Tribe Notes

Yeah, it's a day of football, but why not take a look at some rumors floating around the internet. Let's not forget, the winter meetings aren't that far away, and Cleveland SHOULD be a player this year.

Giles to Cleveland? No, not that Giles, the other one-- The Braves are trying to deal Giles and his 3.25 million dollar deal. My deal with this though is that as good as Giles is, and his play didn't show how good he is last year in my humble opinion, he is an injury issue. I'm not a big Paul Byrd fan, but you would think you could get someone a little more reliable than Marcus Giles. You could certainly do a lot worse though.

Japan to make a visit to Cleveland?--It appears as though the Indians will be bidding on 2 players. The first is a right handed starter named Daisuke Matsuzaka. Matsuzaka was, of course, the MVP of this year's first baseball classic. He's a power pitcher, but has a bunch of movement, and can nip the corners. Check out this link for a nice little updated stat and article page. He is generally considered the most coveted free agent pitcher. The other is a 3rd basman named Akinori Iwamura. The curiousity about Iwamura is that he can play 2nd base as well. Iwamura is a solid infielder, who has a ton of Japanese power. How that translates to US pitching is beyond me. Still, he could answer a bunch of questions, but he won't come cheap. Private bidding will decide their fate, much like Danys Baez.

Carl Crawford coming to the Tribe?--This has many of us salivating. The only problem here is that it's not going to happen. The ONLY way Tampa deals Crawford is if they get a starter (Cliff Lee), and a position player stud-in-the-making (Kouzmanoff) and perhaps Michaels. Um, if Cleveland makes this deal, then we know that the Tribe hasn't learned from past mistakes. If you can get Crawford, get him, but never for someone like Lee, and inexpensive 2 or 3 starter, who will only get better.

Lidge to the Tribe?--It's not going to happen, nor do I want it to happen. Cleveland has a lot of prospects that a bunch of people want in deals...but I just don't see Lidge as the guy you want to close games...his head is gone.

More notes as they come it. Hopefully something good will happen in the next few weeks.