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Saturday, November 13, 2010
It's Tribe Time Part Deux
There are lots of good ideas in here so read and don't get stuck.
On the first day of the Free Agency blog we talked about a back-up catcher and the Indians signing Adam Dunn to help rehabilitate an offense that ranked 26th in runs scored, 24th in home runs and 23rd in average.
Today we will look into the middle of the infield and the hot corner. It's always interesting to see what route teams take with the middle of their infield. This year's World Series saw the Rangers with Kinsler and Andrus, two guys that when healthy will both bat .270 and steal 35 bases. With the Giants there was Freddy Sanchez and Juan Uribe. Sanchez is a career .300 hitter with no pop, who field well. Uribe is a .250 hitter with a 20 HR power.
The Indians with Cabrera and Valbuena don't really have either of those combinations. Cabrera is a Kinsler type player, but Valbuena is awful. He doesn't hit for power, he doesn't hit for average and he's a very average if not below average fielder, 10 errors in 2010; granted only 4 at 2nd base.
2B- Luis Valbuena is not the answer, but at 28 neither is Jayson Nix. Jason Donald is likely the best option. There are 2 players I like here. The first being 32 year old Orlando Hudson. O-Dog keeps getting one year mercenary deals and would be unlikely to sign with a team that isn't likely to compete until 2012. But he's a veteran and respected around the league as a good clubhouse guy. Last year's team was missing a true veteran, Russel Branyan and Shelley Duncan are far from being veterans. The other guy I like and is a bit more likely is Jorge Cantu. Cantu struggled a bit after being traded form Florida to Texas in a mid-season trade this year. The two years before that he averaged 75 runs, 22 homers and 97 RBI. Recently Cantu has played a lot of 1st and 3rd, but he does have experience at second. Not a bad choice as an extra infielder.
I don't know what the 28 year old Cantu would cost but it would probably be to the tune of 4.5m a year. Hudson would cost about the same. Put on your "thinking tooks" and try to figure out why signing both of these guys might not be a bad decision.
SS - As long as Asdrubal Cabrera stays healthy the Indians are set here. Jason Donald is the back-up. Derek Jeter isn't coming here and there aren't shortstops out there
3B - Andy Marte is not getting better. Nobody else is better than Andy Marte. Sounds like one of those word problems. The Tribe is not going to sign Adrian Beltre, they might invite some guys to camp but the options on the left are very weak this year. (political innuendo in case you didn't catch it)
If your "thinking took" worked you figured it out. Binging in Orlando Hudson would fill the void in case Cabrera got hurt. Cantu can play 3rd. Now all of a sudden if one guy gets hurt in an infield of Dunn, Hudson, Cabrera, Cantu. You can throw Donald, Valbuena or Marte in and still have a competent infield.
So yesterday we spent 10.75m today we add an extra 9m to that. To go to 19.75m, bumping payroll around 50m.
Now of course we won't sign all of these guys. If we get any of them we become better. I'd love to have Adam Dunn, but I'd rather have Cantu, Torrealba and Hudson combined for the same price.
Come back tomorrow for outfielders, and pitchers on Tuesday.
Friday, November 12, 2010
It's Tribe Time
The 2010 Indians did the exact opposite of what was expected, they didn't hit and they pitched pretty well. With Santana, Cabrera and Sizemore healthy one can hope that the team will improve in 2011. However, there are some pieces in Free Agency that can certainly make the team more competitive.
Catcher - Carlos Santana is recovering well from his surgery, but that doesn't mean he won't have a setback. Lou Marson and Chris Gimenez are not serviceable options. A back-up catcher needs to be able to do 2 things, be good defensive players and bat at least .250. These guys combined to bat right around .194
---The Indians don't need to get Victor Martinez back, but taking a run at Yorvit Torrealba. Torrealba batted .270 last year with the Padres and has a career fielding percentage of .995. Torrealba signed a 2 year/$6m deal with the Rockies in 2007. Last year the 32 year old, signed a 1 year deal worth $750,000, coming off a year in which he batted .291. At that price he's a great fit back-up, for a team with a young catcher like Santana, a major upgrade.
