Today the Indians got their man, in the form of a shiny new four-year $56 million contract to secure the services of Nick Swisher.

Swisher is known to most for his ebullient and outgoing nature both in the clubhouse and with fans.

But to me, he’s most known as Dandy Marte’s lone strikeout victim in a career of otherwise spectacular failure.  Marte (née Andy) was once touted as the best hitting prospect in baseball, but by mid-2010 he was a failed experiment on his last legs with the Tribe.  In the ninth inning of a blowout loss to the visiting Yankees, Marte was asked to pitch in order to save what was left of a tattered bullpen.

Swisher batted second, and, well, this might be my favorite video ever:

[Related (my favorite recap I've ever written): Yankees 11, Indians 4: Where Andy Marte Pitches and I Go Insane]

UPDATE 9:47 PM – The Indians’ Press Release on the trade, including detail on all four new players, has been appended to the bottom of this post.

UPDATE 9:19 PM – Things are starting to clear up, and the trade is indeed bigger than originally thought. Let’s do this team by team.

And here are your supporting tweets:

Indians will end up with Trevor Bauer, Drew Stubbs and relievers Bryan Shaw and Matt Albers. Will part w/ Choo, Sipp, Lars Anderson.

— Zack Meisel (@ZackMeisel) December 12, 2012

#Indians get Drew Stubbs, Trevor Bauer, Bryan Shaw, Matt Albers; Choo and Donald go to Cinci and Sipp, Anderson and Gregorius go to Az.

— paul hoynes (@hoynsie) December 12, 2012

In the three-team deal, Tony Sipp and Lars Anderson are now with the #Dbacks. Shin-Soo Choo and Jason Donald going to the #Reds.

— Nick Camino (@CaminoTribe) December 12, 2012

UPDATE 9:09 PM – Buster Olney is confirming that the Indians will acquire Trevor Bauer.

The Indians are going to get Bauer in the deal with the Diamondbacks.

— Buster Olney (@Buster_ESPN) December 12, 2012

UPDATE 9:06 PM – Multiple reports are confirming Drew Stubbs to the Indians, which comes as no surprise at this point in the game.

Much bigger news, though unconfirmed, comes from Tony Lastoria at Indians Prospect Insider:

No confirmation yet, but hearing the Indians may have landed Bauer.

— Tony Lastoria (@TonyIBI) December 12, 2012

9:01 PM – We’ll keep updating this as the news comes out, but for right now it looks like the Indians have traded Shin-Soo Choo and Jason Donald to the Cincinnati Reds as part of what should become a three-team deal.

choo goes to #reds. done deal.

— Jon Heyman (@JonHeymanCBS) December 12, 2012

#reds also get jason donald in choo deal. working on rest. theres a lot more.

— Jon Heyman (@JonHeymanCBS) December 12, 2012

According to multiple reports, the Indians will receive OF Drew Stubbs and SS Didi Gregorius in the trade, though perhaps not for long.

The Arizona Diamondbacks are reportedly the third team in the deal, and they have shown interest in Gregorius. What sounds possible/plausible at this point is that the Indians will move Gregorius and perhaps more to Arizona in exchange for one of their young starting pitchers. Keep an eye especially on 23 year old Patrick Corbin, though it’s still possible that Trevor Bauer or Tyler Skaggs could be included if the complexity of the deal continues to escalate.

____________________________________________

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:

INDIANS ACQUIRE FOUR PLAYERS

FROM CINCINNATI & ARIZONA

RHP Trevor Bauer, OF Drew Stubbs, RHP Matt Albers &

RHP Bryan Shaw Joining Cleveland

CLEVELAND, OH – The Cleveland Indians today announced the club has acquired four players in a three-team trade involving the Indians, Cincinnati Reds and Arizona Diamondbacks.

Today, the Indians received RHP TREVOR BAUER, RHP MATT ALBERS and RHP BRYAN SHAW from the Diamondbacks and OF DREW STUBBS from the Reds in exchange for OF SHIN-SOO CHOO, INF JASON DONALD, LHP TONY SIPP, INF LARS ANDERSON and cash considerations. Choo, Donald and cash are being sent to Cincinnati while Sipp, Anderson and INF Didi Gregorius (from CIN) are now members of the Arizona Diamondbacks.

