Rosenthal: After Sabathia, the Indians' player drawing the most trade interest is third baseman...

Rosenthal:
After Sabathia, the Indians' player drawing the most trade interest is third baseman Casey Blake, who leads the majors with a 1.281 OPS with runners in scoring position.

Blake, who turns 35 on Aug. 23, is coveted because of his ability to play first base and both outfield corners as well as third; he would be a good fit for teams such as the Dodgers, Mets and A's. Class AA third baseman Wes Hodges projects as the long-term replacement for Blake, who is a free agent at the end of the season.

5 months ago KevinV Comment 44 comments 0 recs |

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Actually, you could make the argument that Blake is more interesting because he will cost far less than Sabathia and has the ability to play 4 positions.

by Toxicadam on Jun 27, 2008 4:25 PM EDT 0 recs

Holy macrel! TRADE HIM! TRADE HIM! TRADE HIM!

proverbial "moron in a hurry"

by 94neverout on Jun 27, 2008 4:26 PM EDT 0 recs

Trade him tonight!

by odradek on Jun 27, 2008 5:59 PM EDT up 0 recs

If his value is actually this high, I say we use the same logic that we use for CC and trade him whether we plan on contending or not. Casey’s gonna make the difference between us winning the WS or not?

by supermarioelia on Jun 27, 2008 4:43 PM EDT 0 recs

Please, dear Lord, may it be so.

Amen.

Free Andy Marte!

Pronk Needs You

by woodsmeister on Jun 27, 2008 4:43 PM EDT 0 recs

Use both of them to get Team X to throw in that one prospect they were reluctant to include.

Steel Nick

by nickjs21 on Jun 27, 2008 4:50 PM EDT 0 recs

I don’t know. We’d have to get an awful lot in return to justify trading Casey.

by elsandito on Jun 27, 2008 4:55 PM EDT 2 recs

Hilarious.

proverbial "moron in a hurry"

by 94neverout on Jun 27, 2008 5:04 PM EDT up 0 recs

But who would play third base? I mean, it’s not like we have another player languishing on the bench who can play that position, is still quite young, and we haven’t given him time to evaluate what kind of major league player he could/will be. Oh, wait, we do!

TRADE HIM!!! AS SOON AS POSSIBLE!

by Buckeye Brad on Jun 27, 2008 5:13 PM EDT 1 recs

I am not getting my hopes up, but it would be like Christmas if we got something valuable for him

by Roger Dorn on Jun 27, 2008 5:50 PM EDT 0 recs

So what’s the downside?

-Indians get a decent-to-good prospect or two
-Andy Marte gets 3 months of regular playing time
-Indians can finally make an informed decision on what to do at third base

by Ryan on Jun 27, 2008 6:06 PM EDT 1 recs

wedge gets to spend more time with his wife and family. it’s a win-win-win-win.

by Brick. on Jun 27, 2008 6:09 PM EDT up 4 recs

Awesome.

The 2008 Cleveland Indians: Home of the Triple Steal, Unassisted Triple Play, and not a heck of a lot more.

by westbrook on Jun 27, 2008 6:27 PM EDT up 0 recs

Marte isn’t going to play third. Third base will remain vacant as a tribute to Casey Blake.

by InfiniteMonkeyTypists on Jun 27, 2008 6:59 PM EDT up 8 recs

That would cut down on the E’s, in any event.

by fleerdon on Jun 27, 2008 7:09 PM EDT up 3 recs

And a rec to you, good sir.

Steel Nick

by nickjs21 on Jun 27, 2008 7:28 PM EDT up 0 recs

This is a dream come true! How many gritty players will Wedge require Shap gets without threatening to quit over the deal?

The 2008 Cleveland Indians: Home of the Triple Steal, Unassisted Triple Play, and not a heck of a lot more.

by westbrook on Jun 27, 2008 6:28 PM EDT 0 recs

Hopefully, too many.

"It's hard to win when you don't score." Cliff Lee, 9/28/05.

by Harry Doyle on Jun 29, 2008 4:37 PM EDT up 0 recs

i think we should keep blakes clutchness and make a run at it what about 2008 people!!! whose with me?!

by fleerdon on Jun 27, 2008 6:41 PM EDT 1 recs

Yeah, let’s just reap the 2 draft picks.

Steel Nick

by nickjs21 on Jun 27, 2008 6:53 PM EDT up 1 recs

Thank you, Joe Sheehan! Genius!

by Jay on Jun 27, 2008 8:00 PM EDT up 0 recs

Could we really get this lucky?

I would feel like we’d won 96 games again if we got anything of real value for Blake.

Why am I skeptical of this report?

by Jay on Jun 27, 2008 8:00 PM EDT 1 recs

Sir, the numbers don’t lie: .1281 OPS with RISP. He is totally clutch.

by odradek on Jun 27, 2008 11:31 PM EDT up 0 recs

for god sakes do it already!

by Gradyforpresident on Jun 27, 2008 8:45 PM EDT 1 recs

Better to see if Casey makes the All Star squad, so we can demand more for him.

by elsandito on Jun 27, 2008 8:50 PM EDT up 0 recs

Whichever teams trades for him, we are directing their fans immediately to this thread…among others

by Roger Dorn on Jun 27, 2008 8:51 PM EDT 0 recs

The funny part is that if Marte gets three months and bombs, the Indians search for a 2009 3B will probably target players that are very similar to none other than Casey Blake.

by xrickx on Jun 27, 2008 10:57 PM EDT 0 recs

cf. Tony Graffanino

by odradek on Jun 27, 2008 11:32 PM EDT up 0 recs

I’ll take LaPorta or Gammel’s defense if Marte bombs.

I say that now, anyway.

Steel Nick

by nickjs21 on Jun 27, 2008 11:40 PM EDT up 0 recs

Would the beard necessarily be included in any trade?

by ganatz on Jun 28, 2008 11:17 AM EDT 0 recs

We could probably get more for the beard sans Blake himself.

by KevinV on Jun 28, 2008 11:59 AM EDT up 0 recs

Imagine what we could get if he had a handle-bar mustache a la Rollie Fingers, or Al Hrabosky’s sideburns! Hire Hair!!

by peter m on Jun 28, 2008 12:20 PM EDT up 0 recs

That’s true. Blake’s beard is great but really not much above a replacement-level beard. He’s not Fingers, and we were able to get Fasano for a bag of balls — though he perhaps was undervalued in his clean-shaven state.

by Jay on Jun 28, 2008 2:43 PM EDT up 0 recs