Tribe Off Season/Hot Stove thread.

• Laley23

  

  Getting my Tribe fix on right now. Tom Hamilton on the call for the MSU-Purdue basketball game on Big Ten Network right now. Love that he gets some BTN games in the offseason.
• royal_k

  

  Laley23;1358275 wrote:Getting my Tribe fix on right now. Tom Hamilton on the call for the MSU-Purdue basketball game on Big Ten Network right now. Love that he gets some BTN games in the offseason.

  He does a pretty good basketball play by play. But nothing compared to his Tribe games.
• TBone14

  

  I do love me some Tommy. My favorite is when they are getting killed. He gets worked into this angry, sarcastic, bitter lather and it is hilarious. If I turn on the game in the middle of an inning I can usually tell if they are winning or losing or in a close game based on his tone.
• HitsRus

  

  The Tribe has traded Jeanmar Gomez to the Pirates for a AA outfielder......apparently a "numbers" problem with the 40 man roster.
  http://cleveland.indians.mlb.com/news/article.jsp?ymd=20130109&content_id=40903602&vkey=news_cle&c_id=cle
  
  The Tribe also lost Russ Canzler to the Yankees for the same reason. There is a price to pay for the active offseason and outside acquistions....and this was it.
• CLEconomically Speaking

  

  Indians spent all that money and whoever they plug at DH (Chris McGuiness, Mike McDade? Yan Gomes?) will most likely be in the 7 hole or lower.
  
  Need.
  More.
  Power.
• HitsRus

  

  Thr Tribe may well turn its attention to that DH role as they feel they have improved significantly their starting rotation.
  
  Antonetti from the Indians website:

  "It's improved," he said. "But you can never have enough pitching, so we'll continue to look at ways we can improve our alternatives over the next few weeks. But if we don't do anything, we feel we're in a better spot now than we were at the end of last season."

  
  

  As things stand, the Indians' rotation projects to feature Justin Masterson, Ubaldo Jimenez and Brett Myers, with Carlos Carrasco, Zach McAllister and Bauer serving as the primary candidates for the final two spots. Corey Kluber, David Huff and Kazmir will also go to camp as rotation possibilities

• wes_mantooth

  

  HitsRus;1362462 wrote:Thr Tribe may well turn its attention to that DH role as they feel they have improved significantly their starting rotation.
  
  Antonetti from the Indians website:

  eh, I don't have any confidence in their pitching. We don't have anything above a #3 caliber starting pitcher.
• Laley23

  

  wes_mantooth;1362497 wrote:eh, I don't have any confidence in their pitching. We don't have anything above a #3 caliber starting pitcher.

  Yeah, Id say its improved, but still not very good.
  
  I think I have more hope and excitement for a guy who has pitched in like 10 MLB games over anyone else.
• Commander of Awesome

  

  wes_mantooth;1362497 wrote:eh, I don't have any confidence in their pitching. We don't have anything above a #3 caliber starting pitcher.

  Agreed, hard to win without pitching. Bullpens are hard to rely on as theyre inconsistent year to year as well.
• CLEconomically Speaking

  

  Commander of Awesome;1362842 wrote:Agreed, hard to win without pitching. Bullpens are hard to rely on as theyre inconsistent year to year as well.

  I'd argue that we have one of the best, if not the best, bullpens in the AL.. which is good, because the rotation scares the hell out of me.
• wes_mantooth

  

  Yeah, I hate the argument that "we will have one of the best bullpens in baseball"....that never works from year to year.
• Commander of Awesome

  

  wes_mantooth;1362857 wrote:Yeah, I hate the argument that "we will have one of the best bullpens in baseball"....that never works from year to year.

  This. Bullpens are incredibly difficult to predict.
• Heretic

  

  HitsRus;1362183 wrote:The Tribe has traded Jeanmar Gomez to the Pirates for a AA outfielder......apparently a "numbers" problem with the 40 man roster.
  http://cleveland.indians.mlb.com/news/article.jsp?ymd=20130109&content_id=40903602&vkey=news_cle&c_id=cle
  
  The Tribe also lost Russ Canzler to the Yankees for the same reason. There is a price to pay for the active offseason and outside acquistions....and this was it.

