May 19, 2013

Scott Raab taking Ann Coulter to a Mets game, quitting nicotine, Josh Hamilton, Kyrie Irving and Tiger Woods – WFNY Podcast – 2013-04-15

April 15, 2013 by 1 Comment

WFNY Podcast LogoDon’t worry, we didn’t get overly political even as we talked about Scott’s trip to see the Mets with Ann Coulter in order to do a feature for Esquire. It was all just a ramp to Cleveland sports and some Cavs talk.

  • Ann Coulter at a Mets game

  • Quitting smoking

  • Josh Hamilton and quitting chew

  • Nolan Ryan and his critiques of him quitting mid-season

  • Humans breaking addiction

  • $123 million for Josh Hamilton

  • Cavaliers and trying to compete this year

  • Kyrie Irving and the Uncle Drew campaign

  • Flukey injuries and Kyrie Irving

  • Parsing failure

  • Huge leads and no-shows and blowing games

  • Tiger’s penalty and non disqualification [Read more...]

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Sizemore potentially eying mid-season to sign with MLB team

January 7, 2013 by 14 Comments

Rather than signing a multi-million deal and hoping to play, veteran outfielder Grady Sizemore will not sign a contract for the 2013 MLB season until he is 100 percent recovered from his recent microfracture surgery.

FOX Sports’ Ken Rosenthal reports, via the player’s representative, that Sizemore may not even consider putting pen to paper until the middle of the upcoming season.

“[Joe] Urbon said that a number of teams have expressed interest in Sizemore, and that some have offered to sign him and allow him to rehabilitate at his own pace,” writes Rosenthal. “Sizemore, however, felt like he tried to rush back last season to fulfill his one-year, $5 million free-agent contract with the Cleveland Indians. As it turned out, he did not play a single game.”

The New York Mets were reportedly “very interested” in the injury-plagued Sizemore as recent as the 2012 Winter Meetings.

[Related: Tribe brass turns scarlet, grey and green into Nick Swisher wearing red, white and blue]

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MLB News: Mets “very interested” in Grady Sizemore

December 21, 2012 by 12 Comments

The New York Mets are reportedly hot on the trail of former Cleveland Indians outfielder Grady Sizemore.

Sizemore is coming off a second microfracture knee surgery and is not expected to be healthy  — at the very least –until the middle of the 2013 season.

A three-time All-Star, Sizemore is entering his age-30s season. Sizemore hasn’t appeared in a major league game since September 22, 2011 and has hit .220 in just 104 games since the end of 2009, having his career limited by a bevy of health issues.

The Mets, providing quite the headline fodder this offseason, have spent their resources in locking David Wright up in an eight-year deal and trading away Cy Young winner R.A. Dickey.

[Related: Acta Goes Down, But Antonetti Should Have Gone With Him]

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Indians Roster Moves: Vinny Rottino claimed off waivers, Chris Schwinden DFA’d

June 27, 2012 by 3 Comments

We saw some moves coming up soon, but this likely isn’t what we were looking for.

The Indians made a pair of small moves today, as they claimed IF/OF Vinny Rottino off outright waivers from the New York Mets. The versatile 32-year-old journeyman is expected to join the AAA Columbus roster and, of course, will be on the 40-man roster.

In 511 career AAA games, he’s a .294/.360/.436 hitter. He’s notched plenty of time at catcher, right field, left field, third base and first base over the years. A right-handed bat, he’s just at .188/.282/.319 in 44 career MLB games with Milwaukee, Florida and the Mets dating back to 2006.

In a corresponding move, the Indians DFA’d RHP Chris Schwinden, a starter for the Clippers. He actually had been picked up off waivers from the Blue Jays just a few weeks back. In three starts for Columbus, he was 1-2 with a 5.87 ERA, striking out five batters against six walks in 15.1 IP.

[Related: WFNY Wednesday Wahoos: Indians Minor League Weekly Review 6/27]

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Why The Indians Shouldn’t Trade For Jose Reyes

July 1, 2011 by 31 Comments

Before we even get started, let’s not pretend like the Indians were ever truly in the market to trade prospects for a guy on a contract year making $11 million with the prospect of making Jayson Werth or Carl Crawford type money.  The Indians have made it clear that this couldn’t be further removed from their business plan.

