If there was ever such a thing as a flash in the pan in baseball, it was Super Joe Charboneau. The Indians acquired the outfielder prior to the 1979 season when he was just in single A. He played one season in the minors, hitting 21 home runs and batting .352 before making the jump straight from AA to the big leagues. 

In 1980 Joe Charboneau became Super Joe as he hit 23 home runs as a rookie, knocking in 87. He destroyed the competition that year, taking the AL Rookie of the Year award with 15 of the 28 first place votes, beating Boston's Dave Stapleton by 62 vote points. He became the Indians third Rookie of the Year (after Herb Score and Chris Chambliss) helping the Tribe to three such awards in 30 years. After Chambliss won in 1971 and Charboneau's in 1980, Sandy Alomar, Jr won his own Rookie of the Year as a catcher in 1990. The Indians almost continued this streak of one RoY each decade, but were stymied by a 27 year old Japanese MVP who beat out starting pitcher C.C. Sabathia in 2001.

In 1981 Charboneau missed most of the season with a back injury incurred in Spring Training, splitting time between AAA and the Indians when he did play. In his final season in professional baseball, Super Joe was demoted as far as AA, spending just 22 games in Cleveland. After spending all (11 games) of 1983 in the Indians new AA team, the Buffalo Bisons. This was enough for the Tribe who finally gave up on their potential super star in 1984. He would never return to the Major Leagues, ending what looked to be like one of the most promising young talents to come up with the Indians. Along with the stories of Score and Ray Fosse, Charboneau's ranks among the most disappointing tales in Indians history.

Charboneau can be seen around the Indians from time to time, including occasionally at Fantasy Camp and other Tribe events. Currently he works alongside with former Indian Kevin Rhomberg as an instructor at Super Joe's Baseball & Softball Academy in Painesville, Ohio.

Moving outside the norm for this site, we'll put the Indians aside for a moment to talk about an alternative to fantasy baseball. Many baseball fans (and blog readers) spend considerable time evaluating, drafting and playing fantasy baseball throughout the entire season just to be completely out of the running by the All-Star break. Rather than dropping all of your players in an effort to cause as much chaos as possible, there is another option.

AthleteXchange.com is a fantasy stock market based website where, rather than draft a team of players for each position, you are given a set amount of money to begin, then are allowed to buy shares of whatever baseball players you want. If you would like to buy every single Indian, go for it (you can also short all the Yankees). Players are given prices based on their preseason expectations and are IPOd prior to the regular season. As the players are bought and sold (or shorted and covered) their price will change based on market pressures. As the season goes on, players earn money based on their performances during the year (like $1.00 per RBI). The equation is actually very similar to Burning River Baseball's Player of the Game stat. When the season ends, these two numbers (their price based on market movements and their earnings) are reconciled and the difference is paid out to the traders who own the players.

What this scoring system means is that not everyone would want to have Albert Pujols on his team (portfolio). Instead, it is much better to have an underrated player who excels. This is great for Indians fans as there are rarely any overrated players on the team so it is easy for the players to make their price.

There are two major reasons why people would want to switch from fantasy baseball to AX. First, there is no limit on how many people can buy each individual player (or team stocks, which are also available). This means that everyone can buy Jason Kipnis, even if there are 3,000 people who want to buy him. If your fantasy leagues have been anything like mine, there is always at least one person who picks a homer early in the draft, offsetting everything. Because anyone can buy any player, at any time you can sell any player and buy a new one if someone isn't performing up to expectations. You will never be stuck with any player you don't want or kept away from one you do.

The other major reason to get into AthleteXchange is that the season doesn't end in October. First, you can continue to buy and sell players during the playoffs as they will continue to earn based on their stats until they are done playing. After that, the money you made during baseball season can be used to buy football, NCAA football, basketball, NCAA basketball and hockey stocks. Each season ends with with a delistment day as all the stocks for that sport are removed from the market and traders are able to switch over to other sports.

