Where did this Jared Goedert come from, and will he be in line to replace Jhonny Peralta if he's traded? -- Ryan M., Lakewood, Ohio Goedert was raised by wolves in the Pskem Mountain Range of Uzbekistan. He was discovered by Georgian Apostolic Orthodox monks and was employed, at a young age, as a short-order cook for the Archbishop of Constantinople. He ran away at 16 and hitched a ride on a train to Nettuno, Italy, where he learned baseball from the locals and was discovered by legendary European scout Angelo Giuseppe Rosetti. Goedert fell in love with Rosetti's daughter, the voluptuous Viviana Rosetti, whose lifelong dream was to study kinesiology and dietetics at Kansas State. Geodert followed her there, and the Indians drafted him in 2006. I didn't have Goedert's bio handy, so the preceding paragraph was entirely made up. Well, except for the part about the Tribe drafting him out of K-State. While it seems Goedert came out of nowhere, the truth is the Indians viewed him as a legitimate prospect back in 2007, when he hit .364 with 16 homers and a 1.191 OPS in 46 games at Class A Lake County. But Goedert injured his shoulder that season and quickly fell off the map. The Indians might have exacerbated the issue by having Goedert try to learn second base while his shoulder was bothering him. It took Goedert a few years to get to a point where he felt comfortable swinging the bat again. And if his numbers at Akron (.325 average, .922 OPS in 44 games) and Columbus (.326 average, 1.118 OPS in 33 games) are any indication, he's mighty comfortable. Both manager Manny Acta and GM Mark Shapiro have said in the past week that Goedert is on the Major League radar. "Going forward," Shapiro said, "his defense is going to need to improve, particularly with us and where we are with our sinkerballers in the rotation." The Indians are going to be looking for somebody to take over at third next year. Top third base prospect Lonnie Chisenhall won't be ready yet, so it could be Goedert. It could be Jayson Nix. Heck, it could be Peralta. If the Indians decline Peralta's $7 million option, as expected, they could still bring him back for 2011 on a smaller salary. For now, the Indians will obviously explore any trade possibilities involving Peralta, but he hasn't held up his end of the bargain with his substandard stats. At the least, Goedert figures to get a September callup. http://cleveland.indians.mlb.com/ne..._id=12260014&vkey=news_cle&fext=.jsp&c_id=cle
