Garko to the outfield..

[Mcreek]

Yup Tito, what started out as an aberration is starting to look like a trend with Laporta. He has had more then enough time to recover from personal issues and the shock of being traded. He has simply been awful since coming to this organization. Hopefully he doesn't turn into another Marte or Barfield.

[TitoFrancona]

Yup Tito, what started out as an aberration is starting to look like a trend with Laporta. He has had more then enough time to recover from personal issues and the shock of being traded. He has simply been awful since coming to this organization. Hopefully he doesn't turn into another Marte or Barfield.

It's a concern, but at this point, not a reason to get too down on him. Just saying that there's little chance of him not going to Columbus.

Just thinking about Rocky Colavito who at the same age, in a foot race with Garko probably would have ended up in a dead heat. Yet Rocky was a solid RF'er for years. The guy was uncannny out there, always getting a great jump on the ball, always taking the right route to get to the ball and seemingly never made a mistake out there. And of course had one of the all time greatest and most accurate arms ever.

Naturally, Garko has no chance of ever being that good out there, and I fully expect the experiment to be a failure (personally I think Wedge probably expects it to fail too), but just saying that being slow doesn't necessarily mean a player is doomed to be a bad OF'er.

[Jennifer]

I just got an email from a friend who just heard Tom Hamilton interviewed. Among the things Hamilton said:

-- He expects Martinez to catch only about 70 games in 2009.

-- Carmona is the key to how the Tribe does in 2009.

-- He doesn't know whether LaPorta willl end up at first or the outfield but that the Tribe likes his versatility and suspects they are thinking at this point to keep him in the outfield because it is harder to find a corner outfield than a first baseman.

[skatingtripods]

I just got an email from a friend who just heard Tom Hamilton interviewed. Among the things Hamilton said:

-- He expects Martinez to catch only about 70 games in 2009.

-- Carmona is the key to how the Tribe does in 2009.

Those who read Pluto's article in Sunday's paper will note that he spent a long time talking about Lee and Carmona and their ERA relative to who was behind the plate.

That said, we can assume that at least 30 of Victor's starts behind the dish will be Carmona's starts.

[Jennifer]

Wedge:

On where that leaves Garko, who tied Grady Sizemore for a team-high 90 RBI last year: "We're going to work out Garko and Josh Barfield in the outfield in spring training. It might not make it through spring training. It might not make it to one spring training game, but we'll see.

"If Garko is going to hit like he did in the second half last year, that's a bat we want in the lineup. I love Barfield's athleticism and speed. In the past, we've always been at our best when we've been the most versatile."

http://www.cleveland.com/tribe/index.ss ... _eric.html