Information on the players cut last week.

Edward Mujica is a Venezuelan the Indians have had in their system since 2001. He’s still pretty young, not turning 24 until early in May. He had a great deal of success since converting to relief in 2005, including a brief shot in the majors in 2006. However, last season was a struggle for him, as he lost the feel of a slider and splitter, leaving him a one pitch pitcher. He had an outside shot to start the season in Cleveland, but was pounded this spring.

Wyatt Toregas has all the makings of a backup catcher; his skill set is probably 40 years past. He had a breakout half-season in Kinston in 2006, but has struggled in a year and a half in Akron. His offensive upside appears to be limited. Should Martinez or Shoppach get hurt, Toregas will become the backup in Cleveland.

J.D. Martin is part of the unfortunate 2001 draft class, one of just a few remnants from that class still in the organization. He threw only about 88 when he was drafted, but still put together Bugs Bunny numbers in Burlington after signing, going 5-1 with 72 strikeouts against 11 walks in 46 innings for a 1.37 ERA. He added a few ticks to his fastball in a brilliant start to 2005 with Akron before he was forced to undergo Tommy John surgery. He has struggled to recover since.

Jeff Stevens is the player the Indians received for Brandon Phillips. He has a low 90s fastball and an occasional curve. He has gotten good results in the minors thus far, but a full season at AA or AAA will help the Indians determine exactly what they have in him. If he gets a reliable second pitch, he could be a fine setup man.

Chris Gimenez was drafted as an outfielder out of college in 2004 in the 19th round, 5 rounds ahead of Toregas. He has converted to catcher, and the conversion has resulted in him being about a year behind Toregas developmentally, although he’s 25 days younger. Gimenez had his great breakthrough in 2007 in Kinston, but then struggled upon promotion to Akron. If he hits in Akron, he’s likely to receive an invitation to the 40 man roster in 2009.

Jordan Brown is a high average, moderate (at best) power first baseman. This isn’t a profile that has gone on to a great deal of success in the majors. The patron saint of this skill set is Mark Grace, while lesser deities are Lyle Overbay and Sean Casey. There are quite a few players who look like the next Mark Grace, but if you don’t have power as a first baseman, you have to do a lot of other things well. Grace and co. hit for a high average, rope doubles, walk quite a bit and do not strike out very often. They also tend to be very nice guys in the clubhouse. Brown will hope to turn a few more doubles into homers in Buffalo, and maybe work on being a people person, too.

Beau Mills is the Indians first round draft pick in 2007. He did well in A ball, even looking surprisingly competent at third base. He’s likely to start in Kinston, with a midseason promotion to Akron likely.

Trevor Crowe has already been well documented in this space.

Rick Bauer is an interesting case. Brought into camp as an NRI, he was a long shot for the last bullpen spot, and didn’t seem to get as good a look as Jorge Julio, Scott Elarton or Tom Mastny. Bauer was a product of the Orioles system at the time that Matt Riley, Calvin Pickering, Ed Rogers, Keith Reed and Richard Stahl were their top prospects. He wasn’t ever well regarded in the system, which should probably tell you that he was almost anonymous as a pitcher. This isn’t a surprise; he struggled early in his career. Despite ERAs over 4.50 in his first three full seasons, he kept moving up a level at a time. Bauer finally repeated AA in 2001, and put together a really solid season across three levels, including the majors.

Bauer had a full time gig as a reliever in Baltimore in 2002, putting up a good ERA with weak peripherals. Over the next two seasons he kept improving his peripherals, but his ERA kept worsening, and by 2005 he spent the majority of his time in the minor leagues, released at the end of the season. Texas gave him a flier in 2006, and were rewarded with a legitimately solid season, but he did not make the team in 2007, instead spending the entire season in the minors with the AAA affiliates of Philly and the Dodgers.

Fluidity in the bullpen is a good thing. You don’t ever want to commit too much money or too much rigidity to the bullpen, because guys like Rick Bauer are just sitting out there able to put forward a perfectly reasonable season or two. Bauer helps show that inviting quite a few fringe major leaguers or six year minor league veterans to camp is an intelligent thing to do. Rick Bauer can put forth a good year or he can drop a 5.00 ERA on you. Comb through the guys in spring and early on in AAA to figure out which one has put it together this season, and reward him. In the bullpen, there’s strength in numbers.