Aug 26th 2008 9:38AM by Tom Fornelli (author feed)
For a lot of fans out there whose teams don’t have any chance of making the playoffs this season, the final weeks of the schedule can be tough to deal with. On the one hand you don’t want to get labeled some kind of fair weather fan if you just give up on caring about the team. On the other hand you wonder what the point of wasting three hours of your day on a team going nowhere is.

Which is why you have to take solace in the small things your team can still accomplish. If you’re a Cleveland Indians fan, you can spend the rest of the season hoping the Tribe catches the Detroit Tigers in the standings, and if that doesn’t happen, you can enjoy the individual performances. Like the fact that Cliff Lee is probably going to win 20 games and the AL Cy Young on a bad team, or the fact Grady Sizemore made some history last night.

Grady became the second player in Indians history to hit 30 home runs and steal 30 bases in the same season last night. Joe Carter was the first player to do it in a Cleveland uniform back in 1987.

Sizemore actually homered twice on Monday night, so he now has 31 homers and 34 stolen bases on the season. Which means that Indians fans still have something to strive for over the final five weeks. And that would be Sizemore becoming the first Indian to reach the 40-40 club.

Aug 26th 2008 4:05PM by Jon Bois (author feed)
Grady Sizemore, this is your year. You have hit 30 home runs and stolen 30 bases in a single season, joining an exclusive club that boasts Hall of Fame five-tool legends such as Dante Bichette and Raul Mondesi. You have achieved a statistical milestone celebrated not in the spirit of objective productivity, but of numerical romance. Oh, baseball, what frivolity you worship?

Today’s Dugout is after the jump.Continue Reading

Jul 14th 2008 9:30AM by Pat Lackey (author feed)

The Home Run Derby has, in recent years, become a massive parody of itself. What used to be a short, fun diversion the night before the All-Star Game has devolved into a three-hour orgy of excess. There’s three rounds now, which ensures that by the end of the night the finalists will be too tired to lift their arms over their heads, let alone hit home runs. There’s a million commercial breaks and the thing never seems to end at a reasonable hour.

Still, the Derby is the only baseball on tomorrow night. The only Derby I haven’t watched all of in recent memory was the one in Pittsburgh, during which I attempted to sneak a giant banner with an internet-based phrase poking fun at a certain overblown ESPN personality that loves the Derby onto the cameras. My friends and I failed, went to the bar, and yep, watched the Derby. So instead of saying that the Derby is played out and boring, let’s embrace the fact that we’re going to watch it anyways. A full preview of what I’m expecting from each participant and what you might see during the broadcast is after the jump.Continue Reading

Jul 14th 2008 11:55AM by Josh Alper (author feed)
There aren’t too many things that Ben Sheets and Cliff Lee have in common. Sure, they’ve both showered with C.C. Sabathia but Sheets is pure pitching talent while Lee has spent his career getting by on guile. They’ll always be joined as the starting pitchers in the 2008 All-Star Game, though.

There’s another similarity, actually. Neither one would have been a good bet at the start of the season to be in this spot. For all his talent, Sheets hasn’t had any luck staying healthy and that’s always been a mitigating factor when weighing his chances at All-Star berths and Cy Young awards. Lee wasn’t even a lock to make the Indian rotation before the season started but has outperformed even the loftiest of expectations to date.

Each man is a deserving choice. They wouldn’t be my choice, however. In the National League, Sheets is somewhere behind Edinson Volquez and Tim Lincecum to this point. The two youngsters have impressed from day one but each pitched over the weekend, likely eliminating them from consideration by Clint Hurdle.

In the AL, no one is more deserving than Justin Duchscherer. His success is even more out of left field than Lee’s and even more impressive. A 210 ERA+, two starts with more than two runs allowed and an unbelievable 0.865 WHIP make him the best the junior circuit has to offer. Like Lincecum, however, Duchscherer started on Sunday which means we probably won’t see him pitch at all tomorrow night.

Jul 21st 2008 3:01PM by Tom Fornelli (author feed)
With the Indians in full 2009 mode after trading CC Sabathia to the Brewers, there’s a lot of speculation going around Cleveland about changes that will be made with the team. Some guys may have new addresses come August 1st, and players that are still on the team may have new roles.

One of the rumors going around is that shortstop Jhonny Peralta’s days at shortstop may be numbered, and that the team is planning on moving him to third base in the future. It’s a rumor Jhonny’s manager Eric Wedge denies.”He’s our shortstop. I don’t see us making any change anytime soon,” Wedge said. “I see a guy who is doing everything he can to be the best he can be.”

