Coming into Spring Training, The Cleveland Indians thought Michael Brantley would be their starting Left Fielder...Then, Grady Sizemore went down with another injury...This time, he needed back surgery...He's down for awhile...$5 million down the drain!

So Brantley and his speed has been moved to Center Field...So who's in Left?

Well it's been an open competition...Shelley Duncan, is my front-runner...Duncan is leading the team this spring with 5 home runs, and 14 RBI's...Duncan has also worked at 1st base...He looked good there last year, but the Tribe signed Casey Kotchman...Great, another weak hitting, good glove 1st baseman...If Duncan was there every day, his glove would be fine...He was also killing the ball last September when he got some legit playing time...

Also competing in LF is former 3B Russ Canzler...With Lonnie Chisenhall and Jack Hannahan at 3rd, there's no chance for Canzler there...But the some are hoping his bat can find it's way in the lineup via LF...Canzler has also worked at 1B...

Then there is Trevor Crowe, who has been hyped by the Indians PR machine for years, but has never panned out...Speedy Ezequiel Carrera and non-roster invitee Felix Pie have seen work in Left and center...But now Carrera and Thomas Neal, who had a limited shot, are out of the running...

Aaron Cunningham and Ryan Spilborghs have seen time in RF and LF...One of these guys will be most likely be the 4th OF with versatility...

Then of course, there is Matt LaPorta...LaPorta was the key piece in the C.C. Sabathia trade with Milwaukee...But so far he hasn't impressed...Instead, Brantley looks to be the highlight of that deal...LaPorta came in as a Left Fielder...Then the Indians put him at first...The kid doesn't look comfortable there and is still learning the position...And his bat has been inconsistent, and lacks the power that was promised...

With the way Duncan has swung the bat this Spring, and at the end of last season, I expect him to get the gig in Left...Brantley will be in Center, and Shin-Soo Choo will be in Right...Besides having Cunningham or Spilborghs as the 4th OF, Spilborghs seems to be ahead between those two...I expect Canzler to also make the team seeing time the same way they'll use Duncan, in LF, at 1B and DH...

Later, The Beeze.

 
I was talking with my Dad today about the Cleveland Indians...As a lifelong Clevelander, he's a huge Tribe fan...He taught me all about Baseball, and I'm now trying to pass that on to my son...One thing the boy and I are going to have to talk about, is not making stupid trades...I love the Tribe, but they have made some bone-head moves over the last 5 years or so...

Today my Dad and I were talking about the Cliff Lee deal...It wasn't actually where it all went wrong...The C.C. Sabathia trade may have got it all rolling...We'll get to that one another day...

The Indians still had another year on Lee's contract, when they had decided to trade the Cy Young winner in 2009...To me, it was way too soon to pull the trigger, especially since they had another year...But GM Mark Shapiro thought that he was getting a major haul...But really, as he has before, he got pushed around in the deal...He wanted top pitching prospect Kyle Drabek, and outfielder Domonic Brown...The Phillies said no, no, no, no!

After some haggling, The Indians landed three AAA players...SS Jason Donald, C Lou Marson, and SP Carlos Carrasco...And a 19 year old Rookie Ball pitcher named Jason Knapp...

Carrasco was pretty much major league ready...In his first year he looked like a young stud, and was one of the most consistent arms on the staff...Then elbow issues slowed him down...Surgery has followed, and the Tribe will be without for all of this year...

Jason Donald, has become a good glove, light hitting utility infielder...This Spring he's also working in Center and Left field as the Indians try to find their every day man in Left since Michael Brantley has moved to center after another Grady Sizemore injury...

Then there is Lou Marson...Boy did they really try to sell what a solid defensive Catcher Marson is...This was partly because they were also moving Catcher Victor Martinez, who also still had another year on his contract...(another day for that trade as well)...Sadly, while Marson may have a good relationship with pitchers, he also was good at letting balls go right past him, and through his legs...There are still people who say he's really good defensively...They're blind! He's a below average Catcher, who can't hit righties even if his life depended on it...

Then there was Jason Knapp...When the Indians acquired Knapp, the hard throwing 19 year old, had already had a shoulder surgery...NOT A GOOD SIGN! Since he's been with the Indians organization, he's had two more shoulder surgeries...I'm guessing he'll never make the majors...

So let's recap...Cy Young winning, All-Star, Work-horse, Left-handed, pitching stud Cliff Lee was traded for a stiff Catcher, a utility fielder, a good pitcher with a bad elbow, and pitcher who has seen the operating room more then the baseball field...Phillies win...

