Hometown paper sees trade from Cleveland to Seattle as a golden opportunity for Aaron Laffey.
View full sizeHis hometown newspaper is hoping that Aaron Laffey's trade from the Indians to the Mariners means someone at last will give him the opportunity he deserves. The Indians dealt lefty Aaron Laffey to the Seattle Mariners in exchange for Matt Lawson.
OK, you knew that. Paul Hoynes told you about it and we told you about it. Honestly, we're not sure what to think of the deal. Mainly, we don't think about it.
As some commenters pointed out when the trade was made, Lawson has spent seven years in the minors, so whether he develops into a major talent is up for grabs. Laffey has looked good ... and really bad ... at all levels.
So on the surface it appears to be a wash, a move made partly to see if someone can coach and coax quality out of Lawson and partly -- mainly -- to make room on the 40-man roster for reliever Chad Durbin.
But it appears there will be one less regular hit on cleveland.com because of it. Mike Burke of West Virginia's Cumberland Times-News, to be specific, won't be clicking through to us, at least according to a column that makes use of that never-before-employed-riff on friends-Romans-countrymen.
He comes not to bury Cleveland, nor to bury Clevelanders, but to lay to rest the Cleveland Indians ... and through them, us:
Well, to that, we can only say: Et tu, Bur-kay?
Rather, we come to bid a fond farewell to the Cleveland Indians, not because they’re going anywhere (they rarely do), but because Aaron Laffey already has, and we no longer have to call up cleveland.com or cleveland.indians.mlb.com to find out how Laffey is being misused, mismanaged and mistreated.
On Wednesday the left-hander from Allegany High School was traded to the Seattle Mariners, another organization whose history will never be mistaken with the New York?Yankees’, but an organization that is eager to give Laffey a defined role and a chance to help the club at the big-league level.
Bring on the young arms
Carlos Carrasco is one of the young arms on whom the Tribe is going to count this season -- and perhaps beyond. Allheadlinenews.com and mlb.com combined to talk to and about him:
It'd be nice to see pitching become a strength of the Indians again. (Oh, and for them to KEEP the pitchers who comprise that strength, but that's a different blog.) The bullpen this year, especially with the addition of Chad Durbin and the presence of closer Chris Perez looks formidable. If the starting rotation can come through ... well, maybe all this Spring Training optimism is justified.
The 6-3, 225-pound righthander, who turned 24 Thursday, was 2-2 with a 3.83 ERA in seven late-season starts for Cleveland after a stellar season at Class AAA Columbus.
That performance has put him in a battle for Cleveland’s rotation, which is really unsettled after staff ace Fausto Carmona and Justin Masterson.
... Carrasco, considered the Phillies top prospect by Baseball America prior to the 2007 and ’08 seasons, has big-league stuff but has battled inconsistency in his career. After finishing the 2009 season with Cleveland and going a disastrous 0-4 with an 8.87 ERA in five starts, he went to Class AAA Columbus last season, going 10-6 with a 3.65 ERA in 150 1-3 innings.
"As a player, I'm much better than I was last year, and I'm more comfortable -- but I think that's natural," Carrasco said. "You can say I am more established, but my goal is the same as last year; work on my mechanics and get better. I feel like I am able to be more focused on the job I have to do. I'm not worried about the other stuff.
Another vote of confidence
Carlos Carrasco has another believer, a writer for fantasyknuckleheads.com, which is, as you might guess all about fantasy baseball leagues.
Well, all RIGHTY then!
The Indians may not have a bright couple of years ahead of them as they continue their rebuilding phase, but undoubtedly a good portion of any future success they will have rests on the shoulders of Carrasco. Given the regulars behind Fausto Carmona in Cleveland’s rotation, Carrasco should easily retain his job as a starting pitcher, which makes him a huge sleeper candidate for AL-only leagues. His ADP is currently sitting at 260, so unless your league is seriously huge, you won’t even need to draft Carrasco to get a crack at him. Don’t be afraid to let him go in the draft; he is owned in just 0.5% of ESPN leagues and his position shows he is virtually undrafted in all leagues. Keep an eye on him if you leave him out on waivers, because if he gets off to a good start he may not be out there for long.
2011 projected stats: 10-10, 4.47 ERA, 1.38 WHIP, 112 K.
From The Plain Dealer
You sick of hearing about this whole "small-market/small-payroll" excuse for not winning? So are we. And so is pitcher Mitch Talbot, who told columnist Bud Shaw that the Tampa Bay Rays are proof positive that a small budget isn't necessarily a roadblock to a winning season.
The Rangers beat the Tribe, 11-9, Thursday, but manager Manny Acta was happy with the way at least one pitcher threw the ball: Josh Tomlin pitched three good innings, writes Paul Hoynes in his Indians Insider column.
Source: http://www.cleveland.com/ohio-sports-blog/index.ssf/2011/03/pm_cleveland_indians_links_60.html
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