Posts Tagged ‘Victor Martinez’

When an unprepared student gets called to go to the blackboard in a group activity and isn’t sure what to do, they write anything they can to get close.  Usually, the student is not very lucky, and is asked to return to their respective seat.  A good teacher will not make an example of the bad student but rather call on a prized pupil to come up and erase the board.  Once the slate is clean, the good student is then given repeat directions and comes through.

In Cleveland, they are running out of students.  Eric Wedge was the most recent student to bomb the visual demonstration.  In this case, the teacher (Mark Shapiro) let the student (Wedge) struggle longer than he should have.  Shapiro should have taken the chalk away from Wedge around Memorial Day and handed it to another student.  Unfortunately, Shapiro figured he would let his understudy try to work it out and get it right.  The sad part is the teacher knew the student was on the wrong track so long ago that he made the mistake of letting this student dig himself into a deeper hole.

Eric Wedge is a nice guy.  That may be the whole problem.  You never turned on Sportscenter and saw Wedge throwing a tirade about his team’s heartless play.  Yet everytime Lou Piniella batted an eyelash toward a player for not hustling, it was news.  Wedge is too passive to be the head guy.  He knows the game but lacks the firepower to motivate a team struggling to win.  This was obvious at the beginning of the season when the Tribe lost a bunch of games to start the season and dug a hole that they ultimately could never climb back out of.

When Shapiro saw the writing on the wall but opted to keep Wedge around until the end, he failed to establish future leadership which may cost Cleveland at the beginning of next season.  Why not bring in the new guy to have some game experience with his future instead of making an unnamed student wait until after recess to get to the board when they already may know the answer?

Maybe it is the teacher who should be evaluated for competence for leaving a struggling student at the board for so long.  Not only did Shapiro screw that up, but he traded his three best pupils to gifted classrooms for a larger quantity of special needs students.  Cliff Lee and CC Sabathia have improved at addition since leaving Shapiro’s classroom.  They are able to add larger numbers (wins, strikeouts, and payroll potential), subtract smaller numbers (ERA and WHIP), and have really taken a true understanding to greater than and less than quantitive equations.  They even got a couple of merits for excelling (Cy Young Awards).  Victor Martinez won a spelling bee and is the new steady pitcher for his classes kickball games. 

In all reality, Cleveland ownership needs to sweep the whole room, not just the corners.  If I owned the Indians, Mark Shapiro would be dealing cards at Mountaineer Casino (owned by the Jacobs family).  There is no reason to constantly do the wrong thing and not be punished. 

If the students keep failing, isn’t it time to evaluate the teacher?

Man, when it rains, it pours.  It has been pouring in Cleveland all week.  Victor Martinez was sent packing by the Indians Friday.  In return, they failed to obtain Clay Buchholz, the prized pospect.  Instead they took a chance on potential with Justin Masterson and a couple of bowls of clam chowder. 

What can only be considered as weird, Saturday is Victor Martinez bobblehead giveaway night, in Cleveland, where Martinez used to play.  Maybe the front office can schedule CC Sabathia bobblehead night for September.  People will want the Martinez dolls, but you don’t go to McDonald’s and order a Whopper too often, do you?

The Indians trades are getting mixed reviews.  Some experts are saying that they did a wonderful job of stocking the cupboard with potential hurlers.  They traded one pitcher and got back nine in the three trades.  Other experts are ridiculing the front office for following the Pirates formula of finishing in the bottom five in MLB’s win column, but in the top five in MLB’s profit margin column.

Victor Martinez had his heart broken by the trade.  He cried as he hugged teammates and said his goodbyes.  He felt a loyalty that players need to become callous to in today’s economy.  I hate the fact that the Indians drafted him as a 17-year old and just kicked him to the curb so they can save a few bucks. 

The Pirates five-year rebulding plan has been in motion for 17 years now.  It still has not worked.  Being sandwiched halfway between Pittsburgh and Cleveland is annoying as a baseball fan right now.  Anyway, be one of the 20,000 in attendance at Progressive Field tomorrow and grab yourself a Victor Martinez Cleveland Indians bobblehead doll.

You would think that the Cleveland Indians would have learned a little something from the Toronto Blue Jays earlier in the week.  If not, you would think that the Indians may have learned something from the CC Sabathia trade last year.  Instead, the Indians are following the formula that has done so well for the Pittsburgh Pirates since 1992.  Dump salary and get prospects.

