12 Days of a Cleveland Fan Christmas
December 10, 2008Cavaliers Preview Game #22
December 10, 2008
Yesterday, we ever so briefly touched on the possible addition of Kerry Wood. And per the Chicago Tribune, the deal appears to have gone from “possible” to “done.”
With two teams to pick from in the American League Central, Kerry Wood appears to have rejected overtures from Detroit to take a deal with Cleveland.
Wood’s decision to sign with the Indians followed closely Francisco Rodriguez’s agreement with the New York Mets. Rodriguez’s three-year deal, which is expected to be announced after he passes a physical, narrowed down Wood’s choices.
The deal is believed to be two years with a vesting option for a third. Money terms remain unclear.
WKNR is reporting that the deal is two years at $10 million per, something that I do not have an absolute confirmation on. If it is the case, it’s about 80 percent of what Francisco Rodriguez is getting paid by the Mets, and we’re tied up for one less year. \
And if you’re wondering why Wood chose us over those up north, it appears that his Phoenix residence coupled with the Tribe’s new spring training home in Arizona may have been the deal-maker.
The place isn’t even completely built yet, and we’re already reaping the rewards. Score!
20 Comments
I like this deal. I was one of the people on here who were supporting Jensen Lewis as the closer, but part of that was out of the belief we couldn’t get anyone else from the outside and he was the best in-house candidate we had. I think I do like Lewis better as a set up man, especially if both our Rafeal’s pitch like 07. That would be a fantastic group of guys from the 7th inning on.
Hopefully Wood can stay healthy, which he mostly has since moving to the pen. He did have some issues, but they didn’t seem to be the serious arm and shoulder trouble he had over the years as a starter.
So overall a good move, now if we can land a veteran bat, and maybe another arm, I would feel better than I did at the end of the season.
I’m still holding out hope for Adam Miller as well… We may not need starters if we can roll five deep with 95 MPH bullpen arms… Okay, four and Jensen Lewis…
(and I’m being sarcastic with the “not needing starters” comment)
$10 million per year? Doesn’t leave much in the budget for 2B/3B and SP. I’m guessing Sowers, Barfield, Laffey, Lewis, Marte, etc. will be competing for jobs with each other and not a free agent.
I know we think the OF is ok with Choo and Francisco, but I would also like to see the Tribe go after Burrell. I read that Philly isn’t planning on bringing him back. I would love to have Burrell and his mediocre average with good power numbers mixed into a lineup with a healthy Victor and Grady Sizemore.
The infielders market isn’t as good as the closers market, and I think closer was a bigger need. We can still sign a good, bottom of the rotation starter, Shapiro has shown in the past he can find good bargains. And I’d be shocked if we didn’t make any trades this offseason, we have 2 starting quality catchers when most teams have 0. All in all I think we can turn any combination of Shoppach, Garko, Francisco and Gutierrez (with prospects sprinkled in) into a valuable piece at a position of need
I felt Wood was definitely a risk worth taking. I like this deal, and I feel good knowing that the Indians have a legit closer for the first time since Bob Wickman left.
Injury that may as well already have happened. Not the answer to our bullpen troubles by a longshot…At least we’re spending.
Thumbs Down
Good to see the Indians finally go out there with a closer who can miss bats…that’s something the team hasn’t had in a very long time.
Now we can turn our attention to where the Tribe is gonna find some help on offense…it appears that infield help isn’t going to come from the FA market, so it’s either trade or hoping that Josh Barfield gets all “Brandon Phillips”y on us and explodes after two struggle-filled years with the big league club.
I’m still holding out hope that the Tribe will be able to move some of the glut of young OFers and SPs that we have to get a useful Major League bat. I mean, honestly…assuming Sizemore and Choo as regular starters, you’re sitting on tons of young OFers (Gutierrez, Francisco, Brantley, Crowe, LaPorta) and one old one (Dellucci) competing for what amounts to three roster spots (the other starting OFer and two bench spots) for the next few seasons. Would be nice to turn that log-jam into something useful.
And I agree with Ricky, the starter situation doesn’t concern me, there should be alot of arms that are of Paul Byrd-esque quality available late in the offseason that can be signed as bargins.
