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I want to see this swing a lot for the next month

I feel like the kind of deal the Indians made today to get Jim Thome doesn't happen very often—that is, if its happened at all. We're talking about a guy who has hall-of-fame numbers getting traded back to the place where he started his career two decades ago through the waiver wire in order to play a key role on the team as the season winds down.

Pretty complicated, huh? Yeah, that's why I don't think its happened either.

See, this isn't just a one-day contract to feel good about retiring. It's not a deal for a pinch hitter to sometimes put fear into opposing pitchers when we could use a home run towards the end of a game. This is actually a huge upgrade for our DH batting spot, as the now-injured Travis Hafner has hit .220 with just 3 HR, 5 doubles and 14 RBIs since the All-Star break, while Thome has hit .290 with 6 HR, 8 doubles and 21 RBIs for the same period of time. That's nothing to scoff at.

But this trade definitely represents a lot more than just an improvement over our current (lack of) DH situation.

I know I'm pretty young, but I'm old enough to remember those powerhouse teams of the 90s. I remember Lofton, Vizquel, Alomar, Ramirez and Thome being the first five batters in a stacked Indians lineup. I remember '02, Thome's last season with the Tribe, where he hit 52 bombs. I remember thinking in the last few weeks of the season how much I wanted him to beat Albert Belle's record of 50, just to unseat a jerk that left us on such bad terms.

Thome left too, of course, and that stunk. It stunk a lot. But if you think about it, there was pretty much no place for him on the rebuilding Indians. Sure, it would've been very nice to have him hit all 601 bombs in an Indians uniform, but having him with that monster contract probably would have resulted in even less payroll flexibility in our "rebuilding" years from the cheepskate Dolans.

Don't get me wrong, I'm not faulting anyone for booing Thome when he came back, because he had a choice and he chose to play elsewhere. When that happens, fans always have a right to boo, if you ask me. But I think it's time to let the past stay in the past. He had a (somewhat distorted) choice again to play for the Indians and Phillies, but this time he decided to come home. Home to the place where it all began. Home where he played 3rd base for six seasons before flipping across the diamond to first.   Home where he created so many great memories for twelve seasons.

At this point, I can't say I expect us to make the playoffs. It's August 25th, we're a game under .500, and 6.5 games out of first. But with this move, who cares? If nothing else we can watch Thome try to hit 9 more home runs in order to pass Sammy Sosa for 7th on the all-time list.

And I can't wait to add to those childhood memories of Thome smacking home runs all over Progressive Field The Jake.

~MAS

We're Not Even Supposed to Be Here

I think it's pretty safe to say that the Indians just went through an excruciating road trip.

I always say that if a team plays about .500 baseball on the road, and well above .500 at home, then they should be in a good position to get into the playoffs. If this road trip were 6 games then by that adage, 3 wins would be considered successful. Unfortunately for the Tribe, this was a 7 gamer and thus the sad truth is that 7 games mean feast or famine -- you win 4 games and it's a great success, but if you lose 4 you've failed.

The latter is what the Indians must face after 4 games in Boston and 3 games in Texas. The worst part about this trip is that the Tribe had an opportunity to win each and every game -- especially the ones in Texas.

I was actually really pleased with the way we handled the Boston series, a split in 4 games on the road is what you want. But the hot mess in Texas is a totally different story.

When you're up by 2 runs or more an it's the 8th inning or later, you shouldn't lose the game. Period. I don't care who you're playing or what ballpark you're in. As consistent as our bullpen has been this year, that should never be a problem. Clearly, that meant nothing to the Rangers as both Chris Perez and Joe Smith had meltdowns that saw our leads of 2+ runs in the 8th inning or later evaporate.

Now, last night when Smith came in, I wondered, Isn't this Vinnie Pestano territory? And I was probably right, since after the game Manny Acta said that Chris Perez and Tony Sipp were both unavailable after all they had pitched this weekend. So Pestano was probably acting closer, and Smith's job was to clean up the runners Tomlin had left on.

Of course, what resulted was a colossal failure. Yet, in the aftermath of that dreadful inning, I was surprised to find that I wasn't extremely ticked off. Maybe it's because the 3 walk-off losses on the trip had prepared me for it, or maybe I was just in such a state of shock that I couldn't feel anything. But after the Indians completed their 1-2-3 9th inning, I started thinking about the season as a whole.

