Cleveland Sports Forum

Better win now is the message.

Kipnis, Allen, Miller, Brantley and EE are short timers.

Wouldn't be surprised if all their names are on the Waiver List today.

Deadline moves were a "must". Hope it helps.

I don't understand: you think the Indians would trade or release any of them now?

Clearing waivers just opens up trade possibilities for the next month. They're not going to release them. I'm sure the Tribe would listen to offers for any of those guys. They may even bend over backwards to move Kipnis.

I can't imagine them trading Miller or Allen or Brantly or Encarnacion now. Kipnis, sure.

Russia, if you're listening, it sure would be nice if someone hacks the waiver wire and makes it available to "Seagull Leaks"

Lol.

civ - long story short you put virtually your entire team on waivers in August. Because only if they clear waivers can you trade them..BUT

If anyone claims a guy you put on waivers, you can STILL pull them back. So there is absolutely no risk in putting a guy on waivers. (So this is called reclaimable waivers - you can reclaim the guy if he is claimed.)

Now IF a guy gets claimed and you are interested in trading them or you are interested in a guy on the claiming team, you can talk about a trade.

Also, once a guy does clear waivers altogether, then he can freely be traded.

For example, last year Jay Bruce was put on waivers by the Mets and cleared (because no one wanted to pick up the money on his contract). So then the Indians could work out a deal with the Mets even though they didn't claim him. They dealt minor leaguer Ryder Ryan for him.

A lot of guys do clear waivers (no one claims them) so there is still a lot of options for trades in August.

OK: go ahead and waive them all!

Lol, since it's reclaimable, they basically do that. You never know who might get through who you might not have expected. It's a no lose.

I assume there is (computer) paperwork involved so they needn't bother waiving Lindor, Ramirez, Kluber and those kinds.

You can also let a team claim a player on waivers. For example, if Kipnis is put on waivers, and some team puts in a claim (most likely to try to prevent him from being traded to a rival), the Tribe can say OK you've got him and his contract.

Correct!

Which is why guys like him with crap contracts easily slip through.

Once Kipnis passes through waivers, then he could be dealt in theory for an outfielder who has a contract another team doesn't love.

So one bad contract for another - but with an upgrade as far as at least addressing a positional need.

At one time there was very rarely waiver trades made that were a big impact. But with money what it is now and teams wanting to rid contracts there are some good impact players that get dealt. Verlander to Houston last year for example. And we got Bruce too.

So we could still feasibly get a good player this month.

Pregame minutiae: Tito & Miller


Prior to Friday’s game against the Angels, both Indians manager Terry Francona and reliever Andrew Miller (activated from the disabled list) met with media. Here are the highlights of their Q&As.

Indians manager Terry Francona

Q: Can you walk us through the decision to designated Zach McAllister for assignment?

Francona: “Andrew’s active, so we had to do something. It was a hard decision and we didn’t really want to lose anybody, but we just felt like it was the right baseball decision to make. So, we talked to Mac today. He was really professional and my guess is somebody’s going to claim him. And the only time we’ll ever root against him is when we face him, because he’s a great kid and he’s a hard worker. As excited as you are to get Andrew back, you have that where you talk to a kid that you care about, it’s hard. So, that’s not the funnest way to start your day.”

Q: What’s the plan with Miller out of the chute?

Francona: “The first week to 10 days especially… He doesn’t want to be on a schedule, because that’s kind of what he was doing in the Minor Leagues. But, it’s more important to pitch him now, so you might see him come in a game if we’re losing, because we want to pitch him to get him built up and get him on a roll. So, you might see him pitch in some situations that may not typically be what he would pitch in.”

Q: Did you talk to Miller about any frustrating aspects of his rehab assignment?

Francona: “I didn’t really ask him about the frustrating part. I mean, I think we knew he needed to pitch and we kind of almost gave him a regular Spring Training. He had eight appearances. So, he should have a chance to come into a game and not feel naked. Now, we know he’s not in mid-season form, but he’ll get there and that’ll be exciting when he does.”

Q: Did you have to fight the temptation to bring Miller back faster than this?

