Indians Prospect Insider

The offseason got started in a busy way with the Indians making a flurry of roster decisions last week. On Saturday they made their opening salvo in what is expected to be a busy offseason and traded Esmil Rogers to the Blue Jays for Mike Aviles and Yan Gomes. Tony recaps the trade and gives lot of insight on the variety of things the move may mean for the club, and also discusses all the other roster and coaching decisions from earlier in the week.

The Indians big news of the day was a deal for Mike Aviles and Yan Gomes, and Around the Farm brings you the first player action from the trade, as Gomes is playing in the Dominican Winter League. Jesus Aguilar was busy with an extra-base hit, and Jose Ramirez continued his climb through the system. The Indians also had a couple of players in the AFL Rising Stars game. Join Jim Pete with another Winter League edition of ATF...after the jump.

The Cleveland Indians made their first move of the offseason Saturday as they acquired Mike Aviles and Yan Gomes from the Toronto Blue Jays in exchange for right-handed reliever Esmil Rogers. Aviles appeared in 136 games for the Boston Red Sox last season and hit .250 with 13 home runs and 60 RBI.

Outside of right-handed reliever Cody Allen, no other player moved through the Indians’ system so quickly and at the same time saw his value soar more than right-handed reliever Shawn Armstrong. He piggybacked his strong 2012 campaign with a trip to the Arizona Fall League to continue to test his abilities, develop his stuff, and prove he is ready for a big league opportunity at some point in 2013. Tony recently spoke to him out in Arizona and has all the details on how things are going for him.

The IPI Digest catches you up on anything you might have missed over the past week at Indians Prospect Insider and also notes some of the more popular columns posted at the major news sites and blogs.

A handful of Indians prospects were in action last night in a number of winter leagues. Jose Ramirez put together his best performance so far in the DWL, and Tim Fedroff launched his first home run of the winter season. All this and more as the IPI's Steve Orbanek takes you Around the Farm.

The IPI's Steve Orbanek returns with the latest edition of his Winter Ball Notebook. Carlos Moncrief was removed from the taxi squad this week and should be performing regularly for the remainder of the AFL season. Plus, Steve touches on catcher Alex Monsalve and how he has started to heat up at the plate and first baseman Jesus Aguilar's surprising absence this past week in the VWL.

T.J. McFarland just completed an up-and-down season for the Akron Aeros and Columbus Clippers. Now, the left-handed starter is very much on the radar of the Major League club. But what does the future hold for McFarland? Is he a pitcher in the mold of Aaron Laffey or Jeremy Sowers? Or is he something more? The IPI's Steve Orbanek looks back at McFarland's career in this week's edition of Then & Now.

The calendar may say November, but that does not mean baseball has stopped. Plenty of current and former Indians prospects were making waves Thursday night, including Alex Monsalve, Juan Diaz, and more. Join Jim Piascik and go Around The Farm to catch up on all of last night's action.

The IPI's Jim Piascik completes his final look at the Indians' roster in his year end quarterly rankings with the second half of his piece ranking the #1-24 players of the 48 that played in Cleveland this past season. Asdrubal Cabrera, Jason Kipnis, Carlos Santana, Shin-Soo Choo, Vinnie Pestano and others are all key members to the team, and see where they as well as others rank after the jump.

The IPI's Jeff Ellis is hunkered down in New York City in the wake of Hurricane Sandy, but that hasn't stopped him from looking at how the Indians can improve their roster this offseason. Earlier in the week he touched on President Mark Shapiro's use of WAR (wins above replacement) to evaluate the core players on the current roster, and this time around he looks at 12 free agents that the Indians might be able to sign this offseason using the same WAR approach.

Lots of Indians players were trick or treating on Halloween night in the various offseason leagues in Arizona and Latin America. Some new players debuted this offseason, while some others like T.J. House continue to impress this offseason. Details on all the action from last night as well as the players named to the Rising Stars game in the Arizona Fall League....after the jump.