What the Indians should have learned from Toronto was not to donate Cliff Lee for prospects.  The Blue Jays traded offers with the Phils.  AJ Happ is a major league pitcher who is young and shows potential.  The Jays asked for Happ and Kyle Drabek, their #1 prospect for Roy Halladay.  Philadelphia said they wanted too much.  So Cleveland turns around and offers Cliff Lee AND Ben Francisco for neither of the aforementioned Phillies.  They get back four prospects with the best being Carlos Carrasco who is having a terrible year.  Good work Mark!  Give that extra guy and get neither big gun back.

What the Indians should have learned from the CC Sabathia trade last year was to get major leaguers back in the trade.  Cleveland basically gave Sabathia away to dump salary.  Sabathia and Lee, both Cy Young Award Winners should command a bit more demand than what they got back.  There are players on major league rosters who don’t make $10 million per year.  Young players with Major League futures.

The Pittsburgh Pirates, unless they traded their name away too, are the farm system for baseball.  Call them MLB’s only AAAA team.  Their role in sports is not to win, but rather to draft talent, develop it, and then sell it away for other talent to raise.  If you put together a team of Pirates traded away in the past five seasons, you would have half of a decent all-star team. 

You know the Indians are nowhere near done.  Victor Martinez will be heading away soon.  Guaranteed.  Kelly Shoppach is OK, but Martinez is special.  Carlos Santana is ripping the cover off of the ball at Double-A Akron and is a good defensive catcher.  That would make this trade more sensible, if and only if, Cleveland gets something back that they can insert NOW, not a future hopeful who might make it up someday.

I understand the economics of baseball.  There are two ways to play.  One is the greedy George Steinbrenner way.  Buy everything and field a bunch of big names.  The other way is to survive.  Cut your losses and hope for a better showing next year.  The Indians are reverse current on both right now.  They are buying very little.  Mark DeRosa was what they bought, and they already dumped him before the break.  Kerry Wood is what they kept, and frankly, he sucks this year.  Survival does not mean liquidation of every functional asset.  It means balancing the budget.  Cleveland is trying to ultimately show a profit when they do their taxes in April. 

I still remember watching many of Evel Knievel’s jumps live when they happened.  I do not remember seeing this particular jump so I thought I would share it with you guys.  If Knievel didn’t do what he did, would there be any X-Games?

• Bootlegger Sports has Lance Armstrong screwing up at the Tour de France.  No, it wasn’t a banned substance, he forgot to sign in.
• Steady Burn presents the return of zombie kickball.
• NESW Sports finds Ron Artest paying tribute to Michael Jackson with a horrible rap song (video).
• Babes Love Baseball posted a John Kruk cartoon video.  Check out the post called Alright Dude, Let’s Get Wasted.
• My Sports Rumors predicts there will be some more Indians on the move soon.  Which ones do you think? 
• Motown String Music finds Rasheed Wallace agreeing to a deal with the Boston Celtics.
• Fansided has the scoop on a Pittsburgh Pirates trade rumor, as they try hard to look stupider than Cleveland this season.

Mark Shapiro is the Cleveland Indians general manager.  Eric Wedge must be his buddy.  Shapiro declared Sunday before the Oakland A’s – Indians game that Wedge would remain at the controls for the rest of the season.  I am not sure I understand why.

By firing Wedge and getting a new manager in place now, the Indians can realistically look to next year optimistically.  By waiting until the end of the year to do the obvious thing – firing Wedge, you are stalling that true rebuilding process. 

When the Indians traded Mark DeRosa last week, it signified the white flag.  We surrender.  I fear many core players are going to be traded for prospects over the next couple of weeks.  Not if, but when, Victor Martinez gets sent somewhere, I will go completely over the edge with this team.  True, the Indians are loaded at catcher at every level of their farm system.  Carlos Santana in Akron, could be called up by the end of the year.  But lets face it, trading DeRosa for Ryan Franklin, a 12-pack of St. Louis grown Budweiser, and a couple of pictures of a clydesdale aren’t going to do much in the present or the future for Cleveland.

Wedge needed to go last month.  I have been adamant about firing him since the “ultimate motivator” watched quietly as his team raced out to an 0-7 start this season.  The team needed a spark and he failed to provide one.  It is his job to win.  With the talent pool Cleveland had going into 2009, there is no excuse for the shoddy product being displayed every other game by the lake.

If Mark Shapiro thinks for one minute that Eric Wedge is going to better prepare this year’s team for a run next season, than the powers that be should really consider Shapiro’s future with the team.  If you are going to paint the house, paint the whole house, not just the front.

I’m not sure anyone involved has a clue.  Maybe we should just promote the entire Single-A Mahoning Valley Scrappers team to Cleveland for a three-game series, what would it hurt at this point? 

