Transactions

Transferred RHRP Lee Gronkiewicz, LHP Oscar Alvarez, RHP Juan Lara, and LHSP Victor Kleine to Akron from Buffalo

My Take on Kaz Tadano

Tadano, when he eventually reaches the majors, is going to be heckled; let's not kid ourselves. Even though Tadano participated in a homosexual act, he is not gay; he has a serious girlfriend. But that's meaningless judging by the homophobia rampant in this culture; Tadano is guilty by association in their eyes.

The Indians probably did the right thing by putting this out there during this time of the year; Spring Training is still a month away, and judging by the attention span of the national media, he'll be a distant memory by Opening Day.

If Tadano becomes an effective major-league pitcher, the Indians deserve a lot of credit by being the only team to take a chance on him, even with all the negative backlash that will come from all the miscreants out there.

We as fans ignore many of our players' transgressions because they can hit a curveball or throw a blazing fastball. Surely what Tadano has admitted to pales in comparison to what has been accepted from previous athletes in all sports. He only harmed himself, he's sorry for it, and goodness knows he's paid, unfairly or not, for what he did.

I think it's time for us to concentrate on what he can do between the lines, not what he did several years ago and a continent away.

#88 RHP Satchel Paige (1948-1949)

At age "41," Leroy "Satchel" Paige became the first black pitcher in the American League. That year, Paige pitched in relief and helped the Indians to a championship in 1948. Over the next 4 years, he'd pitch for the Indians and St. Louis Browns, and came back in 1965 to pitch 3 innings for the Kansas City Athletics before finally retiring.

Unfortunately, by the time Paige was allowed into the majors, his best years were behind him. But even at an advanced age, Paige was a fine pitcher; during his first season in Cleveland, he went 6-1 with a 2.48 ERA out of the bullpen. However, his true greatness was spent with the Negro Leagues and in the Domincan Republic and Mexico. He was the biggest draw wherever he went, and his salary eclipsed most major leaguers'. His arsenal of pitches baffled hitters for five decades.

In 1971, he was inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame.

#89 3B Larry Gardner (1919-1926)

Acquired in 1919, Gardner was a major cog in the 1920 World Series winner. During that year, he hit .310/.367/.414 and drove in 118. For the era he played in, Gardner was a pretty good hitter; most of his career was spent during the dead-ball era.

The first half of his career was spent with the Boston Red Sox, where behind pitcher Babe Ruth the Sox won a championship in 1915. He was traded to the Philadelphia Athletics after the 1917 season for star 1B Stuffy McInnis, and dealt to the Indians a year later along with Charlie Jamieson for Braggo Roth.

Gardner's best season with the Indians came a year after the 1920 championship run; he hit .319/.391/.414 and drove in 120 runs.

Back to the Present

Just a little break from the countdown.

I'm going to expound a little more on why the Indians are doing what they're doing this year.

In a past post, I criticized the Tigers for giving Fernando Vina a two year contract, because:

a) He's not worth $3M/year
b) He's not going to be around on the next good Tiger team
c) He costs the Tigers financial flexibility

I'm going to concentrate on (c), because that is the main reason why the Indians signed who they signed this off-season. If you will assume the Indians' projected year for competing for a championship (not the division) is 2005, then why should they sign players to multi-year deals this year? All that would do is to hamstring the Indians when they actually have a chance of winning. So they went out and signed "stopgaps", or players who will be adequate players for a year and then disposed of. Ron Belliard, Jose Jiminez, Jeff D'Amico, and Jason Bere are all examples of this. These players were signed mainly because they needed certainty at their position. Belliard was signed because Brandon Phillips needs more seasoning, the starters were signed because of the inexperience of the young starters, and Jiminez was signed to provide depth to the bullpen.

Now why the one-year deals? This is where financial flexibility comes in. Let's crunch some numbers.

Here's who has guaranteed money coming in 2005:

$4.5M CC Sabathia
$6M Matt Lawton

That's only $10.5M, which is amazing if you assume the Indians will have a payroll anywhere between $50-60M in 2005. They'll use some of the money for increases in salary for arbitration-eligible players, but that shouldn't be that big of an issue yet . We'll assume $20M will be spent on re-signing the Indians' arbitration-eligible players, as well as the players with 0-2 years of experience.