Francona: “Well, that’s why we waited as long as we did. And we still know we have some work to do, but we didn’t rush him back by any means.”

Q: Are you looking forward to being able to use your relievers the way you want to use them in terms of matching up?

Francona: “Yeah, it gets exciting. It gets exciting. Just having Andrew back is exciting and we know it might not be mid-season form yet, but he’ll get there. You start thinking about shortening games, and some of those guys back at the end there can do that.”

Q: You had a meeting with the players today. What was the message to the team?

Francona: “I had taken some notes over the trading deadline and now it’s the first time where everybody’s in the same room and that’s going to be our team. I just wanted to tell them that this group, our goal is not to be good, it’s to be special. That’s really basically what it is. We have the ability to be special, we just have to go do it. … It just seemed like a good day to do it.”

Q: Jose Ramirez won the AL Player of the Month for July. It seems like more and more people are realizing just how good he is…

Francona: “I think every player knows for sure. He started the All-Star Game, so I don’t think it’s a surprise to anybody. And I don’t think it’ll be his last. I hope he gets August. He’s a pretty special player and when you’re that special, you start to get awards. He’s going to accumulate a lot of them.”

Q: We saw the update on Tyler Naquin (out 6–10 weeks after right hip surgery), but how tough of a blow is this after all the other injuries?

Francona: “But we knew, whether he had surgery or not, the timetable was going to be just about identical. So, that was I think why they elected to have surgery. So, when he does come back, he’s not going to have to worry about this happening again. It actually made a lot of sense. And we could see him back this year. I don’t think that’s out of the question. And he seems to be in real good spirits.”

Andrew Miller

Q: What changed in your recent Minor League rehab outings compared to some of the earlier ones?

Miller: “Just time. I think you’ve just kind of got to make every step. We had a nice plan in place. I feel like I’ve checked a lot of boxes. The next box is to go out there and have success in a big league game. Physically, I feel great. I feel like the time off was almost like a Spring Training coming back and things got progressively better, which is what you look for. The last couple outings were good. Back-to-back was a good test. I came out of it feeling good and throwing the ball well. I’m excited. I feel good. I’m going to try to slow everything down and go out and pitch well tonight.”

Q: Were you focused on something specific rather than just the results?

Miller: “Part of it is a feel. But, just command. The last couple of times out I threw the ball where I needed to. I threw a lot of strikes. I was ahead of hitters and that’s when I know I’m having success. Part of it’s a feel thing. There’s times when you go out and maybe don’t feel very good, but everything kind of goes where it’s supposed to. I think I’m past that. The results were kind of mirroring the way I felt. I felt I had checked those boxes and had success and had something positive to leave down there. And I’m excited to pitch in these games.”

Q: The bullpen looks a little different than last time you were active. What’s your mind-set now that you’re joining a group that now has Brad Hand and Adam Cimber?

Miller: “I’ve watched every game. I’ve been around them when they’re at home. I think we have a chance to be a strength of a really good team. Maybe we weren’t as strong as we wanted to be at the start of the year. I don’t think it was for lack of ability or effort or intention or anything. Things maybe didn’t go our way, and everybody kind of kept grinding it out. But, between the new guys and the way guys have been throwing the ball lately, hopefully I come back and jump in and add to it. I think we have a chance to be a really important part of this team.”

Q: How tough was it to sit back and watch the games?

Miller: “There’s two sides to that coin. It’s tough, especially when the bullpen’s struggling. I want to do everything I can to be a part of that and help turn things around. But, at the same time, for the most part, we’re winning a lot of games. So ,it’s fun to watch that. It’s fun to watch guys come in and have success. You mentioned the new guys. They’ve fit in pretty seamlessly. It hasn’t been that horrible to watch. Personally, on any level it’s not fun to sit out and not be able to contribute, but we have a good team. I think we’re building in the right direction.”

Q: Did you ever fight the urge to want to speed up the comeback?