Way back on April 1, I sat at my desk in my dorm room and wrote this Start Me Up post before the Indians opened the season against the White Sox. And in it, I predicted they'd go 82-82. We've got 50 games left, and what's our record? 56-56.

I'm not really saying this to toot my own horn, or brag about how I was right, but the plain truth is that my "prediction" was wildly optimistic at the time. Of course, we were all expecting the Indians to take strides and get better this year, but nobody was actually expecting them to contend -- including me. Honestly, who expected the Twins and White Sox to be as bad as they've been? Even the Tigers --  they may be leading the division, but they're only 4 games up over our .500 team.

If we were in any other division, we wouldn't even be close. Not that 4 games is all that close when you're this deep into the season, but thank goodness we're not in the AL East. Toronto is 58-56 and they're 12 -- yes twelve -- games behind Boston. The NL East is even worse, as the Mets are 56-57 and 17 games back.

So I guess the fact that we're even having a conversation about contention is a blessing in and of itself. But I have to say that the way this team has played since it was 30-15 -- going 26-41 -- just doesn't inspire confidence in me.

Really, this team reminds me a lot of the '04 team, which was in a similar place for contention in August of that year. On the 15th, the Tribe was 63-55, good enough for 1 game behind the Minnesota Twins, who they were playing in Cleveland. They ended up losing the game in 10 innings, and the team just wasn't the same in the aftermath, finishing 80-82, 12 games behind the Twins.

But remember what happened the next year? Our team was great, winning 93 games, and just missing out on a Wild Card berth.

So here's the point, that '04 team wasn't supposed to contend either, and even though they were in a position to at one point, they didn't in the end. And although I would like nothing more than to be proven wrong, I think that's where this '11 version of the Tribe is heading too.

After a 30-15 start, will missing the playoffs be disappointing? Absolutely yes. But the Tribe is still on track to contend in 2012 and beyond.

And so despite the fact that I hate this saying, and I'm sure you hate it too, it looks like we're going to have to "Wait 'till next year" yet again. But I really think this time we're going to see that waiting pay off.

At least I really hope so.

~MAS

When Social Media Goes Wrong

So as you may or may not know, I'm a huge fan of Twitter. Even though my two best friends make fun of it constantly, calling it "Twat-er" or saying "sending more Twats?" I think when it comes to sports, Twitter is something that has made the fans even more a part of the game. I follow pretty much all of the players who have an account on the Indians and Browns, as well as many of the beat writers. I like to stay in the "know," but sometimes people just say interesting things.

While I think it's great that we now have a direct line to some players and coaches, there comes a point when we as fans have to check ourselves before we wreck ourselves. Case in point, last night some vicious and hateful things were said to both Manny Acta (@Mactriber_11) and Chris Perez (@ChrisPerez54) by some angry fans.

Now, first off these angry hateful people only represent a microcosm of the entire Indians fan base, and I know that, but sometimes just a few people can make a whole lot of other people look just as bad. I read the timeline of tweets mentioning Chris Perez, and some of that stuff was absolutely ridiculous. I'm talking from homophobic slurs to straight up saying "You (bleeping) suck" -- if you can think of an insult, it was probably on his timeline. And you could tell when he gave up the home run, because one Tweet was "Okay, get this last guy!" and the next was "Are you (bleeping) serious?" I was reading these out loud and my friend had to ask me to stop because it was so upsetting.

Okay, I understand being angry. I understand wanting to throw the remote at the TV and cuss out anyone you see because your team loses a game you know it should have won, but there's got to be a point when you stop, take a breath, and just don't do those things. The same has to apply when it comes to Tweeting expletives at players and the manager. These guys shouldn't have to respond to "fans" with, "Winning 1st season series vs Red Sox since '05=Great. Blowing lead vs Rangers = Disappointing. Blocking 10 negative fans = Priceless" as Acta did last night, and Perez shouldn't have to say, "The day I let people get inside my mind is the day I retire."

