Franky G, Frankly Gone

Ken Rosenthal and Anthony Castrovince are reporting that the Mets, Mariners, and Indians have consummated a 12 player deal...

The Mets are working to acquire a setup man for new closer Francisco Rodriguez — and that setup man would be another closer from the American League West.
J.J. Putz could be headed to the Mets in a three-team trade with the Mariners and Indians, according to major-league sources.
Under terms of the deal, the Mets would get Putz, outfielder Jeremy Reed and reliever Sean Green from Seattle. The Mariners would receive reliever Aaron Heilman, outfielder Endy Chavez and first baseman Mike Carp from the Mets. They'd also get Franklin Gutierrez from the Indians and minor leaguers. The Indians would get reliever Joe Smith from the Mets and infielder Luis Valbuena from Seattle.
From the Mets' perspective, the deal would be Heilman and Smith for Putz. Chavez and Reed would be an exchange of backup outfielders, Smith and Green an exchange of right-handed groundball specialists.

Joe Smith player profile here

Luis Valbuena player profile here

Although I believe Franklin Gutierrez is probably one of the best defensive outfielders I have ever seen play for the Tribe, this trade seems to be pretty solid. Gutierrez was a man without a role on this team, but don't count out Franky G from possibly making an impact someday soon. Most fans may easily forget how great he played in the second half of 2007, eventually showing his struggles in the ALCS (sans a homerun at Fenway in Game 2). Tribe Times will miss Frank and wish him all the best!

Joe Smith pitched in an astounding 82 games last year and posted a solid 3.55 era. Seems odd that the Mets would deal such a solid reliever, but now adding Putz as a setup man for K-Rod seems like quite an eighth and ninth inning tandem. Even better news is that now two dominate AL closers have jumped ship to the National League, while the Indians are close to nabbing a stud of their own in Kerry Wood. Pairing Smith with Wood, along with Lewis, Perez, Betancourt, Kobayashi, and possibly Adam Miller immediately makes the 2009 bullpen extremely deep and miles ahead of last years gas can of a relief corps.

I honestly had never heard of Luis Valbuena before this past hour, but he seems pretty similar to a certain Venezuelan middle infielder Cleveland acquired from the Mariners a few years back (Asdrubal Cabrera). Some talk out of Seattle suggested that he would be in the mix as the Mariners starting second baseman in 2009, so I imagine he will me in the mix here as well. To net a solid bullpen arm and a marginal prospect for essentially a fourth outfielder seems to be another solid move by Shapiro, Antonetti and the gang. More moves to come I imagine as the Rule 5 draft kicks of Thursday. Hooray for Activity!

Castrovince Update:

UPDATE No. 2 (11:50 p.m. ET): Holy Lord, this thing just keeps growing. It's actually a 12-player swap, and it does involve other Minor Leaguers. Nobody from the Indians, though.
In addition to the players previously mentioned, the M's are getting right-hander Maikel Cleto, left-hander Jason Vargas and outfielder Ezekiel Carrera from the Mets.
Wow.

10 in a row!

The Tribe has been able to rattle off 9 straight wins since my last post. Some friends of mine believe this blog is a jinx on the Indians and said that the next time a put something up the team will subsequently lose. Whatever the case, I will continue to post weekly and it is nice to talk about some positive developments. Although the last 3 teams seem to have given up their respective seasons (Royals, Rangers, Tigers), a team still has to play these games and the Indians seem to be collectively succeeding. The keys to the Indians streak has been clutch hitting and a bullpen that is finishing games. After the installation and execution of Jensen Lewis as closer, the rest of the bullpen (Betancourt, Perez, Donnelly) have settled into their respective roles. Ryan Garko and Franklin Gutierrez have been a hot streak, and Kelly Shoppach and Jhonny Peralta have provide much needed power. Grady Sizemore and Cliff Lee have continued their All-Star seasons, and the potpourri of pitchers (Reyes, Jackson, Sowers) have been just good enough to put together quality starts. Now back to the hear and now...

The Indians currently have a record of 65-67, with 30 games left. If the Indians go a respectful 20-10 to end the season, here is what the rest of the teams in the races would have to go for the Tribe to make the playoffs.

