Tuesday, June 14, 2005

A Right-Handed Solution?

Mired in a 3 for 36 slump, Austin Kearns was optioned to AAA Louisville by the Reds yesterday, clearing the way for Wily Mo Pena. Could Kearns be the answer to play right field and be the right handed bat that the Indians' lineup lack? Keep in mind that this is the same player that put the kibosh on the Bartolo Colon to the Reds trade (thank God), he just turned 25 (to put this in perspective, Crisp will be 26 this winter, Gerut is 27, Blake is 31, and Broussard is 28)! Kearns has a lifetime OPS of .815 in 304 games, with 43 HR in what amounts to about the equivalent of 2 seasons. Despite being in a slump, Kearns has 5 HR and 25 RBI this year, which would be at the top end of the Tribe 2005 stats.

So the question is: if the Reds were willing to part with Kearns (their outfield of Dunn, Griffey, and Pena seems set unless they move Casey and Dunn plays 1B), what would they want? The easy answer is young starting pitching, or possibly a young 3B. Would the Tribe be willing to part with Traber, Tallet, or Cruceta AND a minor league 3B, possibly Gatreau or Osborn? This may turn into one of those Drese for Hafner deals, where both teams trade from their strengths. If that does happen, I can only hope for a Drese-Hafner redux type trade for the Tribe.

Great game to watch tonight as the Indians beat the Colorado Springs Sky Sox, I mean the Rockies. These are the games they should win though, particularly with a 12 year old toeing the bump for the Rockies.

2 comments:

Cy Slapnicka said...

some hilarious comments about Dan Gilbert in the Mistake by the Lake http://mistakesports.blogspot.com/ blog...

also found where PC harvests some of his material. now all we need to do is find out where he rips his scouting material from...

can't wait, first trip to the jake saturday night. damn wedding, has ruined my whole summer so far...

Cy Slapnicka said...

gammons had a chat today and speculated that we will trade millwood and wickman by the deadline. i can't decide if i am blinded by my indians fever, but we are finally playing well. and when the sox lose, and they will, we will hopefully be poised to pounce.

he said that in response to one question about the tribe and then in another question about the sox running away with the divison he mentions to twins and indians being too good to look past. maybe carl everett is right? it doesn't speak well for him when he's changing his stance in mid-chat.