Cleveland Sports Forum

Phillies just signed Delmon Young for peanuts...$750K not much more than the Major League minimum.

I cast a solid None of the Above vote on the DH poll of ancient ex-Indians.

joez wrote:Have you considered the high profile players that have been suspended from the Latin countries compared to the likes of Bonds, Clemens, Sosa, McGuire, Ramirez............?!?!?!!?

The players you mentioned that were suspended will probably never reach the major league level. Hell, I'd be willing to guess that 95% of those suspended players may never reach the AA level.

Let's keep these things in perspective.

You do know that Sosa is not from the US. Right ?

seagull wrote:Phillies just signed Delmon Young for peanuts...$750K not much more than the Major League minimum.

Up to 3.5 million in incentives based on plate appearances and keeping his weight in check.

Phillies signed OF Delmon Young to a one-year, $750,000 contract.
Per Jeff Passan of Yahoo! Sports, the deal could max out at $3.5 million if he reaches all incentives based on plate appearances and roster bonuses. The Phillies were in the market for a right-handed hitting outfielder, so they are hoping that Young can fit the bill. While the 27-year-old has produced a measly .702 OPS over the past two seasons, he owns an .824 OPS against southpaws for his career. He'd be a better fit on an American League team where he could continue to DH, but it's a reasonable gamble given the modest price tag. Young figures to play left field at least part of the time, so Domonic Brown will likely see most of his at-bats in right field.

Jan 22 - 2:53 PM

Delmon Young will be paid bonuses if he keeps his weight in check throughout the 2013 season.
Young will be weighed six different times and can earn a $100,000 payout for each weigh-in. "I've been on a strict diet," the new Phillies outfielder said Wednesday. "You can get carried away on clubhouse food and late night room service. Some ice cream and good luck cakes. But when you go back to the outfield, you have got to eat lighter." The Phillies want him to start in right field.


Source: Philadelphia Inquirer Jan 23 - 4:33 PM

For Francona, the Indian years might be more enjoyable
By Danny Knobler | Baseball Insider
January 23, 2013 5:09 pm ET


Terry Francona on Boston: 'It's a wonderful place. It's just very demanding.' (US Presswire)
Reading Terry Francona's book, it's easy to get the idea that Francona really didn't enjoy his time with the Red Sox.

Not true, he says.

"I loved my job," Francona said Wednesday. "Most demanding job I've ever had, but it was a great job."

Fair enough, but reading Francona's book might give you a better idea of why he was so happy to become the manager of the Indians.

The Indians don't have the resources the Red Sox have. They don't have the talent that Francona was given in his eight seasons in Boston.

But they also don't have an owner emailing regularly with lineup suggestions. Or, for that matter, a front office that presents proposed lineups from unidentified bloggers.

That really happened with the Red Sox in one of the stranger scenes replayed in Francona: The Red Sox Years, the book that the former Boston manager wrote with Boston Globe columnist Dan Shaughnessy.

The book itself is a good read, well worth it for any Red Sox fan or anyone interested in the last decade of baseball. Francona and Shaughnessy tell how the Red Sox became champions and also how it all fell apart.

There are good times, no doubt. Francona's relationships with his Red Sox players are almost all presented as positives (basically all except Manny Ramirez). Same goes for his relationships with most of the people who worked for the Red Sox, including general manager Theo Epstein.

But there's always more, from the suggestion that Francona was never really comfortable with the "idiots" image cultivated by his 2004 champions to the constant conflicts over ownership repeatedly choosing marketing over baseball.

"There were a lot of things happening on the periphery that were making it harder to get our work done," Francona said in one section about 2008. "That stuff's all great, but you can't forget you're a baseball team."

The Indians are a baseball team. Perhaps not a great one -- even some Indians people will tell you that winning the division isn't a realistic goal the next couple of years -- but the focus should be more baseball and less "the periphery."

