A Lazy Sunday of Should He Stay or Should He Go

This lovely morning, I awoke to see a text on my phone from serial poster Cy Slapnicka, who pointed out that “Major League” started on Bravo as soon as the Tribe put the finishing touches on their latest adventure in Left On Base. Cy found the transition apropos as it certainly seems that “Hats for Bats” is as good an option as any at this point as that elusive big hit, and ensuing big inning, remain out of the grasp of the Indians’ hitters.
And with that, we’re off:

Someone must have sent out the “Will the Indians trade C.C.?” memo around to the national writers because it was touched on this week by Ken Rosenthal (who suggests, among other options, that 4 months of Adam Dunn may be a good fit), SI’s Jon Heymann (in his “Inside Baseball” column for the print edition), and ESPN’s Buster Olney (in his video blog, who points out that the trade market may not be what other people think it is).

Not to be left out of the party, Paul Hoynes and Terry Pluto both come correct and in full effect on the same topic this morning, with Pluto suggesting that the Indians approach C.C. with a contract offer and a accompanying message of “take-it-or-get-traded”. As I just don’t see the offer that gets C.C. signed (regardless of the team offering it) with the riches of an open market mere months ahead of him, I can’t see how this would be beneficial to anyone or how an ultimatum is going to leave anyone feeling good.

Look, I get the fact that C.C.’s going to walk at the end of the year with only draft picks coming as compensation and that starting pitching is our deepest commodity. But does anyone truly believe that this team is better without C.C. than it is with him? Does anyone think that the White Sox or Twins are going to run away with the Central and leave everyone else (particularly the Indians) so far in their rearview mirror that the Indians are going to simply fade away? I certainly don’t, given the flaws of the teams above (and below) the Indians in the Central.

I understand the argument that Pluto lays out in the above linked piece that the Indians need to start considering options for trades because of what history tells about records and games behind as the season progresses, but ALL of these pieces feel about 4 to 6 weeks premature.
Is there a breaking point for trading C.C.?
Absolutely.
If the team is out more than 10 games in the Central in mid-July (which I don’t see, regardless of the struggles of the offense and bullpen given the strength of the starting pitching and the parity in the AL Central), burn up the phone lines. You may say, “10 games? More like 6 in mid-June” (as Pluto does); but, again, does the rest of the Central look that invincible compared to the Tribe? No, so short of that large margin, I’d say make sure that the Crooked Cap he’s wearing bears the Chief.

What’s even more interesting to me than the premature “trade C.C.” talk is the disparity between what the national writers feel would be out there for Sabathia in the trade market. Rosenthal states that the Indians “could almost name their price” (which sends images of Matt Kemp, Chad Billingsley, James Loney, AND Jonathon Broxton donning the Chief dancing through my head) while Olney says that a team like the Phillies would offer someone like a Jayson Werth or a Shane Victorino. I don’t know where to go down on this as both writers are generally the more well-connected reporters in terms of sources. Truthfully, I tend to see the Olney argument a little more clearly, only based on the types of contracts that have been doled out to Evan Longoria and Ryan Braun recently, which does validate his point about the value of young talent. And if what Olney says in the linked video blog above is true (and, to me, Olney is approaching Gammons in terms of having his finger on the pulse of MLB as a whole) that no team is going to be willing to part with the type of package that the Indians should demand (which is young MLB-proven hitters, particularly given the dearth of high impact hitters in the upper levels of our system…not you, Jordan Brown), I keep him.

Outside of all things C.C., Sheldon Ocker has declared the Indians’ slump over and has some biting remarks for the manner in which the Indians are handling their communication with the media regarding injuries. If what Socker is saying is, in fact, how things have been handled in terms of relaying information to the media about players (and I have no reason to believe that it isn’t as he says), there’s a growing abyss of credibility in terms of the team being forthright and honest about what’s happening with certain players and the team being overly secretive about relevant questions posed by reporters. Granted, I’ve never stood in a locker room or a press conference (nor do I think I would want to listening to some on the radio or seeing them on TV as it looks about as interesting and informative as watching C-Span), but the Indians have to, on some level, realize that the media (print or Internet) is the way that information is disseminated and that planting the seeds of distrust with those that are still (to some degree) the opinion-makers in town isn’t the way to gain confidence or to be given the benefit of the doubt as new situations arise. The cloak and dagger stuff makes no sense in terms of keeping these things secret (unless HIPPA laws are applicable) and I would hope that the conspiratorial handlings of the Brodzoski and Hafner injuries become the exception and not the norm.

Finally, around the blogroll, Pronk Needs You has turned its attention to Andy Marte with some fascinating statistics about the Dominican Dandy and how he compares to Lacey Cake. Speaking of Blake, if you missed the Photoshop session over at the LGT regarding the relationship between a couple of Wichita State alum, make sure you aren’t drinking anything (lest it come out of your nose) and take a gander.

By the way, I’ve sent a couple of these to Arlington to arrive tomorrow. I put them to the attention of one Derek Shelton….here’s hoping we see them in Texas for the Monday game, because how great would it be to see the Indians’ hitters rip them off their bats before walking to the plate?