Tribe Wire

Fausto Carmona Improves in Second Start

barrymcbride — Fri, 01 Aug 2008 13:47:43 GMT

Fausto Carmona's first start coming off the disabled list was a disaster. His second start Thursday was much better. Carmona pitched into the seventh inning to get the win in the Indians' 9-4 victory over Detroit.

After giving up nine runs in two-plus innings in his first start after a two-month absence, Carmona gave up just two unearned runs in 6 1/3 innings Thursday.

The time Carmona missed while out with a strained hip was critical, as the Indians slid out of contention, a tumble that eventually led to the trades of CC Sabathia and Casey Blake.

Now that Carmona is back, the focus of the Indians' season has changed drastically. Mired in last place in the AL Central, they will spend the next two months evaluating some of their younger players.

Carmona is a young veteran whose goal the rest of this season will be to re-establish himself as the 19-game winner he was last year. The way it looks now, Carmona and Cliff Lee will be the top two starters in what figures to be a very different rotation next season.

INDIANS 9, TIGERS 4: Fausto Carmona pitched into the seventh inning to get his first win since May 12, and Grady Sizemore hit a three-run home run and had four RBIs as the Indians salvaged a split of their four-game series with the Tigers.

Read the rest of this article from the Sports Exchange in the C-Town Sports Forum!

Lee, Bullpen Implode Against Tigers

barrymcbride — Thu, 31 Jul 2008 15:24:13 GMT

Cliff Lee had his worst outing of the season Wednesday night, and the Indians bullpen imploded again in a 14-12 loss to Detroit in 13 innings.

Lee, who came into the game with a record of 14-2 and leading the league with a 2.29 ERA, was handed an 8-1 lead, but he didn't make it to the sixth inning.

The veteran left-hander gave up six runs on 10 hits in five innings. He didn't figure in the decision.

No American League pitcher has been more consistent from start to start than Lee. But on Wednesday night, he seemed to lose some focus when the Indians raced out to a huge lead.

It was a rare lapse for Lee, who hasn't had many bumps in the road en route to what has been a career season for him.

Read the rest of this article from the Sports Exchange in the C-Town Sports Forum…

Peralta a Bright Spot in the Post-CC World

barrymcbride — Wed, 30 Jul 2008 14:53:19 GMT

There hasn't been much to get excited about for the Indians since their white-flag trade with Milwaukee involving CC Sabathia. But the play of shortstop Jhonny Peralta has been one of the few bright spots since then.

In the Indians' 8-5 loss to Detroit on Tuesday, Peralta had two more hits, including his third triple of the season. Peralta has now hit safely in 16 of his last 18 games.

During that stretch Peralta has hit .361 with five home runs and 21 RBIs. In the month of July, Peralta has 22 RBIs in 22 games and is hitting .318.

Most of those numbers have come with Peralta hitting out of the cleanup spot. He assumed those duties by default, after the injuries to Victor Martinez and Travis Hafner essentially left the Indians with no middle of the order.

Peralta has responded in a positive way to his first extended opportunity at hitting fourth. Overall this season he is hitting .271 with a team-high 57 RBIs and 17 home runs, which ranks second on the team.

See the rest of this article from TheSportsExchange on the C-Town Sports Forum!

On Saves, Closers, Jerome Holtzman, and Rafael Perez

phutatorius — Wed, 30 Jul 2008 01:29:00 GMT

*** Subtitle: Where's Our Psychopath? *** I hate closers. Can I say that? Well, maybe I should be clearer: I don't (necessarily) hate the people who are closers. I hate the concept of closers — hate that closers have to exist, that saves are recorded and tracked, that time and custom have assigned an exaggerated importance to The Guy Who Comes into the Ninth with a Lead. He's just a relief pitcher, after all. For years there was no such thing as a closer, and baseball seemed to get along pretty well without him.

But then somebody had to go invent the save, and now we have this specialized closer role, and all the trumped-up mythology and hype that comes with it. "It takes a certain mindset," we're told. "Either you have it or you don't." "It takes an intimidator. It takes supreme confidence — a guy with no memory." Blah blah blah. And now we've got this absurd culture in which back-end guys rumble about $15 million-per-year contracts and squabble over the right to play "Enter Sandman" as they walk to the mound from the bullpen. For crying out loud, These Beloved Indians once had a pitcher named "Señor Slam."

