Catching Up With Indians News
by afh4 on Jan 30, 2011 3:28 PM EST
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Just wrapping up some of the information that's emerged over the last week. Lots of the stories written were drawing on the same few interviews but, as you'd expected, they didn't all highlight the same things. To the news:
- Yahoo Sports offered a concrete timetable on Grady's return: "If he continues on the path that he's on," Antonetti said, "he'll be in spring training games by the middle of March and then he should be ready for the start of the season or maybe shortly thereafter."
- If you're desperate for a Mike Hargrove fix, well, that's weird. But, the P-D can accommodate your needs with a short video clip of the Grover.
- The News-Herald has Ross Atkins saying that Chisenhall could "absolutely be playing in the major leagues this year." UPDATE: A longer story on Kipnis went up on the News-Herald Sunday evening. Not much new, though there are a few quotes of mild interest.
- Terry Pluto says that Mike Hargrove's first assignment is in developing the first base skills of LaPorta and Santana.
- In a quote you may have already seen, Antonetti told MLBastian that he "expect[s] to be a competitive and contending team...I wouldn't suggest limiting your expectations." I appreciate the tip, Chris but, frankly, I'm going to limit my expectations for my own sake.
- In another jaw-dropping edition of Hey Hoynsie, Paul makes intimations that Kevin Millwood could end up in Cleveland. That's been banging around for a while and, Jon Heyman says that the Tribe and Millwood are of different minds about his value.
- In an event covered by the Bucyrus Telegraph Forum, Bob DiBasio reiterated that the Indians made the same offer to both Cliff Lee and CC Sabathia: 5 years at $20 million per.
- Tribe Insider says that this is Matt LaPorta wearing the Miss Onion suit.
- Finally, this photo is from the Lake Erie Monsters, who had some of the Tribesmen in for a signing. Of note, I'd say, is LaPorta's weight. A healthy offseason appears to have done him some good.
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the Tribe and Millwood are of different minds about his value.
I’m guessing 80% of baseball diehards would be on the side of the former.
It only takes one GM on the the side of the latter to keep us from getting him.
Come on, four billion!
Thanks, I’d missed some of these. Also, I forgot Asdrubal was only 25. I could see him approximating his 2009 numbers.
Though I look right at home, I still feel like an exile
by Manhattan Tribe Fan on Jan 30, 2011 7:21 PM EST reply actions
First I’ve ever heard we offered 5 Years $20 Million per for Sabathia and Lee, but maybe I just missed it. Interesting that Bobby D stepped out of the polo shirt mafia credo on that piece.
Yes, I knew that they were both offered contracts, and I believe the smarter among us had guessed at approximately those numbers. However, I hadn’t ever seen it sourced to the FO. It is interesting that DiBasio spilled it; I wonder if he was supposed to do that.
It would be interesting to hear when those contracts were offered and whether those “5 years” were really 5 years or just an extension with a bump in pay. Just to use the case of Lee, did they offer him a 3-year extension before 2009 with a bump in pay for the two remaining years on his deal and 3 more years at $20M per?
That’s a 5-year deal, but really only extends him for 3 more years.
On CC, I had always heard they offered a 4-year extension worth $18M per with an increase in his 2008 contract to that $18M number, a bump from the $9M he was under contract for in 2008. So the way they presented it would have been a 5-year deal worth $90M, but only added 4 years to his deal and more money for him in 2008.
It’s all semantics, I know…but there’s a big difference between Lee being offered a “5-year contract” prior to 2009, that’s really just a 3-year extension at bigger numbers and the real 5-year deal he just signed for even bigger numbers.
by The DiaTriber on Jan 31, 2011 9:26 AM EST up reply actions
It’s certainly not just semantics.
Even if your hypothesis on the Lee offer is correct, he’d have been eliminating two full seasons of injury risk, and this for a guy with only one healthy season in his immediate past.
I should have said that it’s semantics from what DiBiasio is now out there proclaiming. Lee was willing to assume the onus of that injury risk that you mention and will now get paid for seven years instead of five because of it.
by The DiaTriber on Jan 31, 2011 11:57 AM EST up reply actions
I’ve seen reports of LaPorta and Asdrubal being in great shape. I also find no value in these reports.
But not unlikely even so. They each spent a good part of last year at less than 100% health, but shouldn’t have any physical deficits at all to start this year, and a lot of motivation to start out strong.
Grady and Santana, I’m not so optimistic about – I can’t see either’s knee being at pre-injury strength come April despite reports of smooth rehabs.
But hey, the silver lining is that Carlos will be learning some first base, which is a good thing, and Brantley will get even more of an opportunity to prove himself. Wouldn’t be surprised to see a Kearns-Brantley-Choo OF on opening day.
Yeah…the pessimist in me sees that Grady timeline and thinks a Memorial Day first appearance in Cleveland
If this ends up being the case, who has the inside shot at the 4th OF role until Grady is ready? I forget which players have options left, which I’m sure would play role in the decision.
