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Tribe Off Season/Hot Stove thread.

  • Crimson streak
    Tori hunter would be interesting considering his son will be at nd next year. Cleveland is about 3&1/2 hours away from south bend. I could see Chicago also though
  • HitsRus
    Thanks for the link BR.....(reps)

    While there is always a focus on pitching, and it's obvious the Tribe's starting staff has steeply declined since the days of C.C. and Cliff Lee....the hitting has fallen thru the floor....thru the basement and into the netherworld.
    In 2007...just five short years ago...the Tribe was one game short of the World Series. Victor Martinez knocked in 114 runs...and Travis Hafner drove in 100. Blake, Sizemore, and Jhonny Peralta contirbuted over 70 RBI.

    In 2008, 1 year later, the Tribe had a terrible disappointing year. Ryan Garko (yes, Garko) and Grady Sizemore knocked in 90 to tie for the team lead. Jhonny Peralta was just a step behind with 89 RBIs.

    by 2009...the bats had declined even further...with only Choo and Peralta knocking in more than 80 runs.

    2010...Choo has 90 RBI's....but the next highest run producer is a hurt Travis Hafner with 50!

    2011....Druby Cabrerra knocks in 92 to lead the team, Santana emerges to drive in 79. Hafner knocks in 57 in 94 games......and Matt Laporta is banished to Triple A for his 4th place finish of 53.

    2012...the Tribe does not have one hitter with more than 80 RBIs. Kipnis and Santana tie for the 'lead' with 76. Three other guys bat in 60 something....
    ...ugh....at least the 'attack' is balanced. lol

    Is it too much to ask for the owner to go out and get ONE hitter?
  • royal_k
    I would love to see them land Melky Cabrera and Tori Hunter. If they don't trade Choo (highly unlikely) that would be a pretty good outfield when you throw in Brantley.

    And either one of those pitchers would be an instant upgrade.
  • ts1227
    Indians activate Carrasco and pick up the pitcher the Royals let go to make room for Santana.
    http://cleveland.sbnation.com/cleveland-indians/2012/11/2/3592884/carlos-carrasco-injury-indians-roster-transactions-blake-wood-rafael-perez

    C
    hampionship.
  • HitsRus
    Choo has averaged about 80 RBIs, 21 stolen bases and a BA of about .290 in the last two healthy years he's had (2011 was an injury plagued year where he only played about half the season.). He would do even better with bats around him. His defense and arm is top shelf.
    If they trade Choo, they need to do better than how they did during the great liquidation sale of 2010.


    So they cut on ex-Royal (Slowey) and picked up another...one coming off elbow surgery no less (Blake Wood).

    Antonetti seems to like sore armed pitchers.
  • royal_k
    I don't want to see them trade Choo. It's just the nature of the beast with this FO. A good player enters the last year of his contract and they look to trade him for a box of rocks and a toothbrush.
  • BRF
    wes_mantooth;1309704 wrote:We picked up the option of Ubaldo which is necessary for our championship run.
    LOL!
  • BR1986FB
    Tribe trades for Mike Aviles & Yan Gomes from Toronto. Asdrubel now expendable?

    http://espncleveland.com/common/more.php?m=49&action=blog&r=20&post_id=7491
  • Crimson streak
    I don't get that trade at all. Rodgers was pretty reliable last year
  • HitsRus
    wow....not off to a good start in my opinion. Rodgers was looking pretty good as a future back end of the pen guy(one of the few acquisitions this year that was any good)..and with Chris Perez's looming free agency.....SMH.

    And for what...more mediocre hitting? ...adding depth?

    If you were going to trade Rodgers wouldn't he have looked good in a package with Choo?...that could have brought a pretty good player. The only way this deal has a chance to be good is if the Tribe deals Cabrera. If they don't...this sucks.
  • IggyPride00
    Paul Hoynes was on Reghi's show a couple nights ago and said he thinks they might try and go after Cody Ross from the Red Sox as their big free agent power bat signing.

