Indians Not In Selling Mode

Especially when you can play LaPorta, Francisco, and Choo in the outfield and Peralta at third, selling on DeRosa wouldn't be a sellof, it would just be trading for excess to help a need.

waste of money. sell the big pieces and hope to compete with some kids.

I think Shapiro is doing the right thing, for now. June looks like a month where his club can make up some ground. Divisional games and a few set versus the NL central. They have won 6 of their last 10, the starting pitching is showing signs of life and the club can score runs even without Hafner and Sizemore. Three weeks from now he can kick the sell machine into gear if they have not made up decent ground, but why not see what happens before breaking up the core?

I don't see a significantly better market for sellers today vs. the 7/31 deadline so why not keep your tradeable pieces and wait for the price to go up.

Even if Shapiro decides to sell off some of the players, he won't sell the "core" players. Core of the Indians are Grady Sizemore, Shin-Soo Choo, Asdrubal Cabrera, Victor Martinez, Jhonny Peralta, Cliff Lee, Fausto Carmona, Rafael Perez, Jensen Lewis, and even Travis Hafner.

Younger players, that he hopes will emerge as "core" guys, are LaPorta, Brantley, Santana, Huff, Laffey, Valbuena, Mills, Chisenhall, Rondon, and Hodges.

However, I guarantee you if he has the chance to improve the team, he will make a trade. Mark DeRosa is a player he can afford to trade (that's why he's looking for ML ready pitching - a team need), and I think if the right offer came along for Ben Francisco, Kelly Shoppach, Ryan Garko, Jamey Carroll or even Rafael Betancourt, he will trade.

I think that this is just GM jockeying for trade value and team attitude, if he says they aren't selling it might make another GM try to force the issue by overpaying. At the very least, it signals to his team that he believes in them being able to salvage the season, without the help of bringing others in.

Like I've said, trading Mark DeRosa wouldn't mean that Shapiro is mailing it in; a solid pitcher would be more valuable to this team than he is right now. Plus, it will free up at-bats for Garko, who is a better hitter than DeRosa.

Also, Shoppach needs to go immediately.

Jensen Lewis a "core" of this team? Laughable.

People still consider Garko a poor defensive player? Why, exactly?

Power doesn't matter when, ultimately, you're driving in the runs one way or another, which is what he does. He's a career .300/.390/.461 hitter with RISP and .301/.431/.500 hitter with RISP and two outs.

He doesn't give away at-bats ever and he has a great understanding of the strike zone and how to hit in general.

MickS, I think you may be right. But wouldn't you at least give him a chance to show what he can do before you deal him off? Kind of showcase him to other teams? I agree, Garko most likely isn't our long term solution at first base. It's more likely Martinez/LaPorta between the DH/1B long term. But right now, we need to play Garko on everyday basis so that his value would be brough up a bit before dealing him. I think he could be a nice chip to trade at the end of this season.

"Think about how many times it has actually worked firing a manager in season and replacing him? Last one I can think of was with the Marlins in '03 when they won the WS. Besides that, every team has lost at least 90 games. "

The Mets fired Willie Randolph last year, and finished hot under Manuel. I'm not sure of their exact record, but they played right around .600 ball, and were in position to make the playoffs until they coughed it up again in the last weekend of the season. It didn't end up great, but they definitely didn't lose 90 games and they definitely played better after making the switch. It can work sometimes. If Wedge isn't doing a good job, he should be fired, regardless of whether it is during the season or the winter, imo.