Bleacher Report - Cleveland Indians

Cleveland Indians Acquire Kia Tigers. (Fiction)

Jim Bertsch — Thu, 19 Nov 2009 21:57:59 -0500

Dolan creates a Korean pipeline to Cleveland.

The Cleveland Indians principal owner Larry Dolan and Kia Motors have agreed in principal to a 250 Million cash and stock swap deal. The Tigers gain a 35 percent share of the Indians for 180 Million in cash and a 70 Million common stock. The Indians gain a 51 percent controlling interest in the Kia Tigers.

The Kia Tigers play in Moodeung Stadium. They are charter (1982) members of the Korea Baseball Organization (KBO) and are the most successful team in KBO history. They claimed nine of the first sixteen KBO titles with pennants in '83, '86-'89, '91, '93 and '96-'97. Based in Gwangju, they were formerly known as the Haitai Tigers.

When asked if the Kia Tigers are in for a name change, Mark Shapiro was evasive, “We have not yet considered any name changes. Obviously all the stakeholders and our marketing initiatives would have to be aligned before we made a name change.”

The Tigers supplied three players to the 2008 Gold medal winning South Korean Olympic squad: Han Ki-Joo (3 G, 1-0; 19.29 ERA, 2.1 IP), Yoon Suk-Min (5 G, 2-0, 1 SV, 2.34 ERA, 6 Ks, 7.2 IP ) and center fielder Lee Yong-Kyu. (.481 AVG). Baseball is hotter than ever in South Korea right now and Shin-Soo Choo is the best Korean in Major League Baseball (MLB).

“This is an exciting time for Korean baseball and the people of Gwangju,” said Shin-Soo Choo the Tribe's lone South Korean player.

Cleveland is the first MLB team to invest in a KBO franchise. In a related deal, SportsTime Ohio is partnering with Direct TV and Korean Broadcasting System (KBS) to create Korean sports programming here in the USA. KBS is working with the SportsTime Ohio to broadcast Cleveland games in South Korea.

It is speculated that with the new cash, Cleveland will become very active in the free agent market this offseason. Cleveland is also said to be discussing opportunities with MLB to schedule half of the Indian's April home games in South Korea. The west coast teams, Seattle, Anaheim, Arizona and Oakland are the most likely opponents for such games.

Jim Bertsch, a lifetime Tribe fan and syndicated writer for Bleacher Report said, “Its about time the Indians took the initiative. New York, Boston, Los Angeles and a few other major league teams have been taking the cream off the top of the MLB talent pool for years. It is obvious that we needed to expand our fan base beyond the shores of Lake Erie.”

This is a big win for South Korea, because they now have a MLB team willing to showcase their top talent. The 2008 Olympic gold medal certainly indicates a wealth of undiscovered baseball talent in South Korea. With their strong showing on the international level, the South Korean program is at a world class level.

Bertsch commented, “It is reminiscent of Bill Veeck making Larry Doby the first African American player in the American League.” Bill Veeck knew that talent doesn't have a race or a color. If you can PLAY, then we need you on our team. Larry Dolan has been taking heat for creating a fiscally responsible baseball franchise. Unfortunately for Cleveland, being fiscally responsible means being anti-competitive. This move places the Indians in the center of the competitive picture for the foreseeable future.”

With significant Cleveland Cavaliers ownership in China and 35 percent ownership of the Indians in South Korea, The City of Cleveland is leading the charge for creating international leagues in basketball and baseball. Give credit to Dan Gilbert and Larry Dolan for being the innovators who are ushering us into a new era of international professional sports.