    Hoynes said Hunter will be way out of the Dolan's price range (3 years likely 10-13 million a year) and that Ross fits the mold of the kind of guy they would give a 1-2 year deal to who can maybe hit 20 homers with 60-70 RBI. His price range will be far more realistic as well.

    Hoynes gave the impression he thinks little to any meaningful payroll will be added (Francona was the big free agent acquisition).

    If the Dolan's consider a 3 year deal at 10-13 a year really extending themselves financially than my God do they need to sell this team.
  • like_that
    [h=3]What Indians should do this offseason [/h]November, 4, 2012
    NOV 4
    9:42
    AM ET



    Andrew Weber/US PresswireAsdrubal Cabrera is one veteran that the Cleveland Indians should look to move this offseason.
    The power outage in our area north of New York City is really no big deal, relative to the devastation in other parts. You throw an extra blanket on the kids at night, relearn to make coffee in the fireplace in the morning, spend the days cleaning up branches and leaves, and you're good to go. They're telling us it may be five or six more days until the electricity is back on, and that's fine. It'll work out. We were very, very fortunate.
    But with the cell service also either completely out or sporadic on most days, the information blackout on baseball moves is a much greater frustration -- for a baseball reporter, anyway -- than waiting in line for gas. So we checked into a hotel for a morning, and like a caffeine addict who reaches for a long-awaited cup of coffee, I think my hands were shaking as I got to text and dial and type for the first time since colleague Steve Berthiaume and I drove out of Detroit last week.
    Some thoughts looking ahead, and looking back on moves that were made:
    The Indians traded for a couple of infielders, in Mike Aviles and Yan Gomes.
    Aviles is a useful player, someone you can move around. But his presence could also give the Indians' front office the opportunity to be aggressive this offseason.
    Cleveland doesn't have a good farm system in the eyes of rival evaluators, and in particular, the Indians lack quality starting pitching at the big league level and in the minors.
    If I were in Chris Antonetti's shoes, as GM of the Indians, I'd take a look at what the Oakland Athletics have done in recent years and follow their example -- and this is what I'd do:
    1. Trade shortstop Asdrubal Cabrera
    He's set to make $6.5 million in 2013 and then $10 million in 2014, before becoming a free agent. He's an All-Star-caliber player just days away from his 27th birthday, and the Indians could get a nice package of prospects for him -- especially pitching prospects -- in a deal with a team such as the A's, Seattle Mariners Boston Red Sox or New York Yankees (who could use him as an everyday super utility player at third base, shortstop or second base, as they cope with the advancing ages of Alex Rodriguez and Derek Jeter and the possible exit of Robinson Cano).
    2. Trade Carlos Santana
    He is under contract through 2016, a deal that the Indians made believing he would be their catcher of the future. But around baseball, there are growing questions about whether his future is as a catcher, or whether he will become a first baseman. There were the same questions aboutJesus Montero, of course, and the Yankees traded him -- and put that positional question in the hands of the Mariners -- while his value was still high. The Indians should do the same thing, and with teams such as the Yankees, Tampa Bay Rays, Texas Rangers and Chicago Cubs all in need of long-term catching solutions, Cleveland would get really good return in a trade -- likely more pitching.
    3. Trade closer Chris Perez
    But the Indians should also deal Vinnie Pestano, who is their best reliever, because by the time Cleveland rebuilds its rotation to the point where it can contend again, Pestano will be far enough along in his service time when he would start to get expensive. Pestano would generate really, really nice return now, while he's still cheap, especially as teams look for alternatives to expensive free-agent bullpen options such as Rafael Soriano.
    4. Trade Shin-Soo Choo
    He's a free agent after next season, he's represented by Scott Boras and he's not coming back after next year. The Indians might get 80 cents on the dollar in return, but as we saw last summer, what teams can recoup in value in midseason deals is only diminishing.
    5. Trade Justin Masterson
    Although he had a terrible season in 2012 (4.93 ERA), he is 27 years old and will have trade value; the Red Sox know him, and have been interested, and the Cubs may, as well.
    A massive overhaul like this would not go over well with hard-core Indians fans, but again, the Cleveland front office could look to the Athletics as an example. Because Oakland wasn't drawing well, anyway, the Athletics swapped assets such as Gio Gonzalez and Trevor Cahill for young pitching, figuring that its best chance to regenerate interest was to rebuild its staff. Last year, the Indians drew 1.6 million fans, which ranked 13th among 14 teams in the American League.
    What does Cleveland really have to lose by trading in its best assets, and betting that it could pick prospects that could turn around the franchise in two or three years?
    If the Indians just keep that same group of players and try to tinker, they probably aren't going to win, and Cabrera, Choo, Masterson and Perez will probably all be gone soon, anyway.
  • IggyPride00
    like_that;1312476 wrote:What Indians should do this offseason