There are no winners on AX, although there is a spirited competition to be the best trader on the site (there are also competitions during the season where there are individual winners). If you need a reason to play outside of love of the game (and it is a great game), there are prizes. Since the site started in 2009 AthleteXchange has given out over $80,000 worth of prizes, mostly consisting of gift cards and tvs. Every week there are auctions for gift cards while a TV can be purchased any time you hit a set dollar amount. 

In addition to the actual game itself, there is also a very active forum where you can keep track of daily earnings and the stock advice of long term veterans. There is also a lot of random sports talk as well and sometimes contests made up by other players of the game. There is no better game on the internet than AthleteXchange and I highly recommend it for everyone to try. Play it for a week or so until you get a hang of things and you'll never want to play fantasy baseball again.

You can now own Brandon Phillips, even though the Indians can't.

The Domincan Republic became the first team to advance from the Western Pools when they defeated both team Italy and the United States in round two. Carlos Santana will be moving on to the semi-finals with the rest of the team after hitting two singles and moving an important runner to third in the top of the ninth. He has started every single game for the Dominican and played in almost every inning as well with just one at bat going to reserve catcher Francisco Pena. This is far more playing time than he would have gotten had he stayed in Goodyear with the Indians where he had been playing once every three games at most.

Alternate to the DR, team Italy was the first team to be eliminated from round two. In the match-up of the first game losers, Puerto Rico just eked out a win 4-3. Team Italy was winning 3-1 going into the bottom of the eighth when Indians utility man, Mike Aviles continued a rally, knocking in Carlos Beltran with a fielder's choice bringing the score to 3-2. Aviles then scored the tying run on a Luis Figueroa sacrifice fly. Former Indian, Andy Gonzalez knocked in the go ahead run with single immediately after, giving Puerto Rico a lead they would not relinquish. Another former Indian, Fernando Cabrera, picked up the save.

The final deciding game of round two featured the two 1-1 teams with the United States taking on Puerto Rico. Indians featured heavily in this game, although not all the way they would have liked to. Aviles knocked in the first run with a single in the first inning, then scored after another single later in the game. Giovanni Soto was the first Puerto Rican pitcher out of the bullpen and he got two outs, although he did give up a run as well after Joe Mauer hit a one out triple. Even worse for the wear was star reliever Vinnie Pestano, who came in first out of the American pen in relief of Ryan Vogelsong. With two outs already in the sixth, Vinnie allowed a single and two walks to walk in a run. Andy Gonzalez then finished him off with a two run double. With all that, current Indians were responsible for managing the winning team, scoring two of the runs and allowing four in what ended up being a 4-3 win for team Puerto Rico.

Puerto Rico will now play the Dominican Republic to discover who will win top seeding going into the semi-finals. There, the two teams will face the Netherlands and Japan in the first clash between the Eastern and Western Pools.

Ryan Vogelsong took the loss in team USA's final game.

There was nobody raising their eyebrows when Terry Francona announced that Justin Masterson would be the opening day starter when the Indians start the season in Toronto. With a starting rotation that is less than stellar on paper, selecting Masterson was the right choice entering the season. He stands to be important if this year’s Indians are to make a run for the playoffs. Masterson, who seems he has been in the majors forever, will probably be there for a while longer, as he’s only 27 and as he’s demonstrated that he can throw 200 reasonable innings every year. But is Masterson a true number 1 starter? 

Conveniently, his entire big-league career has come during the PITCHf/x era. If you look at Masterson’s breakdown of pitches thrown in his career, he features a sinking fastball, which he throws around 85% of the time and a slider, which he throws around 17% of the time. He doesn’t feature a third pitch or at least another pitch to keep hitters honest. These uneven ratios and lack of a third pitch concerns me whether he is qualified to be a number 1 starter, or a starter at all. Unless one of your pitches is so far superior like a Steve Carlton slider or a Dwight Gooden curveball, most starting pitchers can’t get away with just throwing two pitches. Even Nolan Ryan with his 100 mph fastball threw three pitches. With Masterson’s three-quarter arm angle and propensity to throw groundballs, he would be an ideal relief pitcher. Also, as a reliever, you only need to have two pitches anyway since you are only facing hitters one time through the lineup. For his career, Masterson has a 3.26 ERA as a reliever and a 4.28 ERA as a starter. I know the Indians are short on starting pitching, but they should do the smart thing and put Masterson in the bullpen.