Red Sox 7-23

Yankees 14-16

White Sox 8-22

Twins 9-21

Basically, barring a complete meltdown by 3 of these four teams, the Indians are still done. The frustrating part is give the Indians just 5 more wins somewhere amongst the first 4 months, and they would still be in the race. Oh well, we might as well just enjoy our Tribe playing well now and wait until next year for contention again

Tribe Splits with Tigers

You win one, you lose one. That has been the theme of the Tribe for about one month. The Indians latest series split with the Tigers was nothing spectacular, just the same old story that has been told all season long. Spotty hitting and a shotty bullpen has been popping up all year long. The total self-destruction of Dontrelle Willis also aided in the series split, as he was downright horrible Monday. The Tribe again attempts to win its second game in a row since May 15th.

Here were some of the Highlights:

Ryan Garko: 3-12, 2 HR, 7 RBI. At least someone in the order is driving in some runs finally.

Shin Soo Choo: 3-7. I like his bat, his defense is not too great. His best fit is as a platoon player.

Paul Byrd: 7 IP 4 Hits, 2 earned runs, 0 Walks, 2 K's. Paulie is a gamer.

Cliff Lee: 5 IP, 6 Hits, 2 earned runs, 2 Walks, 5 K's. Cliff is now 10-1 and one of the few bright spots on this team.

Franklin Gutierrez: Made an unbelievable catch on Sunday to save Betancourt from serving up yet another homerun. His defense is outstanding, but his bat seems to be just average.

Areas of Concern:

Rafael Betancourt: (Saturday) 1 IP, 4 earned runs, 1 Grand Slam. Killed the potential winning streak Saturday, I sure miss the 2007 version of Raffey. CONQUEST!!!

Ben Francisco: 1-14 4 K's. Benny cooled off considerably over the weekend, as did the rest of the offense. Has real trouble with the outside fastball. If he can start seeing and taking that pitch the other way, he could be even more dangerous.

Jeremy Sowers: 4 IP, 7 Hits, 5 earned runs, 2 Walks, 2 K's. Never had any flow to the game, his long 7 day layoff from his previous start in Buffalo may have got to him.

2008 Season: Slowly slipping away as the Indians are 8 1/2 games behind the Chicago White Sox.

The Minnesota Twins invade Progressive Field Tuesday as Scott Baker takes on CC Sabathia.

What a Stretch!

To say that the Indians have been getting good starting pitching is an understatement, as they took 3 straight from Oakland. For a starting staff to yield 1 earned run over the past 7 games is down right mind-boggling. The bats won't need to come out of their coma if this keeps up. The Tribe, with winning 8 of their last 10, has vaulted into sole possession of first place in the AL Central. The offense has had a lack of forming any type of consistency and Rafael Betancourt has looked shaky at best, but who really cares when your pitchers are throwing shutouts. With the Tigers struggling mightily and the White Sox and Twins hovering around mediocrity, the Indians may be able to put some games between them and the rest of the division. Over the next 19 games, they face the Rangers 7 times, the White Sox 6, and the Royals and Reds 3 times each. Look for this team to continue it's roll as the weather warms up. Sweeping the Athletics was a huge step in this team putting their bad start behind them.

Here were some of the Highlights:

Starting Pitchers (Byrd, Sabathia, and Laffey): 23 1/3 IP, 15 hits, 0 Earned Runs, 3 walks, 24 K's. What can you say? They starting staff has been unbelievable and the best in baseball. If they continue to pitch anywhere close to this good, 2008 will be another season to remember.

Masa Kobayashi: 2 IP, 1 hit, 3 K's, 0 earned runs, 2 saves. Shows emotion and excitement everytime out. I have a feeling he will be our future closer sooner than later.

Ben Francisco: 4-7, 4 runs, 1 RBI. Ben has been playing great defense and mashing the ball consistently as well. Frankie G will be loosing time if B-Franc keeps it up.

Ryan Garko: 3-11, 2 HR, 5 RBI. Drove in 5 of the 10 runs scored in the series. Hope he has ended his batting funk finally.

Areas of Concern:

Rafael Betancourt: Another rough outing for Raffy, loaded the bases in the 9th of Thursday's game. May have pitched himself out of the 9th inning entirely.

Franklin Gutierrez: 0-8 4 K's. Does not like the curve ball much. Needs to get it going or will be a defensive replacement rather than a regular starter.

Casey Blake: 0-4. Casey likes to only hit when runners are in scoring position.

Andy Marte: 1-4. Picked off of first, I know the front office does not want to cut him due to depth reasons, but he really has no future on this team.

The Indians invade Cincinnati this weekend for a 3 game series. Jeremy Sowers takes on Johnny Cueto. Look for Pronk to play probably one game in the field, and for a lot of pinch hitting.

