Cleveland Sports Forum

Tom Withers ‏ @ twithersAP22s
Appears Pestano sent down. Nothing official.

Jordan Bastian ‏ @ MLBastian 1m
Pestano not traded. Indians source: reliever has been optioned to Triple-A Columbus.

Last but not least, I can't dismiss the in game strategizing by the manager. He's mixed things up pretty damned good. A strong and deep bench allows a manager to do that. He's played the small ball when he's had to. He's hit and run. He's got the guys stealing bases, going first to third on base hits, and just plain being aggressive. No longer is this team so predictable. And how about these last two evenings? Last night, Francona pinch hits Giambi. The result, a walkoff homer. Tonight he pinch hits Rayburn for Giambi and what happens? Rayburn comes through with a pair of rbi's to put the Tribe on top. Could this be magic?

With the expanded rosters for the playoffs, I really meant it when I posted that I'd like to see another athlete added to the roster. Speed and defense comes first. If he comes with an offensive package.....icing on the cake. Impossible I know, but my first two choices would be Lindor and/or Ramirez. Stranger things have happened around the league.

Hee, hee, hee!

The White Sox are at this moment sitting in Cleveland, and apparently have turned a trade with another division team that WAS NOT Cleveland!

No respect for Shaps and Antonetti!


The Boston Red Sox have an agreement in place to acquire former Cy Young Award winner Jake Peavy in a three-team deal with the Chicago White Sox and Detroit Tigers, sources confirmed to ESPNBoston.com's Gordon Edes.

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Gordon Edes and the rest of the ESPNBoston.com team have the Red Sox covered for you. Blog

The trade is pending the review of medical records and could be announced Wednesday, according to ESPN and multiple media reports.

Boston will send infielder Jose Iglesias to Detroit, while the White Sox will acquire outfielder Avisail Garcia from the Tigers, sources told Edes.

The Red Sox also acquired reliever Brayan Villarreal, who currently is pitching in the minors, from Detroit and will deal at least two lower-level prospects to Chicago, according to sources.

Peavy, 32, is 8-4 with a 4.28 ERA in 13 starts this season for the White Sox. A three-time All-Star, Peavy figures to bolster a Red Sox rotation that has been short-handed due to the absence of Clay Buchholz, who has been sidelined since June with shoulder inflammation.

Peavy, who won the NL Cy Young Award in 2007 with San Diego, was held out of his start at Cleveland on Tuesday in order to give the White Sox more time to work a deal.

Iglesias, 23, has enjoyed an outstanding offensive season, batting .330 with 19 RBIs in 62 games with Boston. The Cuban has split time this season between shortstop and third base.

Garcia, 21, has appeared in 30 games this season with the Tigers, batting .241 with two home runs.

ESPNBoston.com's Gordon Edes, ESPN's Buster Olney and ESPNChicago.com's Doug Padilla and Bruce Levine contributed to this report.

SC what in the world are you talking about? Indians are enjoying their best season in years. Dolan made good on his agreement to increase payroll when we brought Francona in and we have a very solid club that is all under contract (except Masterson) for the next few years, a very deep pool of minor league talent in terms of pitching and middle infielder and a lot of roster flexibility. Get on the bus man...

joe, come on man. You get a 25 man roster for the playoffs just like the regular season. All rosters expand in September but playoffs are back to 25 man. By the way joe what is your scouting report/thoughts on the Cuban kid we signed for $1M.

Folks I guess that Archer kid we threw in for DeRosa was a pretty good prospect....

Frank

To be eligible for a team’s postseason roster, a player must be on any of the following: (a) the 25 or 40 man active roster, (b) the disabled list, (c) the bereavement list, or (d) the suspended list as of August 31 at midnight[citation needed]. The only exception is that a player who is on the disabled list at the end of the regular season may be replaced on the postseason roster by any other player who was in the organization on August 31, with the approval of the commissioner of baseball.[1] A postseason roster is a fully expanded roster and can have an unlimited amount of players. Any player who has appeared in or played at least one game in the majors for that team regardless of spending a brief amount of time in the minors will be called up from the minors to be on the postseason roster. All players on the final roster of the team's season will be eligible to receive a World Series ring after the team wins the World Series.

[I thought I could have my cake and eat it to. Keep Giambi around for his "clubhouse presence" and add a couple of "athletes" to the roster.]

Frank

I don't follow the 18 and under teams. Linares, to my knowledge, never played in the Serie National. I can only offer this tidbit from Ben Badler.

Indians Agree To $950,000 Deal With Leandro Linares

July 23, 2013 by Ben Badler

Cuban righthander Leandro Linares has agreed to sign with the Indians for a $950,000 bonus.

Linares, 19, has been one of the top pitching prospects on the international market who is subject to the international bonus pools. At 6-foot-3, 200 pounds, Linares pitches at 89-93 mph and tops out at 94. He has loose wrists and throws a 73-76 mph curveball that flashes as a plus pitch with good depth and helps him miss bats, although it can get loopy at times. He also mixes in a changeup that’s average at times and throws a fourth pitch that scouts have described as either a cutter or slider.

Linares left Cuba before he had a chance to make an impact in Cuba’s Serie Nacional, but he was one of the country’s top up-and-coming pitchers. When he pitched in Cuba’s 18U national league last year, Linares posted a 1.91 ERA in with 76 strikeouts in 66 innings. He wasn’t a great strike thrower, as he walked 46 batters and hit seven more. Scouts who have seen him working out in the Dominican Republic have also noticed that he needs to improve his control and repeat his release point more frequently, although he does have a sound delivery.

While Linares is claiming Haitian residency, scouts have evaluated him in the Dominican Republic and in international tournaments before he left Cuba, including the 2009 World Youth Championship in Taiwan and in 2010 at the 16U COPABE Pan American championship in Mexico. Linares is represented by Bart Hernandez.

Frank

Leandro Linares was drafted by the Villa Clara ball club and was to participate in the 52nd Serie National this past season, but for obvious reasons never played.

The pitching it up Freddy Asiel Alvarez, Alain Sanchez, Robelio Carrillo, Yosvani Perez, Yasmani Hernandez Romero, Irving River, Yuniel White, Marlon Romero, Diosdany Castillo, Yoandry Casanova, Leandro Linares, Ediasbel Garcia Abreu Darien, Misael Siverio, and rookie Lelys Camejo.

Linares was considered an up and coming star for the future.

Detroit is on a roll. The trounced the Nats today 11-1. The pressure is on to keep pace.

Folks I guess that Archer kid we threw in for DeRosa was a pretty good prospect....

I think it was Civ that called that one.

No one knew he was going to be as good as he turned out or the Cubs would have not traded him also.

Tribe with 2 in the bottom of the 9th to tie the game 5-5.

Santana with a walk off HR in the 10th. 6-5 Tribe.

The Tribe is now in the lead for the last WC spot.