Sizemore out 8-12 weeks
Per @MLBastion: Sizemore underwent a micro discectomy procedure on his lower back. Out 8-12 weeks according to Indians. More at MLB.com.
3 months ago
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A few micro here, a few micro there, pretty soon you’re talking about something macro.
by woodsmeister on Mar 1, 2012 4:08 PM EST reply actions 7 recs
For those interested, an explanation of what a microdiscectomy is.
In a microdiscectomy or microdecompression spine surgery, a small portion of the bone over the nerve root and/or disc material from under the nerve root is removed to relieve neural impingement and provide more room for the nerve to heal.
A microdiscectomy is typically performed for a herniated lumbar disc and is actually more effective for treating leg pain (also known as radiculopathy) than lower back pain
no it doesn’t. That’s exactly what I need to have done for (very early) spinal stenosis but am scared shitless by thought of a back operation. The leg pain is brutal though.
I have back surgery phobia. A very good friend of mine died at 25 after routine back surgery.
Matt LaPorta is the bane of my existence.
Aren’t phobias irrational fears? That doesn’t necessarily seem irrational to me in your case.
by PBH on Mar 1, 2012 7:15 PM EST up reply actions
I know there are some medical professionals out there in LGT-land who can speak on this from their perspective, but I can at least from a “patient” standpoint as I’ve been going through this since late last year.
It hurts. A lot.
I’ve been doing both aquatic and “land” physical therapy since late November in order to avoid the surgery, which from what my therapists have said would be closer to 6 months (of course, my body type is not that of a MLB centerfielder either).
You are reading my signature.
But I presume you weren’t also recovering from knee surgery, either. That has to impact the rehab from the back surgery.
Exactly. So most of us have herniations on MRI if we chose to look for them. They don’t always become symptomatic. Given that this was initially diagnosed as a strain (so assuming they didn’t completely miss any neurologic features), I’m guessing a subsequent MRI showed herniation. The question is, what on earth are we treating with this surgery? Some clinical findings (apart from isolated pain) or the MRI?
by supermarioelia on Mar 1, 2012 6:37 PM EST up reply actions
i was kidding. ihere’s the short, pertinent timeline of events:
August 2011: began with pulling the cord on a roto-tiller after using it for 30 minutes, my back froze up, and i was immobile for 2 days, unable to work an office job for 5. Doc diagnosed as a back sprain, went on my way.
6 weeks later, reaggravated driving my wife’s stick-shift for the first time (extending my leg/back for the clutch); missed 2 days of work.
finally, re-aggravated a 2nd time (3rd total incident) sitting on the crowded, cold, hard bleachers in Happy Valley for JoePa’s last game as head coach at PSU. when the Doc finally agreed to send me for an MRI, it showed this:
from the therapists I’ve seen and the neurosurgeon, it’s not a minor herniation.
Upon seeing this, my neurosurgeon, recommended because she favors therapy over surgery at all costs, expected I’d have to have surgery, but my movement/progression from that visit since the MRI, she felt I was heading in the right direction.
I’m 32 years old; fun stuff.
You are reading my signature.
Yowza….I have a definite fear of what an MRI would show of my back. I have three partially crushed (unknown origin) lower thoracic vertebrae that were first diagnosed when I had a chest x-ray for pneumonia in college. I’ve had pretty much constant pain/burning/numbness of varying degrees in that part of my back since high school, though no real compromised movement. I’ve got bets out for the day it all goes bad.
by APV on Mar 1, 2012 9:19 PM EST up reply actions
Neurosurgeon says I have an “abnormally large” spinal canal, which may have prevented the herniation from causing the degree of pain that GoTribe028 describes below.
I’ve had minor back incidents over the years, nothing I thought were more than a pulled muscle, but the yardwork triggered something. Years of likely bad posture, bad form lifting weights, and whatnot eventually caught up. As long as you haven’t had a major incident yet, be mindful of things that could trigger it. Buy a snowblower if you live around here, for one.
You are reading my signature.
