Cleveland Sports Forum

Yan Gomes eager to take a swing at earning spot on Cleveland Indians roster

By Paul Hoynes, The Plain Dealer
on January 14, 2013 at 10:14 PM, updated January 15, 2013 at 8:55 AM

CLEVELAND, Ohio -- Yan Gomes has the traveling gene.

Born in Brazil, Gomes spent the first 12 years of his life in the land of Pele where he learned to play, of all things, baseball. Of course, he and his teammates played soccer to warm up before the first pitch of every game.

Gomes and his family immigrated to the United States and settled in Florida. He played baseball at Miami South High School, the University of Tennessee and Barry College in Miami before the Toronto Blue Jays drafted him in the 10th round in 2009. Last year he became the first Brazilian-born player to reach the big leagues with the Jays.

He did it more than once, actually. Gomes bounced between Class AAA Las Vegas and Toronto five times, where he played 12 games at first base, six at third, five at catcher and two at DH.

The Indians see the right-handed hitting Gomes mostly as a catcher. He'll compete with Lou Marson for the backup job in spring training. If the Indians don't sign a designated hitter, Gomes could get a look there as well. Last season he had 51 extra-base hits (33 doubles, one triple, 17 homers) in 403 at-bats between Las Vegas and Toronto.

When Gomes came to the United States, he spoke only Portuguese, the official language of Brazil. It took him time to learn English, but he always had a firm grasp on the language of baseball. Asked what kind of hitter he was, Gomes said, "I hope I'm a good catcher that hits ... somewhat. I'm mostly worried about what I do behind the plate."

Listen carefully and you can hear manager Terry Francona's face breaking into a grin over that answer.


On Nov. 3 the Indians acquired Gomes and infielder Mike Aviles from Toronto for reliever Esmil Rogers. The road show barely stopped for refueling. Besides playing winter ball, Gomes helped Brazil qualify for its first-ever venture into the World Baseball Classic. On Nov. 19, he drove in the only run in Brazil's 1-0 qualifying victory over heavily favored Panama.

He will report to spring training in Goodyear, Ariz., with pitchers and catchers on Feb. 10, but will leave for Japan later that month to begin WBC play.

"The WBC qualifying round worked out perfect for us," said Gomes. "We came in as the underdog. We were being overlooked a little bit. We just played with no fear. Now we're ready to go to Japan and play."

Although Gomes is Brazil's only big-league player, he knows several of his teammates from his early baseball days in Sao Paulo, Brazil. "I grew up playing with a lot of them," he said. "A lot of them went on to play in Japan."

Hall of Famer Barry Larkin is Brazil's manager.

The WBC does not come at an ideal time for Gomes. Ideally, a new player on a team would have a whole spring training to earn a big-league spot. Gomes, however, won't be the only player the Indians lose as relievers Vinnie Pestano and Chris Perez are scheduled to play for Team USA and shortstop Asdrubal Cabrera for Venezuela.



"I hope missing that time doesn't get held against me," said Gomes, 25. "I'm representing my country. If it does, hopefully, I'll come back, go to Triple-A and earn my way back to the big leagues."

Gomes, 6-2 and 215 pounds, concentrated on catching until 2011, when the Blue Jays gave him a chance to play first base.

"I still like to think I'm a catcher at heart," he said. "But last year, when I started play first, third and some outfield I really didn't have a favorite position."

Every player is surprised the first time he gets traded. After that subsided, Gomes felt like he'd come to the right team at the right time.

"I'm excited as can be," he said. "The Indians are on the way up and I hope I'm a huge part of it. I've still got a ton to learn about catching and I get to do that from a guy like [bench coach/catching instructor] Sandy Alomar, which is extremely exciting."

Watch videos here:
Yan Gomes' first MLB hit in 2012, and being pranked by Yunel Escobar
http://www.cleveland.com/tribe/index.ss ... _swin.html

Bleacher Reports likes our deal with Reynolds. He rates on their "underpaid" list;


Mark Reynolds.
Brad White/Getty Images

New contract: One year, $6 million (free agency)

How is it that Mark Reynolds received half as much guaranteed money as Kevin Youkilis?

Reynolds is four-and-a-half years younger and more durable. He compensates for an ugly strikeout rate with a reputable on-base percentage and lifetime average of 34 home runs per 162 games.