"Yeah, I hope so," Francona said Wednesday. "That would be very exciting."

The Indians have their own challenges. Not enough fans show up at the games. Not enough talent has come through the system. Not enough money is available to add talent.

But if there's a complaint about the way the Indians' front office works, it's that they get along too well and they're too reluctant to challenge each other. It's that they're too comfortable, and that ownership has been too loyal.

Francona said his expectations are the same as ever. He said he's fine with the resources.

"I'm perfectly content taking the players we get and making them as good as we can," he said.

You wonder if he'll feel the same way in the middle of summer, if the stands are empty and the record isn't good.

My guess is he will, because he'll be back to working on baseball with other people who want to do the same.

"It's a wonderful place," he said about Boston. "It's just very demanding. Some of the stuff was starting to bother me."

How could it not?

In the book, Francona told of regular emails from Red Sox owner John Henry, suggesting that he shouldn't play David Ortiz against left-handed pitchers. And he told of the other, more mysterious lineup suggesters who he heard from indirectly.

They were two guys who sent in their ideas, which were then passed on to Francona.

"[One of them] was a bit of a mad scientist . . . a whacko sabermetrician type," assistant general manager Brian O'Halloran told Shaughnessy. "We stopped using him."

Francona wasn't told who they were, but he was handed the suggestions (although he wasn't ordered to follow them). It was just part of what made the Red Sox different.

It'll be different in Cleveland. So much will be different in Cleveland.

"It's probably going to be a refreshing change for him," one Indians person said.

Read the book, and you'll see why Francona was ready for a change. He admitted the year out of the dugout has helped him, but getting away from some of the Red Sox madness might help just as much.

It might not have happened if September 2011 hadn't happened. Even with the strains that were already evident, Francona would almost certainly still be in Boston if that season ended with a playoff run instead of an historic collapse.

Maybe he'd be happier if it had played out that way.

After reading his book, I'm not so sure.

And I understand better than ever why the Indians job was so attractive.

Tags: Boston Red Sox, Cleveland Indians, MLB

There are good times, no doubt. Francona's relationships with his Red Sox players are almost all presented as positives (basically all except Manny Ramirez). Same goes for his relationships with most of the people who worked for the Red Sox, including general manager Theo Epstein.

Francona is the reason the Indians have no interest in Ramirez. Francona no longer wants to have to wipe any of his players rear ends like he had to with Manny. Manny is a jackass. Always has been, always will be.

Ken Rosenthal

Updated Jan 24, 2013 10:43 AM ET
The Arizona Diamondbacks have an agreement to send right fielder Justin Upton the Atlanta Braves, according to major-league sources.

Atlanta will send Martin Prado and Randall Delgado as part of a five-for-two package for Upton, according to Braves beat writer Mark Bowman.

The deal is still contingent on physicals being passed and was first reported by Jon Heyman of CBSSports.com.

Right-hander Julio Teheran was said to be excluded from the deal, after his name was mentioned in prior reports. Shortstop Nick Ahmed and catcher-outfielder Evan Gattis were among other players who were mentioned as possibly going from the Braves to the Diamondbacks, though Atlanta’s exact offer is not yet known.

Gattis’ power intrigues Diamondbacks general manager Kevin Towers, a rival executive said.

Towers is going on vacation to Africa on Friday, but was not treating the start of his trip as a deadline, sources said.

When the deal is completed, Upton, 25, will join his older brother, center fielder B.J. Upton, 28, and right fielder Jason Heyward, 23, to give one of the Braves one of the best outfields in baseball for at least the next three years.

Upton is owed $38.5 million over the next three seasons. The Diamondbacks recently agreed to trade him to the Seattle Mariners, but the M’s were one of four teams on Upton’s no-trade list, and he rejected the deal, sources say.

