Indians Sign Carl Pavano

Good low risk signing.

Remember when the white man traded the Indians $24-worth of beads and mirrors for the isle of Manhattan, NY?

Well they're at it again. The Yankees get Sabathia, who started last season in Cleveland. The Indians get Pavano, who spent 4 years on the DL in New York.

I know the analogy isn't perfect, but it's interesting to me. If I were the Indians I'd only guarantee $24 of Pavano's contract, based on how he lived up to his last contract.

God Speed, Cleveland!

he should have to pay to play baseball.. remember those days?

No after contract is signed, he hurts his chest muscules, from laughing out loud so hard that someone is actually signing him.

Good sign - I'm a Yankees fan and I said the Yankees should resign him for close to nothing before he even came back last year. He's had surgery, his arm should be fine now. If he beats the Yankees even once this year I'll be pissed

Ditto to what Joe said (except for signing him ... no room on roster)

Haha...vagina.

ABSOLUTELY DISGRACEFUL.

Sign Byrd, right this second. I will FREAK OUT if we sign Pavano!

The best thing ever associated with Pavano was the trade from the Red Sox to the Expos for Pedro Martinez. Man the 'Spos got fleeced! Good luck Indians if you sign him. I hope he wins every game against the Yankees he pitches this year.

yes indians, please sign byrd, give the red sox some compensation!

"yes indians, please sign byrd, give the red sox some compensation!"

Indians don't give up a draft pick to sign Byrd --- type B.

Sox get one though.

don thomsen- actually the reports are DeRosa is moving to 3B, Peralta stays at SS, Cabrera at 2B.

and knowing how the world works, pavano will throw 200innings and win 15 games next year.

Could just be that they want to talk to Peralta personally; shortstops and CFs seem to be super territorial. Wasn't it reported that he was working at 3B in winter ball?

Dont mind this move at all. What the hell, he was good at one point. And at least he has a chance in hell of striking someone out unlike byrd. I dont want to see anymore of those meatballs coming down the strike zone.

Pavano's only had one good season ever, and it already got him $55 million from the Yankees.

I'm not a fan of the move if it's a guaranteed major league deal. With his history, he should get a minor league deal, and even then I'd rather take my chances with Scott Lewis.

Even if Pavano has any success, he's not going to be a difference-maker. The Indians should be poised to hang with the Twins in the Central, and Pavano doesn't make me think they're any more likely to win it, they're just going to have to DFA Sowers so they can have Pavano on the opening day roster.

Its not actually a bad move, it's a solid buy low.

There are just a lot of people who seek to dislike Pavano.

Good luck with Pavano. You'll be lucky to get 10 starts outta him.

Signing is official.

Conference call at 3:45-

*WTAM 1100

"Signing is official.

Conference call at 3:45-

*WTAM 1100"

Did Art Bell make the announcement? LOL

Pavano is another example of "only in America"

Only in America can you suck and be injured for so long and still get signed

If Tribe have that kind of money (1.5M) "they" should have gave it to the local Boys Clubs. It would have been a better return. MY GOD - If GM worked for me and told about this signing, he'd be fired in two seconds. No, again one second.

Is it just me or would a trade of Swisher for DeRosa have made more sense for both the Cubs and Sox?

Sorry, forgot that this is an Indians board. My bad.

Good luck in '09, if you stay healthy you should be right there in Sept.

"Why do the Tribe look good?

Hafner is broken down, V-Mart was terrible last year, Jhonny likely had a career year, Betancourt bottomed out. I don't see it.

Posted by: Stinky"

Just the kind of post I would expect from someone named Stinky.

Hafner is the only real point you have. V-Mart was not "terrible" he was playing with bone chips in his arm the entire first half of the season. The doctors were amazed he was even playing when they removed them.

How can you say Peralta likely had a "career year"? He was 26 years old!!! Ever hear of developing? I mean come on, you're talking like he's 35 and out of his prime. He's just entering his prime.

This team had no real identity last season switching pieces out left and right at nearly every position. Now you add a solid closer (Wood), an everyday 3rd baseman that doesnt hit .150 (DeRosa), another bullpen arm (Smith), and a good infield prospect (Valbuena) to go along with the addition of Miller in the pen, LaPorta, and guys like Huff, Lewis, and Reyes for the rotation... Oh and btw we are adding all these people to a team who was only 1 game away from the World Series two years ago and despite being decimated with injuries last season still won 81 games and had one of the best offenses in the second half of the season with their biggest hitters not playing.

