Nick Swisher

2012 Stats: 148 Games, .272 BA, 24 HRs, 93 RBIs & .837 OPS

Nick Swisher signed with the Cleveland Indians this off-season. He's a high energy guy who will bring a good leadership quality to a rebuilt Indians team. He will play mostly at 1B where his career Fielding % is .994. Batting in the middle of the lineup Swisher should get 100 RBIs in a season for the first time in his career.

Related Posts:

1. The Icky Shuffle: MLB Free Agency 2012
2. The Icky Shuffle: Happy Birthday Mike Hargrove

This Day in Sports History - 11/29/1971

In a swap of pitchers, the San Francisco Giants trade Gaylord Perry to the Cleveland Indians for Sam McDowell. It appears to be an even exchange. Perry is 33 and has a 133-109 career record. Despite pitching for some terrible teams in Cleveland, the 29 year old McDowell is 122-109 and has led the American League in strikeouts four times. Perry will be 24-16 in 1972, and from that season until the end of his career in 1983, he performs for seven teams with 181 more victories. Perry ends up with a record of 314-265 and a berth in the Hall of Fame. After the trade on this day, McDowell is 25-35 with three clubs and will exit the majors in 1975. He will later admit that alcoholism led to his downfall.

Grady Sizemore

After not picking up his option the Cleveland Indians re-signed Grady Sizemore to a one year deal worth $5 million, but with incentives can be as high as $9 million. Sizemore has been injured for parts of the last few seasons and therefore has not put up the numbers he did from 2005-2008. Sizemore is a 3 time All Star and 2 time Gold Glove winner. He is 52 hits away from reaching 1,000 in his career and has 139 HRs & 134 SBs. If Sizemore can stay healthy then the Indians have a chance to make some noise in their division.

Related Posts:
1. The Icky Shuffle: MLB Free Agency 2011
2. The Icky Shuffle: Five Questions That Will Decide the Indians' Season
3. The Icky Shuffle: This Day in Sports History - 3/22/1993
4. The Icky Shuffle: Cleveland Indians 2008 Season Recap

Happy Birthday Mike Hargrove

Five Questions That Will Decide the Indians' Season

Today is the Indians opener against their division rivals the Chicago White Sox. Here are the top five questions that will need to be answered to see how the Indians will do this season.

1. Will Fausto Carmona pitch well and how will the rest of the rotation be?


2. Are young players like Matt LaPorta, Carlos Santana and Michael Brantley ready to step up?


3. When will Grady Sizemore return from injury?


4. How soon will players like Drew Pomeranz, Alex White, Jason Kipnis and Lonnie Chisenhall be in the Majors?


5. Will Shin Soo-Choo, who is no longer a surprise, be able to carry the team if others fail?

My Top 11 Cleveland Indians Hitters

1. Manny Ramirez


2. Rocky Colavito


3. Lou Boudreau


4. Grady Sizemore


5. Travis Hafner


6. Joe Carter


7. Sandy Alomar Jr.


8. Frank Robinson


9. Albert Belle


10. Omar Vizquel


11. Jim Thome

This Day in Sports History - 3/22/1993

A boating accident on Little Lake Nellie in Clearmont, Florida, claims the lives of Cleveland Indians pitchers Steve Olin and Tim Crews and leaves Bobby Ojeda seriously injured. Just after dark, the three were riding in an 18-foot aluminum open-air bass fishing boat piloted by Crews when they slammed into the side of a pier at high speed. Olin was 27 years old; Crews was 31. Ojeda will undergo surgery to reattach his scalp and return to the Indians in August of this year.

True Pioneers in Sports History: Larry Doby

Orlando Cabrera

The Cleveland Indians signed Orlando Cabrera to a one year contract. He'll move from SS to 2B to allow Asdrubal Cabrera (no relation) to stay at SS. Cabrera has 1,948 career hits and has won 2 Gold Gloves. From 2007-2010 Cabrera has played for 4 different teams and have helped each of them make the playoffs.

Related Posts:
1. The Icky Shuffle: MLB Free Agency 2010
2. The Icky Shuffle: RIP Bob Feller 1918-2010

RIP Bob Feller 1918-2010

Hall of Fame pitcher Bob Feller passed away last night at the age of 92. Feller made his career debut on July 19th 1936 and played his entire career for the Cleveland Indians. He joined the Navy on Dec. 8th 1941 the day after the bombing at Pearl Harbor and was sent to the Pacific during World War II. Feller retired after the 1956 season with 266 wins and 2,581 strikeouts and was elected to the Hall of Fame in 1962.