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Team 89: The 1963 Tigers

Blake VandeBunte — Thu, 19 Nov 2009 16:12:25 -0500

Year: 1963
Record: 79-83
Win %: .488
Win % Change: -40
Run Differential: -3
Pythagorean Record: 81-81
AL Finish: 5th of 10
Manager: Bob Scheffing and Chuck Dressen
Best Transaction: Picked up Denny McLain off of waivers. McLain’s story is well know in Tigers lore. He reached a very high peak in the late 1960s and then fell apart on and off of the field. No matter what kind of trouble he got into later in his career, you can’t beat the price the Tigers paid to get him. McLain had five productive seasons in Detroit, winning an MVP award and two Cy Young Awards before fading away and going to jail. He made three starts in 1963 at the age of only 19.
Worst Transaction: Selling Mike Cuellar to the Cleveland Indians. Cuellar would go on to have a great career, but the beginning of it was pretty strange. He was the property of the Reds, the Tigers, Indians, the Cardinals and the Astros before finding a home with the Orioles. Once he got to Baltimore he won a Cy Young Award, made four All-Star teams, and topped the 20-win mark four times. So while it stings that the Tigers gave him away for a song, at least there were plenty of others that gave up on him as well.
Upper: This team featured three budding young stars in Al Kaline (28), Norm Cash (28) and Mickey Lolich (22). While Kaline and Cash were in their late 20s, they each had several great seasons ahead of them and contributed greatly to the 1968 club. Kaline was the team’s offensive leader in 1963, winning the team Triple Crown as he led the club in batting average, home runs and RBI. Cash finished second on the club in most of those categories and both players boasted OPS+ numbers above 135. Lolich didn’t blow anyone away with his great numbers, but he was a good young contributor on a team that had a pretty bad pitching staff.
Downer: This team is so high (or low) on this list because they were so good so recently. In 1961, the Tigers had one of the greatest clubs in history to not make the postseason. That year the Tigers went 101-61 but fell short of the AL Pennant, behind the New York Yankees. So, the Tigers went from 101 wins to 79 wins in only two years. The offense was decent but the pitching staff was bad. They finished 7th in the AL in ERA (out of 10 teams), 8th in hits allowed, and no pitching staff in the league gave up more home runs. The starting rotation was full of guys who were roughly league average like Phil Regan and Jim Bunning (he would turn it around later), and the bullpen was a total mess.
Summary: Part of what plagued this talented team was their slow start. Through the month of June, the Tigers were only 29-45. However, once the calendar turned to July, the Tigers went 50-38 the rest of the way. This team had talent, they just really struggled out of the gate and were never able to get back into the race. Luckily, this would be the low point of the 1960s. The Tigers would recover in the coming seasons, gaining speed before winning it all in 1968. It was also around this time that young players like McLain and Lolich began to make a name for themselves in Detroit with the Tigers. A 20-year old Willie Horton also made his debut in Detroit, slugging the first of over 300 career home runs.

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Cleveland Indians To Reacquire Milton Bradley? (Satire)

Lewie Pollis — Wed, 18 Nov 2009 13:10:23 -0500

The Cleveland Indians have begun talks with the Chicago Cubs about reacquiring Milton Bradley, according to Haul Poynes of the Dain Plealer.

The Indians were forced to deal Bradley before the 2004 season after a publicized altercation with then-manager and notable clubhouse cancer, Eric Wedge.

Feeling tightness in his groin, Bradley did not sprint to first after hitting a weak pop fly in a Spring Training game, March 31. Wedge, big bad meanie that he was, called him out for it: “Milton crossed the line that day for the final time,” he said.

“It’s a shame we had to part with Milton,” Indians GM Mark Shapiro said Tuesday, “but it was for his own good. It was clear that he could not succeed on a team ruled by an iron-fisted dictator.”

Five-and-a-half years later, Cubs GM Jim Hendry finds himself in a similar position. Bradley struggled with slumps and injuries in 2009 after signing a three-year, $30 million-dollar contract in January.

“I need a stable, healthy, enjoyable environment,” Bradley said in a September interview, “Everything [in Chicago] is just bashing you. It’s just negativity.”

“No one blames Milton for what happened this year,” said Hendry. “If he had been playing in a supportive atmosphere, he would have stayed healthy and hit 50 homers.”

Having fired Wedge in September, Shapiro hopes that the Indians can bring Bradley back to the team. While Bradley had said that playing in Cleveland was “like a sinking ship,” he called the situation “strictly a problem with Eric Wedge.”

“Some people want to be bigger than they are,” Bradley said after the trade, “You have no credentials, you have no history of anything, how are you going to tell someone else what he needs to be doing? I can’t respect somebody that has nothing to go on.”

“If only we had listened to him before,” Shapiro said, “Maybe we would have won the World Series a few times.”