Yeah I don't get it either.

Aubrey actually is still a decent prospect. He's always hurt (5 years and only 340 games) but produces when on the field (841 OPS, .290 bavg, 1:26 hr/per at bats). Would probably make a decent platoon player in the majors.

Well rested - he still sucks

Indians roster is set. I like every move Shapiro has made so far.

If no injuries occur in spring training, here is what the roster comes out to:

Rotation:

1. Cliff Lee LHP
2. Fausto Carmona RHP
3. Carl Pavano RHP
4. Aaron Laffey LHP
5. Anthony Reyes RHP
--
6. David Huff LHP
7. Jake Westbrook RHP (Out until mid season)
8. Jeremy Sowers LHP
9. Scott Lewis LHP
10. Zach Jackson LHP

Bullpen:

CL Kerry Wood RHP
SU Rafael Perez LHP
SU Jensen Lewis RHP
MR Joe Smith RHP
MR Rafael Betancourt RHP
MR Masa Kobayashi RHP
MR John Meloan RHP
--
MR Adam Miller RHP
MR Edward Mujica RHP
Lineup:

1. Grady Sizemore CF L
2. Mark DeRosa 3B R
3. Shin Soo-Choo RF L
4. Victor Martinez C S
5. Jhonny Peralta SS R
6. Ryan Garko 1B R
7. Travis Hafner DH L
8. Ben Francisco LF R
9. Asdrubal Cabrera 2B S

Bench:

C Kelly Shoppach R
INF Jamey Carroll R
INF Josh Barfield R
OF David Dellucci L

Prospects:

1B/OF Matt LaPorta
INF Beau Mills
C Carlos Santana
C Chris Gimenez
OF Trever Crowe
OF Michael Brantley
INC Luis Velbuena

Looking at other AL Central teams, I don't think any team will run away with the division simply because every team is competitive, including the Royals. However, I don't see any other Central team looking as good as the Cleveland Indians do on paper. Then again, that's why they play the games, anything can change. But I have a really good feeling about the 2009 Cleveland Indians.

For those wondering about Michael Aubrey, he was a first round draft pick of the Indians and was a top first base prospect but has been hurt most of his minor league career. It only made sense to designate him since Indians have Garko, Martinez, LaPorta, Hafner, Brown, Mills, and even Carlos Santana that could play first base. I'm sure someone will claim him off waivers, if not, he will be back in the Cleveland system.

ilulic,
you missed a place where the tribe will improve; sizemore. he is only going to get better next year. i'm going to say that he gets near 40 hr, 100+ rbi, and gets near 40 steals. the only thing i can say is that he could work on ba. but with production like that, i would still take it.

Hey TripleHHH (wouldn't that be like 9 H's?)- If you knew anything you would know that a pitcher who had even one really good year and could just possibly make your team better, he'll at least get a mill. come on.

PS
Yankees still suck!

azn, i agree with you. sizemore is just 26 years old and isn't even in his prime yet. he is still getting better but i wanted to point out the obvious reasons to why the indians should be able to win 90+ games without a problem.

realisticly, lee is not going to repeat but should be able to win 18 games for the third time in his career. carmona is going to only improve on 2008, he is capable of winning at least 15 if not 18+ games again. i personally think that reyes was a complete steal. i've watched the guy ever since he came up and i think he really needed a change of scenery. coming to cleveland and being the 5th starter and based on what he showed last year with the limited time in cleveland, i think he will be at least a 10 game winner. laffey concerns me, he has a lot of potential but he is streaky. he is capable of 10 wins with an era around 4.50, however.

i am really looking forward to watching choo get 500 plus AB's. he is a run producer and is an outstanding right fielder. .290/25/100 from him with 500+ at bats? also i'd like to see reyes throw 180 innings.

i'm excited to get this season going. CAN'T WAIT.

Sign a LH RP, a back-end SP, and another project SP and they look really good, though I don't know if they have the money. Can they afford say Braden Looper, Jason Jennings, and Will Ohman? I doubt it, but that would be pretty sweet. On paper, at least.