MLB Trade Deadline: Recapping Tuesday’s Cleveland Indians Rumors

Just four days remain before baseball’s non-waiver trade deadline, and the rumors are swirling like nobody’s business.

Yesterday, I offered fully sourced analyses of the Indians’ chances of acquiring 10 players they’ve been connected to over the last few weeks. And yet, 24 hours later, much of the information is already outdated.

Here’s what we learned Tuesday about the Indians’ plans and where their top targets could be heading:

-Cleveland GM Chris Antonetti suggested he might make a big move. “We are willing to trade good players and we’re willing to take on salary to improve the team,” he said. That said, he wouldn’t want to deal top prospects for a two-month rent-a-player, and it would take “a compelling deal” for him to move any of them. (more…)

ESPN Gives Cleveland Indians’ Offseason a ‘D’ Grade: Was it Really That Bad?

The Cleveland Indians haven’t done much this winter. Despite being connected to several free agents and having everyone from Grady Sizemore to Luis Valbuena pop up in trade rumors, the Indians have signed only one major-league free agent, and new GM Chris Antonetti hasn’t pulled off a single trade. Inactivity isn’t necessarily a bad thing, but it’s safe to say the team doesn’t look much better now than it did four months ago.

So when ESPN.com’s Jerry Crasnick released his offseason grades for the AL Central on Monday, I was expecting Cleveland would a get a C, plus-or-minus a plus or a minus. Imagine my surprise when I scrolled down the page and saw “Grade: D.” Granted, Crasnick’s grading curve is a little off—the Detroit Tigers overpaid for Victor Martinez and Joaquin Benoit, yet got a better grade (B) than the Tampa Bay Rays (B-), who signed one of the best hitters in the game for $2 million and traded a pitcher they didn’t need for a treasure trove of prospects.

But still—a D? Really? Let’s see what Mr. Crasnick has to say for himself: (more…)

Checking the Hot Stove: Updates on All the Cleveland Indians’ Offseason Trade Rumors

It’s been a real snoozefest of an offseason for the Cleveland Indians. Four months after Michael Brantley grounded out to end the Tribe’s 2010 season, the Indians have signed just one major-league free agent and haven’t made a single trade. Cleveland fans weren’t expecting the team go on a shopping spree this winter, but still, things have been eerily quiet.

Fortunately, we Tribe fans have had plenty of rumors to get excited about in the absence of actual deals. Here’s a list of all the as-yet-unresolved gossip we’ve heard this offseason, with updates about where things stand. (more…)

Grady Sizemore Trade Rumors: The Real Reason This Deal Won’t Happen

Last week, MASNsports.com’s Phil Woods turned the baseball world on its head when he reported that the Cleveland Indians have had “conversations” with the Washington Nationals about trading center fielder Grady Sizemore and stating pitcher Fausto Carmona, and the blogosphere hasn’t shut up about it since. I count myself among the main perpetrators—at least most other writers didn’t propose a return package for the Indians’ two highest-profile players.

Now the (eight) million dollar question is: Does this rumor have legs?

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The Game of World Series Domination: If MLB GMs Played Risk

If you or someone you love is or has ever been a nerd, then you are undoubtedly familiar with Risk, the classic board game in which players send tiny plastic Roman numeral pieces into dice battles to achieve world domination. For decades, Risk has provided power-hungry children and socially inept adults with important geographical knowledge—Afghanistan is bigger than China, Mongolia has a coastline, and a clipper ship the size of Australia is permanently docked between South Africa and Brazil—and inspired countless assertions that all the other players are mispronouncing the territories that end in “-kutsk.”

While every game is different, the strategies don’t change much from one game to the next. Someone’s always trying to conquer Asia too early. Someone else is hiding in a corner and slowly amassing an imposing army. And everyone wants Australia.

Interestingly, as the rumors have swirled on baseball’s Hot Stove this winter, the attitudes many MLB general managers have taken towards improving their teams have borne strong resemblances to the approaches my friends take when we gather around the Risk board. This led me to wonder: What would happen if 12 baseball GMs sat down to challenge each other for world domination? Using the events of the last few months as my guide, I did my best to paint a picture of what each executive would do and how the game would play out.

Ruben Amaro, Jr. (Phillies): The Guy Who Won Australia. “Hmmm…let’s see here…Western Australia? Nice! Now I’ll just dump all of my troops there and take the continent on my first turn. That’ll give me a huge leg up for the rest of the game.”

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