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December 19, 2013Jason Knapp, former Cleveland Indians prospect and the centerpiece of the 2009 Cliff Lee trade, is reportedly considering a baseball comeback.
ESPN.com’s Jerry Crasnick first broke the story Monday afternoon on Twitter about Knapp’s hopeful comeback.
Former #indians and #phillies prospect Jason Knapp trying to make a comeback at 23. Key to Cliff Lee trade in 2009.
— Jerry Crasnick (@jcrasnick) December 17, 2013
Knapp has had multiple shoulder surgeries and hasn't pitched professionally since 2010. #Indians released him in 2012.
— Jerry Crasnick (@jcrasnick) December 17, 2013
Knapp's fastball is back in the 90s. If he's healthy, lots of teams will take a look at him. #phillies #indians
— Jerry Crasnick (@jcrasnick) December 17, 2013
On Tuesday, Indians general manager Chris Antonetti confirmed to the media that the team has had some preliminary discussions with Knapp. He said that the comeback is still in the very early stages.
Although the horrific Cliff Lee trade feels like ages ago, Knapp is still only 23 years old. He last pitched professionally late in the 2010 season with Single-A Lake County. The Indians later released him in August 2012.
He was Philadelphia’s second-round pick in the 2008 draft. A 6-foot-5 fire-baller with a hard slider, he was a near can’t-miss prospect before injuries tore up his bright prospects. He has only pitched in 156.1 career minor league innings, albeit with a 3.63 ERA and 208 strikeouts.
Certainly, it’s easy to cheer for Knapp as he looks to make some type of comeback. He’s still quite young and could prosper if his myriad of injury issues truly are in the past. But he’s a long ways away from ever being a relevant prospect again.
[Related: Only Losers Live Here: Re-imagining What Might Have Been In The Cliff Lee Trade]
3 Comments
It’s easy to bash Shaponetti for the Sabathia and Lee trades but you can’t fairly judge a trade until the players establish themselves (especially when you are trading for ALL prospects).
Hell, I’d make the Sabathia deal again. 7 years of Brantley or 17 starts from Sabathia and draft pick compensation? I’ll take Brantley.
Knapp’s injuries really hurt the Lee deal from our perspective. But what if Carrasco builds on his hot second half from last year? We have him for 4 more years too. If he is able to harness his tremendous talent (as he’s done in spurts in the majors), our rotation will be looking good for the future.
Mark Shapiro couldn’t have said it better I guess you have a point if you receive a “prospect” and have him for say five years and it isn’t until year five that he demonstrates or better yet contributes you could justify the deal. Except for the fact that the player you traded had been contributing for the team he was traded to all along. In fact while you may be happy with 7 years of Brantley and a draft pick compensation I’m sure the Milwaukee Brewers loved Sabathia single handedly carrying them into the playoffs. A playoffs that was more then just one game.
I go the other way, you judge the trade on your valuations at the time of the deal. LaPorta, Carrasco, Knapp, and even Marson and Donald all saw top 100 prospect lists. Sometimes you get a bad roll of the die.