Brown? Buck? Carrera? We wouldn’t need a 3 spot guy since Kearns could slide into CF if necessary. I pray it wouldn’t be Crowe.
I came to the same conclusion – 5 OF’s, Crowe #5.
In fact, you can predict with near certainty what the opening 25 will be:
OF: Choo, Grady, Brantley, Kearns, Crowe
C: Santana, Marson (they basically split time behind the plate)
DH: Haf
IF: LaPorta, Donald, Droobs, Nix, Valgood (last chance for Val, and really, who else do you wanna stick on the end of the bench?)
even the pitching has little to wonder about:
SP: Fausto, Masterson, Carrasco, Talbot, Huff/Tomlin
RP: PRage, RPerez, Sipp, Smith, Herrmann, JLew, Laffey/Tomlin (Tomlin will be #5 or long man, nothing left to do at AAA)
The big roster questions come later in the year.
Oh, I don’t know. I was being a little glib. Two things:
1-The 40 is full, right? So, if they sign a SP, Crowe might be the one to go off the 40 and might disappear forever.
2-If Crowe’s truly miserable in ST and Carrera shows serious ability as a defensive replacement, I don’t think it would be mindblowing to see them carry Carrera.
Seems like in the past when Crowe was truly miserable, they’ve just talked about his hustle, grit, versatility, and attitude.
Maybe it is true that Crowe is currently sitting in pole position, but this sounds like a spring training battle to me. They saw a lot of Crowe last year and if we have any hope at all, the people that matter came away less than enthused. Ezequiel Carrera and Travis Buck will both be new in camp, giving the full coaching staff a chance to see them in action, and seem like the two most likely to compete with Crowe for that job.
Is Herrmann a lock for a bullpen spot, and is the long man really that clear? What about a guy like Joe Martinez? I also would like to think that Judy, Pestano and Todd may have a chance to pitch themselves onto the Opening Day roster.
What about the idea of Carlin and Phillips challenging for the backup catcher spot?
Do Buck, Hannahan and Goedert really have no shot? Seems like Buck or Hannahan have a shot of being this years Kearns to me.
My take is that unless there’s a really serious case of somebody with little or no ML experience outplaying someone who was on the big league team most of last year, last year’s guy has the big advantage going into ST (barring injury), perhaps especially for the limited-role spots.
This is the year to see if the guys that actually graduated can stick – I don’t really think Acta feels he needs to send down a Crowe or a Nix or even a Buena for someone with less ML experience who offers a marginal improvement.
Even somebody like Buck, who does have experience, they’re going to want to watch play every day before sticking him on the end of the bench first week of April.
Nix at 3B I’d guess is the biggest chance for a newbie to break in, because it’s a starting position, he’s not that good, and even in a low expectation year like this, they want to maximize production from their starters.
I would say:
Herrmann is not a lock
Who the F is Joe Martinez?
I think Todd sucks.
The only way Carllips gets a shot is if they want Sweet Lou to play every day in AAA.
I’d say Buck does, but Acta supposedly went out of his way to bring up Hannahan the other day.
by TKilbane on Jan 31, 2011 3:35 PM EST up reply actions 1 recs
What exactly has Duncan done to fall behind Crowe in this area? It’s not like he needs to play CF if Grady is still rehabbing. And sure, he isn’t God’s gift to LF, but he’s better than Garko.
"Spring Training wins are good for the soul."
With Kearns looking to log possible heavy innings in the outfield, I am viewing Duncan as having the inside position for a bench spot just as a RH compliment to Hafner at DH if nothing else.
Duncan was second to only Nix in the lefty mashing department last year, and I think he definitely deserves to be on the Opening Day roster.
Is it even a stretch to say he might be in the lineup April 1st with Buehrle probably on the hill?
I really wish I could get more excited about Brantley than I am.
by kennesawmountainwahoo on Jan 31, 2011 10:21 AM EST up reply actions
He has a ways to go before convincing me he’s an asset in the lineup too. But I’d much rather we find out sooner than later, and getting him more opportunities next year to judge that is ok with me.
He does seem pretty revved for the season, one recent comment from him was along the lines of “you haven’t seen what I can do yet”, which makes for an easy comeback line, but I like the attitude at least.
When he actually starts hitting doubles into the gaps rather than dinking down the line I’ll start changing my current opinion of him.
I would be surprised if Carlos’ knee isn’t properly healed by spring training. People with worse knee injuries take less time to heal.
"An intelligent man is sometimes forced to be drunk to spend time with his fools" -Hemingway
It will most likely provide him fits throughout the season, but wouldn’t a one time freak injury have a higher recovery rate (or whatever) as compared to say stress fractures and the like, that have build up over time from a weakening of the bones/muscles/etc.?
"Spring Training wins are good for the soul."
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