Somehow, some way, Ryan Ludwick cleared waivers and was optioned to AAA, the Indians announced today. Mark Shapiro should consider himself very lucky, because nobody expected Ludwick to make it through waivers. It’s too bad the team already activated Coco Crisp, though, considering Crisp was brought back a couple weeks earlier than the team really wanted to. You just hope he doesn’t reinjure the thumb.
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Following another hard-fought series with the Minnesota Twins, the Indians now need to turn their attention to the Chicago White Sox. Sunday’s 4-3 loss really stung, giving the Twins a 2-1 series victory, but with three games this weekend against the division-leading White Sox, the Indians can still tighten up the Central standings. And hopefully the Yankees, fresh off getting swept by Buddy Bell’s Royals — who still own the worst record in baseball — will extract some revenge from the Twins in Minnesota this weekend.
ESPN Insider is reporting that the Cavs are trying to get back in this year’s first round of the draft:
“The Cavs should have the 13th pick in the draft this year. However, they foolishly dropped their lottery protection on the pick they owed Charlotte so that they could send their 2007 first-rounder to Boston for Jiri Welsch. That worked out.
Now owner Dan Gilbert is trying to get back in the draft. They team has no draft picks to dangle, but the Cavs are offering teams their choice of Sasha Pavlovic or Welsch in return for a mid first-round pick. Given the number of teams in that area ? Clippers, Celtics, Grizzlies ? that are willing to deal out of the first round, it appears they might get their wish.”
Say what you want about Gilbert, but it’s hard to criticize his decision to let Paxson go. The Jiri Welsh move was a joke. Hopefully they’ll be able to salvage something out of it, though I’d much ather see Welsch traded instead of Pavlovic.
It’s official. The Cavaliers have named Mike Brown as their new head coach. The move seems to have generated universal praise around the league, indicating that he is a well-respected coach. He frankly sounds like a great fit for the Cavs. It is a little troubling, however, that Gilbert is picking a coach before picking a GM. Let’s see how that and the Larry Brown drama plays out.
So let me get this straight.
Aaron Boone is hitting .158 with four homers and a .261 slugging percentage. Ryan Ludwick has just as many home runs in 112 fewer at-bats with a .512 slugging percentage. So who gets bumped to make room for Juan Gonzalez?
Not the guy with 24 hits and 35 strikeouts on the year. Not the guy with seven errors and a .942 fielding percentage. Not the guy who’s coming off major knee surgery.
And, most importantly, not the guy who actually has options left.
Mark Shapiro placing so much faith in Juan Gonzalez was a severe miscalculation. If you want to bring this guy up and find out what he’s got left, great — I was anxious to see just how much Gonzalez could contribute. But not at the expense of losing Ryan Ludwick. If I’ve got to choose between Aaron Boone and Ryan Ludwick, understanding that Boone can be sent to the minors without first passing through waivers, I choose Ludwick every time. Shapiro rolled the dice and now that Gonzalez is back on the DL — after one at-bat!? — the Indians are forced to choose between calling up some Triple-A scrub like Ernie Young or activating Coco Crisp a week earlier than they wanted to.
Wow, those are two really fantastic options. Better yet, let’s jump in the ol’ time machine, send Boone’s ass down to Triple-A so he can find his swing, and keep Ryan Ludwick around. Shapiro really screwed this one up. This situation reminds me of the Brian Giles fiasco, but at least John Hart got Ricardo Rincon for Giles.
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