I'm convinced that the closer role is a manufactured reality. I'm not saying that it doesn't take that special person with the certain mindset, the intimidating mien, immunity to pressure and selective amnesia to get those last three outs. I'm just saying history didn't have to lead us down this long, lonely road to a place where Jonathan Papelbon, possibly the Worst Person in the World Not Living in a Cave in Baluchistan, becomes a celebrity millionaire. We've so dramatized those last three outs — given them such awe-inspiring power over the men who attempt to get them — that we've created conditions that psych out every other relief pitcher but the psychopath. You can talk all you want about unmanufacturing the reality, through Boston-style "closer by committee" programs or Eric Wedge's signature "I don't know who the closer is now, but I'll get back to you if we ever get out of the eighth with a lead" posture. It ain't gonna happen. If you don't have that psychopath on your team, you're shit out of luck.

Which brings us to the Indians, a team that in recent years has shown a peculiar interest in sloughing off its roster any player who shows even the faintest hint of psychopathology in his character. Naturally, we're screwed. We have a clutch of good eggs, reasonable people with serviceable arms in the bullpen — some more serviceable than others this year, to be sure — but if any one of them shows a hot hand for a long enough time to warrant trial by fire in a save situation, he cracks right through. The most recent case is Rafael Perez.

It was probably an accident that Perez closed out the win over the Twins on Friday night — and the kind of accident that Eric Wedge would just as soon have avoided, if he could have. Closers are rare characters, but lights-out left-handed setup men are rarer (aren't they?). In most cases Raffy P. will have been in and out of a game before the Indians take a lead into the final inning. But on Friday, Cliffie went eight innings, and Kobayashi, the most-recently anointed (and therefore cursed) closer, went radioactive in the top of the ninth. Clearly it wasn't Masa's night, but who were you going to put in? Betancourt? Right. So with nobody out, the three-run lead down to just one run, and a runner on second, we see Perez, and we see a lineout, a comebacker, and a groundout. Before the game is even over Hammy and Hegan are talking up Perez as a closer.

If you're Eric Wedge, you're thinking the baseball gods are the most ironic and cruel deities in the pantheon. "Is it really the case," you're thinking, "that the only pitcher I have who won't go to Jell-O with a ninth inning lead is my only left-handed reliever?" This might have been an occasion to go on a blind, god-cursing mid-thunderstorm rant, and if not King Lear's, surely some other Shakespearean soliloquy on the cruelty of Fate would have been in order for the post-game presser. But things are looking up these days, because Perez, too, decided to show us his gelatinous side, in short order — on Sunday, when he entered the ninth in a tie game and got smacked around by Justin Morneau (excusable) and Jason Kubel (not so much). And the beat[down] goes on. And on and on.

Jerome Holtzman, the guy who invented the save — the man I would fault for all of this — died earlier this month. I had always thought that the save statistic was the brainchild of a sports agent, some proto-Scott Boras figure who thought he'd confer more value on the relief pitchers in his portfolio by trumping up some banal measure of their effectiveness and value. Turns out it was just a journalist who loved the game and probably had no idea that as a result of his actions we'd someday all be subjected to repeated, brutal high-definition closeups of Papelbon's squinting fish-face during the '07 ALCS. I can't fault the guy now. May you rest in peace, Mr. Holtzman — and if, as you're skipping from cloud to cloud, you should happen to run into Joe Borowski's Stuff, Cleveland Indians fans send their regards.

We’re A Happy Family

barrymcbride — Tue, 29 Jul 2008 22:41:00 GMT

Family night is being held Friday at Cleveland Browns Stadium. I’ve actually been to this a couple of times, and it’s kinda cool if you’re a hard-core fan. They do some scrimmaging and typical practice activities in Cleveland Browns Stadium, and it’s a good chance to have nearly free reign of CBS and sit in places you normally can’t go.

In my case, that means Club Seats or those places where the expensive PSLs were.

My season tickets sorta suck, that’s what I’m saying.

But I’m in the press box now, so, actually, that’s even worse. No beer. And it sucks for the other people in the media because I’m in there. But that’s another story.

Anyhow, I think that they have beer at Family Night, or at least they did when I went to it, so that’s a big win. Unless they stopped selling beer after my “incident” back in 2004. Sorry about that.

Team’s press release follows. Rock, rock on.