C Total Spending: $830,000
First Base - Is Matt LaPorta ready yet? The guy doesn't hit for power, doesn't hit for average and is in his prime now. Of course the Indians are spinning OF Michael Brantley as the real "piece" in the Sabathia trade. It's because they're aren't quite sure they believe in LaPorta yet.
---I'd love to sign Adam Dunn, through the age of 30, Baseball Reference compares Dunn to Harmon Killebrew, Reggie Jackson and Ralph Kiner. What's crazy about Dunn is that he has been Top 5 in strikeouts in the NL every year since 2002, but he's also been Top 5 in walks. Add to that his 35+ HR power. Dunn has not hit historically well in Cleveland and I don't see management putting up enough money to sign him. But I think a deal similar to the Juan Gonzalez deal of 2001 (1 year/$10m) would be ideal.
A few other options could be Derrek Lee, Lyle Overbay or Aubrey Huff. The Indians don't have much in the minors.
1B Total Spending: $10,000,000
Come back tomorrow for 2nd, 3rd and short, Sunday for the outfield and Monday for pitchers.
Monday, July 12, 2010
The Cleveland Cavaliers
Wednesday, June 30, 2010
Welcome Back
It's been a few days since we last spoke. I apologize. As a Cleveland sports fan, I'm used to the depressing feeling of losing a game you weren't supposed to. But it still hurts. For those of you that have ever gone out early in a tournament or lost a big game, you understand the feelings that come along with it. The rest of the day blows and all you can do is think about what went wrong. Now imagine being the President of the Second-Guessing Bob Bradley club I spent one full day trying to figure out why Clark started, another trying to figure out what he said to Clark when he pulled him in the 30th minute, another wondering who could be the next coach (since in all likelihood its not me) and yesterday replaying Ghana vs USA over and over again with real tactics and better personnel decisions on FIFA10
Friday, June 25, 2010
Taking a Break from World Cup
Thursday, June 24, 2010
The Dawning of the Age of Aquarius
That's a song from Hair. We do things a little different here, so read on and get used to it.
It's been 44 games in South Africa and through those games we've seen the thrill of victory and the agony of defeat. But, of course hair has a lot to do with how well your team performs. As any good coach would tell you, it's not how you play the game it's how you look. As a dedicated follower of fashion, They're Not Listening will break down a match-up between the World Cup 2010 Bad Hair Team and the 2010 World Cup 2010 Good Hair Team. I apologize for all the links but you will be able to see both teams Starting XI at the bottom of the page. Of course being a creative American coach, I'm putting both squads in a 4-4-2.
Goalkeepers
Bad Hair is much easier to spot than good Hair. In my preliminary examination three goalkeepers made the list. Those being Algeria's Faouzi Chaouchi, Italy's Gianluigi Buffon and Serbia's Vladimir Stojkovic. Choosing a starter of course was easy as Chaouchi's blunder against Slovenia kept him out of the next 2 tournament games. Buffon was hurt in the first game. The only keeper left was Stojkovic. Maybe it's the crest on the keeper kit, but despite the fact that he was able to stop a Lucas Podolski penalty kick in Serbia's 2nd game, Stojkovic's "Quest for the Holy Grail" cut bowed out of the tournament. Giving up 3 goals in 3 games.
No doubt about it when choosing, David James of England, as the starter for the Good Hair squad. He becomes one of many cornrowed players to find their way onto the squad. After subbing in more Robert Green, who sports a tidy fauxhawk, James pitched two vital shut-outs for a Three Lions that found it very hard to score on their own.
Defenders
6 players make their way onto the shortlist for each squad. For the Bad it's Argentina's Martin DeMichelis, Cameroon's Rigobert Song, France's Bacary Sagna, Germany's Philip Lahm, Japan's Marcus Tulio Tanaka, Portugal's Fabio Coentrao (you'll see his opponent in this shot later). I feel bad enough for Cameroon already, but whoever told Song the Davy Jones look was in should be revoked of speaking privileges. Sagna has to start, as he is the main contributor to this entire article. Since we need a centre-back I think we have to go with DeMichelis, little girls all over Argentina will be asking for the Martin at their local Barberia. I'm a huge Lahm fan but he's been around long enough for people to know that is not his natural hair color, we are going to slide him into the center. Tanaka sporting a samurai type do could start, Au Coentrao (get it, it's a pun) just managed to edge him out thanks to those wonderful roots.