Ouch. Do you think it was all that Butterfly?
by NatiTribeFan on Mar 2, 2012 10:36 AM EST up reply actions
The injury predates the butterfly. Swimming had good and bad effects on it. Swimming, in general, is pretty obviously a good thing for strengthening the muscles of the back and something I still do for exercise. Swimming lots of butterfly competitively…maybe not so good. I’d typically tweak the area in one way or another a few times a season, usually results in a week or two of a pretty constant burning sensation in that part of my back. Good times….
one of my painfully candid docs told me – yes, by all means do therapy and have epidural injections… that should postpone it for a while.
The world of pro sports amazes me. Yesterday it was a back strain, today it’s a herniation and he’s having surgery. Maybe this is just our local practice, but no surgeon is operating on a herniation without PROFOUND neurologic impingment. I referred a guy to the neurosurgeon with acute back pain and weakness in the leg and a unilateral absent patellar reflex with a confirmatory MRI showing a herniation at L4, and they opted to treat it conservatively. And this was an active hockey player.
I trust that this was done with the best of the best surgeons and as minimally invasive as possible, but I cringe to imagine what the players are risking long-term with the quick surgical trigger.
by supermarioelia on Mar 1, 2012 6:34 PM EST up reply actions
Hope it gets better for you. I’m 28 now and had a laminectomy or what my doctor called “decompression” 3 years ago for spinal stenosis. Stenosis was described to me as “a water pipe with increasing pressure running through it getting smaller and smaller”.
I had 3 discs pressing into the nerves that caused numbness in my entire right leg down to my toes, and numbness in my left leg, less severe only the tips of my toes and my calf. Also cause EXTREME pain in my right hip whenever I would stand up. All 3 were “shaved down” that was the description my doctor gave.
I tried physical therapy which did work for a time, until the symptoms became too much for me to handle. I did therapy for at least 20 perscribed sessions (yay for good health insurance) and doing therapy at my home.
Was off work for a few months, healing time and physical therapy included. Would have numbness in my toes from time to time that eventually went away. Was told that the nerves were healing and the numbness shouldn’t be an issue long term, which thankfully it wasn’t.
"Ok everyone listen up! I've just invited Dave to suck it!"
thanks for sharing – doc said it’s good that my legs aren’t numb yet. will look out for that. Before injections it got to where I could walk about 200m or stand for about 10 min. before leg pain became intolerable.
SuperM – I would also not like to be Grady from the stance of potentially kneejerk reactions to extremely sensitive bodily areas which could (potentially) result in a lifetime of pain, all in the interest of getting him back on the field a few months sooner.
sounds similar to me, except the degree of your pain seems worse; i haven’t had the complete numbness, just in the toe next to my big toe. That numbness is now gone, my actual back pain is almost gone, but the lingering effects are like you describe in the hip; as soon as i stand up, feels like someone punched me in the hip; sometimes goes away in 5 seconds, other times it lingers as I walk.
while it looks like I’m out of the neck for surgery at the time being, my next greatest fear is not being able to golf this summer.
You are reading my signature.
Another “bright side,” this opens up a roster spot as Grady will surely be put on the 60-day DL
#notreallyabrightside
I wonder if the 8-12 weeks is just for the surgery or if it would also include rehab from the knee. Also, that is a window of entire month. Wow.
Matt LaPorta is the bane of my existence.
I forget, was “Fire Soloff” part of the series?
"Lotta heart in Cleveland." - Ian Hunter
by Denver Tribe Fan on Mar 1, 2012 4:46 PM EST reply actions
Sure. All he needs now is a bad burn to set him back further…
by APV on Mar 1, 2012 4:53 PM EST up reply actions
I believe so. And rightfully. It’s about time his reputation stops being so glimmery.
Either that or it’s about time MLB fixes the flawed system of low-marjet teams only being able to afford injury-prone veterans.
by westbrook on Mar 1, 2012 5:17 PM EST via mobile up reply actions
I still think Slider is the issue here.
by Fire Slider on Mar 1, 2012 7:31 PM EST up reply actions 3 recs
So who can enlighten us about what the insurance policy would be in this case. Obviously they would have a major one on Grady. Or is that 5 mil. sunk? Together with 7 mil. for Faustberto, that’s a fine chunk of change missing for a mid-season acquisition, or for whatever.
Insurance ain’t what it used to be. I doubt they could have gotten much on Grady, i.e., I doubt it would be available at a price worth paying.
