Cleveland Sports Forum

Acta continues to run the Indians out of innings. 3 hits and 2 walks produce nothing as Acta manages like he has not watched this team the last week. Acta manages as bad as this team hits.

Finally a hit for the FukoDome as Tribe trails 3-2 to worst team in AL behind our once-and-former Ace./

Austin Kearns is still on the team. Why? Grounds to ss, Fuko stays put. Jason Donald fans. It's up to .... Lou Marson to drive in the tying run.

Kipnis hit a homer an inning or two back. Santana had an rbi triple, that's 3 extra base hits for Carlos in 2 days; that's a very good sign.

Meanwhile draws a walk and a lefty enters to face Brantley. Tribe is up to 8 hits and 4 walks in 5 2/3 innings which have netted two runs (the two CS didnt' help a lot although I can't blame for trying to create some runs; if we just wait for the BIG hit, the wait is pretty long, although does something happen, see July 30, 2011)

Dramatic popup to Short by Brantley ends that attempt at a rally. That OF of Brantley,Fuko and Kearns is quite a collection of RBI machines

UPDATE 2:30 PM: Not so fast with Ludwick to the Indians, Jonathan Mayo says, although if the Padres are asking too much of the team that just traded two of its last three first-round picks, I doubt the Pirates will get him either.

UPDATE 2:49 PM: The Indians are apparently near a deal for Wandy Rodriguez. They're really going for it.

[Who's he?

Appears to be a pretty good pitcher on Houston with an ERA of 3.47 although not as good in July as earlier this year. But his career batting average is only .135, so not sure what we want him for.]

Those at bats by Kearns and Donald were bush league efforts.

Kearns tries to pull an outside fastball on the first pitch following Fukodomes' double and rolls out to shortstop. Runner doesn't advance.

Donald, on an 0-1 count, tries to BUNT! Why? You need to drive the guy in, not move him to third with two outs.

Marson just missed a 2 run HR by a foot.

So what, eh?

Kearns should be DFA, Ludwick or not.

Wandy would be a #4 or #5 SP in the AL.

Big hitting clubs will rip him from me to you and back again.

Is Wandy Rodriguez Overpaid?
By Tim Dierkes [July 25, 2011 at 11:58am CST]

For a pitcher with a 3.40 ERA since the beginning of the 2008 season, Astros lefty Wandy Rodriguez isn't getting much respect. American League teams seem to want nothing to do with him (though the Yankees and Red Sox scouted him this weekend), and one executive suggested to SI's Jon Heyman that the Astros might have to pay half of Rodriguez's contract to move him. One GM told Heyman, "Nobody's going to touch Wandy."

Since 2011 is Rodriguez's final arbitration year, and the player provided a discount in signing long-term, his current salary is just $7MM. That'd leave only $2.3MM for '11 at the deadline. After that Wandy gets $10MM in '12, $13MM in '13, and would have a $13MM player option for '14 upon a trade. So you'd get him at a discount this year, and then have to take on as much as three years, $36MM. 3/36 doesn't sound too bad, although you're only on the hook for that last $13MM if Rodriguez doesn't feel he can do better on the open market or just really wants to stay.

I conducted an informal poll of two agents and one team executive on whether Rodriguez would top three years, $36MM as a free agent after this season. One told me that amount is at the top of his probable range, and he wouldn't get more than three years since he turns 33 in January. Another called Rodriguez a "poor man's Ted Lilly" in terms of cache, suggesting three years and $27-30MM would be more appropriate.

So does Rodriguez have surplus trade value with his current contract? Given the lower salary in 2011, I'd say yes. However, with the contract viewed as market value or a little worse, the Astros probably can't expect anything too impressive in return unless they include several million dollars.

jonmorosi Jon Morosi
As of 10 minutes ago: Nothing close on Wandy. #Astros #BlueJays
1 minute ago

And Ubaldo to the Tribe gets a green flag:

Buster_ESPN Buster Olney
Source: Ubaldo Jimenez has been OKed in his physical and the deal is all set. #trades
1 minute ago

rocky raccoon wrote:And Ubaldo to the Tribe gets a green flag:

Buster_ESPN Buster Olney
Source: Ubaldo Jimenez has been OKed in his physical and the deal is all set. #trades
1 minute ago

I hope they MRI'ed his arm and shoulder.

Carmona walked a guy in the 8th and was still pitching. Who made that decision ?

jonmorosi Jon Morosi
Ludwick deal being finalized. #Pirates #Padres
1 minute ago