Wahoo's on First » Franklin Gutierrez

Judging Mark Shapiro’s GM Tenure: Low-Profile Trades

Ed Carroll — Thu, 25 Oct 2012 15:30:36 +0000

We’re now more than two full years removed from Mark Shapiro’s promotion to Cleveland Indians team president and GM Chris Antonetti is firmly entrenched as the Tribe’s decision maker. So I thought now would be as soon as anyone could fairly judge Shapiro’s tenure as GM. There are still some loose ends hanging (Carlos Carrasco, for example, and Matt LaPorta), but the body of Shapiro’s work is complete, and I wanted to put my optimism about his tenure to the test. (more…)

The 2007 Cleveland Indians: Five Years Later

Katie Hendershot — Fri, 09 Mar 2012 16:41:52 +0000

Remember Roberto Hernandez? No, I’m not talking about the pitcher we used to call Fausto Carmona. (Or do we still call him that? I’m really not sure.) I’m talking about the pitcher that was with the Tribe back in the exciting season of 2007. My guess is that most Cleveland Indians fans don’t remember Hernandez, who appeared in only 28 games before being released by the Indians at the end of June that year.

There has been a lot of turnover in the Indians lineup in the recent years. This season will mark the fifth year since the whirlwind of a season that left Indians fans reeling after coming within one game of the World Series.

Looking at the roster the Indians put on the field in 2007, not many of the players are still in Cleveland. Some of the names are recognizable, and even memorable. But for most of the players, if they were with the Tribe beyond 2007, they probably weren’t there much longer.

It many respects, it’s easy to think of the 2007 Cleveland Indians and the 2012 Cleveland Indians as two entirely different teams, with completely unique identities. We have yet to see if the 2012 version has the ability to make a splash and have a magical season like the one of 2007.

Remember David Dellucci? Maybe, but do you know what he’s done since leaving the Tribe in 2009? He’s not the only member of that team who seems to have disappeared from the sport of baseball entirely and the faded from the memories of Indians fans. I doubt many future grandfathers will tell stories of the “great” Ryan Garko, but they will tell stories of that fateful October. It was one to remember, but it seems that many of the players weren’t. So where are they now? (more…)

T-Shirt Winners!

Ed Carroll — Mon, 09 Aug 2010 22:11:29 +0000

This shirt could have been yours.

Hey, sorry for the lack of posts, been a crazy weekend for me and I haven’t been able to devote the time needed for DLF, but I would like to announce that we do have winners for the Alternative Hero T-Shirts! Say congratulations to Alex Santos and Casey Both, winners of the “Cleveland: Rebuilding Since ’48″ shirts! Alex has already received his shirt and Casey yours is going in the mail tomorrow. They both correctly answered the following trivia question:

Link former Indians catcher Eddie Taubensee to current Indians reliever Joe Smith.

The correct answer was:

Taubensee and Willie Blair to Houston for recent Indians HOF inductee Kenny Lofton.

Lofton and Alan Embree to Atlanta for David Justice and Marquis Grissom.

Justice to New York Yankees in exchange for Jake Westbrook, Ricky Ledee and Zach Day.

Day to the former Montreal Expos for Milton Bradley.

Bradley is swapped to the Dodgers for Franklin Gutierrez.

Gut to Seattle in a three team swap that nets the Indians Luis Valbuena from the Mariners and Joe Smith from the third team in the deal, the New York Mets.

Apologies to my brother Dan, who also got the correct answer but wasn’t eligible for a shirt. Interestingly enough, neither Casey nor Alex live in the Ohio area. Out of towners are showing you up, Cleveland fans!