Stick a fork in em' folks..

Wow, the Borowski era has finally ended:

 

http://mlb.mlb.com/news/article.jsp?ymd=20080704&content_id=3063152&vkey=news_mlb&fext=.jsp&c_id=mlb

 

And meanwhile, down at A Kinston, super strikeout phenom and possible future closer Tony Sipp was reactivated recently after having Tommy John surgery last year...

^ Saw this on Fox 8 tonight as the top story, though I was on the phone and didn't hear what it was about.

Well ......... this sucks for us.

Not impressed by this deal at all.  We basically traded C.C. and the two top draft picks Milwaukee will receive as compensation for losing C.C. in free agency after the season, for a one-tool 1B/DH type, of which we have many already: Martinez/Hafner/Garko/Aubrey/Brown/Mills/Mulhern, a player that projects as a journeyman spot starter that has struggled in the pitching-friendly NL, and a couple of low-level prospects.  Hopefully Shap sees something I don't.  This trade seemingly didn't do much to satisfy any of our pressing needs, starting pitching, corner OFer with power, middle-IFer w/ above-average power, closer, 3B, etc

 

 

The difference between Martinez/Hafner/Garko/Aubrey/Brown/Mills/Mulhern and LaPorta is that LaPorta is a monster at the plate.  Way more power than any of these guys (except for Pronk... whom may never really be worth a crap again).  We desperately need some power in our lineup.  And he is currently a LFer, filling our corner outfielder with power. Yes the starter appears to be insurance / depth / whatever.  But apparently the player to be named is going to be Taylor Green.  the 3B in their class A+ team.  He's on the allstar team there hitting .297 with 10hr, 50 rbi, and was their minor league player of the year last year (which says a lot in their system) hitting .327 with 14 hr, and 86 rbi for their low A team.  He's only 21 this year, and could really be something soon.

LaPorta will never play in the OF.  Read the scouting reports, his outfield defense is a huge liability.  Milwaukee tried to move him there b/c Prince Fielder was blocking LaPorta at the big-league level @ 1B, but the move back-fired, which is why they were willing to trade him to the Tribe.

 

Taylor Green, IMO, is the player with the highest ceiling, but I am willing to bet the Tribe tries to move him back to 2B.  If he stays at 3B, what does this portend for Wes Hodges?

 

 

 

 

2010 roster?

OF: Sizemore/Francisco/Choo/Crowe

3B: Hodges

SS: AsCab/Peralta

2B: TGreen/Barf

1B: LaPorta/Mills

DH: Hafner/Garko

CA: Martinez/ShopVac

 

Starters: Lee/Carmona/Westbrook/Laffey/Miller/Huff

Relief: Perez/Betancourt/Sipp/Lewis/Kobayashi/Bryson

^You might be right about where LaPorta plays, but he still seems to be a cut above Garko, Aubrey and Brown, at least.  If LaPorta materializes quickly in Cleveland, their days may be over...which would be fine.  And who knows what will become of Hafner.

 

How good a prospect is Hodges?  I know his D kind of stinks, but he's put up pretty good numbers at the plate?  Actually, half of Akron is putting up pretty good numbers (which doesn't even capture Chris Gimenez's amazing stats that got him lifted to Buf).

 

http://www.minorleaguebaseball.com/milb/stats/stats.jsp?t=t_ibp&did=milb&cid=402

^definitely agree with you that LaPorta is better than Garks/Aubrey/Brown/etc, plus he is insurance against Hafner being a lost cause (hopefully not)

 

Hodges "d" is more than serviceable at 3B...he is a good athlete

^Good to hear- he's collected a ton of errors so far this year, but I suppose that's part of player development.

 

Funny thing about MI with power (on your wish list)- Peralta arguably has the most power among AL SS- certainly this year he does.  Of all AL MIs this year, only a couple (like Kinsler and B. Roberts) have more xbh.  Too bad Peralta can't do anything else.  That sub .300 OBP is shameful.

