The Indians started the off season by firing their manager and his coaches, but keeping most of the other front office personnel in place. They staged some what of an extensive manager search and ended on former Washington Nationals’ skipper Manny Acta.

There was a big deal made in Cleveland about bringing Bobby Valentine in for an interview as well as some discussion about Indian legend Mike Hargrove coming back to coach the Tribe. As it turned out, the Indians didn’t want to pay the money it would take to pry Valentine from Japan and Hargrove probably didn’t want to come back to a team that is continually trading away their best players.

Another name in the discussion was former Tribe third baseman Travis Fryman, who currently coaches one of the team’s Minor League clubs. His interview seemed more as a courtesy from the Tribe then a feeling of genuine interest.

So, Acta is now in charge of the ball club on Lake Erie. Many have questioned why Mark Shapiro picked Acta, who got fired from one of the only teams that have been worse than the Indians in the past few years. Speculation has it that Shapiro wanted someone who wouldn’t question his moves, which seem to be primarily decided by ownership, and who would be willing to coach whatever players were there at not a very high price.

Former Indian C Sandy Alomar Jr.

One of the traditions in Northeast Ohio is for fans to want to bring back anyone and everyone who had a hand in the Central Division winning teams in the 1990s. Well, they got their wish this off season as Sandy Alomar Jr. was signed on as a coach. This hire may have received more press action and comments in the area then the hiring of Acta did. In retrospect, this was by far the best pickup the Tribe made all off season.

Following in line with moves that should be a trade mark of the Indians, Shapiro traded away a few more starters for some players to be named later and continually insists that the Tribe is headed in the right direction. There have not been any free agency acquisitions to publicize; in fact, the Tribe has virtually done everything possible to stay out of the news since ending the regular season.

There was some excitement around the Hall of Fame voting when former Indian Roberto Alomar was believed to be a lock to get in, possible wearing an Indians hat. Unfortunately, Tribe fans couldn’t even console in that good news as Alomar came up just short, and will have to try again next year.

With Spring Training just around the corner, the Indians are starting to try to find a way to possibly get some people inside of the park, but seriously, how many Grady Sizemore promotions can one team have? The Indians were at the bottom of the league in attendance last year, and things don’t look to be getting any better.

Related posts:

1. The Comings and Goings in Cleveland
2. Indians Hire Melendez as Area Scouting Supervisor
3. Indians Sign Former Cub Closer Wood

Here are a few links to the trades and signings this Hot Stove Season from teams who are either not currently covered here or haven’t been covered in a while…in alphabetical order and from the blogs currently on my blogroll. If you want to be added to my team blogrolls just send me an e-mail with a link to the blog.

Chicago White Sox

The Chicago White Sox acquire Mark Teahan from the Royals

The Chicago White Sox re-sign Mark Kotsay

The Chicago White Sox sign Omar Vizquel to a 1-year deal

The Chicago White Sox sign Andruw Jones

Cleveland Indians

Castrovince: Indians Name Manny Acta Manager

Tim Belcher named the new Indians pitching coach

Tolman, Radinsky, Smith added to Acta’s Staff

Sandy Alomar Jr. returning to Tribe

Transactions: Shoppach Traded

Florida Marlins

Scott Proctor gets a new gig

Hermida Shipped Out to Boston

Texas Rangers

Salt hurt in winter league.

Related posts:

1. Baseball News, Tweets & More
2. Baseball News, Tweets & More
3. Baseball News, Tweets & More: Monday pm

We will be raffling off 9 MLB team keychains. There will be links below to the WholesaleKeychain.com page of the 9 teams (these links will open up in a new tab or page) selected for this raffle.

There will be at least 1 team representing all 6 divisions! I looked up the Baseball Reflections.com demographics to find the cities that have the most Baseball Reflections readership, per the AW Stats (our site stats counter).

The winners will have their choice of keychains from that team’s page and if it is an engravable keychain, WholesaleKeychain.com will engrave 3 lines up to 11 characters per line for you, too!

