Indians Tidbits (2009 season)

[itownbuckeye]

Didn't get to see the game, started listening in the 9th inning, why did Wedge bring a guy who hadn't pitched in nearly a month into a tie game in the bottom of the 9th on the road? I know Vizcaino's a veteran but even veteran's get rusty. Seems like you're just setting him up for failure. I wonder if he'll now go into Wedge's doghouse.

[OHSportsFan9]

Originally Posted by itownbuckeye

Didn't get to see the game, started listening in the 9th inning, why did Wedge bring a guy who hadn't pitched in nearly a month into a tie game in the bottom of the 9th on the road? I know Vizcaino's a veteran but even veteran's get rusty. Seems like you're just setting him up for failure. I wonder if he'll now go into Wedge's doghouse.

To be a little fair (really, f*ck this team!)...

Wedge was tossed in the 3rd inning. Not sure who's call that was. Either way, it's inexcusable to blow a 7-0 lead.

[NFBuck]

Originally Posted by OHSportsFan9

Either way, it's inexcusable to blow a 7-0 lead.

But not unexpected. I'm not even upset...I've come to accept this kind of [censored] as standard operating procedure. No lead is safe with these hacks.

[NFBuck]

With Cliff Lee back on track, will Cleveland hit trade market again?




Cliff Lee is pitching like it's 2008 again. He's rarely throwing pitches right over the middle of the plate, and when he is, he is disguising them well.
The bigger question now is whether this will be 2008 all over again for the Indians, when they traded three veterans after a depressing start. It worked very well last year, as the Indians' trades of ace pitcher CC Sabathia plus Casey Blake and Paul Byrd netted them a haul of young prospects and didn't hurt their performance one iota, either (in fact, Cleveland staged a startling second-half turnaround to make it back to the .500 mark). They are in last place after a similarly depressing start, and the speculation regarding another trade of their ace already has begun.
Not so fast, says Indians GM Mark Shapiro. "Every facet of our decision making is about making the team better," Shapiro said by phone. "Obviously, that dynamic could shift ... but at this point, our focus is singular." Continued...

With Cliff Lee back on track, will Indians hit trade market? - Jon Heyman - SI.com

Let the trade speculation begin. Fact of the matter is, with this "bullpen", this team is going nowhere...a .500 finish is pretty much the ceiling for this team. Cliff could be in very high demand later this summer as the pennant races begin to take shape. He's pitching at a very high level again (1.43 ERA last 6 starts), is still relatively young, and dominant lefties are always in high demand for the post season race. The big difference between this year and last, however, is that after Cliff, there is really nobody in the rotation pitching worth a damn. Pavano has been solid, but everyone else has been an unmitigated disaster. Will Shapiro be willing to jettison his only reliable starter with an eye to the future? Personally, I'm torn. Cliff once again looks like the kind of guy you can build a rotation around, but once his contract is up, I doubt they'll shell out the money to keep him around. There's not a lot of top-level prospects in the system to replace him at this point. Should be interesting to see how this develops.

I'd also be interested to see what kind of interest, if any, Peralta would command on the market. If his bat comes around, we could hope he might command a return similar to what we got for Blake last year, though that is unlikely. the Dodgers way overpaid in that trade, and the chances of striking that kind of gold again would be slim. If they are gonna move forward with Valbuena at second and AsCab at SS, it would make sense to move him.

[LitlBuck]

I guess if you're going to do started going up the team by trading Lee and JP, they might as well take offers for Sizemore also unless he cuts down on his strikeouts which I highly doubt. I think the pictures have finally caught up to him last year and this. I wonder what we could get for Wedge

[NFBuck]

Originally Posted by LitlBuck

I guess if you're going to do started going up the team by trading Lee and JP, they might as well take offers for Sizemore also unless he cuts down on his strikeouts which I highly doubt. I think the pictures have finally caught up to him last year and this. I wonder what we could get for Wedge

I still think Grady's a spectacular talent, but you can't ignore how his BA has been dropping each year he's been in the bigs. He's just miscast as a leadoff hitter. I think he'd improve considerably if they could move him down to the middle of the order. Hopefully Brantley develops into the leadoff hitter we desperately need. He (Grady) may never become a transcendent player, but he has (and has shown) the ability to be a star. I'm sure he'll come around.