The money is gone as soon as the contract is signed. What we lost today isn’t money, it’s on-field productivity. If anything, as APV noted, we gained a little money.
I believe the $7M for Fauxberto is prorated pending his return to baseball duties in the states. If he’s out half the year, he’s out half the money.
That is correct. His salary is prorated based on the 183-day season.
by Jay on Mar 7, 2012 5:57 PM EST up reply actions
Blah blah blah left-handed hitter… But why not use some combination of the Fauxsto and Grady incentive money to bring Johnny Damon on board for a couple of million? Try as I might, I can not get comfortable with the Duncan-as-everyday-player idea.
Though I look right at home, I still feel like an exile
by Manhattan Tribe Fan on Mar 1, 2012 5:27 PM EST via mobile reply actions
Can Damon adequately play LF these days?
by JulioBernazard on Mar 1, 2012 9:59 PM EST up reply actions
Compared to Pie or to Duncan?
Though I look right at home, I still feel like an exile
by Manhattan Tribe Fan on Mar 1, 2012 11:51 PM EST up reply actions
He was the very definition of “noodle-armed” five years ago.
by JulioBernazard on Mar 2, 2012 10:57 AM EST up reply actions
I was trying to make the point that he can’t throw a little more subtly.
by woodsmeister on Mar 2, 2012 11:45 AM EST up reply actions
He still runs the ball in to the infield well.
by YoDaddyWags on Mar 2, 2012 12:09 PM EST up reply actions 1 recs
Hate to nitpick, but there is no “s” in Fauxto.
by Jay on Mar 1, 2012 10:36 PM EST up reply actions 1 recs
It’s this sort of commitment to excellence that keeps me coming back here.
Though I look right at home, I still feel like an exile
by Manhattan Tribe Fan on Mar 1, 2012 11:50 PM EST up reply actions 4 recs
speaking of which, I downloaded the ZiPS spreadsheet a few days ago and somebody there has a sense of humor:
Fauxto Carmona CLE R 31 10 12 4.85 29 29 174.3 188 101 94 21 62 104 3 64% 11 86
by AllenSmith on Mar 2, 2012 11:16 AM EST up reply actions 1 recs
That’s good. Fauxto is no temporary identity- it’s a name that will live on in saber metrics if not in reality.
Maybe LGT should copyright the name and sell Fauxto jerseys when next he makes an appearance. It’ll be the must-have Chief Wahoo item for the summer! Jim Caple will want one. Perhaps it could even do enough business to pay for a co-blogger trip to Arizona next season…
by MTF on Mar 2, 2012 1:42 PM EST up reply actions
I thought you wanted a first baseman. And a unicorn.
by Jay on Mar 1, 2012 10:36 PM EST up reply actions 14 recs
#Indians manager Manny Acta mentioned Russ Canzler is an “interesting guy”. He likes his bat, but wants to see him in the outfield in spring-Camino
I think this is an interesting quote considering that just a week ago they said that he would strictly be seen as a 1B…. I will try and find that quote in a little bit. To me this says they are not happy with any LFer’s in camp. Plus he is a right handed hitter which helps his case in my opinion
He likes his bat
Everyone likes a dude who swings an absolute log.
by JulioBernazard on Mar 1, 2012 9:58 PM EST up reply actions
i have to stop reading this thread. you guys are making me nervous about the ass muscle i pulled on Monday.
The most alarming thing about Grady’s last two injuries, and the surgeries they necessitated, is that they were not the result of collision, awkward falling, or any other kind of impact other than very pedestrian athletic activities – running hard, bending and throwing, etc., things every player regardless of talent needs to to every day.
During this offseason, whenever I visited the Tribe page on mlb.com, the thumbnail video that autostarts would feature “the play” where Grady lines one into the left center gap and takes off running for extra bases. I watched dozens of times to see if he hit first base wrong, but he didn’t – the knee injury happened a little shy of midway between first and second, just running. And now this one, shagging grounders, presumably not at full speed.
My best hope is that he’s fully healthy for a few weeks mid to late season this year and can provide the spark he did during his first return last year. That’s my hope, and I’m not counting on it, and neither should Netti, Acta, Shap or any fan that follows Tribe fortunes carefully.