Just to remind you, Carl Crawford is making $14 million this season, almost $20 million next year and will make $21 million in 2017 as a 35 year-old.  That should be just in time to come off the bench as an underachieving pinch-hitter to hit a grand slam against a young “up and coming” Indians team in the ALCS, but I might just be bitter.  Let’s go through the exercise anyway just for kicks.

Jose Reyes is having a phenomenal year batting 0.349 with an OBP approaching 0.400 with 30 stolen bases.  He is a player who relies on speed.  And wouldn’t you know it?  He is having his best year as a pro when he is playing for the biggest contract of his career.  That just never happens, does it?  So, what would it take to get a player like Jose Reyes from the New York Mets? [Read more...]

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MLB Trading Block: Mets Looking to Shop Wright?

June 1, 2011 by 37 Comments

Another guest post today, this time from Al DiFranco. It seems the Mets are a mess and are looking to deal Reyes or Wright or both. Al thinks the Indians should take a chance on David Wright.

Earlier today, ESPNNewYork.com cited sources indicating that Mets 3B David Wright may be on the trade block. Wright is under contract for two more years at around $14-$15 million per year (guaranteed deal in 2012, team option in 2013). Why should we care in Cleveland? While many see Wright as more of a candidate to be traded in the off-season, I think it’s time for the Cleveland Indians to make a phone call to the Mets and explore a trade for Wright right now.

Wright is 28 years old. He has spent his entire major league career in a Mets uniform. In his six-plus seasons with the Mets, he has a batting average of .302, with a .382 on-base percentage, 175 homeruns, and 682 runs batted in. He followed up a disappointing 2009 with a solid campaign last season (.283-29-103). Wright is a solid fielder at the hot corner, which is important in this discussion because Jack Hannahan has played a Gold Glove-caliber third base for the Indians.

Wright is currently on the DL with a back injury. According to SI.com’s Will Carroll, Wright’s time on the DL is winding down and he should be back on the active roster in the next week or so. He was struggling when he went on the DL, batting just .226, but he played through the pain for weeks before going on the DL. [Read more...]

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Tribe loses 3rd in a row in Talbot’s worst start of the season

June 17, 2010 by 6 Comments

The Indians lost their third game in a row in interleague play last night against the New York Mets at Progressive Field, where audible “Let’s Go Mets!” chants could be heard in the sparse crowd of just over fourteen thousand.  Mitch Talbot, who lasted only four innings behind poor fielding in his last outing, struggled again and was bounced from the game in the 6th after giving up 8 earned runs.  The fielding behind him was once again less than stellar although each run on this night was officially earned and was not quite the abomination in the field we witnessed the night before and that Justin Masterson was a victim of.

The game was blown open in the top of the third when the Mets strung together 6 hits in a row against Talbot.  This included an amazing stretch of four doubles in a row as they ran laps around the bases for a 10 minute stretch.  Talbot continually left the ball out over the right half of the plate where it was not getting in on right handed hitters and vulnerable to lefties taking it off the left field wall the other way.

[Read more...]

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First On the Block: Mark DeRosa

May 20, 2009 by 9 Comments

derosaThat took long. After last night’s debacle in Kansas City, the first sign of surrender has been posted on GM Mark Shapiro’s office door. According to SI.com’s Jon Heyman, the Indians are now fielding offers for the multi-positioned Mark DeRosa.

Heyman says:

The Mets are one possibility for DeRosa, since the versatile 34-year-old could play first base, but it’s believed Nick Johnson tops their wish list, with Aubrey Huff or possibly Russell Branyan likely ahead of DeRosa. The Mets would have greater interest in Indians star Victor Martinez, but there’s no indication Cleveland would consider trading him.

Really Jon? The Mets are more interested in Vic the Stick than DeRosa? In other related news, water is wet, fire is hot, and the Browns are a poorly run organization. [Read more...]

