Buzz: Minaya and Indians GM Meet
In yesterday’s Cleveland Plain Dealer, Paul Hoynes reported that Indians GM Mark Shapiro and Mets GM Omar Minaya met in person on Wednesday night.
…naturally, this has led to a lot speculation that the two must have been discussing trade possibilities…
…from what i understand, the Mets are not looking for pitching…so, i believe we can scratch Cliff Lee from the list…instead, as has been reported quite often in the last week, the Mets continue to shop for an outfielder, who can hit lefties and has some power, such as Xavier Nady, who is barley available, if he’s available at all…for what it’s worth, the Pirates just demoted the one player who would have played in place of nady, had nady been traded…so, make of that what you will…
According to Tim Dierkes from MLB Trade Rumors, three outfield possibilities from Cleveland’s roster could be: Franklin Gutierrez, David Dellucci or Jason Michaels.
In 56 games for the Indians last season, the 34–year-old Dellucci hit just .230 with four HR, while batting .167 against lefties.
…umm, no…pass, please…however, he has been been battling forearm soreness all spring, while missing a lot of time, so, in that sense, he’d fit right in…
Michaels, 31, hit .270 with seven HR in 105 games for Cleveland last year, while batting .287 in 136 at-bats against lefties, during which he hit five home runs.
Michaels has played left, right and center field during his six-year career between Cleveland and Philadelphia.
Meanwhile, Gutierrez, 25, is slated to start in right field for the Indians, and hit .266 with 13 HR in 100 games last year.
Gutierrez hit .330 against left-handed pitching last year, and has a career .309 average in 68 games against lefties in his three major-league seasons.
…obviously, gutierrez is the most exciting of these players, and a guy i would go a bit out of the way to try and acquire…dellucci is not better than Angel Pagan, though…meanwhile, michaels seems fairly comparable to pagan…
…again, the goal must be better than pagan, otherwise i don’t understand giving up yet another young arm for the sake of adding to the outfield…if the Angels want a player like Jon Neise for Juan Rivera, it stands to reason that the Indians will at least want such a player for gutierrez – if not more, considering his slated to be a starter for them…
…that said, if the deal involves clearing a roster spot, or trimming a contract, that could make sense…otherwise i am fine with how the outfield currently stakes up – seeing as how no quality player will be acquired for free or for spare parts…
…of course, there is always the chance that minaya and shapiro just got together to have dinner and talk politics…
