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Indians Tidbits (2008 season)

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CPD

Touching home: After four years, Omar Vizquel reunites with a city that still loves him

by Bill Lubinger [email protected] Sunday June 22, 2008, 6:58 PM


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Plain Dealer File Photos

Omar Vizquel's first game at Progressive Field since the 2004 season figures to be a celebration between one of the Indians' most popular players and the fans who adopted him as one of their own. FULL STORY

It was a late-October afternoon and Omar Vizquel lunched at his friend's Little Italy restaurant when he overheard someone say it was the restaurateur's 41st birthday.
So, hours before the Indians' World Series game with Florida, the Tribe shortstop got up and started clearing tables to help his buddy out -- but not before busting the man's chops.
"He made a comment like, 'You're over the hill now,'" recalled Terry Tarantino, whose La Dolce Vita was one of many dining favorites when Vizquel lived and played in Cleveland.
That was 11 years ago. Vizquel is 41 now. By his own definition, the native Venezuelan is descending the same hill.
He's played more games at short than anyone in Major League Baseball history. His 11 Gold Gloves for fielding excellence are second only to Hall of Famer Ozzie Smith. He's turned more double plays than anyone else at his position and has surpassed 2,600 hits.
Maybe a place in the Hall of Fame awaits; who knows?

Continued......
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I don't blame Shapiro as much as you guys. Has he made mistakes? Yep, but the problem with our market is that those mistakes are magnified. And you can't do too much about injuries. Any team that loses their #3 & #4 hitter and then their #2 & #3 starter will struggle as much as us. And most teams would be even worse than we are now.

But overall, Shapiro will either dig his grave or reiterate himself as one of the best GMs in the league on what he does this trading deadline. Now to the fun part... who will be traded for what.

CC gone... while he won't get what he got for Colon, he has to get at least one Grade A prospect and 2 good prospects.

Blake... gone. Hopefully we get a a decent prospect for him, probable a AA player. He shouldn't be back next year anyway.

Byrd... gone. I don't care if it might make our rotation at the big league club thin. If we are out of contention might as well get something for him. We won't get much for him, but this is where Shapiro might make his best deal. Here you take a risk. Maybe look for a pitcher in return that isn't getting it done with his current team and that team wants to cut bait with him. This is where you take another team's problem player, or a player that hasn't lived up to his talent (an example might be Ian Kennedy from the Yankees or someone of that ilk)

Delucci... gone. Get rid of his contract and let the young players play in the OF so we know what we got.

Borowski... gone. Time to find out if we have another closer on this team somewhere. Can Kobyashi close? Maybe a minor leaguer comes out of nowhere or maybe a guy on the staff that has been forgotten now turns it on (Jensen Lewis?)

Time to expirement. Time to rework on the fly to see what we got on the team now so we know what to do in the offseason.
 
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billmac91;1190654; said:
What a terrible string of luck Shapiro has run into......
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NFBuck;1190678; said:
Eh, as I said earlier, this trade hasn't turned out as bad as it could have. Coco has hardly done much in Boston, and at least Shoppach is a serviceable ML catcher. Marte, on the otherhand, is an unmitigated flop..
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It all goes back to us trading Rocky Colavito:)
 
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Nowhere are some signings to talk about. We are finally on the move.

Cleveland.com

Indians sign Rincon and Graffanino to minor league deals
Posted by Paul Hoynes June 24, 2008 12:34PM
Categories: Breaking News, Indians

The Indians have signed veteran big leaguers Juan Rincon and Tony Graffanino to minor leagues deals.

Rincon, 29, will throw a bullpen today at Progressive Field and report to Class AAA Buffalo. Graffanino, recovering from two operations on his right knee, will work out with Buffalo starting today in preparation to play games at a later date.

The Twins released Rincon, a left-hander, on June 12. He was 2-2 with a 6.11 ERA in 28 innings. He allowed 19 earned runs and 33 hits. He's 30-26 with a 3.69 ERA in 386 appearances in the big leagues. In 2006, he was 3-1 with a 2.91 ERA 75 appearances for the Twins.


