May 24, 2013

MLB News: Indians activate RP Matt Albers

April 22, 2013 by Leave a Comment

The Cleveland Indians have activated right-handed pitcher Matt Albers from the Restricted List.

Albers, 30, is 1-0 in four appearances this season. In five innings pitched, he has allowed three earned runs, striking out four batters while walking three. He was placed on the Restricted List after his time on the Paternity/Medical Emergency List drew to a close. He will rejoin the Indians bullpen which combined for four innings of scoreless baseball on Sunday 1 .

To make room for Albers on the 25-man roster, the team has opted to designate right-handed pitcher Fernando Nieve for assignment. Nieve was recently called up when the team placed starting pitcher Brett Myers on the 15-day Disabled List.

[Related: Tribe Weekend Recap: Getting Healthy in Houston]

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  1. Yes, Nick Hagadone was given a blown save, but the run was attributed to Ubaldo Jiménez [back]

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Indians put RP Matt Albers on ‘family medical emergency’ list; make minor trade

April 15, 2013 by 3 Comments

Today the Indians announced that they have moved relief pitcher Matt Albers to the family medical emergency list. The move will allow Albers more time to be with his wife during the birth of their child. He can stay on that list until Friday.

They also announced a trade-

“The Indians completed a Minor League trade, acquiring CA CHRIS WALLACE from the Houston Astros in exchange for LHP ERIC BERGER. Wallace, 24, was Houston’s 16th selection in the 2010 First-Year Player Draft out of the University of Houston(TX). He has been assigned to the Double-A Akron after appearing in 1 game for AAA Oklahoma City in 2013. Berger started the year on the AA Akron roster.”

Injuries to Carlos Santana and Lou Marson no doubt have the team looking for catching depth.

[Related: Michael Bourn day-to-day after receiving stitches]

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Yankees 11, Indians 6: Home Opener interrupted by the Pronk Show

April 9, 2013 by 17 Comments

Travis HafnerOpening Day is all about the pageantry of the grand old game. Fireworks and balloons. A fresh start with fresh faces. It is a chance for a team to capture the city’s imagination for at least one day. Here in Cleveland, with a new era of baseball upon us, the Tribe welcomed a packed house of fans decked out in Wahoo Red, White, and Blue.

With a city full of apathetic baseball fans, you get one chance to make your mark in front of a sellout crowd. There were 41,567 people inside of Progressive Field yesterday. Of those, probably a third of them will go to this game and make up their minds if they should go back based on this one game. Right or wrong, the Tribe gets that one opportunity to bring in that casual fan.

With that chance, manager Terry Francona turned to Ubaldo Jimenez, the team’s number two starter in name only. Look, we all know what Ubaldo is at this point, yet here we are on year three of hoping that he finds his old Colorado form. His first start in Toronto last week was encouraging, but then again, so was his first start in 2012 where he had a no-hitter going into the seventh. The problem with Ubaldo is that you never know which guy is going to show up. Fausto Carmona post-2007 was the exact same way. But when you are counting on a guy to be a top of the rotation starter yet he really is a fifth starter, it is going to present issues from time to time. Sometimes it is there, sometime it isn’t. [Read more...]

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Indians 3, Blue Jays 2: Ubaldo’s alive, Reynolds shows why he’s here

April 4, 2013 by 55 Comments

Mark ReynoldsSometimes when you go into something with low expectations, things work out in your favor. For the second consecutive season, arguably the most important pitcher on the Indians is right-handed starter Ubaldo Jimenez. His success or lack there of is a gigantic key in the success of this team in 2013. If we get the 9-17, above five-ERA guy we saw in 2012, the odds that the Tribe will be contending for a playoff spot are just about slim to none. So it was with a huge grain of salt that I took the reports of how “well he threw” this Spring in Goodyear. Last night in Toronto, Jimenez got his first chance to translate this into real game action that counted.

For six innings, Manager Terry Francona got the kind of start he would love to see on a regular basis from Ubaldo. Sure, he got himself in a couple of jams, but for the most part, Jimenez was in control. His six innings of one run, three hit, ball was a far cry from his last start in Toronto last July where he couldn’t get out of the third inning.

“I remember the last time I was here,” he said. “I want to forget about it, but tonight was a really good game.” [Read more...]

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Pestano and Perez to the WBC gives others their shot

February 28, 2013 by 1 Comment

Nick HagadoneChris Perez and Vinnie Pestano are the backbone of the Tribe bullpen. Joe Smith is right there with them. There is no denying that the success of these three relievers will have a huge impact on which was the 2013 season will go for the Cleveland Indians. Each is at the top of their game and have the personalities to match. They are the core of the “Bullpen Mafia.”

