A New Beginning for Wahoo Blues
It is my pleasure to announce that the Rant Sports network will be undergoing some major changes this weekend.
By Monday—very possibly earlier—all the blogs in our network will be merged into the new Rant Sports site, and traffic to WahooBlues.com will be redirected to the Cleveland Indians page on the larger site. From what I’ve seen, the new design looks great, and we’ll be rolling out other new features in the near future.
Wahoo Blues will no longer exist in its current form, but you’ll be able to find continued Indians coverage, as well as every article that’s appeared here, on the new Rant Sports site.
Thank you very much to everyone who has linked to, commented on, read, or somehow supported this blog since I signed on nine months. I hope to see you soon at the new Rant Sports!
MLB Trade Deadline: Recapping Thursday’s Cleveland Indians News and Rumors
Just two days remain before baseball’s non-waiver trade deadline, and if you think you’ve seen a lot of rumors so, you ain’t seen nothin’ yet.
For four days we’ve been keeping you posted with all the latest buzz around the Cleveland Indians and their reported trade targets, and in the last 24 hours we’ve seen such a steady stream of news and updates—including the Indians’ first midseason “buy” trade in years— that yesterday’s facts are now completely out of date.
As we head towards the busiest weekend of the MLB season, here’s a list of Thursday’s Tribe-related trade market happenings:
-The Indians made their first trade acquisition of the season, sending Abner Abreu and Carlton Smith to the Chicago Cubs for right fielder Kosuke Fukudome. It’s hard to call the deal a big win when Fukudome isn’t a high-impact player, but he’s a clear upgrade over Travis Buck and Austin Kearns and the Indians didn’t give up too much to get him. (more…)
What Should Indians Expect in Rematch with Kansas City Royals?
When the Cleveland Indians and newly acquired right fielder Kosuke Fukudome take the field Friday night, they’ll get to face off against a familiar opponent: the Kansas City Royals.
The scuffling Indians haven’t won a series in almost a month (they took 2 of 3 from the Yankees, July 4-6), but they’ve got a good shot at turning that around against the Royals (44-61, 11 GB). Cleveland is 7-2 against Kansas City this year, and the Indians have taken five in a row against the Royals.
To get a better idea of what the Indians should expect from their weekend guests, I sat down (metaphorically speaking) with RoyalsAuthority.com‘s Clark Fosler to talk about Alex Gordon’s breakout year, Billy Butler’s ceiling, and who Kansas City could be selling at the trade deadline. Here’s what he had to say:
WAHOO BLUES: The trade deadline is three days away, and while the Royals have already traded Wlson Betemit, a number of other Kansas City players have been mentioned as being on the block. Who do you expect to see traded? Are there any particular prospects you’d want to target in return?
CLARK FOSLER: Royals GM Dayton Moore has set a pretty steep asking price for many of his more ‘tradeable’ players. The price for either Melky Cabrera or Jeff Francouer is a near major league ready starting pitcher, so they are likely to stay put unless some team gets really desperate. The Joakim Soria rumors have subsided as well. Right now, Jeff Francis is the most likely to go (Bruce Chen is available, too), but other than a very small Francis to Arizona rumor a week ago, there is not real news on that front. Moore has always and is likely going to continue to trade for young pitchers, but would seem unwilling to give up enough to warrant a true ‘prospect’ in return.
WAHOO BLUES: The Royals have an extremely impressive-looking collection of prospects and young players. When do you expect the next Kansas City dynasty to rise? (more…)
MLB Trade Deadline: Cleveland Indians Acquire Kosuke Fukudome, Still Not Done?
The Indians made a splash Thursday by acquiring Kosuke Fukudome from the Chicago Cubs. It’s not the biggest trade we’ve seen this week and a number of higher-profile players are still on the market, but he’s a definite improvement in right field and any attempt to upgrade at the trade deadline is newsworthy after three consecutive July fire sales.
But the biggest news out of Cleveland isn’t that Fukudome will be suiting up at Progressive Field—it’s that the Indians aren’t done. (more…)
Cleveland Indians Trade Abner Abreu and Carlton Smith for Kosuke Fukudome
The Cleveland Indians have acquired right fielder Kosuke Fukudome and just under $4 million from the Chicago Cubs in exchange for two prospects: right fielder Abner Abreu and relief pitcher Carlton Smith. (more…)
