Archive for April, 2010

Source: Yardbarker.com This happened a couple days ago, but the Phillies signed 1B Ryan Howard to a five-year, $125 million extension. Howard is certainly a great player, but already questions are popping up in baseball circles, wondering why the Phillies would pay so much money to a 30-year old 1B/DH type who, despite hard work and Subway, is still a little overweight. ESPN’s Buster Olney asks these questions and raises a good point: if the Phillies had to put Howard on the trade market today, how many offers would they get? For the answer, let’s ask the Cleveland Indians. Now, [...]

There’s an article in the Wall Street Journal today about the most hated teams in baseball. And surprise, surprise, it’s not the Yankees or the Red Sox at number one. No, it’s our very own Cleveland Indians. Now, the Journal doesn’t really do a good job explaining how they came to this conclusion. Here’s how they describe it: Contrary to popular belief, the Yankees are only the fifth-most despised team in the majors, according to an Internet algorithm built by Nielsen Co. that analyzes how people feel about certain things. This service typically uses various keywords to find out whether [...]

Source: Yardbarker.com I don’t care about the won-loss record (which doesn’t matter). I don’t even mind the 5.68 ERA (It’s still early, and early ERAs can be inflated). All I care about is the fact that Justin Masterson has been easily the weakest link in the Tribe’s starting rotation. He’s not cut out to be a starter. The Red Sox realized this, and thus why they parted with him so easily. (Before you start crying about how the Indians gave up Victor Martinez for a reliever, remember that Nick Hagadone is a very highly regarded prospect and some project him [...]

In a week dominated with the two other Cleveland sports, the Indians have quietly lost three out of four. I think if this had to happen, now is a good time, with people preoccupied with the Cavs in the playoffs versus the Bulls, and the Browns draft (I’ll admit it, I’m giddy over Colt McCoy in the third round). People are too busy with the other sports to see how bad the Tribe has been. The Tribe was outscored in the two losses to Minnesota and a loss to Oakland last night 21-1. That’s bad, if you’re keeping score at [...]

Online balloting for the All-Star Game went live recently and fans can now vote for the ASG starters, as they could in years past. And most likely, as in years past, fans will screw at least one deserving player out of a roster spot because they voted in some big name having a crappy season. I really hate fan voting. I’m not prepared to reveal my proposal on how to improve the All-Star Game (July 13th is a ways off), I will say I really hate fans voting the starters. I’m cool with fans voting in the final player, but [...]

The Indians have optioned OF Michael Brantley to AAA Columbus. It is expected that IF Russell Branyan will take his spot. I wrote a mini-post about this but wordpress is being a trick, and I lost the mini-post twice.  So for now, just know this is good news for Brantley’s future, as he needed to work on his hitting and center field defense. WordPress pisses me off.

In case you haven’t noticed, and judging by the attendance you haven’t, the Indians have managed to win a few here and there, and are threatening to climb out of the cellar. -Harry Doyle, Major League Guess what, Tribe fans – the Indians HAVE climbed out of the cellar and are parked in third place in the division, three games behind the 9-4 Minnesota Twins.  Now, a .500 record is nothing to sing about, but really, it’s a lot better than I thought the Tribe would do after two weeks. Honestly, I’m more surprised that the Indians are 6-6 than [...]

Source: Yardbarker.com I love how the Indians pitchers are living up to the nicknames I gave them. Mitch Talbot was indeed the Immortal Mitch T yesterday, going the distance versus the White Sox in a 6-2 win. He allowed six hits but no walks. David Huff and Talbot are the first Indians pitchers to throw back-to-back complete games since Chad Ogea (remember him?) and Charlie Nagy accomplished the feat in 1996. The Indians starting pitching hasn’t been nearly as terrible as I thought it would be. And after I called the Indians offense out in my last post, they responded [...]

Source: Yardbarker.com – Yes, I’m as shocked as you are that the guy who prevented a six game losing streak was none other than David Huff, our favorite magic lefty. And he indeed was magical today, pulling a rabbit out of his cap and making the Rangers’ hitters’ bats disappear (OK, not really, he gave up 4 hits and a walk … still not shabby). Save for a two-run home run to Michael Young, Huff didn’t make any big mistakes during his complete game. And one Indian’s bat awoke to bail Huff out from that home run, and it was [...]

I know I preached patience on Sunday, but Monday’s home opening loss to the Rangers was a little much to take. On an otherwise perfect April day (perfect as you can get in Cleveland at least), the Indians offense was unable to bail out the bullpen’s wildness and the Tribe lost 4-2 in 10 innings on Monday. I’m not upset that they lost. While I can’t say I expected them to lose, I don’t really expect this team to win. I’m upset that the Indians pissed away a solid start by Fausto Carmona. It wasn’t always pretty (5 hits and [...]