A Lazy Sunday After Giving Thanks

With Thanksgiving past us (and the enjoyment of the 2nd and 3rd turkey meals finally putting the leftovers to bed) there’s a long drive ahead of me to make it from Wisconsin to Cleveland today so let’s get right into a quick Lazy Sunday with really not a lot happening.

To say that not a lot is happening would perhaps be the understatement of the day (other than that a St. Ignatius win, a University of Dayton win against Marquette, and a Cavs win in Milwaukee make me feel good about SOME local teams), but we’ll soldier through an LS:

Seemingly the only thing that was written in the past week about the Indians by the “traditional” beat writers (that is, the newspaper guys, not Castrovince at the Official Site), is this piece by Hoynesie which attempts to give an update as to how the Indians’ off-season plans are progressing. I often forget why I exclude the “traditional” beat writers from a link on a Lazy Sunday, but this brings it all back into focus.

Given the opportunity to interview Paul Dolan, the piece does nothing to shed any new light onto what was known about the Cleveland economy, the 2009 payroll, or the needs of the team that wasn’t known in August. The biggest bits of info come from the fact that Jhonny is, in fact, playing 3B in the Dominican Republic – which would make one think that the Indians are leaning towards adding a 2B to move Jhonny to 3B, right?

Not Hoynes, who dismisses the idea of adding Furcal OR Hudson because physical “questions” (in today’s article) about each would make multiyear contracts too risky for either, then stating that Furcal is close to inking a 4-year deal with the A’s (without citing Rosenthal as the source for the rumor), which would put Hudson CLOSER to what you would think the Indians would be willing to commit to him, not further away. Maybe there are legitimate concerns about Hudson’s risk that would preclude the Indians from offering him a multiyear deal, but if you’re looking for an area to assume some risk, 2B is your spot…but that’s been covered here.

Back to the news that Peralta is playing 3B, as Hoynes takes the information as an opportunity to discuss Blake coming back as an option at…3B! While Hoynes could be going only off of what is told to him by the Indians, or Blake’s agent, or whomever, I still find it hard to believe that Casey Blake (who could have still been an Indian had they added a club option on the 1-year deal he signed less than a year ago) is suddenly worth committing multiple years to over Hudson (injury risk considered), or even the likes of Orlando Cabrera or even (gasp) Edgar Renteria. What makes it more unbearable is that Hoynes dismisses Garrett Atkins as an option, partly because of his defense (which is valid), then says that Atkins’ defense is “one of the reasons the Indians have continued to pursue Blake”. Wait…the same Casey Blake who combined with Peralta on the left side of the infield to cover about 10 of the 90 feet between them with their limited range last season before Blake was moved? Casey Blake’s DEFENSE is what’s keeping them in pursuit of him?

Pardon me while I look past this giant grain of salt in accepting much of what Paul Hoynes predicts about the Indians’ off-season moves (the Coco deal being reported from Boston and the CC deal being reported from Milwaukee have embedded this grain of salt in my line of vision), but accepting “news” or “updates” from the PD in terms of what the off-season has in store for the Indians lost some luster more than a few years ago.

But I digress from the matter at hand as I have no problem with the Indians having an interest in Casey Blake, as long as he’s used in the way that he should have been used (but wasn’t through no fault of his own) for the past few years. Blake’s greatest value is not his defense, not his bat, and not his beard – it’s his versatility to play 3B, 1B, and RF adequately if not spectacularly. He’s a nice auxiliary piece that teams laden with talent need to fill the cracks and go where he’s needed. Is that worth a multi-year deal, given his age? Probably not…which is why the Indians didn’t offer him one when they had EVERY opportunity to do so last year when they agreed upon a 1-year deal with NO options and shouldn’t do so today.

His defense is what is keeping them interested?
Please…let’s move on to some links that are written with some intelligence about the Indians and baseball.

Terry, oh Terry, my oasis of research and logic in the desert of laziness and mind-numbing analysis at the “traditional” media outlets comes through in full force with another batch of thoughts about the Tribe. Pluto throws Freddy Sanchez’s name out there as a player that the Indians could target to man 2B and has similar dreams to me regarding how Michael Brantley could fit into the Indians’ 2009 planes – which would be at LF and eventually sit at the top of the lineup, meaning that LaPorta would slide his way back over to 1B assuming that The BLC in RF isn’t a mirage.

On the closer front, unless the Mets are REALLY trying to freak out K-Rod and his agent, forcing them to accept fewer years and fewer dollars with some smoke screens, here’s the weekly piece from the NY papers (this “time” it’s the “Times”…ba dum dum) on how the Mets will look for cheap closers before looking at K-Rod and Fuentes.
Remarkably, with each passing week, it looks like this closer market is falling right into the Indians’ laps, particularly when ESPN’s “Bottom Line” tells me during a football game on Saturday night that the Mets won’t offer more than 3 years to K-Rod because…well, because nobody else will either.

Speaking of weekly links, here’s one that says that the White Sox are basically offering anything on their roster that isn’t nailed down. Regardless of what you think of Chicago GM Kenny Williams, the man is not afraid to stir the pot…a lot. I love how all of these White Sox stories involve the headlines “shake up”, when the White Sox could be looking at a 2009 without Cabrera, Crede, Swisher, Dye, Griffey, Vazquez, and Jenks. That’s 4 to 5 of their primary position players, a middle-of-the-rotation starter, and their closer.
You know…just a little shake-up.

Tony Lastoria has a health update on Rob Bryson, one of the players acquired in the CC trade, among other topics he hits on, including another link to the Jordan Brown interview that we did last week in case you missed it.

Finally, now that Thanksgiving is behind us, is it finally time to let everyone know what my Christmas Wish List is?
Here goes:
1) Sign Orlando Hudson to a 4-year, $40M deal ($9M per with a $4M buyout of the 5th year, $10M option)

2) Sign Trevor Hoffman to a 1-year, $8M deal ($6M in 2008 with a $2M buyout of the 2nd year, $6M option)

3) Trade Kelly Shoppach, one other 40-man player (perhaps an OF or an LHP), and two prospects (one from AAA or AA, one from A) for a young, somewhat-established starting pitcher either just entering arbitration or already in arbitration years (Ricky Nolasco, Shawn Marcum, Paul Maholm, Zach Greinke, Josh Johnson, Andy Sonnanstine, and Wandy Rodriguez are the types of pitchers I’m talking about here) and a middle infielder who projects as a Futility Infielder with the idea that he could spend 2009 manning SS in Columbus and move up to Cleveland in 2010 so the Indians aren’t forced to spend $3M on the FA for a Utility IF

Do the things on the list involve some level of risk, forcing the Indians to “go outside their comfort zone”? Absolutely, but the holes the Indians have to fill will have to be taken care of while assuming some of that risk so the Indians don’t find themselves looking back at unmade moves once the season is in full swing.

Nothing on my list happened on Black Friday…maybe they’re waiting until Cyber Monday.