This leaves approximately $20M-$30M for the Indians to play with. This gives them tremendous flexibility to make any move they see fit to improve the team. After 2004, the Indians will have a much better idea as to where they'll need help. If Brandon Phillips rebounds and has a good year, there's no need to sign a second baseman (or shortstop). If Jhonny Peralta really takes off at short or third, that removes a need. If Jeremy Guthrie comes to Cleveland and pitches well, there's another need removed.

The more needs are satisfied by your minor-leaguers (who are inherently cheaper than the equivalent free agent) the more money you'll be able to spend on the needs that are left. This is why having a pipeline of young talent is so crucial, and the main reason why the Indians had to rebuild in the first place. If you have to spend money to fill holes via free agency, you really take up a lot of money. Now, if your team resides in New York or Boston, this isn't really a big issue. But the Indians reside in a middling market, so they have to choose wisely who to spend on.

Now why spend in 2005 rather than 2004? Because the core really hasn't shown it's ready to win yet. There's a lot of promise, but no objective observer is going to pencil in the Indians for 90 wins. But most agree that the talent is there; all that remains is for that talent to translate to wins. By next year, a lot of bad contracts are going to go away, which, coinciding with the maturation of the players who got their first taste of the majors last year, should make for the perfect opportunity to quickly become a contender.

Another reason why you don't spend is that you don't have that good an idea of whom to spend it on. Like I said previously, if Brandon Phillips rebounds, there's no reason to sign a Luis Castillo. But if you signed him to a four-year deal, you have to pay him regardless. If the Indians signed a third baseman this offseason to a long-term contract and Corey Smith turns into Mike Schmidt next year, what do you do then? You're stuck with a bunch of guaranteed contracts that really aren't that useful to you, and in this day and age, you aren't going to get rid of them very easily.

Now is this plan foolproof? No; projecting minor-league talent to major-league results is not exact, to say the least. But the Indians have stockpiled enough young talent to allow for some attrition. If more prospects go bust, then they'll have that many more players to go get next off-season.

Transcations

Invited 1B Michael Aubrey, OF Brad Snyder, RHSP Kyle Denney, RHRP Kazuhito Tadano, C Dusty Wathan, C Brian Luderer, C Vic Valencia, C David Wallace, and IF Zach Sorensen to Spring Training

#90 RHSP Orel Hershiser (1995-1997)

One of the best pitchers of the late 1980s, Hershiser came to the Indians in 1995 and showed that he had a couple of good years left. During the three years he spent in Cleveland, he posted an ERA+ of 119, 116, and 105. Thanks to Cleveland's lethal offense, that translated to 16, 15, and 14 wins respectively.

But of course, Hershiser's best season was in 1988, in which he was almost inhuman. He posted an ERA of 2.26, won the NL Cy Young, the NLCS MVP and pitched the Dodgers to the World Championship, picking up the World Series MVP in the process. Oh yeah, he also won the Gold Glove that year.

When the Indians went back to the World Series for the first time in 41 years by beating Seattle in 1995, Hershiser was the ALCS MVP.

Transactions

Signed LHRP Scott Stewart to a one-year, $875k contract, avoiding arbitration

#91 OF George Hendrick (1973-1976)

A remarkably consistent player during his tenure in Cleveland, and his whole career. Traded to the Indians in exchange for Ray Fosse (post-Pete Rose) and Jack Heidemann, Hendrick produced seasons of 21, 19, 24, and 25 home runs. He was shipped to San Diego for Johnny Grubb, Hector Torres (who was then traded to Toronto to reacquire John Lowenstein) and Fred Kendall.

Eventually, he was dealt to St. Louis, where he spent the best part of his career. He was a big part of the Cardinals' 1982 World Series win over the Milwaukee Brewers.

#92 3B Brook Jacoby (1983-1991, 1992)

A solid player for almost a decade, Jacoby played during the worst era in Indians history. During Jacoby's tenure, here's the Indians' records:

1984 75-87
1985 60-102
1986 84-78
1987 61-101
1988 78-84
1989 73-89
1990 77-85
1991 57-105
1992 76-86

Needless to say, Jacoby toiled his entire career for a moribound franchise, and somehow managed to put up decent numbers. He had his career year in 1987 (along with everyone else in baseball), hitting .300/.387/.541 with 32 HR, but amazingly enough, only 69 RBIs.

