SB Nation User Blog: KevinV

Brandon Phillips Nibbling On Pretzels While In Field

KevinV — Sat, 20 Jun 2009 15:59:17 -0000

Brandon Phillips Nibbling On Pretzels While In Field

These are a few of my favorite things...

KevinV — Wed, 29 Apr 2009 01:00:58 -0000

Went to the game Monday night. It was a great night with a few ups and downs.

Downs:

Realizing how true this video is, by unintentionally experiencing no less than 6 items from it.
Half empty stadium where Indians fans were dangerously close to being out numbered by Sawx fans. I have serious worries about our budget now..
Sitting behind a particularly obnoxious group of the above mentioned Boston fans.
Wood.

Ups:

Grady.
Perfect Weather.
Having and using the option of deciding to go to a 7:05pm MLB game at 6:15pm.
Some agitated guy walked up to us at the box office and gave us 2 kick ass free seats in section 109. View below.
Not-so-subtly mocking one of the most obnoxiously vocal of the female Boston fans that we sat behind for the awful extensions that my gf was kind enough to point out.
Watching said fan hastily remove the extensions from her head and shove them in to her purse with out bothering to leave her seat. Picture below.

Like i said, overall it was a great night.

Castrovince: Marte Clears Waivers

KevinV — Wed, 25 Feb 2009 19:56:58 -0000

Castrovince: Marte Clears Waivers

I might be on my own here, but I am happy about this. I wasn't quite ready to throw him away.

Rotoauthority finds no relationship between weightloss & performance improvement.

KevinV — Mon, 05 Jan 2009 19:14:04 -0000

Before I started writing this, I assumed there would be little if any correlation between spring training reports (of weight loss), and increased level of performance. Most players chronicled here, actually did worse.

(I was going to make this a FanShot, but it wouldn't let me both quote and link)

After the recent Hafner-lite bar sighting, I thought this article might be of interest. 2008 Indians on the list include Garko, Victor and The Close, all having lost weight and having under performed in 2008.

Hafner's weight loss is due to his recovery from surgery. Whether he will keep it off longer term is unknown. Personally, I think his performance is going to be 98% determined by his health. If he comes back healthy, even if much lighter than his listed 240, he will be a big contributor.

But for those of you thinking that a leaner Hafner might be ideal, this is some evidence to the contrary.

Ty Wigginton Anyone?

KevinV — Mon, 15 Dec 2008 14:04:17 -0000

It seems that the Astros have Non-Tendered him. He was due to make $7-8M in 2009 from arbitration.

His numbers in Houston in 2008 were very strong, much stronger than I would expect in 2009. James predicts a drop to an OPS of .800, from .876 in 2008. His previous AL numbers were very Casey Blake-y. Defensively he seems average at 3B. He can even play a passable 2B.

I think signing him would be a decent move, giving us more depth at both of our weak positions and locking in slightly above league average offense at either position.

The downside would be that it would pretty much be the end of the line for Marte. While I personally don't want to give up on him forever yet, I think the FO already has.

Blake got $17.5M/3 years. I wouldn't want to give Wigginton 3 years, but I think I could stomach $13M/2 years. One year with a team option would be ideal.

Poll

Would you sign Ty Wiggington?

Not interested at all.

32 votes

Yes, if on a 1 year deal.

48 votes

I could stomach a 2 year deal.

46 votes

I would sign him for 3 or more years.

2 votes

128 votes | Poll has closed

Lacey Cakes to LAD @ $17.1M/3 Years

KevinV — Tue, 09 Dec 2008 18:59:57 -0000

Lacey Cakes to LAD @ $17.1M/3 Years

Phew!

We dodged a bullet on this one.

The Marlins: A good fit for a trade?

KevinV — Thu, 23 Oct 2008 18:42:16 -0000

Going in to the 2008 off season the Indians find them selves is need of another infielder. The Marlins find them selves with infielders Dan Uggla and Jorge Cantu in their arbitration years and have internal options waiting in the wings to replace them. The Marlins will not keep both, if either of them.

Dan Uggla, 2B:

Service Time Estimate: 3.000 Years

Fielding: Awful. Lowest rated 2B according to the 2007 Fielding Bible at -19 plays above an average 2B. Embarassed himself at the All Star game this year, committing 3 errors.

Hitting: He would would be an impact bat. He has 30+HR power. A free swinger, he struck out 123/167/171 over the last 3 years but his OPS+ was still 112/108/121 over that same time. He had a very strong .260/.360/.514 line in 2008.

Overall: I think that despite his flaws, he would a piece to build around for the next 3 years. If they could stomach Jhonny at 3B and Uggla at 2B defensively, we would get very solid production from our infield.