Also, for anyone thinking that the Indians are going to trade Peralta and Laffey to the Colorado Rockies for Garrett Atkins, you are a moron. TTO contributor Frisky told me he heard this rumor on the Munch show on WKNR Wednesday. Besides Greg Brinda, the whole station could care less about Indians baseball until September so that tells you a bit about their quality of sportscasting. I can't imagine the Tribe dealing Laffey with the impending free agency of CC and Byrd. Starting Pitching is too valuable to deal a guy you can control for the next 5 years. If anyone will be traded, I would assume it would be Sowers, but that may be a stretch as well. The Tribe does need a bat, but I believe they would trade lower level starters (Lofgren, Huff) before dealing Triple A depth. It is a long season and you never know when a starter may get hurt. I am now off the soap box.

Ugly Series Win

The Indians won their third series of the season Thursday, defeating the Seattle Mariners 3-2 in 11 innings. Bullpen issues and poor hitting were prevalent throughout the 3 games, but the Tribe will take it. Today's lineup was an abomination, almost like Manger Eric Wedge put the names of the 9 starters in a hat and pulled out the order. Next game I would expect Casey Blake to lead off since he has batted in every other position. The Closer role seems to be in flux again. The team has been carrying 2 pitchers on the roster that before Tuesday had not pitched in 2 weeks. It really is amazing the Indians are only a game under .500, but we can attribute that to the outstanding starting pitching.

Timely hitting was again an issue in two of the games, but we all know what can cure a batting slump. May seems to be a pretty manageable schedule to rattle off a few winning streaks, heavy on home games. Also, no teams in the AL Central have been able to run away with the division. I predict that the Indians will have a very solid month of May, and be at the top of the standings come June 1st. The team cannot possibly hit worse than they have so far in 2008, so let's hope for the momentum to build.

Here were some of the Highlights:

Grady Sizemore: 4-11, 4 Runs, 4 Walks, 1 HR, 2 RBI. It gives me a warm feeling seeing Grady at the top of the order. Some say he strikes out too much, but the guys just produces. They do not have a better leadoff alternative, so I will take him batting first every time. No other Indians would I rather have up in a clutch spot than him and Victor Martinez.

Franklin Gutierrez: 6-13, 3 RBI's. Continues to rake, I will give him a pass on his awful at bat in the 11th Thursday. Need him desperately at the end of the lineup.

Cliff "The Stopper" Lee: 6 IP, 8 hits, 3 earned runs, 3 K's. Has stopped 3 three game losing streaks. If he keeps it up, the Tribe will never lose 4 games consecutively. AL pitcher of the month for April.

Asdrubal Cabrera: 1-11, Game winning RBI Thursday. Hit like garbage for 28 innings, came up huge in the 11th. Hopefully this will ignite his bat.

Areas of Concern:

Casey Blake: 2-11, 1 golden sombrero (4K's in 1 game). Needs to quickly regrow the beard, almost single-handidly lost the game Thursday. Looked pitiful in his at bat in the 9th, and blatantly missed a throwout by Victor Martinez that allowed the Mariners to tie the game. I expect him to get 6 hits against the Royals this weekend.

Jhonny Peralta: 0-7 2 K's. I have no idea what is wrong with him, his at bats have been mind-boggling. Also his range was poor Tuesday.

Rafael Betancourt: 1 1/3 IP, 5 hits, 4 earned runs 2 blown saves. Sure looks like a different pitcher in the 9th, but I do not expect his role to change. CONQUEST!

Joel Skinner: Does it seem like every move he makes is wrong? Me too. Bring back Ted Uhelander.

The Kansas City Royals come to town for a weekend 3 games series. CC Sabathia hopes to string a third consecutive solid start against some guy named Luke Hochevar. Another series win and the Tribe is mediocre!

Fighting for .500

Aprils can be tough to watch baseball in Cleveland. Bitter cold temperatures, rain, snow, and even hail can contribute to rough viewing down at Progressive Field. A little over 20,000 fans froze their tails off tonight to witness a series split. To be honest, most fans would have been content with a series split with the Bronx bombers, but when your team scores 2 runs over 2 days it can get quite frustrating. Monday's game was a microcosm of the season, good pitching wasted and timely hitting was non existent. The Indians have scored 50 runs with 2 outs, but tonight they only manage 2 runs with multiple opportunities. After playing two great ball games Friday and Saturday, but struggled to string scoring opportunities together the last two days. Part of the reason the hitting woes continue relate to Grady Sizemore being out of the lineup. His propensity to get on base and be one of the few real threats on the roster right now really hurts the overall punch this team needs. The Indians have won 2 series this year in 9 chances, which amazes me as I thought that their record was a lot worse. Let's hope this cold front passes through Cleveland quickly as their hitting has not been good when the mercury drops below 50 degrees.