The good are lead by another cornrowed Brit in Glen Johnson. Uruguay's Diego Lugano, Spain's Tommy inspired Carlos Puyol, New Zealand's Tony Lochhead. Those four fit the 4-4-2 well with two Spanish speakers in the middle and two English speakers out wide. Gerard Pique and Carlos Bocanegra just don't do enough to crack the starting lineup. Many call it a controversial decision, some call it a travesty to include Lugano and Puyol as the well-groomed centre back, but Lugano's Disneyesque combination of hair and eye color plus the fact his side have yet to concede a goal are the clinchers.
Midfielders
6 players find themselves on the list, including USA's Stuart Holden, Holden played 4 minutes against England, but managed to photobomb every picture of the US team in existence. Jeremy Toulalan of France, Keisuke Honda of Japan, Switzerland's Valon Behrami and New Zealand's Simon Elliot. To be fair Elliot is 36 years old and coming from a 22 year old who is already developing Landon Donovan-like power alleys. I'm excusing him from contention. Holden, Honda and Behrami all had the choice to style their hair the way they did. At 26, Toulalan should put down the Just for Men Touch of Gray and just stick with the classic Grecian Formula. Send Behrami and Holden out wide, with Honda as a CAM, Toulalan a CDM and play a diamond in the mid.
The race is on for complaints about Cristiano Ronaldo not making either team. But if I had to... I'd put him up there and not down here. Our final cornrowed player in the squad is Frenchman Flourent Malouda. While Zachary Quinto errr Cesc Fabregas of Spain and Gennaro Gattuso of Italy are paired up the central midfield by virtue of classy hair/beard combos. Finding a 4th midfielder is tough but as I said we are restricted to a 4-4-2. So in a quick bit of thinking I'm going to throw Dirk Kuyt out on the right wing. By the way Kuyt is a complete horsecrap pick, I know it. His hair is so great because he always works hard it always looks like he is working hard.
Strikers
The striker list goes on and on when it comes to bad hair. As I mentioned earlier Ivory Coast's Gervinho, who appears to have attached a Cleopatra wig on a bald head could be an option. You'd alway fancy a Drjibril Cisse spot on this list, the Frenchman's doo is not nearly as flamboyant this time around as in the past. Greece's is Georgios Samaras, Honduras' Walter Martinez and Slovenia's Milivoje Novakovic round out the list. None of these strikers have scored and none of them are going to advance into the Round of 16. I'm going to have to go solely based on worst hair. Cisse is at least creative in his hair failure and I understand that the economic crisis in Greece has meant fewer haircuts and razors to go around. But Novakovic has a bowl-cut combover and wears a headband. Unfortunately there are nor recent photos of the red and yellow highlights Martinez included in his braids. So we are going to have to go with Gervinho.
The New Zealand strike combo of Rory Fallon and Shane Smeltz clearly make the all-fauxhawk team, but putting both here might be a bit ambitous. Smeltz was able to score one of New Zealand's two goals and certainly deserves a chance to play with the other quality players on the Good Hair team. Smeltz will be paired up with Diego Forlan. Another controversial haircut decision. Forlan is my player of the tournament and with locks like that how couldn't he be included.
Jon Dahl Skywalker of Denmark misses out on both teams.
Unfortunately I can't format this so that it will look like a 4-4-2, you'll just have to imagine. In case you weren't sure I have each player listed in order.
GK Stojkovic, RB Sagna, CB DeMichelis, CB Lahm, LB Coentra, RM Holden, CDM Toulalan, CAM Honda, LM Behrami, ST Gervinho, ST Novakovic
GK James, RB Johnson, CB Lugano, CB Puyol, LB Lochhead, RM Kuyt, CM Gattuso, CM Fabregas, LM Malouda, ST Forlan, ST Smeltz
What do you think? Who'd I miss? Who wins? Bring on the comments.
Monday, June 21, 2010
Week 2 By the Numbers
Soccer City in Johannesburg has seen 13 goals scored, one goal for every 130 meters above sea level. Ellis Park in Johannesburg has seen 10 goals scored in 4 matches. Making it the 2nd highest Goals per Match stadium and the 2nd highest altitude stadium.