Comments on: Blogmail response on Hafner

By: Meyer

Meyer — Wed, 10 Feb 2010 15:00:35 +0000

Tribe needs more rose-colored glasses fans like you, Steve. Hope you’re right, but odds are against most of those things happening. Perhaps Acta can bring out the players’ skills in a way that Mr. Regimen couldn’t, though. Wedge thought “he” was a players-manager, but I think we’re about to re-define that term altogether.

By: Steve Langiotti

Steve Langiotti — Tue, 09 Feb 2010 03:40:51 +0000

You’re wrong to doubt Hafner. Only the true tribe fan who knows his work ethic knows we haven’t heard the last of Pronk. I believe Travis will hit 30 home runs, drive in 100, hit 290, and walk a lot.
Other Tribe surprises to watch for:
Justin Masterson: Winning season, will go deep into games consistantly.
Michael Brantley: He will establish himself as a solid lead-off hitter and defensive asset. Will steal between 25 and 30 bases.
Fausto Carmona: Will re-establish himself as the ace.

Go ahead and jeer, Tribe trashers. Mark my words.

By: Meyer

Meyer — Mon, 08 Feb 2010 15:28:34 +0000

Bad deduction. Signing Hafner to the mega-deal at the time was NOT smart at all. He had clearly lost his power stroke and was whiffing at an alarming rate. And he still had another year to go on his deal. There was no urgency at all to extend him. After the beaning incident in 2006, Travis failed to hit a HR in all of ’07 spring training, and the entire first half of 2007 was nightmarish. He ruined the middle of the Tribe’s lineup.

And THAT….T-H-A-T is when Mark Shapiro chose to dole out $54-million in future earnings, guaranteed? I’d say it’s the most irresponsible waste of money Mark’s ever made, but there have been so many others, I hesitate. But certainly, Hafner’s enduring contract and lack of production have hamstrung the Indians for a good half-decade. And it’s all because our GM blinked and pulled the trigger much, much, much too quickly. You don’t pay a DH that kind of money, particularly one who had apparently forgotten how to hit.