Indians Trade Deadline Message From The Past

When F.J. "Steve" O'Neil and Gabe Paul returned to the Indians ownership in 1978 Gabe Paul made reference to the Cleveland Sports fan as the "Sleeping Giant". His words were scoffed at through the hard years and finally came to fruition in the perfect storm of the mid to late 1990's.

It is often suggested that voices from the past speak to us but we are often not willing to listen. I hope Chris Antonetti, Mark Shapiro, and Paul Dolan can take a moment to reflect on the words of Gabe Paul:

"It [sleeping giant] only needs to be reawakened, that won't come with words, only action. But give the fans what they want, a winning team, and they will react like no other city."

"And if we don't succeed, we can't blame it on the people, only ourselves"

Is the front office willing to listen?

From Here To The Trade Deadline: Remaining July Schedules for AL Central Teams

In ranking the toughest second half schedules ESPN.com's Buster Olney ranks the Cleveland Indians and the Chicago White Sox as the two easiest and the Detroit Tigers as the 4th toughest. Olney's strength of schedule rankings are based on the number of games remaining against teams with a .500 record and at the time of his writing the  Indians had 33 opponents with a .500 record or better, the White Sox 35, and the Tigers 54.

Currently the Chicago White Sox lead the AL Central with a record of 47-53 and lead the Indians (44-41) by 3 games, the Detroit Tigers (44-42) by 3.5 games, the Kansas City Royals (37-47) by 9.5 games, and the Minnesota Twins (36-49) by 11games. The Indians trail the Baltimore Orioles (45-40) for the final wild card spot by 1 game and Tigers trail the Orioles by 1.5 games.

How  active the White Sox, Indians, Tigers, and even the Royals are at the trade deadline will be determined by how they perform between now and the July 31st trade deadline so let's take a look at who's playing who and where.

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Cleveland Indians:

Home Games (7): Baltimore Orioles (4) Detroit Tigers (3)

Road Games (11): Toronto Blue Jays (3), Tampa Bay Rays (4), Minnesota Twins (3), Kansas City Royals (1)

Off Days: 1 (July 30th)

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Chicago White Sox:

Home Games/Opponent: (3): Minnesota Twins (3)

Road Games (15): Kansas City Royals (3), Boston Red Sox (4), Detroit Tigers (3), Texas Rangers (3), Minnesota Twins (2)

Off Days: 1 (July 26th)

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The Detroit Tigers:

Home Games  (7): LA Angels (4), Chicago White Sox (3)

Road Games (11): Baltimore Orioles (3), Cleveland Indians (3), Toronto Blue Jays (3), Boston Red Sox (2)

Off Days: 1 (July 23rd)

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Kansas City Royals:

Home Games ( 11): Chicago White Sox (3), Seattle Mariners (4), Minnesota Twins (3), Cleveland Indians (1)

Road Games (7): LA Angels (3), Seattle Mariners (4)

Off Days: 1 (July 30th)

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Minnesota Twins:

Home Games (12): Oakland Athletics (3), Baltimore Orioles (4), Cleveland Indians (3), Chicago White Sox (2)

Road Games ( 6): Kansas City Royals (3), Chicago White Sox (3)

Off Days: 1 (July 26th)

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Tribe Day Off - They Need It

The Indians have a day off to day and by Tuesday should have Carlos Santana back in the lineup and by Wednesday Johnny Damon back in LF. Hopefully the Indians will hold off on returning Carlos Santana to behind home plate and take advantage of the opening at Designated Hitter created by the Travis Hafner injury. 

The best move for the Indians to make is to send Matt LaPorta back to Columbus on Tuesday and activate Santana and stick him at DH. 

Then on Wednesday activate Johnny Damon and send Diaz to the minors. 

After 7-10 days with Santana splitting time at DH/1b the Indians could elect to send one of the catchers back to AAA and call up a useful player to help with the roster but by then we could be nearing the return of Jack Hannahan so the roster move may be an easy one.

As Kerry Wood Sets to Retire A Look Back At Three M'aidez

Kerry Wood struggled in a game in May, this time on May 9th, and for the second time in 2 years he'll need to replace his glove as a result except this time the life expectancy of the new glove will be short lived as he is set to announce his retirement in the next day or two.