After five MLB seasons as an error-prone third baseman, Reynolds moved across the diamond in 2012. His throwing arm and range actually made him an integral part of the Baltimore Orioles defense.

With so few desirable free-agent corner infielders, there should have been more competition for his services.

What he deserves: Two years, $15 million

Francisco Lindor remains ahead of the pack for Indians

By Stephanie Storm
Beacon Journal sports writer

Published: January 14, 2013 - 11:37 PM | Updated: January 15, 2013 - 08:28 AM

CLEVELAND: Shortstop prospect Francisco Lindor is the star of the group in this year’s Indians Winter Development Program, but you’d never know it listening to him speak.

The way Lindor, 19, carries himself during an interview, deferring to the other players participating in the program, nonchalantly talking up their abilities when a question was originally asked about his, speaks volumes for Lindor’s maturity and natural humility.

“With Francisco, it’s this awareness that stands out about him,” Indians farm director Ross Atkins said. “We’ve talked for a long time about his professional maturity, his discipline, his commitment. Obviously, the ability’s there. But the awareness in this environment and this setting, seeing him interact with [catcher] Yan Gomes or an older player or asking a question to [Indians manager] Terry Francona. The questions he’s asking and the responses he has, it just increases our confidence that his awareness is right where it should be for an elite professional athlete, let alone one at his age.”

It’s one of the reasons Lindor was recently chosen by Baseball America as the Indians’ No. 1 prospect heading into the season for the second consecutive year, despite a so-so offensive season in his first full year in the minor leagues.

Lindor started his career as one of the youngest players in low Class A. He started strong offensively but began to struggle in the middle of the season, fighting his way though fatigue and making adjustments.

The Indians’ first-round pick (eighth overall) in the 2011 draft out of Florida’s Montverde Academy, Lindor finished the season at Lake County batting .257 with 24 doubles, three triples, six home runs and 44 RBI. He also stole 28 bases in 40 attempts.

Learning from last season, the 5-foot-11 Lindor said he’s gained 10 pounds of muscle during the offseason and is up to 185 pounds.

“After wearing down physically last year, I wanted to get stronger,” he said. “That’s one thing that will help me.”

Another is learning to adjust to pitchers after they have made adjustments to him.

“At the beginning of the year, I didn’t have to make any adjustments,” Lindor said. “Pitchers didn’t know me so I just rolled. Then the pitchers got smart and made an adjustment by throwing off-speed pitches, working me in, working me away. Always throwing something to different spots. I tried to make adjustments, but they weren’t working.”

It took awhile, but Lindor finally realized something he hopes will help him this season.

“I thought, ‘You know what? I’m just going to go up there, stick to an approach and execute.’ I was trying to guess what they were going to do to me and was trying too much. Like, there’s a guy on second base and I’m trying to hit a home run in the gap. Instead of just doing my thing.

“With a guy on third base, just hit a ground ball, put the ball in play and sacrifice. I was doing too much and coming out of my approach.”

Although there are physical skills to refine in Lindor’s game, Atkins said he’s already shown a penchant for handling the mental part of the game.

“The biggest thing for [Lindor] will be dealing with external and his own expectations of himself, not creating a time frame. And then in his supreme confidence of wanting to be the guy and potentially trying to do too much.

“That’s very cliché, but very real. With a player with that type of pedigree who has his own expectations for himself and wants to be the guy who comes through for the team, he’s a team player. And he’ll be a team player no matter what team he’s playing for, it doesn’t have to be the Cleveland Indians. Handling that will be the biggest limitation for him and understanding short-term versus long term.”

Helping push Lindor externally is a young crop of shortstops in the organization.

In addition to Lindor, free-agent Latin American signees Ronny Rodriguez (who batted .264 at high Class-A Carolina last season) and Dorssys Paulino (who started the season in June in the rookie-level Arizona League but finished in the short-season New York-Penn League, where he more than held his own) and the Tribe’s third-round pick in 2010, Tony Wolters are in the Tribe’s farm system.

In an effort to help solve the logjam at short, the Indians had Wolters and Rodriguez split last season between shortstop and second base, helping diversify them with an added position.

But if there’s any animosity among the group with so many young guys vying for one major-league spot, Lindor isn’t complaining.

“This is a great group of guys,” he said. “They are great people, and that’s the most important thing. They are good teammates, they have passion for the game and they work hard. They’re going to make me better just as I’m going to make them better.”

