Laid them off??
The newspaper industry is dying rapidly!

@Ken_Rosenthal:
Sources: #Braves, #Indians discussed trade of Chris Johnson for Nick Swisher in early June, before Swisher went on DL with knee issue…

@Ken_Rosenthal:
#Braves backed off due to disparity in 2015 salaries (Swisher $15M, Johnson $6M). Swisher now owed ~$22M thru 16, Johnson ~$20M thru 17.

@Ken_Rosenthal:
#Indians’ Swisher remains on DL. #Braves’ Johnson remains a likely candidate for trade.

Here's something you don't see every day.

Trevor Bauer ‏@BauerOutage · 25 minutes ago
Anyone @indians fans @cedarpoint today? Say hi if you see me! Hopefully this beautiful weather holds up!

Then again, you don't always see a major league pitcher imitate 3 teammates during a major league at bat either!



Good for him, Bauer is really quite the character.

MLB just released the "franchise four". The Mt. Rushmore of each franchise.

Bob Feller and Tris Speaker made it, and absolutely should.

Jim Thome made it, and I understand that too.

The fourth was Omar Vizquel.

I will never understand that.

Not to even mention Nap Lajoie. Let's even toss out Averill, Boudreaux, and Doby. I'll even toss out Gaylord and Early Wynn. Let's just talk about the current guys that played with Omar.

Would you trade Belle, Manny, or Robbie for Omar?

I tell ya what, Robbie didn't play for us long so even toss him out.

Would you trade Belle or Manny even up for Omar?

I just don't get it.

Take a look at all the all time greats that are enshrined in Cooperstown that played for Cleveland.

http://cleveland.indians.mlb.com/cle/hi ... famers.jsp

And by the way, Cy Young is listed.

And banjo hittin Omar Vizquel makes the final four?

Speaking of Belle:

Today in Tribe History: July 15, 1989

Bob Toth | On 15, Jul 2015

1989 – Cleveland debuts young right-handed-hitting outfielder Joey Belle, who had the unenviable task of facing future Hall of Famer Nolan Ryan as the Indians hosted the Texas Rangers at Municipal Stadium.

Belle, better known by the name “Albert” later in his career, batted sixth in manager Doc Edwards lineup, following former Rangers first baseman Pete O’Brien at the plate, and started in right field. The 22-year-old former second round pick of the 1987 draft out of Louisiana State University skipped over the Triple-A level after hitting .282 with 20 homers and 20 doubles in 89 games at Double-A Canton-Akron in his first action at the level.

With the legendary flamethrower on the mound, Belle wasted no time getting that first Major League hit under his belt, as he singled on the third pitch of his at bat through the hole on the left side of the infield to push across O’Brien and give the Indians an early 2-0 lead.

Belle would go hitless in his remaining three at bats. Ryan lasted into the sixth but was charged with seven earned runs and took the loss as the Indians prevailed, 7-1. Greg Swindell went the distance for the Tribe, improving to 12-2 on the season behind his ten-strikeout, five-hit effort.

Ist half of season review: YUK!

Overall agree.

But this is a case of a clear division offensively, from pitching.

Bullpen has done a good job.

Starting pitching. Guys like Carrasco, Salazar, and Bauer are so inexperienced! The promise they are showing is really fantastic, but they ARE still developing. Cody Anderson, wow, so far.

And Kluber is off last year's pace, but not by a lot. Duplicating a Cy Young season is unlikely - but his secondary numbers still are good.

Lindor and Urshula are a nice updrade defensively.

But it's the offense! Subpar halves by Santana, Brantley (injury, no power), Moss, who we need production from. Bourn is evidently a washout, period. Gomes (inury), a disaster. That's a lot of hitters underachieving.

Thank God for Kipnis and Murphy.

I can't stress enough the promise of the young starting pitchers. But at this point it is greatly encouraging, but they are not finished products. That said, if the offense would produce at even a reasonable rate, these SPs would be more than enough.

TFIR, you've certainly summarized things accurately. Good pitch, sometimes great pitch; better defense; and incredibly weak offense.

Carrasco really isn't all that young or inexperienced any more so his inconsistency may just be what we will have to live with.
Bauer is exciting. He turns out to be not simply weird, but smart, funny and a very good pitcher who perhaps has found a way to stay healthy for a long career.
Salazar is Carrasco a few years ago: hopefully he'll gain more consistency, he has plenty of talent.
Anderson is having a wonderful start but we liked Sowers and Huff and Laffey and Jason Davis for awhile, too. None of them started out as well as he did, but it's awfully early for him.

The two rookie infielders could upgrade themselves into solid average hitters. Gomes should be good again. Don't know about Santana, he may be an early flameout like Asdrubal. The Outfielders at Major League and AAA and AA level are nothing to look forward to; please!!! promote Zimmer to Akron so he could test his skills for late 2016 arrival.

Maybe you missed it, Civ, but I posted earlier that Zimmer has been promoted to Akron.

Found this interesting ...

@BtBScore:
Hitters who swing-and-miss the least:
M. Brantley (2.6%)
N. Aoki (3.5%)
A. Pagan (3.6%)
B. Revere (3.8%)
N. Markakis (3.9)
J. Iglesias (4%)

Akron RubberDucks ‏@AkronRubberDuck · 2 hours ago
Look who is here...@Bzimmer5! Come Pack the Park for his first home game on July 23! http://atmilb.com/1CBRQEB
https://vine.co/v/erO0lEBQK1g

Hi civ.

Understand that Carrasco isn't that young really (he is 28) but he has started a total of 72 total games since 2009 when we first got him.

Since a full time starting pitcher can go well over 30 starts in a season, to me 72 games started is really not necessarily an experienced pitcher yet.

As well, only 39 of those starts have come since his surgery.

Maybe I'm being overly optimistic, but to me he seems to be still developing with so few starts.

(Really, 72 is barely more than 2 seasons for a full time starter.