Masterson though, of all the starters, seems to have the most potential to "bounce back." He has been top seven among qualified pitchers in ground ball rate in each of the last three years, and, as a result, he has also been top 20 in ISO allowed in those three years. That ability to prevent hard contact and extra base hits is probably one of the three most important run prevention skills. As for the other two, the ability to strike batters out and the ability to avoid putting them on base for free, Masterson has about a league average strikeout rate for his career, but his ability to limit free passes has been below average as his career BB% is 9.2% (3.58 BB/9).

Another reason Masterson will probably have a "bounce back" year in terms of marginally improved statistics is that we’ve seen what he can be when he keeps the walks under control. He cut his walk rate down to 7.2% in 2011, and his ERA was an impressive 3.21. His SIERA and xFIP were both in the mid-three’s, but with his ability to induce weak contact, Masterson can outperform the ERA estimators when he limits the walks. Masterson's ERA problems have come from an uptick in the HR/FB and BB% areas. If his ERA normalizes without those two elements improving, he's a fringe SP at best anyway.

For the sake of the 2013 season, I hope Masterson proves himself as a legitimate 1 starter. If not, it will be another long season.

About half way through Spring Training (3/6-3/13), all the news is based around injuries and cuts. Chris Perez is progressing nicely through his shoulder rehab and has started throwing on the side, but will most likely not pitch again in a game in Goodyear. Michael Brantley is also doing better and rejoined the Indians lineup on Sunday. He should have no problem making Opening Day in Toronto. Blake Wood, a waiver claim from Kansas City, had elbow surgery and was placed on the 60 Day DL. He will miss all of 2013. Frank Herrmann also had elbow (Tommy John) surgery and will be out for the entire year. Mark Reynolds has returned from his time off and finally played in a game on Wednesday. Finally, Daisuke Matsuzaka was pulled from Monday's game with cramping in his calf. The severity of this injury is not yet known.

The biggest cut so far was Ben Francisco, who was immediately signed by the New York Yankees. Most of the other cuts were minor leaguers already on the 40 man roster that were sent to AAA camp. These players never had much of a chance of going north with the big league team, but may be seen later this season. The biggest non-40 man cut was probably Matt LaPorta who never got to play in a game this Spring. With the cuts and injuries, one player did move up as well when Rich Hill was added to the 40 man roster. Hill has pitched 5 innings this Spring and is yet to give up a run, while striking out five. He could be used as the 8th man in the bullpen as a long-man or could be an extra lefty in addition to Nick Hagadone.

The Indians played pretty well this week, despite poor weather and the loss of the World Baseball Classic players. The team went 3-1-1 with one cancelation. The pitching has been especially impressive over that time with two shut outs including great starts by Scott Kazmir (0 ER allowed in 8 IP this Spring) and Justin Masterson. Ubaldo Jimenez had a nice start as well, throwing 5 innings on Wednesday (3/13) against the White Sox while allowing just two runs.

The WBC Indians have played well for their home countries, but the first one is already back, with Asdrubal Cabrera returning for Wednesday's game after Venezuela was knocked out in round one. Vinnie Pestano, Mike Aviles, Giovanni Soto and Carlos Santana all moved on to round two in Miami and will miss at least a few more games as their teams continue to strive for the championship.

Rich Hill now has a "leg-up" on the competition.

The second round of World Baseball Classic action (for Pools C and D) started today with the heavily favored Dominican Republic taking on Italy and the United States going against Puerto Rico. Across the Pacific, round two has just ended with Japan defeating the Netherlands to take the top seed going into the semi-finals. The Netherlands had to defeat Cuba (which they did 7-6) to move on, but were unable to beat Japan in either of their two matches, losing by a combined score of 26-10. With Cuba eliminated, there is now no question that the top two teams left are Japan and the Dominican Republic.