    November, 4, 2012
    NOV 4
    9:42
    AM ET





    Andrew Weber/US PresswireAsdrubal Cabrera is one veteran that the Cleveland Indians should look to move this offseason.
    The power outage in our area north of New York City is really no big deal, relative to the devastation in other parts. You throw an extra blanket on the kids at night, relearn to make coffee in the fireplace in the morning, spend the days cleaning up branches and leaves, and you're good to go. They're telling us it may be five or six more days until the electricity is back on, and that's fine. It'll work out. We were very, very fortunate.
    But with the cell service also either completely out or sporadic on most days, the information blackout on baseball moves is a much greater frustration -- for a baseball reporter, anyway -- than waiting in line for gas. So we checked into a hotel for a morning, and like a caffeine addict who reaches for a long-awaited cup of coffee, I think my hands were shaking as I got to text and dial and type for the first time since colleague Steve Berthiaume and I drove out of Detroit last week.
    Some thoughts looking ahead, and looking back on moves that were made:
    The Indians traded for a couple of infielders, in Mike Aviles and Yan Gomes.
    Aviles is a useful player, someone you can move around. But his presence could also give the Indians' front office the opportunity to be aggressive this offseason.
    Cleveland doesn't have a good farm system in the eyes of rival evaluators, and in particular, the Indians lack quality starting pitching at the big league level and in the minors.
    If I were in Chris Antonetti's shoes, as GM of the Indians, I'd take a look at what the Oakland Athletics have done in recent years and follow their example -- and this is what I'd do:
    1. Trade shortstop Asdrubal Cabrera
    He's set to make $6.5 million in 2013 and then $10 million in 2014, before becoming a free agent. He's an All-Star-caliber player just days away from his 27th birthday, and the Indians could get a nice package of prospects for him -- especially pitching prospects -- in a deal with a team such as the A's, Seattle Mariners Boston Red Sox or New York Yankees (who could use him as an everyday super utility player at third base, shortstop or second base, as they cope with the advancing ages of Alex Rodriguez and Derek Jeter and the possible exit of Robinson Cano).
    2. Trade Carlos Santana
    He is under contract through 2016, a deal that the Indians made believing he would be their catcher of the future. But around baseball, there are growing questions about whether his future is as a catcher, or whether he will become a first baseman. There were the same questions aboutJesus Montero, of course, and the Yankees traded him -- and put that positional question in the hands of the Mariners -- while his value was still high. The Indians should do the same thing, and with teams such as the Yankees, Tampa Bay Rays, Texas Rangers and Chicago Cubs all in need of long-term catching solutions, Cleveland would get really good return in a trade -- likely more pitching.
    3. Trade closer Chris Perez
    But the Indians should also deal Vinnie Pestano, who is their best reliever, because by the time Cleveland rebuilds its rotation to the point where it can contend again, Pestano will be far enough along in his service time when he would start to get expensive. Pestano would generate really, really nice return now, while he's still cheap, especially as teams look for alternatives to expensive free-agent bullpen options such as Rafael Soriano.
    4. Trade Shin-Soo Choo
    He's a free agent after next season, he's represented by Scott Boras and he's not coming back after next year. The Indians might get 80 cents on the dollar in return, but as we saw last summer, what teams can recoup in value in midseason deals is only diminishing.
    5. Trade Justin Masterson
    Although he had a terrible season in 2012 (4.93 ERA), he is 27 years old and will have trade value; the Red Sox know him, and have been interested, and the Cubs may, as well.
    A massive overhaul like this would not go over well with hard-core Indians fans, but again, the Cleveland front office could look to the Athletics as an example. Because Oakland wasn't drawing well, anyway, the Athletics swapped assets such as Gio Gonzalez and Trevor Cahill for young pitching, figuring that its best chance to regenerate interest was to rebuild its staff. Last year, the Indians drew 1.6 million fans, which ranked 13th among 14 teams in the American League.
    What does Cleveland really have to lose by trading in its best assets, and betting that it could pick prospects that could turn around the franchise in two or three years?
    If the Indians just keep that same group of players and try to tinker, they probably aren't going to win, and Cabrera, Choo, Masterson and Perez will probably all be gone soon, anyway.
    The Dolan's would love this strategy. Money would be falling out of their pockets if they were able to get rid of those guys in return for nothing but cheap AAA prospects.
  • HitsRus
    ^^^^trading those players would be of little value as we seem to get taken evry time.
  • Benny The Jet
    like_that;1312476 wrote:What Indians should do this offseason

