Well, there goes my Dozier idea. Great move by Washington IMO.

Brian Dozier is in agreement on a one-year, $9 million contract with the Nationals, per ESPN's Jeff Passan.

It's only pending a physical exam. Dozier registered a weak .215/.305/.391 batting line in 151 games last season between the Twins and Dodgers, but he still managed to tally 21 home runs, 72 RBI, 12 stolen bases, and 81 runs scored.

aren't the Nationals in a small market? They don't seem to get the idea.

City populations:

http://worldpopulationreview.com/us-cities/


Washington drew $2.5 million last season


Another interesting look - Washington is #6 sports MEDIA market!!

http://www.sportsmediawatch.com/nba-mar ... n-ratings/

Cleveland’s attendance has been bad. 22nd in MLB in ‘17 and 21st last year.

But their TV ratings have been great. #1 on all regional stations in ‘17, and #3 last year. (Cardinals was first last year, interestingly enough)

So Dolan paid 20 mill for Encarnacion to add a big bat to a team that barely missed the world title, and got repaid by people staying home and watching on TV.

I guess the silver lining may be a bigger paycheck next time TV deals are negotiated. (Dolan sold his network, Sportstime Ohio, to Fox Sports) But I don’t know how that works.

Since Cleveland is now and also has been primarily a Browns Town the football rebirth could do even more damage to the Indians attendance.

And therefore Jed Lowrie signs with the Mets to fit into their infield, not with the Indians.

Perhaps the Tribe read this writeup on Shane Bieber, and that's why they're ready to deal Kluber...oh that and the many holes on the roster I guess... this is from a fantasy baseball article but with lots of stats to back it up (try to get past this guy's weird sense of humor)

I’ll admit that I didn’t go heavy on the Shane Bieber info in the lede ‘graphs for one big reason. Everything about him is gorge, so there’s little to say except how wonderful he is. In 114 2/3 IP last year, he gave up 23 walks. He had a top 13 walk rate (when sorting by 110 IP), and here’s the guys above him in K/9: Verlander, Stripling and *raspberries lips*

Him and Kluber both had 9.3 K/9 with obscenely walk rates. Stripling (10 K/9) and Verlander (12.2) and no one else. Maybe I’m a daydream Bieber, but 9.3 K/9 and a 1.8 BB/9 doesn’t make him a sleeper. It makes him a top 20 starter who just doesn’t happen to have that many innings under his belt. His 3.30 xFIP last year was 20th in the league, about the same as Syndergaard, Nola and Strasburg. Every stat you look up with Biebs, you find a group of starters who you’d like to own for where Bieber is being drafted. He had the tenth highest Zone% for his pitches and his Swinging Strike rate was 11.4%.

Only James Paxton matches him in that respect. His K-BB% was 19.6%, which was similar to Charlie Morton. His ground ball rate was even sexy at 46.6%, just above Jacob deGrom. He was top 30 for lowest number of fly balls, near Morton and Nola again. The only stat he’s bad in, and he was the absolute worst in the league was BABIP (.356). A sign that he was hit by some terrible luck. Basically, if a ground ball was headed right for Lindor, a squirrel would grab the ball and throw it into left field for a single. Sometimes, the squirrel would toss it to his friend, a badger, who would then kick the ball for extra bases, allowing runs to score. If Beiber didn’t have bad luck, he’d have no luck at all.

Speaking of no luck, if he has simply neutral luck this year, he’s a top 30 starter, with a chance for a top 20 starter season, and he’s being drafted after 200 overall in some leagues. The Indians and I (we’re a team now, apparently) had great luck with Trevor Bauer last year. This year, give me that Biebs! For 2019, I’ll give Shane Bieber projections of 13-7/3.45/1.12/154 in 156 IP with a chance for much more.

Talk about a ridiculous bargain - and this guy made...hold your breath...$600k last season.

Indians and SS Francisco Lindor avoided arbitration by agreeing to a one-year, $10.55 million contract.

Lindor falls just shy of Kris Bryant's record of $10.85 million for a first-time arbitration-eligible player. The 25-year-old put together a .277/.352/.519 batting line with 38 home runs, 92 RBI, 129 runs and 25 stole bases last season.

Couple good articles I've come across on Bieber lately.

https://www.letsgotribe.com/2019/1/3/18 ... s-breakout

https://www.mlb.com/news/five-mlb-pitch ... -302085726

HB - I agree with you on the necessity of a cap in baseball. Like football. No one in football goes around all frustrated at the "big markets" like the NY Giants and NY Jets - lol!!

That said, at this point I accept that Cleveland is not the greatest market under the present rules. I've embraced rooting for the front office that tries so hard to overcome this!

We were into extra innings of game 7. Oakland and even Tampa last season. It can be done but certainly the odds are longer and the margin for error is thinner for our Tribe. I happen to think they have done an amazing job under the circumstances (Kluber, Bauer, Carrasco, Clevinger all gotten in trades and then developed).

I get their desire to get a good package for a Kluber. Unlike the Astros, Cubs etc they do not want a total tear down and in order to get that done sometimes you have to re-tool a tad to keep the whole thing going...not crashing.

The Tribe and other small markets are the underdogs and until the system is changed I root for the underdogs.

One other small thing about fans in general. Apparently they believe "unhappiness works". So they think if they bitch and moan enough then change will happen. Perhaps not even consciously, but the belief is there.

Doesn't seem to work that way - heck it sure as hell doesn't work that way in my family... - bitching and moaning gets very little results and can indeed backfire.

So while it works great for many toddlers, they scream and yell until they get their way, not a great adult strategy.

So my point is, what you end up with is the state of being an unhappy fan, permanently. For nothing. And the reward for that? Umm, there is none if we are looking at it helping a team in some way.

Jon Paul Morosi of MLB.com reports the Indians have interest in Padres top prospect Adrian Morejon in a potential deal for Corey Kluber.

Morejon, the Padres' No. 6 prospect per MLB.com, would certainly not be the only return, but he'd be a nice piece of a package for the Cy Young Award winner. The 19-year-old southpaw put up a 3.30 ERA with High-A Lake Elsinore this past season.

The Indians continue to discuss a trade of Kluber with teams, the Padres among them, but at this point it's far from a certainty that he's moved before the season starts.

Morosi keeps pushing these rumors. Not hearing them from anybody else. Wonder if there is even anything to it. But if there is the offer has to start with Tatis Jr or Urias and include Naylor. Don't need a SP, we are set there a while, which is why we were shopping a SP, but a good young reliever major league ready would be nice.

Any trade for Kluber or Bauer has to bring back some starting Major League players. If they dump them for just minor league prospects, you know they are taking the season off and pocketing the cash.

San Diego has one of the top farm systems in baseball. Actually the top ranked by some. If they think they can trade for a 2 time Cy winning Ace without giving up one of their top 5 prospects they are fried.

I dream of a three way deal with Marlins/Dodgers where we get Moramuto Verdugo and give up Kluber/Perez!