This is not to say that I don't think fans have a right to be critical. If I'm at a game and my team makes a bad play, or has a bad inning, I think it's appropriate to boo. Maybe I'm wrong, but I don't think that makes you a fair-weather fan. I think it means you're into the game, you're responding to what is on the field. You pay to come see the game, so if you don't like the product, hey, I think you've paid for the right to be critical.

What I don't support, however, is picking on a guy on a team you support by name and then going with name calling. That's immature, that's high school B.S. and if you're an adult you should know better. You should know it's not just inappropriate, but unacceptable to use homophobic slurs to insult and degrade people.

And the worst part is that people do this because they can do it and get away with it under the guise of the internet! Even though everyone has their own Twitter handle, the fact that you're saying something to this person but not to their face makes it sort of anonymous. But you know what, if you're that immature that all you can do when the chips go down is insult and name call, you really need to take a long hard look at your life and your choices and decide you need to grow up. A lot.

Look, I'm not saying that all Tribe fans are like this -- in fact, far from it. I looked at Perez and Acta's timeline this morning, and the response was overwhelmingly positive, especially compared to last night. But the bottom line is we've already lost Matt LaPorta's Twitter (@Gator4God) because of negative fans, and I'd really like to keep our manager and the #BullpenMafia in tact.

If you want to be critical, go ahead and do so, I know I do. But show a little maturity -- don't send it to the player. If you're going to tweet them, support them and do it with class. I don't think that's too much to ask, is it?

~MAS

So We're One Game Over .500...

As the title says, we're one game over .500 and now 3 games back of the Tigers -- good for second place in the AL Central. This upcoming series with the Rangers is absolutely huge, not only because Ubaldo is pitching for the first time, but because the Tigers happen to be playing the Royals and if they sweep (which is a real possibility), and we only win 1 game, we'll probably be in deep you-know-what. I'm glads that we're still in the race, but I'd like to keep it that way.

Here's the deal about that Boston series -- were you really expecting to win more than 2 games there? Anytime you can go away for a 4 game series with a team as good as the Red Sox and come away with a series split, I think you have to call that a success. The fact that we were in each and every game is just gravy to me. I think it's fair to say that the starting pitching in that series was excellent.

Even though Tomlin  gave up 5 runs, he kept the Indians in the game. Dave Huff has totally made a believer out of me with his 3 starts, especially going 5, 3-hit, shutout innings against the Red Sox. Even though Carlos Carrasco has looked like a man about to implode in his last few starts, he really got the job done, going 7 innings with 3 runs -- only 2 earned. And then Justin Masterson was dominant last night, striking out 9 in 6 innings, and giving up 3 earned runs.

So what does that all mean? Well, first off it means that we got 2 quality starts out of 4 games. If David Huff had gotten some defensive support behind him, I'm sure he would've been able to go another inning and get that notch on his belt. Maybe I put too much stock in quality starts, but I think with our bullpen if the starter can hold the opposition to 3 runs or less in 6 innings, we'll be in a great position to win.

The problem comes when we can't score more than 3 runs -- and that happened in our two losses to the Sox. Tuesday we only scored from the solo blasts of Kipnis and Chisenhall, relying on rookies in a penant race is never going to work. Wednesday, we managed 3 runs off of the knuckleballer Wakefield, but then the Red Sox 'pen shut us down.

And what do those numbers mean? Ehh, not very much other than the simple saying "You can't win, if you don't score."

Will we get help from Choo and Sizemore when they return in a few weeks? Well sure, it would be very nice, but I just don't think we can expect that. I don't think we should expect that, based on what they'd been doing the rest of the year. I think both players put a lot of pressure on themselves to play to the best of their abilities, and neither was doing a particularly good job of it this year. I think Sizemore was terribly plagued defensively too, sometimes looking clueless out in center rather than a former gold glove winner.

But those guys won't be playing in Texas. It's really going to be up to A-Cab, Hafner, Brantley and the finally-getting-hot Santana to carry the offense down in super hot Texas. Tim Cowlishaw just tweeted that it's 107 degrees down in Arlington, so I bet the ball will be carrying. The Rangers are 3rd in runs scored, 2nd in batting average, and 2nd in slugging percentage -- numbers that mean all our pitchers better bring their A-games.

And yes, that menas you Ubaldo.