Francona rips Red Sox owners in book

Terry Francona reveals the truth about the Red Sox's ownership in his new book.


UPDATED JAN 15, 2013 4:19 PM ET

NEW YORK (AP)
Theo Epstein traded for Adrian Gonzalez and signed Carl Crawford following pressure from Boston Red Sox owners to build a ''sexy team,'' according to a book co-authored by former Boston Red Sox manager Terry Francona.

The Red Sox used to be MLB's lovable idiots, but fans are no longer amused by their antics.
Epstein, who left as general manager after the 2011 season to become a Chicago Cubs executive, said Boston owner John Henry, chairman Tom Werner and president Larry Lucchino made the team's image a priority, according to excerpts released Tuesday by Sports Illustrated.

''Francona: The Red Sox Years'' is co-written by the Boston Globe's Dan Shaughnessy and is scheduled for publication by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt on Jan. 22.

''They told us we didn't have any marketable players, that we needed some sizzle,'' Epstein is quoted as saying. ''We need some sexy guys. Talk about the tail wagging the dog. This is like an absurdist comedy. We'd become too big. It was the farthest thing removed from what we set out to be.''

On Nov. 2, 2010, a group gathered at Fenway Park to review results of that $100,000 marketing research project the Red Sox had commissioned following declining ratings of NESN, the regional sports network partly owned by the team.

The books stated the marketing report said: ''(W)omen are definitely more drawn to the `soap opera' and `reality-TV' aspects of the game ... They are interested in good-looking stars and sex symbols'' - a reference to All-Star second baseman Dustin Pedroia.

Gonzalez and Crawford were traded to the Los Angeles Dodgers last summer along with Josh Beckett after the Red Sox fell out of contention.

Francona left after the 2011 season, when the Red Sox lost 20 of their last 27 games, becoming the first team to lead by nine games in September and not make the postseason. He worked for ESPN in 2012. Cleveland hired him in October as its manager.



Looking for the latest on the Red Sox? Get the schedule, scores, standings and more right here.
Francona said owners refused to let the Red Sox play day games on final days of homestands because of television.

''One thing the players were always asking for was getaway day games,'' he said. ''The owners would never go for it. They couldn't have more day games because the ratings were already suffering, and that would have hurt worse.''

Francona is quoted as saying that at the Sept. 30, 2011, meeting with owners he said: ''If you don't know what you are doing about me, why am I here? This is a silly meeting. If you don't want me, just tell me.'' The team announced later that day that it was not exercising his option.

''It was at that meeting that he said that he had lost control of the clubhouse,'' Werner is quoted as saying, ''that he was not the right person to continue as manager.''

Francona recalled the session differently: ''I never said I lost control of the clubhouse I said I hadn't been able to reach some of the guys.''

He was critical of the owners in the book.

''They come in with all these ideas about baseball, but I don't think they love baseball,'' he said. ''I think they like baseball. It's revenue, and I know that's their right and their interest because they're owners ... and they're good owners. But they don't love the game. It's still more of a toy or a hobby for them. It's not their blood. They're going to come in and out of baseball. It's different for me. Baseball is my life.''

Daisuke Matsuzaka - S - Red Sox


Sports Hochi reports that Daisuke Matsuzaka is deciding on minor league offers from the Indians, Marlins and Mets.
There's another report that says Matsuzaka could wind up deciding to return to Japan, but it's an unlikely proposition at this point. Matsuzaka struggled mightily after returning from Tommy John surgery in 2012 and is looking to re-establish his value, but it sounds like he'll have to fight for an Opening Day roster spot.


Related: Indians, Marlins, Mets
Source: Gen Sueyoshi on Twitter Jan 16 - 10:54 PM

CLEVELAND, Ohio -- Seven Cleveland Indians were among the 133 players who filed for salary arbitration before Tuesday's deadline. Players and teams have until 1 p.m. Friday to exchange salary figures for the 2013 season.

The seven Indians are right-hander Matt Albers, infielder Mike Aviles, catcher Lou Marson, right-handers Justin Masterson, Chris Perez and Joe Smith and outfielder Drew Stubbs.

The Indians have not had a player go to arbitration since 1991. Greg Swindell won his decision and Jerry Browne lost.