“It would be tough to lose Bradley,” Hendry said, “but we’re talking about something bigger than ourselves. This guy is a legend, he’s living history. Can we in good conscience stifle his talent just because he helps the team?”

“Milton has been bullied his entire career,” Shapiro added, “Can you imagine what it must have been like for him? It’s not just Wedge and Chicago. This guy had to deal with [Jeff] Kent, the racist. Can you imagine playing with a teammate who thinks that you are inferior because of the color of your skin? He’s like freakin’ Jackie Robinson. Except better.”

Bradley could not be reached for comment, as he is on a book tour to promote his new biography, Bradley at the Bat.

(In case it was not apparent, this article is a joke and all quotes are fictitious, except Bradley's and Wedge's.)

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Team 90: The 1918 Tigers

Blake VandeBunte — Wed, 18 Nov 2009 12:00:36 -0500

Year: 1918
Record: 55-71
Win %: .437
Win % Change: -73
Run Differential: -81
Pythagorean Record: 54-72
AL Finish: 7th of 8
Manager: Hughie Jennings
Best Transaction: Purchased Marty Kavanagh. This is a stretch, but Kavanagh is the only player the Tigers brought on bored prior or to or during the 1918 season. Kavanagh was a former Tiger that was brought back for the stretch run. Kavanagh hit .273 in 13 games (OPS+ 133) during this period before calling it a career once the season ended. Told you it was a stretch.
Worst Transaction: Selling George Burns to the New York Yankees. Burns was a regular for the Tigers from 1914-1917 before being shipped off to the Yankees. The Yankees then shipped him to Philadelphia on the same day. That season, 1918, Burns led the AL in games played, hits and total bases. Burns stuck around in the big leagues for 16 seasons, winning the AL MVP award in 1926 as a member of the Cleveland Indians. This one does not look good.
Upper: The performance of Ty Cobb. Cobb was his usual dominant self in 1918 despite missing a couple of weeks due to assorted injuries. Even though he missed some time, Cobb still played enough ball to lead the league in triples as well as in batting average and on-base percentage. The Tigers offense was a joke in 1918 so it really is amazing that Cobb was able to put up such terrific numbers even though the opposition likely pitched around him whenever they could.
Downer: WWI. I don’t want to sound like a jerk, but WWI robbed baseball of some terrific talent during this time period. The Tigers were no different. Many Tigers ended up serving in the Armed Forces and as a result missed good chunks of the 1918 season and forced some pretty awful players into full-time duty. One example of this is at catcher. Archie Yelle was the Tigers main catcher in 1918, though he played in only 56 games. In those 56 games, Yelle hit a pathetic .174 (OPS+ 29). Seriously, have you ever seen an OPS+ that low for a club’s regular? Pretty awful. Interesting side note, Yelle played in only 87 career games and retired with an OPS+ of 24.
Summary: Part of what makes this team so disappointing was how far they fell. In 1915, they won 100 games and won 87 games in 1916. To fall so far so fast is pretty remarkable. In spite of their issues, this team got pretty years out of Bobby Veach and a young Harry Heilmann that provided some hope for the future. Hooks Dauss was the staff ace, but he had a losing record and an ERA+ of only 89. In fact, the pitching staff had a collective ERA+ below 80, one of the worst in club history.

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Cleveland Indians' Kerry Wood: What's His Trade Market Value?

Adam Bernacchio — Mon, 16 Nov 2009 12:40:00 -0500

Yesterday, the MLB Network replayed Kerry Wood’s 20-strikeout game against the Houston Astros in 1998. I have been watching baseball for almost 25 years and in my opinion, that was most dominating regular season performance I have ever seen.

The Astros didn’t have a chance that day.

Flash forward 11 years later and Wood is still throwing 97 mph in the major leagues. Did he become the pitcher everyone thought he would be after watching him pitch in 1998? No he didn’t.

But Wood has made a very nice career for himself. Because of injuries, Wood moved into a relief role in 2007 with the Chicago Cubs and became their closer in 2008.

Wood excelled as the closer in Chicago and in the winter of 2008, he signed a two-year, $20.5 million deal with the Cleveland Indians to be their closer.

The Indians signed Wood expecting to compete in 2009. Things really didn’t work out that way and now the Indians are in rebuilding mode yet again.

