Since the Tribe finally returned to action last night in their "home" opener against the Angels, I felt is was time to weigh in on some of the issues that came up over the weekend, as well as address some other issues with the ballclub.

 

First, the lost weekend against Seattle is no one’s fault except the schedule maker for Major League Baseball.  I realize we are a northern city, but it was 80 degrees last Tuesday and the Indians could very well have been playing here that day.  I also understand that the organization doesn’t want to play the nine or ten games on the road.  However, there was no need to schedule a ten game home stand in Cleveland (or any other northern city) without an off day to use for possible make up games.  It was also irresponsible to put two series against teams who do not return to Jacobs Field for the rest of the season.  MLB made the error, the Indians’ organization just tried to make the best of a bad situation.  Not enough people told that side of the story during Friday’s debacle.

 

The Indians finally got back on the field at Miller Park yesterday, and once again Roberto Hernandez and Rafael Betancourt pitched.  This means they have appeared in every game so far this season.  I understand that Eric Wedge wanted to get them some work since the team hasn’t played since last Thursday, but it will bear watching how much the manager will lean on the two veterans this season. 

 

At Class AAA Buffalo, Hector Luna continued his spring training performance by making three errors in yesterday’s game.  Luna might be a better hitter than Mike Rouse, but you simply cannot put someone out there who is going to kick the ball all around the infield.  Keep watching the box scores from Bison games to see if Luna either changes positions or is just benched.  It doesn’t do much for the development of young pitchers such as Adam Miller and Brian Slocum to have their defense botch plays behind them.

 

Baseball Prospectus rated the minor leagues, and it ranked Buffalo as having the best bullpen (Juan Lara, Ed Mujica, Tony Sipp, and Rafael Perez) and best outfield (Shin-Soo Choo, Brad Snyder, Ben Francisco, and Franklin Gutierrez) in the International League.  They ranked Akron’s starting rotation as the best in the Class AA Eastern League with Chuck Lofgren, J.D. Martin, Scott Lewis, and Aaron Laffey.  The Aeros’ outfield of Trevor Crowe, Brian Barton, and Ryan Goleski also ranked #1 in the league.  The organizational depth for the Tribe will pay dividends down the road, maybe even this year in a trade.

 

Enjoy the games from Milwaukee this year, and here’s hoping the weather permits a real home opener Friday night against the White Sox.

 

KM

 

 

 

 

 

The Cleveland Cavaliers enter the last four games of the regular season with something to play for.  I think.  I say that because I believe in their mind they can relax for the rest of the season and get ready for the playoffs in two weeks.  This is a team who had a 1-1/2 game lead in the race for the second seed in the Eastern Conference, yet they played like they had a five game lead with six to play.

 

They do not show a lot of heart or concentration to the task at hand, and that would seem to be trouble as the playoffs begin.

 

This is not an indictment of the Cavs’ superstar, LeBron James.  James wants to win.  The trouble is the front office and coaching staff has not surrounded the King with enough players with the same sense of urgency.  This team has recently lost games to the Bobcats, Celtics, and Knicks, and also dropped home games to Denver and a Dwayne Wade-less Miami Heat team.  All of these losses occurred since an eight game winning streak put the wine and gold within a game and a half of the Pistons for the top record in the East.

 

Either the players relaxed just a bit, which is crazy since they were so close to the top, or they don’t have the heart nor the basketball IQ to recognize how they got to that position.  The team still jacks up three pointers as if they were perpetually down two points with five seconds left in the game.  They don’t (or won’t) realize the offense functions better when they aggressively attack the basket.  Players like Larry Hughes and Donyell Marshall constantly settle for long jumpers.

 

Mike Brown doesn’t help the situation by continuing to give Marshall playing time when he cannot defend, and it seems as if he hasn’t made a three pointer since the end of February.  Ira Newble (I never thought I would be writing this!) played very well against the Wizards on Friday, and is the type of gritty player needed at this point in the year, but he doens’t get off the bench in a huge game against the Pistons.  Newble is known as a defensive first guy, but he doesn’t play against Detroit?

 

Scot Pollard provided some nice minutes against Boston and Miami, but he fail to play against Detroit either.  He should have been put in to wipe that stupid smile off of Rasheed Wallace’s face every time he makes a shot.  Brown seems to be uncertain as to what type of team he is coaching.  He’s a defensive coach, so Newble and Pollard should be getting time.  And he only has four games to figure this stuff out.

