The Indians acquired many of their current players through trades, as I explained yesterday. In total, 14 of the 29 players to appear in a game for the Indians this year were acquired via trade. Here’s a look at the specific deals that led to the current edition of the team, one that’s 20-8 so far this year:
2002
- Grady Sizemore – acqured in the Bartolo Colon trade with the Expos
- Travis Hafner – acquired in the Einar Diaz/Ryan Drese trade with the Rangers.
2006
- Asdrubal Cabrera – acquired from the Mariners for Eduardo Perez
- Shin-Soo Choo – acquired in the Ben Broussard trade with the Mariners
2008
- Carlos Santana – acquired in the Casey Blake trade with the Dodgers
- Matt LaPorta and Michael Brantley – acquired in the C.C. Sabathia trade with the Brewers
- Joe Smith – acquired in a three-team deal with the Mets and Mariners.
2009
- Chris Perez and Jess Todd – acquired from the Cardinals for Mark DeRosa
- Justin Masterson – acquired in the Victor Martinez trade with the Red Sox
- Carlos Carrasco and Lou Marson – acquired in the Cliff Lee trade with the Phillies
- Mitch Talbot – acquired from the Rays for Kelly Shoppach
Good grief. Only partially on subject, but really what the heck was going on with the Mariners a few years ago. I did not know that Shin-Soo originated in the Mariners organization. Cabrera is just the icing on the cake. If MLBTR did one of these posts “which team made the worst moves in the last decade” I’m going to nominate the Mariners. After reading about their draft choices in the last few years, you know, passing Tulo and Lincecum I don’t think many people would disagree with that.
Good job by Shapiro these last few years..
I was thinking along the same lines. Imagine a Mariners outfield with Choo in left, Guiterrez in center, and Ichiro in right. That’s a pretty impressive defensive and offensive outfield.
What an epic fail. If Pineda wasn’t pitching the way he is right now, I’d say they should just fold their hand since it’s apparent there isn’t a single person in that organization that has a clue. I was high on Jack-Z, but I’ve got doubts about him as well. The Morrow trade was just another bone head move. These people make Minaya look like Kim Ung Yong.
Jack Z has done a fine job imo. Much better than Bavasi, who was responsible for the two trades with the Indians, as well as crap like Carlos Guillen for Ramon Santiago and Rafael Soriano for Horacio Ramirez.
And while it’s great that Morrow is doing well with the Blue Jays, it’s hard to say whether he would have had the same success with the Mariners. He was clearly mishandled, as switching constantly from starter to reliever isn’t good for a young pitcher. At least the Mariners got a quality player for him.
I agree with most of that.
Justin Smoak is looking pretty good right now too. Losing Shin-Soo for practically nothing is pretty big though
As a Mariners fan trust me when I have gone through the most headaches on bone headed moves, these aren’t even the grand daddy of them all in giving the Red Sox Veritek and Lowe for Heathcliff whatever his last name is spelled sloecomb? But I will say that the Morrow trade was more for Johermyn Chavez than it was for League who isn’t bad as a closer, remember Morrow throws hard on his arm, I wish him best but watch Chavez develop before saying the Morrow trade was bad.
Did you know that Gute came from Cleveland (who got him from the Dodgers for Milton Bradley) and the Indians got Luis Valbuena? All this happened in the same deal that brought Joe Smith to Cleveland. Endy Chavez and Aaron Heilman also went to Seattle with JJ Putz leaving town.
Valbuena and Smith is about what Guteirrez is/was worth though. Great defender, but his bad is not there (nor his health). Valbuena hit 10 HRs as a rookie 2B in 2009….first Tribe rookie 2B to do that since the 1950s. Wasn’t a good trade for the Tribe, but nothing bad really, especially when you consider Gut would be a backup OFer in Cleveland.
Two words: Buzzy Bavasi
During the same span they also had GGer and emerging CF Adam Jones and let him go too. So that potentially would have meant: Ichiro, Gutierrez, Jones, Choo, and Asrubal Cabrera. Wow.
Wow! excellent trades by the Indians.
moreso luck of the draw than anything
Here comes “the Indians are geniuses” posts. May 4th, May 4th.
I think that is a bit of a stretch. Shapiro has generally done a great job with identifying talent. He always had financial constraints. A lot of those little things are starting to pay dividends now.
Even if the Indians fall back to earth, these are all good moves. I mean, it’s not like the inevitable leveling off of the pitching staff makes Shin-Soo Choo for Ben Broussard any less of a ripoff.
Some really good trades here!
Shapiro has a rep for being a good talent evaluator but I’ve always felt he was much better at finding the right players to trade for that were already in the minors and somewhat “vetted” thru their play vs scouting and selecting amateur draft players.
From 2000 to 2007 the Indians had 17 draft picks in the 1st round or supplemental and the only ones to become everday players, rotation starters or closers for ANY mlb team were Jeremy Guthrie and Trevor Crowe and Crowe wouldn’t even be a starter on most teams. They were fortunate to sign VMart and Carmona thru international free agency.
Trevor Crowe wasn’t a starter for the Indians either. Backup who stop started when Grady got hurt. Recent drafts have looked better. Alex White already is in the bigs. Chisenhall is looking like a guy who can man the hot corner for years to come, and Kipnis was a find in the 2nd round.