A large part of the pleasure of this forum for me, in addition to the general high level of humor and erudition, is getting insights into what goes into making decisions from a GM point of view, weighing budget factors, roster makeup, the intricacies of player options, and planning for the future.
So I’m wondering what Netti is thinking right now, at the onset of his self-professed, post-Ubaldo trade “window of opportunity”, where we are going for the playoffs – is he going to make a move to acquire an outfielder before opening day, or is he going to let the current ST competition play out and go with that?
What’s the play?
First play is, don’t panic. Don’t overpay.
Second play is, see what might become available as spring training progresses. Teams are going to face roster crunches. Advanced prospects are going to outperform and tempt teams to move mid-level veterans in trades.
Third play is, think long and hard about how a Duncan/whoever platoon in left is going to look, and be ready to live with it for a month. Nobody expected Benuardo to explode in 2006, but it happened, and we profited by letting it happen.
I hate balancing the probability of Grady going down with the guy who nobody expected to fill the gap, but that’s past tense.
I think Netti is frantically yet pragmatically doing all three at once, not quite burning the phones, while keeping a keen eye on the intrasquad games. And he knows ST stats don’t mean crap, so he’s talking to the coaches a lot.
Why a month? Aren’t we talking about a longer term thing? Or is that the time you let it play out before you have to make a move?
Byrd is the word?
Would the Indians be interested in Marlon Byrdof the Cubs? He is a solid defender, with a bat that won’t hurt you, and is only under contract for the remainder of the year.
As a Cubs fan, I would like someone like cord phelps in return, does that seem viable?
by neifiisgreat on Mar 2, 2012 7:29 AM EST via mobile reply actions
But the Cubs probably eat the salary in that scenario.
by Jay on Mar 2, 2012 9:29 PM EST up reply actions
join the club, AJ Burnett. Obviously, if we sign him he doesn’t injure his eye like that, but still… no matter where we spent this $$, the guy had a decent chance of injury.
The Tribe would’ve had to trade for him, not sign him.
by JulioBernazard on Mar 2, 2012 1:05 PM EST up reply actions
Imagine how screwed we’d be if we paid him 9 mil a year like he was trying to get.
Ohio's premier Russian fan.
by Heavysoviet on Mar 2, 2012 1:13 PM EST via mobile reply actions
Like he was trying to get? I don’t have the impression he drove a hard bargain. We had a $9 million option on him, which we declined, making him a free agent. Maybe that’s what you’re remembering.
by Jay on Mar 2, 2012 9:30 PM EST up reply actions
Perhaps. I recall him seeking 9 mil in free agency. Could be wrong though.
Ohio's premier Russian fan.
What, like you saw him out on the street, asking for $9 million?
What the hell are you even talking about?
There is no way Grady was going to get a guaranteed 9 mil from any team.
Netti went out of his way, literally, to make him a better deal than anyone else would, once he became a FA, honoring the full original option with a base 5 mil and playing time incentives to kick in the rest. I’m not sure any other team would have done that.
But I’m pretty sure no other team, at whatever price, would’ve signed him with the understanding that he was their starting CF, with the expectation that he would make it thru the season.
I think there is plenty chance that he would have gotten more than a $5 million guarantee from some team, though perhaps for more than one year, second year club option with buyout, etc.
The $4 million in incentives don’t really matter, because nobody could have believed he was likely to reach more than the first million. It had more symbolic meaning than fiscal significance.
We don’t know what Grady would’ve signed for on the open market, because we set the price by signing him. For Cleveland, it was a good deal, symbolically speaking. Outside of Cleveland, that was meaningless.
As far as not likely to reach his incentives, you’re right – nobody would’ve believed it except Netti, who banked on it by taking symbol for substance. Any other GM would have treated him as damaged goods, and wouldn’t have counted on him to anchor the outfield, no matter what they paid him for the long odds.
I don’t think there’s any real basis for what you’re claiming here. I don’t think Antonetti got the market so wrong that he overpaid for Grady.
Considering the statements from Grady’s side, i.e. he felt he “owed something” to the Indians, he either got market value or just under.
Matt LaPorta is the bane of my existence.
I take that at face value, that Grady wanted to come back from the getgo, and that he and his agent never fully explored what the market would bear.