AT& T PRESENTS FAMILY NIGHT ON FRIDAY, AUG. 1^ST

AT CLEVELAND BROWNS STADIUM

AT&T presents Family Night on Friday, August 1, at Cleveland Browns Stadium. The Cleveland Browns will break away from their daily training camp practice schedule in Berea to practice at the stadium beginning at 7:00 p.m.

Family Night is a fun, unique and affordable way for the entire family to witness the Browns prepare for the 2008 season. All fans in attendance will receive a special Browns poster, while the evening will conclude with a special fireworks display.

In addition, fans can enjoy music, inflatables, face painting and numerous giveaways starting at 4:30 p.m. outside the stadium on Tailgate Terrace, located along the South and East side of the stadium.

Tickets for Family Night are $5 and are available by contacting Ticketmaster at 216-241-5555, all Ticketmaster locations and the stadium box office. Proceeds from the tickets benefit the Cleveland Browns Foundation. Family Night is in association with the Cleveland Clinic, National City, Cleveland.com and Smuckers.

Tribe Loses, but Sowers Bouncing Back

barrymcbride — Mon, 28 Jul 2008 12:51:26 GMT

The Indians lost again Sunday, but Jeremy Sowers continued the quiet resurrection of his season with his best outing of the year by far. Sowers didn't factor in the decision but retired the first 15 batters he faced and worked eight innings overall, allowing two runs on three hits.

With a record of 1-5 this year, Sowers has struggled though most of his starts, but the last three have been better, culminated by Sunday's start in which he pitched well enough to win.

The Indians need a return to form by Sowers, who as a rookie in 2006 was 7-4 with a 3.57 ERA in the second half of the season. He hasn't come close to pitching to that level in the two years since then, although Sunday's outing may have been an indication he has turned the corner.

Sowers says he thinks his early success was more a product of opposing hitters having no scouting report on him, and most of them seeing him for the first time.

Sowers' struggles since then would seem to indicate that once the league's hitters became more familiar with Sowers' repertoire they began to hit him more. It's taken a while, but Sowers has now made some adjustments in response to that and he's having more success.

Get the Rest of the Story by The Sports Exchange on the C-Town Sports Forum

Tribe Sells 2,000,000 Tix; CC Gone Anyway

barrymcbride — Mon, 28 Jul 2008 04:36:53 GMT

The Indians announced this afternoon that they have surpassed the two million mark in paid attendance. That’s about two weeks earlier than they did last year, and exactly two months faster than they did in 2005.

The Tribe sold over 100,000 tickets for this weekend’s series against the Twins, the fourth time they’ve topped 100K in a weekend.

As someone who remembers less-than-fondly the vain hopes that the Indians would hit a million in paid attendance when they were stuck in Art Modell’s barely-maintained lodgings, this is still a very impressive number.

All we hear about, though, is how the Indians can’t compete economically and a subtle finger is pointed back at fans by the team and their owner when explaining why we can’t keep star athletes.

No one in the media points a finger at Dolan, and I’m undoubtedly the wrong guy to lead the charge. I’ve already started to take some personal attacks from folks on Dolan’s payroll, and my well-cemented low opinion of Dolan’s media arm will be used to distract attention from any comments I make about his lumpish and ineffectual tenure as owner.

Someone in the media needs to cut through the bullshit and demand accountability. The excuses have worn thin.

Will anyone stand up? Anyone?

Or are we all too afraid?

More Tribe Roster Moves: Carmona Activated; Trade

barrymcbride — Sat, 26 Jul 2008 19:29:30 GMT

The Cleveland Indians weren’t done after dealing off IF Casey Blake to the Los Angeles Dodgers.

First the team has juggled around their roster after activating Fausto Carmona from the 15-day DL. Infielder Andy Gonzalez was promoted from Buffalo and Aaron Laffey sent down. No surprises there.

The Indians have acquired right-hand pitcher Anthony Reyes from the Cardinals in exchange for fellow right-hander Luis Perdomo.

Reyes has an intriguing background as a top prospect in 2005 and 2006 who has seemingly levelled out as a 26-year-old who has spent the year going between St. Louis and their AAA Memphis affiliate. He will head to Buffalo to be part of the rotation there.

You can find out a ton more about Reyes at Scout’s excellent Cardinals website, The Birdhouse. Here’s a link to his bio and profile.

Perdomo is a couple of years younger than Reyes and was pitching in relief at Kinston and Akron.