I'm not saying the outlook would have been better if the Tribe got Drabek and/or Brown...Brown has had a couple looks with the Phillies, but is still in AAA, and Drabek was traded to Toronto for Roy Halladay, and has been up and down so far...But the Indians may have done better had they waited, and talked to more teams...

On a side note...The Indians acquired Cliff Lee when they Traded Bartolo Colon to Montreal...The Primary pieces in that trade were Brandon Phillips, and Grady Sizemore...Lee was a throw in...Funny how these Baseball trades work out.

Later, the Beeze.

Believe in what!?! Shitty owners...Front offices run by idiots...Year after year of losing...Mother fucker I'm tired of people calling Cleveland, Believeland...

Just a week ago, a PR douche from the Indians went on 92.3 "The Fan" and told the morning show, that Indians owner, Cheap-Bastard Dolan won't spend much in free-agency because he felt when the Indians were in the hunt last year, and in the Playoffs in 2007, that "the fans didn't come out enough." Really!?! In 2007 when the Indians were in the playoffs, the fans turned out...And last year, your fucking team was a .500 team, so quit acting like you were in the hunt! Never mind the economy was/is in the tank, especially in cities like Cleveland...

Monday I wrote about The Cleveland Plain Dealer not standing behind their Browns beat writer Tony Grossi...And most likely Browns over-sensitive management and ownership had a hand in him losing his beat...Well, because he lost his beat, he lost his Hall of Fame vote...Even though it is said he will still be covering the NFL, just not the Browns beat...Instead, his vote was given to the PD's other Browns beat writer, Mary Kay Cabot...

Now Cabot, is a hack that I actually dislike even more then I disliked Grossi...This chick always seems to be behind the story...She'll tweet news 4 hours after 5 other people broke it...She'll write crap up a day later, when it's an after thought...She blows...That said, I don't think all female reporters suck...

That takes us back to 92.3's morning show, Kiley and Booms...They were bitching about this topic, this morning...Honestly, I listen to these two half the time, just so I can go to work pissed off...Chuck Booms is a "comic" who loves to talk about how big he was...He also likes to throw his Republican views out there from time to time...But he sounds like the worst kind of Republican...The hypocritical, closeted kind...This guy is just dying to have a dick in his mouth...

Kevin Kiley is an ex-football player, who has been in broadcasting for awhile...Maybe too long...He loves to hear his own voice, and loves hanging up on callers...Callers help drive sports talk, but if you call and disagree with this guy, he's hanging up...He's fucking obnoxious...

So this morning they made it clear, that because women don't coach or play in the NFL, that they shouldn't have a Hall of Fame vote...Well, there are plenty of sports writers out there, that clearly have never played football...So why should they have a vote? Fuck, why should they even report on it...Look at ESPN's John Clayton...He's the dorkiest, nerdiest, little twit ever to report on football...We all know he was keeping stats, instead of scoring touchdowns and banging cheerleaders...SO why the fuck is he reporting on Football!?!

Yeah, holy shit on a stick...I'm sticking up for women having the right to vote on the Hall of Fame, and to cover Football........

Except Mary Kay Cabot! That bitch sucks, and Grossi should have never lost his vote!

And lets stop with this Believeland bullshit!

Later, The Beeze. 

  Well, that's the best thing I've seen all weekend!

Seriously, the past week pretty much sucked...Wednesday night the Little Beeze started getting sick...Fever, cough, congestion...We kept him away from the baby, and our oldest daughter...Because if she gets sick, she gets it ten times worse then anyone else...Luckily, they were okay...Unfortunately, Thursday night I started feeling like shit...Then the wife came home with a piece of metal stuck in her tire...

I pulled it out and put the donut on...I figured I'd get the tire fixed Friday...Friday morning I woke up feeling awful, with my wife telling me her tire was flat...WTF!...So I got the kids up and ready in a hurry...Took the wife to work dropped the oldest at school, and the sick boy, and the baby at the sitters...Then I dropped the tire at shop...Onto work...

Saturday morning came, and I was rocking a 102 degree fever and I had a double to work...I called my boss to see if there was a way out, but he didn't answer...He did work a long Friday shift and probably washed all the pain away with a 12-pack of Miller High Life...So I loaded up on Day-Quil and vitamins and went in...Thankfully he came in a couple hours later, got some one to cover the night shift, and sent me home...

