Plutko trade and the roster

 Some clarity was gained in the roster today by the Indians trading Adam Plutko to the Orioles.   The Indians will receive cash or a player to be named later.   Normally these things end up being a cash transaction or a weak minor leaguer with no chance of making the majors.   

To use Francona's words, giving Plutko away is an irreversible situation.   That is, we lose Plutko and get little or nothing in return.   I know, Tito, its really bad when your words come back to bite you.   You kept Bauers because keeping Bradley meant that Bauers would have had to been put on waivers and he COULD have been lost for very little in cash.   The rationale was that Bradley had an option left and so we sent him to the minors.   

So, if we had kept Plutko and optioned Quantrill to the minors that would have been a reversible situation, right Tito?

Once again the Indians actions are incongruous with their words.   Bauers over Bradley so you don't given Bauers away for nothing.   Then you give Plutko away for, essentially, nothing when you could have just sent out Quantrill and let him get innings in Columbus.  

Plutko has given a lot more to the Indians and has more value, in my opinion, than Bauers does.

While losing Plutko is not the end of the world or even a major transaction, that's not the point.   For an organization based on integrity and straight talk, all we are getting this year is double talk and head-scratching decisions.   

Gamel, with very little CF experience (see today for an example of how he is not a CFer) over Zimmer

Bauers over Bradley

Giving Plutko away for nothing?

None of this makes us more competitive short- or long-term.  The good news is that only the Plutko move is irreversible.   Isn't that right, Tito?

Going into this season the team is weaker than it should be.   We will not win as many games as if Zimmer, Plutko and Bradley were on the team from the get go.   We will not be more competitive long term.

But, we will be able to delay the egg on our face from the Yandy Diaz trade.   We will be able to make the Clevinger trade haul look better.  Basically, our front office won't look as stupid.    Our front office and manager have made us a winning team for years and years.   But now there are some cracks in the dam and they are starting to do stupid things.  This, and a cheap owner, is how you end up losing with a team with its current talent level.   

Bottom line is that this team is good enough to finish 2-8 games over .500 this year.   We will see if they overperform or underperform that number.