SB Nation User Blog: Toxicadam

AL Gold Glove Winners

Toxicadam — Tue, 10 Nov 2009 21:14:54 -0000

AL Gold Glove Winners

C: Joe Mauer, Twins
1B: Mark Teixeira, Yankees
2B: Placido Polanco, Tigers
3B: Evan Longoria, Rays
SS: Derek Jeter, Yankees
OF: Torii Hunter, Angels
OF: Adam Jones, Orioles
OF: Ichiro Suzuki, Mariners
P: Mark Buehrle, White Sox

Christmas shopping: Top 50 Free Agents of 2009-2010

Toxicadam — Mon, 09 Nov 2009 05:30:26 -0000

See MLB trade rumors. The teams associated with the players are his guess at where they might go.

I would like to see us take Kiko Calero. Although, I worry about how he would perform in the AL.

16. Nick Johnson - Giants. A jolt of OBP at first base would do the Giants good. They were involved in talks for Johnson around the trade deadline.

24. Carl Pavano - Nationals. Back to his original organization? Pavano surprisingly managed 33 starts in '09, and his 4.16 xFIP reveals his 5.10 ERA was misleading.

33. Ben Sheets - Rangers. The Brewers and Rangers seem to be the most likely landing spots for Sheets, who had flexor tendon surgery in February and missed the '09 season. That injury caused a two-year deal with the Rangers to fall apart.

41. Mark DeRosa - Phillies. I debated flipping the DeRosa-Beltre predictions, as both the Phillies and Twins have a need at third base. DeRosa, a former Penn quarterback, has been linked to the Phils for years.

46. Jim Thome - Athletics. The A's should have their pick of affordable free agent DHs. Thome's not done; he hit .249/.366/.481 this year.

49. Kiko Calero - Rays. Calero's a health risk, so he might be cheap despite a 1.95 ERA and 10.4 K/9 in 60 innings this year. He's the type of reliever the Rays figure to add.

50. Rafael Betancourt - Rockies. I think the Rockies will work out a two-year deal to retain Betancourt as their setup man. It could include incentives for closing, should Huston Street depart after '10 or struggle before then.

Scott Lewis, two others removed from 40-man roster

Toxicadam — Sat, 31 Oct 2009 00:14:23 -0000

Scott Lewis, two others removed from 40-man roster

Gosling, Romero, and Scott Lewis were outrighted. Click the link for more details.

List of Winter Ball Participants

Toxicadam — Fri, 16 Oct 2009 17:14:33 -0000

List of Winter Ball Participants

Caracas: Hector Rondon, Jordan Brown, Cristo Arnal, shortstop Carlos Rivero and infielder Karexon Sanchez.

Venezuela Cardenales: Luis Valbuena, Infielder Niuman Romero, right-hander Steven Wright, Caribes de Oriente; right-hander Johan Pino, Tigres of Aragua.

Dominican Republic: Infielder Andy Marte and outfielder Jose Constanza, Azucareros del Este; right-hander Frank Herrmann, Aguilas; left-hander Juan Lara, Las Estrellas Orientales; outfielder Lucas Montero, Gigantes de San Francisco.

Puerto Rico: Catcher Roberto Perez and right-hander Neil Wagner, Mayaguez.

Colombia: Third baseman Giovanny Urshela, Cartagena.

Arizona Fall League: Outfielder Nick Weglarz, outfielder/first baseman Matt McBride, shortstop Carlos Rivero, right-hander Zach Putnam, right-hander Carlton Smith, right-hander Connor Graham and right-hander Josh Judy, Peoria Saguaros.

Arizona Paralella League: Right-handers Rob Bryson, Joey Mahalic, Michael Pontius and Dave Roberts, left-hander Chris Jones, catcher Alex Castillo, first baseman Beau Mills, outfielders Matt Brown, Tim Fedroff and infielder/outfielder Adam Davis. They play for the Indians entry in the league.

Cabrera and C. Perez have minor surgery.

Toxicadam — Fri, 09 Oct 2009 07:24:16 -0000

Cabrera and C. Perez have minor surgery.

(AP)—Indians shortstop Asdrubal Cabrera(notes) and reliever Chris Perez(notes) have undergone surgical procedures since the season ended.

The team said Cabrera had an arthroscopic operation on his right elbow. He will begin therapy immediately and will remain in Cleveland for at least the next month. Cabrera batted .308 with six homers and 68 RBIs in 131 games this season.

Perez had a loose bone and cyst removed from the back of his ankle. He will begin his normal offseason strength and conditioning program in December. He was 0-1 with a 4.32 ERA in 32 games after coming over in a trade from St. Louis.

Top Giants prospect charged with murder

Toxicadam — Tue, 22 Sep 2009 03:25:20 -0000

Top Giants prospect charged with murder

SANTO DOMINGO, Dominican Republic (AP)—A top prospect for the San Francisco Giants was charged with murder in the death of a 25-year-old man last weekend at a bar in his Caribbean homeland.

Angel Villalona, who received a club-record $2.1 million bonus when he was signed by the Giants in 2006, wore a bulletproof vest Monday to his hearing at a court in the city of La Romana. He pleaded innocent to the murder charge.

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Baseball America had Angel as the #3 prospect in their system going into the 2009 season. He has tremendous raw power, but incredibly raw in every other skill.