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Report: Roberto Alomar Victim of Lawsuit, AIDS

February 11, 2009 by 26 Comments

 

Wow.  They talk about falls from grace, but today’s news out of New York may be one of the more shocking stories that I have read in quite some time. 

Former Indians second baseman Roberto Alomar, now 41-years of age, is currently on the unfortunate end of a lawsuit that claims he had sexual intercourse with then girlfriend while knowing he was a victim of the HIV Virus. [Read more...]

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Is Rafael Betancourt on the Move?

December 23, 2008 by 8 Comments

Joe Nelson Rafael BetancourtAs 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 Masa Kobayashi filling in where needed. 

Then we have the deal that sent Franklin Gutierrez to Seattle, ultimately landing 24-year old Joe Smith from the New York Mets.  He will serve predominantly as a right-handed specialist and will have little use anywhere outside of the one-to-two batters a night. 

And now with rumors of Florida Marlins relieer Joe Nelson possibly heading to Cleveland, one has to wonder what exactly the team has in mind.

[Read more...]

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Remembering Ryan Church

May 14, 2008 by 2 Comments

Ryan ChurchWhile the Indians continue to long for runs scored, I couldn’t help but draw attention to outfielder Ryan Church; now with the New York Mets. 

If you don’t remember, Church was drafted by the Indians back in 2000, and was traded in 2004 with Maicer Izturis (yep, we had him too) to the Expos for pitcher Scott Stewart. 

Stewart was then traded/flipped to the Dodgers, where he would play his final game in 2004.  Needless to say, we didn’t exactly reap the benefits.

[Read more...]

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02/02 Minute: Chicks Dig The Long Snap

February 2, 2008 by Leave a Comment

Ryan Pontbirand, Action Shot!I’m not sure how I missed this earlier in the week, but with big thanks to Mike over at Kid Cleveland I am now privy to the information that Browns long-snapper Ryan Pontbriand is heading to Hawaii with teammates Joe Thomas, Braylon Edwards and Joshua Cribbs. As he mentioned, with the Pontbriand selection back in 2003, Butch Davis and the rest of the Browns organization were thrashed by the media for using a draft selection (5th round, mind you) on a long-snapper.

Four years later, Pontbriand is not only joining the first group of Cleveland players in the Pro Bowl since 2001, but he had also signed a new four-year deal earlier in the season.

Ryan (Pontbriand) has been amazingly consistent with his snapping ability over the years,” General Manager Phil Savage said in the release. “He is considered by many to be the best in the NFL, so it is only fitting that he is receiving the recognition of being a Pro Bowler.”

[Read more...]

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Lets See Action

January 31, 2008 by 2 Comments

CC and SonNegotiations Likely To Pick Up Soon

Rick mentioned earlier this week some of the ways that the Johan Santana trade will affect the Indians. In the post Rick mentioned that one way it will affect the Indians is by setting the market for Sabathia. Well, Scott picked up on this in his minutes column today by posting a story Hoynesie wrote for the Plain Dealer.

I normally enjoy Paul Hoynes’ articles on the Indians quite a bit. But I found his article today to be completely reactionary and filled with over the top hyperbole. We all knew Johan Santana was going to get traded soon, and we all know he’s going to get paid a ton of money for a big number of years. This isn’t news. Fans knew it, the Tribe’s front office knew it, and Sabathia and his representatives knew it. This trade doesn’t change anything. [Read more...]

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Johan Santana Sweepstakes Winners

January 29, 2008 by 1 Comment

santana.jpgOff the top of my head, I’d say the big winners here were the Mets and the Indians.

Why the Mets? That should be fairly obvious I think.

Why the Indians? Well, because a Central Division foe just lost a Cy Young winner.

But the Indians beat him like a drum last season! Yes, that is true. The Indians had great success against Santana…last season! Which of course is not a true indicator of how well they would have fared this year.

In addition, by sending him to the Mets the Red Sox and Yankees do not get significantly better. Talk about your win-win! Let’s face it, the only time we’ll have to worry about Santana is the All-Star game, and a highly unlikely Mets-Indians World Series. I’ll take my chances there. There is a downside however. [Read more...]

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