Today, CP and Vinnie leave Goodyear to join the Team USA squad in the World Baseball Classic. Smith is still nursing an oblique injury and is about two weeks behind the rest of the pitchers. There is an opportunity that has arisen. The question is, who will step up and make manager Terry Francona take notice?

Tito was quoted as saying that CP, Vinnie, And Smith are the only locks at this point for the pen. That leaves four spots open with a lot of arms in the mix. Depending on how Francona and pitching coach Mickey Calloway want to go, there could be one or two lefties in that opening day mix. [Read more...]

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MLB News: Indians sign Perez, Smith, Masterson and Albers to one-year deals

January 18, 2013 by Leave a Comment

Just as they had late Thursday evening with Drew Stubbs and Lou Marson, the Cleveland Indians have agreed to terms with relief pitchers Chris Perez and Joe Smith. Both players have signed one-year deals that effectively avoid arbitration.

Perez, who made $4.5 million last season, agreed to a $7.3 million deal with the team. He is coming off of consecutive All-Star appearances, saved 39 games in 2012 and struck out 59 batters in 57.2 innings of work. Perez was largely considered to be a potential asset in the trade market this offseason due to his volatility in the clubhouse and expected increase in compensation following his second straight season of at least 36 saves. He will be the second-highest paid player on the Indians heading into 2013.

Smith made $1.75 million in 2012 and will make $3.15 million in 2013. Through 67 innings of work, Smith struck out 53 and walked four, serving predominantly as specialist against right-handed hitters.

Smith exclaimed his happiness over being finished with the negotiation process via his Twitter account:

In addition to the bullpen arms, the Indians have agreed terms with one-time ace starting pitcher Justin Masterson ($5.68 million) along with Matt Albers ($1.75 million). Masterson is coming off of a 2012 season to forget, appearing in 34 games and finishing with an ERA of 4.93 and 14 wild pitches and 13 hit batters. He received a $2 million raise.

The Indians have avoided arbitration every season since 1991. Mike Aviles remains the only players who are eligible to head to arbitration if they remain unsigned. Any unsigned arbitration-eligible players were required to exchange proposed salary figures with their team by 1 p.m. ET on Friday.

[Related: Indians’ Pestano aims to make up for a rough finish to 2012]

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WFNY Top 10 Cleveland Sports Stories of 2012: #9 The Trade of Shin-Soo Choo

December 24, 2012 by 2 Comments

2012 was one crazy year in the wild wacky world of Cleveland Sports. Some would tell you 2012 was as bad as it has ever been here. As the year comes to a close, like we have done the last four years, WFNY will take a look at what we view to be the 10 biggest sports stories affecting our local sports scene. Each day through the rest of the year, we will be counting down from ten to one. We started earlier today with the Buckeyes Final Four trip . Number nine is something that happened just a short two weeks ago.

#9 The Indians send Shin-Soo Choo to Cincinnati in a blockbuster three-team deal that netted them the ace of their future, Trevor Bauer.

It literally came out of nowhere. Sure, there was a lot of speculation both at the 2012 trade deadline and all winter long that the Indians would move perhaps their best player, Shin-Soo Choo, but the price was reported to be very steep. No true rumors have been floated or names bandied about. All seemed quiet on the Choo front. After the Winter Meetings ended with Choo’s name never mentioned, I was resigned to the fact that the Tribe would hold Scott Boras’s flavor of the month, hope he had a great year, and then move him to the deadline.

Then it happened. [Read more...]

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Antonetti pulls off a coup for Choo

December 11, 2012 by 43 Comments

To quote the great Nick Gilbert…. “What’s Not To Love?”

I have killed Chris Antonetti time and time again for his head scratching roster decisions, but none of those will be mentioned in this piece. I am here to stand up, clap, and give the much maligned Tribe GM his proper due.

Throughout this offseason, the Indians have been in the center of activity in baseball’s hot stove league. They have a powerful and well respected new manager in Terry Francona, and a roster with a young core group of players, four of whom were prime trading chips. There was no doubt in anyone’s mind that the Indians needed a makeover.

But would they actually have the stones to go through with it? And if so, how would they go about it?

It started with the trade for Mike Aviles. It seemed like a small move, but it was one that would start the facelift. On Sunday, the Indians decided they no longer wanted to wait on Kevin Youkilis and instead signed free agent first baseman Mark Reynolds for half of the cost (one year, $6 million) of Youk (who signed a one year, $12 million deal tonight with the Yankees).  But as I said on Monday, there was no chance Antonetti was done. [Read more...]

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