So, without further ado, here are the teams:

AL

East:

Boston Red Sox

New York Yankees

Central:

Cleveland Indians

West:

Texas Rangers

NL

East:

New York Mets

Central:

Chicago Cubs

St. Louis Cardinals

West:

LA Dodgers

SF Giants

Here’s how this will work: For each dollar donated to Baseball Reflections between Sunday, 8/9/09 and Sunday, 8/23/09 you will receive a virtual raffle ticket to win 1 of the 9 MLB keychains listed in the promotion above! Please specify which team keychain you are buying a raffle ticket for in the notes section on the screen you make your donation from.

You can make donations for this raffle by clicking on this button below:

If you have any questions, please feel free to shoot me an e-mail at peter@baseballreflections.com.

But, if you don’t want to wait to buy a MLB keychain (others, too), please check out WholesaleKeychain.com and use the promotion code: breflections for 10% off your purchase now through the end of August!

Related posts:

1. A WholesaleKeychains.com Giveaway c/o Baseball Reflections
2. Reminder: Keychain Raffle Has Only 8 Days Left!
3. Baseball Reflection’s MLB Keychain Raffle

We will be raffling off 9 MLB team keychains. There will be links below to the WholesaleKeychain.com page of the 9 teams (these links will open up in a new tab or page) selected for this raffle.

There will be at least 1 team representing all 6 divisions! I looked up the Baseball Reflections.com demographics to find the cities that have the most Baseball Reflections readership, per the AW Stats (our site stats counter).

The winners will have their choice of keychains from that team’s page and if it is an engravable keychain, WholesaleKeychain.com will engrave 3 lines up to 11 characters per line for you, too!

So, without further ado, here are the teams:

AL

East:

Boston Red Sox

New York Yankees

Central:

Cleveland Indians

West:

Texas Rangers

NL

East:

New York Mets

Central:

Chicago Cubs

St. Louis Cardinals

West:

LA Dodgers

SF Giants

Here’s how this will work: For each dollar donated to Baseball Reflections between Sunday, 8/9/09 and Sunday, 8/23/09 you will receive a virtual raffle ticket to win 1 of the 9 MLB keychains listed in the promotion above! Please specify which team keychain you are buying a raffle ticket for in the notes section on the screen you make your donation from.

You can make donations for this raffle by clicking on this button below:

If you have any questions, please feel free to shoot me an e-mail at peter@baseballreflections.com.

But, if you don’t want to wait to buy a MLB keychain (others, too), please check out WholesaleKeychain.com and use the promotion code: breflections for 10% off your purchase now through the end of August!

Related posts:

1. A WholesaleKeychains.com Giveaway c/o Baseball Reflections
2. Reminder: Keychain Raffle Has Only 8 Days Left!
3. Reminder: MLB Keychain Raffle

At the same token, the Indians are fortunate that they play in probably the weakest division in the majors where many believe that it will probably take all of 88 wins to be the champion.

General Manager Mark Shapiro has tried just about everything to try to get this thing turned around. He has called up players from the minors, changed the roles of some of the players already on the team and even signed some people off the street in an attempt to right the bullpen.

The constant problem throughout this season has been the bullpen. Although there were spells when the starting pitching was horrible (the first week or so), or when the hitters couldn’t buy a run (the first week of May), the bullpen has been the largest area of concern thus far.

One of the major moves that was made a few weeks ago was to call up outfielder/first baseman Matt LaPorta (the major piece from last season’s CC Sabathia deal) to get some major league experience. Despite grumblings that he would be better off in AAA because he needed more seasoning and would be able to play more consistently, but since the corner outfield positions were not producing, Shapiro made the move. LaPorta was not able to play consistently for a small amount of time because of a players only meeting where it was decided that the players who made the team out of Spring Training were those who really deserved to play.

This news was reportedly given to manager Eric Wedge and he abided by the veterans’ wishes for a few days until those players still were not hitting and is only using LaPorta just about four times a week. While he did struggle when first called up, LaPorta has started to hit in the past week, and with some more time at first base, could be a reliable everyday player in the near future.