When a team is rebuilding, they really don’t have any use for a 32-year-old closer who will be making $10.5 million in 2010. We should be hearing Wood’s name in trade rumors this winter.

Let’s look at what a team would be getting with Wood. Here are the pros and cons of trading for Wood and the teams who might be interested in trading for the former Grand Prairie High School star.

Pros

Can you believe Wood is only 32 years old? It seems like he has been around for 20 years. Even at 32 (not that old mom!), Wood can still throw 97 mph.

He can still blow the fastball by hitters when he needs to. Wood still struck out 10.3 hitters per nine innings last season.

Despite getting off to a rough start in April and May (6.08 ERA), Wood had a stellar second half of the season. In the second half, Wood was 8-for-10 in save opportunities and had a 2.86 ERA.

And Wood is still better than half the closers in baseball. I would take Wood over a lot of the pitchers who are closing games for contending teams.

Cons

In the last 11 years, Wood’s arm has been to hell and back. He has had Tommy John surgery, a partially torn rotator cuff, a sore elbow, a strained triceps, and blisters on his fingers.

You name the arm injury, Wood has probably had it.

Health is the number one concern for any GM who is willing to trade for Wood. The other concern with Wood, would be his relatively down year in 2010.

His WHIP of 1.382 was his highest since 2000 (1.453), his strike out rate went from 11.4/9 to 10.3/9 in 2009, his walk rate almost doubled from 2.4 in 2008 to 4.6 in 2009 and threw more pitches per inning (17.6) than at any point of his career.

Has age and injuries finally caught up to Wood?

Now that we have looked at the pros and cons of acquiring Wood, let’s look at the teams that might be interested in Wood.

Atlanta Braves: Mike Gonzalez and Rafael Soriano are both free agents and if they leave, the Braves have no internal option to replace them. Wood would be a nice replacement for the Braves.

Chicago Cubs: Could the Cubs possibly bring Wood back? It’s not out of the realm of possibility.

Wood and the Cubs had a pretty clean break and the Cubs don’t have a closer going into 2010. Carlos Marmol is much better suited to be a set-up guy than a closer on a team trying to compete for a pennant.

Houston Astros: Wood would love to follow in his idol’s (Roger Clemens and Nolan Ryan) footsteps by pitching for the Astros. Jose Valverde and Latroy Hawkins are both free agents and Wood would make sense.

With Wood making $10.5 million in 2010, I am not sure the Astros have the ability to take on the salary or the prospects to acquire Wood.

I would never count out Drayton McLane though.

Tampa Bay Rays: For me, the Rays are a match made in heaven for Wood. They have the prospects and they have the need to get a deal done.

The Rays can’t go into 2010 with JP Howell and Dan Wheeler as the closers. They caught lightning in a bottle in 2008 and it’s not going to happen again.

This team needs a closer and Wood would be a great fit.

Detroit Tigers: Trading Wood within the division isn’t as crazy as it sounds for the Indians. The Indians aren’t expected to compete this year and by the time the Indians are ready to compete, Wood will be long gone from the Tigers.

I know the Tigers have said they are in cost cutting mode right now, but saying it and doing it are completely two different things. Fernando Rodney and Brandon Lyon are free agents and I don’t think the Tigers feel Ryan Perry is ready to close.

On the surface, Wood makes sense for the Tigers.

Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim: The Angels are known to fix their mistakes rather quickly. Signing Torii Hunter to replace Gary Matthews Jr. is a perfect example of that.

The Angels found out first hand in the postseason Brian Fuentes might be a nice regular season closer, but he is not big time. Acquiring Wood would give Mike Scioscia options at the end of a game.

When acquiring Wood, a GM has to ask himself the tough question of which Wood am I getting? Am I getting the Wood who was rock solid in the second half of 2009 or am I getting the injury-prone closer who struggled for the first half of 2009.

My prediction is that Wood stays with the Indians through the winter and they trade him close to the July 31 trading deadline when teams are making one last playoff push.

You can follow The Ghost of Moonlight Graham on Twitter @ theghostofmlg

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MLB 9s: Cleveland Indians—Albert Belle, 'Shoeless' Joe Jackson Shine

Ash Marshall — Mon, 16 Nov 2009 12:29:46 -0500

Would Travis Hafner have been an MVP if he didn't break his hand in 2006?

