very good

Happy Holidays to all!

Two miracles that I hope for. A Tribe series win and peace in the world.

Merry Christmas, Lou! Merry Christmas, everyone!!

loufla wrote:Happy Holidays to all!

Two miracles that I hope for. A Tribe series win and peace in the world.

Not necessarily in that order

2016 Playoff Bracketry

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Template: ... fs_bracket

SO we finally brought Dipodesta back home. Can Manny be far behind?

Antonetti:

Mission Accomplished.

If we recollect that we started last season with Murphy and Moss and Raburn and we will start next season with Napoli and Davis and Almonte, it doesn't seem like we've done much other than shuffle seats in the back row. But we didn't sacrifice our pitching, so that part's OK.

Wow! That's it. They're done?

Hope you enjoy our on the field product.

Thanks for coming.

Thanks for reminding me that this was one of the reasons I abandoned this circle. We had our chances at adding some very good and exciting players to the outfield and all it would have cost was a few bucks and no pitcher losses. Well! Let's move on to another year and see how it shakes out.

Browns now turn to a John Hart protégé for the football front office. Should Indians reciprocate and hire Chudzinski as first base coach?

Tito was on MLB Network yesterday.

During the interview he made it clear that he was in lockstep with Antonetti about "needing to be knocked over" to trade a starting pitcher.

He emphasized that the value of "controllable" pitching - guys who have less years in - has skyrocketed. He made it pretty clear that he is in on every trade possibility.

In the team's defense I look to last year's Mets. A team with a very similar pitching staff. It can be done.

On the other hand Tito said this when asked about his position now that Napoli is on board:

"Carlos (Santana) can play first, DH and, who knows, he may even be able to play a few more positions," Francona said. "He's played third in the past."

Ok, I can't believe he said that.

Trey Haley, former Indians 2nd round pick who throws hard and now and then throws over the plated, available as a minor free agent but got a major league deal from the Pirates.

TFIR! The was one major factor on that Mets team. Yoenis Cespedes! Without him, I don't think they make the playoffs. We have a similar pitching staff, but no one in the neighborhood of Cespedes. He is a difference maker, he's solid,and he's exciting. In the bidding war against Oakland, we dropped out. I would like to know how much our final offer was. 9 million a year was all it cost Oakland.

Hey, Hoynsie: How close did the Tribe come to signing Yoenis Cespedes?

Hey, Brian: The Indians did a lot of background work on Cespedes. They worked him out a couple of times in the Dominican Republic and liked his talent. When it became clear how much the A's were going to pay him ($36 million for four years), the Tribe quickly withdrew. In other words, they were never close.

An so it goes.

joez wrote:TFIR! The was one major factor on that Mets team. Yoenis Cespedes!

You know, I am going to somewhat disagree here. Actually, the Mets started to turn it UP when they made a series of small deals. Uribe, Kelly Johnson. Prior to that their offense was soooo bad that it made our Indians hitters look like murderer's row.

For example, the Mets didn't have hitters the quality of Brantley and Kipnis types.

I certainly am not disputing that they traded for Cespedes AFTER that and he got hot. Remember, this guy is streaky and later on went very very cold. Hey, anyone can use this guy, I am not disputing that.

What I am saying is that with a very paltry offense for MOST of the season, the Mets were still in good position, that's all. And their staff was the reason.

It is pretty clear the Indians are very aware of the need for a bat. They will talk about their starting pitching. And will do something if worthwhile. But the recent huge spike in value for pitching/controllable young starters has made a trade very difficult.