As stated earlier, the starting pitching at the beginning of the year was horrendous. The starters were averaging just over two innings per start through the first week of the season. This meant that the bullpen was being called on for lots of work which could have contributed to their fatigue at this point. For the time being, the starters seem to have gotten through their early season run giving up barrage to put together some stellar outings over the past two weeks. 2008 Cy Young Award winner Cliff Lee looks to have found his form once again and has allowed just seven runs over his past six starts. Even though he has only earned one win during that span, mostly due to lack of run production, he has posted an ERA of slightly more than 1.50.

Fausto Carmona, who in addition to having one heck of a sinker also has one of the best baseball names, has also turned it on as of late. Although it does seem that he works too slowly for his infielders to stay on their toes at times, he has been able to compile a few good starts to show why he was considered for the Cy Young Award in 2007. With Carl Pavano also providing some strong outings, the Indians should have their rotation set when Jake Westbrook returns from surgery in mid-July.

Image by Getty Images via Daylife

With all of the sad spots on the Indians this year, Victor Martinez has given fans a reason to keep watching. Over the last few days, his batting average has climbed as high as .388 and he has consistently been second in the league in that category. A lot of his prowess at the plate seems due to the fact that he is getting so much time at 1B this year and does not have to worry about the catching duties as much as in the past. Obviously it is going to be hard for Martinez to continue on a pace that is this impressive, but he has turned a lot of heads in the early going this season.

The only player other than Martinez who could even be considered to be having a decent season at the plate is middle infielder Asdrubal Cabrera, or as Clevelanders call him “‘Drubes”. Cabrera’s average has dropped a bit over the past week, but it has been consistently over .300 throughout the season and with his impressive range, he is making it hard for Wedge to play Jhonny Peralta at SS everyday and has started seeing time at 3B.

Despite their early struggles, the Indians still have a realistic shot at turning this season around. If their current winning ways are not fools gold and they do actually mean something, the Indians could start to rise from the bottom of their weak division. Realistically though, they have to just focus on the team in front of them instead of worrying about the team that is three above them in order to keep their focus.

With so many young players on the team, it is getting harder for Wedge to give everyone enough playing time to keep all of the players fresh. For instance, outfielder Trevor Crowe has not seen nearly enough action despite the fact that he has been stellar in the outfield and actually made the team out of Spring Training. This is just one of the issues that Wedge will have to wrestle with for the rest of the season while he tries to save his job and turn this club around.

Related posts:

1. Indians Continue Making Moves
2. Indians Send Some Big Names to Columbus
3. Indians Make Roster Moves; Send Rundles, Ohka and Edell Down

Indians Place Dellucci on DL; Recall Crowe from Columbus

With just one week until they open up against the Rangers in Texas, the Cleveland Indians tweaked their opening day roster once again to make sure that it is just right. Their basic moves are that they placed outfielder David Dellucci on the 15-day disabled list where he will be until the middle of April. To fill his spot on the roster, the Indians recalled outfielder Trevor Crowe from their AAA affiliate, the Columbus Clippers of the International League.

Crowe has been the doll of the Indians’ farm system for some time now and they even made a few different attempts at altering his position to see if it would bring him to the majors at a faster pace due to the team’s immediate needs. For a while when he was with the team’s AA affiliate, the Akron Aeros, he was attempting to learn second base and even took practice doing double plays for basically a straight month until they decided that he should stick to the outfield unless the switch is really needed. Crowe has impressed many with his range in the outfield and if he is able to hit at the big league level as he did throughout most of his career in the minors, the Indians will finally have someone to help Grady Sizemore out with production from the outfield positions. Although he is by no means a large person, Crowe is very similar to Sizemore in that he has a good amount of speed and a decent amount of power, showing that he could be a very well rounded ball player.

Dellucci has done little during his few year stint with the Tribe to win over many of the Wahoo’s followers. Even though he has come through with some clutch hitting in very key situations over the past two seasons, the deal that he signed was too large for his capabilities and he has pretty much become a platoon corner outfielder. Even general manager Mark Shapiro will openly admit that signing Dellucci to that kind of deal was a mistake.

Overall, the Indians seem to have a pretty well rounded line up and no doubt look better than they did on opening day last year. With this being said, there are no shortage of holes in the team that need to be figured out. The team will probably have to wait a while to see what, exactly, is going to happen with some of the pieces that they are attempting to use to fill some of their perceived holes.

