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May 28, 2010In a rumors piece on Fox Sports.com, their lead baseball reporter Ken Rosenthal said the Indians could be a team that contenders look at in regards to adding veterans at the deadline.
In particular, Rosenthal says the Phillies once again could be looking towards Wahooland for pitching help. The Fightn’s right now are essentially without a closer. Brad Lidge, who was so dominant two years ago and so shaky last year, is currently sitting on the DL for a second time with elbow issues. Top set-up man and fill-in closer Ryan Madson, has joined Lidge on the sidelines after breaking his toe kicking a chair in disgust after a bad outing. They are leaning heavily on Jose Contreras (always a scary proposition) and Danys Baez.
Which brings us to Indians closer Kerry Wood.
Wood was brought to Cleveland to be a closer on a contending team last year. He was given a two-year, $20.5 million contract with a vesting third year option. Last year’s debacle saw Wood come up short of the 55 games he needed to finish to make that third year a reality. Starting the first month and a half on the DL all but assured Wood would not be reaching that figure in 2010 either.
With a contract that is an albatross here in Cleveland but peanuts to a big market contender like Philadelphia, a marriage between Wood and the Phillies could definitely work. There is no doubt the Indians would love to dump Wood’s contract as soon as they could. With part of the prorated $10.5 million already gone and the Tribe’s willingness to eat part of the contract in return for a better prospect (see Casey Blake for Carlos Santana in 2008), Wood could be in demand, even as a setup man.
While he has struggled to gain form here in Cleveland, he still can be a dominant strikeout machine when he is on. If you are the Phillies and Lidge cannot get his old form back, your lineup is the best in the NL, and you need to shore up your biggest hole, isn’t a half year of Kerry Wood worth the risk of trading a prospect that may or may not make it?
What about the Yankees? While Joba Chamberlain is their eighth inning guy, he has been up and down the last month with control issues. How would you like to have the option of Kerry Wood or Joba as power-throwing righties in front of Mariano Rivera?
The Rosenthal piece also mentions Jake Westbrook, Russell Branyan, Jhonny Peralta, and Austin Kearns as possible Indians who could be attractive to contenders at the deadline.
To me, Westbrook is the guy I would target if I were a National League contending team. Jake is the perfect middle of the rotation solid starter. The Mets are always looking for starting pitching and Jake’s grit and sinker ball would be perfect for the cavernous Citi Field. Like Wood, Westbrook is in the last year of his deal, making $11 million. Ironically, the hot rumor right now involves the Mets and former Indian ace Cliff Lee. With the Mariners disappointing in the AL West, the free agent to be Lee will be the hottest name available at the deadline if Seattle so chooses to put him out there.
How would you like to see an all time bitter Lee pitching in a pennant race in New York against the team that dealt him, the Phillies? You know there is nothing Cliff would rather do. My man loves going out there with a chip on his shoulder.
As for Branyan, I still don’t get why other teams would covet him. Sure, hits the occasional home run and has that majestic swing, but he is still a windmill who hits .220. As a bench player though, he would have some value to a contender. The Tribe wouldn’t get more than a fringe prospect for “The Love Muscle.”
Kearns is more intriguing than Peralta. He is having a renaissance year of sorts and makes just $750,000. A team like the Giants who need pop in the outfield could be interested in him, or the Yankees who right now are using Kevin Russo and Randy Winn as regular outfield options with Curtis Granderson out. I just don’t see a market for Peralta, who is a below average third baseman defensively and is hitting just .245 with 20 RBI.
Ah, another year, and another set of conversations about sending veterans packing for prospects.
11 Comments
Kerry Wood, Russell Branyan, Jhonny Peralta, and Austin Kearns
deal the lot and bring in the kids. with Shapiro getting guys like Santana, Choo, and Cabrera for “grizzled” veterans, I say please find our next set of players.
if the team is going to struggle, at least let it struggle as it develops a young team that will contend in a couple years.
I liked 2007 better when we were talking about adding at the deadline. Can we get that feeling back?
That being said, I am all for unloading everyone mentioned in this piece. I actually think Westbrook and Kearns could net something decent in return. I would be surprised if the Tribe got anything for Wood – but you never know. Teams do get desperate for bullpen help.
as for Westbrook, I think we should keep him. I think he’s a mid-rotation starter as well, and I don’t think we should be giving those up.
“The Indians could be a team that contenders look at in regards to adding veterans at the deadline.”
Have you ever seen my shocked face?
@3 – But Westbrook is a free agent at the end of the year. Tribe could re-sign him then if they want.
If a team offers something decent for Westbrook I can’t see any reason not to trade him.
Wow – not even June and we’re having these discussions. But the issues are definitely ripe.
I was telling my colleague (non-Clevelander) the other day about the Colon trade and how we got back amazing talent (Lee, Philips, Sizemore). Those were curious circumstances with the Expos about to move and making one last push under GM Omar Minaya (who had no problem cleaning out the farm system), but, still, that trade was a thing of beauty.
Do we have Westbrook’s Bird Rights?
It would be nice to maybe package 2 or 3 of these guys to one team and get back a prospect or 2 with higher upside, rather than making 3 or 4 “ryan garko” and “rafael betancourt” trades and getting not much back.
Just curious, but what exactly did you mean by Westbrook translating well to cavernous Citi Field? Wouldn’t a flyball pitcher be better there, someone that struggles with hr? I would see Jake’s groundballs working better in Philly or Col. or Cincy where his sinker ball would keep the ball in the yard better than the average guy.
Trade Jhonny for a six pack, it wouldn’t even have to be cold. I think the rest of those mentioned should be dealt for whatever we can get since we’re not going anywhere this year and have a bunch of holes we need filled.
If/when he’s healthy and starts hitting, suspect they’ll move Grady. For the Dolans the most attractive guys to dump are those with the current highest salaries. They won’t hold out indefinitely for the best value, they want to shed any “significant” current financial obligations. Guessing they’ll virtually give away Peralta if anyone else is ready to play third. Revenues were better last year when they gave away Lee just so the wouldn’t have to pay him another half season.
@ Scott – Brian Westbrook isn’t on the Indians, dumbie.