Btw, I truly don’t have a problem with the contract, I think Netti did his due diligence. My problem is he left it at that, and didn’t pay the same attention to the roster considerations inherent in the contract itself – Grady not being able to play much.
I’m sorry, but that is such an obvious consideration, I don’t think there is any chance they didn’t consider it at length. Looking at Grady strictly as a free agent, in our market, it’s a medium-risk signing with high upside. There is (was) the potential for him to put up a season worth $25 million. It isn’t often you can purchase that kind of upside for $5 million.
As for those roster considerations, where’s the opportunity cost? We still pursued Beltrán, et al., so what did it really cost us? You’re bemoaning the lack of star quality, somehow waiting on the bench behind a Grady injury or available for us to sign had we passed on Grady. But that star quality doesn’t exist, ergo your “roster considerations” don’t exist either.
I’m not going to rehash all I’ve written in this thread. Never bemoaned the contract or the lack of a “star” signing. Just the (to me at least) obvious fact that Netti didn’t do a good job planning for the most likely ST/early season injury, in this year where we are supposedly doing all we can to contend.
Since we now have a complete free for all for two OF spots, with the competition played out amongst guys who weren’t considered ML starting outfielders at the end of last year, I’d say roster considerations certainly do exist. Ipso facto even.
The words “planning for” are meaningless, absent any reasonable option on which to base such a contingency plan.
You have failed to show that there were any options more reasonable than what they actually have done already.
How’s this: Sizemore’s signing was a contingency plan for not getting to sign anyone else worthy of a starting role.
If that’s the case, then it truly was a poor decision to sign him at all. There is only one contingency when considering having Grady on your ballclub at this point in his career, and that’s the number of games you should bank on him being an effective starter.
Whether as a frontline or backup plan, its just not a good bet to rely on him for any stretch of time. Do you honestly think trading Cory Burns for Aaron Cunningham was the best they could do?
I honestly think they tried to do a whole lot of things but set reasonable limits on the value of each acquisition.
Could they have gone to $28 million or so for Josh Willingham? Sure. Should they have? Of course not.
Should they have offered a two-year deal to Carlos Peña, since they couldn’t outbid his old team on a one-year deal? I don’t think so, and he’s not an outfielder anyway.
Could they have offered a third year to Beltrán, a guy who didn’t want to come here even for three months?
I keep waiting for you to tell me: What more could they have done? You have no answers, just this vague “they should have done more” line.
by Jay on Mar 4, 2012 1:56 PM EST up reply actions
Frankly, I’m glad they got Grady, because that was a better value signing than the guys they missed out on.
Where would they be without the Grady signing?
How is it that signing him somehow made us worse in your view? How can that possibly make sense?
by Jay on Mar 4, 2012 1:57 PM EST up reply actions
Right, it’s very probable in fact that without Grady we’d be in the exact same position as we are right now. This at least offers the possibility of 100 at bats or so.
I never said signing him made us worse. I liked the signing because I wanted Grady to be an Indian, and there was the real chance that he could give us enough at bats to prove an asset.
I’m just saying I don’t think anybody knowing Grady’s fortunes over the past few years would bank on that, that you have to then make it a priority to sign a legit (not “star”) starting OF as insurance, especially since Brantley is not a proven asset either, in LF at least.
As far as options, I pointed to the FA list where there were several outfielders I thought were better options than Cunningham or Lewis or Pie et al. Guys who, unlike Beltran and Willingham, we might actually afford.
I also said I expected a trade rather than a FA signing, since we have more chips in players and prospects than we do $$. Given the priority, I have no doubt we could swing a trade for someone better than Aaron Cunningham. By better I mean somebody that would right now be a clear favorite to be the starting LF (which nobody is at the moment).
I’m not going to try and list all the trades that could’ve been made. It just depends what you are willing to give up in return. If you like, I could provide a trade scenario as an exercise, and we can argue about why Netti or the opposing GM would or wouldn’t do it, but it would still come down to what priority you assign and what you are willing to give up.
I thought going into the offseason that even if we picked up Grady’s option, the OF was still the weakest part of the ballclub, and of the entire Tribe system. I’m glad we didn’t pick up the option, and I’m glad we resigned him for less. Regardless of what he cost, the OF remains the weakest part of the team, and is even weaker once he went down.
