Cleveland Sports Forum

The Indians had a visit today from Crash Davis. Kevin Costner, star of the movie Bull Durham and in Cleveland for the filming of his new movie Draft Day where he plays the GM of the Cleveland Browns, played catch in the outfield, gloved some ground ball at third base, and took batting practice. "I was actually glad I made contact," Costner said with a smile to reporters including MLB.com's Jordan Bastian. "I hadn't swung in a couple years. I thought my chances of swinging through the ball were just as good as fouling it off." With filming in Cleveland, Costner said he has seen several Indians games at Progressive Field and likes what he has seen, "I really think this team can win the division. I've watched a lot of baseball and they have a couple good pieces of DNA. One of them is they come from behind. Not all teams can do that. They've got the right amount of athletic arrogance to do that. I think they can run Detroit down." I wonder if Billy Chapel would agree.

Cleveland Indians recall T.J. House and option Carlos Carrasco to Class AAA Columbus
By Paul Hoynes, The Plain Dealer
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on June 24, 2013 at 3:59 PM, updated June 24, 2013 at 4:21 PM



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Carlos Carrasco was demoted to Class AAA Columbus on Monday, but could be back to start in Friday's doubleheader against the White Sox.
Chuck Crow, The Plain Dealer

BALTIMORE, Md. -- The Indians have recalled lefty T.J. House from Class AAA Columbus on Monday and optioned right-hander Carlos Carrasco to Triple-A.

It's believed House, who has started at Columbus and Class AA Akron this year, will work out of the bullpen for the Tribe. It's possible that Carrasco could be recalled under MLB's new 26-man rule and start one of the games in Friday's doubleheader against the White Sox in Chicago.

Trevor Bauer is also a candidate for a spot start in that doubleheader.

House, 23, is 3-8 with a 4.83 ERA in 15 starts at Columbus and Akron. He struck out 75, walked 33 and allowed 93 hits, including 11 homers, in 87 2/3 innings.

Over House's last eight starts at Columbus, he had a 4.56 ERA. He's tied for second with two complete games in the International League.

The Indians selected him in the 16th round of the 2009 draft.

Carrasco started and lost Sunday's game against the Twins. He allowed three runs on six hits in 4 2/3 innings. The Indians fell, 5-3.

In four starts with the Tribe this year, Carrasco is 0-3 with a 7.78 ERA.

House is not having a good season in AAA; Langwell would have been more useful. But I suspect House was recalled with little intention of pitching him unless a starter gets blown out early. They can ship him back down again asap without worrying about having to wait 10 days before he can come back, because they won't want him back! Keeping House around resulted in letting McFarland and Rondon go in Rule 5. Both are doing pretty well for their teams (O's and Cubs)

Usually they are DFA'd after short call up.

As long as there's no one being added to the 40 man roster, they can simply option House back. When they need to make room for Myers or Wood coming off the 60-day DL they'll need room. House is one of a handful of expendable low-grade prospects on the roster, e.g. Haley, Fedroff, Diaz, I think Santos is still included and he's exceptionally expendable and replaceable.

CHICAGO -- Trevor Bauer's decision to start the first game of Friday's doubleheader against Chicago pitching out of the stretch instead of a windup was still a topic of discussion Saturday at U.S. Cellular Field.

For instance, why did Bauer use Friday's spot start to do it instead of testing it at Class AAA Columbus?

"Trevor kind of has his own thoughts on some things," said manager Terry Francona. "I know when he took the mound, Mickey [Callaway, pitching coach] told me don't be surprised if he pitches out of the stretch."

Callaway said Tony Arnold, the pitching coach at Class AAA Columbus, said Bauer has felt uncomfortable with his delivery and they had talked about pitching out of the stretch to simplify things. In his bullpen session before Friday's game, he pitched out of the windup and the stretch.

While Bauer started the game pitching out of the stretch by choice, he was quickly forced to do it because the White Sox sent 10 men to the plate, scoring five runs on six hits.