Remembering Casey Blake

phutatorius — Sat, 26 Jul 2008 18:25:00 GMT

Blake to the Dodgers for prospects John Meloan and Carlos Santana. We'd heard this rumor for a while now — Blake to be packaged with Sabathia for Matt Kemp, Andy LaRoche, Clayton Kershaw, Chad Billingsley, etc.; LA still interested in Casey notwithstanding CC's gig in Milwaukee — and now it's happened.

I'd like to pause for a just a moment and consider The Passing of William Casey Blake, who today departed the world of the living for the purgatory that is the National League West. In recent years Tribe fans lived to knock Casey Blake online. In fact, the Web was so flush with attacks on Blake that at times it seemed the Internet and all its supporting technologies were created for this single purpose. None of this, of course, was Blake's fault. He put his head down, practiced hard, played hard, and arguably exceeded every expectation the organization had for him. To be fair, his ridiculous beard drew some fire, and nobody but Casey was responsible for that. But by and large, Indians fans bore a grudge against Blake not for anything he did, but for what he stood for. Blake was, after all, a "Company Man." And not just that, he was a symbol of the Wedge/Shapiro/Dolan team-building philosophy — signed as a 29-year-old minor league free agent in December 2002 after kicking around the minors for seven years, he wins a starting job with the Indians after three other organizations tried him out and passed on him. And lo and behold, he sticks and becomes a serviceable third baseman.

Actually a feel good story, when you think about it. Grit, stick-to-it-iveness, hustle, and a dash of talent pay off in the end. Except to Indians fans, Blake was quintessentially the kind of guy Cleveland has to have because they don't sign a major league free agent at the hot corner, and after swinging and missing on a number of draft picks (Smith, Whitney) they don't have a power-hitting prospect anywhere in the organization who is fit to man the position. Blake's presence on the roster, in the lineup — in the three-hole, at times — exemplified life post-Dick Jacobs and John Hart. We're going to scour the waiver wire, we're going to pick up veteran retreads, career AAA guys, players bouncing back from injuries. We're going to shop in bulk for value, throw a bunch of players at the wall, see who sticks. Tribe fans didn't like Blake because of what he was. They disliked him for what he wasn't. When the team won games, it was easy to take for granted his contributions. When the team was losing — oh, we'd find a reason why it was Blake's fault.

Sometimes we had to look extra hard to blame Casey, but the "Blake Babies," as I like to call them (anyone else here into late 80s Boston alt-rock? Where is my mind?) would find something, and they'd betray their prejudice in just how hard they worked at it. We'd have bad second base play — we've had it for years. We'd lose a game, maybe Josh Barfield or Ramon Vazquez made the last out, and we'd see that Brandon Phillips had hit a couple of homers for the Reds. "PHILLIPS" the Blake Babies would cry. "Why couldn't we have kept him?" The answer of course, readily given: "We couldn't keep him because Wedge didn't like him. He doesn't like talented, cocky players. He likes scrappy, untalented players. You know, like CASEY BLAKE! WE HATE CASEY BLAKE!" And the beat would go on.

It wasn't hard to get sucked into this line of thinking, and it was only over time that I came to appreciate Blake for what he did offer. No, he wasn't a natural like some of his counterparts in the league (say, Alex Rodriguez or Miggy Cabrera). But he fought hard for what he got, and I'm convinced he wrung every last bit of result out of the talent he had. I don't think I can say that about the other two — certainly not Cabrera. He'd play wherever Wedge would put him: 3B, 1B, LF — he was game. So yes, last year he was an abomination with runners in scoring position. There was rending of garments and gnashing of teeth. And then he turns around in '08 and bats over .400 in the same situation. That's baseball.

Tom Hamilton absolutely loved Blake. Even for those of us who regard ourselves as [part-time] Casey Blake apologists, it made me a bit uncomfortable listening to Hammy gush about the guy. If you're the type to believe that the radio guys are shills for the organization, you'd have reason to roll your eyes five or six times a game, when Hammy embarked on yet another effusive display of admiration for Casey Blake. But one story he tells sticks with me. Last September, after Blake hit a walkoff homer to beat the Tigers in extra innings, Blake allowed himself just a bit of celebration: he pumped his fist and screamed after the ball cleared the wall. He later sent a note to the Tigers clubhouse to apologize, because he worried he might have appeared to be rubbing it in the faces of the opposition. Consider the counterexample of Manny Ramirez — an icon of the Jacobs/Hart regime — who a month later turned a home run into an absurd orgy of preening and fan-baiting prima donna-ism in front of Clevelanders who at one time had adored him.