Drew Pomeranz Video

This is a video of Indians prospect Drew Pomeranzat at a Fall Instructional League from October 2010. Some scouts project Pomeranz as a potential no. 3 starter if the Indians let him develop, or a solid arm out of the bullpen if they decide to rush him.

Happy Birthday to Hall of Fame Pitcher Bob Feller

Today is Bob Feller's 92nd birthday. He is a legendary baseball player as well as a Chief Petty Officer in the US Navy who lost out on four seasons of baseball to serve his country in World War II.

Drew Pomeranz, LHP

Last night was the MLB Draft and with the 5th pick the Cleveland Indians selected Ole Miss LHP Drew Pomeranz. Here is a video from before a game against the Arkansas Razorbacks where Drew Pomeranz was going up against Drew Smyly.

San Francisco Giants 10 Cleveland Indians 7

The first game of the spring is over and the Tribe lost 10-7. Jeremy Sowers, who is looking for a spot in the starting rotation started the game and in 2 innings gave up 1 run on 3 hits with 2 strikeouts. Newly acquired Mark DeRosa hit a 3 run home run in the bottom of the 3rd inning to give the Indians a 3-1 lead. In the top of the 6th inning with the score tied at 3, right-handed reliever Edward Mujica gave up 4 runs on two home runs to Travis Ishikawa; who went 3 - 3 with 2 home runs; and Nate Schierholtz who had 2 RBI's. The Indians tried to make it a game with solo home runs by Stephen Head and Michael Aubrey, but to no avail as it was too little too late.

Now I won't be writing after every game but I do intend on writing every once in a while and giving some inside the box-score information. So here it goes:

• Grady Sizemore went 1 - 3 with a run scored
• Victor Martinez started at catcher and went 0 -2
• Matt LaPorta (acquired last season from the Brewers in the C.C. Sabathia trade) went 1 - 3 with a run scored
• Rafael Perez pitched one inning and gave up a run
• Matt Herges struck out 2 batters in a scoreless 9th inning
• SF left 2 men on base while the Indians left 8 men on base

With off-season pick-ups Kerry Wood and Joe Smith, players like Mujica need a good spring if they want any chance of making the club. We'll see how they fare and in the words of Randy Quaid in the beginning of Major League II "This is the year we go all the way, ALL THE WAY! ALL THE WAY!"

GO TRIBE!!!!

2009 Cleveland Indians Preview

With the Indian's first Spring Training game starting in a little bit over an hour it's time to take a look at some questions that need to be answered for the Indians to be successful this upcoming season:

1. How will Victor Martinez & Travis Hafner come back from injuries?
2. How will the new acquisitions (Mark DeRosa, Kerry Wood & Carl Pavano) fare with their new teammates?
3. Will Fausto Carmona pitch like he did in 2007?
4. Who will be #3-5 in the pitching staff and how will they do?
5. Will Kelly Schoppach get the at-bats needed to have as good a season as last?
6. Will Trevor Crowe, Matt LaPorta and Michael Brantley be able to make an impact on the Major League squad?

Best by the Number - Cleveland Edition

Below is a list of Cleveland sports players according to their jersey number. By some players I will be writing some stuff like other players who had a chance of being in that spot, or some information about the player. Please also note that since some players had multiple numbers in their tenure in Cleveland, there may be players next to numbers that don't seem to fit, but they do!

