Not the C Eddie Perez
According to the St. Petersburg Times, the Indians signed Eduardo Perez to a one-year deal with a one-year option. Perez will likely split time at 1B with Broussard, hitting mainly against lefties. Whether the signing suggests a platoon situation is unclear, but the 25-man roster is almost set.
The only missing piece on offense would be a RF or a 4th OF, if Casey Blake is kept in right. Perez basically takes the Jose Hernandez spot on the roster as the RH bat, who "kills lefties". Perez is 35, so he in no way represents a long-term answer and may be a bridge to Garko's promotion to the Jake.
I still would like to see the team upgrade RF, allowing Blake to play the super-sub role (as the 4th OF and at 3B) while letting Vazquez back up the middle infield and allowing Perez and Blake to back up Pronk at DH.
That bench (assuming that they add a RF) of Blake, Vazquez, and Perez would be stronger than last year, when the immortal Jeff Liefer played a vital role during the year. Without adding a RF, though, I don't see much of an improvement on the offense from 2005, outside of the continued development of the core players.
Shapiro does have some chips that he can move (Riske, Phillips, Tallet, young arms) for a bat, but there's no obvious answer out there. I'll look into teams that have a glut of OF's or may be looking to make a deal, but the pickings may be slim.
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5 comments:
any chance of preston wilson?
jason johnson reminded me of jason davis when he was in b-more, but i doubt there will be another season where no starters go down so at least one of the young guys should get a shot
hopefully savage will punch collins in the face...and then find a way to get A.J. Hawk on the brownies
Last I heard Preston Wilson will go to Baltimore or Pittsburgh, wherever Jeromy Burnitz does not go.
I think that the depth in the rotation will be key, because there's no way we'll go through a completely healthy year with all the starters like last year.
The difference between Johnson and Davis is experience and longevity. Johnson has proven that he can pitch in the Majors and eat up innings, 2 things that Davis has not done.
Nice conclusion to the Savage-Collins fiasco. I will now back off my statement that I will boycott all Browns games since Savage is still standing.
Wilson actually just signed with the Astros for 1 year at $4M with a 3-year option. What that means, I'm not sure.
I was all about Wilson too, until I saw the deterioration in his numbers and his alarming K rate. I don't know if he was much of an upgrade over Casey Blake.
I'm still holding out hope for a RF, but remember that moves can be made up to and including hours before Opening Day (just ask Milton Bradley).
I heard Henninger's will soon be carrying these?
great article on athlete loyalty from the sports guy: http://sports.espn.go.com/espn/page2/story?page=simmons/051223
and some funny thoughts on market value in there.
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