Odds And Ends: Reyes, Colon, Indians, Nationals

Wow....as a Nats fan, I would be floored if they could swing Loney+Laroche/Dewitt for Johnson. Unfortunately, there are not that many stupid GM's out there any more, so the Nats will have to settle for something less. But I do agree that Johnson is going to be their most tradeable asset. They'll have a lot to move, with Pena (still doubt they'd move Kearns, Pena has a $5mm team option/$2mm player option so is pretty cheap), Lopez/Guzman (if they can continue to hit), Redding, Perez, Ayala, Cordero (if he's healthy), Rauch...the list goes on, and the Nats could potentially stock up pretty nicely.

As a Mets fan, I wouldn't give Pelfrey or Niese for Johnson. Delgado's heating up, and he'll have the job all season. I wouldn't trade for Johnson until the offseason, and at that point I'll start thinking about a 1B for the future.

I'm not an Indians fan so you can come back with all the numbers that show I'm wrong but, the problem isn't that you are having a slow start. The problem is that the Indians offense was built around a lot of fringe guys who needed to perform at high levels to be good. Sure Hafner is off to a bad start, but past him, Martinez and Sizemore was there really anyone on that team that should have been expected to perform at a high level. No.

The Indians may only be 1/2 game out but they are playing in the worst division in the league. Detroit's numbers should be reversed and it's a lot harder to believe that they are going to continue to be dismal than it is that Cleveland's role guys are going to start producing at their peak levels. You have too many guys that are either past their windows or haven't gotten into them yet. Your GM needs to be on the phone finding a RH bat that has a track record. Right now you are stuck hoping that guys that Blake and Delucci aren't past their prime and Guitierrez, Francisco, and Cabrera are going to be as good as they are projected. Not to mention Peralta, who should be at a point where you can have a reasonable expectation of his production but you can't because he is too inconsistent. The only guy that you should reasonably expect to turn things around is Garko and really he isn't that good offensively, for 1B, to begin with.

That seems like a lot of assumptions and hoping for a team that has WS aspirations.

"Kearns and Pena could be fitt well with the Indians, a deal of Trevor Crowe and Sowers/Miller would be a good deal for the Nats."

I'm sure it would be a good deal for the Nats. Fortunately, I don't think Mark Shapiro is dumb enough to trade away that much young talens for underperforming outfielders. Lord knows the Indians have enough of those anyways.

SWP, I think that good teams need to have 4 guys, or preferrably more, that you can bank on. The Indians have 2.5, and two are left handed. I would be looking for a RH hitter. The Indians are getting subpar production from all the corners so that's were I'd be looking. I think their current RF situation has the most potential to be productive soon, so I'd be looking at 3b and LF.

I hear Bay's name kicked around, and though I don't see many Bucs games it seems like last year is behind him and he would fit the bill. I see a lot of Rockies games and Garret Atkins is another name that I hear, or actually see, getting paired to the Indians. I think he is an outstanding player and can't understand why the Rox even have him on the block other than the fact that the Monforts are cheap. His defense is considered sub-par but he honestly passes the eye test with me and though the defensive statistics may not support my eyes, i don't see him losing a lot of games with the leather. His offense more than makes up for his defense and it isn't as much of a product of Coors as a lot of people probably think.

I think that finding the names is the easy part for the Indians. The problem is that Atkins and Bay, and a player of that ilk are going to cost, and not money. I don't know how the Indians farm system looks but it is going to take ML ready pitching to get Atkins, at least it would if it was my team but who knows with O'Dowd. And the Pirates are going to want something good for Bay.

If I were Shapiro I'd be looking at guys like Milton Bradley, Emil Brown, Austin Kearns, Melvin Mora, Jorge Cantu, Pedro Feliz. It seems to me they should have been in on a lot of these guys during the offseason when most were FAs.

“The problem is that the Indians offense was built around a lot of fringe guys who needed to perform at high levels to be good”

Oh yeah, I agree ~ teams like Det and the Yanks are proving that buying a bunch of flashy parts is much better then having parts that actually work well together…

What youre saying is silly though ~ the team has produced a 273-213 (.562) record with an offense atleast in the Top-6 every season the last three years using those “fringe guys”. So apparently having a bunch of “fringe guys” isnt the problem you think it should be… Maybe you would be better served giving your “fringe guys” arguments to Oakland, Minnasota and Atlanta though ~ you know, teams which also dominated the last decade despite basically being in eternal rebuild mode around one or two real offensive threats…

Yet everything you just said really proves my point…

“In 2005 the Indians were stacked, the only subpar performers were boone and blake.”

…Yet they only had the same 3 producers and a bunch of “fringe guys” otherwise. Broussard was a “trash-for-trash” trade with Cincy, Belliard was a “nobody wants him” signing off the FA market, Crisp was a young kid that out-produced what he should have. Then there was the big-three and Perlata. The only real ‘ringer’ brought in was Boone ~ who had a miserable year. Ironically though? The team only scored 4.88/G that year, the worst R/G they have seen since 2003…

“In 2006, you had the big three and then... And oh yeah they finished with a losing record in 4th place.”

…Yet they had the second best offense in baseball… Go figure that one huh? Yeah, the 5.37 was second to only the Yanks.

“2007, there was 5 guys who had good years and they won the division.”

…While the offense scored only the 6th highest R/G in the AL. 6th highest R/G, Tied for best record in baseball… Go figure, huh?

“Those flashy Tigers and Yankees have both outscored the juggernaut that is cleveland. The reason they aren't winning may have a little more to do with their pitching than their hitting.”

…So you mean flashy hitting has meant fewer wins? Sounds like the 06 Indians who were the second highest scoring team but finished in 4th place, doesn’t it?

Really, talk about how the team will fail because of what you consider “fringe guys” all you want, but it doesn’t mean it holds any more weight.

Oh and:
“And those teams that "dominated" the last decade have a grand total of 0 rings. But maybe we have different definitions of dominate. I tend to agree with Mr. Webster, how bout you?”

…Consistently winning more games then everyone else is dominating in my eyes. Do you also feel that the Patriots didn’t dominate the league last year because they didn’t end up with the championship?

Darkstar, I want to apologize, I had been drinking for like 24 hours straight and I just sobered up. What I meant to say was "Cleveland Rules ALL"

I've been saying for years, when I'm sober, that the leaugue is conspiring against the Indians and have been for like 54 years now. I did call my congressman to look into it and he told me that he was working on it.

I will be quitting my job now and devoting every waking moment to getting Casey Blake into the HOF as it is apparent to me now that I have completely misunderstood his career. I think it may be possible that he is a victim of that previously metnioned conspiracy but I will do my best to ensure that he gets that free trip to Cooperstown where he belongs.

Was the Loney + DeWitt/LaRoche for Johnson thing a joke or something? Loney is already a better hitter and defensive player than Johnson, not to mention being younger and a virtual untouchable anyway. Thus, there would be absolutely no place for Johnson anyway.