 

The Cavaliers have a fifth seed and a first round matchup against the Heat in the offing.  They haven’t demonstrated they could beat the Heat without Wade, so it seems unlikely they could win the series with Wade playing.  That would mean a one and done scenario after getting to the second round last year.  That’s a step backward.  That’s the wrong direction to be heading for Danny Ferry and Mike Brown.  This team needs a heart transplant and it has to be done soon.

 

JK

 

 

 

The good news is the Cleveland Indians won two out of three in Chicago against the White Sox.  The bad news is they could have swept the Pale Hose, losing 4-3 in the bottom of the ninth due to an error by Roberto Hernandez and a hit batsman with the bases loaded to end the game.  It didn’t help that the loss was by one run, a weakness for this team the past two seasons. 

 

Eric Wedge takes a lot of criticism for his team’s record in one run games, and GM Mark Shapiro said the organization poured through these types of games to see if there was something they could put their collective fingers on as a reason for the poor record.  They said there was nothing concrete.  However, others have pointed to Wedge’s handling of his bullpen as the reason.  These people may have found something.

 

The Tribe is carrying seven relief pitchers.  It is obvious after three games that once again the skipper will only use certain guys as long as he has a lead.  If the Indians are winning, Fernando Cabrera and Jason Davis might as well return to the clubhouse, because they will not be used unless there is an emergency.  Wedge has already used both Hernandez and Rafael Betancourt in all three games the team has played.  I know there was an off day in between, but is the bullpen going to be taxed already?

 

The book on Betancourt is he has problems when pitching consecutive days.  Sure enough, in his second straight day of use yesterday, he gave up the go ahead run in a 2-2 game.  He didn’t pitch horribly, but he didn’t pitch as well as he normally does.

 

However, that’s not the point.  I have said this before, but if the manager doesn’t have enough confidence in Davis and Cabrera to use them in a series that they have already won, then it is incumbent on Shapiro to get rid of them.  Both hurlers are out of options, so they can’t be sent to the minors.  Roster spots are too precious to be wasted on guys who cannot contribute to the success of the team.  Both pitchers could have thrown an inning or two on Monday with a 12-3 lead, but instead Wedge went with Betancourt, Hernandez, and Joe Borowski.

 

Also, it is unlikely that Betancourt and Hernandez can pitch in the home opener against Seattle since they have been used two days in a row. 

 

Building a bullpen is like developing a bench in basketball.  If you use people early in the season, they will be able to help you at the end of the season.  Finding out whether Cabrera and Davis could have done the job yesterday could decide whether or not they can contribute to this team.  A manager doesn’t want to burn out his relief corps by the middle of June.

 

KM

 

 

 

The Plain Dealer sports section is receiving a lot of criticism among us bloggers for being negative.  The columnists are not Cleveland reared for the most part, and they seem to be looking for something bad to point out, such as a story about Troy Smith’s troubles while a 10th grader at St. Edward High School.  If the point of that story was to show how Smith turned his attitude around, that would have been fine, but it was more to tell the story of another high school sophomore who was injured by the Heisman Trophy winner.

 

Another example of this growing curmudgeonism is Bill Livingston’s rant on Dick Vitale not making the Basketball Hall of Fame.  My first thought is why does this make "Livy" (as cleveland.com refers to him) so happy.  I realize that many people do not like Vitale’s schtick, the calling everyone "BABY", and his overhyping of coaches like Duke’s Mike Krzyzewski or Texas Tech’s Bobby Knight.  However, I don’t think it’s an act.  The former University of Detroit coach loves the game of basketball, and unlike the guys in the PD Sports Department, he is unafraid to show his joy for the sport.

 

Does Livingston begrudge Vitale’s celebrity?  Seriously, why did he have to go into jump for joy mode regarding the omission of Vitale from this year’s list of inductees?  It’s not a building dedicated to professional basketball or college hoops, it’s the hall for the entire sport.  Certainly, the ESPN announcer has done plenty to promote the game he loves.  Livingston is older than I am, so I can understand that he doesn’t get Vitale’s act, and I have to admit that he can wear thin with me as well.  However, we should all have the same enthusiasm for their job as Dickie V. has.  His love for the game is catching.

 

Livingston loves basketball as well.  He’s covered the game for a long time, and his is an opinion I respect on hoops.  He’s practically alone in the mainstream media in saying how important Zydrunas Ilgauskas is to the Cavaliers.  He doesn’t get carried away by a couple of losses in a row by the wine and gold.  He has a sense of the history of the game, and can realize who is all hype and who really can play the game.  But, because his love for the sport manifests itself differently than Vitale is no reason to be happy he didn’t make it to Springfield.

