SB Nation User Blog: TheDanimal

One suck rookie involved in the Tribe's adjustment process is Friday starter David Huff ...

TheDanimal — Fri, 18 Sep 2009 19:05:50 -0000

One suck rookie involved in the Tribe's adjustment process is Friday starter David Huff ...

I know Huff has been a relative disappointment, but this sic from mlb.com just seems cruel.

came up with the word to describe Cleveland's bullpen: Zantacular

TheDanimal — Tue, 05 May 2009 19:28:45 -0000

came up with the word to describe Cleveland's bullpen: Zantacular

Keith Law's Twitter page

"The last thing I want to hear is that we have great players in the Minor Leagues. I don't care....

TheDanimal — Tue, 24 Feb 2009 22:50:33 -0000

"The last thing I want to hear is that we have great players in the Minor Leagues. I don't care. How about some great ones, right now, winning a ballgame?"

Bob Feller

Luckily for me, no matter what happens on the field, I have guys like Jeff Stevens and TJ Burton...

TheDanimal — Wed, 28 Jan 2009 18:19:27 -0000

Luckily for me, no matter what happens on the field, I have guys like Jeff Stevens and TJ Burton who helped me not only enjoy the time I spent in the minors but to make the most of it. I also can’t wait for the day where we can meet back up and discuss which Big League road city is the best.

Randy Newsom on personal relationships that are spawned by professional relationships.

KLaw's Top 100 Prospects

TheDanimal — Thu, 22 Jan 2009 19:24:58 -0000

KLaw's Top 100 Prospects

Most of this is in Insider, but here's a short synopsis of the Cleveland players who made the list.

13. Carlos Santana: "Given his tremendous control of the strike zone and above-average power, he has very little to do to turn into an average big league catcher, but there's a high probability that he develops into much more."

27. Matt LaPorta: "LaPorta is what he is (or what you thought he was, if you thought about him at all before this sentence): a slow, patient slugger, stuck at first base, whose power and on-base skills will make him a productive middle-of-the-order hitter and who is ready for the majors now."

58. Adam Miller: "At this point, he just needs to stay healthy for a full year, and if the way to do that is in one- and two-innings bursts three times a week, so be it."

61. Nick Weglarz: "Weglarz is one of the most disciplined hitters in the minors -- he's drawn three fewer walks than Lars Anderson the past two years in more than 100 fewer plate appearances -- and only his uncertain power potential keeps him out of the top quarter of this list."

66. David Huff: "Huff will sit 89-92 now and touch 94, and he still has an excellent changeup. He throws both a slider and a curve, with the slider now showing solid-average, but the curveball has a chance to become at least fringe-average although its slow rotation means it probably won't be plus."

If Brewers make the playoffs, Tribe chooses PTBNL

TheDanimal — Mon, 08 Sep 2008 16:19:43 -0000

If Brewers make the playoffs, Tribe chooses PTBNL

If the Brewers make the playoffs, the Indians get to choose the "player to be named" to complete the Sabathia deal. If the Brewers don't make the postseason, they get to choose the player they'll send the Indians.
...
The player to be named could come from a list of four players. Outfielder Michael Brantley and third baseman Taylor Green are the most talented players on the list.

Most depressing sentence of the day?

TheDanimal — Thu, 21 Aug 2008 14:41:19 -0000

Most depressing sentence of the day?

Jensen Lewis pitched the ninth for his fourth consecutive save. It's the most consecutive saves by a Tribe reliever this year.

More Tribe Trade Speculation from Olney

TheDanimal — Wed, 11 Jun 2008 17:03:49 -0000

C.C. Sabathia made pitching look easy Tuesday night, writes Jim Ingraham. The Indians have reportedly been scouting the Red Sox farm system, presumably in preparation for the possibility of trade talks with Boston about Sabathia. Let's play this scenario out a bit.

Here's how the Red Sox could rationalize a deal for Sabathia: They have a whole lot of depth in their farm system, and by adding Sabathia for the last two months and the postseason, they could strengthen an already deep rotation and apply a 6-foot-7, 300-pound hammer as they pursued their third championship in five years. They have the talent depth in their farm system to tell the Indians: Look, you can't have Justin Masterson, Jon Lester or Clay Buchholz, but we can make a deal built around others. Double-A pitcher Michael Bowden could be an interesting conversation piece, given his dominant showing for Portland.

And at the end of the year, the Red Sox could just offer Sabathia arbitration and let him walk away as a free agent and recoup two draft picks for the 2007 Cy Young Award winner. To repeat: All of that is pure speculation, and probably won't happen.

Some folks within the industry think that if Sabathia is traded, the Cubs will be the most aggressive in bidding for him. "They're going for it this year," said one GM. "Other teams are laying back and might not want to trade prospects, but the Cubs will."

http://insider.espn.go.com/espn/blog/index?name=olney_buster

I'm still naive enough to not want to consider trading C.C. yet.

But if we did trade him to the Red Sox, I would hope we would at least get a bat and an arm. Would Lowrie and Bowden be too much for half a season of C.C.?

The Cubs would seem to be more interesting. Maybe we could get Pie and a promising arm, like Gallagher . Is Vitters too far away to be of use for the Tribe?

We should really be focusing on trading with the Giants. It's been about five year's since Sabean's last great trade. Time to offer him Victor for Cain, Lincecum and Angel Villalona.

Olney: Hafner hasn't been the same since HBP

TheDanimal — Thu, 29 May 2008 15:17:30 -0000

Buster Olney seems to think that Pronk's struggles have something to do with getting hit [insider] by a Ron Mahay pitch.

There is a clear statistical crossroad in Travis Hafner's performance, dating back to the moment when Hafner was hit by a pitch thrown by Ron Mahay on April 25, 2007. The following numbers come courtesy of ESPN research monster Mark Simon:

In the 180 games since he was hit by Mahay:

BA: .243
HR: 23
RBI: 107
K: 145
AB: 635 (154-for-635)

He was hitting .373 with five homers and 15 RBIs that season, through and including the April 25 game.

In the year and month leading up to that at-bat, if you go from 2006 through that 2007 game in which he got hit …
Games: 147
BA: .317
HR: 47
RBI: 132
AB: 521
K: 125

That's just bizarre. Hafner bounced back pretty well from that pitch to the face from Buehrle. I can't imagine anything Ron Mahay brought could be any worse.

Josh Barfield thinks he would "absolutely" be a productive Major League player

TheDanimal — Tue, 27 May 2008 19:06:37 -0000

Josh Barfield thinks he would "absolutely" be a productive Major League player

A month ago, I would have said his .246/.290/.382 line in Buffalo disagrees with him. But now I would kill for a hitter to put up those numbers.