Footwedge;1388557 wrote:Brantley will play...almost every single day. If I remember correctly, he hits lefties pretty well.

Brantley hit .265 against lefties/.299 against righties

CLEconomically Speaking;1388292 wrote:How has no one criticized this yet? I won the WS with the Tribe on 2k11, how come we didn't at least make the playoffs that year?? I also hate this batting order. You have the lineup spread too thin. Cant let opposition walk a batter to get better matchups. Gotta string together hits to score runs.

1.Bourn
2. Cabrera
3. Swisher
4.Reynolds
5.Santana
6.Brantley
7.Kipnis
8.Chisenhall
9.Stubbs

You guys have Stubbs too high up in the order.

Plenty of time to evaluate Stubbs....and we have depth to replace him if he doesn't play well.

hoops23;1388561 wrote:Brantley hit .265 against lefties/.299 against righties

265 aint too bad. Stubbs hit 215 against everyone.

didn't know if this deserved its own thread or not, so i figured i would just throw it here since cleveland would have an obvious vested interest in the debate.

http://espn.go.com/blog/playbook/fandom/post/_/id/18144/native-americans-speak-on-sports-imagery

would have no issue if the indians were forced to change their name (i mean the chief wahoo logo is probably the most offensive mascot out there). i don't even know where to begin, though, if it were to come to a point where a replacement name would be needed. are there any animals local to this area only?

Personally, I think I'd make it a seperate thread, as this thread will soon end as the season is upon us.

I'll post on this subject later....no time this AM.

dazedconfused;1388912 wrote:didn't know if this deserved its own thread or not, so i figured i would just throw it here since cleveland would have an obvious vested interest in the debate.

http://espn.go.com/blog/playbook/fandom/post/_/id/18144/native-americans-speak-on-sports-imagery

would have no issue if the indians were forced to change their name (i mean the chief wahoo logo is probably the most offensive mascot out there). i don't even know where to begin, though, if it were to come to a point where a replacement name would be needed. are there any animals local to this area only?

Cleveland Midges. Boom.

dazedconfused;1388912 wrote:

would have no issue if the indians were forced to change their name

I'm no Indians fan, but it'd annoy me. I hate that politically correct crap.

Personally, I believe naming teams after animals is offensive. Animals aren't even offered an interview or a sit-down meeting to discuss their feelings. It's bullshit.

dazedconfused;1388912 wrote:didn't know if this deserved its own thread or not, so i figured i would just throw it here since cleveland would have an obvious vested interest in the debate.

http://espn.go.com/blog/playbook/fandom/post/_/id/18144/native-americans-speak-on-sports-imagery

would have no issue if the indians were forced to change their name (i mean the chief wahoo logo is probably the most offensive mascot out there). i don't even know where to begin, though, if it were to come to a point where a replacement name would be needed. are there any animals local to this area only?

This comes up every year about this time. All I have to add to it is QQ.

dazedconfused;1388912 wrote:didn't know if this deserved its own thread or not, so i figured i would just throw it here since cleveland would have an obvious vested interest in the debate.

http://espn.go.com/blog/playbook/fandom/post/_/id/18144/native-americans-speak-on-sports-imagery

would have no issue if the indians were forced to change their name (i mean the chief wahoo logo is probably the most offensive mascot out there). i don't even know where to begin, though, if it were to come to a point where a replacement name would be needed. are there any animals local to this area only?

Should we rename the city of Columbus too? It's named after the guy responsible for slaughtering most of the Indians

I think Sports Illustrated had an article about this a few years back and it showed that close to 80% of Native Americans didn't mind the nicknames....but nearly 100% of the NA political activists did.
I think that is what really drives this...political agendas.

The rap sucks, but I love this kid more and more everyday

http://sports.yahoo.com/blogs/mlb-big-league-stew/indians-pitcher-trevor-bauer-responds-critics-rap-song-165810857--mlb.html

Gonna be an interesting year if Bauer makes the Big League club.


Interesting stat..the 2012 Tribe was 12th in MLB for stolen bases with 110. With the addition of Stubbs(30) and Bourn(42)..and the subtraction of Choo(21)...the Tribe ends the offseason with +51 SB's....and 3 of the top 20 thieves in all of MLB.

