I think Mulva was being sarcastic, TBone.

I'm not a big Burnett fan. But If we can get out of Pronk's contract and the skankees take on some of Burnetts contract, than I'm all for it.

royal_k;1086501 wrote:I think Mulva was being sarcastic, TBone.

I'm not a big Burnett fan. But If we can get out of Pronk's contract and the skankees take on some of Burnetts contract, than I'm all for it.

I think he was, too.

Acta tweeted that a bunch of veterans got into camp early and also a couple younger guys. Mentioned ACAB, Santana, Kipnis, Sizemore, Haf, Masterson and Ubaldo.

As disappointing as the offseason has been. I like a lot of the pieces of this team. I'm not expecting the start they had last year but I think they build on last year and have a better year overall.

Really hoping that Raffy, Sipp, Pestano and Rage can make games 7 innings. Whole key to season right there. I think our starters will keep us in a lot of games.

Probably just dumb optimism but I'm excited for this season.

Atlantis in Reno is the first casino to put out win total odds.

Tribe come in at 75.5.

Arizona Diamondbacks 84.5
Atlanta Braves 86.5
Baltimore Orioles 70.5
Boston Red Sox 87.5
Chicago Cubs 73.5
Chicago White Sox 76.5
Cincinnati Reds 86.5 (-120o)
Cleveland Indians 75.5
Colorado Rockies 82.5
Detroit Tigers 94.5
Houston Astros 62.5
Kansas City Royals 78.5
Los Angeles Angels 89.5
Los Angeles Dodgers 81.5
Miami Marlins 82.5
Milwaukee Brewers 82.5
Minnesota Twins 74.5 (-120u)
New York Mets 74.5 (-120u)
New York Yankees 93.5 (-120u)
Oakland Athletics 72.5
Philadelphia Phillies 95.5
Pittsburgh Pirates 73.5 (-120u)
San Diego Padres 70.5
San Francisco Giants 87.5
Seattle Mariners 72.5
St. Louis Cardinals 87.5 (-120u)
Tampa Bay Rays 87.5
Texas Rangers 94.5
Toronto Blue Jays 81
Washington Nationals 80.5

TBone14;1086635 wrote:I think he was, too.

Yeah, the left-handed bat part was a poor effort at sarcasm. But I was serious about the starter thing.

I'd love to deal Pronk and his awful contract. But we need bats, not arms. If all we can get is an arm, ideally it would be a lefty. Masterson, Ubaldo, Lowe, Tomlin, Talbot, Slowey, Fausto, Carrasco, Gomez - all right handed. Unless we're banking on David Huff, we're currently lacking in the LHP field.

Pretty sure Talbot isn't on the team anymore. You're point is valid though, we had the same situation last year with all-righty starters.

Pronk's contract might have sucked before but it's almost over. I didn't want Burnett because I didn't want another bad contract for a mediocre player that lasts beyond this season.

grodt;1086849 wrote:Pretty sure Talbot isn't on the team anymore. You're point is valid though, we had the same situation last year with all-righty starters

You are correct. Was not aware. He sucked anyway, I only included him because he was one of the guys in that mix the last couple of years.

well everybody...don't get your hopes up...seems like the Tribe is out of the running (probably because the Yanks are talking about their trading partner picking up $10 million/year on AJ's contract.) Pirates look like the front runner.

HitsRus;1086969 wrote:well everybody...don't get your hopes up...seems like the Tribe is out of the running (probably because the Yanks are talking about their trading partner picking up $10 million/year on AJ's contract.) Pirates look like the front runner.

I'm shocked.

HitsRus;1086969 wrote:well everybody...don't get your hopes up...seems like the Tribe is out of the running (probably because the Yanks are talking about their trading partner picking up $10 million/year on AJ's contract.) Pirates look like the front runner.

Would you want the Tribe to pick up $10million/year on AJ Burnett's? contract?

Wooball;1087450 wrote:Would you want the Tribe to pick up $10million/year on AJ Burnett's? contract?

If I'm not mistaken, that would be less than they are paying Pronk.

royal_k;1087545 wrote:If I'm not mistaken, that would be less than they are paying Pronk.

If the tribe was saving money, you don't think they would've pulled the trigger already?

royal_k;1087545 wrote:If I'm not mistaken, that would be less than they are paying Pronk.

