Cleveland Indians Offseason News, Notes, and Rumors

[SauDogg]

So much for thinking the Indians were closer to a championship that any other Cleveland team.

[AanandM7]

Sure, a couple years down the road, having nearly $50 million attached to Miggy and Fielder will look bad, but who cares if they win one or two World Series to show for it. The Tigers understood that they had a limited window and some of their guys are getting old, so they went all in. We traded our two best prospects to signal that we were contending and now we'll have Casey Kotchman to show for it. Who cares if our 3-4-5 pitchers are marginally better than the Tigers? Their offense is significantly better than ours.

[chiefwahoo]

Can you imagine those postgame spreads the Tigers are gonna have to put out now that they have Cabrera & Fielder? Hope that catering staff gets a healthy raise for all the extra work they'll be putting in...

[Stephen]

Can you imagine those postgame spreads the Tigers are gonna have to put out now that they have Cabrera & Fielder? Hope that catering staff gets a healthy raise for all the extra work they'll be putting in...

I guess when you're owner is the mind behind Little Caesers, you tend to attract the heavy eaters.

[Huber.]

Silver lining.....They now have the slowest team in baseball.

#reachingforstraws

Maybe he'll do the same thing Dunn did moving from NL to AL.

#reachingforstraws

[chiefwahoo]

Yes Fielder is a great haul for the Tigers. They instantly filled the void left by Victor and then some. But these baseball contracts are getting flat out ridiculous. First the Angels lock Pujols up until he's roughly 57 years old. Now the Tigers lock Fielder up until he's 36 and roughly 680 pounds. Make it stop.

[Chris]

Yes Fielder is a great haul for the Tigers. They instantly filled the void left by Victor and then some. But these baseball contracts are getting flat out ridiculous. First the Angels lock Pujols up until he's roughly 57 years old. Now the Tigers lock Fielder up until he's 36 and roughly 680 pounds. Make it stop.

Totally agree. Where does the buck stop?

[Stephen]

In nine years Prince Fielder is going to look like this...

[Pyro]

[RealKingofCleve]

Nothing will dishearten Nom, b00bie, and the kool-aid crew.

[Nom]

Nothing will dishearten Nom, b00bie, and the kool-aid crew.

See that, Boobie? I got top billing. Suck it!

And I'm plenty discouraged. I wanted Beltran BAD.

I still think the Indians have a chance. If Ubaldo can find his groove and we are healthy, I think our lineup can compete with the Tigers.

But then again, I think Verlander comes back to earth and their defense is a giant liability - they are all offense.

[Huber.]

I think if the Indians players play good this season they can compete with the Tigers

Love,
Captain Obvious

[sgm405]

Nothing will dishearten Nom, b00bie, and the kool-aid crew.

And nothing, not even the Indians signing a big name like Beltran, would have changed the "Dolan is cheap" crowd. I guess we're even.

[sgm405]

The Detroit Tigers are the best team in the American League Central Division on paper. The majority of analysts will certainly pick the Tigers to run away with the Central. Some already have. If I had to pick right now, I might too. Lucky for us, they still play the 162 game season, and the best team on paper in January isn't always who ends up winning the division. In fact, let's take a look at 2011 predictions:

Tim Brown (Yahoo) - Twins
Steve Henson (Yahoo) - White Sox
Jeff Passan (Yahoo) - Twins
MLB.com - Twins
Ken Rosenthal (Fox) - White Sox

I'm not going to list all of the ESPN predictions, but 32 predicted the White Sox, 9 predicted the Twins, and 4 predicted the Tigers.

If you're scoring at home, 46 of 50 people who follow baseball for a living picked the Twins or White Sox to win the Central last year. The Twins finished last, the White Sox third - 32 and 16 games out respectively. Neither finished with a winning record.

I'm sure I'll be accused of drinking "kool-aid" by many, and that's fine. I believe in playing out the season and seeing what happens. All it takes is one (or more) big injuries, a breakout rookie, a player taking his game to a new level, and/or an unexpected "off" season from a player to change everything.

I believe the Indians can win the Central Division. I'll feel even better about their chances if they add a decent 1B.

Who knows who will be the champ? I, for one, can't wait for the games to start so we can find out.

[KB]

http://sports.yahoo.com/mlb/news;_yl...ndians-carmona

SANTO DOMINGO, Dominican Republic (AP)—Cleveland Indians manager Manny Acta says the pitcher known as Fausto Carmona is an important part of the rotation and the team is doing what it can to speed up his arrival.

Acta told The Associated Press late Monday that the team is making the necessary moves to get Carmona to the United States for the coming season but also will be prepared to go without him.

Says Acta: “It doesn’t matter that he was a little inconsistent last year. Fausto is an important part of our rotation.”

Carmona is accused of using a false identity to play baseball in the U.S. and faces a judicial process in the Dominican Republic. He was released from jail on Friday.

