After Cliff Lee got rocked on Opening Day, it's hard to blame him for being in a bit of a bad mood afterward. You work hard all offseason to get yourself ready for the new season, and then after your team gives you the honor of taking the mound in the first game, you go out and give up seven runs in five innings as your team gets pasted. It's not much fun.
Still, that's no reason to go out and blame your teammates for your performance afterward, which is what a lot of people thought Lee did to Victor Martinez on Monday. Lee said that none of it would have happened if Martinez "lays out and is able to catch that ball."
Fantasy baseball draft season is coming, so you best be prepared by delving through every major player on each team. Fantasy FanHouse is here to help with a quick once-over.
Meet the... Team that should have more doctors on staff. Lofty expectations turned sour when major keys to the Indians lineup went down with injury in 2008. Victor Martinez, Travis Hafner, Fausto Carmona, and Jake Westbrook all lost significant time to various maladies. The health and or hasty return of these guys, and the continued health of Kerry Wood are crucial to the Indians having any success in 2009.
FanHouse continues its 2009 MLB Preview with a look at the Cleveland Indians.
Coming off a 96-win season in 2007, the Indians were expected to be one of the stronger teams in the AL last year. Cleveland looked like it was going to compete with the Tigers all year for the division crown. They had Victor Martinez, one of the best catchers in the league, along with a 1-2 punch of CC Sabathia and Fausto Carmona atop the rotation. As always, there were some concerns, including fifth starter Cliff Lee, whose 2007 ERA was 6.29. But on the whole, it looked like it was going to be a pretty good year.
Once we stumble into the first few weeks of fantasy draft season, we have the luxury of trolling through some average draft position charts (ADP, henceforth). One of the problems is that most of the early-to-mid February drafting is being done by hypothetical fantasy fanatics, so there aren't a ton of skewed averages.
Of course, recently-retired Jeff Kent has found a way to get drafted in 1.6 percent of the leagues on Mock Draft Central (MDC, henceforth), so they're worth a look. We'll use the ADP per position* on MDC for the rest of our analysis here. Most of the guys listed are not to be targeted in shallow to medium-sized leagues, as they are later-round steals for the deepest of fantasy leagues.
Earlier this afternoon we began our two part exposé on the Cleveland Indians with 10 Little Indians Part 1, a literate essay regarding the damage and anguish these athletes put their bodies and families through to entertain us. No longer just the national pastime, baseball can not be enjoyed on any reasonable level and must be deconstructed minute-by-minute to absorb and exploit any minutia hoping to escape unsaberly-metricked.
After the jump, part 2 of 2. While you're waiting for it to load, please buy The Dugout brand t-shirts. All proceeds go toward serious journalism.
In a surprising twist, the Pirates and Cleveland Indians revived talks at the Opryland Hotel late last night and developed a framework for a five-player trade, Bay and catcher Ronny Paulino going to Cleveland for outfielder Franklin Gutierrez, catcher Kelly Shoppach and either starter Cliff Lee or a minor-league pitching prospect.
So let's see. As of yesterday afternoon, the Indians didn't feel that this deal was necessary. While they were offering Kelly Shoppach and Cliff Lee, they didn't feel giving up anything else for Bay was needed to make their team better.
Still, in my opinion there has to be a better deal for the Pirates out there somewhere. Franklin Gutierrez and Kelly Shoppach are nice, but Cliff Lee had a 6.29 ERA last season before being sent to the minors, and is guaranteed $10.5 million over the next two years.
Especially now that the Indians feel pressured to make a move after the Tigers big catch, the Pirates could probably try and pry a little more value out of them.
You can rule out any talk of Pittsburgh trading Jason Bay to Cleveland for a Kelly Shoppach-Cliff Lee package. That one is dead. Bay is Pirates GM Neal Huntington's main trade chip, and the Bucs aren't going to give him away after he's coming off such a down year. Contrary to reports, Pittsburgh has no plans to non-tender outfielder Xavier Nady, who hit .278 with 20 homers and 72 RBIs last season.
Nady's numbers don't exactly jump off the screen, but it's worth pointing out that he slumped a bit in the second half. At the All-Star break, he was hitting .291 with 14 homers and 50 RBI. Had he matched that production in the second half, we'd be singing his praises. Instead, he hit just .255-6-22, albeit in 125 fewer at-bats, missing time with a lingering hamstring injury as well as a concussion. Granted, Bay is the real gem that fans should be happy about keeping, but Nady still has some value himself.
It's funny how different baseball and football are. In football, the Steelers and Browns are prepping for a sprint to the finish in the AFC North. In baseball, the Pirates and Indians are cordially discussing a trade of one of the best players to put on the black and gold since Barry Bonds hightailed it out of the 'Burgh. From the Boston Herald:
Baseball insiders are whispering that the Pirates are shopping outfielder Jason Bay, and that talks have heated up with the Indians in a multi-player deal that would include Cleveland backup catcher Kelly Shoppach.
Bay is clearly a player the Indians could use as Kenny Lofton may be a fan-favorite in Cleveland, but he's no long-term answer at a corner outfield spot for an AL contender. New Pirates' GM Neal Huntington has hinted several times that a fire-sale may be necessary to start undoing the damage done by former GM Dave Littlefield. Still, a story in today's Pittsburgh Post-Gazette included this quote:
"Right now, nobody wants Bay," another American League executive said. "That will change if he shows he's right again. But not now. He's got to get out there and be Jason Bay again."
That's backed up by the fact that KELLY SHOPPACH is the only named mentioned with Bay's in the Herald article. If the best player you can get in return for your franchise player is a 27 year-old backup catcher, it's probably best to sit on him and see if he can raise his stock when the season starts.
After Cliff Lee got rocked on Opening Day, it's hard to blame him for being in a bit of a bad mood afterward. You work hard all offseason to get yourself ready for the new season, and then after your team gives you the honor of taking the mound in the first game, you go out and give up seven runs in five innings as your team gets pasted. It's not much fun.
Fantasy baseball draft season is coming, so you best be prepared by delving through 
Once we stumble into the first few weeks of fantasy draft season, we have the luxury of trolling through some average draft position charts (
Yesterday 
It's funny how different baseball and football are. In football, the Steelers and Browns are prepping for a sprint to the finish in the AFC North. In baseball, the Pirates and Indians are cordially discussing a trade of one of the best players to put on the black and gold since Barry Bonds hightailed it out of the 'Burgh. 