Bauer, 21, was the third overall selection by Arizona in the 2011 First-Year Player Draft out of UCLA after winning the 2011 Golden Spikes Award and National Player of the Year [1,2]. Named the 9^th overall prospect in Minor League Baseball [1] entering 2012, Trevor spent most of the 2012 season between Double-A Mobile and Triple-A Reno where he went a combined 12-2 with a 2.42 ERA in 22 starts (130.1IP, 107H, 35ER, 61BB, 157K, 223AVG) and averaged 10.8 strikeouts per 9.0IP. He also became the first member of the 2011 draft to appear in the big leagues ahead of Indians RHP Cody Allen, making four starts for the Diamondbacks in July. In his brief Minor League career he owns an ERA of 3.00 in 156.0 innings of work (134H, 52ER, 73BB, 200K, .229AVG) while fanning 11.5 batters per 9.0IP.

Stubbs, 28, has appeared in parts of 4 Major League seasons with the Reds since 2009 after being selected in the first round (8th overall) of the 2006 draft, batting .241 (431-1791) with 59HR, 178RBI, 110SB, 285 runs (.312OBP/.386SLG) in 486 career games. The right-handed hitter has also posted a career .276 (127-460) avg./.821 OPS vs. left-handed pitching. Stubbs recorded at least 30 stolen bases for the 3rd consecutive season in 2012, becoming one of just 6 Major League players to do so over the span since 2010 (Bourn, Crisp, R. Davis, J. Reyes, B.J. Upton). With 40 steals in 2011, Stubbs became the first Reds player to reach that threshold since Deion Sanders swiped 56 bags in 1997. Defensively, the University of Texas product has appeared exclusively in center field in 481 career games (24 outfield assists).

Albers, 29, split the 2012 season between the Boston Red Sox and Arizona, going a combined 3-1 with a 2.39ERA in 63 relief appearances (60.1IP, 46H, 16ER, 22BB, 44K, .215AVG). Over Matt’s final 11 outings with the D-Backs in September he posted an ERA of 1.80 (10.0IP, 9H, 2R/ER, 9K). On the year with Boston and Arizona he limited left-handed batters to a .207 (17-82) average against. The Houston, TX native was a 23^rd round pick of the Astros in 2001 and debuted with his hometown team in 2006. He was traded to Baltimore prior to the 2008 season and after a successful stint in Boston in 2011-12 he was acquired by Arizona at the trading deadline for LHP Craig Breslow.

Shaw, 25, spent most of the 2012 season in the Arizona bullpen where he went 1-6 with 2 saves and a 3.49ERA in 64 relief appearances (59.1IP, 60H, 23ER, 4HR, 24BB, 41K, .273AVG). The Livermore, CA native also spent two weeks in Triple-A Reno in July and August, posting an ERA of 2.25 in 8 outings (8.0IP, 6H, 2R/ER, 10K, .207AVG). Shaw began his pro career in 2008 after the second round selection by Arizona out of Long Beach State (CA). He debuted with the D-Backs in June 2011 and owns a two-year career Major League record of 2-6 with a 3.18ERA in 97 relief outings (87.2IP, 90H, 31ER, 65K).

Following today’s transactions the Indians 40-man roster remains at 40.

After the Browns’ victory over the Pittsburgh Steelers on Sunday afternoon, the team announced that it was parting ways with former Team President, “quarterback guru”, and “credible leader” Mike Holmgren.  The game against Pittsburgh is to be Holmgren’s last with the team; he is scheduled to address the media with a departing press conference on Monday.

#Browns announced Steelers last game was last for Mike Holmgren. He will officially depart the organization.

— Tony Grossi (@TonyGrossi) November 25, 2012

Holmgren was hired by former team owner Randy Lerner in December 2009, but since the sale of the team to Jimmy Haslam III earlier this year and the naming of Joe Banner as new Team President, Holmgren’s role with the team has diminished.