"He felt horrible Friday," said Francona. "He knew we had doubleheader and we were thin. ... He was kind of sheepish. He knew he'd put a tax on the bullpen.

"That doesn't change in any way, shape or form our opinion," said Francona. "This kid is going to be a good pitcher. Sometimes it just takes a little while."

Bauer, optioned back to Columbus after registering just two outs in the first inning, was unable to go through his 50-minute pre-game routine of long-toss because of the threat of rain.

About Friday night: Some leftovers from the Tribe's doubleheader sweep of the White Sox.

• The doubleheader lasted 7 hours, 53 minutes, the longest for a doubleheader of two nine-inning games in MLB history.

• The Indians overcame a 5-0 deficit to win Game 1, 19-10, and a 8-5 deficit in the ninth inning to win Game 2, 9-8.

• Over the last four seasons, the Indians are 16-4 in 10 doubleheaders with six sweeps and four splits.

• The Tribe hit .398 (33-for-83) with 12 extra-base hits. They hit .484 (15-for-31) with runners in scoring position.

• Mike Aviles went 5-for-10, raising his average from .254 to .282.

• Chicago's Jeff Keppinger led all players with six hits.

• In Game 1, seven Indians had at least two RBI. It was the first time that's happened in the big leagues since the Rockies did it on July 30, 2010. It was the first time the Indians had done that since June 28, 1950, an 18-2 win over the St. Louis Browns -- exactly 63 years ago.

• The second game ended at 2:06 a.m. EST.

Talk, talk: Here's what some players had to say about the sweep.

• Jason Kipnis: "It was one of my longest days in baseball. I'm tired. We're dehydrated. I'm not going to lie. Guys, guys are going to be sore tomorrow. But the White Sox are feeling the same thing.

"But it feels a lot better to go to bed 2-0 than 0-2. We're probably going to sleep a little bit better than they might."

• Jason Giambi: "That's the character of this ballclub ... to kick and claw and fight. No excuses. We came in late after Thursday's game in Baltimore. We just kept going and going and going.

"These kids showed a lot of grind. In the second game, after Chicago took the lead, they could have easily said, 'Aww, we got the first one. Let's go back and get some rest.' But they didn't quit.

"It's exciting to be a part of."

Finally: Chris Perez converted his first save in Saturday's 4-3 victory over Chicago since coming off the disabled list on Thursday. "He had a good breaking ball and the location with his fastball was good," said Francona. "I think his velocity is going to start creeping back up." ... Scott Kazmir, who experienced back spasms against Baltimore on Wednesday, will probably start Wednesday against Kansas City to give him an extra day of rest.

CLEVELAND (92.3 The Fan) – Another page on the calender is ready to be turned, and with it the Indians are right in the thick of things in the American League Central, waking up Sunday just a game out of first-place.

The teams recent good homestand to this point has continued on the road, winning five of their first seven of an 11-game trip over the Orioles and the White Sox.

They got good news this past week with the return of their two 2012 All-Stars, as Chris Perez and Asdrubal Cabrera returned to the team and went right back in their roles.

Then, as things were steamrolling for the Indians, there was a quiet blip on the radar that went widely unnoticed, yet once again seems to underlie the issues with Perez on and off the field.

The Indians closer Thursday decided to pick and choose his way through who he was going to speak to through the media, as reported by Indians Plain Dealer veteran beat reporter Paul Hoynes.

Before the game, Perez told a team official that he would talk to reporters, but only if two reporters were excluded from the interview. It did not appear Perez talked to reporters before the game.

The note basically flew under the radar of most in the National media, but for those that have dealt with Perez and have spoken to him before, you can take a pretty strong guess that Hoynes, along with veteran Akron Beacon Journal Indians beat reporter Sheldon Ocker, were the two reporters that Perez didn’t want to have in the interview.