Is Nap Lajoie the greatest Indian you've never heard of?

Is Manny Ramirez one of the best Cleveland outfielders in the history of the franchise?

More importantly, which Indian had the greatest ever offensive season at his position?

Major League Baseball has been asking fans this question in an effort to choose each team's best collection of stars. They are calling it MLB 9s.

Here I separated the contenders from the pretenders in an effort to pick my dream White Sox lineup. Have your say by commenting below, or by voting on the MLB site here .

My other MLB 9s you might want to check out are:

Arizona Diamondbacks , Atlanta Braves , Baltimore Orioles , Boston Red Sox , Chicago Cubs , Chicago White Sox and the Cincinnati Reds .

Catcher: Johnny Romano (1961)

In his second season with the Indians, Romano hit 21 home runs and recorded 80 RBI on his way to his first All Star appearance.

He ranked in the top 10 in the American League in batting average (.299) and doubles (29), and he set career-highs with 76 runs and 152 hits.

His 21 home runs is fourth all-time by an Indians’ catcher.

Highlight Game: June 6, 1961 @ Washington. Romano went 4-for-5 with two home runs and four batted in as part of a 14-3 victory against the Senators.

Competition: Victor Martinez had the best offensive year of any Indians’ catcher of the last four decades in 2007 when he batted .301 with 25 homers and 114 rbi.

Sandy Alomar Jr. put up similar numbers 10 years earlier with 21 home runs, 83 RBI and a .324 clip.

First Base: Hal Trosky Sr (1936)

Trosky still holds the Cleveland Indians’ franchise record of 405 total bases, set during his 1936 season when he hit 42 home runs and 45 doubles.

Trosky had 216 hits throughout the season, compiling a .343 batting average with 124 runs and 36 walks.

He led the American League with 162 RBI and 96 extra base hits, and he ranked second with a .644 slugging percentage. Of all Cleveland first basemen, only Jim Thome in 2002 has had a higher slugging percentage (.677).

Highlight Game: September 10, 1936 vs. New York Yankees. Trailing 4-2 in the bottom of the ninth inning, Trosky hit a two-run walk-off home run off Kemp Wicker to help the Indians win just the third game of their last 14.

Cleveland would finish the season fifth in the AL, a long way behind runaway leaders, the New York Yankees.

Competition: You could make a case for Jim Thome being on top here. His 52 home runs is a franchise record, but 118 RBI and a .304 average is sadly no more than slightly above average in the 21st century.

Thome did lead the league in walks and slugging percentage, but my vote went to Trosky because he was so far above his competitors in the era he played.

Lew Fonseca also gets an honorable mention for the 1929 season: .369 batting average, 103 rbi, 97 runs scored, and 19 steals.

Second Base: Roberto Alomar (1999)

In his first year with the Indians, you could make the case that Alomar was the best batter in the American League.

He hit .323 with 24 home runs, 37 stolen bases and a league-leading 138 runs—the second most by any Indians’ player ever.

His 40 doubles and .422 on base percentage were also ranked within the AL top 10.

It was a career year for Alomar which saw him collect his third Silver Slugger award and attend his tenth consecutive All Star Game.

Highlight Game: May 7, 1999 vs Tampa Bay. During a 20-11 hit-parade, Alomar fell a double short of the cycle. He went 3-for-5 with a single, triple, and home run, scoring twice, batting in five men and drawing a walk.

Competition: I was so close to giving my greatest single season by an Indians’ second baseman to Nap Lajoie.

What he accomplished in 1904—as with many players of his time—will so often be overlooked because his power statistics seem so small. He hit just six home runs.

But Lajoie batted .376 and swiped 29 bags, scoring 92 runs and batting in 102 more. He led the AL with 208 walks, 49 doubles, a .413 on-base percentage, .552 slugging percentage, and 305 total bases.

Only one player in the whole of baseball in 1904 hit double-digit home runs.

Maybe more importantly, his OPS+ figures (a measure of on-base percentage and slugging percentage compared to the league average) still stands as the highest by any Indian ever, of any position.

I have no problem whatsoever with people voting for Lajoie. If I can vote twice, I will probably do the same.