I actually think you do need to provide a trade scenario as an exercise. We do not have tremendous depth to trade away at the major league level, and we have little outside of relievers in the high minors.
My sense is that we actually had more money to spend this offseason than we had talent to trade, so the idea that a trade was the answer seems perhaps even more specious than the lack of significant free agent options that we didn’t pursue earnestly.
by Jay on Mar 4, 2012 8:25 PM EST up reply actions
Before I do, I’ll repost a list from YoDaddyWags on 2012 FA’s. If we did indeed offer Beltran $24mil over 2 years, you wouldn’t want to have anyone from that list on the roster right now?
Here are the oWAR per PA over the last three years (oWP3) for the outfield crop:
7.603 Beltran #
5,013 Willingham
4.796 Crisp #
4.560 Damon * (not that he can play OF anymore)
4.138 Cuddyer
2.985 Sizemore *
2.881 DeJesus *
2.831 Cust *
2.801 Kubel *
2.784 Gomes
2.750 McLouth *
2.724 A. Jones
2.645 S. Hairston
2.478 Ibanez *
2.399 R. Johnson
2.326 Ross
2.184 L. Nix*
2.016 Ordonez
1.274 Brantley *
0.963 Pierre *
0.661 Ankiel *
0.397 LaPorta
OK, trade scenario:
At around the same time pre-christmas, Arizona signed Jason Kubel and we signed Aaron Cunningham. Kubel’s signing pushed Gerardo Parra to the 4th OF spot, and the one thing the Dbacks are particularly weak in is LH relief.
I’d start with an offer of Hagadone and Cunningham for Parra, and be prepared to discuss Sipp/Perez in some kind of deal.
Parra is so similar to Brantley that giving up talent to acquire him seems pointless. Willingham, the cheapest option among the free agent outfielders, is still a 2.5 oWAR player. Jason Donald, in his 2 years and 468 PAs, has 2.6 oWAR.
I think the talent right now in Goodyear is—with the exception of Beltran—as good as, and cheaper than—without exception—this offseason’s options. The handwringing has been o’ermuch, methinks.
Doesn’t oWAR take into account position? Donald playing SS and 2B has a lot to do with his higher oWAR.
And I’m not sure Parra is that similar to Brantley. I think Brantley has the ability to put up the type of offensive season Parra just had, but he still hasn’t done that yet. And Parra has shown more of an ability to stay off the DL, which has become a noteworthy concern regarding Brantley.
Yes, oWAR takes into account defensive position; 2B is rated 0, but LF is downgraded by a half-run. So at 2.5 Willingham has the edge, and Donald would be rated 2.1 had he spent his time in LF. The extra $6.5 million to get that half-run is about three times the cost of free-market WAR.
Parra’s year was good for a 1.6 oWAR, after a -0.7 age 23 season; Brantley’s was 1.1. There doesn’t seem much in Parra’s history to think he’ll outperform Brantley significantly; Branley in the minors has an 11.8 BB% to Parra’s 8.2, a 388 OBA to Parra’s 375; Parra’s advantage is in SA, 440 to 377. As I say, I don’t see the point of giving up talent for such a minimal upgrade.
The upgrade would be from Cunningham, not Brantley, right? In this scenario, right now Brantley is pencilled into CF, and Parra would pretty clearly be the starting LF.
I guess we’ll just have to hope Cunningham outslugs Parra by 50 points in the bigs this year, as he did in the minors. And let’s hope all that time batting in Oakland and San Diego hasn’t made him totally forget how to hit.
And that’s all it is – hope.
Cunningham has spent the better part of the last 4 years in AAA, accumulating over 1000 at bats. Over the same stretch of time, Parra has had 40 AAA at bats and closer to 1500 ML at bats, while a year younger.
In reality, you’re absolutely right, we have to hope for something good to emerge from the OF situation.
But this is a hypothetical trade scenario I engaged in on request. You wouldn’t make that trade?
Ah. Verily, I can dig it. Much simpler. I made a comment elsewhere along those lines. Never happen, do you think?