Here were some of the Highlights:

Victor Martinez: 5-14, 3 walks, one huge RBI: Even though Victor has been able to really drive the ball yet this year (only 4 extra base hits), he is batting .365 for the season. As the weather warms up, V-Mart will continue to mash as he is the only member of the team hitting over .270 who plays consistently.

Franklin Gutierrez: 4-10, 2 runs, HR. Franky G seems to be getting back to a comfort zone, still playing a great outfield anywhere he plays.

Masa Kobayashi: 3 IP, 2 hits, 2 K's 0 ER. Has settled in as the go to righty out of the pen in late innings. Seems to has gained confidence as the season has went on.

CC Sabathia: 8 IP, 4 hits, 8 K's 1ER. Pitched with emotion and spotted the ball well. Made one mistake to Melky Cabrera, seems to be back on track.

Jeremy Sowers/Aaron Laffey: Pitched very well in spot starts, will be major factors in the development of this staff in 2009 after CC inevitably leaves. Probably getting tired of the bus trips back and forth to Buffalo. They do have great wings, though!

Areas of Concern:

Ryan Garko: 0-10. Just looks lost at the plate, wouldn't be surprised to see him benched for a few days in favor of Kelly Shoppach or even the immortal Andy Marte with Victor moving to First Base. May need to stay out of the Warehouse District for awhile.

Casey Blake: 1-12, 4 K's. The roller coaster ride that has been Casey's season continues. He has 18 RBI, and 17 hits. I guess that means he has been productive with his hits, but pretty crappy when no one is on base. Blake used to be the polar opposite, possessing an awful average with runners in scoring position. Let's hope he decides to hit in this next series.

Travis Hafner: 2-12, 4 K's, 2 RBI, 4 walks. Needs to produce if this teams has any chance to repeat a playoff run. Has been taking many third pitch strikes.

Ben Francisco in Buffalo: The team was 4-0 when he was on the roster, now has went 1-2. Karma people!

Cleveland Weather: Really sucks the life out of their bats. Our players seem to prefer the nice weather, hopefully it will return Tuesday since I have tickets.

The Seattle Mariners come to town for a 3 game series and the Tribe is lucky to miss Eric Bedard and Felix Hernandez. Fausto Carmona takes on meatball throwing Carlos Silva Tuesday.

Tribe's Bats, Bullpen Cost Byrd a Victory

special to the TTO

Unlike his two previous starts of the season, Paul Byrd pitched well enough to get the W tonight.

Byrd gave up one unearned run--thanks to a bobbled ball in right by Franklin Guitierrez and a late, low throw from Cabrera to Garko while attempting to turn an inning-ending double play--over 6 innings tonight against the defending world champs. But the Tribe's failure to protect a lead late, as well as their failure to make the most of their offensive chances, cost the Byrd Man the victory.

Just like last night, the bullpen faltered late and gave up the lead. This time it was Jensen Lewis's turn to snatch defeat from the jaws of victory by giving up a pinch hit homerun to 576 year-old Jason Varitek.

Don't get me wrong--I'm a big Lewis fan. I think he's really got the stuff to be a go-to guy in the 'pen this year. But he was in trouble in the 8th, with the bases loaded, 1 out, and the score tied at 3, until he got a fantastic play from Cabrera to turn an inning-ending DP. Yet Wedge didn't even have anyone else warming up for the 9th.

At least, we're spared Joe Blow for at least 15 days and perhaps as long as a month. He's on the DL with a strained triceps. He's actually lucky I couldn't jump through my TV screen, otherwise he'd be on the 60-day DL with a broken tailbone from me kicking him in the ass for that 82 mph fastball he threw Ramirez last night.

According to Yahoo! Sports, Indians brass has been keeping this injury on the down low since sometime in Spring Training. Way to go, Shapiro & Co--Borowski walks a fine line between success and failure as it is, yet you kept him out there even though he wasn't at 100%. Brilliant.

You've got to be happy with the starting pitching and long relief as of late. Byrd's 6 IP and zero earned runs are a dramatic departure from his first couple of starts of the season. Jake Westbrook looked great last night on a tough night to pitch and Cliff Lee was nearly perfect on Sunday--even after CC crapped the bed on Friday and Fausto's meltdown on Saturday night, the bullpen pulled together several good innings to give the bats a chance to get them back in the game.

