Little salary comparison.

2012 - Hafner - 13 million

Sizemore - 5 million

Lowe - 5 million

Choo - 5 million

R Perez - 2 million

F Carmona - 4 million

Total - 34 million

2013 - Swisher - 11 million

Bourn - 7 million

Reynolds - 6.5 million

Meyers - 7 million

Stubbs - 3 million

Aviles - 1.75 million

Total - 36.25 million

civ ollilavad wrote:I guess we could look at this as an off-season trades of Hafner and Sizemore for Bourne and Swisher.

Bingo. The amount of dollars we had tied up in unproductive players last year boggled the mind.

There's no question that the Swisher and Bourn deals represent some long-term risk with respect to their salaries, but even that's not a sure thing (Swisher in particular has been consistent enough over the years that I would expect any slippage in his play would be gradual and tolerable).

Given that we're not going to spend $150 million, the Indians had to decide this offseason if they were going to

1) tank bigtime by selling Cabrera, Perez, and Masterson, and become the AL Marlins;
2) flip Choo but otherwise not do a whole lot other than Kotchman-like signings;
3) spend to improve the worst RF-LF-1B-DH situation in baseball, and pray for some good luck with the starting pitching in 2013.

They chose the third option, and that's not surprisingly the one I would have endorsed. Yes, Charlie is praising the front office. These are strange days we're living in.

Man we better score some runs this year because our everyday linup is pretty much set for the next three years, ditto the bullpen. A Cab, Perez, Jimenez, Reynolds, Smith, Myers will all be gone by this time next year. Can we extend Masterson? Will he deserve the big $$$? Dolan and his team have another big opportunity at this years trading deadline and going into next offseason to do as much with the starting pitching as we did this year with the offense not to mention the 5th pick in the draft.

We are probably a year away but a big jump in runs scored might signal finally returning to the post season in 2014...

I was really excited about Tribe when it looked like White, Pomeranz, Chsnel and Kipnis were on the cusp. My enthusiam dropped like a lead balloon when the Ubaldo trade came through. Now there is another spark, first time in years. Sure hope they don't mess it up by trading ACab or Perez for minor leaguers. It's nice to be thinking Tribe and realistic what of this year....

Now only if the TB pitcher could get healthy

Is the world ready for an Albert Belle bobblehead night? I heard that he will NOT be in attendance...

http://mlb.mlb.com/schedule/promotions.jsp?c_id=cle

When the On Base Pct of all the guys who will be in this year's lineup are totaled and averaged we'll be about 10 points above our 2012 average which would put us close to league leading. The only drag is Stubbs whose OBA was a Kotchman-like 278 in 2013 [and is nearly 100 points below Choo had as the RF in 2013]. If his spot in the order were only 300 we'd average about 340 which is as good as a team gets.

At least there is hope for Stubbs. 2009 -2011 his OBP was over .320.

Drew Stubbs worked on changing his approach over the offseason, ditching his leg kick in favor of a toe tap.
Austin Jackson implemented the same change last season, and Stubbs is hoping it will pay off for him in a similar fashion. The outfielder struck out 539 times from 2010-2012 (180 per season). "When things are going good and you have a leg kick, it's great," Stubbs said. "When you're not, it's a scramble. For a lot of last year, that was the case with me. I said, 'I have to find something to simplify my swing and be able to repeat it.' I kind of rededicated myself after a rough year, trying to get myself back to where I know I should be."


Source: ESPN.com Feb 13 - 9:38 PM

Is that the same issue that Santana is dealing with?

Not sure.

Hope it doesn't take Santana a half-season to figure it out like last year.

Carlos Santana dropped the toe tapping at the request of Jon Nunnally and Manny Acta at about mid season. Santana went on to do much better in the second half.

Drew Stubbs is going from the leg kick to the toe tapping.

Whatever it takes to get the bat into the hitting zone on time, I guess.

I am not very interested in seeing Jason Giambi make the club. He managed 113 plate appearances late year. He hit 1 homer.

Chris McGuiness is almost young enough to be his son. He hit 27 doubles and 25 homers in AA last season. He routinely draws plenty of walks and doesn't strike out overmuch. His OPS last year was 840. He was Ariz Fall League MVP. He's not considered a big deal prospect but he may be worth keeping around as a Rule 5 pick. If we actually turn into a serious contender we can return him and pick up a vet to swing for the fences off the bench.

Francona really wants Giambi on the team. The Bourn signing after the Giambi signing might have eliminated the need for Giambi in Francona's mind. Francona is attempting to build a very positive clubhouse presence with Swisher, Aviles, Bourn, and Reynolds. Wanted Giambi for that purpose also.

Speaking of washed up former Indians ....I see Brady Anderson was just promoted to Orioles' Vice President of Something.