Jacoby was acquired in probably in most one-sided deal in the 1980s save the Von Hayes theft. Len Barker went to Atlanta, and the Braves sent over Jacoby and lead-off master Brett Butler, who was somehow left off this list by the Indians. Traded during 1991, Jacoby came back for one last season and started at third when his replacement, Jim Thome, broke his hand during Spring Training.

Transactions

Released RHP Danny Aquino from Akron

Site Updates

Most of the internal links to the left work, with the exception of the Contracts link; I'll work on that closer to Opening Day, when some salaries are made public. I've added a couple more links from the old geocities site, including a recap of the 2003 Draft; on that page you can also access the 2000, 2001, and 2002 Drafts.

I have updated the minor-league rosters to include all the NRIs, including Lou Merloni, and I've updated the Off-season page to include all moves through the signing of David Riske. The Options page has been revamped to include players acquired during the 2003 season.

Please let me know if you come across any dead links or other problems.

Transactions

Signed RHRP David Riske to a one-year, $1.025M contract, avoiding arbitration

Signed IF Lou Merloni to a minor-league contract; Invited him to Spring Training

#93(tie) 2B Duane Kuiper (1974-1981)

A slick-fielding second baseman, and not much more. His lack of power was not only glaring, but comical. Kuiper used his one major-league home run (in almost 3400 PA) as a running punch line for years. Kuiper was traded in 1981 to the Giants, and spent the rest of his career with San Francisco. Three times, he got the Indians' only hit (against Ron Guidry, Noland Ryan, and Andy Hassler) in an otherwise unblemished game.

#93(tie) C Sandy Alomar (1990-2000)

What might have been. Alomar came in the watershed Joe Carter trade in 1989, with Carlos Baerga coming to Cleveland with Sandy. In 1990, he delivered on his huge promise by winning the AL Rookie of the Year and a Gold Glove. Unfortunately, he couldn't stay healthy throughout his career in Cleveland with rare exceptions.

In 1997, he had his best season, and we saw a glimpse of what he was capable of. He hit in 30 straight games, one short of a franchise record. He was the MVP when the All-Star game was played in Cleveland. He also hit a memorable home run off Yankee closer Mariano Rivera in the ALDS. But that season was mostly the exception, not the rule. His height (6'5") may have been a factor as to why he broke down so much, but regardless, he was an excellent defensive catcher, a very good game-caller, and a midle-of-the-order offensive player. It's just too bad that his potential could never be truly realized.

#95 3B Travis Fryman (1998-2002)

Fryman originally came up with Detroit as a shortstop, and took over for Tiger legend Alan Trammell. Eventually, he settled into third base, and became one of the best in baseball during the early 1990s. In 1997, he was traded to newly-formed Arizona Diamondbacks, and traded again a month later to the Indians for Matt Williams.

Fryman had his best year with the Indians in 2000, batting .321 with 22 home runs and 106 RBIs; he also won his only Gold Glove that year. Two injury-plagued years later, Travis retired at age 33.

#96 RHSP Mudcat Grant (1958-1964)

Unfortunately for the Indians, Jim "Mudcat" Grant had his best season a year after they traded him. Until 1964, Grant had exactly one year in which he posted an ERA under the league average (1961), and seemed destined for a mediocre career. The Indians traded him to the Minnesota Twins during the 1964 season. The following year, Grant won 21 games, and took Minnesota to the brink of a championship, only to be shut down in Game 7 of the World Series by some guy named Koufax. During the 1965 World Series, Mudcat went 2-1, and hit a home run in Game 6 to force a pivotal game.

A couple years later, with the Dodgers, Grant became a closer, and pretty much remained in that role through the end of his career. Grant was taken by the Montreal Expos in the Expansion Draft, and recorded that franchise's 1st win.

#97 - LHSP Rick Waits (1975-1983)

Rick Waits was a very consistent (but mediocre) pitcher during the late 1970s and early 1980s. His best year statistically was in 1978, when he posted a 3.20 ERA over 230 IP. Waits was almost solely responsible for the 1978 playoff between the Yankees and Red Sox; he shut down the Yankees on October 1st, allowing only five hits, while the Red Sox beat the Blue Jays, forcing a one-game playoff. Most of you remember what happened in that game.