The Braves are not on Upton’s no-trade list. B.J. Upton recently agreed to a five-year, $75.25 million free-agent contract with the Braves, and Atlanta is relatively close to the family’s home in Virginia.

rusty2 wrote:There are good times, no doubt. Francona's relationships with his Red Sox players are almost all presented as positives (basically all except Manny Ramirez). Same goes for his relationships with most of the people who worked for the Red Sox, including general manager Theo Epstein.

Francona is the reason the Indians have no interest in Ramirez. Francona no longer wants to have to wipe any of his players rear ends like he had to with Manny. Manny is a jackass. Always has been, always will be.

I would amend that to say that Francona is ONE of the reasons. Manny's record with PEDs, his performance in the A's minor leagues last year, his "flaky" personality, his age, and the fact that he hasn't played in the Bigs for a couple years now would be other reasons.

Jim Rome ‏@jimrome


Terry Francona told me Red Sox leaking info about his personal life was "below the belt," left him "mad" & "stung." http://cbsloc.al/W40J1o

The Baltimore Sun's Dan Connolly reports that Andy Marte has signed with the York Revolution of the independent Atlantic League.
A former top prospect, Marte didn't play in 2012 after batting an ugly .202/.278/.328 with seven homers over 97 games with the Pirates' Triple-A affiliate in 2011. Now 29, he's obviously not close to making it back to the big leagues.

If Andy Marte can get a job, there's hope for Matt LaPorta.

Yankee Ends Real Corker Of a Mystery

By BUSTER OLNEY
Published: April 11, 1999
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Jason Grimsley, a relief pitcher in his first season with the Yankees, was among those who flocked to see the movie ''Mission: Impossible'' in 1996, and as he watched Tom Cruise and an accomplice crawl through an air duct to steal secret information, memories of Grimsley's own impossible mission came back to him.

Grimsley didn't steal government secrets, but he was at the center of a heist that is part of baseball lore for its audacity and ingenuity. For the first time, Grimsley acknowledged last week that it was he who crawled through the innards of Chicago's Comiskey Park into the umpires' dressing room on July 15, 1994, to replace an illegally corked bat of his Cleveland Indians teammate Albert Belle with one that was cork-free.

''That was one of the biggest adrenaline rushes I've ever experienced,'' Grimsley said.

The Indians were in a playoff race with the White Sox as they played in Chicago, and Belle, the Indians' left fielder, was obliterating American League pitching -- when the season was ended by a strike on Aug. 12, he had a .357 average and 36 home runs.

Chicago's manager, Gene Lamont, had been tipped off that Belle might have hollowed out the barrel of his bat and filled it with cork, which makes the head of the bat lighter, increasing the speed of the swing. As is the prerogative of any manager, Lamont challenged the legality of Belle's bat in the first inning, a process that automatically prompted an umpire, Dave Phillips, to take the bat and lock it in his dressing room for later examination.

As the bat was removed from the field, the Cleveland dugout was seized with concern. Belle's teammates knew it contained the illegal substance, and once that was discovered, their best hitter would certainly be suspended.

Grimsley, who was one of the Indians' starting pitchers but was not working that night, said, ''As I was sitting there, the thought came to my mind: I can get that bat.''

Grimsley, whose role was confirmed by an American League official, said he knew that the clubhouse had a false ceiling, with removable square tiles, and he surmised that the umpires' dressing room, on the same level, had the same kind of ceiling. Grimsley walked back toward the clubhouse and down a hallway to do some reconnaissance -- he noted the whereabouts of the umpires' room, and the cinder-block walls that framed the rooms.

If he climbed above the ceiling, Grimsley figured, he could crawl atop the cinder-block walls and work his way from the Indians' clubhouse to the umpires' room. He estimated the distance between the clubhouse and the umpires' room to be at least 100 feet.

Grimsley, who was born and reared in Cleveland, Tex., is 6 feet 3 inches and 180 pounds -- as tall and lanky as a saguaro cactus. He had never done this sort of thing before, but he had never been afraid of adventure. He climbed trees aggressively as a child, loved to ride his bike and his motorcycle over jumps. When he was 12, he ran a motorcycle over a stump and lost his big left toe.