We've got to hope that warmer weather will bring hotter bats. You can't expect to complete when you've got three guys in the starting lineup--four if you count BOTH halves of the Michaels/Dellucci dynamic duo--hitting right around $1.25. I don't have the official production numbers for the season on our 3rd basemen (Blake/Marte) and left fielders (Michaels/Dellucci), but I'd be willing to bet that even with all of their BAs added together, they're barely hitting .400. Combine that with Cabrera and Guitierrez, and that's almost half of our lineup that's not hitting.

And that's not going to get the job done.

For years in the 1990s, we had all the hitting in the world, but we just didn't have good enough starting pitching to get the job done. Now, with the best starting rotation Cleveland has seen since 1954, we're not holding leads or scoring enough runs to win games.

What a waste.

by J-Neg

Two Out of Three Ain't Bad

International recording artist Meat Loaf wasn't much of a baseball player, but he was one hell of a songwriter. What does this have to do with the Indians? I'm not sure but the tribe heads west with a 2 and 1 record. It was cold and lonely in the deep dark night Wednesday, as a little over 17,000 watched the Tribe prevail 7-2 over the pale hoes. The Indians must have left their bats by the dashboard lights though, as they were only able to scrap 2 hits off of lefty John "Danks for the noon time start." Both of these teams looked ready for a plane flight out of Cleveland, and who can blame them. Game time temperatures in the 30's for two straight days can be an adjustment from the tropical paradise known as Spring Training. Here are some of the highlights...

Grady Sizemore: 4-12, 1HR 4RBI Looks to be a breakout year for The Ladies Man

Franklin Gutierrez: 3-9, 1HR 3RBI Killer opening day, shows glimpses of greatness

Asdrubal Cabrera: 3-12, 3RBI one good game offensively, two stinkers, looks great in the field

Casey Blake: 2-10 3RBI on one swing, broke up the no hitter, won a game with clutch hit

Fausto Carmona: 7 IP 1ER 4K 1 Win Fausto looked great, silencing any ALCS hangover ideas

Jake Westbrook: 7.1 IP 2ER made 2 mistakes, pitched a superb game, no offensive help at all


Some Areas of concern:


Travis Hafner: Had 3 hits but stuckout 5 times. Still looks uncomfortable up there

Jhonny Peralta: batted .154, hates the cold weather, should be fine on the west coast

Jason Michaels: Looks terrible at the plate, may be pressing due to the platoon, had 1 good catch

CC Sabathia: Had issues with Thome and the sixth inning, struck out 7 in a no decision

The Bullpen: Not solid in the first 2 games, will settle into their roles.

Victor Martinez getting injured was a negative, but he pinch hit today so it seems nothing serious

The Tribe is off to Oakland for a 3 game series, Paul Byrd takes on Justin Duchscherer tomorrow night at 10:05 est. Remember Saturday's game at 4pm will not be televised due to some stupid FOX rule so tune into Hammy and Heagan. Hopefully the boys will be able to retrieve their bats out of Hell.

Blake Buries Sox

The Cleveland Indians started off the 2008 campaign with a not so typical 10-8 win over the Chicago White Sox. C.C. Sabathia struggled through 5 1/3 innings, the middle relief was less than perfect, and JoBo was Jobo, surrendering a homerun and a walk in the 9th. The results proved successful, as the Indians did all of their scoring in two innings. The Tribe exploded for 7 runs in the second, and 3 runs in the fifth. Franklin Gutierrez had 3 hits and a 3 run homerun, while Casey Blake stroked a bases-clearing 3 run double high off the leftfield wall with 2 outs in the eighth. Victor Martinez left the game in the third with an apparent hamstring pull and will be listed as day to day. The Indians will finish March in first place with a 1-0 record.

W Betancourt 1-0

L Dotel 0-1

SV Borowski 1

HR Sizemore (1) Gutierrex (1) Thome 2, (2) Dye (1)

Ben Francisco to Start Season in Minors

The Plain Dealer has reported that Ben Francisco was optioned to Buffalo this morning. The roster is all but set. Andy Marte will probably be the 25th player unless a trade happens. Francisco had an outstanding spring, batting .362 and belting 3 home runs with 9 rbi. Ben will be the first player recalled if the Left field Michaelucci platoon does not work. His path to stick with the Cleveland Indians will be similar to Franklin Gutierrezs' from last year. You definitely have not seen the last of Ben Francisco.