Trying to Catch Up

With a trip to Wisconsin (and another UW football game) in the rearview, let’s catch up on some happenings since the end of last week:

John Sanders is out as announcer for STO’s TV broadcast and will be replaced by Matt Underwood, who joins Rick Manning in the TV booth (except for the WKYC games, which Jim Donovan will do). Mike Hegan will remain with Tom Hamilton in the radio booth, as the Tribe’s 2-man broadcasting booths are set.

Sounds good to me – Sanders never added much to the broadcasts, constantly deferring to Manning, and with good reason. Actually, this is a very good idea, but where oh where have I heard this before. It’s familiar; it must’ve been somewhere. Thaaat’s right, the same 2-man booth idea (without Sanders) was suggested last February when the creation of STO was announced.



Paul Hoynes has thrown some gas on the “Marcus Giles to play 2B for the 2007 Tribe” idea. Would the Braves take Paul Byrd (remember that Byrd did pitch for Atlanta in 2004) to return him to the NL and allow the Tribe to better use our 5th starter Byrd’s salary by filling 2B?

Hoynes also mentions that John Farrell is in the running to be the Red Sox pitching coach (which did come to fruition today), which leads to the question: How many executives/coaches are floating around baseball that cut their teeth in Cleveland? Off the top of my head – Dan O’Dowd, Josh Byrnes, Bud Black, Charlie Manuel, and Tito Francona.

Farrell will be missed in the Front Office and we wish him the best, hoping that he has some thick skin as the pitching coach in Boston.



After the Wisconsin-Minnesota football game, the Badgers ran around Camp Randall with Paul Bunyan’s Ax to a raucous ovation. It was a phenomenal scene and one that got me thinking:

What would be wrong with teams in the same region (say the Great Lakes) to take their season records against the other teams in the region and have the team with the best record win some sort of trophy?

Follow me on this – the Tribe, White Sox, and Tigers play each other all season with the team that finishes with the highest record against the other 2 winning some arbitrary object (like an ax, or a Little Brown Jug…or a huge anchor). The players can champion the object to their adoring fans and keep it at their facilities until next year. How fantastic would it be to see Pronk lead the team around Jacobs Field holding a giant anchor?

Is it hokey? Absolutely, but give the players some incentive. The players from the winning team all get a $100,000 bonus from the corporate sponsor.

This year, the Tribe went 17-21 against their Great Lakes counterparts; the Tigers and White Sox both went 20-18, with the tiebreaker going to the White Sox, who went 12-7 against the Motor City Kittes.

It would never happen, I know, but it’s time to bring some emotion back to the sometimes-sterile pro game and accentuate the natural rivalries that exist between teams in close proximity to each other.



Is anyone else getting the sense watching the playoffs that the Indians HAVE to get to the playoffs to throw their rotation against ANYBODY? After watching retreads like Oliver Perez, Steve Trachsel, Jeff Weaver, Woody Williams, and Jaret Wright get playoff starts makes me long to see the Tribe throw C.C., Westbrook, and Sowers up against any team out there. If the series runs long, I’ll take Lee on a full rest over ANY 4th starter or another pitcher on short rest.
That potential playoff pitching lineup, again, shows the dispensability of Paul Byrd and how his salary can be better spent on this team.



Next, it’s time to take a look at the quandary in the corner of the OF where Blake, Michaels, Choo, and Gutierrez need to be massaged and kneaded into 2 legitimate corner OF.