2010 Indians Game Discussion

[jerzy234]

mlbtraderumors

Mariners Acquire Russell Branyan http://bit.ly/be1NlN #mlb 2 minutes ago via twitterfeed

Cleveland Indians trade Russell Branyan to Seattle for prospects
Published: Sunday, June 27, 2010, 12:10 AM Updated: Sunday, June 27, 2010, 12:11 AM
Paul Hoynes, The Plain Dealer Paul Hoynes, The Plain Dealer


Updated: 12:11 a.m.

CINCINNATI, Ohio -- The trading has begun.

The Indians have traded first baseman Russell Branyan to Seattle. The deal was announced after the Indians 6-4 loss to Cincinnati. The Indians will receive minors leagues Ezequiel Carrera and shortstop Juan Diaz. Careera is an outfielderd at Class AAA, while Diaz is a Class A shortstop.

Branyan, who has had a terrible stretch at first base, is hitting .263 (45-for-171) with 10 homers and 24 RBI. The deal will clear the way for Matt LaPorta to be recalled from Class AAA Columbus.

The Indians signed Branyan in February to a one-year $2 million deal. He missed most of spring training because of a herniated disk last season he hit 31 homers for the Mariners.


LaPorta is hitting .353 (24-for-68) with five homers and 16 RBI at Class AAA Columbus in 17 games. He opened the season with the Indians, but his path was blocked at first base and left field by Branyan and Austin Kearns.

The Indians are seeking to trade Kearns, Kerry Wood and Jhonny Peralta among others.

 

[Gunther]

Mitch Talbot 7 strong innings of work today. He continues to impress. An absolute steal for Kelly Shoppach.

Maybe he's pitched well enough to end our current losing streak. Bullpen?

 

[macbdog]

Mitch Talbot 7 strong innings of work today. He continues to impress. An absolute steal for Kelly Shoppach.

Maybe he's pitched well enough to end our current losing streak. Bullpen?

A big thunderstorm hit just in time to knock out the satellite reception so I didnt have to watch Wood in the 9th. Yay!:chuckles:

Good to see LaPorta is easing his way back into the bigleague lineup, too; wouldn't want him coming in, hitting right away like Santana and creating 'expectations' and what-not.

 

[camakazee]

Another game won by the firm of Choo & Santana... nice to see.

 

[DougHeil]

A big thunderstorm hit just in time to knock out the satellite reception so I didnt have to watch Wood in the 9th. Yay!:chuckles:

Good to see LaPorta is easing his way back into the bigleague lineup, too; wouldn't want him coming in, hitting right away like Santana and creating 'expectations' and what-not.

LaPorta has seemed very intimidated at the big league level. I know he's only had about 300 or so at bats, but he just seems to be a different player than in AAA. I can't put my finger on it. I hope things change as the LaPorta in AAA is a beast with the stick.

Santana: Does anyone else see Santana in the same way I do? Of course; I'm old enough to truly remember the rookie days of Manny Ramirez, but Carlos Santana's actions and attitude, etc, and his way around the plate with a bat in his hands do remind me of a young Manny. NOT the bad Manny, but the good things about Manny. He really does remind me of him. It's the attitude of you are not going to stop me and I can and will be the best. Just try. Bring it on. Is that all ya got?... type of thing... Anyone else?

 

[Wulfgar1224]

LaPorta has seemed very intimidated at the big league level. I know he's only had about 300 or so at bats, but he just seems to be a different player than in AAA. I can't put my finger on it. I hope things change as the LaPorta in AAA is a beast with the stick.

Santana: Does anyone else see Santana in the same way I do? Of course; I'm old enough to truly remember the rookie days of Manny Ramirez, but Carlos Santana's actions and attitude, etc, and his way around the plate with a bat in his hands do remind me of a young Manny. NOT the bad Manny, but the good things about Manny. He really does remind me of him. It's the attitude of you are not going to stop me and I can and will be the best. Just try. Bring it on. Is that all ya got?... type of thing... Anyone else?

Yeah, that's actually a good observation. My fear is that LaPorta may be one of those classic AAAA players in that he tears it up in the minors but can't hack it at the big league level. Let's face it. LaPorta is 25 years old. He's not some 21 year old kid out there. Obviously, the Indians can afford to be patient with him in this horrible season. But, he really should start progressing by the end of this season.

