The boss asked me to come up with something about how the Indians got to the point they're at, so I did.
Fox's Ken Rosenthal looks ahead, writing that Cleveland seems "cooked." And certainly not medium rare.
But he also supports the team's position that getting Asdrubal Cabrera, Grady Sizemore, Aaron Laffey, Rafael Betancourt and Jake Westbrook back from injury could be enough of a positive to help the Indians contend in a bad division.
If, that is, all come back healthy and able.
Rosenthal's conclusion: By the trade deadline, the Indians will be trading their more marketable players (Mark DeRosa, who has 50 RBI!) for young talent.
If Mark Shapiro goes into a season…actually, several seasons….knowing that the only reason his team will be in contention is because it plays in a weak division, then he's pathetic.
And may I just point out, the Tribe was virtually at FULL STRENGTH both in 2008 and 2009 when they fell out of contention in April. So believing that suddenly getting those same mediocre players back from the DL will make a difference…well, it might. Things can easily go from bad to worse.
At the young tender age of 34, DeRosa is likely going to break personal power records. Hmmm ….
Cheap shot at DeRosa, Alan. Go back to humming theme music from television shows.
You have a problem with the theme from "Batman," Tim?
By the way, "cheap shot" or not, you've gotta admit it is somewhat "unusual." Last week I had a dream where I saw DeRosa and Rafael Betancourt with their pants down around their ankles while rubbing alcohol swabs on each other in the back of a conversion van. I'm not sure if my dream was Freudian or just based on fact.
You owe it to yourself, Alan, to get a life even when you are sleeping.
Not possible, Tim. My dreaming is like "A Nightmare on Elm Street." I think Mark DeRosa might be my Fred Krueger.
If the Indians are going to operate like a small market ballclub, they need to start drafting better athletes. They seem to do well in those annual organizational ratings but it's smoke and mirrors–their top prospects always come via trade involving one of the team's top major leaguers. It's a downward spiral-type cycle to rely on.
What top homegrown prospects have performed to expectations? Martinez and maybe Peralta are the only two I can think of, and it's been five or six years since they came up. The Twins seem to produce major leaguers just about every year.
PERALTA? Performed up to expectations? If, by that, you mean consistently poor at-bats and fielding blunders, then yes, Jhonny is certainly living up to MY expectations of him.
JP is just one more in a string of players who should've been dealt when their value was higher. (Hafner is another.) Can we all agree, there is NO WAY Peralta is on this team in 2010? Wedge can't stand him, and except for his very short hot-streaks, he is one big OUT four times a game.
I threw him in there because I was trying to be charitable, Jason.
Who cares. The Indians are never, and I repeate, never going to win a world series again. Baseball sucks for so many reasons but the main one is the way this league is stacked against the small market. Sure, every once in a while a small market team will get lucky and even piece together a few good years as the Tribe did in the nineties but it is all luck of the draw. Eventually all the great players leave for money (protesting it is not about the money) like Sabathia. I am watching the same thing happen down here in Tampa with the Rays. They just don't have the money to keep up with the Yankees and Red Sox over the long run. It is a shame baseball has come to this under that loser Bud Selig. They should blow up the league and start over.
That is all true Dave R. but the Tribe could do better developing talent. They seem to like the less risky prospects and draft college guys who are supposedly above average hitters rather than more talented athletes and wind up accumulating a bunch of players whose best position would be first base or left field. Their pitching prospects lean towards the 'cerebral' lefty with the average arm.
They are playing the odds too much and producing a bunch of mediocre players.