In their first game in Miami, the Dominicans came back to win against an Italian team that no one thought would get this far. Carlos Santana walked again, but was left out of the scoring. Team Italy scored all their runs in the first inning, three coming off another Chris Colabello (AA for Minnesota) home run. Edinson Volquez then settled down for the DR while Robinson Cano and Edwin Encarnacion combined to take back the lead. After Volquez was pulled, the Republic Dominica allowed just two more base runners for the rest of the game. They will get tomorrow off and play team USA at 7:00 pm EDT Thursday night. 

David Wright came through again for the Americans and has now earned the nickname "Captain America." Tonight he knocked in five of team USA's 7 runs although two were enough as a strong outing by Gio Gonzalez kept team Puerto Rico to a single run scored. Cleveland's Vinnie Pestano pitched the seventh, earning his first hold of the tournament and striking a batter out. Pestano did give up a single during his inning pitched and it came off the bat of fellow Indian Mike Aviles. Aviles started at short stop before moving to third. He was hitless in his other three at bats. Tomorrow, Puerto Rico will play against team Italy in a must win game where the loser will be knocked out of the tournament. The winner will then go on to face the loser of the DR vs USA game.

The Captain Himself

Last season, Burning River Baseball did a month by month ranking of the top minor league prospects (which can be found here, here, here and here). This year there will be even more with a top ten list coming out each month after the season starts in addition to today's. Like last season, players are only eligible to be ranked once per year and are not considered prospects once they have played a game in the Major Leagues (Chris McGuiness is also disqualified this season because for him to remain on the Indians he needs to start the season on the Major League roster). This first top ten contains the players most likely to make their Major League debuts during the 2013 season. Last season, Cody Allen, Juan Diaz and Thomas Neal each made their debuts and saw varying amounts of success. Here are a few that may do the same this year.

1. Chen-Chang Lee - RP - AAA Columbus - 2008 International Free Agent

An injury shortened 2012 season is the only thing keeping Lee from competing for a spot in the bullpen straight out of Spring Training. In more than 150 innings at the upper minor league levels, Lee has always maintained an ERA under 3.00 and has already struck out 286 minor league batters. C.C. Lee will be in camp this year as a member of the 40 man roster, but is more likely to break onto the team mid-season if he can stay healthy.

2. Danny Salazar - SP - AA Akron - 2006 International Free Agent 

Salazar pitched just 34 innings at Akron last season, but only allowed 7 runs and less than a single base runner per inning. Salazar is a very exciting young starter, possibly the best in the entire Indians minor league system. He will likely spend most of 2013 in AAA and may not make his debut until 2014, but he is already on the 40 man roster and could be a September call up this year.

3. Cole Cook - RP - AAA Columbus - Drafted Round 5 in 2010

Cook flew through the Indians minor league system last year and excelled the entire way. Combined over four levels, Cook held a 2.64 ERA through 78 innings. He looks to be a solid starter in the future and could definitely be used by the Indians this season if the starting rotation struggles. He could also be used in the bullpen early on, but the Indians should remain wary of that as he is a much more valuable player as a starting pitcher and shouldn't get used to pitching in short inning situations. If he makes the pros this year he will likely be the second player (after Drew Pomeranz) from the Indians 2010 draft to make it to the Majors.

4. Tim Fedroff - OF - AAA Columbus - Drafted Round 7 in 2008

Fedroff is the Indians top outfield prospect and could easily see time in the Majors this year as the roster works itself out. After having some struggles base running early last year, Fedroff went 9 for 9 in steals after being promoted to AAA. The greatest part about Fedroff is that he hits for a high batting average, something no Indian has been able to do since Victor Martinez left town. Having a utility outfielder who can reach base more than three out of every ten at bats could be extremely useful, so expect to see Fedroff very soon.

6. T.J. House - SP - AA Akron - Drafted Round 16 in 2008

House had a fantastic 2012, placing himself among the Indians top starting pitcher prospects, but don't expect to see him in Cleveland this year unless things go very badly. He has yet to pitch in AAA and should need at least a full season there before he is ready for the bigs. There is a chance he could be called up this September and is definitely one to watch this Spring.

