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Indians Trade Lawton for Arthur Rhodes

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AmeriBuck007

AmeriBuck007

Honey, Frank the Tank is not coming back
Finally a done deal, we save 4 million in this deal while unloading Lawtons huge contract.. We sign Rhodes for 2 years 9.2 mil. Although he had a bad year I think he could pick it up and be a quality set up man for Wickman..

Hopefully he'll leave his earrings at home this season..

thoughts...
 
Anything they do to solidify the bullpen is ok with me. Lawton's bat will be missed but there is plenty of young talent to fill the hole and whoever replaces him will probably be better defensively. Hopefully with the money they saved with this deal they can pick up a starting pitcher.
 
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They are not going after Hudson. He only has one year left on his contract, and is going to want a huge deal after next year. I wont be suprised if Belliard is traded, but I dont think Sizemore is going anywhere unless there is a huge deal.
 
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Sizemore would only go for a Martinez Schilling type. He isn't going anywhere.

As usual, the Indians are standing by while other teams are signing free agents.
They said they will be active in free agency this year, but I see them signing a second tier, pitcher at best. A trade is not being active in free agency.

Once again Dolan won't offer up the bucks to improve the team.
Same old, same old with this guy.
 
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BuckNutty said:
Anything they do to solidify the bullpen is ok with me. Lawton's bat will be missed but there is plenty of young talent to fill the hole and whoever replaces him will probably be better defensively. Hopefully with the money they saved with this deal they can pick up a starting pitcher.
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lawton's bat pre all-star game last year will be missed. post all-star game, forget it. his defense is still terrible. cleveland was just lucky enough that he had a respectable year to get something for him.



Also, Cleveland doesnt necessarily need a front of the rotation starter. sabathia, lee and westbrook are a very respectable 1,2,3 rotation. It's just the remaining two spots that are suspect. jason stanford is still going to be out until at least june, and jason davis still needs to get back on track.

cleveland will make a run at the central, but they arent ready yet.
 
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StadiumDorm said:
They are rumored to be after Hudson from what I hear. They are thinking of offering up Sizemore and Belliard, along with a minor leaguer.
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absolutely no way that trade Sizemore now, he's been one of our top prospects for a couple years and he showed his potential last year, forget about it.

and out interest in Clement is legit, but Anaheim might end up offering him a bigger contract..
 
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From what I understand the outfield is still somewhat up in the air until they decide what to do with Ronnie Belliard. If they resign Belliard then Casey Blake moves to RF which would make the starting OF, Crisp LF, Sizemore CF and Blake RF. Not bad IMO. If Belliard is not signed Blake could play 2B and we go with Ludwick or sign a low level FA for RF or we could go after someone else on the FA market like for 2B like Jose Valentine or D'angelo Jimenez (as he could be non tendered by the Reds if Kearns plays 3B).

This pitcher situation is getting stupid. The market was set offbase from the get go. A career 69-75 pitcher is being courted like he's something special. I'm personally agianst signing Clement. We are offering him 3 years 7 mil a year for a #3 starter on a team with a payroll of $45mil. We still to sign CC and Westbrook in 2 years.

BTW here is the latest on Clement.

Clement Still Considering Tribe
Barry Axelrod, agent for Matt Clement, said his client is close to making a decision and that the Indians still had a chance to sign him.

"Matt and his wife [Heather] were going to try and figure out what they're going to do later today or tomorrow morning," Axelrod said Thursday afternoon.

The Indians, Boston, Los Angeles and Anaheim are among the teams bidding for the free-agent right-hander. He may also accept the Cubs' offer of arbitration, but Axelrod said that would be used only as a last resort.

"We've told a couple of teams that they're no longer in contention," said Axelrod. "But it's not down to two teams yet."

The Indians have offered Clement, 30, a three-year deal worth an estimated $21 million.

The Indians' offer has not changed since the winter meetings ended Monday in Anaheim, Calif.

"The three-year offer is still the most prevalent," said Axelrod.

Clement, 69-75 in his career, went 9-13 last season in Chicago. The Indians identified him early in the free-agent process and have pushed hard to sign him.

General Manager Mark Shapiro thinks he'd be a solid No. 3 starter following C.C. Sabathia and Jake Westbrook.
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We don't need anymore midtier FA signings. If we can't sign some top tier FA we should just go with what we have to start the season and make a trade at the deadline with some of our farm system surplus.
 
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We don't need anymore midtier FA signings. If we can't sign some top tier FA we should just go with what we have to start the season and make a trade at the deadline with some of our farm system surplus.
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I'd agree that we don't need any more midtier signings... I like getting a number 2 level starter..... but the Indians payroll... unless I'm way off here... should actually go down this year (even if Clement signs...)

But I think its wise to wait one more year for Dolan to 'overspend'.... Reason being you need to see what they actually need the most... To me... they are a '4' hitter short of having a pretty good offense... but do they need to get a 4 hitter that's a 1B or an OF? Broussard is iffy IMO... while he had a nice last 2 mos last year... he's not consistent yet- if he's going to be- and Sizmore Ludwick, as well as some of the farm kids are just unknown quantities at this point.... so I think they need at least another year to figure this out.
 
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I'm somewhat satisfied with the current offense. I think Vic Martinez is a great #4 hitter. He isn't going to hit 40 homeruns but he has good pop in his bat, he makes great contact to all fields and has shown as a second player that he can produce runs (however that may be, sac fly, groundball to the opposite side of the field or long ball).


Brousard is probably going to be a career .270, 20hr, 85rbi guy, with above average defense. Not bad and affordable.

Sizemore is going to be an Indian for many years. We may see Crisp for another year or two because by the time he can become a FA, Franklin Guetierez will be ready.

I thought that we should have went after Hudson. We could have given the A's Brandon Phillips and maybe Jason Davis or Crueceta and gotten the deal done. But I'm sure we didn't do the deal because he becomes a FA at the end of the season and will command 15 plus million a season for 4-6 years. We still have to sign CC, Westbrook, Vic Martinez etc.

You are correct in that we should wait another year before we overspend on FA to contend. It's realy going to upset me if we shell out over 21 million for a sub .500 career pitcher.
 
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