 

I like your projected starting roster.  It will interesting to see who the final player is in this trade.  Brantley is putting up great lead-off numbers, but does he offer anything Trevor Crowe isn't currently giving them?

ideally, shapiro would target some of these holes in free agency w/ the money left over from Byrd/CC/Blake, etc...maybe a starter and some backend bullpen help/corner OFer, or a 3B to bridge the gap until Hodges is ready...here is a list of free agents this upcoming offseason:

 

Third basemen

Casey Blake (35)

Hank Blalock (28) - $6.2MM club option for '09 with a $0.25MM buyout

Joe Crede (31)

Morgan Ensberg (33)

Nomar Garciaparra (35)

Wes Helms (33) - $3.75MM club option for '09

Chipper Jones (37) - $8-11MM vesting option for '09

Dallas McPherson (27)

 

Left fielders

Moises Alou (42)

Garret Anderson (37) - $14MM club option for '09 with a $3MM buyout

Milton Bradley (31)

Emil Brown (34)

Pat Burrell (32)

Adam Dunn (29)

Cliff Floyd (36) - $2.75MM club option for '09 with a $0.25MM buyout

Luis Gonzalez (41)

Raul Ibanez (37)

Jacque Jones (34)

Kevin Mench (31)

Jason Michaels (33) - $2.6MM club option for '09

Craig Monroe (32)

Jay Payton (36)

Wily Mo Pena (27) - $5MM club option or $2MM player option for '09

Manny Ramirez (37) - $20MM club option for '09

Juan Rivera (30)

 

Right fielders

Bobby Abreu (35)

Casey Blake (35)

Milton Bradley (31)

Cliff Floyd (36) - $2.75MM club option for '09 with a $0.25MM buyout

Brian Giles (38) - $9MM club option for '09 with a $3MM buyout

Ken Griffey Jr. (39) - $16.5MM club option for '09 with a $4MM buyout

Vladimir Guerrero (33) - $15MM club option for '09 with a $3MM buyout

Jacque Jones (34)

Bobby Kielty (32)

Brad Wilkerson (32)

^As long as they are really careful.  I'd rather see Franscisco/Choo play an entire year than see someone like Brad Wilkerson come in as Dave Dellucci part II.

 

So here's a depressing question: how may Indians players will end the year with more home runs than Shopvack?  Just Sizemore and Peralta?  Just Sizemore?  Maybe Shoppach should DH even when Victor comes back.

Dolan's letter to Indians fans about the CC trade is at http://cleveland.indians.mlb.com/news/article.jsp?ymd=20080707&content_id=3084773&vkey=news_cle&fext=.jsp&c_id=cle

 

that letter is laughable at best

The letter may seem to be a load of BS to the average 6-pack fan, but it's dead on.  CC was great for the team but what can you do with the economics of baseball today?  A team like the Indians can't go out and sign players for what they demand and be profitable. 

 

This won't happen, but I'd love to see CC resign with the Indians this off-season (like Kenny Lofton did) and we just steal a top talent.

I disagree.  How is it that we can offer CC a $18mill/yr for four years but not $20mill/yr?  How does that make any sense?  The Indians keep losing players to the free agency because they're cheap. 

 

The team is yet again rebuilding and it's just a slap to the face to fans like me (diehard fans, screw that fairweather crap), who watch or listen to the games every night only to be heartbroken and embarassed at the end of virtually every season.  The team does owe something to the fans; we've invested much more into these jokers than any returns, and it's just more disappointment as usual.

Eparabola.. you're entitled to your opinion, no matter misinformed and ignorant it may be.. but if they keep letting you down, why not just cheer for the Red Sox or Yankees?

^it is unbelievable how indoctrinated the Indians fan base has become with resigning ourselves to so-called "small-market limitations".  Bottomline is that our owner is more concerned with turning a sizeable profit every year than being consistently competitive. 

 

Forbes has the Indians turning a tidy $32M profit last year, one of the highest in the majors.

 

Team Current Value 1 ($mil) 1-Yr Value Change (%) Debt/Value 2 (%) Revenues ($mil) Operating Income 3 ($mil)