“As [first base coach]Luis [Rivera] has continued to get a better feel for the league and different players he’s helped Jhonny better position himself. He’s doing a better job of being in the right place at the right time. There is always going to be that ball that is just off the glove. But he’s as good as anybody in the game, if not the best, at the routine play.”So Peralta is good defensively, but only if the ball is hit right at him? I understand Wedge wants to support his player (especially considering that player is hitting .341 with 5 homers and 20 RBI since moving to the cleanup spot), but a move to third base would make a lot of sense.Continue Reading

Jul 24th 2008 5:05PM by Matt Watson (author feed)
I’m going to go out on a limb and say that Shin-Soo Choo has more on his mind than most 26-year-old big leaguers. As a native of South Korean, he’s obligated to spend two years serving in his home country’s military, and he must begin his service by 2010. From Paul Hoynes of the (via Walkoff Walk):
“I try not to think about it,” he said before the Indians’ 14-11 loss to the Angels on Wednesday.

[…] Choo says Korean athletes can get excused from military service if they do well in the Olympics.

“If you win any kind of medal in the Olympics, you might only have to serve four weeks,” said Choo.

Choo’s problem is South Korea won’t take baseball players for its Olympic team if they’re on the 25-man roster of a big-league club.

“The Indians couldn’t send me to the minors [to be on the Korean team] because I’m out of options,” said Choo, who added “There’s too much stress to worry about it now.”
Choo is obviously trying to downplay what it’s like having this hanging over his head, but I’m sure it has to be stressful. The irony is that no one actually pays attention to Olympic baseball, which, as things currently stand, is scheduled to be dropped from the Olympics after Beijing. If South Korea really wanted to reward athletes for bringing positive attention to their country, you’d think that Choo’s big league success would be considered.

Jul 24th 2008 11:21PM by Jon Bois (author feed)
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Jul 26th 2008 2:32PM by Pat Lackey (author feed)
With five days to go until the trade deadline, I can’t remember a more active year on the trade fronts. One night after the Pirates and Yankees exchanged six players, it looks like the Dodgers are close to acquiring corner infielder Casey Blake from the Indians for two prospects. That’s right. Casey Blake for two prospects. Remember when I said Ned Colletti was going to do something stupid? Yeah, it just happened.

The key player in this deal for the Indians is 23-year-old pitching prospect Jon Meloan. He’s having a rough go of it this year, after being converted from the bullpen to the rotation, but his numbers in the low minors as a reliever are lights out. John Sickels listed him as one of his top fifty pitching prospects in baseball this year (#35) and he’s way too good of a prospect to be traded for Casey Blake. On top of that, they’re getting 22-year-old catcher Carlos Santana who’s killing the ball in Class A.

In return, the Dodgers get Blake, who plays first base (where they have James Loney), third base (Andy LaRoche), and sometimes the outifield. He’s a decent hitter that’s having a pretty good year, but this trade is pretty baffling. If it’s true that the Dodgers have been showcasing Andy LaRoche in the past week or so, it also might portend another trade in the next couple days to create a position for Blake. Anything in the name of a shot to win a division title, I guess.

Jul 30th 2008 2:03PM by Pat Lackey (author feed)
There are lots of bad things to be said about lots of professional athletes. Most of them deserve the bad things said about them. Some athletes don’t deserved to be lumped in, though. CC Sabathia is one of those guys. Less than a month after being traded by the Indians to the Milwaukee Brewers, CC took out a full page ad in the Cleveland Plain Dealer today thanking his teammates, the Indians’ front office, and the Cleveland fans for his time there. The text of the ad:
To the great fans of Cleveland, my fellow teammates and coaches, the Cleveland Indians executive front office, the Dolan family, the City of Cleveland … Thank you for ten great years

You’ve touched our lives with your kindness, love, and generosity. We are forever greatful! It’s been a privilege and an honor!

CC and Amber Sabathia and Family
Honestly, I think that the whole thing is so touching that I won’t even make a joke about “Time to Dine” being one of the several sponsors he thanks. CC’s a California native, but after spending his entire career in the Cleveland organization and area (with several of the Tribe’s affiliates being based in Eastern Ohio) he was obviously sorry to leave. Lots of athletes say stuff like that, but not many mean it. It’s pretty clear that Sabathia does.

Aug 5th 2008 2:25PM by Tom Fornelli (author feed)
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On Deck is FanHouse’s look at the day’s most intriguing matchups

Do you remember last year when the Milwaukee Brewers jumped out to a big lead in the NL Central, but then began fading as the season wore on? A lot of the blame for this collapse was placed on the front office not making any moves at the trade deadline by the team’s fans. So as a response to such criticism last season, the Brewers went out and made a couple of moves this season.

The biggest one (both literally and figuratively) of course being the addition of CC Sabathia to the starting rotation.

Well, they may have a new philosophy, but unfortunately for the citizens of Milwaukee, they’re still the same old Brewers. After climbing to within a game of the Chicago Cubs last week, the Brew Crew had a pivotal four-game series with their divison rivals in their home park. Instead of taking advantage of the opportunity, the Brewers collapsed under the pressure and before they knew it, they were being swept out of their own park.

Now Milwaukee has lost eight of it’s last eleven games, and have fallen five games back of Chicago. Instead of working together to fight through this slump and beat the other team, they’ve begun fighting amongst themselves.

Can the Brewers get their act together tonight, or are they doomed to another late season fade? Find out after the jump.Continue Reading