Luis Valbuena for cash? Why? Yeah, he may have topped out but to get a guy like that on, essentially, a minor league deal, is a good move for Toronto and not a smart one for the Indians. Look, it can't hurt the Blue Jays but might help them and can't help the Indians but might hurt them. The definition of a bad move, albeit not a Brian Giles for Ricardo Rincon move.
Mitch Talbot to Korea? How can you blame the guy? He obviously felt like his opportunties in the US in the future were limited. He was a fringe 5th starter now and, at best, a solid 5th starter. Let him make his money. His loss, while it hurts the bottom of the depth pool, is easily offset by signing a minor league free agent, if needed.
Why do other teams gobble up good minor league free agents and we bottom feed for what seems to be the umpteenth year in a row. Yeah, we brought in Duncan and Hannahan. But that was catching lightning in a bottle. You can always throw stuff against the wall and hope it sticks. But let's get in there earlier and get prime minor league FAs instead of waiting until they are all gone. Even with the Rule 5 draft looming, I still think it is worth the gamble to sign these guys now.
Glad to see Sarbaugh back, Still, I say, fire Acta, make Alomar Jr. the manager and make Sarbaugh the bench coach.
What about the winter meetings?
The rotation doesn't need any help.
The bullpen always needs help but I think we gamble on the guys we have.
The lineup needs help and I have already suggested ways to fix that.
Michael Brantley is a 4th outfielder. Shelly Duncan is a 25th man. This team needs more hitting. My requested moves of the off-season: bring in Jose Reyes, move Asdrubal Cabrera to 2nd and Jason Kipnis to LF and bring in Aramis Ramirez to play 3rd would probably only cost the Indians $120 million with Reyes costing $85 over 6 years and Ramirez costing $35 over 3 years. It is a bold move but I think, if we truly believe in Ubaldo Jimenez, they are the right moves. Yeah, Reyes' body may be giving out (maybe switching him to 2B down the road might make sense) and Ramirez may be on the downside of his career. It's a gamble. But, damn, we bought into Jimenez and gave away the top two prospects in our system for him. We need to maximize that investment by putting the right people around him and not going cheap as we have essentially, along with the changes brought by the new CBA, screwed the future up..
Our lineup would be:
Jose Reyes SS
Jason Kipnis LF
Shin Soo Choo RF
Aramis Ramirez 3B
Asdrubal Cabrera 2B
Carlos Santana C
Travis Hafner DH
Matt LaPorta 1B
Grady Sizemore CF
Our bench would be:
Lou Marson C
Jason Donald IF
Jack Hannahan 3B/1B
Michael Brantley OF
You would have to trade Duncan (not a big deal) and send Chisenhall back to the minors (to work on the OF and 1B, to make him more valuable), but I could live with that.
If you buy into the window of opportunity being close to closing, how can you buy into going cheap this winter?
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