Being this close to an official minor-league franchise, I have met some people who are just passionate about what they do.  Marc Means is probably one of the best examples of someone who really gets into his work.  He wears many hats for the Scrappers.  As the official radio broadcast person, he  works by himself, which is not easy when broadcasting sports.  He is also a sales representative, chips in with publicity, preps the press room every game, and even helps pull the tarp on and off of the field when it rains.  Check him out while you are riding in the car on AM-1390.   I had a chance to interview Means before the Scrappers headed out to Jamestown.

Paneech:  How did you get your start with The Scrappers?

Means:  I was in the booth with WBBW back in the 1999 season, I did some fill-in work for them that year.  Three seasons ago, I came by and auditioned for the public announcer job and did that for the ’06 and ’07 seasons.  When the play-by-play position became available, I took that last year.  I enjoy spending the three hours in the booth and describing the game.

Paneech:  Lay out a normal day in the life of Marc Means.

Means:  The day will start at about 8:30.  The whole front office staff gets here at 8:30.  Usually, I will print out all the stats for both coaches from MLB and take that down to the clubhouse.  Then I check with the trainers for players injury-wise, see if there are any roster moves to see if there are players to come or go.  Then I come back up, update the roster, send that to the media, and send it to minor-league baseball so they can make the official changes.  Then I have to type up the starting lineups, press releases, game notes, and anything else for the press room.  Then I have to find time to handle my sales responsibilities.  I’ll spend two to thre hours talking to groups, trying to get more people to come out to the game.

Paneech:  How does being married and going out on the road work for you?

Means:  It’s the hard part of it because I don’t get to spend a lot of time with my wife.  When I am at home I try to spend as much time with her as I can.  It’s the worst part about being on the road, being away from my wife.  As much as I enjoy seeing different ballparks and teams, it’s the roughest part, being away from her.

Paneech:  How strong of a farm system do the Indians have right now?

Means:  According to Baseball America we’re in the Top 5.  I think this organization is stronger at some positions than others.  If you look at the catcher position, they [Indians] are extremely strong right now.  Victor Martinez and Kelly Shoppach are up and doing well, Carlos Santana , a guy down at Double-A is going to play in the futures game,  you’ve got Chris Gimenez.  Catching is definitely a position that they are loaded up on.  Outfield is another strength, there seems to be good outfielders at all levels of the system.  Pitching, has obviously been a team weakness.  If you look at this years draft, you could tell what the Indians were focusing on.  50 picks, overwhelmimgly, they took pitchers, overwhelmingly, they took college kids, so you could tell what they were focusing on when they were stockpiling new players.

Paneech:  How active are you Before June 1, and after September 15?

Means:  After September we all kind of take some time to wind down.   You just got done with four months that were crazy and hectic throughout the entire season.  After a couple of weeks, you get back to it, you start talking to people about season tickets, you start talking to people about groups.  Opportunities are always there, and that’s really something there is no offseason for.

One Word Answers:

Paneech:  Favorite Meal of The Day   Means:  Lunch

Paneech:  Favorite Music   Means:  Collective Soul

Paneech:  Favorite TV Show   Means:  Baseball Tonight

Paneech:  Favorite Restaurant    Means:  I don’t really have one (answered like a true salesman)

Paneech:  Favorit Sport To Watch    Means:  College Football

Paneech:  Favorite Current MLB Player   Means:  Victor Martinez

Paneech:  Longest Bus Ride   Means: 11.5 hours to Vermont

Paneech:  Favorite Athlete In Any Sport     Means:  Mark Price

Paneech:  Scrapper On This Years Team Most Likely To Succeed   Means: Bo Greenwell or Jason Smit

Paneech:  Myron Cope or Tom Hamilton     Means:  Neither – Joe Tait

Means has been helpful in accomodating the press.  He is a very busy man and is at the park from sunrise to midnight for about four months a year.  His passion for the game, and this organization are commendable and sincere.  I am glad he is someone I am getting to know and look forward to seeing him at the park for years to come.

Eric Wedge relied on one of his battered bullpen converts to perhaps save his job.  Speculation that Wedge will be canned soon barring a miracle turnaround took a backseat to one of the Indians best all-around showings this season as the Tribe rolled past Cincinnati, 9-2. 

Cleveland scored all 9 runs between the 3rd and 6th innings.  Ryan Garko and Victor Martinez homered for Cleveland in the rout.  Grady Sizemore opened the Cleveland offensive outburst with an RBI double in the third. 

Cleveland starter Jeremy Sowers pitched into the eighth inning and was constantly ahead of hitters throughout the game. 

Jensen Lewis did his best to keep the Cleveland bullpen in a funk by walking the first two hitters he faced to open the ninth inning.  Tony Sipp was called upon and promptly struck out the side to end the game.

For Wedge, at least in my opinion, another bullet was dodged in saving his job.  The end is near.