Holmgren’s departure comes only a week after he created a media blitz by chatting with Dallas owner Jerry Jones before last week’s loss to the Cowboys.  The highly publicized images of the conversation came on the heels of reports that Holmgren would be interested in coaching the Cowboys as his next job.

Under Holmgren’s stewardship as Team President, the Browns were 10-29, with zero playoff appearances.

It’s not particularly surprising that Miguel Cabrera won the 2012 AL MVP Award, which was announced this evening.

It’s slightly more surprising that the vote wasn’t even close: Cabrera beat out rookie phenom Mike Trout by grabbing 22 of the possible 28 first place votes.  The final point tally was 362 points for Cabrera to 281 points for Trout.

The local twist to the story, though, is perhaps most interesting.  Sheldon Ocker of the Akron Beacon Journal was the only BBWAA member not to include Trout in his top two, choosing Cabrera for the top slot with Adrian Beltre of the Texas Rangers second and Trout third.

Trout was considered a darling of sabermetric community blowing Cabrera away in Wins Above Replacement, Win Probability Added, and Weighted Runs Created (among others) due to comparable batting contributions and superior defense and baserunning.  According to Baseball-Reference, Fangraphs, and Baseball Prospectus, Trout contributed more wins to his team than Cabrera did for his.  Nevertheless, Cabrera won the Triple Crown while Trout’s Angels missed the playoffs (despite winning more games than the Tigers).   Narratives abound.

I imagine Ocker’s twitter feed might be blowing up about now.  You know those saberists and their basement-based internet flame wars….

Indians manager Terry Francona met with Cleveland reporters for tea and crumpets today, and he decided to state the obvious and make some news all at once.

The quote comes from Jordan Bastian of MLB.com:

But Travis Hafner has an option year!!

It would seem that Francona doesn’t believe the team will look internally to fill the roster spots vacated by Hafner and Casey Kotchman. Nor should they, considering the current dearth of talent in the upper levels of the system.

In that vein, I understand that Shelley Duncan has recently filed for free agency….

After a unanimous vote by the NFL owners at a meeting this morning in Chicago, Jimmy Haslam formally took ownership of the Cleveland Browns.  This afternoon, Haslam held a press conference to discuss Cleveland, the football operations going forward, and Mike Holmgren’s future, among others.  Our own Brendan P transcribed his opening remarks:

What we’ve come to understand since August 3 when we were introduced in Berea, Ohio is that it’s made even more special by the fact that it’s the Cleveland Browns. I had always heard what a great football town and football area Cleveland is and Northeast Ohio is, but what we’ve experienced since August 3 has been nothing short of phenomenal.

This is truly one of the great iconic NFL brands. If you think back to Paul Brown, and then of course, arguably the greatest NFL player of all time, Jim Brown, it’s a very special place.

As we have said on numerous occasions, we are going to do everything we possibly can and work as hard as we possibly can to bring a winning team to the fans of Cleveland — whether they’re in Cleveland, Northeast Ohio, or one of the many Browns backers around the country. We’re going to work hard for them.

Somebody asked me the other night if I was excited to win the first game. I said of course we were, it’s a relief, but I was excited for the players and the coaches who work hard and put a lot of time in and candidly catch all the grief. But I was really most excited for our fans, as we left the stadium an hour or so after the game, there were still thousands of people around. And if I didn’t know any better, I would have thought we won the AFC Championship instead of winning our first game in 11 months.

It’s a great town, great football community. And we feel very privileged to now own the team. It’s really an asset of the community and we’re going to do everything we can to increase the value of that asset. And candidly, the way you do that is you put a winning team on the field.

–snip–

Mike Holmgren – I’ll be honest, I had never met Mike until the evening of August 2nd. Of course, knew of him, knew the famous Super Bowl winning coach.