Go Tribe!
~MAS

Hello Ubaldo!

I'm conflicted.

I want to like this trade, I really do. But I just don't know that I can yet.

I mean, the Indians just don't do this! We trade our best guys for prospects, not the other way around. Never the other way around. At least not since the John Hart era.

Okay, did I want a big trade? Yes. Did I say I'd like Ubaldo Jimenez in an Indians uniform? Yes. But did I want to give up Pomeranz in the process?

Hell no.

Okay, yes we got a pitcher who blazed through the league in the first half of last season, but he has been a little more than human since July 19 of last season. After going 15-1 with a 2.13 ERA before that date, he went 4-7 with a 3.70 ERA the rest of the way. And then this year he started out April with a 6.75 ERA and went through May with a 5.45 ERA. I'm usually in favor of giving a guy the benefit of the doubt based on past services, but to give up your top prospect who has done nothing but gas guys in the minors, someone who projects to be in the rotation (maybe even the front of the rotation!) by next June, it just seems like a little too much to me.

Terry Pluto wrote it in his Sunday column, and I really agree with him that if the price was just White, Huff, and some others make the deal yesterday. I like that because you're giving up a RH starter and getting a RH starter in return. The problem is that we're not in a situation where Ubaldo is at the end of his contract, or only has one year left on it like when we traded CC and Cliff Lee. Because of that, the notion that we got less for both of those guys than we gave up for Ubaldo is correct -- and it should be since we have contractual control of Ubaldo for the next two seasons.

Regardless, it really doesn't matter if I like the deal or not, it's going to happen if Ubaldo passes his physical. Based on what I've heard about how he's lost significant velocity on his fastball (down from averaging 96mph to 93mph), I don't think it's a done deal that he will pass it with flying colors. I remember years ago, the Indians were going to trade Omar Vizquel to Seattle for Carlos Guillen and the deal fell through because Guillen didn't pass his physical. Granted, we'd probably have a good bat that the Tigers wouldn't have if that deal had actually gone through, but it just goes to show that the Indians take these physicals very seriously -- and they really should if they're going to have to give up their best pitching prospect.

This deal says a lot about what the front office has learned from the past decade of Indians baseball: Contention is not guaranteed. Remember what happened in '06 after the Indians finished with 93 wins in '05? Flameout. Remember what happened in '08 after the Indians were one game away from the World Series in '07? Flameout again. So only being 1.5 games out with two months to go, the Indians are treating this opportunity like it may not come again next year, and I think that's good.

Still, trading away a prospect -- even if that's all Pomeranz is -- who has a 1.98 ERA, 112 Ks and only 38 walks in 91 innings in his first full season is a tough pill to swallow. Unless Ubaldo can be like CC Sabathia and Cliff Lee after we traded them and carry us to the postseason, this trade could be questioned for a very long time to come.

~MAS

A Look At... Indians Trade Possibilities

I could rant until the cows come home about the Indians 5 errors today (YES 5 ERRORS, UGH), but I won't do that. Being no-hit is bad enough, although I will say that Ervin Santana is a great pitcher and Mike Hegan repeatedly said on the radio broadcast that he'd never seen Santana pitch so well. However, we've got to play good fundamental baseball if we want to make it to the playoffs. This division is weak, and if we get back to playing good ball again, we'll be just fine. But this team is definitely flawed right now.

But this post is supposed to be about trade possibilities, so I'll get to that now. A lot has been written by a lot of different people about who the Indians could trade for but I'd like to talk about who I'm willing to trade. It looks like Carlos Beltran is not going to be one of those people we could acquire, but based off of the report that the Indians were willing to take on Beltran's salary and give up a "good player," I'd be surprised if we didn't make a deal by the deadline. Colby Rasmus (LH outfielder) is also off the board as he's been traded to the Blue Jays. So, that leaves BJ Upton, Hiroki Kuroda, Ryan Ludwick, Coco Crisp, and I believe Aaron Harang as players the Indians are maybe considering. At least from most reports. (UPDATE: Apparently, the Indians are in on Ubaldo Jimenez too, and are strong contenders to land him. Me likey.)

So let's get to it, who would I not mind the Indians trading?

