Tony%2520Lastoria Archive

Tony continues with his second notebook including all of his news and updates from his recent visit to Arizona for Instructional League. In today's notebook he provides a major injury update on Clayton Cook, a surprising injury and surgery for Tony Wolters, and tons of news, notes and comments on players like Kieran Lovegrove, D'Vone McClure, Dorssys Paulino, Logan Vick, Jorge Martinez, Francisco Mejia, and others.

Several Indians were in action on Monday in fall and winter ball out in Arizona and Venezuela. Ronny Rodriguez and Alex Monsalve continue to adjust to the much higher caliber competition than they are used to while Eric Berger shined in his offseason league debut and Jesus Aguilar continues to struggle out of the gates.

Fresh off his trip home from his visit to Arizona last week to see Instructional League, Tony chimes in with his first of three planned notebooks this week. In today's notebook he gives lots of news, notes and comments about players such as Luis Lugo, Claudio Bautista, Nelson Rodriguez, Luis Gomez, Josh McAdams, Joe Sever and more, and also provides injury updates on Austin Adams, Geoff Davenport, Owen Dew and others.

While the Major League Baseball postseason is in full swing, the offseason baseball leagues are also a week into their season's. The Indians continue to put up some good showings in the Arizona Fall League, Dominican Winter League and Venezuela Winter League this offseason, and yesterday Tyler Holt and Trey Haley both continued that trend with good showings.

Minor league free agency opens tomorrow, Tuesday October 16th, and with that Tony provides a listing of the Indians current 2012 minor league free agents. A few former top prospects that have struggled with injuries are included in that listing, and some recent good performers as well.

Fall Instructional League (FIL) is over and the players have departed and gone home for the offseason. Tony and his IPI staff have compiled all the stats from the four week Instructional League period and today the FIL stats and team leaders are posted. Later this week the Arizona Parallel League (AZPL) stats will be posted and Tony also have two in-depth notebooks coming to wrap up Instructional League coverage for 2012.

Today we wrap up the 2012 Tony Awards with the announcement of the All-Tony teams for 2012. These are the first, second, and third teams as I see them in the Cleveland Indians organization based on their performance this past year. Again, this is not a top prospect listing by position, but a listing based 100% on performance from the 2012 season.

Today we continue the IPI’s year-end awards with the announcement of the Offensive Player of the Year. This award goes to the position player in the Indians organization that had the best year offensively and like with all the awards so far is 100% based on performance and not on prospect standing. This is the final “Tony Award” to be handed out, but this weekend the "All-Tony" team will be posted as Tony lists the best players this season position-by-position in a “1st team” and “2nd team” format.

The Arizona Fall League started up on Tuesday, the Dominican Winter League starts up tonight, and several other offseason fall and winter leagues start up in the coming weeks. Here is a listing of players that are currently set to play in all of the offseason fall and winter leagues as well as an update on the coverage coming from the IPI over the next three months with all the action this fall and winter.

Today we continue the IPI’s year-end awards with the announcement of the Pitcher of the Year. This award goes to the starting pitcher in the Indians organization that had the best year from a performance perspective, not necessarily from a prospect standing. Later this week the Offensive Player of the Year and All-Tony Team will be announced.

Today we continue the IPI’s year-end awards with the announcement of the Comeback Player of the Year. This award goes to the player who came back from a rough 2011 season – be it due to injury or performance – and any other obstacles to put up a very good 2012 season and reestablished and/or solidified himself as a prospect for the Indians. In the coming days the Pitcher of the Year, Offensive Player of the Year and All-Tony Team will be announced.

Today we continue the IPI postseason awards with the announcement of the Relief Pitcher of the Year. The starting pitchers often get most of the focus, so this award gives an opportunity to showcase and recognize some of the top relief pitching performances over the course of the 2012 season. In the coming days the Comeback Player of the Year, Pitcher of the Year, Offensive Player of the Year and All-Tony Team will be announced.

Smoke Signals is back on the cyberwaves tonight for a special half hour edition from 11:00pm – 11:30pm EST. In tonight's special show, Tony Lastoria and Jim Pete discuss the hiring of Terry Francona as the Indians' new manager. They will look at how quickly the Indians moved through their process to find a new manager, what Francona brings to the table, if anything different can be expected with Francona in charge, what the future holds for Sandy Alomar Jr, and much more.

In Tony's weekly notebook he takes a look at how Terry Francona and Sandy Alomar were both very good managerial candidates, but how Francona was the right choice as the new manager of the Cleveland Indians. He also wonders if the front office will be receptive to change this offseason or are in denial, talks about the infield fly call in Atlanta on Friday, asks if the 2012 season was the worst in years, and more.

Today we continue the IPI postseason awards with the announcement of the Biggest Breakthrough. This award goes to the player who may not have been as highly touted coming into the season on prospect lists, but by the end of the season is definitely on the prospect map going into next season. In the coming days the Reliever of the Year, Comeback Player of the Year, Pitcher of the Year, Offensive Player of the Year and All-Tony Team will be announced.

Today we continue the IPI postseason awards with the announcement of the Biggest Disappointment, the one year end award no one wants to win. This award goes to the player who was a highly rated prospect coming into the season who performed poorly or suffered through an injury plagued season. In the coming days the Biggest Breakthrough, Reliever of the Year, Comeback Player of the Year, Pitcher of the Year, Offensive Player of the Year and All-Tony Team will be announced.