Tribe Signs Lara to Minor League Deal

With opening day just over a week away, the Cleveland Indians are still putting their nose to the grind and trying put together pieces of their team in order to fill some holes that really weren’t expected at this point. The Indians continued their love affair with pitcher Jaun Lara on Tuesday as they signed him to a minor league contract. Lara was originally singed by the Indians as an amateur free agent in 1999 and he has been all over the organization since then.

It took him until 2006 to make his major league debut and he has only appeared in the majors in two separate seasons. The left hander appeared in nine games as a reliever during the 2006 season as he pitched a total of five innings and compiled an ERA of 1.80. In 2007, at the age of 26, he appeared in just one game with the Tribe where he went 1.3 innings and gave up two runs. Despite the fact that Lara has had almost a decade to prove himself to the Tribe, and has not been able to convince the brass thus far that he is capable of pitching to their level, the Indians still see some promise in him and believe some of his best years may be ahead of him.

Pitching was not a problem that the Indians thought they were going to have for some time going into last season. At the end of the 2007 season they had a stable rotation with two players who finished in the top five in the American League Cy Young voting, and the player who led the league in saves. In 2008, their pitching blew up on all fronts as their closer could not enter a game without giving up the lead and they were forced to trade their ace because they could not afford him.

This will no doubt be an interesting season for the Tribe as manager Eric Wedge enters his seventh season at the helm. It really is hard to believe that he has been in Cleveland that long with all of the talent that they continually claim to have. While there is no doubt that he has caught some bad breaks throughout his time with the Tribe, he has also been given a longer leash than most major league managers could ever dream of.

Perhaps the best thing that could happen for the Indians on their home opening weekend is for it to snow because the last time they had to cancel games due to snow, they won the Central Division.

Tribe Trades Mujica; Sends Chulk to Minor League Camp

To make their problems in the bullpen more complicated, the Indians decided to get rid of another player who seemed to have a good amount of promise just two years ago. The Tribe officially traded pitcher Edward Mujica to the San Diego Padres on Wednesday and got virtually nothing in return. These kinds of trades are always astounding as the Tribe will receive either a player to be named later or some possible cash considerations. One has to wonder if they were just looking for a respectable way to send Mujica out of town.

The Indians also assigned reliever Vinnie Chulk to minor league camp despite having two roster spots open. Chulk has had a more impressive spring than some of the players who are still on the roster, so it shouldn’t be long before he gets the call to come up to the big club.

With just 38 of the 40 roster spots filled and still many question marks about the team, it raises the question of why aren’t a couple of players being given a longer look since they are allowed to stay with the club at this point.

The more time passes, the more it seems that a good amount of the Indians team seems to be in flux. The stability that seemed to be eminent for the club just last season, seems to have flown out the window. There is no doubt that the Tribe has some talented players, especially with Grady Sizemore and Cliff Lee, but those two are not going to be enough to really get this team anywhere. Some of this is not the fault of the team’s management because it is know that a player who had a decent season one year was going to drop off the face of the earth during the next spring training.

Josh Barfield seems destined for a position with the team if not more out of his effort than anything else. Barfield has had trouble getting his batting average to the Mendoza line this summer. That’s right. Not getting above it, but getting to it. Even though this is true, he has made an effort to show manager Eric Wedge that he will play any position and never complain which may gain him a spot after all.

If this happens, one has to imagine that players like Matt LaPorta will be wondering how much more seasoning they need at the plate in the minors before they will be allowed to overtake a player like Barfield for a spot on the roster. This is not saying that LaPorta does not need more time in the minors, it’s just something to consider.

Bill Jordan is a contributor to BaseballReflections.com. He can be reached by e-mail at BillJordaniv@yahoo.com.

Related posts:

1. February’s Look at the Cleveland Indians
2. Indians Send Some Big Names to Columbus
3. Stadium Review: Progressive Field Home of the Cleveland Indians

Laffey was originally drafted by the Indians in the 16^th round of the 2003 amateur draft and did not take long to sign as he was under contract with the organization by July 1.