 

The best thing would have been to say nothing.  No sports fan wants the city’s only newspaper to be throwing roses at the town’s sports franchises.  There should be criticism where it is merited.  However, there should be credit given as well.  There is something wrong when baseball writers from all over the country consider the Indians one of baseball’s better teams, but the local newspaper almost unanimously picks them for fourth place.  Who’s opinion do you hold higher?  Bud Shaw or Peter Gammons?

 

Hear’s hoping the stick in the mud sports section in The Plain Dealer can turn it around and change.  Between the negativism in the paper and on the local sports talk shows, it’s a wonder sports fans even bother to get out of bed in the morning.  It’s okay to smile every once in a while.  By the way, here’s hoping Dickie V. makes it to the Hall in 2008.

 

MW

 

 

 

 

 

 

A great hoops weekend hit Cleveland this weekend.  From the Cavaliers battling to hold their position in the NBA playoff hunt, to Ohio State trying to win its first NCAA men’s basketball title since 1960, to the NCAA Women’s Final Four being held in our own town, the focus in this football city is on roundball.  Here is our take on all of the happenings:

 

Cavaliers.  The wine and gold picked up a huge win Saturday afternoon in Chicago, defeating the Bulls in overtime.  LeBron James once again put the team on his back, particularly in the extra period.  The victory gave the Cavs a 1-1/2 game lead over Chicago in the Eastern Conference standings, which keeps them in the #2 position for playoff seeding.  Anderson Varajao and Drew Gooden made key defensive plays down the stretch, including a great block of Kirk Heinrich’s shot by Gooden in the overtime session. 

 

However, the ground they gained was given back with a loss to the lowly Celtics on Sunday.  The team gave James the day off (you don’t believe the knee tendonitis, do you?) to rest, figuring they could beat Boston anyway, but the Cavs didn’t start playing until the fourth quarter and lost in the closing seconds when Jim Clark (one of the NBA’s "look at me" refs) called a foul on Varajao when the replay showing Delonte West slipped.  Fans were also treated to a Scot Pollard sighting.  Pollard made a big contribution to the late rally, but Mike Brown may have left him in a bit too long, and Pollard missed a point blank lay up down the stretch.

 

So now the lead over Chicago is back to just a 1/2 game.  With eight games remaining for the Cavs, including games this week against Miami and Detroit, if James could have played yesterday, he should have.  Yesterday’s loss may be the one that has the team opening the playoffs on the road against Miami, Washington, or Toronto. 

 

Ohio State.  It’s a good thing the Buckeyes learned to play without Greg Oden early this season when the big man was out with his wrist surgery, because the officials called two ticky-tack fouls which put him on the bench for most of the first half.  However, even though Oden will be the first pick in the NBA draft this June, Mike Conley Jr. is the Buckeyes’ most important player.  When Georgetown’s Roy Hibbard went out in the first half with foul troubles of his own, Conley took over the game. 

 

Tonight is a double rematch.  The Gators hammered both the basketball and football Buckeyes earlier this year, and Billy Donovan’s guys can see the back to back titles that they came back for clearly.  However, Ohio State is a much better team than the one that lost by 26 points in December.  Oden was just starting to get into game shape, and Conley is playing like a seasoned veteran.  Also, David Lighty continues to improve with every game.  Florida is the favorite based on the fact they won last year, but Ohio State has a good chance to pull the upset.

 

The Final Four is here!  The women’s basketball world is centered in Cleveland this weekend as the NCAA Final Four was played at the "Q" last night, with the championship game tomorrow night.  Tennessee will try to win Pat Summitt her 7th title against Rutgers in the title game.  Since the men’s championship is only held in domes these days, this is it for NCAA basketball Final Four’s in our city.  Hopefully, every thing will go well, and the event will come back soon.

 

Also, perhaps Cleveland could be in line for a men’s regional as well down the road.  Anyway, it’s great that so many visitors and national media types are in town for these games.  Good luck to both teams tomorrow night!

 

KM

 

 

 

The Cleveland Cavaliers continue their up and down play of late.  After beating the Pacers Tuesday night on the road for a big win to start a five game trip, the wine and gold dropped one to the undermanned New York Knicks last night in the Big Apple.  It was exactly the kind of game the Cavs can’t afford to lose if they want to hold on to the 2nd seed in the Eastern Conference.  Of course, LeBron James hopes that Isiah Thomas’ crew make the playoffs as a fan.  What???

