Indians Tidbits (2007 Season)

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CPD

FANLINES
Indians are on in off-season

Team's moves have faithful feeling excited about 2007
Monday, February 05, 2007

Some national baseball analysts are praising the Indians for their off-season acquisitions. Are you confident the team will improve to contender status in 2007?
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The thing about baseball is there are two ways to win: A.) You either need a heck of a lot of talent, typically purchased by the Yanks or BoSox or B.) You need everyone on your team playing good ball for most of the year.

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ABJ

Extreme makeover

GM Shapiro hopes new pitchers bring bullpen relief

By Sheldon Ocker

Roberto Hernandez looks to become a setup man for the Tribe this season.

On a slow news day, it has been a favorite question of local radio sports talk hosts: ``Which Cleveland team will be first to win a championship: Indians, Browns or Cavaliers?''
That seemingly innocent query is almost guaranteed to overload the phone lines because it draws on Northeast Ohio's deep-seated feelings of self-loathing and defeatism.

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Canton

Time for answers Can Tribe find them in spring?
Sunday, February 11, 2007
By ANDY CALL

Oh, somewhere in this favoured land the sun is shining bright, The band is playing somewhere, and somewhere hearts are light;

And somewhere men are laughing, and somewhere children shout.
Hey, just where is "somewhere," anyway, as told in the poem, "Casey at the Bat?" If you're an Indians fan, "somewhere" is Winter Haven, Fla., where pitchers and catchers report for spring training Thursday. The notion of outfielders flipping down sunglasses while sprinting across freshly cut grass to catch fly balls is never quite as appealing as when one is lugging yet another shovelful of snow to the other side of the driveway.

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INDIANS
Shapiro nearing extension

Wednesday, February 07, 2007 Paul Hoynes

Plain Dealer Reporter
General Manager Mark Shapiro, in the final year of his contract with the Indians, is expected to sign an extension early in spring training, if not before.
Indians pitchers and catchers report to Winter Haven, Fla., on Feb. 15.
Team President Paul Dolan and Shapiro agreed not to start serious negotiations until the 2007 Indians had taken shape. With the addition of six free agents and second baseman Josh Barfield, the Opening Day roster is all but set.

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http://cleveland.indians.mlb.com/ne...t_id=1798593&vkey=news_cle&fext=.jsp&c_id=cle

Crowe ready for challenge in outfield
Tribe feels young prospect's athleticism better suited in center
By Anthony Castrovince / MLB.com

CLEVELAND -- In the field, at the plate and on the basepaths, Trevor Crowe is doing everything in his power to speed up his big-league timetable.

Alas, the timetable can rarely be forced, as Crowe and the Indians came to learn last fall.
Acknowledging an organizational hole at second base and trying to capitalize on Crowe's athleticism, the Indians subjected their former No. 1 pick to a position switch from the outfield to second shortly before the end of the Double-A Akron season. Nevermind that Crowe hadn't played the infield since high school (and even then, by his own admission, his skills in the infield were "mediocre, at best"). This was a shot for a young player to accelerate his rise to the Majors. And all he had to do was field some ground balls and turn some double plays.

 

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Canton

Tribe PR guy sees potential, better bullpen
Tuesday, February 13, 2007
By Andy Call

REPOSITORY SPORTS WRITER

CANTON TWP. Bob DiBiasio has spent 28 of his 29 years in baseball working for the Cleveland Indians. This means he's mastered the art of looking on the bright side.

The team's vice president for public relations drew a deep breath before beginning Monday's address to the Pro Football Hall of Fame Luncheon Club at the Four Winds restaurant, then fired off a machine-gun round of positives from the 2006 season - all of which actually took place.