    November, 4, 2012
    NOV 4
    9:42
    AM ET





    Andrew Weber/US PresswireAsdrubal Cabrera is one veteran that the Cleveland Indians should look to move this offseason.
    The power outage in our area north of New York City is really no big deal, relative to the devastation in other parts. You throw an extra blanket on the kids at night, relearn to make coffee in the fireplace in the morning, spend the days cleaning up branches and leaves, and you're good to go. They're telling us it may be five or six more days until the electricity is back on, and that's fine. It'll work out. We were very, very fortunate.
    But with the cell service also either completely out or sporadic on most days, the information blackout on baseball moves is a much greater frustration -- for a baseball reporter, anyway -- than waiting in line for gas. So we checked into a hotel for a morning, and like a caffeine addict who reaches for a long-awaited cup of coffee, I think my hands were shaking as I got to text and dial and type for the first time since colleague Steve Berthiaume and I drove out of Detroit last week.
    Some thoughts looking ahead, and looking back on moves that were made:
    The Indians traded for a couple of infielders, in Mike Aviles and Yan Gomes.
    Aviles is a useful player, someone you can move around. But his presence could also give the Indians' front office the opportunity to be aggressive this offseason.
    Cleveland doesn't have a good farm system in the eyes of rival evaluators, and in particular, the Indians lack quality starting pitching at the big league level and in the minors.
    If I were in Chris Antonetti's shoes, as GM of the Indians, I'd take a look at what the Oakland Athletics have done in recent years and follow their example -- and this is what I'd do:
    1. Trade shortstop Asdrubal Cabrera
    He's set to make $6.5 million in 2013 and then $10 million in 2014, before becoming a free agent. He's an All-Star-caliber player just days away from his 27th birthday, and the Indians could get a nice package of prospects for him -- especially pitching prospects -- in a deal with a team such as the A's, Seattle Mariners Boston Red Sox or New York Yankees (who could use him as an everyday super utility player at third base, shortstop or second base, as they cope with the advancing ages of Alex Rodriguez and Derek Jeter and the possible exit of Robinson Cano).
    2. Trade Carlos Santana
    He is under contract through 2016, a deal that the Indians made believing he would be their catcher of the future. But around baseball, there are growing questions about whether his future is as a catcher, or whether he will become a first baseman. There were the same questions aboutJesus Montero, of course, and the Yankees traded him -- and put that positional question in the hands of the Mariners -- while his value was still high. The Indians should do the same thing, and with teams such as the Yankees, Tampa Bay Rays, Texas Rangers and Chicago Cubs all in need of long-term catching solutions, Cleveland would get really good return in a trade -- likely more pitching.
    3. Trade closer Chris Perez
    But the Indians should also deal Vinnie Pestano, who is their best reliever, because by the time Cleveland rebuilds its rotation to the point where it can contend again, Pestano will be far enough along in his service time when he would start to get expensive. Pestano would generate really, really nice return now, while he's still cheap, especially as teams look for alternatives to expensive free-agent bullpen options such as Rafael Soriano.