1 New York Yankees 1,306 9 77 327 -47.3

2 New York Mets 824 12 97 235 32.9

3 Boston Red Sox 816 13 29 263 -19.1

4 Los Angeles Dodgers 694 10 61 224 20.0

5 Chicago Cubs 642 8 0 214 21.4

6 Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim 500 16 7 200 15.2

7 Atlanta Braves 497 9 0 199 28.1

8 San Francisco Giants 494 8 28 197 19.9

9 St Louis Cardinals 484 5 51 194 21.5

10 Philadelphia Phillies 481 5 36 192 14.3

11 Seattle Mariners 466 7 21 194 10.1

12 Houston Astros 463 5 12 193 20.4

13 Washington Nationals 460 3 54 153 43.7

14 Chicago White Sox 443 16 9 193 30.6

15 Cleveland Indians 417 14 24 181 29.2

16 Texas Rangers 412 13 65 172 17.2

17 Detroit Tigers 407 14 52 173 4.6

18 Baltimore Orioles 398 1 38 166 7.7

19 San Diego Padres 385 5 45 167 23.6

20 Arizona Diamondbacks 379 12 54 165 5.9

21 Colorado Rockies 371 17 22 169 26.2

22 Toronto Blue Jays 352 2 0 160 -1.8

23 Cincinnati Reds 337 10 12 161 19.3

24 Milwaukee Brewers 331 15 36 158 19.2

25 Minnesota Twins 328 14 27 149 23.8

26 Oakland Athletics 323 11 28 154 15.4

27 Kansas City Royals 301 7 13 131 7.4

28 Pittsburgh Pirates 292 7 34 139 17.6

29 Tampa Bay Rays 290 8 14 138 29.7

30 Florida Marlins 256 5 34 128 35.6

 

The Indians will only become more profitable over time as they move into the Columbus TV market next year by moving the AAA affiliate and with STO's continued development as a top-tier Ohio-related sports network.

 

The fact is we can and should be as competitive as just about any other team in MLB and should demand it out of ownership.  I personally believe Dolan purchased high back in 2000 at $323 million, failed to turn a profit in the first couple of years (-$40M in 01 alone), freaked out and ordered Shapiro & Co to slash payroll, an edict still being followed to this day.  By now it should be to the point of where we have a payroll commiserate with our market footprint and inline with our far-reaching fan base, allowing for consistent excellence.

...and Eparabola...I do not view your opinion as misinformed or ignorant at all...far from it.  If anything, the airing of our grievances demonstrates our devotion to the team.  Anything less borders on apathy, which is never a measure of a true, devoted fan.

Following the breaking up of the team from the mid-late 90's, the Indians have increased their payroll each year.  There is a difference between spending and spending stupid.  The Indians traded away a star pitcher with a poor work-ethic, remember him?  Bartolo Colon.. you wouldn't make that trade again?  The Indians went out and resign Carmona, Westbrook, and Hafner to large contracts in the past year.. just because all 3 are hurt doesn't mean they aren't willing to spend money.  Dolon/Shipiro can't help it that they got hurt.

Though the nice words are really not necessary, that was nice of you to say, Flee.  I really don't care what some troll has to say but it was nice of you to write that on my behalf.

17MM is not cheap by anyone's standards.  It was a very fair reasonable contract offer.  Will others offer more?  Of course, but that doesn't make the offer cheap.

flee -- i dont think dolan freaked out at the price when he bought the tribe at all. my guess is the tribe suffers as second banana under the dolan family financial woes with msg (knicks, rangers, liberty) & with cablevision. that's where the extra money gets sucked down the drain. the tribe got rid of cc because isiah thomas needed another new suit before he left the knicks. i dk but as jessie jackson says lets keep hope alive!

That's seniors brother who owns MSG etc.  Don't think there is a financial connection...  of course, I could be wrong, and someone will correct me!!!!!

You're correct Dan, Charles owns the Knicks, Rangers, MSG, Cablevision.  While brothers, I don't think Charles is gonna throw any money to keep CC.

^ other way around. charles may have told'em to ditch cc?

 

one thing is for sure danb let's not kid ourselves -- there is always financial interconnection in big family money. always.

^I think we've talked about this before...and I still disagree.  Rich brothers don't share bank accounts any more than poor brothers do.  It's not "family money"- it's Larry and son Paul's money that owns the Tribe, money Larry made as an early investor in his brother's cable business.  If the Tribe were owned by the "Dolan Family Trust" it would be a different story.  But these Dolans not paying to keep CC does not benefit the NY Dolan's operation of his 3rd rate basketball team or hockey team at all.

 

Edit: I mixed up Larry and Paul- fixed now.

^ other way around. charles may have told'em to ditch cc?

 

one thing is for sure danb let's not kid ourselves -- there is always financial interconnection in big family money. always.

 

I agree, the brothers may help each other out if they're gonna lose their house or something like that.. but they're not gonna help them keep a pitcher..