You're right on about Santana. That guy is going to be special.

 

[DougHeil]

Yeah, that's actually a good observation. My fear is that LaPorta may be one of those classic AAAA players in that he tears it up in the minors but can't hack it at the big league level. Let's face it. LaPorta is 25 years old. He's not some 21 year old kid out there. Obviously, the Indians can afford to be patient with him in this horrible season. But, he really should start progressing by the end of this season.

You're right on about Santana. That guy is going to be special.

Yeah, and that's not touching on his defense. All we heard at the start of the year is how Santana needs to improve his defense, etc. He was not good at handling pitchers. He can't hold runners or throw runners out. He can't block balls thrown in the dirt, etc. Oh sure, he has made some silly errors like the other day he dropped a ball thrown to him to allow a guy to score, but those things happen to the very best of them. This kid has already intimidated runners at first base. He has thrown out the very best base stealing guys in baseball. I can't remember his name but he plays with the NY Mets and is one of the best base stealers in baseball. Carlos threw his ass out at second. The guy throws darts down there. 5 of 11 attempts? That's unheard of. He blocks balls in the dirt better than our last catcher ever could... gosh, forgot his name already. LOL

The Indians simply wanted to hold back the kid for one year. It makes you wonder how the season might have been a tad different if Santana had started the year with the Indians. No one can tell me he improved a bunch for the few games in played in AAA this year. This kid was this good in April.

 

[CBBI]

The Indians simply wanted to hold back the kid for one year. It makes you wonder how the season might have been a tad different if Santana had started the year with the Indians. No one can tell me he improved a bunch for the few games in played in AAA this year. This kid was this good in April.

So we might have 30 wins instead of 27? One player really doesn't make as dramatic of a difference as you might expect.

Waiting two months in order to keep Santana for another season in his prime in 2016 was the right decision. I know it sucks considering he's hitting so well right now, but you have to think big picture. This is a last place baseball team with or without Carlos Santana. They are 4-11 since they called him up too, so its not like they have turned anything around since he's been here.

 

[AZ_]

The Indians were 15 or so games under .500 when they dealt CC, Lee and Victor

I got a feeling Santana wasn't going to make that big a difference in W/L.

 

[DougHeil]

So we might have 30 wins instead of 27? One player really doesn't make as dramatic of a difference as you might expect.

Waiting two months in order to keep Santana for another season in his prime in 2016 was the right decision. I know it sucks considering he's hitting so well right now, but you have to think big picture. This is a last place baseball team with or without Carlos Santana. They are 4-11 since they called him up too, so its not like they have turned anything around since he's been here.

Oh sure; I know that. My point being that money was at the root of the decision and NOT what the Indians were putting out there. ... needs work on defense, etc.

 

[elcheato]

Everyone knows that.. But the smart thing was to keep him down.

 

[CBBI]

Oh sure; I know that. My point being that money was at the root of the decision and NOT what the Indians were putting out there. ... needs work on defense, etc.

Yeah but the Indians have to come out and say that don't they?

If the Indians come out and say "we will bring him up when we can snake another year off service time out of him" could be grounds for a grievance from Santana's agents/the MLB players union.

They had to have some sort of "legitimate" reason for keeping him down that wasn't "Oh we didn't want to lose a year off his service clock" ya know?

 

[macbdog]

I has little to do with 'snaking' a year of service time as it is to avoid a silly rule. There is no super-6 rule for FA- you either have 6 years of service time or you don't. So why is there a super-2 rule for arbitration? What is also stupid is that super-2 status is based on a percentage of eligible players (more than 2 but less than 3 years of service), NOT on a set cutoff.

Blame the dumb rule- if you don't want to see teams doing this, root for the owners and players to get rid of it come the next CBA. And I guarantee you, if enough teams start purposely holding back the top prospects like they are you will see enough agents get sick of it and either eliminate it or find a workaround.

 

[sjeppe]

We are a small market team it was necessary, we need to keep our best players here as along as we can for cheap.

 

[col63onel]

I know I am going out on a limb here, but what the hell: Carlos Santana is good at baseball.