Price: High. He would probably cost a lot to acquire. He is under club control for another 3 years, is an All Star impact bat and is in his prime (age 28). Lots of teams would like a player like that. I think FLA is really willing to move him though, as they want to have a more defensive focus next year and probably will not want to pay his arbitration adjusted salary.

Jorge Cantu 2B/3B:

Service Time Estimate: 4.036 Years

Fielding: 2B: Well below average 2004-2006

3B: Below Average, but not a disaster in 2008.

Hitting: A career OPS+ of 110. Decent Power. Poor plate discipline. Doesn't walk very much and strikes out a high rate. He would probably give us Blake like production with a little more power.

Overall: He would be at least a solid stop gap at 3B. We would get passable defense with good production. I've given up on the Marte project for the moment, at least as far as starting goes. We need to contend now and we need production from 3B to contend. Cantu could provide a lot more production than Marte at this point.

Blake is our best FA 3B option and Cantu is clearly a better choice, being younger, having more power and costing much less both in years and dollars per year.

Price: More affordable than Uggla. He is also due for a pay bump, but is only under club control for another 2 years instead of 3.

Florida's wants:

Improve defensively.
OF's with speed.
Young Pitching

So what do we have that they might want?

First off, our biggest chip, Shoppach doesn't match with FLA at all. They have a good youngish catcher in Baker. Shoppach is also entering his arbitration years and will cost some actual currency to employ so we can forget about anything that involves him.

Gutz seems like a good fit, at least a piece in a trade. He had a disappointing year offensively last year, but is a defensive stud.

Trevor Crowe might also work. Speedy, young, & under club control. He came back solidly last year.

Pitching: We have a variety of young pitchers that they would want.

Prospects: We have reloaded our farm system nicely. I could see us moving some of our guys if we can next an everyday player.

Actual Trade Ideas:

It's hard to guess what players would be involved in a swap, especially when the Marlins would probably be at least partially looking for prospects. They might be willing to go pretty far down in the system for people one might not consider at first. But I might as well take a guess.

For Uggla:

I think there will be a lot of competition for him with the FA market being so thin. Would Gutz/Crowe + Sowers/Laffey + Meloan get it done? I'm hesitant to trade young controlled pitching, but if we can flip Shoppach for a starter, I'd be fine dealing one of our lefties. I might even include Atom Miller instead of Meloan if really pressed.

For Cantu:

I'm less enthusiastic about Cantu as a player, but I think the demand for him might also be lower. I think Gutz/Crowe + 2 lower level pitchers gets it done.

That's all I have at this point. I think acquiring either of these guys would be a good move for us. It's just a matter of how much FLA is asking.

Paul Byrd projected to be a Type B Free Agent

KevinV — Tue, 02 Sep 2008 18:43:34 -0000

Paul Byrd projected to be a Type B Free Agent

I hope the possible PTBNL is at least decent prospect. Otherwise the Indians probably didn't get enough for Byrd. I think a compensatory draft pick (probably in the #50 to #70 range) is worth more than the $2M salary savings.

LaPorta beaned in USA-China game

KevinV — Mon, 18 Aug 2008 16:15:18 -0000

LaPorta beaned in USA-China game

LaPorta was hit IN THE HEAD by a pitch in the top of the 7th inning of the 9-1 US win over China today. He seems like he is OK and was able to leave the field under his own power. The beaning was in retaliation for a home plate collision that he had with the Chinese catcher that knocked the catcher out of the game with a knee injury. LaPorta was one of five US players to be hit by a pitch.

The lone Chinese run in the game came on a solo HR where the hitter kept his right arm raised in the air the entire time he circled the bases.

Lefebvre really put together a class act organization over there. Nice job.

UPDATE: Hoynes is reporting that LaPorta suffered a concussion but apparently nothing more serious, based on a CAT scan and other tests. (Hat-tip to palcal.) It's not clear if he'll play again in these Olympics, but without him, Team USA wold be down to just one bench player. My guess is that he'll sit out the next game but will play in the medal round if we advance.

I also cleaned up the wording to clarify that China did not "bean" five different players, since "bean" means "hit in the head." [Jay]

Stephen Strasburg: 2009 #1 Overall Pick? Future Indian?

KevinV — Thu, 10 Jul 2008 02:59:05 -0000

Stephen Strasburg: 2009 #1 Overall Pick? Future Indian?

This guy looks pretty phenomenal so far. He'll probably be represented by Boras and everything. I really hope that wouldn't deter Shapiro.

Here's hoping our epic failure is enough to get him.