Where do the Indians go form here?  They’ve yet to find a frontline starter from the promising young bunch and the bullpen isn’t exactly getting the job done.  Not to mention the fact that the front office seems to want to find a 1B and a 2B when we have Garko/Vic and Inglett right there.  Kouz looks like he may be a 1B as well but the organization doesn’t seem to regard him very highyl either.

Would love to discuss the tribe with any other fans

Weak free agent class pitching wise, too. As a Tigers fan, I still fear them next year.

Thats good to hear, ya im afraid that the weak free agent pitching will lead shapiro to make a move for a guy like soriano.  That would be really unfortunate

The indians seem to have found their closer of the future in Mastny.  He has the ability to get guys out and to finish games.  he also has shown that he can close on back to back days and pitch through adversity in last nights win.  The same can’t be said for the 4 or 5 guys that were in line in front of him to close this season.  I also heard an interesting stat the other day, apparently the indians have lost some 12 games with a lead, a tie or a 1 run deficeit after the 8th inning this season.  Just winning half of those puts us over .500 for the season.  Imagine if we had any semblance of a bullpen and we were able to win most or all of those games. The young position guys also seem to be solidifying a place in the lineup for themselves for next season.  Choo looks great lately and aside from some shaky routes he plays a solid right field and has shown he can hit for both average and some power.  Garko continues his streak of success at the plate, which just might make him the starter at firstbase next year.  Marte is also starting to produce and is showing signs of the ceiling we’ve heard about since he was a brave.

Doesn’t seem to be a ton of activity on this board unfortunately.  Just as unfortunate is that after watching Mastny close for the 4th time it looks that he may go the route of Danny Kolb, the last closing star without an overpowering fastball.  Look what happened to him in Atl.

Finally the indians are starting to win some games, they are 15-5 in their last 20 and look like they have a shot to win about 80-85 games this year.  I found it interesting the other day when I read a quote from Bill James that was something to the effect of a team that has a sharp increase in win production one year will certaintly have a sharp decrease in production the next.  This seems to be all too true for the Cleveland Indians from 2004 to 2006.

I just found this forum and it looks like a good place for some Indians discussion.
Anyways, Inglett is not going to hit enough to be an everyday 2nd baseman, and neither is Luna.  The Indians picked up Luna because they just dont got anything really worth putting at the position right now, so those 2 will be stopgaps in the meantime.  Garko has a future at firstbase, but with him, Martinzez, Kouzmanoff, and Hafner that is just a few too many slow hitting 1b/dh types.  You obviously can put Martinez at C, but I get a feeling the Indians are hoping shoppach can hit enough to man that position on a more regular basis.  What the Indians need to do is trade some of their corner infielder logjam and grab an impact outfielder.  Choo is nice but he wont be anything Casy Blake isnt doing.  Hitting really isnt the problem on this team, but our offense would be that much better if we had some real powers in ANY of the corners.  Marte has the power potential so im fine there, but i dont see any of the outfielders we currently have as being impact corner outfielders.  Martinez doesnt have enough power, and Im not sold on Garko hitting anymore than 20 bombs either.  Shapiro has to find whos worth trying and who is just another stopgap. 

Mastney has been very good, and i dont see him as a Danny Kolb want to be because Mastney actually has a good K rate.  Shapiro picked low risk-low, lolw- reward pitchers in jason johnson and paul byrd and they both backfired.  I believed he would have tried a high-risk, high-reward pitcher this past offseason if one truly was on the market(which i dont believe there was) and we didnt show the fluky success we did at the end of last year.  Shapiro felt we were closer to being ready than we were and didnt adress hit teams roster in the offseason accordingly.  He shouldve started Marte at the beginning of the year.  Theres no way he could have believed that Boone would outproduce him over a full year..no way.

I agree with most of what you said.  I dont think the indians should be interested in finding any other hitters at all this offseason however, as they are currently 3rd in the majors in both slugging and runs scored.  Marte definetly should have been starting all year, however he still seems to have trouble getting his long swing to the high fastball.  The Main problem with this team is defense.  I love how you said that the indians have too many slow 1b/dh type hitters.  In fact, Peralta and michaels can almost fit into that category as well.  I think the number one concern for the indians in the offseason should be to aquire a very good defensive shortstop that can hit enough to play everyday.  Cabrera ss from seattle seems to be good enough defensively, unfortunatley he seems to have some trouble with the bat.  This move would allow for Peralta to be an impact bat at 2b and to greatly improve the teams defense and in turn the pithcing.  The indians also need a more defined ace starting pitcher.  The only guy that currently has a chance at that is CC and he has yet to put it all together for a full year.  I’m hoping Adam Miller could become that guy in another couple of years.  Then of course there is the issue of the bullpen.  Outside of mastny and maybe cabrera the bullpen really needs to be overhauled with guys that dont walk people and dont give up homers.  The long ball has killed the tribe this year.  Funny thing is the indians using pythagorean win percentage should be within a couple games of the wildcard.  Just goes to show how lastluster defense and bullpen can destroy your chances. 

Any thoughts on Wedge anyone?

I agree with the defensive shortstop and moving peralta to second base.  It will be interesting to see if thats something Shapiro would have the balls or creativity to do.  I really dont have any beefs with Wedge at all.  He typically stacks the front of the lineup with OBP...which is an overlieing factor for a successful offense.  He doesnt overwork his starting staff, and he isnt glued to just using a closer in the ninth inning. 
The only thing with Wedge is the whole defense thing… I dont believe its his fault the Indians were stolen upon all summer long.  Thats an organizational responsibility to teach those coming up of its importance.  The lackluster defense has been a byproduct of who Wedge has had to put out there.  Boone is not worth keeping on the roster period.  He doesnt help the team defensively or offensively(and like i said before Marte should have started there out of Spring Training).  They knew Martinez would be challenged at catcher.  The infield defense has been suspect after Belliard left, but we dont have any defensive genius’ other than Sizemore..  Our defensive talent has played to its level. 
Finally, I have heard people get upset because Wedge hasnt blasted players for making mistakes.  How the hell do the fans know if he has or not?  Maybe he does it in closed doors so he doesnt publically humiliate them?  Its the way Id prefer it be handled if i was Shapiro.

As far as Wedge I agree and in fact I believe that he may in some instances be too hard on his players or expect too much from them.  My main evidence of that is the Fausto Carmona debacle a couple of weeks ago. I think he put too much pressure on a guy who hasnt come out of the bullpen since his first professional year I believe and those expectations may have ruined him as a relief pitcher, hopefully he can pull it together as a starter though.  Trevor Crowe looks like he may be of help defensively from what I have read he can be a game changing outfielder which would also help out the D.  Right after the allstar break I sent an email to shapiro asking about defense and what types of moves he was going to make at the deadline.  I suggested that he get rid of all players with B to begin their last name.  He tried and got rid of Belliard and Broussard.  It would have been nice to loose boone, blake, and byrd as well, but beggars can’t be choosers.  I also asked when we would see Marte and when Kouz would ever get promoted.  I also suggested what I said about changing Peralta to a 2b.  He responded and agreed, suprisingly enough, with all of it and said that some of those moves would be a reality soon.

Thats awesome that he took the time to respond to a fan email.  Although im sure the way you presented it made him want to, and keep the intelligent fans in good standing.  Its good to hear he wants to do all of those things.  I know a guy in the Tribe’s organization that I talk to on occassion, and I myself have emailed back and forth with Shapiro.  I think Shapiro has learned a lot about his team this year and this will be one of the most interesting offseasons as an Indians fan for me in quite a while.

Yes, it will be interesting to see how the offseason unfolds.