7. Trey Haley - RP - AA Akron - Drafted Round 2 in 2008

Haley played at three levels last season, ending in Akron, but only threw 38 innings. He is very efficient, striking out more than 13 batters per 9 innings at his highest level while maintaining an ERA of 2.33. He was originally meant to be a starter but has been converted to relief pitcher in recent years. The Indians protected him from the rule five draft this year by placing him on the 40 man roster and brought him to Spring Training as well. He has been assigned to Columbus this year and has little chance to see the Majors until 2014 or later.

8. Eric Berger - SP - AAA Columbus - Drafted Round 8 in 2008

Berger has a much lower ceiling than the other starting pitchers listed above, but is further advanced in his development and has had fewer injury issues. Berger performed on the World stage last fall playing for team Israel and will look to lead the 2013 Clipper staff. He is unlikely to break the Indians' starting rotation this season, but could be an option at long reliever at some point during the year.

9. Chun-Hsiu Chen - C - AA Akron - 2007 International Free Agent

Chen is the Indians top catching prospect, but has yet to play above the AA level. After two years of dominance in Akron (.285 AVG and 21 home runs in 221 games) he is certainly ready for Columbus this year and could eventually (think 2014 or later) be the future back-up catcher of the Cleveland Indians.

10. Mike McDade - 1B - AAA Las Vegas - Drafted Round 6 in 2007 

McDade was a minor league, Spring Training invitee in 2013 after playing his entire career to this point in Toronto's minor league system. He had the best Spring of any Indians batter for the time he spent with the team, including an impressive walk-off hit in the Indians first game against the Reds. He is a serviceable defensive firstbaseman and has a decent amount of power. He has already hit 76 career minor league home runs, despite being just 23 years old. If the Indians tire of Jason Giambi and would like a pinch-hitter/DH/first baseman who can actually play the field, McDade could be a good fit.

This is just the upper crust of the Indians farm system. Unless the Indians pull a random player from AA this year (like they did with Juan Diaz in 2012), any new rookie is likely to come from this list. Look out for the next list of ten prospects coming out at the end of the first month of minor league play.

Bob Wickman was an unlikely man to be considered the greatest closer in Indians history, but he is the man who holds the record for most saves in team history. He was never a dominant pitcher (he had a WHIP of 1.32 for his career), but he always got the job done. It seemed that every time entered a game he would allow at least one baserunner, but he ended his time with the Tribe with the second best save completion percent in team history. In 2005 he had one of the best closing seasons ever, saving 45 games in 50 chances, just one away from the single season record.

Wickman's career began a decade before he joined the Indians when he was drafted in 1990 by the White Sox. He didn't become a closer, however, until 1998 after he had joined the Brewers (the Yankees traded him away during the rookie season of a different closer, Mariano Rivera). He came to Cleveland in 2000 in a blockbuster trade that saw future All-Star Richie Sexson and Marco Scutaro going to Milwaukee for Wickman, Steve Woodard and Jason Bere. The Brewers got the better of the deal as Sexson changed from back-up first baseman to a 40 home run hitter with more than 100 RBI every year. Wickman did pull his part of the deal and at the time it looked like Jim Thome would be around forever, so the deal made sense.

Wickman stayed the closer for a longer period than any other Indians pitcher, but after just five seasons, the Indians tired of his rosy cheeks and carefree disposition. He was traded in a deadline deal to the Braves for a catcher named Maximiliano Ramirez (who was later dealt to Texas for Kenny Lofton). 

Despite pitching for 15 years (five of those with the Yankees), Wickman only made the postseason twice and never made it out of the first round. He was a part of the 2001 Central Division Champion Indians and was the only Indians representative to the 2005 All-Star team. The Indians didn't know how much they would miss him until they brought in the next group of closers who were far less effective than Wickman. He retired after just eight games with Arizona in 2007.

Japan opened up action early this morning against the always unpredictable team Netherlands. This time, things worked out a little closer to what would normally be expected with Japan forcing a mercy rule against the Kingdom. What was surprising was that Japan scored the majority of their 16 runs with the long ball, including a home run to lead off the game by Takashi Toritani. This makes Japan the first team to qualify for the semi-finals in San Francisco. The Netherlands will get one more chance as they will face Cuba in the final elimination game of round two. Unlike the first two rounds, the semi-finals are one game playoffs, with the winner moving on and the loser going home. Japan will have a week off before their next game.