Perez has always had some engaging interviews in the past, and to weed out two of the top print reporters (assuming that’s who it was) the Indians have is a mystery.

If he felt they would write something unfair, then just say that.

To simply say that he didn’t want them as part of the interview is a childish move, and once again you have to wonder the mindset of the player who needs to be more worried about taking the ball in the 9th inning of a close game – not who is writing things down about him.

Perez did the right thing awhile back by getting rid of his twitter account, though even then I felt he should have stood in front of the cameras and faced the music about it, instead of having the Indians release a statement on his behalf.

Clearly Perez has felt he’s been misrepresented by the media for pulling such antics, but while he can think that all he wants, if he were simply to get batters out in key situations and not make headlines off the field, there’s no doubt the media would leave him alone.

It’s okay for a player with his reach to speak his mind, and he was the one that opened up the can of worms to the mess last season in May when he spoke about fan loyalty when it came to the low attendance numbers at Progressive Field.

At the time the thoughts may have been spot on, but since then he’s had a number of other memorable moments that have kept him in the headlines.

He’s jumped on former manager Manny Acta after his firing, spoken out about how great the ownership in Detroit is and not Cleveland (this was prior to the Indians offseason spending spree), closed the twitter account, and then the off the field legal issues before the latest saga with who he didn’t want involved in his interviews.

Perez this season has struggled, going 2-1 with 6 saves in 8 attempts and a 4.32 ERA in 17 outings. The Indians are paying him $7.3 million this season, and so far he’s not lived up to his side of things.

While it’s a long season, and there’s still half of it to go, the Indians really need Perez to stop worrying about who is involved in media interviews, how many people are at the ballpark, and if he’s getting booed by ignorant fans when he’s doing his job.

It’s time for him to put aside all of what he may feel is unfair about how he’s portrayed by those off the field, and start performing like he has in the past on it.

If he wants out of Cleveland, and he has always claimed he hasn’t, he’s doing a good job of doing the little things to do so.

It will in the end be a tough decision for the Indians to give up on him, but pulling stunt after stunt, no matter how small in the eyes of Perez they may be, is going to make that decision that much easier.

The Thominator Calls it a Career

July 2, 2013
by Chris Burnham

Unfortunately, his first job post-baseball won’t be with the Indians. Big Jim has taken a position of Special Assistant of White Sox General Manager, Rick Hahn.

“I don’t think I could ask for a better situation than being in Chicago and with the White Sox,” Thome said.
Well, I don’t know about you, but ow.

He has his reasons, obviously, but from a purely romanticized point of view, it would’ve nice to see him working for the franchise that made him one of the most feared power guys of his era.
I guess the statue will have to suffice.

Thome lives in the Chicago suburbs. He sold his home in Hinsdale in 2012 and moved to Burr Ridge (bigger and better - see above) so it's understandable why he took the job with the White Sox.

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There are plenty of houses just as nice or nicer than that in the Cleveland area. Of course, he is from Peoria.
I don't think he deserves a statue in Cleveland.

That area is home to him - so good for him IMO.

Steroids made him a lot of money !

Jim Thome could never be hired by a Mark Shapiro run organization.

Thome actually played baseball in high school, and beyond, to be 7th All Time in MLB Home Runs.


Shapiro fears anyone who actually played baseball in his organization. Anyone have an inspired and informed response to THAT?


For the record, Jim Thome earned my supreme respect years ago when he took contract money and locked up four digit acres of land near his hometown to entertain himself and friends.

Anyone have an inspired and informed response to THAT?

You blow.

Oh, stop trying to say you can not read this too. You are too much of an ego maniac that you have to read anything about yourself.

Shapiro fears anyone who actually played baseball in his organization. Anyone have an inspired and informed response to THAT?

Speaking of informed...

Other than your imagination, what actual source do you have as proof that this is a true statement? If not, it would seem like a pretty frivolous statement.

Bashing for bashing's sake.