Third Base: Al Rosen (1953)

The best of the best, Al Rosen won the AL MVP by a landslide in ’53. His 43 home runs and 145 RBI were the best in the American League, and his .613 slugging percentage, 367 total bases and 115 runs were also ranked number one.

He surpassed 200 hits for the first and only time in his career, and he tied his season-high records for stolen bases and triples.

Yogi Berra was arguably the second best player in the AL in 1953. He had 52 fewer hits, 16 fewer home runs, 35 fewer walks, zero steals and a batting average 40 points less than Rosen.

That’s how good the third baseman was that year.

Highlight Game: August 21, 1953 vs St Louis Browns. Rosen hit three home runs in the course of the day-night double-header. He hit two against Dick Littlefield in the first half and followed that up with a two-run shot in the nightcap.

Competition: Playing third base this time, Thome swung the same power bat that would become his trademark years later.

In 1996 he hit 38 home runs, scored 122 runs and batted in 116 men. But he wasn’t good enough to make the cut at first base in my rankings, and he fails at the final hurdle at third base too.

Toby Harrah had a well-rounded season in 1982, batting .304 with 25 bombs, 100 runs and 17 steals.

Shortstop: Lou Boudreau (1948)

More than 60 years ago, Boudreau stood out from the crowd in winning the only MVP award of his 15-year career.

At the age of 30, Boudreau holds the distinction of being one of few players to win the Most Valuable Player award despite not leading the league in a single statistical category.

His .355 batting average was second to Ted Williams (as was his .453 on-base and .598 slugging percentages), his 116 runs scored placed him fifth on that particular list, and his 119 hits was third behind Dale Mitchell and Bob Dillinger.

He finished seventh in doubles, tenth in home runs, eighth in runs batted in, sixth in walks, second in walks…the list goes on and on.

Boudreau was top where it mattered most though. The Indians finished the season 97-58—first in the American League—and they defeated the Boston Braves in the World Series 4-2 to win their first championship in 28 years.

Highlight Game: September 19, 1948 vs Philadelphia. Boudreau had his first multi-home run game in four years, taking Dick Fowler twice on a pair of solo shots in the second game of a double-header at home to the Athletics.

Competition: Omar Vizquel’s 1999 season was good enough for second place. He stole 42 bases and batted .333, scoring 112 times. With warning-track power most of the time, Vizquel—obviously not known for his power—hit five home runs and recorded 66 RBI.

Outfield: Albert Belle (1995)

Albert Belle was the American League’s Most Valuable Player in 1995. Don’t be fooled by the fact that he didn’t actually win the award. How the hunchback-ed Mo Vaughn won it is beyond me.

Belle led the AL in home runs (50) and doubles (52), slugging an awesome .690 and batting .317.

He scored 121 runs, drove in 126, and walked 73 times. I would say that Belle was the best hitter in the game between 1994 and 1996.

Highlight Game: May 19,1994 vs Milwaukee. Albert Belle went 4-for-4 with two doubles, two walks, and a walk-off home run in the 13th inning off of Bob Scanlan.

Joe Jackson (1911)

Shoeless Joe Jackson batted .408 with 41 stolen bases, 19 triples and 126 runs scored.

He hit seven home runs and 45 doubles, batted in 83 men and had a league-leading OBP of .468. His 233 hits were a career high and he finished the 1911 season fourth in the MVP voting.

Highlight Game: May 7, 1911 @ St Louis. Jackson hit a bases-loaded, two-out, inside-the-park home run in the 12th inning against the Browns, helping the Indians to a 6-2 win.

Manny Ramirez (1999)

In his penultimate season with Cleveland before joining the Boston Red Sox as a free agent, Manny had his finest season as an Indian.

Ramirez hit 44 home runs, batted .333, and drove in an AL-leading 165 runs. He led all batters with a .663 slugging percentage, finishing among the top five in a range of offensive categories including on-base percentage, runs scored, total bases, and extra base hits.

Two years later he realized he could earn three times his $4.3 million salary in a big-market club, heading east to New England.

In the decade from when he joined the Indians in the Big Leagues to winning a championship with the Red Sox, Ramirez saw his paycheck rise from $109,000 a year to $22.5 million.

Highlight Game: September 24, 1999 @ Toronto. The only thing that could maybe top his three-home run game in Oakland the previous month was his eight-RBI game against the Blue Jays.