In the biggest game of the day, the United States crushed Canada late, winning by a final score of 9 to 4. Adam Jones was the hero today for hitting the two run double that gave the US the lead in the 8th inning. Michael Saunders had another good game for the Canadians and won the Pool D MVP after batting .727 over the three games with 7 RBI. He leads all players in the World Baseball Classic so far in batting average and his ridiculous 2.042 OPS.

In the meaningless Venezuela vs. Spain game, Asdrubal Cabrera went one for two before being lifted for a pinch hitter. Venezuela came back from a three run deficit after the first inning to win 11-6. Cabrera will be the first Indian to return to Goodyear after playing in the WBC. In the other unimportant Pool C game, Mike Aviles hit a two run home run scoring the first two runs for team Puerto Rico against the Dominican Republic. Carlos Santana started at catcher for the third consecutive game and singled and scored in the sixth inning. The Dominican Republic won out in the end 4-2. This means team USA will play Puerto Rico going into round two.

Team USA used small ball early on, trying to take advantage of Canada's poor defense while Justin Morneau and Canada brought the big sticks.

Today was probably the most exciting day so far in this year's World Baseball Classic. Puerto Rico, Italy and the Dominican Republic clinched spots in the second round, Mexico, Chinese Taipei, Spain and Venezuela were eliminated and a hockey fight broke out at a baseball game.

First are the Indian updates. Carlos Santana started at catcher again for the Dominican Republic, who clinched a second round birth by defeating Spain 6-3. Santana did something other than walk in this game as hit a solo home run and knocked in another while going 1 for 5. In other Pool C news, Asdrubal Cabrera will be returning to Goodyear after an 0-3 showing during Venezuela's loss to Puerto Rico. Mike Aviles had another good game on the other side of the field, knocking in three of Puerto Rico's six runs with a sac fly and a single. Akron Aeros pitcher Giovanni Soto also playing, pitching in his first game of the tournament. He went three scoreless, hitless innings and struck out two. Former Indians Juan Rincon and Fernando Cabrera were featured in this game as well.

In International relations news, team Mexico decided to take out their self pity on the Canadian national team when they were on the verge of elimination. After catcher Chris Robinson singled on a bunt with a six run lead in the ninth inning, team Mexico pitcher Arnold Leon retaliated with two very inside balls and finally hit the next batter, Rene Tosoni. As Tosoni was walking to first, Mexican catcher, Sebastian Valle grabbed Tosoni and the fight ensued. Seven players were ejected as were at least two team Mexico fans (one of whom threw a baseball at Canada's first base coach, Larry Walker). 

The fault for the entire incident has to fall completely on team Mexico and pitcher Arnold Leon as WBC tie-breaking rules force teams to run up the score. If team USA had lost the next game against Italy, but won against team Canada, run differential would be the difference between which team advanced and which went home (or back to Spring Training). With a ten run loss looming behind them, team Canada needed to score as much as possible against Mexico to make up for this possibility. They were not trying to show up the home team.

In the final game of the night, team USA recorded their first win against the 2-0 team Italia. David Wright provided all the runs necessary with a towering grand slam to left in the fifth inning. The United States pitching was much improved over last night, and Ross Detwiler was especially worth note as he threw the final four innings without allowing a run, earning himself a save in the process.

Sunday will see the final games of round one for the Western countries and the continuation of round two in Japan. Team Japan will face the Netherlands with the winner moving on to San Francisco while the loser will need to play one last game against Cuba to try and make the finals. Pool C will wrap up with two meaningless games featuring Spain against Venezuela and Puerto Rico against the Dominican Republic. The most interesting match-up will be the win or go home battle between the recently vicious team Canada and your own team USA. Vinnie Pestano was not needed in the game against Italy so he should be fresh and ready to go as Derek Holland will get the start for the Americans.

I though that Canadians were supposed to be a peaceful people. Here's my view of the fight.