I got home, poured some cough syrup down my throat, got in bed, and turned on the TV...Notre Dame was at Pitt...I was barley paying attention, when Tommy Rees threw another of his many interceptions this season...I rolled over and fell asleep in disgust...I woke up around 5:30PM had some soup, talked to the wife and kids a bit, and then I laid down with the baby for another nap...It wasn't until after 9:00PM when I found out the Irish won an ugly game...I'm glad they won, and I'm really happy to see the defense nutting up again...But it's time to get Tommy Rees out of there...The turnovers are a killer, and he's not built for this offense...

And let's be honest...The Irish have two losses, they aren't going anywhere...Yeah, if they keep winning, they land in a good bowl game, but this team isn't going to make the noise that we hoped...So let's get the kids in there...I prefer Crist over Rees, but Andrew Hendrix is build for Kelly's spread offense...And freshman Everett Golson has a strong arm and is a great runner...He is what Kelly recruited for this offense...So let's see what they can do...

Because of all the sleep I got during the afternoon and evening, I caught most of the Arizona State vs. USC game...I loved the way ASU played, and seeing USC lose is always good...

Now to Sunday...I did a lot of sleeping in the morning...Then just hung out with the kids...Did a bunch of make up school work with the Little Beeze...And then there was the Browns game...They didn't have Hillis, just their best player...Apparently he was sick too...

So I just heard a local TV anchor tease the Browns coverage saying, "The Browns get a huge win over the Dolphins!" (in that douche tv voice) Ummm ass-hat, they came from behind, in the last minute, to beat a horrible Dolphins team 17-16...That's not a huge win! They squeaked it out...They got lucky...They should be happy their defense played well...Although, again it was the Dolphins...And Colt McCoy looked like crap all day, until that final drive...And can some one please tell me how and why Brian Robiskie is on this team...How did he start the season as one of the two top WR's? Just for all you stat-hounds out there who are wondering why I am dumping on him...Dude has zero receptions...Please get the fuck off the field!

The Patriots lost to the Bills...Holy fucking shit Batman! The Pats showed they are one dimensional...They better learn how to run the ball or more teams are going to upset them like the Bills did...

Oh, and did you see Michael Vick pissing and moaning because, as he says, “Everybody saw the game, I’m on the ground constantly. All the time. Every time I throw the ball, in all my highlights and just watching film in general, every time I throw the ball, I’m on the ground, getting hit in the head, and I don’t know why I don’t get the 15-yard flags like everybody else do. But I’m not going to complain about it, just making everybody aware and hopefully somebody will take notice. The ref has to do his job and I’m not blaming the referees by any stretch. I’m just saying everybody on the field should do their job.”

So after he complains, he says, he's not going to complain...Never mind that you and the Eagles complained about this last year too, including sending video to the league to review....After he calls out the refs, he says he's not blaming the refs...Either that concussion was worse then we thought, or this fucking guy is an idiot!

Is Vick treated unfairly? Is Vick treated unfairly because he is such a running threat? Is Vick treated unfairly because the refs are dog lovers...I don't know if any of those are true...I'm just confident that Vick is being a bitch because he knows he's fragile...Fucking guy has always gotten hurt, and will continue to...

The last thing I'm going write about is Jim Thome and the Cleveland Indians...The Indians announced Friday that they would be putting up a statue of Thome, at the spot where he hit the longest home run in the history of Jacobs Field...I don't call it Progressive Field....I have to say, I'm not real excited about this, unlike many other Cleveland Indians fans...I refer back to THIS!

Yes, Thome was a huge part of a great period of Indians Baseball...And yes, I would say his numbers earn him a spot in the Hall of Fame...But I'm just not sold on the statue thing...The Bob Feller statue we have makes sense to me...Jordan in Chicago...Orr in Boston...Those make sense...But a statue for a guy who hasn't even retired yet??? Who left the team after saying he'd stay??? I just can't get behind it...And gashes, I don't think honesty makes me less of a fan...

And if Cleveland Rocks so much, read this...THIS!

Proposed ordinance 347-11 in the city of Cleveland, states in no uncertain terms that any entertainment venue; that's bars, restaurants, taverns, concert halls, coffee houses, etc. in a local retail district (which is pretty much all of them) may have not have live entertainment beyond unamplified acoustic instruments, or any other entertainment that exceeds the volume of unamplified acoustic instruments.

Doesn't sound like rockin' to me assholes!

Have a week...

Later, The Beeze.