Well, unless they're offering up one of the best players in the league, we better not give up Kipnis, Chisenhall, White or Pomerantz. These guys are huge keys to our future, especially since we have drafted so poorly from the 90s until really '08, when we drafted Chisenhall in the 1st round. I know GM Chris Antonetti has said that no player is "untouchable" but honestly, I don't think those guys are going anywhere.

That brings us to the next level of prospects that we have, and I think we have some really good ones. We have a three headed monster of B-level starters in Jenmar Gomez, Zach McAllister and David Huff. All three of those guys have had great years at AAA, and I'd be more than willing to trade two of them --  if not all three for the right deal (*Ahem* BJ Upton). I know we need starters and Huff is currently in the rotation and has pitched quite well in his two starts, but I just don't think he factors into the rotation in 2012 and beyond.

Think about it, the first three spots in the rotation are locked up for next year -- Masterson, Tomlin and Carrasco. Even though he's not coming back in the rotation this year, Alex White would appear to at least be penciled in for the 4th spot. And then you have Fausto Carmona for the 5th spot. You'd have to expect that Drew Pomerantz would follow a similar tract to that of White and find himself in the rotation too by mid-season, and at that point you have to get rid of somebody (probably Carmona...). Of course, you need starting pitching depth, but as long as you've got one of Huff/Gomez/McAllister, for next year, I think we'll be alright. So that's why I'd say we can trade at least two of those guys and be alright.

For infielders, I'd say we could stand to lose Cord Phelps, Luis Valbuena and -- this one might surprise you -- Matt LaPorta. Phelps has had a pretty good year in AAA, but he's a second baseman -- hello Jason Kipnis. He was sort of being groomed to be a utility player, but his defense looked abysmal in his stint in the majors earlier this season. We also have Jason Donald down in AAA, also being groomed to be a utility player. Because Donald is more proven at the major league level, I'd say Phelps is expendable (but, Donald is too by that same token).

If you looked at any of the games the Indians played against Minnesota last week and saw Valbuena play in the outfield (which was an incredible emergency situation) you know why he's expendable. He's actually had a great year in AAA, so if someone wants a LH second baseman, then they can have him. I'm sure of that.

Now, Matt LaPorta. If anybody wants him, I'd say that they can have him. I don't even care about getting a first baseman back. Here's the deal, Carlos Santana has been really bad behind the dish lately, and -- as Hammy said on the radio today -- it's getting harder to let Sweet Lou Marson sit on the bench when he's a much better defensive catcher. When LaPorta was on the DL earlier in the year, Santana mostly played first base while Marson caught and I just don't think Santana has been as comfortable back there since then. So, since LaPorta has only hit .238 with 9 HR and 35 RBI this season, and only plays average defense, I think we could stand to trade the former '07 first round draft pick. He just can't seem to put it together up here, and at this point I would rather have Santana at first and Lou Marson behind the plate every day.

So that's what I think. Hopefully we will see the Indians make a move int he next few days. Who they'll get, I'm not really sure, but I'm hoping for BJ Upton. The fact that we'd have him under contrat for next year makes him a very attractive player to me. We will see Tribe fans.

~MAS

Series Review - Tribe @ Baltimore 7/14-17

So I think this series can be summed up in that it started out quite well and then just crapped out at the end. Offensively, I was pretty disappointed with the last two games, even with the out pouring in the 9th on Saturday. Pitching wise? There was just nothing to write home about at all this weekend. Since that's the bigger area of concern to me, I guess I'll start there.

Consider this, against a team that had lost seven in a row coming into the series, Indians starters could only muster one quality start. One. And you know who that was? Nope, not Justin Masterson if that's who you were thinking. It was Carlos Carrasco in the loss on Saturday night. I, admittedly, did not watch the first game of this series because I went to a midnight showing of Harry Potter  (which was awesome in IMAX 3D, by the way. Totally worth the price of admission) and was in line during game time, but the fact that we only had one quality start is always going to be a problem with me, I don't care how many runs we score. That being said, Masterson did only give up 4 runs, and I don't think he'll give reason for concern as we continue into the second half of the season.