I am excited to announce that I have been media credentialed to cover the Mahoning Valley Scrappers for their 2009 season.  Big deal you say?  Actually it is.  With the growth of my websites hits multiplying by 5 in the last two months, this type of forum is perfect for coverage of minor league baseball.

Anyone who has followed the Mahoning Valley Thunder football team on this site has learned about the players, gotten game reviews, and had inside information through my profile features.  I plan on doing Scrapper profiles as well as game summaries and can post some interviews here as well.

Victor Martinez (above) was a Scrapper.  There are several others who played for this very team now playing in the majors.  Because it is a Cleveland Indians farm club, many current Indians played for the Scrappers.  There are also plenty of others who were once in the Indians farm system and were traded or left playing in te big league as well.

Current Indians players who were once Mahoning Valley Scrappers include : Trevor Crowe, Ben Francisco, Ryan Garko, David Huff, Aaron Laffey, Jensen Lewis, Scott Lewis, Chris Gimenez, and Tony Sipp.

Players on other teams include: CC Sabathia (Yankees), Josh Bard (Nationals), Ryan Church (Mets), Chad Durbin (Phillies), Kevin Kouzmanoff (Padres), Joe Inglett and Brian Tallet (Blue Jays).

An early notable off to a hot start is Bo Greenwell, 18 year-old son of former all-star Mike Greenwell. 

The Scrappers, much like the Thunder, are a very family-friendly organization.  Although they run a dollar beer night on Thursday and have a Playmate (Lisa Neeld) in future promotions, the Scrappers really aim for quality family entertainment.

Someone on this years team will make it to the big leagues, nobody knows who…  But by attending a Scrappers game, you can say you saw them when…

The New York Yankees got past Cleveland, 5-2, on a good pitching performance from Joba Chamberlain.  The sluggish Indians offense could only muster four hits against Chamberlain and Mariano Rivera, who pitched a perfect ninth to earn the save.

Half of Cleveland’s runs were scored on a Victor Martinez homer.  Martinez was doubtful to even play as he has a bruised right knee and sat yesterday.  He managed to DH and zinged Chamberlain’s only big mistake out of the park.

This is the last game between the two teams for this regular season.  The Yankees set a record for going 18 straight games without an error.  An unnanounced promotion, Alfred Hitchcock night, took place in right field as birds flooded Progressive Field.  Oddly enough, two years ago in the AL playoffs, you might recall Chamberlain being swarmed by bugs.  Joba sure knows how to cater to the Cleveland wildlife.

The Yankees got a two-RBI double from Nick Swisher and A-Rod had an RBI single.  Cleveland pitching gave up 11 walks, so the Yankees always had runners on throughout the game. 

For Cleveland, Shin Soo Choo stole a couple of bases.  Rafael Betancout joins Grady Sizemore and Travis Hafner on the DL.  The Indians also released Davis Dellucci before the game. 

Been a crazy and hectic week.  Sorry for a couple of days of nothing new, I will hit it hard over the next couple of days.  I attended The Mahoning Valley Thunder practice earlier today and did a few short interviews with players and coaches to be featured over the next few weeks.  Without further ado… here are some great stories from other sites!

Sidney Crosby Doesn’t Have A Dark Side Or Kick Puppies * PSAMP
Author Bill Reynolds Discusses 1978 And Boston Baseball * Hugging Harold Reynolds
Briny Baird Hits Bullseye From 300′ Elevated Tee * Steady Burn
NBA Rookies: Here Is The money , Don’t Talk During The Commercials * NESW Sports
Seperated At Birth: NBA Playoffs Part 2 * Fansided
The 5 Scariest Ice Skating Lacerations Of All Time * Total Pro Sports
Did The Celtics Choke Or Puke On Themselves? * Zoner Sports
Washington Nationals Having All Sorts Of Problems and more * Sports Rubbish
The Top-10 Undrafted NBA Players * Hoop Doctors
5 Things The Indians Have To Differently To Get Better * Sports2Debate
“The Happy Youngster” Needs To Be Real * Detroit4Lyfe
Nuggets And WWE In A Smackdown Over Who Will Be On The Arena Floor Monday Night * FOX Sports
Jon Gruden Newest MNF Announcer: Chuck In The Box * Gear Up For Sports
Athletes And Their Ridiculous Cars * YepYep
Will The Indians Trade Victor Martinez? * Tribe Daily
Whats Wrong With Jimmy Rollins? * Baseball Reflections
NBA Conference Finals Schedule * Talk Hoops
Penguins Hockey Coverage * The Program
NBA Photo Caption Contest * In Game Now
NBA Western Conference Finals Preview * Sharapova’s Thigh