Whitney Returns

Promoted 3B Matt Whitney to Lake County (A-) from Extended Spring

Demoted IF Luis Cotto to Extended Spring from Lake County

Juan Gonzalez's going away present (supp. round, 2002) returns after a freak accident in Spring Training of 2003. Although his injury wasn't as noted as Alex Escobar's, it may have been more damaging. Whitney may have been playing third base for the Akron Aeros tonight instead of DHing for the Captains, Hector Luna may have been protected over Corey Smith, and the Indians might have been content to stay with Casey Blake until Whitney was ready. Well, the last part may still happen, but Whitney's timetable for the big leagues has been set back just about 2 years because of the injury.

How special was Whitney before the injury? Baseball Prospectus has a Similarity Index on their PECOTA cards that measures their "historical uniqueness". The lower the score, the more unique the player is. Anything below 20 is historically unusual. Whitney rated a 2. Yes, he's pretty special.

I doubt that they'll do anything drastic with Whitney this year. 2004 is meant only for Whitney to get back into playing shape.