Aramis Ramirez & Mark Trumbo

The Indians have an opportunity to balance their lineup without having to mortgage the farm or spend a ridiculous amount of money.

The first move is to trade Lonnie Chisenhall and Rafael Perez to the Angels for Mark Trumbo and prospects. The only true left handed bat in the Angels lineup will be Bobby Abreu along with switch hitters Alberto Callapso and Erik Aybar. Chisenhall would provide another left handed bat to balance the lineup and give manager Mike Scioscia added flexibility by moving Alberto Callaspo to the utility role. Rafael Perez would provide the Angels bullpen with a second lefty to pair with Scott Downs and provide length to the Angles pen.

The Indians would receive a power hitting right handed corner bat who remains under team control for the next five seasons and the Indians would also free up approximately 1.9 million dollars in salary by moving Perez.

As some have mentioned, trading Chisenhall would leave Jason Donald and Jack Hannahan in a platoon role at 3rd base and this doesn't excite to many. (It should be noted that Hannahan OPS .673 vs RHP and Donald .607 so neither is really a good platoon option vs RHP).

The second move would be to sign Aramis Ramirez to a 2-year 18 million dollar contract with some sort of creative vesting option for the 3rd year. The Indians payroll is not maxed out in 2011 and the team would have an additional 2 million freed up by moving Rafael Perez. With Travis Hafner, Derek Lowe, Grady Sizemore, and possibly Fausto Carmona coming off the books following the 2012 season the Indians could afford the risk.

Ramirez would provide the Indians a steady presence at 3rd base and allow Jason Donald to assume a traditional utility role and the lineup takes on a whole new look with Trumbo and Ramirez at the corners.

A lineup of Sizemore (CF), Asdrubal Cabrera (SS), Shin-Soo Choo (RF), Carlos Santana (C), Aramis Ramirez (3b), Travis Hafner (DH), Mark Trumbo (1b), Jason Kipnis (2b), and Michael Brantley (LF) is a lineup that I'd feel good going to battle with.

Indians Winter Meetings Roundup

After making noise in the offseason by trading for Derek Lowe and re-signing Grady Sizemore the Indians offseason slowed to a crawl during the Winter Meetings.

Rays Republic and Did The Tribe Win Last Night Q&A

Cleveland Indians Winter Meetings Roundup Day Three

Another day of watching the Marlins show in Dallas. The Indians have been observers at the meetings thus far which only makes sense since the area of need most identified by the Indians is first base.

The Indians are wise to wait it out and let the first base market settle before trying to fill the void. They should wait to see where Pujos, Fielder, Pena, Lee, and Kotchman sign and if a current first baseman (Gaby Sanchez, Justin Smoak, etc.) emerge as trade candidates. The Indians should see if Derek Lee or Carlos Pena have overpriced themselves and if the music stops and either of them is without a chair the Indians offer one..

Acta on Sizemore

Indians Manager Manny Acta discusses Grady Sizemore.

Cleveland Indians Winter Meetings Roundup Day Two

The winter meetings are moving along and although the Indians have yet to strike a deal the game of match the Indians needs to a certain player has been pretty active. Indians GM Chris Antonetti did tease a trade offer at his afternoon press conference.

Cleveland Indians Roundup: Winter Meetings Day One

Day one of the winter meetings is winding down and although the Indians haven't made any moves their have been rumors that have been floating around out there connecting the Indians to one player or another.

Take a moment to catch up on the days action:

Cleveland Indians Top Plays of the Year: #11 through #15

The Indians had a lot of memorable plays in 2011 on their way to an 80-82 record.  The 80 wins represented an 11 game increase over their 2010 win total despite needing to use the disabled list 22 times, more than every other team besides the Minnesota Twins (see Indians Injury Story Here).  Trying to determine all the great plays that the 2011 Indians were involved in is a very difficult endeavor.  So, borrowing a blogcentric concept utilized by Jason Hanselman (@SandyKazmir on twitter)  over at theraysway.com to look at the great plays by the Tampa Bay Rays I am going to use win probability added (WPA) to showcase the 15 biggest plays of the 2011 Indians season.

Using a statistic called Win Probability Added (WPA) we can look at each player's contributions at the singular at bat level factoring in the inning, the score, the number of outs, and the number of baserunners.  A two-run homer early in the game isn't nearly as important as a walk-off two-run homer simply because the late dinger guarantees the win.  The game is over, the home team wins, everyone rejoice.--Jason Hanselman

Plays #11 through #15 after the jump.