Valbuena = Good Value

Or so the writer at Let's Go Tribe says.

Valbuena literally means "good value," from the Latin root vale, which variously means strength or worth. Then again, sometimes vale means "farewell," as in "ave atque vale," so you could argue Valbuena means "good riddance." Then again, it could also be from the Latin root valle, which is more like an assistant, which suggests that Valbuena could be a good complementary player, or perhaps that he turns the double-play well. (Hat-tip to Nahorodney.)

Valbuena got his first look at the majors just three months ago, as a September call-up. He seems to have emerged as a quality defender at second base and a canny hitter, albeit one who may not ever have any pop. He definitely fits the Indians pattern of targeting advanced prospects who are excess depth on other clubs, and especially their pattern of targeting infielders with unusually selective approaches at the plate. Evidently they feel that middle infielders with minimal pop but the ability to draw walks end up being under-valued by other clubs, a trend that stretches from Carroll to Asdrubal to Rivero and now to Valbuena.

In 2007, Valbuena played in Double-A at the rather young age of 21, and while his overall numbers were quite underwhelming — 693 OPS — he seemed to hit into a fair amount of bad luck — Sackmann puts his 2007 neutral OPS at 766 — and he maintained a healthy walk rate of 9.5% despite frightening no one. In 2008, his walk rate was even better — 11.2% in Double-A and 11.5% in Triple-A, numbers that qualify as highly unusual for a 22-year-old middle infielder at that level. His overall numbers rose even more significantly in 2008, as he posted and 864 OPS in Double-A, 748 OPS in Triple-A, 831 neutral OPS across both levels — and here I will remind you again, all of this at age 22. UPDATE: The icing on the cake is that he's got a 901 OPS in 38 games in the Venezuelan Winter League. He's spending three months as the starting 2B for the Cardenales de Lara, whose starting shortstop is ... Asdrubal Cabrera.

Valbuena was the second baseman for the Timber Rattlers for some of 2006. Cabrera was the Timber Rattler second baseman in the first half of 2005.

Valbuena is now with the Indians after that three-team deal between the Mariners, Indians, and Mets.