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PAUL HOYNES' SPRING PREVIEW OF THE AL CENTRAL
Stakes high in MLB's best race

Tuesday, February 13, 2007


The Indians don't play the best team in the American League Central until May 25. Kenny Rogers, by then, will have been wanded more times than a 70-year-old grandmother going through airport security because of that mysterious substance that kept sticking to his pitching hand during the postseason.
If, by chance, Rogers pitches against the Indians in that three-game series in late May, they should strike immediately against Detroit's 17-game winner. Manager Eric Wedge doesn't have to take the sanctimonious approach that Tony La Russa did after catching Rogers red-handed -- or should that be sticky-handed? -- in Game 2 of the World Series.

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How the AL Central shapes up


Tuesday, February 13, 2007 Paul Hoynes
Plain Dealer Reporter
1. DETROIT TIGERS
2006 record: 95-67.
Best-case scenario: Gary Sheffield?s surgically repaired left wrist is healed and the top pitching staff in the league ? which set a World Series record with five errors ? takes fielding practice every day.

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INDIANS 2007
Six questions for Tribe's quest

Wednesday, February 14, 2007 Paul Hoynes

Plain Dealer Reporter
Few times in life is there such a thing as a direct answer to a direct question. Answers usually come in degrees, shad ings of truth and spin.
There are probably only three finite questions and answers in the world.
Will you die? Yes.

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[BuckFanAtAkron]

Indians sign another relief pitcher coming off of a injury. Veteran right-hander Cliff Politte, late of the White Sox, was signed Wednesday to a Minor League contract with an invitation to big-league camp.

 

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http://cleveland.indians.mlb.com/ne...d=1803866&vkey=spt2007news&fext=.jsp&c_id=cle

Closer Foulke withdraws from camp
Right-hander to announce Major League retirement
By Anthony Castrovince / MLB.com




WINTER HAVEN, Fla. -- Forget the two-man race for the Indians' closer's job. Keith Foulke has gracefully bowed out.
Surprisingly, Foulke is announcing his retirement Friday, ending a 10-year big-league career that included stints with the Giants, White Sox, A's and Red Sox. Foulke's stint with the Indians lasted all of one day. He arrived at Chain of Lakes Park in time for Thursday's report date for pitchers and catchers, but by the early afternoon, had already informed general manager Mark Shapiro and manager Eric Wedge of his decision.

 

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Canton

Indians Foulke to annouce retirement
UPDATE: 9:39 AM, Friday, February 16, 2007
Repository staff report

Keith Foulke?s tenure as a Cleveland Indian apparently has ended before it began.

Foulke, one of five relief pitchers signed this offseason to provide stability in the shaky Indians bullpen, has decided to retire, according to an ESPN website.

The Indians will hold a conference call later today, apparently to announce the retirement.

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Canton

Tribe brass hopes offseason tweaks make a difference
Thursday, February 15, 2007
By Andy Call REPOSITORY SPORTS WRITER


The Indians find themselves in a tough place today.

And we're not talking about sunny Florida.

"We have the potential to be a very good baseball club," Manager Eric Wedge said. "We're also in the best division in baseball. It'll be a tremendous challenge, but we don't want it any other way."

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INDIANS SPRING TRAINING
Now real work set to begin for Tribe

Friday, February 16, 2007 Bill Livingston

Plain Dealer Columnist
Winter Haven, Fla. -- The sky was making like Gaylord Perry loading the ball. At times, it spat a rattle of rain on a gray afternoon with the mercury in the 50s, as Indians pitchers and catchers reported Thursday. Sort of.
The rain depended on which section of town you were in here at the Indians' spring training home in Central Florida's cattle and citrus country. "Pitchers and catchers report" also depended on how literal you want to be about the meaning of "report."

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BASEBALL NEWSWATCH
Indians add Politte to bullpen

Thursday, February 15, 2007

From staff and wire reports
The Indians have signed veteran right-hander Cliff Politte to a minor-league contract and invited him to spring training with the big-league club.
Politte, coming off shoulder surgery, was 2-2 with a 8.70 ERA in 30 appearances with the White Sox before going on the disabled list in June and requesting his release in July. He had shoulder surgery on Aug. 17.

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