Written by Tony Lastoria

---

Hot Stove season is right around the corner for the Indians and Indians fans, and you guys are gonna be blown away at what Tony has put together this off-season with regards to the coverage of the Tribe's payroll and farm system.  Tony explains it all in this summary column, supplying all the links you need for your bookmarking purposes.  Just Tony Being Tony.  Enjoy!!

As the Hot Stove season gets ready to kick off in the next few days, there will be a lot of rumors surrounding the Indians on who they may sign in free agency or look to obtain in a trade.  In addition to that, there will be much discussion on the Net about the team payroll, the outlook of the team over the next several years, what players are under the team's control and for how long, how many options certain players have remaining, service time accrued, and contract information. 
 
This is where our new Indians payroll and contract page for 2008 comes into play. 
 
Back when this site first started almost two years ago, one of the things I really wanted Swerb to add was some much needed reference material on the Indians.  There is a lot of information on the Indians to reference on the Net, but a lot of what is out there on the web is incomplete, poorly organized, or not even available.  So, this is where the payroll and contract page comes in, as this page should answer most of the questions in regard to team payroll and player contract information. 
 
With the new 2008 payroll and contract page, you will see a complete listing of the current 40-man roster showing the following: 

• Team payroll for 2008-2014
• Player control outlook for the next seven years
• When a player should achieve free agent status
• Upcoming arbitration status
• Contract information for each player
• Option years remaining for each player
• MLB service time for each player
• MLB and MiLB minimum salary requirements for the next few years

The page can also be found by clicking on the sleek new banner in the middle of the front page of the site, and will be updated constantly throughout the offseason and through spring training. 
 
Also, another thing I really wanted to do when we started this site was bring the minor leagues more to the mainstream.  With so little coverage of the Indians farm system in the newspapers and other media outlets, fans often are not familiar with anyone beyond the top two to three hyped prospects in the system.  In addition to the weekly Minor Happenings column and player interviews I do, I wanted to make a reference page for all things minor league related to the Indians. 
 
I finally did that with my new Cleveland Indians Minor League Insider page that just went up last week.  This should be a temporary home, as this information should eventually make its way to a reference page here on TheClevelandFan.com, but for now this information will be displayed off-site here. 
 
This new site is still a work in progress as I am in the process of updating some of the reference links, adding more features, and adding all my old minor league articles from the 2007 season.  In the end, you should find out all you need to know on this page when it comes to the Indians minor league system.  Expect lots of analysis on prospects, scouting reports, interviews, news, views from scouts, videos, pictures and more. 
 
Headlining the page is the 2008 Top Prospects (coming in January, more on this below) and 2007 Top Prospects, which show detailed scouting reports on each player to give fans an overview on the statistics, strengths, weaknesses, and future outlook for each player.  In addition, the following reference material is provided: 

• Organizational depth chart: A position-by-position listing showing players from the majors down to the rookie leagues.
• 2007 Rule 5 Draft eligibles: A complete list of players eligible to be picked in the Rule 5 Draft this December.
• Draft History: This will show all the Indians draft picks in recent drafts, and eventually go as far back as 2001 (or further).
• Player index: This will have a listing of players, and when you click on it all relevant articles and interviews pertaining to the player will show.
• Videos: I have many videos of prospects in action, and some will be featured on the site, while others listed in their scouting reports.
• Transactions: Starting with the 2008 season, I will list every Indians minor league transaction the moment it happens or I get confirmation on it.
• Affiliate Listing: Each affiliate will be listed with direct links to their roster, schedule, standings, and player statistics.

Also, the main portion of the site will consist of adding the minor league articles as they post here at TheClevelandFan.com and SportsTime Ohio, but will also include short blurbs with news and developments as they happen inbetween all those articles.  Those short blurbs will only be here. 
 
Last, for the minor league fans out there, be on the lookout for the Second Annual TheClevelandFan.com Indians Top Prospect List.  This year, it will be expanded from 35 to 50 players, and also include another 15-20 players who get a quick mention.  The writeups will be longer for each player than last year, especially for the players from #11 to #50.  Detailed scouting reports showing statistics, strengths, weaknesses and the future outlook for each player will be provided, and in cases where I was able to capture video of the player this past season there will be a comprehensive video listing for them. 
 
I am already in the middle stages of completing this project, and with the help of site writer Denny Nosco as well as contributors/readers Art Gold and Darren Lewis, have pretty much finalized the Top 50 list and will be working on the scouting reports the next several weeks.  There is also the possibility this Top 50 Prospect list could find its way into print, but more on that later if this indeed does happen. 
 
Anyway, these topics always come up when discussing our beloved Tribe, whether it be the team payroll or how many options a player has remaining.  Or, who prospects like Jordan Brown or Kelvin De La Cruz are.  This information has never been easy to find or has usually been scattered all over the Net, so the hope here is this will become your one stop shop for this type of information. 
 
Any questions, feedback or suggestions on what you want to see added to either the new payroll and contract information page or the new Indians Minor league Insider page, feel free to let me know at tlastoria@theclevelandfan.com.