Boston had the most players file with nine, followed by San Diego with eight. The Indians, Baltimore, Cincinnati, Detroit and Washington were next with seven each.

To be eligible for arbitration a player must be unsigned and have three years of major league service time. Players can also be eligible under the Super Two qualification, meaning they are in the upper 22 percent of the players with fewer than three years, but more than two of service time. The Super Two qualification was broadened from 17 percent to 22 percent in last year's basic agreement.

Here's what the Indians arbitration eligible players made last season: Albers $1.075 million, Aviles $1.2 million, Marson $491,700, Masterson $3.85 million, Perez $4.5 million, Smith $1.75 million and Stubbs $527,500.

Here is what they're projected to make through the process this year by mlbtraderumors.com: Albers $1.7 million, Aviles $2.3 million, Marson $800,000, Masterson $5.7 million, Perez $7.2 million, Smith $2.7 million and Stubbs $2.9 million. The total is $23.3 million.

The Indians acquired Albers, Aviles and Stubbs in trades this offseason.

If players and teams don't reach an agreement after exchanging numbers Friday, hearings are set for February. A deal can be reached at anytime before those hearings.

Stubbs had the worst year of his career, OPS of 611, and he's expected to get 5x greater salary. Weird.

Although I know it all has to do with years of service, comparability, stuff like that.

Ryan Raburn - 2B - Tigers


According to Jon Paul Morosi of FOXSports.com, the Indians have interest in free agent Ryan Raburn.
Raburn was released earlier this offseason after batting just .171/.226/.254 with one home run and a .480 OPS in 222 plate appearances with the Tigers this past season. Coming off a disastrous 2012, he seems likely to settle for a minor league deal with a spring training invite. The Rays, Marlins, Braves and Rangers have also been rumored as possible landing spots.


Related: Indians
Source: Jon Paul Morosi on Twitter Jan 17 - 2:14 PM

Indians Interested In Ryan Raburn
By Ben Nicholson-Smith [January 17 at 1:12pm CST]
The Indians have some interest in free agent utility player Ryan Raburn, Jon Paul Morosi of FOX Sports reports (on Twitter). CSE represents Raburn, who was released by the Tigers in November.

Raburn projected to earn $2.1MM through the arbitration process. However, after a season that saw him post a .171/.226/.254 batting line in 222 plate appearances, that salary seemed excessive to the Tigers. Raburn averaged 15 home runs per season from 2009-11 and owns a career batting line of .256/.311/.430. He played second base and both corner outfield positions in 2012. The Braves and Marlins had interest in Raburn earlier in the offseason.

The Indians also have some interest in Ryan Theriot, another right-handed hitting free agent capable of playing multiple positions.


Read more at http://www.mlbtraderumors.com/#suUSSs6PKVK23ykK.99

If this were last winter, he would have been one of our big signings.

civ ollilavad wrote:CLEVELAND, Ohio -- Seven Cleveland Indians were among the 133 players who filed for salary arbitration before Tuesday's deadline. Players and teams have until 1 p.m. Friday to exchange salary figures for the 2013 season.


The Indians have not had a player go to arbitration since 1991. Greg Swindell won his decision and Jerry Browne lost.


If players and teams don't reach an agreement after exchanging numbers Friday, hearings are set for February. A deal can be reached at anytime before those hearings.

It will be interesting to see if they can continue that streak.

Where did they get the projections? Most seem reasonable execpt for Stubbs.

Diamondbacks and LHP Tony Sipp avoided arbitration by agreeing to a one-year, $1.275 million contract.
It's a nice score for the 29-year-old left-hander, who posted a 4.42 ERA and 51/23 K/BB ratio across 55 innings in 2012 while earning close to the major league minimum. He was arbitration-eligible for the first time.

Source: GulfLive.com Jan 17 - 6:10 PM

Tony Lastoria ‏@TonyIBI


Hearing the Indians have an offer out to free agent DH Jim Thome. Said to be considering other offers.

Indians and OF Drew Stubbs avoided arbitration by agreeing to a one-year, $2.825 million contract.
The deal also carries $50,000 worth of performance-based bonuses. Stubbs was traded to the Indians in mid-December after batting just .213/.277/.333 in 2012 for the Reds. He still has an attractive combination of power and speed, however, and should again be fantasy-relevant this season in Cleveland.


Source: Jerry Crasnick on Twitter Jan 17 - 11:34 PM