Official Cleveland Indians Thread

Ill take Francisco over Gut anyday, but i think we didint get enough in return. We should of done this midseason and gotten a better deal. Another unprove young middle infielder and an average reliever for a GOOD prospect.... There had to of definitely been better opportunities.

The Mariners new GM did this trade to get a starting center fielder, and mainly a defensive center fielder. Franklin will fit that bill perfectly

PlainDealer

Indians get through Rule 5 draft with no big losses
by Paul Hoynes/Plain Dealer Reporter
Thursday December 11, 2008, 1:09 PM

LAS VEGAS --- The Indians lost two players in the Rule 5 draft today at the winter meetings, but they weren't the players they expected to lose.

The Indians were sure Jordan Brown, Stephen Head, Chuck Lofgren or Neil Wagner would get picked in the major league phase of the draft. They all made it through untouched.

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PlainDealer

Winter meetings chatter: Friday could be D-day for Kerry Wood and the Cleveland Indians
by Paul Hoynes/Plain Dealer Reporter
Thursday December 11, 2008, 8:52 PM
UPDATED: 8:45 p.m.

LAS VEGAS --- The Indians, with the winter meetings ending today, should know by Friday if Kerry Wood is their closer or not.

Wood is in Cleveland today taking his physical. If MRIs are necessary, they probably won't be read until Friday. A deal could be announced then if he's sound.

The Indians and Wood have agreed to a two-year deal worth a reported $20 million. The deal is contingent on him passing the physical.

Wood, one way or the other, won't be staying in Cleveland. He's expected to head back to his home in Arizona on Friday. If the deal goes through, he'll return for an official press conference next week.

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PlainDealer

Indians GM Shapiro buoyed by successful moves at winter meetings
by Paul Hoynes/Plain Dealer Reporter
Thursday December 11, 2008, 10:14 PM

LAS VEGAS -- Mark Shapiro promised relentlessness at the end of the 2008 season to improve the 81-81 Indians. Relentlessness is what he delivered at the winter meetings that ended Thursday on the Vegas strip.
Closer Kerry Wood, providing he passes his physical, and side-armer Joe Smith should improve a bullpen that helped ruin last season. Shapiro threw a net over them this week at the Bellagio Hotel and Casino. The net he used to capture Wood cost an estimated $20 million over two years if he's healthy.
Wood took a physical Thursday in Cleveland.
Smith, a Cincinnati native, came to the Indians late Wednesday night as part of a three-team, 12-player trade with Seattle and the New York Mets. The Indians also received Seattle infielder Luis Valbuena, while sending outfielder Franklin Gutierrez to the Mariners.

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PlainDealer

It's official: Kerry Wood is a Cleveland Indian
by Paul Hoynes/Plain Dealer Sports Reporter
Saturday December 13, 2008, 8:22 AM

Wood, 31, passed his physical Thursday in Cleveland and the Indians signed him to a two-year $20.5 million deal. The deal includes an option for a third year that vests if Wood finishes 55 games in either 2009 or 2010.

He will received $10 million in 2009 and $10.5 million in 2010. The option is worth $11 million.

The Indians and Wood, 34-for-40 in save situations last season for the Cubs, reached an agreement earlier this week at the winter meetings. The deal, however, was contingent on Wood passing a physical. Wood has a history of arm injuries, but none of the closers the Indians pursued this winter were risk free.

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Dispatch

Baseball Indians
Tribe banks on Wood as healthy choice
Sunday, December 14, 2008 3:26 AM

By Paul Hoynes
THE PLAIN DEALER

CLEVELAND -- The Indians think shorter is better for Kerry Wood. They could be banking more than $30 million on it.

Wood was one of those once-in-a-lifetime starters. A 6-foot-5 Texan in the mold of Hall of Famer Nolan Ryan. He threw hard and struck out every batter in sight. On May 6, 1998, in just his fifth big-league start, Wood struck out 20 Houston Astros in a 2-0 victory.

Unlike Ryan, Wood's arm often protested.

Until yesterday, Wood had gone through all his peaks and valleys -- 12 times on the disabled list in 10 years -- with the Chicago Cubs. Now he's the responsibility of the Indians to the tune of two years and $20.5 million with an $11 million option for 2011.

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Bringing in Wood is a high risk, high reward type of deal. But Shapiro and his assistants looked through EVERY file from his injury history to make sure he was 100% so it looks like they did there homework

PlainDealer

Baseball Insider: Wood learns quickly to adopt closer's mentality
by Paul Hoynes, Plain Dealer Reporter
Sunday December 21, 2008, 7:26 AM

A lot of pitchers in the big leagues can save a game. The test comes after a blown save or a poor performance.

Last season, Kerry Wood's first as the Cubs closer, he hit Milwaukee's Rickie Weeks in the back with his first pitch in the season opener. It was a scoreless game in the ninth inning at Wrigley Field, and Wood went on to allow three runs.

The Cubs tied the score in the bottom of the ninth, but Bob Howry lost it for Chicago in the 10th.

"You can't go anywhere but up after that," said Wood, the Indians' new closer, Thursday at Progressive Field. "I blew the first one of the year and got booed off the field. You have to come back to work the next day. It's still your job no matter how good or how bad you did the day before."

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PlainDealer

The Cleveland Indians are on pitcher Joe Nelson's wish list

Posted by Branson Wright, Plain Dealer Reporter December 19, 2008 14:46PM
Categories: Indians, Sports Impact

The Indians could add free agent relief pitcher Joe Nelson.Eighteen teams have inquired about free-agent relief pitcher Joe Nelson, but the Indians are in Nelson's "Fave Four," said his agent, Doug Schaer, to Starting Blocks today.

"Nellie feels he could help make what already is a strong bullpen one of the elite in baseball," Schaer said.

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