of Arizona baseball, as Buchanan weighs the pros and cons of whether it would’ve been wiser for the D’Backs to begin a rebuild then as opposed to the semi-retooling that the club has undergone this offseason.  Of course, as one source mentioned to Buchanan, Stewart might not have been the best GM to entrust with a rebuild, given how his front office was often criticized for its approach to acquiring and evaluating minor league talent.
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