Casey Blake wasn't Manny Ramirez. We can fault him for that, but we can love him for it, too. Find a place in your heart, people, and find just a moment today to appreciate what Casey gave us over these last five and a half years — which was nothing less than everything he had.

Deal Done: Blake off to the Dodgers

barrymcbride — Sat, 26 Jul 2008 17:50:55 GMT

Value days at Dolan’s Dollar Savers are in full swing! Everyone come by for your veteran player needs!

Seriously, I’m not nearly as upset with the Indians now-completed move to deal Casey Blake to the Dodgers as I was with the Nettles-esque deal of Cy Young Award winner CC Sabathia to the Milwaukee Brewers.

(We were used as a developmental club by Bud freaking Selig. Ponder that for a minute.)

(Anyhow. Moving on.)

I can’t cop to being a fan of Casey Blake, and won’t be weeping at his exit. We’re talking about a nearly 35-year-old role player who was symptomatic of the Indians lack of production at a position typically played by more powerful (and expensive) athletes.

While Blake’s .289 average and 58 RBIs makes him an offensive stalwart for the Indians, his trade value was minimal, which was the likely reason why Larry Dolan had to toss in a whole book of Green Stamps in the deal to get the Dodgers to take him.

Catcher Carlos Santana and right-handed pitcher John Meloan came to Cleveland in the trade. Santana is in his fourth year of professional baseball and is still at the A level, although he’s hitting well there this year.

Meloan is – buckle your seat belts – the 47th best minor league pitcher according to Scout.com. For Blake, I’ll take it.

BLOG LINKS
Andy Marte Freed At Last! – Pronk Needs You
Casey Blake to Dodgers.... – Tribe Fan in Yankeeland
Casey Goes to Hollywood? – The Diatribe
Goodbye Death… - Waiting For Next Year

Trevor Crowe Promoted to Buffalo

barrymcbride — Thu, 24 Jul 2008 22:25:47 GMT

The Indians have promoted OF Trevor Crowe to their Buffalo affiliate today from Akron. Crowe is 11th-ranked infielder in Scout’s 2008 Minor League Player Rankings.

Crowe hit .323 in 49 games at Akron, scoring an impressive 45 runs in 198 at-bats. He has been batting .393 since June 1, so he has been hot to say the least.

Indians to Help Refurbish Home

barrymcbride — Thu, 24 Jul 2008 12:24:07 GMT

Like most professional sports franchises, the Cleveland Indians realize their role in the community and are actively involved with the community. Today, for instance, the Indians are participating in a home refurbishment as part of Rebuilding Together Cleveland.

I haven’t necessarily been in owner Larry Dolan’s camp (to say the least), but there’s nothing remotely negative one could say about this. Here is the team’s press release:

An all-volunteer assembly including Indians players JENSEN LEWIS, CLIFF LEE, TRAVIS HAFNER and over 60+ Cleveland Indians office personnel in collaboration with Rebuilding Together Cleveland to paint and repair the home of a low-income Cleveland senior. (Players scheduled to availability and subject to change.)

WHY: Located in the Stockyards, the two-family wood framed house on Hope Avenue, has been in the homeowner’s family for over six decades. The homeowner is 81 years old and suffers from multiple medical disabilities including heart trouble that has caused her to be hospitalized several times over the past two years. Because of her failing health, the homeowner has been unable to keep up with the yard work, painting and repairs of her 100 year old home. The exterior will be power washed prior to the event. Indians volunteers will scrape, prime and paint the house and garage. Debris will be cleared from the yard and landscaping completed to the enclosure of the home.

Rebuilding Together is a nationwide, non-profit volunteer organization dedicated to the rehabilitation and repair of homes owned by low-income families and individuals who are unable to fully help themselves. Founded in January 1996, the Cleveland affiliate of Rebuilding Together is committed to assure that low-income homeowners, from the elderly and disabled to families with children, live in warmth, safety, and independence while providing a sustainable impact to our community.

Now, if they could just come to my home and help clean up all the branches in my back yard, that would be a win for everyone. Friggin’ web sites tend to eat up all the yardwork time.

Indians Acquire Minor League Pitcher

barrymcbride — Thu, 31 Jan 2008 17:43:13 GMT

The Cleveland Indians have signed right-handed pitcher Jorge Julio to a minor-league contract, the team announced today. Julio is 28 years old, and pitched for the Marlins and Rockies this season.