1. Terrell Brandon
2. Jhonny Peralta
3. Craig Ehlo - Also considered were Bob Sura, Matt Stover & Derek Anderson
4. Phil Dawson - The current Brown who has been on the team the longest
5. Steve Kerr - Many people are unaware that Kerr even played for the Cavaliers
6. Larry Nance - Also wore # 22
7. Kenny Lofton
8. Albert Belle
9. Dan Marjele - Also considered was Carlos Baerga
10. Brady Quinn - Never considered was Eric Zeier
11. Zydrunas Illguaskus - "Big Z" 'nuff said
12. Roberto Alomar
13. Omar Vizquel
14. Larry Doby - Most people here might put Browns QB Otto Graham, but Doby deserves to be on this list more than anyone else. Larry Doby was the first African American to play in the American League, and while it's true he started playing after Jackie Robinson he was the first African American to play in American League ball-parks
15. Sandy Alomar Jr.
16. Josh Cribbs - probably the most exciting player the Browns have had since Eric Metcalf
17. Brian Sipe - Even with "Red Right 88" he makes this list ahead of Braylon Edwards
18. John "Hot Rod" Williams
19. Bernie Kosar
20. Eric Snow
21. Eric Metcalf
22. Chris Dudley - No list would be complete without the worst free-throw shooter of all-time
23. LeBron James
24. Manny Ramirez - ManRam is still my favorite all-time Indian
25. Jim Thome - Others considered include Mark Price
26. Sean Jones
27. Jaret Wright
28. Leigh Bodden
29. Hanford Dixon
30. Andy Marte
31. Frank Minnifield - "Created" the Dawg Pound with Hanford Dixon
32. Jim Brown
33. Luke Jackson
34. Austin Carr
35. Danny Ferry - Former Cavalier is current GM
36. Paul Byrd
37. Jake Westbrook
38. Franklin Gutierez
39. Daven Holly
40. Bartolo Colon - Was traded to Montreal for Lee Stevens, Grady Sizemore, Brandon Phillips & Cliff Lee
41. Charles Nagy
42. Paul Warfield
43. Brad Daugherty - My favorite Cavalier. I wore # 43 when I was on the Ashar Basketball team in honor of Daugherty.
44. Leroy Kelley
45. Jeremy Sowers
46. Lou "The Toe" Groza - Also wore # 76
47. Joe Borowski
48. Travis Hafner - "Pronk"
49. Edward Mujica
50. Tom Cousineu
51. Michael Doleac
52. C.C. Sabathia
53. Bill Cowher - Cowher was also an assistant coach under Marty Schottenheimer
54. Andra Davis
55. Orel Herschieser - "Bulldog"
56. Antwan Peek
57. Clay Matthews - Played in 232 games for the Browns between 1978-1993
58. D'Qwell Jackson
59. Mike Johnson
60. Shaun O'hara
61. Steve Everitt
62. Lennie Friedman
63. Rafael Bentacourt
64. Joe Delamielleure - Inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame in 2003
65. Chuck Noll
66. Hank Fraley
67. John Jurkovic - Played for the Browns when they came back in '99
68. Gene Hickerson
69. J'vonne Parker
70. Alvin Mckinley
71. Walter Johnson - Not "The Big Train"
72. Jerry Sherk
73. Joe Thomas - Played well as a rookie
74. Andrew Hoffman
75. Simon Fraser
76. Marion Motley
77. Dick Shafrath
78. Dan Footman
79. Bob Golic
80. Kellen Winslow Jr.
81. Jack Gregory
82. Ozzie Newsome - One of the greatest TE
83. Mark Bavaro
84. Webster Slaughter
85. Kevin Johnson
86. Brian Brennan
87. Keenan McCardell
88. JaJaun Dawson
89. Gerald McNeil
90. Drew Gooden
91. Sam Clancy
92. Ted Washington
93. Jerry Ball
94. Gerard Warren
95. Kameron Wimbley - Lead the team in sacks during the '07 season
96. Don Shula
97. Ryan Kuehl
98. Anthony Pleasant
99. Orpheus Roye

Cleveland Indians 2008 Season Recap

The 2008 season was supposed to start where last years left off, back in the playoffs and on their way to winning a World Series. Unfortunately many things did not go as planned. They ended their season in 3rd place in the AL Central with an 81-81 record. In this extremely tough and disappointing season in which long time ace C.C. Sabathia got traded; Fausto Carmona, Victor Martinez, and Travis Hafner spent a considerable amount of time on the DL and a bullpen which could not close out games with a large lead; there were a few bright spots.

1. Cliff Lee - Lee came back from a horrid 2007 campaign to win 22 games with an ERA of 2.54.


2. Grady Sizemore - Sizemore hit 33 home runs and stole 38 bases, and if he had protection from the likes of Hafner and Martinez those numbers could have been much higher.


3. Jhonny Peralta - Peralta batted .276 with 23 home runs and 89 RBIs.

But what can the Indians do to be contenders next season?

1. Let Jensen Lewis close games. He was 13 for 13 in save opportunities last season so just give him a chance.
2. Get rid of Ryan Garko. I love the guy but he isn't so good. Then move Victor Martinez to First base full-time and let Kelly Shoppach be the everyday Catcher. Martinez is only valuable if he plays and if he's catching he's more susceptible to injuries, plus Shoppach played well last year in Martinez's absence.
3. Get a lead-off hitter. Grady has done a great job, but just imagine how much more runs the Indians would score if Grady batted 3rd in the lineup.
4. Give Anthony Reyes a chance to start. Last year he played well in the six starts that he had.

Of course we'll have to see if the Indians will go after any free-agents, but they are not known for spending money, so we'll see what happens.