Lazy Easter Sunday

On a glorious Easter morning (albeit the second in a row with snow on the ground outside the Wigwam), let’s delve right into a Lazy Sunday before the breakfast strata emerges from the stove:

Actually, before getting into anything Tribe-related, let’s see how long it takes Bill Livingston’s latest article (I’m not linking it if that’s what you’re looking for) on LeBron to mention Dr. J. “The arc of Julius Erving’s career…” Five words…and two of them are his name! I was suckered in by Livy’s piece being above the fold on the front page of the Sports page but didn’t make it past those five words.
Why?
How many times have I had to read about the fact that Livingston covered Erving in Philly?
And how many times does the article only slightly even have anything to do with LeBron or something that is moderately current?
At this point, the only way that you could be avoiding Livingston’s pieces more than I do would be to actually throw the paper in the trash as soon as you see his picture or his name. Outside of that, I avoid his pieces more than you.

Back to sense and sensibility, Terry Pluto thinks that Cliff Lee definitively won the 5th starter job with a fine performance yesterday against the Metropolitans. I’d say that after his start against the Tigers a while back, nothing short of catching a cab by himself, in full uniform, back to Winter Haven was going to prevent the Tribe from giving Sir Lee the first shot at the 5th spot.

Pluto then addresses the “JoeBo in an inadequate closer” argument and identifies the possible closer options outside of Borowski, namely Senor Slo-Mo and the Pakistani lawyer pictured above, who may or may not have spent some time picking beans in Guatemala (or is he the one that was in the barbershop quartet in Skokie, Illinois). Call it a hunch, but I have a feeling that none of those three are going to be closing games when August and September roll around and it won’t be because the Indians aren’t in the hunt. Will the eventual closer emerge from internal candidates or from…I don’t know…the Bay Area?
More on that thought later this week when I post a piece I’ve been working on that is a quasi-preview of the season.

If you’ve missed Tony Lastoria’s trip to Winter Haven and even have a passing interest in Tribe minor-leaguers, pour yourself another cup of coffee before hitting this link. Exhaustive, informative, and unbelievable the depth that Lastoria goes into the bushes.

On the topic of the bushes, Matt Whitney was returned to the Indians after being a short-sighted Rule 5 selection by Jim Bowden of the Nationals given Whitney’s inexperience and advanced age. Whitney, according to most reports, will head to Akron to play in Canal Park. Now here’s where the intrigue enters the room – Whitney is by and large a 1B, as is Michael Aubrey (also slated for Akron) with Jordan Brown manning 1B in Buffalo as the organization has decided not to continue any experiment with Brown in LF. Topside, the club has Garko and, to a lesser extent, Victor to handle 1B duties. Realizing that any of the youngsters can DH in the minors (while being blocked by a North Dakotan in Cleveland on that path), it wouldn’t surprise me at all if one of these players is moved as a piece to a deal at some point this season. At the very least, knowing that the Nationals’ covet Whitney, there’s a prospective trade partner right there…and that’s just the obvious one.
By the way, the other Rule 5 pick off of the Tribe roster, Brian Barton, looks like he’s going to stick in St. Louie, which is fine by me. Barton was another marginal OF prospect who probably projects as little more than a nice 4th OF…something the Tribe system is teeming with.

To answer the question, “Wherefore Art Thou, Jody Gerut”, Ken Rosenthal finds the one-time Tribesman.

If it wasn’t so amusing to see Socker speak on a topic he has no business even projecting, I wouldn’t link what he thinks the Indians’ lineup might look like…in 2013! Leave to Ocker to pick the year when Sizemore is a potential Free Agent, just to stir the pot as if the line “the odds are that C.C. Sabathia, for example, will be gone on the wings of free agency next winter, thanks to the deep pockets of the New York Yankees” isn’t enough of a pessimistic broad brush stroke for you.
Isn’t it amazing that Indians’ fans have an inferiority complex with a side of paranoia ingrained into our psyche with rays of sunshine like Ocker feeding us our news for 15 years too long?

Plenty of content that I have been working on set to go this week so stay tuned in as Opening Day inches ever closer.

Finally, despite a bracket blow-up last night, I’m still feeling good about my UCLA over UNC pick because, man, that A.J Soprano can ball.