I’ve spent more time with Mike than anybody in the organization and he’s been kind enough to answer hundreds and hundreds of questions about the NFL and pro football. Mike has decided that with our becoming the owner, that his role would obviously change a lot. Mike was brought in to be the President, and I think, in a lot of ways, the de facto owner. With us coming in and taking a more active role, Mike has decided to, effective at the end of the year, to leave the Cleveland Browns and to retire. Mike will work very closely with us over the next three or four months to ensure that this transition goes as well as possible. Mike and I have had numerous long talks and I know that he has been, and still is, committed to doing everything he can to help make the Cleveland Browns a better football team.

We are going to bring in Joe Banner. Joe will be the CEO of the team, that will be effective on October 25th. Joe and Mike will work together over the next three, three and a half months until the end of the season, to transition in what I will call a seamless fashion, to do everything we can to bring a winner to the Cleveland Browns. You think about the experience that the two of them have, it’s probably over 50 years of experience in the NFL and I don’t think we could have two better people to help us turn this transition around.

This is the only personnel change we’re going to make until the end of the season. And I am not at all saying we’re going to make changes at the end of the season. But this is the only personnel change we’re going to make. And candidly, we thought with Mike deciding the role no longer fit him, we thought it was important to bring somebody in so that we do have a good transition so we’re able to hit the ground running after the end of the season.

UPDATE (5:49 PM): Jordan Bastian is confirming Rosenthal’s report.  Details “still being worked out”, but Terry Francona will manage the Indians next season.

UPDATE (5:43 PM): Paul Hoynes tweets that the Indians and Francona are discussing a four-year deal.

Tom Withers of the AP is hearing that there is “not a done deal”, but it would seem we’re moving in that direction.

(5:27 PM): According to Ken Rosenthal of Fox Sports, multiple sources are telling him that Terry Francona will indeed be named the next manager of the Cleveland Indians.

As of this writing, the Indians have not commented on Rosenthal’s report, and local beat writers are still working to confirm.

Francona was one of two finalists for the team’s managerial position.  Sandy Alomar Jr. also interviewed with the front office on Thursday and may be considered for a number of MLB managerial vacancies now that the Indians job has been filled, including Francona’s last team, the Boston Red Sox.

Rafael Perez last pitched in a Major League game on April 25th of this year.  His velocity that night topped out in the low 80s.  The Indians put him on the disabled list that evening with what they referred to as a “strained lat muscle”.

After spending five months rehabbing the lat and working his way through various rehab assignments, Perez underwent an arthroscopic procedure on his left shoulder today, according to Paul Hoynes of the Cleveland Plain Dealer.

Perez is arbitration eligible for the fourth time this off-season, and made $2 million in 2012 for 7.2 innings pitched.  While the Indians’ training staff believes Perez will need two months of rehab and should be ready for Spring Training, they also believed that he had a lat strain and not a shoulder injury.

According to Jordan Bastian of MLB.com, Indians’ northpaw Ubaldo Jimenez will be shut down for the remainder of the 2012 season due to a right ankle sprain with which he’s evidently been struggling for at least his last two starts.

No word on the cause of the offending sprain as of yet, nor on the expected value his absence is expected to contribute to the team for the remainder of the season.

The Indians hold a $5.75 million option on Jimenez for the 2013 season with a $1 million buyout.  Though exercising the option was once considered a fait accompli, there are now serious questions as to whether the club should bring Jimenez back based on his 5.43 ERA and 1.68 K/BB ratio since coming over from Colorado in a July 2011 trade for Drew Pomeranz and Alex White.

According to Joel Hammond at Crain’s Cleveland, Mark Shapiro’s recent and conspicuous absence from Twitter has not been without cause:

Shapiro’s last tweet–a shot of the crowded alley behind Progressive Field–came on July 20th, before being swept at home by the Baltimore Orioles.

Stay Classy, Mankind.

For the three of us that saw it, this was an unexpected treat.  A Matola jack. A Kipnis smash.  A ninth inning comeback.  Reminded me of better days.

(60-84)	Final 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 R H E Cleveland 0 0 0 0 0 2 0 0 3 5 13 3 Texas 0 0 0 2 0 0 0 2 0 4 11 0 WP: S. Maine (1-0) S: C. Perez (36) LP: J. Nathan (2-4)	(85-58)