Here are some links for more information, including a prospect profile from OBR sister site IndiansInk.net. If you're an OBR subscriber, you can also get at all the stories and hot news on Indians Ink.

Indians Sign Julio to Minor League Contract - Sports Network
Tribe, Julio Agree to Minor League Deal - Official MLB.Com (Official)
Scout.com: Jorge Julio Profile - Indians Ink

Bedard in the Wigwam?

barrymcbride — Thu, 31 Jan 2008 03:11:00 GMT

I've been writing about pro football now for about ten years, a time span which has hopefully given me the wisdom to parse public statements from team executives. This education sometimes enables me to differentiate total crapola from the regular crapola.

After ten years of tracking the NFL, I've become somewhat of a connoisseur of crapola. I know the good stuff, and the weak stuff.

Anyhow, my crapola detector has gone off somewhat in the case of Orioles lefthander Erik Bedard, who is reportedly close to being dealt to the Seattle Mariners. Seattle has reportedly put together a package which includes Adam Jones, relief pitcher George Sherrill and some minor leagues.

The Indians are now supposedly involved, according to reports out of the Seattle Times. Which is where things start getting out of control.

The way information spreads across the internet these days might create more momentum for a Bedard-to-Tribe rumor than it really deserves. Here's an example: the "MLB News Blog" (which sounds official, but isn't) quotes "Yahoo! Sports" as saying the Angels and Indians are interested in Bedard.

But Yahoo! Sports, in this case, is just acting like KFFL and others do on the NFL side. They don't actually do any real footwork - they just quote people who do. In this case, the Seattle Times.

So, based on what I'm seeing, there's only one print publication saying that the Indians are involved. Not several, which you might think based on how poorly the actual source of the information is being referenced.

The second aspect of this that sets off the crapola meter is the involvement of Orioles owner/dolt Peter Angelos, whose meddlesome fingerprints have done to that franchise what Art Modell did to the Browns.

Here's a deal that's just about to be done, and Angelos may be hoping to get a little more out of the Mariners, or up the ante a little bit. All of a sudden, the press hears that a couple of other bidders may be involved. That's classic gamesmanship.

A friend of mine who I met through Scout has his ear the ground in Seattle. He tells me that the Mariners-Orioles deal isn't nearly as dead as some may be portraying it right now. If it's near the end, now is the time that mystery suitors often magically appear to force concessions or just get the deal done.

The third aspect of this story that concerns me is how little actual information about the Tribe's involvement is out there. The exact quote in the Seattle Times from Orioles GM Andy MacPhail is "we've had some other clubs chime in as well".

What does "chime in" mean? In this case, it doesn't mean anything substantial.

An Indians rotation which includes Bedard, Sabathia, and Carmona might just be enough to give everyone else in the AL a case of the willies. But based on how this story is being reported, and the type of machinations I've seen over the last decade, I'm not exactly holding my breath.

MLB Shocker: Santana Goes to New York Team!

barrymcbride — Wed, 30 Jan 2008 13:23:21 GMT

Fortunately, it was the correct New York team. The somewhat less annoying one.

The deal between the Mets and Twins, wherein New York gives their minor league system and a box of donuts to the Twins for the best pitcher in baseball (sorry, CC) is dependent on the Mets and Santana working out a contract extension by Friday. Somehow, given the financial weirdness that makes baseball the nation's most self-destructive sport, I'm guessing that New York Team (NL Version) will manage to come up with the required financial ransom.

The move has a number of ramifications for our Indians, which is the only reason that it's worth chronicling in these august pages.

First, of course, the trade rids the AL Central of Santana, whose mastery was the key concern when regarding the Twins, although the Indians had shown a strange ability to compete with Twins ace. Secondly, it keeps him out of the hands of the various American League moneybags who would have been more than happy to hand over another $37 quadbillion dollars in order to deliver another championship to their city's spoiled fans.

The last, and perhaps ultimately most important ramification of the deal is that it will set the bar for how much the Indians need to hand over to C.C. Sabathia to keep him in his sizeable Tribe uniform.

The deal has prompted a number of reactions around the Indians blogosphere. Here are some of the takes worth considering:

Johan Santana Sweepstakes Winners - Waiting for Next Year

Suck It, Steinbrenner: Santana Goes to Queens - Ontario Street

Johan and Carsten - The DiaTribe

Talk about it in the C-Town Sports Forum!