But mostly, Waits was a workhorse for the Indians for 5 or so years. His career ERA+ is 92, and he posted one over 100 just once in his time with the Indians.

Waits was involved in two of the more interesting trades of the era. He came to the Indians, along with Jim Bibby, Jackie Brown, and a lot of money, for Hall of Famer Gaylord Perry, who will appear later on this list. In 1983, he was traded to Milwaukee along with Rick Manning for Ernie Camacho, Jamie Easterly, and Gorman Thomas.

Transactions

Signed RHRP Jose Jiminez to a one-year, $1M contract

The Indians added to their bullpen by adding former Rockies closer Jose Jiminez today. With the addition of Bob Wickman, Scott Stewart, and now Jiminez, the bullpen has really been improved, and at a very low cost. A big weakness at the begining of last year now has probably become the strength of this team.

The reason the Indians could sign Jiminez this cheaply? Two things: the Coors effect scaring away some teams, and a generally bad season at any altitude. The Indians are taking a flyer on Jiminez, hoping that a change of leagues and teams will rejuvenate his career.

Jiminez's stats:

2001 55.0 IP, 37 SO, 22 BB, 4.09 ERA, .264 BAA, 1.42 WHIP
2002 73.1 IP, 47 SO, 11 BB, 3.56 ERA, .265 BAA, 1.19 WHIP
2003 101.2 IP, 45 SO, 32 BB, 5.22 ERA, .322 BAA, 1.66 WHIP

vs. Left 213.2 IP, 124 SO, 100 BB, .304 BAA, 1.71 WHIP
vs. Right 271.1 IP, 174 SO, 72 BB, .254 BAA, 1.23 WHIP

Last year, even with the high ERA, right-handers hit .266 vs. Jiminez. He probably will be used almost exclusively against right-handed hitters next year.

Transactions

Traded OF Ryan Church and SS Maicer Izturis to the Montreal Expos for LHRP Scott Stewart

Re-signed LHRP Carl Sadler to a minor-league contract; Invited him to Spring Training

Signed RHSP Jeff D'Amico, RHRP Luther Hackman RHRP Matt Miller, and 3B Kevin Orie to minor-league contracts; Invited them to Spring Training

A very busy day for the Indians, and they addressed a couple of their needs.

Scott Stewart instantly solves the LOOGY problem. Actually, Stewart is a bit better than your standard LOOGY, and is capable of closing games if need be. For example, if three left-handers are due up in the 9th inning, why not bring in a left-hander to at least turn them around? Along with Riske and Wickman, Stewart makes the back end of the bullpen much better than last year, when the Indians had Carl Sadler, Danys Baez, and an unproven David Riske in those roles.

The Indians gave up Ryan Church and Maicer Izturis in the trade. Church, who was on the 40-man roster, had an injury-filled 2003 season, and the jury's still out on him. A couple of years ago, he was the best outfielder in the system, but in the past year or two, with the addition of outfielder Ryan Ludwick, Grady Sizemore, Coco Crisp, Alex Escobar, among others, Church slipped down the ranks. He has a much better shot in Montreal, and if he can stay healthy, he's capable of sticking around as at least a reserve outfielder.

Maicer Iztuis' ceiling is a little lower. He's the brother of Cesar Izturis, who plays shortstop for the Dodgers, and also is known for his glove. However, his offense probably isn't good enough to warrent starting every day in the majors. His future is likely going to be a utility infielder.

Stewart's stats:

2001 47.2 IP, 39 SO, 13 BB, .243 BAA, 3 SV
2002 64.0 IP, 67 SO, 22 BB, .207 BAA, 17 SV
2003 51.0 IP, 29 SO, 13 BB, .306 BAA, 0 SV

vs. Left 59.0 IP, 65 SO, 11 BB, .234 BAA, 1.05 WHIP
vs. Right 95.2 IP, 70 SO, 37 BB, .254 BAA, 1.36 WHIP


The other move of importance is the signing of Jeff D'Amico, who pitched with the Pirates last year. Between him and Jason Bere, you should have your 4th or 5th starter. D'Amico certainly won't win any Cy Youngs, but he should give the Indians around 150 generic innings, exactly what you need from the bottom of your rotation. The fact that both Bere and D'Amico are signed to mino-league deals makes it much better, as the Indians can afford to be objective in Spring Training.