Miller: “We put a plan in place between talking to Carl [Willis] and Atch [Scott Atchison] to Tito and the training staff and front office. I think everybody kind of put their heads together. Fortunately, we all had the same thoughts. There wasn’t a lot of back-and-forth other than make sure we do it the right way and check a bunch of different boxes to make sure we feel like I’m ready to come back. And I feel like we did that.”

Q: Was it better to take the long-view in this situation?

Miller: “Yeah, I don’t want to miss any time, but I feel like the team has done pretty well and it’s important for me to get back and pitch the way I’m capable of. I’ve pitched when I’m not 100 percent, and it was getting pretty hard. So, we wanted to make sure I came back strong, crisp and ready to go. Ideally, we have a lot more business to take care of. But, you want to be sharp at the end of the year, because this team has very high aspirations, and the goal is to win more than just the division in the regular season.”

Q: Is there enough season left for you to get on a roll?

Miller: “I think as a reliever, thing are a roller coaster some times. I’d love to come out and pitch great right out of the gate, and carry that all the way through to the last game of the season. I think there’s certainly enough time to keep working. I told that to [Indians president of baseball operations Chris Antonetti] and Tito, that I feel both physically and mechanically that I’m in a spot I really like, and I think both of those will get better.”

Q: What’d you think of the Browns-themed jersey you had to wear with Lake County?

Miller: (laughs) “They were interesting. They’re actually pretty comfortable. I sent a picture to Tony Amato, the clubhouse manager here, and he got a kick out of them. I won’t respond with what I responded back to him, but certainly locals appreciated them.”

Q: What are some of the challenges a player faces when on a Minor League rehab? The hitters at Class A are going to be taking a much different approach when they see Andrew Miller on the mound, compared to those in Triple-A…

Miller: “Yeah, part of it is the same game. You don’t want to make excuses. I think the first five games, I threw to five different catchers. You get spoiled up here knowing Yan and ‘Berto so well. Fortunately for me, I pitched one game in Akron and one in Lake County, but I was comfortable in Columbus. I think that level is pretty close to here, those guys are pretty good. I think I threw to [Eric] Haase maybe four times, and he’s really good. That was kind of a treat for me. That helped me kind of settle in the last few innings and really accomplish what I was looking to accomplish, which was just pitching well.

“But, the lighting is different. You go in… I don’t like being scripted and knowing when I’m going to pitch, and those games tend to be, ‘Go out the sixth inning,’ or, ‘As soon as the starter’s done, you got this.’ Or even, ‘You’re pitching on Tuesday.’ As a reliever, you like to be caught off guard, so I think there’s a challenge to it and some guys are better than others. It’s not something I don’t hope to have to experience much more in my career.

“But, I think at the end of the day, I accomplished what I needed to and I’m thankful for all of those guys taking time and doing what they can to make me comfortable. But, it seemed like Columbus was the best place for me.”​

— JB

Highlighted the Haase line for you HB



It does show though that which catcher a pitcher throws to is important to them - he didn't hesitate to point that out.

Great in depth interview which includes waivers:

What it’s like for a front office leading up to (and after) the July 31 trade deadline


By Zack Meisel 6h ago 2

Mike Chernoff​ fell asleep​ at 2:30 a.m. last​ Tuesday, a mere 13.5​ hours before the​ non-waiver​ trade deadline.
Chernoff woke​​ up at 6 a.m., with some help from his 1-year-old daughter. In advance of one of the more chaotic days of the year for a major-league general manager, 3.5 hours of sleep must suffice.
Trade season has its peaks and valleys. Teams tend to start their homework after the conclusion of the amateur draft in early June. They spend six weeks gathering intel on potential targets and on their own prospects, while monitoring which teams might wind up as buyers, sellers or neither.

The Indians and Padres completed the Brad Hand swap July 19, which allowed the Indians to focus on addressing their outfield as the trade deadline approached. When July 31 arrived, a group of Tribe front-office members sat in a war room, called opposing teams’ decision-makers, negotiated the terms of potential deals and evaluated their options.

There are lulls throughout the process, but it all set up for a frantic Tuesday as the clock ticked toward 4 p.m. ET.