 

With less than 10 games remaining on the slate, Coach Mike Brown continues to struggle with his playing rotation.  Besides Donyell Marshall, now we have to question the time rookie Daniel Gibson is getting.  Since Gibson has returned from his sprained toe, he has not played up to the level he was playing prior to getting hurt.  Both he and Marshall play because of their ability to stretch defenses with long range jumpers, but lately neither one is making anything. 

 

With home court advantage in the first round at stake, now is not the time to let Gibson get his legs back.  Clinch second place in the division and perhaps Brown will have two or three games at the end of the season to let the former Longhorn play 30 minutes a night to get his shot back. 

 

Since Brown has and always will emphasize defense, it seems the players forgot why they won eight games in a row earlier this month.  During the winning streak, the Cavaliers held their opponents to an average of 91 points per game.  In the six games since, the wine and gold are giving up 95 per night, and that includes the Knicks horrible 68 point output a week ago at the "Q".  They are playing a running game on offense without playing the D needed to get that running game going.

 

The team is also shooting the three point shot way too much again.  In two games of this six game stretch, the wine and gold shot 3 of 20 from behind the arc.  That’s unacceptable.  If the shot is not going down, someone on the floor has to realize it and work to get better looks.  This team has so many guys who can get to the basket (James, Hughes, Pavlovic) there is no excuse for settling for the long jumper.  They have to get the aggressiveness back, particularly Hughes, who apparently now thinks he is Mark Price.

 

Brown gets a lot of criticism, and he deserves it for his rotation.  However, I believe he stresses defense and doesn’t like his team jacking up 3’s.  Unfortunately for him, his team is not blessed with a lot of players who have a high basketball IQ.  They don’t remember why the team played so well a few weeks ago, and again have settled back into bad habits.  Giving more time to guys who contributed to the streak (Ira Newble and Shannon Brown) would be a start.  With less than three weeks left, there isn’t a lot of time to be patient.

 

JK

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The Cleveland Indians placed right handed reliever Matt Miller on the 15 day disabled list yesterday with some tightness in his forearm.  Miller had been having an outstanding camp, striking out 16 batters in eight innings of work.  With Opening Day in Chicago less than a week away, have the relief woes of a year ago been resolved?  Yes and no. 

 

After the trade of Bob Wickman, the Tribe searched the rest of the year for a closer.  Tom Mastny wound up doing the best job, saving five games.  Wickman was never a lights out closer, and the team replaced him over the off season with Joe Borowski, who saved 36 games with Florida a year ago.  Borowski will at least be the equal of Wickman, although he does strike out more hitters than Wicky did.  Compared to the job done by Fausto Carmona, Jason Davis, etc. the rest of the season, this appears to be an upgrade.

 

The eighth inning will be handled by either Roberto Hernandez or Rafael Betancourt.  Betancourt has struggled this spring, but has arguably been the Tribe’s most reliable reliever the past three years.  His consistency is a plus, as well as the fact he is a strikeout pitcher.  Hernandez is 42, but still brings the heat.   If Betancourt’s spring is an aberration, the set up role appears to be in good hands.

 

Prior to that, your guess is as good as mine.  The situational lefty is Aaron Fultz, who has good numbers against left handed hitters.  If he can throw strikes, he should be able to handle the job.  The next two candidates to handle late inning duties still scare the heck out of me:  Fernando Cabrera and Jason Davis.  Cabrera still falls behind too many hitters and then comes in with fat pitches.  He must learn to get ahead in the count to be thought of as reliable.  Davis needs to show that he can pitch with runners on base.  His numbers allowing inherited runners to score last season was abysmal, and opposing hitters batted .302 (.383 with runners in scoring position) against him.

 

With Miller out to start the season, the last spot in the bullpen fell to either Mastny or lefty Juan Lara.  Lara had the advantage since he would allow Eric Wedge an extra southpaw out of the ‘pen.  Lara was very effective vs. left handed hitters in his limited appearances last season after being recalled on September 1st.  It would seem Lara would have been the better fit, because it would have allowed Mastny to close on a regular basis at Buffalo.  However, the brass went with Mastny’s experience as a closer last year and chose him instead. 

