During the winter meetings, the Brewers took left-hander Chuck Lofgren from the Indians in the Rule 5 draft for $50,000.
According to the rules, Milwaukee must keep Lofgren on its 25-man roster for the entire season or offer him back to the Tribe for half of what it paid.
Lofgren has made an impression on Brewers officials in camp, pitching four times, a total of four scoreless innings, and giving up two hits and one walk. However, Milwaukee cannot afford to carry Lofgren on its roster, because he probably is not ready for the big leagues.
Consequently, it is believed the Brewers will try to make a deal with the Indians — offering a player or cash — to avoid offering Lofgren back to Cleveland.
But Tribe fans need not get excited. At best, the Indians will receive a fringe prospect or cash.
When the Indians were deciding how to complete the trade for C.C. Sabathia in 2008, they had a choice: Take either promising Milwaukee infielder Taylor Green or promising Brewers outfielder Michael Brantley (Matt LaPorta already was part of the deal).
Eventually, the Tribe took Brantley, which looks like the right choice. Green was injured at Double-A Huntsville most of last season and probably will have to return there this year. Brantley is competing for Cleveland’s starting left field spot in training camp.
{ 8 comments… read them below or add one }
Would anyone, seriously, ANYone, be surprised if Lofgren becomes a quality starter for the Brewers? The Tribe has just not been able to finish off our young up-and-comers under the Shapiro/Wedge/Willis regime. And the young relievers have been just as inconsistent.
Like one local radio host says of the Tribe structure, “What you’re doing….ain’t working.” True dat.
Based on the headline I thought the Indians were going to AAA. Phil Seghi we’re glad your back. This way we don’t feel crushed when we lose the World Series. Just like groundhog day, 30 more years of losing.
moaning fake fans – the usual Cleveland fan bs – clueless and ignorant.
True Fan March 15, 2010 at 4:51 pm
moaning fake fans – the usual Cleveland fan bs – clueless and ignorant
Huh? I dreamed of the double plays that were to come from Jack Heidemann and Eddie Leon, I watched in dismay as 3rd hitter Mike Hargrove would work a 16 pitch walk with a man on third just so Andre Thorton could hit into another double play, and Miguel Dilone hit .341 and steal 50 bases only to find out the next year he was benched so a has-been or never-was could come back from injury and start. You probably grew up in the 90′s and are “clueless and ignorant” to what the next 30 years will bring.
Any young fan who never lived thru the days of Ed Crosby, Angel Torres, Joe Lis, Bill Gogolewski, Tommy Smith, Dave Freisleben, et al….doesn’t really know what it means to be a Tribe fan. If we survived all that and still care, that’s saying something.
Meyer, for some reason I always liked Ed Crosby, can we put Fred Beane or Chico Salmon in your list instead?
Fred Beene was good (6-0, 1.68 ERA) til he got to Cleveland. Story of our life. If all of the pitching in that Chambliss trade had lived up to prior success, people wouldn’t question it.
I actually liked Crosby, too. Let’s make it Horace Speed (maybe they thought his name made him fast), and correct the above post: Angel Hermoso and Rusty Torres. Both stunk. Throw in a Buckeye pitcher, Steve Arlin, too.
I saw cureballer Fred Beene try to sneak a fastball past Dick Allen of the White Sox one time. It ended up on the hill in front of the center field bleachers at Municipal Stadium. I’m sure we were on dugout manager tickets (is that name right) from the plain dealer. Generally we’d go on those, or when the Twins came to town (my dad liked watching Tony Oliva and Harmon Killebrew hit) or when the Yankees came to town (my dad worked with a guy that went to Kent State with Gene Michael and he’d leave him tickets). The good old days when you could generally get a free ticket if you worked at it.