A lot of credit has to go to Tomlin for his start on Saturday, as he was getting knocked around a whole lot but battled well enough to go his usual 5 innings. I tweeted this, but something that always bothers me is when the team goes out and gets a lead and then the pitcher gives it right back. That's just not doing your job. Still, the offense came through for Tommy and my personal favorite pitcher on the Indians staff got his 11th win of the season.

Carrasco also had to work to get his 7 innings, and he did it without unraveling. I think this is one of the most important things to come out of this series, especially after how hard Carrasco was shelled in his previous couple of starts. I really think we should've won Saturday night, but the Bullpen Mafia just didn't come through. If they had, I just don't think Carrasco would've gotten the loss. Maybe this is obvious, but I don't think he deserved it.

Still, if we're actually going to win this division, Carrasco, Tomlin and Masterson have got to be able to give us quality starts in probably 75-80% of their starts the rest of the way. (That percentage is just my own made up thing based off of nothing but my opinion. Don't try to look it up anywhere).

I don't want to spend a lot of time on Jeanmar Gomez, simply because he just wasn't as effective as he needed to be. 5 runs in 5.1 innings? Mitch Talbot could've done that. The Indians need Gomez to be ready. I mean, this guy was about to start the AAA All-Star game after going 9-3 with a 2.40 ERA in the first half for the Clippers. I'm pretty sure this is his 3rd stint with the big league club -- it's time for him to take a rotation spot and keep it and not be a AAAA player. Unfortunately, giving up 5 runs just ain't gonna cut it.

I'm sure a lot of people are going to rip the bullpen for their mistakes this weekend, but I think it's important to remember that they never gave up a lead -- they just made the deficit worse. We've still got the best 'pen in the league, people, don't panic about that.

What we should panic about is our outfield situation. Krady Grady Sizemore went down with another right knee contusion, the same knee he 'contused' (if that's a word) earlier in the season. He was starting to get hot in this series too, so that's definitely not great. That means we're now without 2/3 of our starting 3 outfielders. There's just no way we can contend with a platoon of Buck and Kearns in RF, Carrera in CF and Brantley in LF.

That's no knock on the Porsche Carrera or Brantley, but the Buck/Kearns situation really needs to end. I think Buck would be a fine fourth outfielder, but Kearns is officially washed up. I know he hit that home run against the Yankees, and that was a nice little moment, but what else has he done this year? I believe the crickets are telling me the answer. We need some pop out of at least one of the three outfield spots, and without Grady, we just don't have any. With Grady we didn't have that much, since he's been hitting .230, but that's another story.

I'm going to say this here for the first time, and will probably repeat it a bunch over the next couple weeks -- If we are going to contend in this division, we have to make a trade for a RH outfield bat. I would've said that before Grady went down, but it's especially true now.

In other offensive news, it was nice to see how we just didn't quit in Saturday's ballgame, even though we had been completely shut down by spinach Alfredo Simon most of the game. Here's a fun fact, Simon is currently the subject of a murder investigation in the Dominican Republic and had to go back there for a court date after his start. I guess he wanted to make a lasting impression in case he has to go to jail. I just couldn't believe that when Matt and Rick were talking about it on STO. Yikes.

Anyway, that whole being shut down by Orioles pitchers thing was a bit ridiculous, but I always love when our hitters just refuse to quit. You've got to enjoy seeing A-Cab, Hafner and Santana all work walks to knock out the O's closer and then O-Cab delivering a bases clearing double. If the Indians do, in fact, end up making the playoffs, it's going to be because of veterans on this team like O-Cab, Hafner and -- I'll even venture to say -- A-Cab. Asdrubal was on this team in '07 when we went to the ALCS, he knows what kind of fight that takes as was Hafner. With O-Cab, the guy just gets on playoff teams wherever he goes. That 'never say die' attitude is going to be key down the stretch.

Now that is a lot to take in, so let all of that marinate as we get a twin billing tomorrow in the Twin Cities with a Twins ball club that has won 7 of their last 10 ballgames. Huff and Carmona will take the hill for the Tribe in the games tomorrow. Both starts are important for both pitchers, as I firmly believe the Tribe brass would love to move Huff in a deal and Fausto really just needs to get his you-know-what together. But it's an important series in general, as the Indians have got to start beating their divisional opponents if they're going to end up taking the Central crown.

Until next time, Go Tribe!
~MAS