Lidge on the market

[dmcdougal]

I am not a hater of Joe Borowski. I have seen a lot of people hate on him for giving up runs to Chicago and New York, but he is perfect in save situations.
Since I got that out of the way, I do believe that the Tribe needs to take a hard look at the closer situation. I think everyone knows that Borowski is a one year project. We don't have a capable closer at the AAA level that can come in next season (Don't tell me Perez, Mujica, Sipp, or someone else). The only viable options in Free Agency are Francisco Cordero and Mariano Rivera; it is unlikely that we will be able to land one of them.

I think that the best option would be to trade for Brad Lidge. The guy is struggling in Houston and lost his job to Dan Wheeler, but I think a change of scenery and some supporting fans would give him new life. His price is cheap and the Lastros are exploring offers, so what do we have to lose. The only question is how much will it take to get him. With the re-signing of Westbrook and the likely re-signing of Sabathia, we have a load of starting pitching that can be dealt. I also think that we can put in an outfielder. The Lastros have Lee, Burke, Lane, and others, but I think they would love an offer of a SP and OF for Lidge. Anyway, here is what I came up with:

Franklyn Gutierrez
Tony Sipp
Rafael Perez

for

Brad Lidge

any comments/criticism

[MadThinker88]

The 1st problem is Sipp is injured and won't play until around late June or so. That makes his trade value greatly reduced.

After that, Sipp is a potential closer candidate so giving him up or giving up on him is premature at this time.

Also, I do not dismiss the notion of Mujica being in the backend of the bullpen as we move forward. I wouldn't turn over one of those jobs to him today or tomorrow but I think he does have the potential. When I see him pitch, I think of a young Danny Graves. Neither was a fireballer but they recorded outs and closed games.

All that said, I am interested in the Tribe getting bullpen help and Lidge was a player I had targeted back in OCTOBER.

If Carmona can pitch well, I think he becomes a major bargain/ trade piece for Shapiro. As the season progress, the better chance we can turn a rotation slot over to Adam Miller if needed.

[consigliere]

I am totally on board with acquiring Lidge. At the very worst, he could help in the 8th inning.

Do note, Borowski is NOT a one year stop-gap. Unless he falls flat on his face, he'll be back in 2008 (team option).

But we do need to try and find a way to fill the closer position long-term.....and I think Lidge just needs a change of scenery.

[British_Pharaoh]

I would never ever trade sipp straight up for lidge

never mind putting Perez and Franky in there

do you even know who Tony Sipp is???

the guy is gonna murder hitters in this league when he comes up

[consigliere]

I would never ever trade sipp straight up for lidge

If Lidge is healthy of mind and body, I would.

[leadpipe]

To say Sipp is going to murder hitter at the major league level is at best a stretch. There is a MUCH better chance he continues to have some injury issues.

Look. they got the guy at a great price out of the Cape Cod league, but let's not get carried away. At the end of the day he's a PITCHING prospect. History will tell you that pitching prospects, especially those that start to develop a bit of an injury history at a young age, are pretty poor bets.

[The Math God]

I agree.
Sipp is a pitching prospect. Nobody knows how good he is going to be. Plus he has to come back from the DL.
I like Lidge and would like to see a few of the extra outfielders be packaged for him. Maybe throw in a AAA pitcher.

[British_Pharaoh]

To say Sipp is going to murder hitter at the major league level is at best a stretch. There is a MUCH better chance he continues to have some injury issues.

Look. they got the guy at a great price out of the Cape Cod league, but let's not get carried away. At the end of the day he's a PITCHING prospect. History will tell you that pitching prospects, especially those that start to develop a bit of an injury history at a young age, are pretty poor bets.

look at his stats cos u obviously have no idea who Sipp is

yeah prospects are hit and miss

but with his numbers he's gonna hit big time

[He Gone]

NO.

Lidge is a bum, and Sipp is too good of a prospect..

Plus we have enough closer material in the system already

No need

[leadpipe]

To say Sipp is going to murder hitter at the major league level is at best a stretch. There is a MUCH better chance he continues to have some injury issues.

Look. they got the guy at a great price out of the Cape Cod league, but let's not get carried away. At the end of the day he's a PITCHING prospect. History will tell you that pitching prospects, especially those that start to develop a bit of an injury history at a young age, are pretty poor bets.

look at his stats cos u obviously have no idea who Sipp is

yeah prospects are hit and miss

but with his numbers he's gonna hit big time

Didn't know I needed to know him personally to have an opinion. Very well aware. I think that instead of forming my opinion on what some fan on a message board has to say, perhaps I'll consider how things work in the real world. Look, I believe Lofgren is about the best pitching prospect the Tribe has, but to anyone to say he's going to blow away hitters at this level is conjecture.

[Dozen]

Didn't know I needed to know him personally to have an opinion

Didn't you?

[British_Pharaoh]

To say Sipp is going to murder hitter at the major league level is at best a stretch. There is a MUCH better chance he continues to have some injury issues.

Look. they got the guy at a great price out of the Cape Cod league, but let's not get carried away. At the end of the day he's a PITCHING prospect. History will tell you that pitching prospects, especially those that start to develop a bit of an injury history at a young age, are pretty poor bets.

look at his stats cos u obviously have no idea who Sipp is

yeah prospects are hit and miss

but with his numbers he's gonna hit big time

Didn't know I needed to know him personally to have an opinion. .

dont get cheeky, ur too old to get a clip round the ear

[dmcdougal]

so is anyone else beginning to agree with me yet? Borowski's ERA is a solid 9.90

[MadThinker88]

My position has not changed. Bringing in Lidge would be nice but dealing away Sipp is a mis-step.

Think up another offer (considering salaries, might Bryd be a possibility) that would make sense for Lidge.

[dmcdougal]

I recant what I said earlier in the post about how there is no one in our system that can close. I didn't have the knowledge to make that assumption as if it were a fact. Only I'm not talking about Tony Sipp.

Fernando Cabrera was my boy two years ago and then everybody else jumped on coming into last season. We all know he struggled. Now the kid is killing in a bunch of games that don't mean anything. That is until tonight came along. I didn't get to watch the game because of reasons that would be better explained by my university, but Tom Hamilton was going crazy on the radio so I know that it had to be impressive (hats off to the WTAM crew, it's always a pleasure listening to them).
This kid needs to start pitching in set up roles. The problem is that our righty set-up guy is killing right now. Putting Cabrera up there would give up 4 legitimate set-up men. I'm almost afraid to say that our bullpen is overloaded.
Getting Lidge would be great for the Tribe but maybe the answer is already in the system. We'll be able to tell in his next few outings though. The expectations were there for him at the beginning of last season and he couldn't handle the pressure. Let's see how he does now that the expectations are back.
I think our answer at closer will be handled in the offseason. Maybe Borowski will come back one more year but I would like an upgrade.

[StewieG]

I think the biggest problem with Cabrera last year was that he pitched in the WBC. I think a lot of players, pitchers especially, who played there ended up struggling for good portions of the season, especially at the beginning.

[consigliere]

Cabrera is a closer option down the road......but the guy who may actually have the stuff, ability, and approach to handle the job is Mujica. I think in the near future you could see a backend of Sipp-Cabrera-Mujica.

[MadThinker88]

If all three pan out, Cleveland might have the beginnings of its own 'Nasty Boys'. I'd like there to be a different name for our group though.