Graffanino, 36, is a .267 (743-2787) hitter in the big leagues with 144 doubles, 21 triples, 58 homers and 302 RBI. He's played with six different teams in the big leagues including Atlanta, Kansas City, Boston, Milwaukee, Tampa Bay and the White Sox. He injured his knee last year player for the Brewers. He needed surgeries to repair the meniscus and then the anterior cruciate ligament.
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Cleveland.com

It's that time: Whither C.C.?
Posted by Dennis Manoloff June 24, 2008 06:22AM
Categories: Indians
Chuck Crow/The Plain Dealer

C.C. SabathiaBaseball general managers are always on the spot, never more so than with the trade deadline approaching. Decisions at the deadline can help set a team's course for years.

Trying to figure out what to do at the July 31 deadline - particularly when a big-name player is involved - becomes a multilayered process.
Indians General Manager Mark Shapiro can attest. He went through it in 2002 with Bartolo Colon and is in it again with C.C. Sabathia.

Here is a capsule look at what Shapiro must consider as he contemplates whether to move Sabathia, the reigning AL Cy Young Award winner and potential free agent, at the end of the season.

First, assuming the preferred option is to keep Sabathia: Is it a certainty the Indians will not be able to re-sign him?

This requires a study of the market and grasp of the team's payroll, budget and projected revenues.

Are Sabathia's demands definitely beyond what the Indians can/want to meet - length of contract being almost as important as total dollars? Will Sabathia accept a hometown discount? If so, how much?

If it is determined that retaining Sabathia will not happen, Shapiro needs to decide whether to let him walk for draft-pick compensation or trade him. That depends largely on how the Indians are doing.

Shapiro must determine if his 2008 club has a shot at the Central Division or wild card with Sabathia pitching every fifth day. If the Indians have underachieved to date, can they turn it around in time, especially as several key players come back from injury?

Assuming the answer is the Indians are not a playoff team, Shapiro must get the word out that Sabathia is available. Before fielding offers, though, Shapiro needs to determine whether his club is in rebuild or reload mode.

Continued
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Indians sign Rincon and Graffanino to minor league deals
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more over the hill injury prone vetrans!

I guess if Rincon somehow makes a recovery and gets back to how he was 2005-2006 its not a bad move........ but what are the chances of that?

Graffanino? we already have a clutter of below average infielders, not really a need to add another
 
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buckeyemania11;1191197; said:
more over the hill injury prone vetrans!

Graffanino? we already have a clutter of below average infielders, not really a need to add another
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IF Blake is traded somebody has to play 3B. Marte has pretty much proven that he's not up to the task. Looks like Shapiro is casting the nets to find a warm body to stick at the hot corner for the rest of this season IF he decides to pull the plug on trying to win the division.
 
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Zippercat;1191465; said:
IF Blake is traded somebody has to play 3B. Marte has pretty much proven that he's not up to the task. Looks like Shapiro is casting the nets to find a warm body to stick at the hot corner for the rest of this season IF he decides to pull the plug on trying to win the division.
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Then why not let Marte go now so they can bring up a young guy deserving of big league at bats??
 
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billmac91;1191486; said:
Then why not let Marte go now so they can bring up a young guy deserving of big league at bats??
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The only player we really have is Hodges right now, who is playing pretty well in Akron, but I'd think he would be a September call-up at the earliest. We're really thin on the farm. Veteran journeymen are really all we have to fall back on right now unfortunately. At least Cabrera is tearing up Buffalo, so maybe he comes back up in a few weeks and you can slide Carroll in at 3B. Injuries and poor play have just decimated this team.
 
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was anyone left on the bench to pinch hit for Shoppach? I followed the game on yahoo sports, and knew the game was over as soon as Shoppach came to the plate.

My brother was in the room, and I said the Indians are about to lose again...Shoppach is going to strike out. Sure enough.....

Everey time I get my hopes up even a little, we go and suck. If this team can just win series, they could get back into it, but dropping the first to the Giants is just demoralizing.

What an uninspired, terrible team. It's easy to get pissed at Betancourt, but where the hell are the bats?

How frustrating it must be for C.C. when he can hit a 440 foot bomb and the regulars can't hit there way out of a paper bag.

So frustrating.....wherever C.C. is shipped too, I'm rooting for.
 
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