 

Unless Cabrera and Davis start pitching better, and neither guy is exactly a youngster anymore (Cabrera is 25 and Davis will be 27 in May), the starting pitcher is going to have to provide seven innings per start.  That’s a tough load to carry over the length of a baseball season.  So, even though GM Mark Shapiro brought in some new bodies to help the relief corps, it’s the holdovers who must step up.  If they don’t, it could be the weakness that holds back the 2007 Tribe.

 

MW

 

 

 

 

Greg Oden heard all of the criticism after the first two rounds of the NCAA Men’s Basketball Tournament.  After being in foul trouble in the Buckeyes’ second round squeaker over Xavier in overtime, the nay-sayers were out in full force.  Oden isn’t ready for the NBA.  He should stay at Ohio State for another year.  Heck, I even heard one pundit say Oden wasn’t ready on the defensive end!  Saturday’s resounding win over Memphis should answer any questions as to whether or not Oden is ready for the pros.

 

Not only is he ready, he will be the first overall pick in the NBA draft.  Look, he’s an athletic 7 footer who can defend and block shots, and has a good drop step and a nice little jump hook.  He played most of this season with one hand, his off hand, and still excelled.  He also appears to be a player who wants to get better, who will put the hard work in to make himself a better player.  Did I mention he’s 7 feet tall?  You can count on one hand the number of really good centers in the NBA.  Not power forwards masquerading as centers (see O’Neal, Jermaine), but true centers.  Heck, Zydrunas Ilgauskas is limited from a foot speed standpoint, but he’s still a real weapon for the Cavs because most teams cannot match up to him defensively.

 

As good as Texas’ Kevin Durant is, there are many other NBA players with his skill set.  He’s projects to be a small forward in the pros, and at that spot you have guys like LeBron James and Carmelo Anthony.  Would you trade either of those players for Durant?  Oden has the potential to be a singularly great player.  For that reason alone, he must be the #1 overall pick. 

 

The professional game is also officiated differently.  It’s a more physical game, and many of the ticky tack fouls called in college, such as Oden’s fourth foul against Tennessee where his arms were up and someone ran into them, will not be called.  Therefore, the big man will be able to stay on the floor longer.  Not to mention an extra foul is permitted in the NBA.  There is no question Oden will start immediately in the Association, and will also be an impact player right away. 

 

Another OSU player thought not to be able to contribute at this level was David Lighty.  I heard people saying Lighty made a mistake going to Columbus because he won’t start there.  However, the former VASJ standout played tremendously in San Antonio.  He made big defensive plays, hit big shots, and is a big reason the Buckeyes will be in Atlanta for The Final Four.  He obviously is good enough to not only play, but to make an impact at the highest level of college basketball.  Whenever a big play was made, Lighty seemed to be in the middle of the action.

 

This week, the Buckeyes have the opportunity to avenge last year’s elimination from the tournament by beating Georgetown, and they also may have a chance to return the favor on one of their three defeats of this year by knocking off Florida.  A revengeful weekend for the Bucks could result in their second NCAA Basketball title, the first coming 47 years ago.  With Oden and his high school teammate Mike Conley Jr., and strong senior play from Ron Lewis, Ohio State just might be able to pull it off.

 

KM

 

 

The Cleveland Cavaliers’ eight game winning streak ended Tuesday night with a loss at Charlotte to the non-playoff Bobcats.  They followed that up the next night with another defeat, this won at home against the NBA’s best team, the Dallas Mavericks.  What is curious (again) is the playing rotation of Coach Mike Brown.  After winning eight in a row, why would he change the playing time of the guys who contributed to the streak?

 

Rookie Daniel Gibson returned from his sprained toe, and Brown immediately shoe horned him back into the rotation.  That’s fine, Gibson played well before he was injured, and he deserves the time.  However, his minutes came at the expense of fellow rookie Shannon Brown, who did a good job when finally given the chance.  Brown provides athleticism and an overall game.  Meanwhile, one dimensional Donyell Marshall’s minutes stayed consistent.  Why Marshall over Brown?  Because if you’re a veteran, you get the benefit of the doubt from the head coach.

 

But there was the former UConn standout missing two three point shots (the only ones he takes) badly in overtime at Charlotte, as the wine and gold did not take the ball to the basket in the extra session.  The squad settles for the long range jumper more when Marshall and fellow three point bomber, Damon Jones are in the game. 