On May 8, 2012, Kerry Wood walked off the mound after an unsuccessful outing and tossed his glove and hat into the stands. After the game he was asked about the incident and responded:

After the game Wood was asked about the glove toss which he responded, "Irrelevant,  had nothing to do with the game" and when he was asked if he felt as sharp as he needed to be Wood said,  "Obviously, with giving up a five-spot, I'm not [expletive] sharp."

On May 19, 2009, Wood then the closer for the Cleveland Indians was handed a 5-2 lead to protect against the Royals in Kansas City. The lead evaporated in magnificent fashion no back to back solo homers, a walk, RBI triple, and walk-off sacrifice fly.

WATCH THE 2009 BLOWUP (VIDEO)

On May 18, 2010, nearly a year to the day that he couldn't protect a 3-run lead in KC, the Indians handed him the ball with a 4-3 lead vs the Royals in Cleveland. He proceeded to give the lead back on an leadoff triple, infield single, RBI double, intentional walk, and a bases clearing double to put the Royals in front 8-4. As Wood walked off the field that day he chucked his glove into the stands in frustration and said this to reporters after the game.

WATCH WOOD BLOWUP V2.0 (VIDEO)

More About The Indians Blowups After The Jump

Indians Organization Report - 05/15/2012

Corey Kluber registered 6 strikeouts through the first four innings but was unable to make it out of the fifth as the Columbus Clippers lost to the Syracuse Chiefs 5-1. Kluber worked 4.1 innings and was charged with 5R/5ER allowing 9 hits while striking out 6 and walking 2.

T.J. McFarland made his 8th start on the year and improved to 7-1 and lowered his ERA to 1.85. He worked 7 innings allowing 3 hits while striking out 6 and walking 0. The Aeros offense was led by Jared Goedert who went x-x with a home run and x driven in to raise his average to .378 on the year. Tim Fedroff hit his 1st homer on the year and is hitting .339 on the year.

The Carolina Mudcats lost the first game of a doubleheader 8-6 as the Salem Red Sox scored 7R/6ER on Mudcat starter Mike Rayl in 2.2 innings. Jerome Tice and Carlos Moncrief each homered for the Mudcats in the loss and in an oddity the Mudcats had nine hits with each member of the lineup having exactly 1.

Cody Anderson improved his record to 4-1 and dropped his ERA to an impressive 1.89 on the year by going 6 innings allowing 1R/1ER on 2 hits while striking out 5 and walking 1 in a 5-1 Lake County Captains victory over the Great Lake Loons. Francisco Lindor had two hits to raise his average to .319 on the year.

Follow all the Top Indians Minor League Prospects with Baseball Prospectus' Prospect Tracker.

For more on the Indians minor leagues visit IndiansPropsectInsider.com

For more on the Cleveland Indians visit WahoosOnFirst.com

Indians Organization Report - 05/14/12

The Columbus Clippers defeated the Pawtucket Red Sox 5-3. Eric Berger worked the first six innings allowing 2R/1ER on 5 hits while striking out 4 and walking 1. Scott Barnes worked 2 innings in relief and allowed 1R/1ER, and Chris Ray worked a scoreless ninth for his 6th save on the year and lowered his ERA to 2.08. Matt Laporta delivered a 3-run homer to pace the offense.

The Akron Aeros dropped a game to the Erie Sea Wolves by a final of 6-3. Giovanni Soto had his second rough outing in a row going 4.1 innings allowing 5R/4ER on 8 hits while walking 4 and only striking out 3.Adam Abraham and Kyle Bellows each hit solo homer for the Aeros.

The Lake County Captains defeated the Great Lake Loons by a final score of 6-3. Joseph Colon worked into the 9th inning completing 8.1 innings while surrendering 3R/3ER on 7 hits while striking out 4 and walking none. Additionally, 12 of his outs were of the groundball variety. Tribe Top Prospect Francisco Lindor went 2-4 with a homer and 5 RBI on the night to push his season numbers to .312/.385/.475 with four homers, three triples, and five doubles. HE has 11 walks to only 19 strike outs and has 11 stolen bases in 15 attempts...oh, and he is still only 18 years old and won't turn 19 until after the season ends.


Follow all the Top Indians Minor League Prospects with Baseball Prospectus' Prospect Tracker.

For more on the Indians minor leagues visit IndiansPropsectInsider.com

Check out IPI's Jim Pete and his Around The Farm Report

For more on the Cleveland Indians visit WahoosOnFirst.com