Carmona’s real name is Roberto Hernandez Heredia. He’s 31, three years older than he had claimed.

http://sports.yahoo.com/mlb/news;_yl...izemore_012412

Cleveland’s fate lies with Sizemore’s gimpy knees

2011 record: 80-82
Finish: Second, AL Central
2011 final payroll: $49.4 million
Estimated 2012 opening day payroll: $70 million
Yahoo! Sports’ offseason rank: 20th
Hashtags: #supernatural, #pronkswansong, #ubaldoasdrubaltomatotomahto, #gradysknees, #whosonfirst, #beltranhatesus, #playertobenamedadecadelater

Offseason action

It’s true, the Indians have identity issues.

They are the maturing franchise that went out 30-15 in 2011, their seven-game lead in the AL Central the sort of bombshell that warms spring in Ohio. And, yet, the overmatched franchise that came home 50-67, their 15-game deficit the sort of inevitability that chills the fall there.

In all, the Indians spent 96 days in first place, none with the sense they’d fully returned from the sell-offs of CC Sabathia, Cliff Lee and Victor Martinez, who’d brought them to within a win of the World Series four years before, but always with the hope they couldn’t be terrible again.

Damaged by a pitching staff whose starting rotation’s ERA climbed by a half-run in the second half and whose bullpen’s rose by more than a run, then finished by an offense that was close to pathetic in the middle of the season, the Indians made offseason runs at Carlos Beltran and Carlos Pena, among others, but instead return pretty much what they had last year.

That includes gimpy center fielder Grady Sizemore, who has played a total of 210 games over the past three seasons, the past two well below his standards.

The Beltran snubs – he chose San Francisco at the trading deadline and St. Louis a month ago, both times with the Indians bidding – were particularly difficult, given their desperate need for a middle-of-the-order bat.

They did take Derek Lowe off the hands of the Atlanta Braves, who’ll pay two-thirds of Lowe’s $15-million salary in 2012. In recent weeks they signed outfielders Felix Pie and Ryan Spilborghs, because it’s entirely possible Michael Brantley’s best role is fourth outfielder. And on Friday they traded for right-hander Kevin Slowey, because …

Reality check

perhaps the Indians’ greatest identity crisis lies in their opening day starter from a year ago.

On that afternoon, Fausto Carmona allowed 10 runs in three innings, and his year got only marginally better from there. His season ended with 15 losses and an ERA he trimmed to 5.25. Last week, he was nabbed outside the U.S. Consulate in Santa Domingo, where it was learned he wasn’t the guy the Indians thought he was. His name is Roberto Hernandez Heredia. Worse, he’s three years older than Carmona. Worse still, no one knows when the former Carmona will return, a potentially traumatic development for a man who’s had one good major league season.

The Indians will lead their rotation with Justin Masterson, Ubaldo Jimenez, Lowe and Josh Tomlin. The fifth will come from a group that includes Slowey (0-8, 6.67 ERA in Minnesota last season), Jeanmar Gomez, David Huff, Zach McAllister and minor league lefty Scott Barnes.

OK, so they probably get by there, assuming Jimenez is the guy from 2009 and 2010 and not the one from 2011. And assuming Lowe isn’t done (he’ll be 39 in June).

What the Indians will need from there are runs, which was a problem in 2011. The Sizemore injuries were devastating, as were those suffered by Shin-Soo Choo and Travis Hafner. The production from the infield and outfield corners was borderline atrocious. Only Baltimore’s leadoff hitters had a worse on-base percentage than Cleveland’s.

The Indians will attempt to solve those issues largely from within, meaning:

They’ll need Lonnie Chisenhall to mature quickly at third base, especially on the defensive side, so they can keep his bat in the lineup.

Sizemore has to get healthy and stay there. So does Choo. So does Hafner.

They have to settle on a reasonable rotation at first base. Carlos Santana has to have somewhere to go when he’s not catching, but there’s real concern about what to do with the other 120 games, particularly if Matt LaPorta isn’t the guy.

Left field is Brantley’s to lose, but it won’t take much. Shelley Duncan, Fred Lewis, Pie and Spilborghs could be parts of the answer.

Savior

Grady Sizemore has endured five surgeries in the past three years, one on his left knee in 2010 and another on his right knee four months ago.

He was, once, a dynamic two-way player. He won Gold Gloves in the outfield. He hit 33 home runs in 2008, when he also stole 38 bases. He hit 53 doubles in 2006. He walked 101 times in 2007. He routinely scored more than 100 runs.

At 29, the greater effort is getting on the field.

The Indians tried and failed to significantly upgrade their offense, and now their greatest hope is for Sizemore’s knees to repair, for his stroke to return, and for his offense to help drive them.

Indians in Haiku

Recall when all that
Stood between Grady and field
Was a coffee cup?