Looking at the four offensive measures – Rbat, Rbaser, Rroe, and Rdp, Parra was worth 10 runs – 1 win more than Brantley last year. It’s not likely to change the season, but it’s nothing to sneeze at either. Now if you want to argue that we need Brantley more because this OF-er is going to need to play CF for at least 80 games, then of course its Brantley. But I’m buying that this offensive breakout for Parra is real, and I’d rather have that then waiting for Brantley to do likewise.
Parra’s got a good defensive reputation, a good arm, and has played 52 games in CF; I’d guess he could play as well as Brantley. Knock off 20 points of OBA and OPS, by the way, for the 16 intentional walks he got batting ahead of the pitcher.
Why do I keep seeing arguments like these making assumptions about things that we have no way of knowing? We only know what we see and the front office has seemed much more open this year than in many years past about who they were pursuing. I tend to abstain from discourse about “we should have” or “we could have” unless I have hard evidence as to what took place. There is no way for us to fully know the conversations that the front office took part in and speculating not that they executed in a poor manner but that they just plain didn’t think of it, is ridiculous.
Matt LaPorta is the bane of my existence.
Hell, I’m not even demanding hard evidence. I’d settle for plausible conjecture at this point! But we got nothin’!
by Jay on Mar 4, 2012 2:51 PM EST up reply actions
They obviously thought of it, that’s why we have so many new OF faces in spring training. Heck they’re doubling up on lockers because our OF depth was so thin!
The solution is simple, get the league commissioner to allow more bench spots, draft as many running backs as you can and handcuff the hell outta your starters.
by Brick. on Mar 4, 2012 10:29 PM EST via mobile up reply actions
It’s almost like the Indians were more focused on restructuring the contract than actually moving on and finding a permanent or even temporary solution to the outfield problem. Resigning Sizemore does nothing but put a few more butts in the seats and t-shirts on people’s backs. I like the kid, but this club can’t continue to be the MLB pausing point for injured players. Sometimes that works (Kevin Millwood), but usually doesn’t. They seem to hold on too long at times (Adam Miller finally left Cleveland this year after 6 years of injuries) which seems sort of necessary being a small market club (treat the guys right so others will want to play here), but at the same time we have to grow our own players.
We're all told at some point in time that we can no longer play the children's game, we just don't... don't know when that's gonna be. Some of us are told at eighteen, some of us are told at forty, but we're all told. - Moneyball
Also, really? Complain about Adam Miller? The signing bonus was already sunk from day 1. Then we paid, what, maybe $500,000 over the entire duration of his days here?
Matt LaPorta is the bane of my existence.
Moreover, he was off the 40-man after 2009, so we didn’t even spend a roster spot on him.
There are some moves that annoy fans but are not even arguably detrimental to the team’s success on the field. This falls into that category. “Holding onto him for too long” — too long for what, exactly?
by Jay on Mar 4, 2012 3:27 PM EST up reply actions
You’re not wrong at all with regards to the failure to secure a good outfielder this offseason. I don’t think they would have been so myopic to think that signing Grady solved anything with regards to that issue, at least I hope not, which is why they made the trade Cunningham and signed multiple long shot OF guys to spring training invites and minor league deals. These moves were made to hedge their bets, but they still failed to acquire one legit OF and now will be hoping to catch lightening in a bottle.
It’s almost like the Indians were more focused on restructuring the contract than actually moving on and finding a permanent or even temporary solution to the outfield problem.
I stopped reading after this.
I like ex-Phillies prospects.
by Gradyforpresident on Mar 4, 2012 8:49 PM EST up reply actions 1 recs
The Indians seemingly made 3 goos bets that if even one would pay off this year they’d be looking pretty good.
Sizemore signed
Hafner signed
traded for LaPorta
None of those bets paid off. Sucks.
Then sign him, maybe he can play LF.
by callmrplow on Mar 6, 2012 12:58 PM EST up reply actions 4 recs
The Indians made many bets relating to 2012; the selectivity of your list is eccentric, to say the least.
by YoDaddyWags on Mar 5, 2012 6:34 PM EST up reply actions 3 recs
Steelers fan, eh? I guess I should’ve known.
by TKilbane on Mar 5, 2012 8:30 PM EST up reply actions 1 recs
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