So far, Laffey has appeared in a total of 25 games with the Indians, all of which were starts. He was impressive during the Indians’ Central Division winning 2007 season when he was called up at the end of the year and went 4-2 while pitching just over 49 innings. While his winning percentage was not as stellar last year, as it dropped to 5-7, Laffey did see his ERA drop from 4.56 to 4.23.

During his time in the majors, Laffey has given up 157 hits, 78 runs (69 of which were earned), 12 homeruns, 43 walks and has struck out 68 while hitting 13 players.

Laffey has been all over the Indians system since coming to them in 2003 and has shown loyalty to the organization by being willing to play at whatever level the Indians needed him to during his time in professional baseball.

The Indians are heading into the home stretch of Spring Training with just a few roster spots undecided. The starting pitcher spot is one that is really flexible at the moment with Jake Westbrook not available at least until the middle of the season when he is supposed to be recovered from surgery. This makes the move of Laffey seem even more surprising although it does narrow down the field of candidates for the last position.

Carl Pavano seemed like an after thought going into camp, but now it looks like he will start the season as the team’s number three starter. Conventional wisdom would put last year’s Cy Young Award winner Cliff Lee at the top of the rotation with Fausto Carmona following after him.

General Manager Mark Shapiro got together once again with manager Eric Wedge to come up with even more roster moves as Spring Training winds down. The Indians’ first move was to send another player down to the minor league camp. This time it was infielder Andy Cannizaro who received the bad news. The team then showed they have been keeping an eye on the waiver wire as they grabbed pitcher Jae Kuk Ryu after the San Diego Padres waived him and optioned him to the Columbus Clippers of the International League. To complete their day of moves, the Tribe also officially placed starting pitcher Jake Westbrook on the 60-day disabled list.

Cannizaro has seen action in a total of two Major League seasons, playing in 13 games in 2006 and just one in 2008. In nine at bats in the big leagues, Cannizaro has two hits, five runs, one homerun, one RBI and one walk while posting a batting average of .250. The right hander was originally drafted by the New York Yankees during the seventh round of the 2001 draft and later spent time in the Tampa Bay organization. Cannizaro was a long shot to make the team at the beginning of the spring, but stayed in camp a lot longer than many expected.

Ryu has been both a reliever and a starter at the Major League level, although he has only officially started one game in the big leagues in 2006 with the Chicago Cubs. After a one season stint in the majors with the Cubs, Ryu went to the Tampa Bay organization where he pitched in 17 games in 2007 and just one last season. He has thrown a total of 39.7 innings in the majors with a record of 1-3 while posting an overall ERA of 7.49.

Westbrook being placed on the disabled list was really just a formality at this point. He is not expected to return to the Tribe until at least the All Star break when he will hopefully be able to give a boost to a starting rotation that is being much more pieced together than the Tribe brass thought it was going to be. Westbrook signed a lengthy contract with the Indians after some very productive years with a low ERA in a Cleveland uniform. Westbrook recently spoke about how thankful he is now looking back at the day when he was traded from the Yankees to the Tribe.

Bill Jordan is a contributor to BaseballReflections.com. He can be reached by e-mail at BillJordaniv@yahoo.com.

Related posts:

1. Indians After Two Months = Disappointing
2. Indians Send Some Big Names to Columbus
3. Indians Make Roster Moves; Send Rundles, Ohka and Edell Down

Sowers is probably the most prominent name on the above list as he has spent parts of the past three seasons with the Indians and at times showed enough promise to where many thought he would be a main stay in the Tribe rotation. His overall record in the majors is 12-19 and he has posted an overall ERA of 5.14. He impressed many scouts and fans alike with his performance during the 2006 season when he was first called up and he went 7-4 with a 3.57 ERA. The Indians are running out of time with Sowers and while he will probably be called up during the season to at least come out of the bullpen, if not make a few spot starts, they are going to have to decide some time in the near future if he is going to stay in their organization.

Toregas is a highly touted prospect who has not seen any action in the big leagues during his five seasons of professional baseball. He has risen through the ranks of the Indians farm club throughout the years and has been highly regarded more for his skills as a catcher than as a batter, although he does have a .262 average.