LGFT - Restoring the Rosters

Toxicadam — Thu, 10 Sep 2009 04:04:16 -0000

LGFT - Restoring the Rosters

Here's a fun exercise where a guy takes a look (and ranks) every team based on players they have drafted.

Indians rank 13th overall. We get hurt by our lack of starting pitching. Direct link here.

Sizemore being shut down early.

Toxicadam — Fri, 04 Sep 2009 19:07:54 -0000

Sizemore being shut down early.

Grady is not in tonight's lineup, Brantley is leading off and playing center, Lonnie Soloff will be speaking to the media at 4:30.

PD reporting it also.

Keep Eric Wedge for 2010 (No, seriously).

Toxicadam — Wed, 02 Sep 2009 16:01:07 -0000

1) Our recent failures are not his fault.

Wedge can only fire the bullets put into his gun. The past two seasons have been disasterous because of injuries and abysmal bullpen performances. In 2008, the team actually had an okay start (something he is often knocked about) but soon had an end of May/early June swoon because of a rash of injuries and poor bullpen performance. 2009's story has been beaten to death, no need to rehash here.

2) Wedge has a proven track record of performing well with young players.

From his time in Buffalo, and the early years of coaching the Tribe, he has succeeded helping players perform up to (and sometimes exceeding) their expectations. While he shows favoritism (sometimes to the detriment of a select few players), that is inherent to any manager we are going to hire.

3) Wedge is not afraid to eliminate cancerous players from the roster.

It takes a brave manager to let players go, however skilled they may be, who are having a debilitating effect on the overall team concept.

4) Wedge has improved certain aspects of his managing style through the years.

This is strictly observation, but from bullpen management, to playing "small ball", to arranging the proper lineups. Eric Wedge has improved at a slow steady rate through the years.

5) No credible former player has spoke out against Eric Wedge.

Aside from a few infamous players, no other players (past or present) have thrown Eric Wedge under the bus. In fact, many of them have nothing but praise for him and his staff even after they leave. You would be hard pressed to find anything but praise for Eric Wedge among "baseball people" around the league.

6) The grass is NOT greener on the other side, in fact, it might be looking a little brown in spots.

With Shapiro here, given his track record, you can be absolutely sure that the next manager will be much like Wedge. Younger, unproven and most likely already in the organization. Does Luvello or Skinner really inspire you to want to see Wedge ousted? 2 years ago you could hardly find a Yankee fan that didn't want Torre fired, now they can't wait to run Giradi out of town. Is this the climate we want for our team?

7) 2010 is a non-contending year.

The only constant among young talent is that it is ridiculously up and down. The former future all-stars look like busts and the busts have career years. Of course, the stars could all align and produce a magical summer .. but there is no reason why that couldn't happen under Wedge just as much as any other first-year manager.

With that said, what is the harm in allowing Wedge to run out his contract (and give him one more shot at a full season) and see what managerial choices are available at the end of 2010? Is there somebody out there we have to jump on in the off-season of 2009 that might get snatched up?

So, that's it. 7 reasons to keep Eric Wedge for one more year. Granted the two biggies are that 1) our recent misfortunes are organizational and 2) there is no one out there that we HAVE TO get this off-season and 2010 is largely a year-long spring training season. So it may behoove the organization to delay their choice one more off-season because the next manager is likely to be a long-termer like Wedge and Hargrove were.

Give Wedgie one more chance. He can win your heart over again. Even noted baseball scholar and sage, Ken Rosenthal agrees:

One rival general manager says the only way the Indians will fire manager Eric Wedge at the end of the season is if ownership forces GM Mark Shapiro to make a change.

Some good things are happening with the Indians, who are 21-16 since July 23. But then, some good things happened last season after the pressure lifted, and the team went 32-17 down the stretch to finish .500

Wedge does not deserve to be fired — Shapiro is more responsible for the Indians' 2009 collapse — but the manager faces two problems: The Indians' slow starts the past two years and a restless fan base that never has embraced him.

If the Indians fire Wedge, good luck finding someone better. Wedge has remained a loyal, dutiful soldier through the Indians' trades of CC Sabathia, Cliff Lee and Victor Martinez. His teams have never quit, and he would become the hot manager-in-waiting the moment he was unemployed.

Poll

Give Wedge one more year.

Yes

56 votes

@%# NO!

130 votes

Shut up, Mariah.

38 votes

224 votes | Poll has closed

Cliff Lee interview.

Toxicadam — Thu, 27 Aug 2009 06:31:22 -0000

Cliff Lee interview.

Probably the most candid he has ever been. Cliff also touches on his demotion to AAA and being left off of the playoff roster and how he felt about it

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DW: After the trades, Indians President Paul Dolan said you were not going to re-sign with the Indians after 2010. Did Dolan present it accurately?

CL: They told my agent that when we got to spring training this year, we'll talk about an extension. We get there, the first half of spring goes by...nothing. We get down toward the end, they call me in the office and tell me, 'Never mind. We've changed our minds.'

At that point, I told them: 'For me, now's the time. After this year, I'm going to be one year from free agency, and you're going to have to pick up my option if I'm pitching well. Otherwise, I'm a free agent. It doesn't make sense to do it one year out when I just watched what CC did.'