NBA Free Agency: Hakim Warrick, Anyone?
July 31, 2009WFNY Podcast #19
July 31, 2009
Not that it isn’t expected, but the Victor Martinez rumors are flying fast and furious today. The first rumor, courtesy of ESPN, has Victor moving to Boston for Clay Buchholz, but it doesn’t stop there. The rumor also has Boston moving Adam LaRoche, who they recently acquired from Pittsburgh, to a third team. And from there, the prospects between the three teams could fly in all different directions in some wacky game of prospect musical chairs.
Fox Sports follows up by saying that things are little more quiet than reported by ESPN, hinting that the team is “pessamistic about their chances” to trade the all-star. You know, since teams simply cannot wait to rid themselves of such a burden.
Just like the Cliff Lee trade, it could work out just fine for the Indians in the long run if the ESPN rumor holds true. But the devilish details are in the short term as the Indians will almost assuredly struggle next year without a guaranteed number one pitcher and without the obvious emotional leader, Victor Martinez.
Victor is a great player, but he might be an even better teammate and clubhouse guy. He is one of the few members of this Indians’ team that gets out in front, leads by example and even has something to say to the media.
All we can hope for is that Mark Shapiro gets a huge bounty if Victor Martinez really does get traded today. And you can pretty much cancel the playoffs and World Series as far as this Cleveland fan is concerned.
As TD pointed out to me last night, we could very well see CC Sabathia facing off against Cliff Lee in the World Series this year. And as of this morning, we could see Victor Martinez vs. CC Sabathia in the ALCS, or Victor vs. Cliff in the World Series.
Just mentioning the Red Sox and Yankees in the ALCS, I think I heard 1,000 hearts flutter in Bristol.
24 Comments
pessimistic
NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!
le sigh
Just waiting so I can move Victor from the “if” file to the “when” file.
And the rich (Red Sox) keep getting richer.
This one is going to hurt. I think most of us agree that Cliff Lee was a goner, especially once he said he didn’t want to re-sign.
Vic at least publicly has said he loves it in Cleveland. It’ll be sad to see him go. That being said, I can’t think of a guy that I’d feel better for, when he finally wins that championship.
Huge bounty, like the one that Shapiro fetched for Lee? Cmon, get serious.
Shapiro will again be schnooked with second tier prospects/suspects……don’t hold your breath for Bucholz. Boston knows exactly what they are dealing with in Shapiro/Dolan-desperation.
Okey dokey, just like the Cliff Lee trade thing could work out just fine?? If I had wings I could fly.
Cliff Lee didn’t say he didn’t want to re-sign.
He and his agent approached the Indians in the spring to get an extension done………they were told NO.
this just makes me sick. disgustingly sick. and not just because i’ll have to watch him over the next few years play for the freakin Sox, but because I just dont get how anyone could ever think there’s a better person to try and rebuild around than Vic, as the article gets at.
So, if WFNY takes up a collection….can we buy the Tribe? Plz?
Not negative enough for you Isis? Really?
I said COULD work out just fine. COULD. The problem is that we have to wait at least two years to have any idea. Based on your logic that it CAN’T work out, the NFL should never have the second day of the draft because all 6th rounders are garbage.
its no skin off boston’s back. they know they can go out and sign another big-name guy to replace clay. let him go to cleveland and marinate. let cleveland develop him further. in about 5-6 years, cleveland will just have to trade him back to boston for the next clay bucholz.
the indians should just make the next logical step and move down to triple-A.
right now we are just the MLB’s collective farm system.
trading victor will make me burn my Indians hat
This team, and city, will lose a real winner, IMHO. Victor is first class all the way. That being said…..
Sox in 6.
We should give credit to Isis for not saying Dolan is cashing out for the first time in his last 50 posts.
Sad to see Vic go if it happens. Hopefully Bucholz turns into something good though.
i hate isis
If Victor gets traded, the team loses its only real leader. But honestly, at this point, give Victor the trade and let him get to a contender. He’s what, 32 now, and won’t be the same player by the time the Indians get competitive again. It was nice to see Paul Byrd get another shot with the Red Sox and I’d wish the same for Victor.
I loath NY and Boston but it’s a little easier to stomach one of them winning if they have a deserving ex-Indian on the team.
@ steve, it’s called relegation. They have it in the major European soccer leagues. Don’t want to put a competitive product on the field? Ok then, have fun playing in the B league next year.
Isis is once again wrong…not surprising…
“Cliff Lee didn’t say he didn’t want to re-sign.
He and his agent approached the Indians in the spring to get an extension done………they were told NO.”
he did approach the team, but was reportedly asking for a bit more than a small market club can afford (with hafner’s deal that is)…
…in fact, Cliff Lee’s agent told the Indians that at the end of his contract, since they didnt work anything out when HE wanted to, that he would not re-sign and instead would become a free agent…
Cliff Lee maintains to this day that he was going to test free agency, so I was fine with trading him (I’m not fine with what we got for him, but I’ve stated that multiple times).
I hate the idea of trading Victor, because he’s one of us. He’s a Cleveland guy, and has said as much. But, I wish him well if (when) he’s traded.
I’ve said this before as well – what bugs me about Victor is that I know – I KNOW – that Shapiro is going to get hosed again on this deal. Giving Victor away is bad enough – giving him away for 70 cents on the dollar is way worse.
How’s all that “emotional leader[ship]” worked out this year? You guys worry about the wrong things…
Victor’s good, not great. The Indians have all kinds of depth at C, they want LaPorta to play first base, he’s gone in 2011 – this is a no-brainer.
To start I am not being snarky at all here. But could everyone who says we are not getting fair value for Lee and (presumably) Victor give me a couple of current examples of teams that did get fair value for their star(s)?
Could it be that teams actually value their top prospects now more than they did in the past?
Now if you say that Shapiro shuold have then just taken his ball and gone home, fine. I’ll grant you that position.
It seems lately, that the media jumps on a couple of guys that a team “should” get for a certain player, and if that’s not what ultimately happens, they get ridiculed. Maybe Shapiro wanted the guys the Phils gave up and not the guys the media suggested. I mean, Drabek has already had arm troubles and the Brown kid came out of high school as a pitcher. I heard if his bat does not improve, they may try him again as a pitcher.
Any thoughts?
Bob Nightengale from USA Today
Victor Martinez acquired by the Red Sox
http://twitter.com/BNightengale/status/3055091029
http://www.mlbtraderumors.com/
done deal apparently
[…] reported earlier by ESPN, this deal is to be straight up between the Indians and Red Sox. We’ll update as […]
So what are they gonna do with all those VMart bobbleheads on Sunday? Or are they part of the deal?