This year, but Burnett's contract is for two years so we'd owe him $20 million whereas we only owe Pronk $13 million this year plus the $2.75 million buyout.

grodt;1087642 wrote:This year, but Burnett's contract is for two years so we'd owe him $20 million whereas we only owe Pronk $13 million this year plus the $2.75 million buyout.

correct, this was my point.

So the deal breaks down to Pronk for 1 year at 15.75 Million vs Burnette for 2 years at 20 million.

Pretty much and of those two options I'd take Pronk. Burnett has been pitching poorly and guys usually don't start pitching better when they are 35.

HitsRus;1087821 wrote:So the deal breaks down to Pronk for 1 year at 15.75 Million vs Burnette for 2 years at 20 million.

assuming that the $10 million a year figure would be correct w/ the Tribe sending Pronk's full contract to NYY, correct. I assumed that $10 million a year figure was more for them trading him away for basically nothing(borderline prospects) like the Pirates deal.

grodt;1087852 wrote:Pretty much and of those two options I'd take Pronk. Burnett has been pitching poorly and guys usually don't start pitching better when they are 35.

The only reason I wanted to take a flyer, is when he has been in no pressure situations like FLA and TOR he has been very good. NY got to him, you could tell. Dude was a mental head case on the mound for the Yankees. He may have sucked, but I think its worth taking flyers on pitching a lot more than anything else.

Wooball;1087857 wrote:assuming that the $10 million a year figure would be correct w/ the Tribe sending Pronk's full contract to NYY, correct. I assumed that $10 million a year figure was more for them trading him away for basically nothing(borderline prospects) like the Pirates deal.

That's correct. And apparently the current stumbling point. I think the way the Yankees are doing it, the better the prospects, the less money they want the Pirates to take. From what I hear, they've been getting closer, but still haven't reached an arrangement and there's a soft deadline of Saturday for something to happen.

I'm curious why the 'rats would want to trade prospects for Burnett....Is he going to lead them to a championship or even contention?

Laley23;1087871 wrote:The only reason I wanted to take a flyer, is when he has been in no pressure situations like FLA and TOR he has been very good. NY got to him, you could tell. Dude was a mental head case on the mound for the Yankees. He may have sucked, but I think its worth taking flyers on pitching a lot more than anything else.

Maybe, although I'm pretty sure he was a headcase when he was in Florida and Toronto he just pitched better. I still wouldn't want to pay $10 for a 35 and 36 year old whose skills have been declining. Decent flyer for the right price, but that's not it.

HitsRus;1088238 wrote:I'm curious why the 'rats would want to trade prospects for Burnett....Is he going to lead them to a championship or even contention?

Probably not. But they need to at least give the illusion they're trying to win now, especially with how the NL Central is. They were in contention until early August last year, when they completely collapsed. And now two of the top offensive players, who happened to be on the division's two playoff teams are gone and the league MVP might be missing the first 50 games.

Sure, a guy like me, who REALLY follows baseball can bring up things like how the pitching staff was way above expectations for the first few months and performed down to expectations over the final months, so the way they played during that time period could be more "reality" than the first 100+ games. But for the average fan, signing a known name who MIGHT benefit from a chance of scenery from high-pressure New York, is a sign that the organization isn't just going to stand pat and wait for prospects to hopefully contribute down the road.

And more importantly, it could be a positive sign that the team will at least try to be competitive in re-signing guys like McCutchen.

EDIT: And from what I've getting, they won't be trading real prospects. From what the blog I read says, the Yankees were trying to get them to take on less of Burnett's money and give up higher-caliber prospects, but Pittsburgh stuck to a $13M + 2 low-grade prospects deal, figuring the Yankees would take it because they need to clear some money as the Steinbrenner boys are a bit less crazy about throwing money around than daddy was.

The Pirates and Skanks completed the deal. The Skanks will pay 20 of the 33 mill due over the next two years.

It's time to turn off the Stove boys, pitchers and catchers around MLB start reporting today which means the season is officially here.

Tribe pitchers and catchers report tomorrow.

Why is the Tribe starting a day late

bases_loaded;1090287 wrote:Why is the Tribe starting a day late

Because we're that good, we don't need an extra day?