^Or tell them not to keep a pitcher.

well it's just some chitchat speculation, but one thing is for sure....

 

rich families, espcially those who seem to get along like the dolans do, most certainly do share the money, just scratch the surface, it's always intertwined.

 

for one thing all the brothers are dependent on cablevison, so goes the stock, so goes the tribe (but as i suspect little brother is second banana after the msg teams).

 

I go away for four days and the season is over.  ugh!

^^Well I agree with you there, all we can do is speculate about the Dolans and how they interact financially.  And yes, they are all tied together through Cablevision and are tight knit, no doubt about it.  I guess I just can't imagine why Charles and Jim would care what Larry and Paul do with the Indians because it has zero impact on Cablevision, the Knicks or the Rangers.  The tribe is not owned through MSG or Cablevision so there is no competition for resources, and there's no evidence that Charles or Jim have any personal stakes in the tribe.  Then again, maybe Larry has to ask his brother's permission every time he buys a new car- families can be weird-so who knows.

^ except its no speculation to say how cablevision does financially determines what the tribe can do. ditto the msg empire. all the bros have stakes in that, but big bro is in charge so it does affect the tribe.

 

now we also know cablevision business has been tanking for awhile......and we know there is no real money being put into the msg teams......& now cc was cut loose? all mere coincidence? i dont know, but it sure doesn't seem like it.

 

***

 

ps -- it looks like i am going to be in to see the tribe or the aeros weds night 7/30 or the tribe thurs noon day game 7/31 if anyone is around. not 100% sure i'm still working on it.

^I can't argue with that- like any other owner, if the value of Larry's investments (his Cablevision stake) go south, he'll be less likely to lavish his team with $ unless he thinks it will increase the franchise's value.  But that's a separate issue from any control Charles and Jim have over Larry's toys.

ps -- it looks like i am going to be in to see the tribe or the aeros weds night 7/30 or the tribe thurs noon day game 7/31 if anyone is around. not 100% sure i'm still working on it.

 

The Aeros are on fire, I think that's the team to see these days.

i was kind of angling toward sticking around akron-canton and seeing the aeros. thx for the noodge!

 

we'll probably see the dayton dragons over that weekend too as my father-in-law has season tix.

The aeros needed a bat, so Shapiro went out and got them one.. too bad it was the Indians last year who needed the deadline move..  :-P

Laporta should be making his Akron debut tonight.  So pathetic how much I follow Akron now given the Tribe's performance.  And Buffalo's full of wash-ups, with a few exceptions.  I believe Asdrubal leads the team in slugging.  Sad.

i saw this on the zipper in times square this morning so i waited like a dope for it to come around again.  :laugh:

 

*weak voice* yay!  :|

 

^That's a great shot!  Seriously, how many times did you have to stand there waiting for the headline to roll by again to snap the perfect shot?  I can totally see myself wasting half an hour doing that.

i noticed it and then took two shots -- so 3 times total. it went fast.

 

of course you aren't kidding about getting stuck there, you keep talking yourself into getting a better "ultimate" shot next time, so i had to pull away!  :laugh:

Indians pitching ace Cliff Lee to start All-Star Game

 

http://blog.cleveland.com/plaindealer/2008/07/indians_pitching_ace_cliff_lee.html

 

If someone had told me in March that Cliff Lee would start the All Star game but the Indians would be in last place...safe to say I wouldn't let them drive home.

 

EDIT: Wow, and Cliff is even a public transit rider! 

http://www.streetsblog.org/2008/05/12/cleveland-indians-ace-cliff-lee-the-southpaw-straphanger/

Wait...the indians pulled out the brooms this weekend?    :wtf:

 

Indians, lets do that again, ok?!

^^ Good for Cliff, he battled back from injuries/mechanical problems and is pitching at a top level once again.

Oh, hopefully Grady can stick it to the HR Derby odds makers tonight.

Go Cliff! 

 

Just think - the guy really should be 15-2

it seems Wedge has finally found some consistent hitting of late...team could still have a shot at .500 if Carmona comes back and is the pitcher he was last year

Is this a flashback to the 2005 Tribe where they ALMOST overtook the whitesux, only to choke right before my eyes, much to the delight of my friends at IIT (other side of the Dan Ryan from US Cellular?).  God I hate that team and the southside!

 

only time will tell... :-P

Hey it's not impossible.  We can still make it interesting!