Many people around Cleveland thought that LaPorta had a shot at starting the season with the Indians this year, but those with the team, including general manager Mark Shapiro, thought that he would be better served to spend some more time honing his skills in the minors before he gets his first call up. At this point, it really seems to be a foregone conclusion that LaPorta will be called up at some point during this season.

The Indians still have some important decisions to be made, specifically whether they are going to give the last roster spot to Trevor Crowe or Josh Barfield.

Bill Jordan is a contributor to BaseballReflections.com. He can be reached by e-mail at BillJordaniv@yahoo.com.

Related posts:

1. Indians After Two Months = Disappointing
2. Indians Continue Making Moves
3. Indians Make Roster Moves; Send Rundles, Ohka and Edell Down

With some pitching spots still left to be decided on the roster, there was much anticipation in Goodyear Arizona about who were going to be the first players that the Tribe decided not to keep on the big league roster. Obviously, all three of these players have a chance to make it to Cleveland during the season.

Rundles was drafted in the third round of the 1999 draft by the Boston Red Sox, but he never saw any big league action with the team that drafted him. The reliever was signed by the Indians as a free agent during the 2007 off season. The left hander made his debut in the big leagues with the Indians last year and appeared in eight games. Rundles recorded a total of five innings pitched, gave up five hits, one earned run, walked three and had six strikeouts with an ERA of 1.80.

Ohka has seen action in the big leagues in every season since 1999. During his nine year career, the traditional starter has a record of 50-63 in 184 games (172 of which he started). If Ohka pitches one inning this season, he will reach 1,000 for his career. The right hander has given up 1105 hits, 469 earned runs, 283 walks and has struck out 559 batters during his career. He currently holds a lifetime ERA of 4.14 after stints with the Boston Red Sox, Montreal Expos, Washington Nationals, Milwaukee Brewers and Toronto Blue Jays.

Left hander Ryan Edell has yet to make his debut in the majors after four years in the minor leagues. Edell has moved up every year that he has been in the minors and last year he appeared in 26 games with the Indians’ AA affiliate the Akron Aeros.

More moves are sure to come for the Tribe in the next week as they look to get ready for opening day.

Bill Jordan is a contributor to BaseballReflections.com. He can be reached by e-mail at BillJordaniv@yahoo.com.

Related posts:

1. Indians Continue Making Moves
2. Indians Send Some Big Names to Columbus
3. The Indians Add Another Cy Young Award Winner

The Indians announced on February 21 that they had come to terms with Martin Cervenka to a minor league deal. The deal was originally done on January 24 and the team was just waiting for the right time to make this news public.

To most, this would just seem like yet another player signing a minor league contract, but this one is actually a landmark for baseball. Cervenka is the first Eurpoean Baseball player to sign with a Major League Organizaiton.

The 17-year-old catcher spent much of last season with the equivalent of a European minor league team in Kotlarka, Prague. In addition to his play in Kotlarka, Cervenka also appeared in six games with the Tegola Titans of the Extraleague, a step up from his team in Kotlarka. During those six games, he put up a batting average of .214.

The Indians signed Cervenka to the traditional seven-year contract to play with the organization. Since he is just 17, the Indians have also allowed him to play for Kotlarka during the 2009 season before coming to the United States to continue his development within the Tribe’s farm system.

Cervenka has also played for his national team on various occasions in addition to his involvement with the professional league in the Czeh Republic.

Obviously, Cervenka will not be ready for the majors for some time, which is fine with the Indians who are currently stacked with prospects at the catcher position throughout their farm system. Ever since Mark Shapiro took over as general manager, the old adage that one can never have enough pitching has started to apply to catching as well as the Indians have acquired many minor league catchers through the draft, trades or signings such as this one since he took over.

All of the Indians have reported to spring training and there are no reports that they are in negotiations with anyone else who would be arriving to camp late. If they are to sign anyone else before the season starts, it will probably be an under the radar free agent who can take his hacks in the minor leagues in an attempt to impress those in charge.

Bill Jordan is a contributor to BaseballReflections.com. He can be reached by e-mail at BillJordaniv@yahoo.com.

Related posts:

1. Indians Send Some Big Names to Columbus
2. Indians Sign Chulk to Minor League Deal
3. Indians Sign Saarloos and Aquino to Minor League Contracts