  I loved the Pirate blog take on getting Gomez. Losing Lattimore was no big deal. Guy has power, but little ability to hit for average and had been surpassed by many others as far as being a viable prospect goes. But Gomez...a guy who pitches to contact and doesn't have an "out" pitch. Probably just insurance because the Liriano deal might not be going through due to injury and they think they'll need a stopgap while waiting for some of their legit prospects to be ready.
• wes_mantooth

  

  Commander of Awesome;1362862 wrote:This. Bullpens are incredibly difficult to predict.

  Hell, there are very few closers that you can truly count as a lock down guy. I always subscribed to the theory that if these guys were consistent...they would be starters.
• Heretic

  

  wes_mantooth;1362869 wrote:Hell, there are very few closers that you can truly count as a lock down guy. I always subscribed to the theory that if these guys were consistent...they would be starters.

  Yeah. Usually if you're a closer, it's because you have great pure ability and it's the club's hope you can consistently harness it for one-inning stints regularly. Some guys do that well for years; most have a short shelf like. Like in 2011, Hanrahan was dominant for most of the year with the Pirates. Last year, he had good stats, but his peripherals were down to the degree they had no problems with trading him. His fastball speed was less consistently high and his walk numbers went up. In some ways, he was in the same boat as Perez for you, in that he might give you 8 straight shut-down appearances (although a few might be a bit tense) and then completely blow up and give up a five-run inning or two.
• Commander of Awesome

  

  Joe Blowoski.
• HitsRus

  

  Bullpens vary from year to year on most teams, but Perez and Pestano have been pretty consistent. I'm pretty confident the Tribe BP will be good again this year, although I can't say I like the trade of Esmiel Rogers. Rogers could bring it at 98 MPH....nobody in our pen can throw like that. Almost everybody is low 90's.
• royal_k

  

  Yeah I didn't get the Rogers thing either. he was impressive at times.
• HitsRus

  

  Yeah...do we really need Mike Aviles?
• HitsRus

  

  At the World Baseball Classic ...The back end of Team USA's bullpen will feature the Tribe's set up man and closer, as both Vinnie Pestano and Chris Perez were selcted to the team.
  
  Druby Cabrerra will also suit up for his native Venezuela...catcher Yan Gomes will play for Brazil.
  
  http://cleveland.indians.mlb.com/news/article.jsp?ymd=20130114&content_id=40962128&vkey=news_cle&c_id=cle
• Crimson streak

  

  I really like our bullpen this year. If we can get some consistent pitching we could be looking at 85-90 wins.
• CLEconomically Speaking

  

  Crimson streak;1367517 wrote:I really like our bullpen this year. If we can get some consistent pitching we could be looking at 85-90 wins.

  Ya and if Progressive goes bankrupt we could get the Jake back..
• Classyposter58

  

  Crimson streak;1367517 wrote:I really like our bullpen this year. If we can get some consistent pitching we could be looking at 85-90 wins.

  Lol well the O's and A's were playoff teams so I guess its not impossible but we will see if KC and MIN improve, the White Sox continue to be a player and if the Tigers live up to expectations because at the moment they look like the best team in the AL
• Footwedge

  Crimson streak;1367517 wrote:I really like our bullpen this year. If we can get some consistent pitching we could be looking at 85-90 wins.

  Sorry to pop your bub there Steak. I'm the biggest cleveland homer in seeing silver linings. But...I put the over/under at 69 wins this year.
  
  Indians starting pitching is still pathetic. The only upgrade position wise is first base...and not by much either. I would rather have Choo in right over Swisher...every time.
  
  More homers is suppose to equal more runs. Not with this line up.
  
  At least we have a manager who will play to win. People like Ubaldo will be yanked in the first or second inning when necesary.
  
  No more 10-1 deficits going to the third inning.
• Footwedge

  Classyposter58;1367836 wrote:Lol well the O's and A's were playoff teams so I guess its not impossible but we will see if KC and MIN improve, the White Sox continue to be a player and if the Tigers live up to expectations because at the moment they look like the best team in the AL

  Tigers should win this division by 12-15 games this year. There is no comparison between them and the rest of the division. I agree...they are the best team in the AL.