Indians ink Lindor and Howard

The Pittsburgh Pirates got all the publicity for their difficult signing of Josh Bell and deservedly so,but the Cleveland Indians quietly signed a tough to sign second rounder in their own right in pitcher Dillon Howard at the signing deadline.
Howard's signing for 1.85 million combined with the 2.9 million deal that was reached with first round shortstop Francisco Lindor made the Indians draft a successful one.

It is always important to sign your first round selection,but in many ways,the Indians needed to sign Howard just as much after the deal with Colorado that cost the Indians their two top pitching prospects in Drew Pomeranz and Alex White along with another prospect on the mound in Joe Gardner.
Howard instantly becomes the top pitching prospect in the system and the Indians almost had to reel Howard in.
The Arkansas commitment was noted to throw in the low to mid 90's and his strength is the command of his fastball as he is reputed to be able have excellent location of the heater on both sides of the plate,according to Tony Lastoria,the guru of the Indians minor league farm.

Lindor is a switch hitting shortstop that is thought of as a player that should stay at shortstop.
Many times,players are drafted as shortstops even though they wind up being moved to other positions.
Lindor is projected to stay at short and should be a similar,but slightly below version of Orioles prospect Manny Machado.

This draft is exactly what Cleveland needed on the surface-a shortstop that the team thinks will be the long term replacement to Asdrubal Cabrera and an excellent pitching prospect to rebuild the depth that was dealt away for Ubaldo Jimenez.
The Indians needed an impact draft after all of their dealings and they may have gotten it....