Here's What I Would Do ...

[swerb]

~Get whatever you can for Perez, Broussard, Belliard, Michaels, Byrd, Wickman. Hopefully they can yield a SS or some pen help for '07 and '08.

~Move Peralta to 2b the second Fat Ronnie is dealt.

~Bring Marte up to play 3b. Resign Boone now to be your utility guy the next two seasons if he buys into that role and doesn't want to kill you financially.

~Teach Hafner to play 1b. Enough is enough already. Its 1st base. Having to DH him every night kills the lineup flexibility. Why this guy has not been playing 1b and hitting 3rd the last two years is mindboggling. The only people playing 1b next year should be Hafner, Vic, and potentially Garko.

~After you unload Bennie and Eduardo, platoon Vic with Hafner at 1b, and play Shoppach 4 games a week at catcher so we know what we have going into next year.

~Sell high on Michaels once he comes back and use LF to egt looks at Gutierrez, Snyder, and Francisco.

~Pick up Westbrooks option for next year at 7 mill.

~Bring up Sowers immediately. Cut Johnson. Trade Byrd, and use the 5 spot in the rotation to get some looks at some kids.

~Dump Mota. Again, look-sees at young arms with that bullie spot. Use Carmona and Cabrera in the 8th and 9th innings.

~Fire Wedge, hire Tony Pena.

Now ... that is what they should do. Lets see what they actually do.

[pup]

Get whatever you can for Perez, Broussard, Belliard, Michaels, Byrd, Wickman. Hopefully they can yield a SS or some pen help for '07 and '08

Agree 100%

Move Peralta to 2b the second Fat Ronnie is dealt

2 concerns here: the fact that Peralta is a mental midget and would view this as a slap in the face and really go in the tank. I think second base is easier to fill than SS and I can't see any combo of that crew from #1 landing us a good SS.

Bring Marte up to play 3b. Resign Boone now to be your utility guy the next two seasons if he buys into that role and doesn't want to kill you financially.

No way Boone agrees to be the utility infielder(there are too many bad 3rd baseman around the league), but I agree that it is time to bring up Marte. I leave Peralta at SS and move Boone to 2nd instead of utility. If that's not cool, then Boone goes with the rest of dumps.

Teach Hafner to play 1b. Enough is enough already. Its 1st base. Having to DH him every night kills the lineup flexibility. Why this guy has not been playing 1b and hitting 3rd the last two years is mindboggling. The only people playing 1b next year should be Hafner, Vic, and potentially Garko

I don't think they will flip flop V-Mart behind the plate and first. If he is going to move to 1st, then it will be full time and Hafner is sticking at DH. Hafner loves being able to go watch tape and take seings between at bats.

Fire Wedge, hire Tony Pena.

I hadn't really thought of Pena, but he would be a very good fit. I am still on the Lou Pinella train, but wouldn't hate Pena.

[furls]

Rich,

I agree with just about all points. Although, I like Jake Westbrook I am not sure if he is worth 7million (as cheap as Dolan is).

THis team needs to get young in hurry. Small market teams are either contending, rebuilding, or floundering. There is no in between. Right now, we are 14 games back and playing veterans. Therefore we are not contending or rebuilding, so we must be.....

[pup]

....floundering?

[Guest]

..........taking a dump

[ACrank]

~Get whatever you can for Perez, Broussard, Belliard, Michaels, Byrd, Wickman. Hopefully they can yield a SS or some pen help for '07 and '08.

now that Johnson is gone if you move Byrd suddenly your starting roation next year is CC, Lee, Westbrook & who? Sowers? Who else.

Trade Perez, Broussard and perhaps Michaels now - Wickman only if he wants to go (the Indians owe him that much) and Belliard only when it means the season is completely lost - or the Mets decide they want him

~Move Peralta to 2b the second Fat Ronnie is dealt.

i've heard it said Peralta doesn't have the right type of arm motion for a second baseman - i'd leave him at short - i think he will be fine once Belliard is sleswhere

~Bring Marte up to play 3b. Resign Boone now to be your utility guy the next two seasons if he buys into that role and doesn't want to kill you financially.

Not sure where the idea of Boone being a good utility guy comes from - if his defense at third has suffered because of his knee surgery, i don't think he is going to be that much better at short and second. If Joe Randa could fetch value last year Boone can get something this year, but it won't be much and it won't be something that will help next year.

~Teach Hafner to play 1b. Enough is enough already. Its 1st base. Having to DH him every night kills the lineup flexibility. Why this guy has not been playing 1b and hitting 3rd the last two years is mindboggling. The only people playing 1b next year should be Hafner, Vic, and potentially Garko.

Easier said then done - i agree that Hafner as a fulltime DH hurts the team, but i have doubts that Hafner's elbow would hold up enough for him to play 1b even half the season. I'd trade Hafner if the right deal came along - and let Martinez, Marte, Peralta, Sizemore, and if he is here next year Blake take turns as the DH.

~After you unload Bennie and Eduardo, platoon Vic with Hafner at 1b, and play Shoppach 4 games a week at catcher so we know what we have going into next year.

don't completely disagree with this, but i think Shoppach isn't much of a choice as a potential successor to Martinez behind the plate - i'd rather just stick with Victor there

~Sell high on Michaels once he comes back and use LF to egt looks at Gutierrez, Snyder, and Francisco.

forget Snyder - i saw him earlier this month for a bit - he's struggling - keep him in Akron - make him earn a trip to Buffalo - he shouldn't see Cleveland until this time next year - maybe....