 

In the Mavericks loss, Marshall did hit a three to cut the lead to six in the fourth quarter.  However, he then lost Erick Dampier underneath for an easy two, and then compounded the poor defensive play by following the Dallas center, so he could complete a three point play.  As Rick Barry used to say, "if you score on one end, and give it up on the other end, you’re not contributing".  Marshall’s lack of defense cannot be used in a game where you are trying to catch up, especially against a good team. 

 

What’s worse is Marshall and Ira Newble smiling and laughing on the bench near the end of the game against Dallas, with the team nearing defeat.

 

As an aside, Eric Snow played 31 minutes against Charlotte, but only 5 against Dallas.  Huh??

 

Meanwhile, in the last week Bud Shaw of The Plain Dealer and Charley Rosen of Fox Sports both commented on how well the Cavs’ offense functioned when they work inside out.  That is to say, get the ball into Zydrunas Ilgauskas, let the defense collapse on him, and let him find people for open shots.  Yet, Z was not on the floor late in the game against Dallas.  Again, you have to wonder why?

 

Apparently, Brown does not believe in the "if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it" mantra.  His basketball team was playing like a team poised to make the NBA Finals.  I guess that wasn’t good enough.  Playing veterans had this team struggling.  Playing the younger guys got it going.  Please coach, don’t be stubborn.  Put Marshall in the same class as Damon Jones, that is, at the end of the bench.  Their specialized games should be brought out only for dire situations.  Get back to what brought you eight straight wins.

 

JK

 

 

The Cleveland Indians haven’t even played one game in the regular season in 2007, and already the critics are howling at their door.  The problem stems from the potential free agency of three of its big name players:  Jake Westbrook, Travis Hafner, and C.C. Sabathia.  However, only one is scheduled to hit the open market at the end of this season, and that would be Westbrook.  And once again, the debate centers on the so-called "cheapness" of the Dolan family. 

 

With Westbrook, I use the visual test.  Although I am a fan of sabermetrics, I am not totally beholden to the numbers.  Jake Westbrook to me does not look like a pitcher to whom I would pay over $10 million per year.  I realize the Royals paid Gil Meche $11 million per year, but if my neighbor burns his house down, that doesn’t mean I have to as well.  Meche is not worth that kind of cash, and neither is Westbrook.  The right hander from Georgia is a solid guy.  He makes 30-33 starts, he throws 200 innings per year, and these things are important to a pitching staff. 

 

But, it doesn’t make him worth being paid among the highest salaries in the game.  Westbrook’s win-loss record is 56-53 lifetime.  His career ERA is almost 4.50.  He gives up almost ten hits per nine innings and his strikeout ratio is less than five per nine innings.  Those are not the numbers of an above average pitcher, let alone an elite hurler.  Being serviceable and durable doesn’t mean the Indians should grossly overpay a player.  Let someone else do it.

 

Also, signing Westbrook to that type of money makes it more difficult to give Sabathia and Hafner, two elite players, the large salaries they will command and deserve.  Face it, unless your team is the Yankees, Red Sox, or Cubs, payroll is a factor in your decision making.  And paying an outrageous amount to a pitcher such as Westbrook when you have younger, cheaper, and perhaps BETTER options such as Adam Miller, Chuck Lofgren, and J.D. Martin coming is not the way to manage your spending.

 

Of course, when fans hear about this type of logic, the frugalness of the Dolan family comes into the discussion.  It’s not being cheap, it’s just good business.  One constant complaint is that the Indians don’t keep their great players.  This is due to guys like Albert Belle, Jim Thome, and Manny Ramirez leaving for free agency.  If Travis Hafner and C.C. Sabathia depart via this route, then the criticism is valid.  But Jake Westbrook is not a great player, nor is he among the Tribe’s best players.  Most would agree that besides the aforementionned players, Grady Sizemore and Victor Martinez would rank ahead the the durable righty.  That would place him 5th, at best, in the pecking order.

 

All this worry could be ruining a season where the Indians are legitimate contenders.  Even prognosticators who have the Tribe 4th in the AL Central say they will be in the race all year long.  Others have them making the playoffs.  The obsessive need for Clevelanders to worry about something to cause them to miss a very nice summer for baseball fans.  Heck, Hafner and Sabathia will be on this team in 2008 as well.  Mark Shapiro knows the priority is to sign those two players.  They are the guys who deserve the huge cash on the open market.  That’s who the Indians need to sign.  Inking Westbrook and allowing Pronk and C.C. to leave would not help the Tribe in the future.

 

MW