In the end, the Indians swung three trades: the one for Hand and Adam Cimber, one for Leonys Martín and one for outfield prospect Oscar Mercado. Chernoff recently spoke with The Athletic about the process of preparing for the trade deadline, what the day is like and how teams can still complete trades in August.

ZM: You guys completed the trade with the Padres on July 19. How much did that simplify things at the deadline?

MC: I wouldn’t say simpler is the right word, but we were able to address a need early in the process, so we could shift our focus on our needs. There have been times at the deadline where we’ve had multiple needs and you’re juggling a lot of different things at the same time. Things can be really complicated, just because your mind is on a thousand things at the same time. Because we addressed the bullpen much earlier in the process, we could really shift our focus to, “How do we help the outfield?”

ZM: Is deadline day as chaotic as one would think?

MC: It is. The days leading up to it, it gets more and more chaotic. The volume of phone calls increases. On Tuesday, the morning was actually relatively quiet. Once you get to around noon, the teams that you’re locked in with — actually, Monday night got super busy. Things started to speed up for us. It slowed down again Tuesday morning. And then Tuesday between 12 and 4, it’s just a constant, chaotic, phone call after phone call with teams and GMs to see if there’s that last push you can make to potentially get a deal done.

ZM: There are likely multiple teams in on every player and then your team is in on multiple players, so how do you sort through all of that — where you stand in each negotiation and what option best suits your needs?

MC: At a base level, you have needs and you want to improve your team, but you want to give up as little as you possibly can. You have to constantly balance the, “When are you ready to strike?” kind of deal, versus, “Can you get that guy for lesser value?” At some point, in order to do a deal, you have to give up some level of value, so you have to be willing to strike somewhere. But the tradeoff you’re always making is, “Based on our other alternatives, should we push it a little bit further to try to get the value to be a little lower?”

ZM: Do you go in with a hierarchy or a weighted list of the players you want and the cost for each?

MC: If you were to compare a trade on the pro side versus the draft, it’s way more complex on the pro side. In the draft, you stack your board and try to take the best player and you can just put that value equation on there. On the pro side, there are always other things you can do and no two players are the same in how they impact your major-league team. So it’s more complex. You can’t just compare the left-handed center fielder to the right-handed-hitting right fielder as apples to apples. They have different impacts on your team. Or, the right-handed reliever versus the left-handed reliever, it’s harder to compare those in which guy you want. You may potentially want both of them, and on the pro side, you can get both of them. It’s not like you just have one pick in the draft. It’s sort of a juggling, balancing act. How do we make all the pieces fit and get these guys at the right price?

ZM: Typically, you have a front-office member on each road trip. That wasn’t the case for the series in Minnesota last week. Did you pack everyone into one conference room and evaluate everything as the deadline approached?

MC: There are about 10 or 12 of the people on the fourth floor in our baseball ops department, between analytics and scouting and our player development guys who are locked in on trades and are all in a room, hashing things out or reaching out to scouts out in the field and analyzing stuff for us. Then we have a network of 10 or 12 pro scouts who are out in the field, gathering information that we’re constantly hearing from. And a group of other people in our organization who we’re reaching out to, whether it’s Tito or ownership or some of our other scouts who are out there.

ZM: Does it reach a point in which you feel you have the trade in the bag, or do you always have the thought in the back of your mind that some other team might top you at the last minute?

MC: Yeah, you always have that thought. Until the deal is done, nothing is done. In almost every case, you agree to the deal and then you review the medicals and the other team reviews the medicals and you don’t know what’s going to happen. There’s sort of a gentlemen’s agreement that, if you’re in the medical review process, you’re not going to negotiate other deals. But if something were to happen during that medical review process on either side and the deal collapses, you then have to shift gears really quickly. Nothing’s done until it’s done.

ZM: You guys made two major-league trades and a minor-league one, pretty standard in terms of quantity. Does it ever feel like, given all of the work you put in and the players you consider and the stress and chaos involved, that making two or three deals isn’t enough to be worthwhile?