~Pick up Westbrooks option for next year at 7 mill.

if i am keeping Byrd i would be tempted to see if we could knock this down a bit - but if middle infield defense is improved Westbrook might be worth $7 mllion

~Bring up Sowers immediately. Cut Johnson. Trade Byrd, and use the 5 spot in the rotation to get some looks at some kids.

besides Sowers who else do you want in the rotation? Guthrie and er uh,..Carmona seems better suited to the pen at this point....

~Dump Mota. Again, look-sees at young arms with that bullie spot. Use Carmona and Cabrera in the 8th and 9th innings.

well they called Mujica up - want to see him in a game asap - other than that not sure what other young arms have earned a spot - Sipp would be nice if he wasn't hurt

~Fire Wedge, hire Tony Pena.

- well if you can't fire the players, you fire the manager - but nah, i have no problem with Wedge for now...

[pup]

Let me recant my statements about blowing this thing up. I think they are in line to be as good as they were last year with today's moves. Sowers isn't quite Millwood, but we are scoring more so he doesn't have to be. Byrd can be a fine Elarton. The bullpen is coming along, with Fausto pitching the 8th inning and Betancourt, Cabrera, Perez and Mujica getting them to the 8th.

[swerb]

Crank, to address your points ...

I've never liked Byrd. I wouldn't deal him just to deal him but if I could get a return that would help next year for the last 3/4 of Byrds 2 yr 14 mill deal, I would. Use the savings to resign Jake. I would keep Carmona in the pen. Dittler, Guthrie ... Im not sure. Didn't Perez start in the minors?

Wickie, I do think you owe him the option to stay or go. I like Wickie, but hopefully he will agree to be dealt so he can yield us something.

Peralta I feel is a 2b. I think Epsteins comments about how many balls were getting through the Tribe infield helps confirm that. Teach Haf to play 1b, Honny at 2b, sign Lugo to play SS, and Marte at 3b. Thats what Id like to see.

Mujica looked good last night. Cant wait to see Sipp.

[pup]

Victor HAS to be moved to 1st base. If he can't handle it, then Hafner HAS to play 1st and Victor to DH. He allowed a double steal to Carlos Lee and Prince Fielder for gods sake. That has to be the highest combined weight for players succesfully participating in a double steal.

[gte619n]

Here's the thing about Victor at C. If you move him, you've got to replace Victor + 1B with C + Victor. It's a lot easier to find a 1B with some pop than a C that isn't a total offensive lability (Greg Zaun, anybody?) I mean, Perez+Broussard are KILLING the ball. I say leave it how it is and get Victor some hGh, Tommy John, whatever...

Peralta is actually one of the better SS in the leauge if you go by ZR. He's fine there. Plus you're right, he'd take the position change as some sort of personal slight and implode (even more)

It's tough to be a utility IF with no knees. Boone need to go. Period. I like Blake as the super-sub, or even Inglett.

Someone needs to get Franky G. a bat, pronto. That guy can't buy a hit with ARod's salary.

[pup]

Here's the thing about Victor at C. If you move him, you've got to replace Victor + 1B with C + Victor

Obviously they would be taking a step backwards as far as offense goes, unless they can find a catcher that is available that I am not aware of. I still think it is a no brainer. You cannot win 65% of your games when you are willing to give up stolen bases at this pace. Add at least one total base to every hit a guy with speed gets and his slugging percentage would go through the roof. If every single is actually a double then your pitchers have no chance of pitching well.

[ACrank]

Crank, to address your points ...

I've never liked Byrd. I wouldn't deal him just to deal him but if I could get a return that would help next year for the last 3/4 of Byrds 2 yr 14 mill deal, I would. Use the savings to resign Jake. I would keep Carmona in the pen. Dittler, Guthrie ... Im not sure. Didn't Perez start in the minors?

Yeah he did - but i'd leave him in the pen for now. If you move Byrd you almost have to sign another starter to replace him.

Wickie, I do think you owe him the option to stay or go. I like Wickie, but hopefully he will agree to be dealt so he can yield us something.

Turns out it doesn't matter much - Wick is a 10/5 guy (which somehow surprised me) so even if you didn't want to be nice to him you don't have much choice in the matter. Here are a couple of teams to consider: the Reds and the Tigers. Living where i do i am slightly prejudiced towards some Tigers farmhands - but i think i would take Omar Infante even up for Wickman.

Peralta I feel is a 2b.

I disagree - said why above.

I think Epsteins comments about how many balls were getting through the Tribe infield helps confirm that. Teach Haf to play 1b,

If Hafner's elbow can survive playing first - then yes, but somehow i think Hafner is going to be at least a halftime DH (ie i cant see Hafner playing much more than 80 games at 1b ever - and not sure i want to risk losing him because of that).

Honny at 2b, sign Lugo to play SS, and Marte at 3b. Thats what Id like to see.

Epstein's comments were vague enough that they could be interpreted in a number of ways. For me it was more a case that Belliard needs to be replaced - find me a second baseman with a better glove who has at least a little bit of a bat and i think things look a lot better.

Mujica looked good last night. Cant wait to see Sipp.

Pen's going to look awfully different next year.