    4. Trade Shin-Soo Choo
    He's a free agent after next season, he's represented by Scott Boras and he's not coming back after next year. The Indians might get 80 cents on the dollar in return, but as we saw last summer, what teams can recoup in value in midseason deals is only diminishing.
    5. Trade Justin Masterson
    Although he had a terrible season in 2012 (4.93 ERA), he is 27 years old and will have trade value; the Red Sox know him, and have been interested, and the Cubs may, as well.
    A massive overhaul like this would not go over well with hard-core Indians fans, but again, the Cleveland front office could look to the Athletics as an example. Because Oakland wasn't drawing well, anyway, the Athletics swapped assets such as Gio Gonzalez and Trevor Cahill for young pitching, figuring that its best chance to regenerate interest was to rebuild its staff. Last year, the Indians drew 1.6 million fans, which ranked 13th among 14 teams in the American League.
    What does Cleveland really have to lose by trading in its best assets, and betting that it could pick prospects that could turn around the franchise in two or three years?
    If the Indians just keep that same group of players and try to tinker, they probably aren't going to win, and Cabrera, Choo, Masterson and Perez will probably all be gone soon, anyway.
    If this were to happen, you could count on 1 hand the number of fans at home games.
  • ts1227
    IggyPride00;1312488 wrote:The Dolan's would love this strategy. Money would be falling out of their pockets if they were able to get rid of those guys in return for nothing but cheap AAA prospects.

    AAA? Those players would have a remote chance at being good and actually demand a salary. Thus, short season A is more realistic
  • Laley23
    ts1227;1313013 wrote:AAA? Those players would have a remote chance at being good and actually demand a salary. Thus, short season A is more realistic
    That, or the traditional AAAA players. They seem to like the guys who we have heard of before, but never amount to anything. Or guys who were good 5 years ago but have no regressed to AAAA. I fully anticipate the Tribe landing Marco Scutaro....in 6 years.
  • ohiobucks1
    Cant we just trade Dolan?

    I'll take a bag of potatoes in return
  • OQB
    ohiobucks1;1313082 wrote:Cant we just trade Dolan?

    I'll take a bag of potatoes in return
    I would just give them away........That would be a great deal.
  • HitsRus
    I would just give them away........

    Like we did with our Cy Young award winners?
  • ohiobucks1
    #toosoon
  • BRF
    When I was young, I played in what was called a "Hot Stove" summer league, which was 3 years of ball after Little League. It was essentially a kid's 6th, 7th and 8th grade years. I never knew why it was called that. So, Hits, when you started this thread I had to look up just where this term came from. Now I know.

    The "Hot Stove" league was for the high school baseball coach to see what was "cooking" in the junior ranks.

    Ah so. Ah so.
  • Crimson streak

    I'd do it if Lester was included in the deal and a prospect. Makes no sense to trade our best pitcher when we need pitching
  • HitsRus
    This 'relationship' with the Red Sox that has been brewing is starting to remind me of the old days(70's) when the Indians became a farm team for the Yankees. We'd trade our good players for some washed up veterans and a couple of if/come prospects. When the prospects got good....the cycle would start again.