And just to keep beating that dead horse: what if they kept BP as the utility guy and sent Vazquez back to Buffalo? Would Jhonny have played better? Would Ronnie have played better? I think the former more than the latter.  But if JP was playing better, and even of Ronnie was not, BP could have stepped in and [stat heads help me out here] how many more games could was have won?

Ultimately, I think we would have still missed the playoffs, but, I think the offseason to do list would be shorter and more of the $$ could have been used to extend CC, Pronk, and even Westbrook.

If Shapiro was so influenced by Wedge that he went against his own better judgment, then it shows several things; indecisiveness and inexperience being two of them.

Ultimately Shapiro is the guy who has to make the call, but one gets the sense that this organization is run by committee much more so than the committee making a recommendation and the GM taking it under consideration for his final call.

One more reason why you can't always be best buddies with your subordinate co-workers as there are times of disagreement where that separation and distinction is needed.

Shapiro has admitted it was a mistake. Isn't that sort of the end of the line? Unless you really think he should be fired for making a mistake and then admitting to it, I don't see how there's much else to discuss. He's sorry. How can everyone not be happy?

I personally tend to save the word "indefensible" for things not related to baseball.  If pressed, I could easily come up with a hundred "indefensible" baseball decisions, maybe even a thousand, before getting around to trading guys who have a 665 career OPS.

I've been kicking around my own personal definition of "controversial" lately.  All "controversial" subjects share this one trait: people are more concerned with their feelings on the subject than the facts.  I have never strayed from the facts on Brandon Phillips, but I've gotten attacked repeatedly on the subject nonetheless.  It's "controversial."  And it's tiresome.

Interesting idea - any teams that would fit that bill?  Arizona? - Though they have Johnny Estrada as their catcher; I was thinking Callaspo or Hudson and a reliever like Valverde (his 22 BB/69 K ratio in 49.1 IP in 2006 was very good and his 50 H/49.1 IP was acceptable, though his 5.84 ERA was high.  He did have lower ERAs, WHIP, and BAA in 2004 and 2005, however, with a comparable 20 BB/75 K ratio in 66.1 IP in 2005 and a lower 51 H/66.1 IP rate as well.)

If you did trade Victor though, wouldn't that make it more imperative that the Indians resign Hafner to a new contract (and preferably CC also, since we could lose some offensive punch without Victor's bat in the lineup, making it more imperative we have dominant starting pitching that can go 7-9 IP giving up 2-3 runs at most?)  Just wondering.

Hello Jay,

If you could acquire Cabrera, would you think about trading either Marte or Kouz to sweeten the deal, maybe for Dontrelle Willis, Hanley Ramirez, or Dan Uggla?  Or possibly some of their young pitching talent?  I don't know many of their bullpen arms off the top of my head, but even starters like Anibal Sanchez, Scott Olsen, Josh Johnson, etc.?  Just curious.  I presume Cabrera is under contract for a few more years (or is he?)  If he's not, then trading either Marte or Kouz along with Victor wouldn't make as much sense.  

Thinking about it more, it would probably be unrealistic for the Indians to do that, being that they just acquired Marte and believe in him enough to trade Crisp, Bard, and Riske for him (as well as Shoppach and Mota,) so to replace Marte with Cabrera is highly unlikely.