Barfield might not thrive here

Josh Barfield inadvertently raised his stature within the Indians' organization by getting hurt in June.

[DaveP]

Why not try Barfield at third? Marte has got to go, and I don't see Barfield being any worse than he is.

[Steve Liebenauer]

The trade for Barfield looks to be failure, but do you all remember how we acquired Asdrubal Cabrera? I trade with the Mariners for Eduardo Perez. He played 33 games with the Mariners in 2006 and is now out of baseball. You can't win them all, but we certainly won the trade for Cabrera.

[NickTheStick]

Shapiro made one bad trade to cover another. He traded Kouzmanoff to get a second baseman after he gave away Brandon Phillips. How much better would we be with Phillips at 2nd and Kouzmanoff at 3rd. And don't forget he also gave up on Jeremy Guthrie.

[Gomer Hodge fan]

The Indians braintrust is so worried that Andy Marte
is not a repeat of the Brandon Phillips fiasco.
What if Josh Barfield becomes the next Phillips?

[Norman Banks]

NickTheStick wrote:

Shapiro made one bad trade to cover another. He traded Kouzmanoff to get a second baseman after he gave away Brandon Phillips. How much better would we be with Phillips at 2nd and Kouzmanoff at 3rd. And don't forget he also gave up on Jeremy Guthrie.

Did not give away Phillips. We got Stevens who might be our closer someday. In retrospect, not a great deal but much better than nothing. I live in San Diego and Kouzmanoff is terrible in the field and has terrible plate discipline. If you think he is better than Blake, you don't have a clue. Hey, it was Guthrie or Carmona. They made the right choice.

[Frustrated Tribe Fan]

The only sensible post here was Norman Banks. Everyone else is a bunch of "what ifs". Just shows how clueless people are in this town.

ANY trade -- regardless of who it's for -- is a "what if." It's a risk for ANY team. Just because a player has great numbers does not mean he'll be all that somewhere else.

It's a crapshoot. Plain and simple. Anyone with a clue realizes that. Except most so-called fans.

[Wishfull thinking]

Good story, but I'd like to know the thinking on Wes Hodges at 3rd Base who
made the Futures team. Maybe a September call up since Marte and Gonzales don't appear to be the answer. Gonzales can't field and Marte can't hit.

[A different Tony Z]

DaveP wrote:

Why not try Barfield at third? Marte has got to go, and I don't see Barfield being any worse than he is.

Barfield cannot play 3rd base. He's at 2nd or not an Indian at all.

What we should start to look into this off season is Jimmy Rollins. If what the media says is true (yeah i know) Rollins might be on his way out of Philly.

If we can package some players for Rollins, we'd put him at SS, move Peralta to 3rd, and keep Cabrera at 2nd. We'd look pretty good on paper defensively and offensively.

Possible trade could include Guit and Hodges since we're trying to bring LaPorta up to play OF (there's no room for him at 1st) and we can get the 3rd baseman from the Brewers in the C.C. trade for depth as the player to be named.

Outfielders would be Fransisco, Grady, Choo and LaPorta.
Peralta at 3B
Rollins at SS
Cabrera at 2B
Martinez/Garko/Hafner at 1B
Martinez/Shoppach at C

What do you guys think?

[bobtreva]

It is funny that Barfield's offensive stats last season are better than Cabrera's this season. Yet all we hear is how woeful Josh is with the bat. Well he did pretty well in SanDiego. Any chance that the hitting coach for the Tribe, Shelton, hasn't a clue?

[bobtreva]

First of all, Wedge would be intiminated to have a guy like Rollins around. My goodness, what if he said a negative word about Wedge?

"If we can package some players for Rollins, we'd put him at SS, move Peralta to 3rd, and keep Cabrera at 2nd".
The best move would be to keep Rollins (or Roberts) at 2nd, move Cabrera to SS where he may be the best fielding SS in the game and move Peralta to either 3B, LF or in a trade.

[A different Tony Z]

bobtreva wrote:

First of all, Wedge would be intiminated to have a guy like Rollins around. My goodness, what if he said a negative word about Wedge?
"If we can package some players for Rollins, we'd put him at SS, move Peralta to 3rd, and keep Cabrera at 2nd".
The best move would be to keep Rollins (or Roberts) at 2nd, move Cabrera to SS where he may be the best fielding SS in the game and move Peralta to either 3B, LF or in a trade.

Why move Rollins to 2nd? I thought he had pretty good range at SS.

[jetercp]

why do people keep saying peralta @ 3b? i know it makes sense, but the thinkheadedness of shapiro and wedge have flat out said that he will not be a project at third base.
anyone watch the angels/indians game on saturday when the national commentators were saying we should get orlando hudson to play second and jason giambi to play first.
shows how no one really follows cleveland sports.
how are the indians going to pony up 25 a year for giambi and whatever hudson is getting?
as for jimmy rollins, a former mvp. there is no way cleveland would be interested. shapiro and wedge run this team like a thrift store, unless its pennies on the dollar we aint spending.
look for the indians to get travis fryman back for third, he should be cheap, he is like 45 now.

[jetercp]

p.s. im not from gainesville

[A different Tony Z]

jetercp wrote:

why do people keep saying peralta @ 3b? i know it makes sense, but the thinkheadedness of shapiro and wedge have flat out said that he will not be a project at third base.
anyone watch the angels/indians game on saturday when the national commentators were saying we should get orlando hudson to play second and jason giambi to play first.
shows how no one really follows cleveland sports.
how are the indians going to pony up 25 a year for giambi and whatever hudson is getting?
as for jimmy rollins, a former mvp. there is no way cleveland would be interested. shapiro and wedge run this team like a thrift store, unless its pennies on the dollar we aint spending.
look for the indians to get travis fryman back for third, he should be cheap, he is like 45 now.

I understand your point about not affording a former MVP, but they could trade extra baggage to get him. If they package 3 or so players then their total salaries will subtract from Rollins total salary (not sure what that is) and maybe it would be worth taking a look at.

We're overloaded at the corners and 1B. Some is going to lose out and have to get moved sooner or later, why not now?

[concerned citizen]

they will give up on barfield and he will succeed elsewhere like Phillips and Gutherie. What they need to do is stop insisting on a veteran/journeyman infielder and keep talent. barfield can only play second? so what - he can spell cabrera at second and also give peralta days off by playing second while cabrera moves to short. a long term injury you fill from buffalo. phillips would still be here if wedge hadn't insisted upon a mediocre veteran whose name I don't even remember.

[A different Tony Z]

concerned citizen wrote:

they will give up on barfield and he will succeed elsewhere like Phillips and Gutherie. What they need to do is stop insisting on a veteran/journeyman infielder and keep talent. barfield can only play second? so what - he can spell cabrera at second and also give peralta days off by playing second while cabrera moves to short. a long term injury you fill from buffalo. phillips would still be here if wedge hadn't insisted upon a mediocre veteran whose name I don't even remember.

It was Rafael Belliard at the time and you can't blame Wedge for keeping him. Belliard played well with the Indians.

[TRAVLER129]

Barfield SHOULD ASK TO BE TRADED OUT OF CLEVELAND.