Should be noted that Shapiro has been with the Tribe since 1991…he was there when we drafted guys like Manny and CC.
And in fairness, Shapiro and company had their sights set on Jered Weaver when the drafted Sowers. They simply weren’t going to be able to meet Weaver’s demands so that was the reason they passed.
They also drafted Lincecum in the 41st round…..offered him $1M but were unable to meet his demand.
Crowe started 130 games last year which is why I called him a starter even if he was fillling in. Shapiro was in the system from 1991 but I doubt he had any real input with Ramirez who was drafted that same summer. Other than Sabathia, what players has the team developed from the draft since 1998?
Put it this way. From 1998-2007 from rounds 1-10 these are the ONLY players that I would call mlb “starters”.
Sabathia, Guthrie, Kouz, BenFran, Garko, Luke Scott and Brian Slocum. Considering that Guthrie was claimed off waivers by the O’s and Scott was traded for a “Jeroime Robertson” charachter and made his mlb debut with the Astros that’s appauling.
From 1998-2007 is a minimum of 70 picks (give or take) and yet they have drafted very few players that have made it to the majors and became “starters”. Yet, Shapiro has been viewed as a great talent evaluator.
He has done a great job of trading for players already in the minor lge system and has had some nice “diamond in the rough” trades but I don’t see what others see in him.
PS- I live in Cleveland so please don’t dismiss what I say just beacuse I’m a Yanks fan.
“Crowe started 130 games last year”
Holy crap.
That’s what happens when your starting LF gets hurt (LaPorta), your starting CF is out for the year (Grady), and your starting RF is on the DL (Choo).
I honestly did not think he was in so much last year.
FYI, GMs don’t do hardly anything with the draft. That would be John Mirabelli, who had his role reduced in the draft in 2008 with Bud Grant taking a larger role….the difference is already evident. Many years Shapiro didn’t even see the top pick play. Simply too many other roles he was needed in. Most GMs are that way actually.
And you ignored the money part of the draft. Indians simply could not draft the best players due to the financial aspect of the draft. That’s why they got Sowers instead of Jered Weaver. That’s one reason they gave Chisenahall only $800K at pick 29 in 2008, yet the Red Sox dished out $3M for Casey Kelly 1 pick later (yet the Tribe did strike gold there it seems).
Shapiro actually was more involved in the draft early on when he had a lesser role (though was never a key guy in any drafts).
Scary thing is….the drafts under Shapiro were vastly better than under John Hart. From 1992 to 2001 (the drafts that Hart was GM for), the Tribe had 14 1st round/supp round picks….8 of those 14 never even made the MLs (let alone became starters). You want to know what killed the Indians glory days of the 90s, it was those horrific drafts. CC…..then Jaret Wright (before the arm injury). Paul Shuey is the next best 1st rounder….and he was taken 2nd overall in 1992 (yes, the Indians took a reliever 2nd overall, ugh).
With the Sowers/Weaver draft you are really nit picking. Any team can miss on a player and I’m not complaing about 1 draft.
“Put it this way. From 1998-2007 from rounds 1-10 these are the ONLY players that I would call mlb “starters”. Sabathia, Guthrie, Kouz, BenFran, Garko, Luke Scott and Brian Slocum”.
That’s failure on an epic level. Then subtract Guthrie and Scott who were released or traded and never made an impact withn the Indians and it’s even worse.
GM’s dont lead the charge on drafting. Is Brian Cashman flying around the country right now looking at possible choices for the 14th round this year? No one is calling Shapiro ‘God’, just that he’s done a very nice job with the Indians’ financial restraints. No one can hit the jackpot on every trade- and Shapiro isn’t some total mastermind- he just trusts and relies on his scouts. Besides, if we point to Luke Scott and Tavares for Robertson as his worst trade (CC and Lee trades TBD)…Lets give him some credit
You missed my point.
a) All GMs are responsible for putting together their scouting and player development system and if you have a track record of producing few (less than 5) mlb caliber players from 98-2007 from rounds 1-10 then you need to re-evaluate your choices in your hirings.
b) I gave him credit for making trades. However, it’s no where near as hard doing so when you have a major star to trade and your choosing from players ranked among BA top 100. Almost any fan than obsessed with minor leage baseball could do just as good with picking top prospects.
Brandon Phillips for Lee Stevens would rate far worse.
the crazy thing is they traded away both guys who started game 1 of the world series against eachother
Crazy thing is those guys got nearly $300M in salaries after being traded…..
crazy thing is john mayer is on here
i had to take a break from my tour to reference an obscure 80s baseball movie
Worst trade in m’s history. Bedard for Tillman, jones and our entire minors. Then a close 2nd is the rafeal soriano trade for horacio Ramirez
If we go farther back, Bartolo Colon for Grady Sizemore, Cliff Lee, and Brandon Phillips. Tim Drew and Lee Stevens were mixed in there, too, but man… looking at who we got for trading Lee and Phillips ain’t bad, either. The Colon trade is STILL trickling down.
Jess Todd did not pitch in a game for the Indians this season and is now a Yankee.