Glad we got him. Bit surprised he warranted a $10mil salary, though… I’d have thought he’d be substantially less than K-Rod’s (and the NYM’s) $12mil.
If he can lock down the back end of the bullpen, this will be a phenomenal move.
I’m surprised by the $, too. I wonder if Shapiro is thinking, “If he doesn’t work out as a closer, we can convert him back to a (very good but fragile) starter – he’s versatile!”. In any case, it is good to see us spending. With the money we had to spend, I doubt we would have landed as high a caliber infielder or starter. So in that way, this is certainly a shrewd move. I can’t deny feeling excited about it.
I agree, JD. I was going to comment something to the effect of “it will be nice to have a closer who can actually throw more than 89 MPH.”
Looks like another big trade is in the works…
http://castrovince.mlblogs.com/archives/2008/12/this_is_a_big_one.html
Yeah we just traded Franklin Gutierrez in this deal to Seattle and got back reliever Joe Smith from the Mets and a minor league 2nd baseman from Seattle. Not sure yet what to think about this deal. This does help the logjam we had in the outfield and give us another decent arm for the bullpen. I am a little worried Franklin is going to be a solid player someday, although now that he is a Mariner, maybe not.
I dunno what to think about that deal…. I mean, Gut had potential. Statistically, I’ve heard numerous people say that he’s one of the best defensive outfielders in baseball. People in the know; people on 850. I don’t know anything about the prospect though…. according to Baseball America, he isn’t one of their top ten prospects. Take that for what it’s worth. All in all though, we did have a surplus of outfielders, and Gut wouldn’t have had that much PT anyways. If anything, this gives Choo more time to play. Seems like a low-risk, low-reward trade to me.
As far as Wood goes… it was a bit expensive to sign someone with such a checkered injury past, but when healthy he’ll be our best arm in the ‘pen. It would definitely bring stability. With him, both Raffys, Jenson, Masa and potentially Adam Miller, I feel as confident about our bullpen as I have in a while. There’s a lot of talent there; let’s just hope injuries aren’t a huge problem.
Also, I heard a while ago that the Tribe was talking to Florida about Dan Uggla. They need to re-initiate those trade talks, because, man…. a lineup with: Victor, Shoppach, Grady, Peralta, Choo, Fransisco, Pronk (????) AND Dan Uggla would go to work on opposing pitchers. Good lord.
Also, I just read on ESPN that Shapiro “has been after Smith for a while now,” and that he thinks he will “immediately join the Major League bullpen, towards the back end of it.” If that’s the case…. well, good. All the deeper our ‘pen becomes.
On another note, I think that we really need to go after another starting pitcher. Cliff, Fausto, Reyes and (maybe) Laffy are all good, but none of them are sure things. Any ideas as to a realistic starter the Indians can acquire? I’d love to say Derek Lowe…. but that’s not happening.
When I heard this reported, I was thinking it’s $10M for the 2 years, combined. But for it to be $10M a year, I think that’s a little too much. He has the potential to be a great pitcher and all, but at some point you do need to look at his injury history. Oh well. What’s done is done. All we can do is hope he turns out worth the money, unlike Pronk
[…] the Tribe made an aggressive move signing Kerry Wood to be their closer. It is a welcome relief (puns, heh) to see someone not […]
I’m beginning to wonder exactly what is going on with the Indians/Wood deal. Reports said Kerry was in Cleveland Wednesday evening and had a physical Thursday morning, and we would hear word Thursday mid-day/early afternoon.
It is currently Friday afternoon and the Indians have made no mention of Kerry, his physical, etc. In fact, they’ve not commented on anything, and in the meantime moved to trade for another potential closer.
Is anyone else beginning to wonder if maybe there were some issues with Wood’s arm and they’re doing further testing or re-negotiating the contract? Or, worst case scenario, Wood simply is not passing the physical?
[…] of right now, the Indians have a handful of guaranteed bullpen slots come opening day. The recently signed Kerry Wood will immediately assume the role of closer, with Rafael Perez, Jensen Lewis, Rafael Betancourt and […]