Bottom line is, this current incarnation of the team has gone as far as it can. It's time to start looking further down the line. They started doing that last summer and it needs to continue. I think you build around Grady, Victor, AsCab, LaPorta and maybe Choo,who has been playing quite well, with the bat at least, the past week. Hopefully Santana develops quickly and can at least platoon with Shoppach later this summer or next season (he's been solid in Akron, .270, 6 HR, 22 RBI, 23 BB in 89 AB).

Sidenote: Pronk has began a rehab assignment in Columbus, so hopefully he can get going again. He was showing signs of being the old Pronk before his latest setback. So far though, he's 0-5 with 2 K's. And don't look now, but Andy Marte's tearing up AAA (.359-4-16).

[LitlBuck]

I had always thought that the strength of the Indians farm teams was their pitching and not having enough positional players. Boy I don't know where I got that information from They really have to do something about their pitching and I really don't know how much we have done in the minors because every time we are supposed to have a star, see Adam Miller, something happens to them or we just give up on them.

Sidenote: I think that Pronk's better days are behind him but maybe he can convince me that I am wrong... hopefully. Maybe Marte it is a career minor leaguer. Old enough to remember Richie Scheimblum

[NFBuck]

Originally Posted by LitlBuck

I wonder what we could get for Wedge

A glazed donut?

[NFBuck]

Originally Posted by LitlBuck

I had always thought that the strength of the Indians farm teams was their pitching and not having enough positional players. Boy I don't know where I got that information from They really have to do something about their pitching and I really don't know how much we have done in the minors because every time we are supposed to have a star, see Adam Miller, something happens to them or we just give up on them.

We have some decent young pitching prospects (Huff, Rondon, De La Cruz, Perez, Gomes, Lofgren), but none that look like future aces (to me anyway) at this time. We have a decent amount of position prospects thanks, in large part, to last summer's moves. I'd say the farm system is as deep as it's been in some time... at least since the early part of this decade.

Looks like Huff will be debuting tomorrow vs. the Rays:

http://www.indiansprospectinsider.com/

[itownbuckeye]

Originally Posted by NFBuck

We have some decent young pitching prospects (Huff, Rondon, De La Cruz, Perez), but none that look like future aces (to me anyway) at this time. We have a decent amount of position prospects thanks, in large part, to last summer's moves.

Looks like Huff will be debuting tomorrow vs. the Rays:

Indians Prospect Insider

it's unfortunate about De La's injury as he has perhaps the highest upside of that group. one more to add is Jeanmar Gomez who has been dominant in his first 3 starts at Akron. i really like some of the pitchers they got in last years draft as well. lots of pitching potential in the system right now.

[NFBuck]

Originally Posted by itownbuckeye

it's unfortunate about De La's injury as he has perhaps the highest upside of that group. one more to add is Jeanmar Gomez who has been dominant in his first 3 starts at Akron. i really like some of the pitchers they got in last years draft as well. lots of pitching potential in the system right now.

See sneaky edit.

I really like Perez down in Lake County right now...he's very young, but has a live arm.

[buckeyemania11]

Originally Posted by NFBuck

We have some decent young pitching prospects (Huff, Rondon, De La Cruz, Perez, Gomes, Lofgren), but none that look like future aces (to me anyway) at this time. We have a decent amount of position prospects thanks, in large part, to last summer's moves. I'd say the farm system is as deep as it's been in some time... at least since the early part of this decade.

Looks like Huff will be debuting tomorrow vs. the Rays:

Indians Prospect Insider

the problem is

the majority of our really good pitching prospects are in high or low A ball (minus a few) so it will be a good 2-3 years most likely before they are even flirting with hitting the MLB level

good to see them giving Huff a shot though

[NFBuck]

Another loss today, blah, whatever.

Originally Posted by buckeyemania11

the problem is

the majority of our really good pitching prospects are in high or low A ball (minus a few) so it will be a good 2-3 years most likely before they are even flirting with hitting the MLB level

good to see them giving Huff a shot though

True, there are most likely some pretty lean years coming up. But we're gonna need some patience. Look at last year as being similar to 2002; trading off some stars and looking to the future. That last overhaul took roughly three years ('02-'04) before starting to show returns in '05. There's a little more talent on the big squad this time around, so maybe if some of these young pitchers can fast-track through the minors and we luck out on a FA signing or two (like K. Millwood in '05) the curve won't be all that steep.

[JCOSU86]

Originally Posted by JCOSU86

Well he was pitching well until the 6th...

The turnaround continues...

([censored]ing with the naysayers )

Shut the [censored] up, asshole. This team is toast.

[NFBuck]

David Huff on the bump today for his big league debut.