''This was like a puzzle to be solved,'' he said. ''It's like the game we play -- this was a challenge.''

Grimsley, who was the primary operative but said he was aided by another member of the organization who was not a player, procured a yellow flashlight and a cork-free bat, then climbed onto the desk in the office of Manager Mike Hargrove, removed a ceiling tile and climbed on top of the cinder-block wall.

The wall Grimsley had to balance on was about 18 inches wide. A slip and he would fall through the ceiling.

Grimsley aimed his flashlight and located a wall at which he knew he would have to turn. Some light seeped through the tile cracks, but it was very dark, and very hot.

''It was pretty hairy up there,'' said Grimsley, whose journey was complicated by piping that hung from wires and crossed the cinder-block walls. Grimsley and his accomplice had to move slowly and carefully over the pipes, lest they rupture them and destroy the operation. Grimsley figures it took them 35 to 40 minutes to traverse the distance to where they guessed the umpires' locker room would be.

Grimsley made two turns, and as he moved closer to the umpires' room, the slant of the stands slowly reduced his headroom. As he neared his destination, Grimsley had to pull himself along on his stomach, the flashlight in his mouth.

At last, he reached what he thought was the umpires' room and removed a tile. But he had miscalculated.

''There was a groundskeeper in there, sitting in there on a couch,'' he said. ''I put the tile back down, but he had to know. Thank goodness he didn't say anything.''

Now knowing precisely where he was, Grimsley moved a few feet to his right and lifted a tile to the umpires' dressing room.





''My heart was going 1,000 miles an hour,'' Grimsley said. ''And in I went. I just rolled the dice. A crapshoot.''

What if an umpire had walked in at that moment?

''I'm nailed,'' he said. ''I'm busted.''

Grimsley said he quickly dropped from the top of a refrigerator to a counter and down, and immediately spotted Belle's bat in an umpire's locker. He made the exchange, as imperfect as it was: according to another member of the Indians' organization, Grimsley had to switch Belle's bat with one belonging to Paul Sorrento because every one of Belle's bats was corked.

Grimsley said he climbed back out, paused to make sure his footprints were not apparent in the dust on top of the refrigerator, and replaced the tile.

''As soon as I got back up, somebody came back in the room,'' he said. ''I had to sit there for about two minutes; I was about 20 or 30 feet from somebody.''

Grimsley doesn't know for sure if the person was an umpire, but whoever it was left, and Grimsley and his accomplice returned to the Cleveland clubhouse, four innings after the operation began, and he said he informed the rest of the Indians of his success.

They could not believe he had reclaimed the bat. ''They were pretty excited,'' he said.

After the game, which the Indians won by 3-2, the umpires had no doubt that the bats had been switched -- the one now in their possession bore Sorrento's name. White Sox officials were apoplectic, and there was talk of bringing in the F.B.I. Ultimately, the Indians were told that if they returned Belle's original bat, there would be no punishment for whomever made the switch. They complied, and Belle was given a 10-game suspension, a penalty that was appealed and reduced to 7 games.

Grimsley's role was not disclosed at the time, but since the bat was returned, Belle was punished and nearly five years have passed, it is highly unlikely that baseball officials will pursue the matter further with the now 31-year-old pitcher.

Grimsley said his teammates were supportive of his action, for there was no doubt about his motivation. ''I had the interests of the Cleveland Indians at heart,'' said Grimsley, who was later treated to a round of golf by Belle.

The next day, Grimsley -- whose identity as the culprit was unknown to the White Sox -- was standing in the outfield with a couple of teammates when Mike LaValliere, a Chicago catcher, walked over to them.

''Hey, I heard you guys had a mission impossible last night,'' LaValliere said, smiling. ''That's beautiful.''

And he walked away, leaving Grimsley grinning behind him.