I was talking with my Dad today about the Cleveland Indians...As a lifelong Clevelander, he's a huge Tribe fan...He taught me all about Baseball, and I'm now trying to pass that on to my son...One thing the boy and I are going to have to talk about, is not making stupid trades...I love the Tribe, but they have made some bone-head moves over the last 5 years or so...
Today my Dad and I were talking about the Cliff Lee deal...It wasn't actually where it all went wrong...The C.C. Sabathia trade may have got it all rolling...We'll get to that one another day...
The Indians still had another year on Lee's contract, when they had decided to trade the Cy Young winner in 2009...To me, it was way too soon to pull the trigger, especially since they had another year...But GM Mark Shapiro thought that he was getting a major haul...But really, as he has before, he got pushed around in the deal...He wanted top pitching prospect Kyle Drabek, and outfielder Domonic Brown...The Phillies said no, no, no, no!
After some haggling, The Indians landed three AAA players...SS Jason Donald, C Lou Marson, and SP Carlos Carrasco...And a 19 year old Rookie Ball pitcher named Jason Knapp...
Carrasco was pretty much major league ready...In his first year he looked like a young stud, and was one of the most consistent arms on the staff...Then elbow issues slowed him down...Surgery has followed, and the Tribe will be without for all of this year...
Jason Donald, has become a good glove, light hitting utility infielder...This Spring he's also working in Center and Left field as the Indians try to find their every day man in Left since Michael Brantley has moved to center after another Grady Sizemore injury...
Then there is Lou Marson...Boy did they really try to sell what a solid defensive Catcher Marson is...This was partly because they were also moving Catcher Victor Martinez, who also still had another year on his contract...(another day for that trade as well)...Sadly, while Marson may have a good relationship with pitchers, he also was good at letting balls go right past him, and through his legs...There are still people who say he's really good defensively...They're blind! He's a below average Catcher, who can't hit righties even if his life depended on it...
Then there was Jason Knapp...When the Indians acquired Knapp, the hard throwing 19 year old, had already had a shoulder surgery...NOT A GOOD SIGN! Since he's been with the Indians organization, he's had two more shoulder surgeries...I'm guessing he'll never make the majors...
So let's recap...Cy Young winning, All-Star, Work-horse, Left-handed, pitching stud Cliff Lee was traded for a stiff Catcher, a utility fielder, a good pitcher with a bad elbow, and pitcher who has seen the operating room more then the baseball field...Phillies win...
I'm not saying the outlook would have been better if the Tribe got Drabek and/or Brown...Brown has had a couple looks with the Phillies, but is still in AAA, and Drabek was traded to Toronto for Roy Halladay, and has been up and down so far...But the Indians may have done better had they waited, and talked to more teams...
On a side note...The Indians acquired Cliff Lee when they Traded Bartolo Colon to Montreal...The Primary pieces in that trade were Brandon Phillips, and Grady Sizemore...Lee was a throw in...Funny how these Baseball trades work out.
Later, the Beeze.
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