Ramirez hit a three-run home run in the third inning and a grand slam in the fifth, powering the Indians to an 18-4 victory in the SkyDome.

Competition: There are a lot of contenders to choose from. Kenny Lofton batted .349 with 60 steals in ’94, Rocky Colavito blasted 41 home runs in ’58, and Juan Gonzalez drove in 140 runs in 2001.

Going way back, Tris Speaker wins my vote for fourth place, batting .380 with 17 home runs, 130 RBI and 133 runs in 1923. He led the league with 59 doubles and also recorded 11 triples.

The Hall of Famer may not have been as good as he was in his mid-20s in Boston, but he still brought a lot of value to the team he managed.

Designated Hitter: Travis Hafner (2006)

Before injuries started to plague Hafner, he was one of the best power hitters in the game.

Following four years of steady growth, Hafner exploded with MVP-like numbers, despite missing the team’s last 29 games because of a broken hand.

Hafner led the AL in slugging percentage (.659) and—at the time of his injury—was leading the league in walks (100), second in home runs (42), RBI (117) and runs (100).

In the August of 2006 he hit 13 home runs and batted in 30 runs alone.

Hafner became the first player in Major League history to hit five grand slams before the All-Star break. Only four other players have ever hit five grand slams in one season.

Highlight Game: August 13, 2006 vs Kansas City. Hafner topped off an 11-run first inning at Jacobs Field with his sixth grand slam of the season, tying Don Mattingly’s single-season record.

Competition: Andre Thornton had a fantastic 1982 for the Indians, hitting 32 homers, 116 RBI and 90 runs. He went to his first All Star game and ranked fifth in the AL for home runs.

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Whither the Cleveland Indians?

Tom Au — Sat, 14 Nov 2009 12:49:15 -0500

The decline of the Cleveland Indians over the past two years, from playoff contender in 2007, to league average in 2008, to cellar dweller in 2009, has been perhaps the most dramatic in the major leagues.

And it (mostly) came from a different source than I thought.

Indian batters tend to be among the better ones in the league on traditional metrics, even in 2009. But their contribution hovers around league average because they aren't very clutch.

That's because they exhibit a feast-or-famine pattern, that often causes the team to win or lose by a lot. A game like the 22-4 romp over the Yankees' Chien-Ming Wang does a lot more for raw stats than it does for win-loss percentage.

It's Indian PITCHERS that decide close games, the wins that (in most cases) determine whether the team will be in the top or bottom of their league. Hence, the surprising importance of pitching to a team traditionally short in this area.

FanGraphs ranked Indian pitchers 13 and-a-half wins above league average in 2007. That was second only to, get this, the Boston Red Sox in that year, which is why Boston ultimately won the ALCS, 4-3.

In 2009, on the other hand, Indian pitchers were collectively 11-and-a half games below league average, second from the bottom only to the Washington Nationals.

That's a swing of 25 games in two years, which by itself, represents the difference between 65 wins and 90.

One pitcher, Fausto Carmona, single-handedly represented a large part of this decline. In 2007, he was arguably a more productive pitcher than CC Sabathia, and perhaps should have been the Cy Young winner.

In 2009, he would have been a candidate for the "negative" Cy Young award, had there been such a thing. The difference between the two years was almost eight wins, or about one-third of the 25 total.

Rafael Betancourt lost almost six-and-a-half wins of value between the two years (before he was traded), a quarter of those 25 Indians' wins. Rafael Perez is also a shadow of his old self, having lost over four wins (one-sixth of the Indian total).

For the rest, Jeremy Sowers and Aaron Laffey are no CC Sabathia (even the former one). Cliff Lee was not a factor in 2007 (he emerged in 2008), nor will he be going forward (after his trade to the Phillies).

So in order of priority, the Indians' rebuilding pattern should be something like the following: first, shore up your hitting, the team's traditional area of strength, while adding defense to your lineup, to save that marginal run (and game).

Second, rebuild your bullpen to "save" games in late innings for your hitters. Develop some solid, middle-of-the-rotation types.

Finally, when everything else is in place, get some top-of-the-line pitchers, another CC Sabathia or Cliff Lee, through trade or signing. You can't win without them.

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