Most of the other signings will likely spend their summer in Buffalo. Matt Miller and Luther Hackman are marginal bullpen arms, and Kevin Orie is likely to a part-time infielder in Buffalo.

#98 - 1B Pat Tabler (1983-1988)

A light-hitting first baseman, Pat Tabler had a couple of pretty good seasons during the mid-80s. His .326 average in 1986 was good for 4th place in the AL, and he was Cleveland's lone representitive in the 1987 All-Star Game.

However, his lack of power, especially for his position, prompted the Indians to trade him to Kansas City during the 1988 season. He finished his career with Toronto, winning a World Series with them in 1992.

Tabler's biggest claim to fame is his career average with the bases loaded. He hit .489 in 88 at-bats with the bags juiced.

#99 - C Luke Sewell

The biggest weakness in my ranking system is its inability to quantify defensive excellence. Defense is such a subjective measure that it's really impossible for one person to compare players defensively from different eras unless you were actually able to watch each of the players on this list. I've included Fielding Percentage and Range Factor in the calculations, but still it doesn't accurately portray the worth of player defensively.

So Luke Sewell is ranked #99 in my rankings. He was a very good defensive catcher in Cleveland for over a decade. He finished 9th in MVP voting in 1927. He did lead catchers in assists four years, and lasted 20 years at the catching position, quite an accomplishment. But he was not much of an offensive player; his career high in OPS+ was 92.

Later in his career, he managed, first as a player coach in 1939, and won the AL pennant with the St. Louis Browns in 1944. His brother, Hall of Famer Joe Sewell, will appear later on in the list.

The Countdown Begins

Before I begin counting down the 100 Greatest Cleveland Indians, a few word about how I ranked the players:

These rankings are based on the time the player spent with the Indians franchise, and does not count years played for other franchises. I didn't count MVPs, Cy Young Awards, or Gold Gloves, because they weren't around in the early days, and it would be impossible (not to mention time-consuming) to "give out" the awards myself. So I just didn't count any awards. Now this hurt some players (as you will see), but I feel it's the only fair way to rank players over a 100 year period.

Here's what I used for the rankings:

-For pitchers, I used their average ERA+ for the years pitched with Cleveland, and assigned points in reverse order of top 10 finishes among the AL (10 pts for finishing 1st in a category, and so on).

-For position players, I used their average OPS+ for the years played in Cleveland, and again assigned points for top 10 finishes in categories. I also took the difference in their Fielding Percent vs. the League Average Fielding Percent, and either added or subtracted the result from the total. I also added "bonus" points for certain positions:

+30 points for C and SS
+20 points for 2B and CF
+10 points for 3B

So there you have it. It's not a perfect system by any means, but it's the fairest and most concise way I could come up with to compare players from vastly different eras. Judging by the results, I didn't see too many outliers; most of the Hall of Famers (or soon-to-be Hall of Famers) are at the top of this list. In the next couple weeks, I'll transfer this list to its separate blog, along with the entire roster of All-Time Indians at this address:

www.tribehistory.blogspot.com

Now without further ado, #100 on the Top 100 Indians off all time....

#100 - OF "Super" Joe Charboneau

The Indians put several players on the list more for their notoriety than for their playing ability. Joe Charboneau was the biggest example of this, and it's earned him last place on the list.

Charboneau was drafted by the Minnesota Twins unceremonially in the 2nd phase of the 1976 draft. They traded him to the Indians in December 1978. After a year in AAA, Charboneau burst onto the scene by winning the 1980 Rookie of the Year, hitting a very promising .289/.358/488, along with 23 HR. There were "Super Joe" songs recorded, and he was compared to Rocky Colavito. But he never was the same again. He was sent down to AAA the next year after starting the year batting .210/.247/.342 and never regained his hitting stroke. By 1984, he was out of baseball altogether, a staggering collapse.

One of Charboneau's non-baseball accomplishments included being able to open beer cans with his eye socket.

Charboneau's collapse was a grim foretelling of things to come in the 1980s. The team wouldn't finish any higher than 6th place in the AL East the entire decade.