While the Tribe welcomes super-sub David Murphy (which may make Drew Stubbs very nervous) to Cleveland, it’s pretty much business as usual as the Indians wait out the headliner tier of free-agency. But there are former Indians on the move in both the executive offices as well as on the field that you might find interesting.
- As the saying goes, “If you can’t beat ’em, join ’em.” So as it goes, Hart was hired on Friday as a special assistant to Braves GM Frank Wren. Hart spent 2002-5 as the GM of the Rangers and the next eight seasons as a special assistant to current Rangers GM Jon Daniels. Hart will remain as an analyst for the MLB Network.
- The Indians have lost a steady hand in the bullpen with Joe Smith signing with the Angels for three years, $15 million. Smith was thought of as an in-house dark horse candidate for the closer spot, so this couldn’t have been an easy parting for the Indians. In his five-year tenure with the Tribe, Smith was 18-11 with a sparkling 2.76 ERA.
- Former Indian Jhonny Peralta wants crazy money, so the Tigers took his limited defensive range and off-field baggage off of their books. But as fortuitous as things are, he appears headed to the mecca of baseball in St. Louis.
(Turns out my timeline on Wren’s tenure was incorrect as I completely blew that bit of info. Thanks to Ryan McCrystal for pointing it out. The lesson as always, folks, always double-check your info before posting.)
I was a big Joe Smith fan…
But $5 mill a year for a 7th inning set-up guy? Fughediboudit!
Smith earned his payday by being one of the best relievers in baseball since the Tribe acquired him from the Mets.
I’m glad he’s getting it some where else though.
The Indians always seem to make the bullpen work. So the loss hurts but bullpen isn’t the weakest area.
Now that Peralta landed in STL, how does that affect our hopes/wishes for ACab?
Four years, $52 million for Jhonny. Let us all stare incredulously.
I can’t believe he’s still a starting-caliber shortstop. I mean, I thought his inability to cover any ground or hit a low and away breaking ball (or lay off one) would have ended his career years ago. I’m even more shocked that the Cardinals – arguably the best ran organization in all of MLB – gave him $13 mill a year for four years.
I think its obvious now that the Tribe will roll with Cabrera in ’14 with the hopes that he busts out in a contract year, and hand the position over to Lindor in ’15.
I thought St. Louis was a smart organization,but signing Peralta for four years at 13 millon per is just plain stupid.
I don’t care what the defensive metrics say,this guy is a statue at short with a good arm and decent hands.He’s got poor range for a third baseman,for crying out loud.I watched him play short and third up close and personal for way too many seasons,he and Asdrubal Cabrera are very similar.
As a hitter he is very inconsistent and has never been worth 13 million in any of his seasons,so it’ll be unlikely he’ll be worth that in the future.
The Cardinals have fixed nothing with this move,and it’s costing them some serious cash.
plus, there’s no way he plays out that contract as a shortstop. he’ll end up stone-handsing it at 3rd or the outfield, which makes 13mil/year for his age 35 and 36 seasons hilarious. he is worth significantly less in terms of WAR at either of those positions and his on base and power numbers will be cratering by that point.
this deal makes me root for a fluke performance this year out of cabrera that much more. if 32 year old peralta is worth 4 years at that price, we should be able to swindle someone with cabrera if he manages to keep it together for a half season. i don’t know what it is, but he strikes me as one of those apathetic guys who’ll turn it on leading up to his free agency, then wildly disappoint whoever overpays him next.
The Cards had been linked to pretty much every SS in the league, everyone knew they were desperate to upgrade from Pete Cozma. They put themselves In a sellers market because of this. It left them 2 options, overpay a free agent or trade one of their many prized pitching prospects. I can’t fault them for wanting to keep their pitchers, so this is the bed they made.
The Peralta signing is just one more example that you should still take PEDs until you’re caught multiple times. Jhonny is laughing at losing 50 games to the tune $13M a year. Sad state of affairs…
You certainly aren’t the only one making that observation.
http://hardballtalk.nbcsports.com/2013/11/24/could-jhonny-peraltas-four-year-56-million-deal-spur-harsher-ped-penalties/
That front office in Anaheim is just like the government. Is there a problem? Throw money at it (Albert, CJ Wilson). Problem worse than before? Throw more money at it (Joe Smith). Comic gold.
I don’t know about anyone else, but all the “Cardinals are the best orgaization in baseball and their fans are higher life forms than fans of other teams” talk is really getting old to me. Can’t wait to see how these superior life forms that are Cards fans deal with Jhonny’s .300 average and total defensive ineptitude.
Let’s get on to more important things – namely, do we have any shot whatsoever to re-sign Ubaldo?????
Unless his market depreciates dramatically, I’d go with slim to none.