Gonna go against the grain here and say "job well done Dolan". Let's be honest with ourselves here. When he signed away big bucks to Sizemore, Hafner, and Fausto, everyone and their mother thought it was great. I know I did. Sizemore looked like a future HOFer after 3 years....Hafner was a 310/40 homers a year guy. Fausto's numbers EQUALLED those of CY Young winner CC his ROOKIE SEASON.

All 3 signings turned to utter crap...no fault of Dolan.

Finally, the money owed these post roid phenom flops is no longer tied up. I was OK with with the Swish signing, but ecstatic with the Bourne signing. Dude scored 96 runs last year and was an All Star member.

So...who says good athletes won't play in Cleveland?

The lineup is a lot better...no more triple A left fielders...and the defense will be better.

Now, crossing fingers that the pitching coach can straighten out a five man rotation...which last year had to be close to the worst in baseball.

If I got a dollar each time someone spelled Bourn wrong, I'd earn more off him than Scott Boras does.

One thing I didn't realize about Bourn (although I liked the signing) is that he is a strike out machine.

We may lead the entire free world in strike outs as a team this year looking at the day to day line-up if Stubbs plays alot.

Bourn/Reynolds/Stubbs were all in the top 15 in Strike outs last year in the entire Major Leagues, and Swisher finished 27th.

How consistent can a team be when they have 4 of the top 27 strikeout hitters in all of baseball in a 9 man line-up?

Who is the hitting coach this year? Because cutting down on strike outs is going to be vital to any success or run at a playoff spot this team hopes to make.

I like the added speed, but can see a scenario in which we are pulling our hair out mid-season with continued rally killing KO's by guys in big spots.

HitsRus;1388952 wrote:Personally, I think I'd make it a seperate thread, as this thread will soon end as the season is upon us.

I'll post on this subject later....no time this AM.

Is there a thread on this yet?

If not, my 2 cents worth is that this is bull crap, also. <------- the Indians/Chief Wahoo thing, that is.

dazedconfused;1388912 wrote: (i mean the chief wahoo logo is probably the most offensive mascot out there).

:thumbdown:

How consistent can a team be when they have 4 of the top 27 strikeout hitters in all of baseball in a 9 man line-up?

I'm going to say a lot better than a lineup that had no pop, and 5 guys hitting under .240....and 2 to 3 of those guys hitting near or below the Mendoza line on any given night.


I'm with wedge here...'a job well done'. We still need a front of the rotation pitcher...here's hoping Masterson can emerge.

Regarding Swisher and strikeouts....I don't mind. He is always among league leaders in walks as well. He brings a great eye and patience to the plate. The old A's philosophy and the Yankees are very patient hitters as well. If you are walking a lot....you are working deep into counts and working pitchers. Of course, that means you are hitting with two strikes much more and therefore bound to strikeout more.

Swisher walked 77 times in 150 games last year. Actually a lower than average total for him and it was still good for 8th in the league. He is on base all the time.

I am hoping he can bring that veteran, professional hitter mentality and teach it our young players. We swing at way too many balls.

Does anyone else feel as I do, that the presence of Terry Francona has helped attract some of these free agents to Cleveland?

HitsRus;1389528 wrote:I'm going to say a lot better than a lineup that had no pop, and 5 guys hitting under .240....and 2 to 3 of those guys hitting near or below the Mendoza line on any given night.


I'm with wedge here...'a job well done'. We still need a front of the rotation pitcher...here's hoping Masterson can emerge.

Bingo. It's no different than a guy like Casey Kotchman or whoever hitting a routine ground ball to the 1B with 2 on and 2 out or something... An out is an out.

The only difference is, guys like Swish and Bourn are going to get on base A LOT more and provide more runs/scoring opportunities with their individual abilities.

stlouiedipalma;1389588 wrote:Does anyone else feel as I do, that the presence of Terry Francona has helped attract some of these free agents to Cleveland?

I have no doubt it helped....instant credibility.

stlouiedipalma;1389588 wrote:Does anyone else feel as I do, that the presence of Terry Francona has helped attract some of these free agents to Cleveland?

:thumbup:

This is a great read if you're bored

http://wahoosonfirst.com/2013/02/14/what-michael-bourn-means-for-the-indians-2013-draft/