I think it means that they prefer to get talent back, as they usually have in the past (though not always).

The salary relief could be considerable, however. It is entirely possible that they end up in a situation where their best “talent” offer is something clearly less valuable than their best “salary relief” offer, which could be something like $3 million. In that situation, I would imagine they take the money. And find a way to announce the Pomeranz signing the same day.

Hammy said today that Jake’s father still catches him in the offseason.

Also! That post above needs 30 more recs.

Perhaps he’s also killed a guy when nobody was watching, and, because nobody was watching, we’ll never know.

But seriously, Jake’s never come across as anything other than a good guy. He said he wants to fulfill his contract in Cleveland. But I’d rather see Jake pitch for a contender and the Indians get some prospects/salary relief. If Jake really enjoys Cleveland, he can always resign.

I’ve decided to stay out of this. My feelings on the emotional response to Sabathia/Lee/Westbrook are both less clear and less well-formed than some others’. Suffice to say, I think Jake is getting unnecessary bonus points for not being all that good. At the same time, all we can evaluate is what actually happened and Sabathia did make the evil choice.

Sure he is, why not? But he wasn’t as good as Jake by a long shot.

Here’s Blake’s AL Top 10 finishes while with the Indians:

Strikeouts (2004) – 139 (5th)
Sac Bunts (2003) – 8 (9th)
Sac Flies (2003) – 8 (9th)
GIDP (2004) – 19 (9th)
Caught Stealing (2003) – 9 (5th)

Now here’s Jake’s:
WAR (2004) – 4.4 (10th among AL pitchers)
ERA (2004) – 3.38 (3rd)
WHIP (2004) – 1.247 (4th)
Innings Pitched (2004) – 215.2 (9th)
Innings Pitched (2005) – 210.2 (10th)
Innings Pitched (2006) – 211.1 (10th)
Complete Games (2004) – 5 (1st)
Complete Games (2005) – 2 (10th)
Complete Games (2006) – 3 (3rd)
Shutouts (2004) – 1 (4th)
Shutouts (2006) – 2 (1st)
Hits Allowed (2006) – 247 (1st)
HR per 9 IP (2004) – .793 (5th fewest)
HR per 9 IP (2004) – .812 (5th fewest)
HR per 9 IP (2004) – .639 (3rd fewest)

Jake was never a great pitcher, but for a while there, he really was very good at some of the most important things a pitcher can be good at — inducing weak contact, eating innings, and suppressing home runs. Blake was a complementary player, sometimes above average, rarely excelling at anything but complementary skills.

TJ or not, the thing that scares me about Jake is his incorporation of other non-sinker pitches.

According to fangraphs, he’s throwing his sinker nearly 10% less now than he did during his 2004-2007 seasons. He’s also walking more people and giving up more homeruns than ever. His BABIP is right at his career average. So what can we take away?

1) His command either has not come back, which which wouldn’t be surprising, or his command is where it should be, but he doesn’t have the same amount of control over his non-sinker pitches.

2) Non-sinkers get hit for homeruns more often than sinkers. His homeruns allows will rise if he’s going to throw less sinkers.

3) He’s not been unlucky this year.

4) If he’s going to get it together, he must start throwing more strikes with his non-sinkers. And he has to cut the walks, or else his increased homeruns allowed are going to be more damaging.

I appreciate the effort for Jake to evolve as a pitcher, but he’s abandoning the skill that made him so useful in the first place—a sinker that he knows he can throw for strikes which rarely led to walks or homeruns.