MC: It’s an interesting thing. We write, organizationally, 7,000 scouting reports a year. And we acquire, like, 70 players a year. So you’re talking about 1 percent of the things you do. One percent. We probably had 300 phone calls in negotiations with teams and we made three trades. But that’s just the work you have to put in to make a trade. It’s not as easy as fantasy football, where you send two emails and you have a trade. It’s a long, drawn-out process, but anything you can do to help your major-league team or your organization, it’s worth that effort.

ZM: And, at least, you have that knowledge for down the line.

MC: Brad Hand is the perfect case. We had negotiated in the past with San Diego and talked about a lot of their players. And, specifically, about Hand in the past. So we had done a lot of legwork on guys that they liked and we had done a lot of the work in digging into him and having our scouts watched him, we were much more prepared and in a position to act quickly on him because of the work we had done.

ZM: How much more difficult is it to complete a trade in August?

MC: The easiest way to get a guy in August is to have him clear waivers, which, guys on big contracts often clear waivers. Jay Bruce, Coco Crisp. And then you just make an unrestricted trade for them later. When guys clear waivers, it’s as if there’s no trade deadline. We can get them at any time up until Aug. 31 and then still have them on the postseason roster.

ZM: How much of an advantage, then, is it to be sitting ahead of your American League postseason competition in terms of waiver priority?

MC: The place where it’s an advantage is that, if you claim a guy, you can block all of those other teams. As soon as we claim a guy, no other team ahead of us in the standings in the American League has access to that player. Ninety-nine percent of the time, we wouldn’t trade for a guy. You put Lindor on waivers. We’re not going to trade him. But some team is going to claim him, potentially. The balancing act is that guys on big contracts who might not be a fit for us but are for the other contenders, we’re in a position to potentially block those teams from getting them, yet we could also get stuck with a guy who isn’t a fit for us, making a big salary. If that team just doesn’t pull him back and we get him, you potentially get stuck. And you see that happen every once in a while, where the other team lets him go and you’re stuck with a guy.

ZM: And then you have to report to the owner’s office …

MC: And explain to Paul Dolan why we’re spending all of his money. It doesn’t mean we’re always going to claim those guys. Sometimes we have to make the choice and live with the fact that a team ahead of us in the standings could potentially get that guy.


Jay Bruce provided the Indians with a nice boost after they acquired him last August. (Gregory Shamus/Getty Images)
ZM: Do you think it will be an active August? Is that something you can tell ahead of time?

MC: It felt like there was a big flurry of deals that happened this year. Last year, it seemed like there were fewer impact deals and then there was a lot of August action. I don’t know if that will mean there’s less action in August this year, because there was that big flurry of impact deals. I couldn’t predict what’s going to happen. I think there’s a lot of action behind the scenes in August on the waiver wire. What that will actually translate to in terms of trades, I have no idea.

ZM: So when there’s a report that a marquee player is on waivers, that isn’t a big deal.

MC: It’s meaningless. Almost every player will go through waivers, just because, why wouldn’t you put the guy on and just revoke the claim? For the best players in the game, some of those guys will clear waivers and no one will claim them because they know there’s no chance that the team will trade them. So it’s hard to read into it when you start hearing whether guys are claimed or not, because it’s happening with basically every player.

ZM: How long do you have to work something out if you do claim a player?

MC: Seventy-two hours. Ninety-nine percent of the time you claim a guy, there’s not even a conversation. You can claim as many guys as you want. You have to be locked in, just because you could get stuck with a guy. You can’t take any claim you make for granted.

ZM: It does buy time for teams that can’t decide whether to buy or sell.

MC: Yeah. A guy like Jay Bruce, who’s on a somewhat big contract, but is in the last year of that contract, he didn’t get traded at the deadline. Often, that’s a player who — him or Coco Crisp the year before — will clear waivers, and if that team falls out of contention at some point in August, is a guy who would’ve been traded earlier, potentially, at the deadline if that team knew it would be in that position. But they can wait until August in that case. Jay Bruce cleared waivers and they could trade him in an unrestricted way. So it almost made no difference that there was a trade deadline.

Translation to me - I won't be surprised if they pick up an outfielder in August.