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Winter Meetings Indians Rumors: Recapping Day Four

Lewie Pollis — Fri, 09 Dec 2011 11:48:07 +0000

The 2011 MLB Winter Meetings ended with a bang Thursday as the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim shocked the baseball world by committing over $330 million to Albert Pujols and C.J. Wilson.

Thursday wasn’t quite as exciting for the Indians, who saw the meetings come to a close without them having made a single trade or signing. But in this case what happens in Dallas doesn’t stay in Dallas, and while the developments we’ve heard didn’t produce any immediate actions, they still have repercussions for the rest of the offseason.

With that in mind, here are the biggest Cleveland-related rumors we heard out of the Winter Meetings Thursday:

There’s more to come. More than three months remain between now and Opening Day (boy, that’s depressing), so the end of the Winter Meetings by no means signals the end of Hot Stove season. The Indians haven’t given up on making roster moves, and they’re closer to that end now than they were before this week—in fact, the Plain Dealer‘s Paul Hoynes reports that Antonetti thinks he’s “just a couple of text messages away from making a deal”:

“I think we were further some of the discussions we’ve had on trades and free agents while we were here,” [Antonetti] said. “Hopefully, that has led us closer to a deal that will allow us to improve the team.

Indians among favorites for Josh Willingham. Cleveland has yet to make an offer to Willingham, MLB.com’s Jordan Bastian reports, but that doesn’t mean they’re not serious about pursuing him: the San Francisco Chronicle‘s Susan Slusser reports that the Indians (along with the Twins and Rockies) are among the three most likely landing spots for the outfielder. (more…)

Tribe’s Final Loss Could be Blessing in Disguise

Lewie Pollis — Thu, 06 Oct 2011 10:32:58 +0000

The Cleveland Indians’ 5-4 loss in Game No. 162 was a depressing way to end to the season. The blown lead, the failed comeback, the winning run coming off the bat of Jhonny Peralta—it was a rough game, and because of the loss the Indians missed out on their first .500 season since 2007. The game was of no consequence for anything this year—even in the home field advantage race the Tigers’ victory was rendered meaningless by the Rangers’ win later that night—but it was a disheartening finish for Tribe.

And yet, as the Indians look ahead to what may be a busy offseason, their final loss actually puts them in a much better position as they build for 2012 and beyond. (more…)

F-A-U-S-T-O-!

Ed Carroll — Sat, 11 Sep 2010 16:59:34 +0000

So I had a rare Friday off and I jumped at the opportunity to head down to the ballpark. I was treated to a gem by Fausto Carmona, who threw a three-hit complete game shutout. I must admit I was a little surprised that Manny Acta sent Carmona out for the ninth, because Carmona was already around 96 pitches, and Chris (Pure Rage) Perez had been lights out lately. But when you have a 16-inning game you tend to go through pitchers, so it probably was a little easier on Acta to make that call.

So in lieu of a normal game review, I decided to do a tribute to the man who made this game happen (no, not you Matt LaPorta). So here is my tribute to Fausto.

F is for … Fast, because Fausto pitched like a guy who had to be somewhere. 1 hour, 57 minutes of total game time. Sure, part of that was the Twins’ Carl Pavano (remember him?), but we’re talking about Fausto here.

A is for … Accuracy, because Fausto only allowed one walk (beautiful things happen when you don’t walk people) and struck out 7, including two in the 9th.

U is for … Unity, because Fausto had a couple assists from his teammates in the form of two double plays.

S is for … Saving the pen, as Fausto’s performance was probably a sight for Manny Acta’s sore eyes.

T is for … Toughness, because Fausto was throwing as hard as he was in the first inning as he was in the 9th.

O is for … Orlando Hudson, Joe Mauer and Michael Cuddyer, who went a combined 0-10 against Fausto last night.

Oh gimmick posts, you slay me.