Bottom-Feeding Front Office Signs Jeff Weaver
Written By: Scott | Category: Cleveland Indians | Comments: 10
Step aside Morgan Ensberg, we have a new underachiever in town. Typically, I would be excited to hear that the Indians signed a former first-round draft choice. However, with the recent news, I can’t help but be less than thrilled…
The Cleveland Indians today signed RHP JEFF WEAVER to a free agent minor league contract. He will report to AAA Buffalo.
Who’s next? Kris Benson? Can I get a R.A. Dickey? For a team that had their wallet padlocked in the off-season, they sure are tossing out all sorts of coin at guys who are likely posting classified ads on Craigslist.
Yes, it is the same Weaver that won 14 games back in 2005, and actually helped a team in 2006 when he won three postseason games with the St. Louis Cardinals. But it’s also the same Weaver that has a career record under .500 (93-114) and had an ERA of 6.20 last season. Couple that with him being cut by the Brewers after pitching simply awful baseball (5 innings, 64 hits, nine home runs) for their Triple-A affiliate, and this reeks of a move that is just filling recently vacated roster spots (Slocum, Lewis).
Fun fact: Weaver was selected six spots ahead of C.C. Sabathia back in 1998. Oddly enough, it was six years ago today that Jeff Weaver was traded to the Yankees for Ted Lilly in the deal that netted the Tigers Jeremy Bonderman, and would eventually land Carlos Pena in Tampa Bay (via Oakland et al). Something tells me that the Yankees wouldn’t mind getting that one back.
The fact that Paul Hoynes is even considering the journeyman Weaver to be C.C. Sabathia’s replacement is just scary. I guess all we can hope for is that he could provide something better than what Paul Byrd or Jeremy Sowers have shown us over the last month.
At least we can still look forward to David Huff. Right?
Author: Scott
Scott is a co-founder/editor of Waiting For Next Year who resides in Cleveland, Ohio. Feel free to follow him on Twitter or email him at scott@waitingfornextyear.com.Scott has written 1700 articles for Waiting for Next Year.
Speechless
Eh, I don’t really see a downside to this. He’s not going to “be CC’s replacement”. If the Indians can get ANYTHING out of him, great. If not, no big deal, we aren’t out anything. This is a no risk, low reward move. Nothing to be excited about, nothing to be down on.
Rock – agreed, to a point. I guess the only frustrating part is that this team has been in dire need of additions since the final out of the ALCS, and we keep seeing these washed-up names given Indians jerseys.
Oh, I agree on that 100%. I guess I just meant that at this point in the year, what’s done is done. The Indians aren’t going to pick up anyone of any value right now anyway.
It’s a boon for Buffalo’s local pot growing/selling industry.
tim thats the funniest thing ive read all day.
Jeff “Dream” Weaver
I have decided to go optimist with this whole situation now.
We are going to eventually point to this team’s collapse and the CC Sabathia trade as the greatest thing that ever happened to this ball club.
I just imagine if the Indians had played mediocre ball and stayed within 5 games to miss the deadline.
Shapiro loves washed up no good players. Another low risk low reward player. This front office is quickly becoming a joke. Why don’t we sign Jason Johnson again.
As for calling Weaver C.C.’s replacement…maybe so, but only in terms of being a guy in our starting rotation for the rest of the year. It’s not as if he’s being conceived of by anybody as anywhere near C.C.’s quality or our new ace. Cliff Lee or maybe Fausto might be thought of in those terms, though, and I don’t think that would be THAT unreasonable…neither has the track record of C.C., but one might be this year’s A.L. Cy Young, and the other has the potential to be sometime down the road.