Indians sign McDonald

[Toy Cannon]

Well, not major news, but I'm just looking for anything baseball related to read. :notme:


CLEVELAND (AP) - Outfielder Darnell McDonald agreed to a minor-league contract with the Cleveland Indians on Wednesday and was invited to spring training.

McDonald, 26, spent most of last season with Ottawa, Baltimore's triple-A farm team, and hit .234 with seven homers and 44 RBIs in 107 games. In four stints with the Orioles, he hit .156 (5-for-32) in 17 games.

McDonald was a first-round draft pick of the Orioles in 1997. He was a high school teammate of Indians backup catcher Josh Bard. McDonald's older brother, Donzell, has played professionally for 10 seasons and was invited to the Indians' training camp in 2002.

[Special_K19]

Never heard of the guy. Doubt he'll be much help to the organization, also doubt he'll make the big league club at all this season.

[Toy Cannon]

Agreed. Like I said, not earth shattering news. Here's his minor league stats:
http://www.sports-wired.com/profiles/MC/tbc6201.asp

[BPBlueSox]

Dude went to my high school when I was there. He was way good at football...nowhere near as good in baseball. He had a scholarship to go to Texas to play football (as a RB) and he took the cash and baseball instead. Dumb move.

[Special_K19]

So what you're saying is that the Browns could use him instead. :D

[BPBlueSox]

Exactly. I'm serious, too. The guy was FANTASTIC at football.

[ORANGEnation]

I don't doubt he was a great football player one bit. The guy was a top prospect for a while while in Baltimore purely based on the physical abilities that made scouts drool, think Wily Mo Pena with a bit of a lower ceiling. Of course, in no other sport is the ability to understand the game and flat out perform as crucial as in baseball, which is why so many of these awesome physical specimens never achieve the great heights expected of them.

On another note, I really like what Cleveland is doing. They are taking a lot of shots in the dark on players with either injury problems, slow development rates, or various other things that has pushed their prices way down. Cleveland has nothing to lose, the worst that can happen is the team is only as good as they were prior to said players joining the team, but should only one or two of their small price acquisitions succeed then the playoffs become a realistic possibility. Good job of staying proactive and not just waiting for that deep minor league system to start producing.

[Special_K19]

That's a real good summation Orange, and sums it up very nicely. If these guys are busts, then there's no problem with putting the youngsters in. But if the Millwoods and Gonzalezs approach their previous forms, it's only for the better. This could be a very good Tribe team next year.