Indians decline options on Hafner, Hernandez
Indians declined DH Travis Hafner's $13 million club option for 2013.
No surprise here. Hafner will receive a $2.75 million buyout and hit free agency. The 35-year-old has averaged just 86 games over the past five seasons due to injury, so he will likely have to settle for an incentive-laden one-year deal this offseason. The Indians also declined Roberto Hernandez's $6 million club option for 2013.
Source: Jordan Bastian on Twitter Oct 31 - 12:38 PM
Re: Articles
2612I've soured on Jimenez to the point that I think if the Indians are declining Hernandez's option you might as well opt out on Jimenez as well.
Some might say it was a no brainer, but I personally think the Indians are refusing to admit the trade is a bust and move on.
Some might say it was a no brainer, but I personally think the Indians are refusing to admit the trade is a bust and move on.
Re: Articles
2613Replacement price for Jimenez was too high to decline the option. Hernandez will probably accept a lower offer if the Indians make it.
Re: Articles
2614GM Chris Antonetti suggested there's a slim chance the Indians will re-sign Roberto Hernandez this offseason, MLB.com's Jordan Bastian reports (Twitter links). The chances of re-signing Travis Hafner seem more remote, Bastian writes. The Indians, who declined club options for Hernandez and Hafner earlier today, are not working with a set payroll, according to the GM.
Read more at http://www.mlbtraderumors.com/#TQCiTyddZZr7RCGQ.99
Read more at http://www.mlbtraderumors.com/#TQCiTyddZZr7RCGQ.99
Re: Articles
2615Since they're all free agents, make them a low ball offer.
1 Million offers to Hafner, Sizemore and Fausto.
1 Million offers to Hafner, Sizemore and Fausto.
Re: Articles
2616Cleveland Indians manager Terry Francona's coaching staff is complete
Published: Wednesday, October 31, 2012, 1:13 PM Updated: Wednesday, October 31, 2012, 6:55 PM
By Paul Hoynes, The Plain Dealer
CLEVELAND, Ohio -- New manager Terry Francona's coaching staff is set.
As expected, Sandy Alomar Jr. will be the bench coach, Brad Mills the third base coach and Mike Sarbaugh the first base and infield coach.
The Indians not only dipped into their minor league system to promote Sarbaugh, but Mickey Callaway as well. Callaway will be the Tribe's third pitching coach since the start of last season.
The other two hires are Ty Van Burkleo as hitting coach and Kevin Cash as bullpen coach.
Alomar, 46, finished the year as interim manager following the firing of Manny Acta. He could still be a candidate for one of the open big-league managerial positions this winter.
Mills, 55, was fired earlier this year after 2 1/2 seasons as Houston's manager. He has coached for Francona in Philadelphia and Boston. They were teammates at the University of Arizona and on the old Montreal Expos.
Sarbaugh, 45, spent the last three years as the Indians Class AAA manager at Columbus. He's managed nine straight seasons in the Tribe's farm system.
Van Burkleo, 50, was the Astros big-league hitting coach for the last seven weeks of the season. He was Oakland's hitting coach from 2007 through 2008 and Seattle bench coach from 2009 through 2010. Before getting promoted to the big leagues, Van Burkleo was Houston's minor league hitting coordinator.
He played 15 years of pro ball, appearing in 14 big league games with the Angels and Rockies.
Cash, 34, scouted for Toronto this past season after retiring as a player in 2011. The former catcher spent past of eight seasons in the big leagues. He played for Francona in Boston and Mills in Houston. Cash was knuckleballer Tim Wakefield's personal catcher in Boston in 2008.
Published: Wednesday, October 31, 2012, 1:13 PM Updated: Wednesday, October 31, 2012, 6:55 PM
By Paul Hoynes, The Plain Dealer
CLEVELAND, Ohio -- New manager Terry Francona's coaching staff is set.
As expected, Sandy Alomar Jr. will be the bench coach, Brad Mills the third base coach and Mike Sarbaugh the first base and infield coach.
The Indians not only dipped into their minor league system to promote Sarbaugh, but Mickey Callaway as well. Callaway will be the Tribe's third pitching coach since the start of last season.
The other two hires are Ty Van Burkleo as hitting coach and Kevin Cash as bullpen coach.
Alomar, 46, finished the year as interim manager following the firing of Manny Acta. He could still be a candidate for one of the open big-league managerial positions this winter.
Mills, 55, was fired earlier this year after 2 1/2 seasons as Houston's manager. He has coached for Francona in Philadelphia and Boston. They were teammates at the University of Arizona and on the old Montreal Expos.
Sarbaugh, 45, spent the last three years as the Indians Class AAA manager at Columbus. He's managed nine straight seasons in the Tribe's farm system.
Van Burkleo, 50, was the Astros big-league hitting coach for the last seven weeks of the season. He was Oakland's hitting coach from 2007 through 2008 and Seattle bench coach from 2009 through 2010. Before getting promoted to the big leagues, Van Burkleo was Houston's minor league hitting coordinator.
He played 15 years of pro ball, appearing in 14 big league games with the Angels and Rockies.
Cash, 34, scouted for Toronto this past season after retiring as a player in 2011. The former catcher spent past of eight seasons in the big leagues. He played for Francona in Boston and Mills in Houston. Cash was knuckleballer Tim Wakefield's personal catcher in Boston in 2008.
Re: Articles
2617Cleveland Indians exercise Ubaldo Jimenez's 2013 option; pass on Travis Hafner, Roberto Hernandez
Published: Wednesday, October 31, 2012, 9:45 PM Updated: Wednesday, October 31, 2012, 9:57 PM
By Paul Hoynes, The Plain Dealer
"When I signed in 2007, I really anticipated getting to the playoffs a few more times than we did," said Indians DH Travis Hafner, whose contract option was not picked up on Wednesday. "We live here. I know how hungry this city and these fans are for a championship. I really wanted to be part of winning that for them."
Travis Hafner timeline
Looking back at Travis Hafner’s time with the Indians:
Dec. 6, 2002: Acquired from Texas with RHP Aaron Myette for RHP Ryan Drese and C Einar Diaz.
March 31, 2003: Opening Day first baseman in 6-5 loss at Baltimore.
April 17, 2003: Hits his first home run as an Indian off Baltimore’s Sidney Ponson.
Aug. 14, 2003: Hits for cycle against the Twins on date of one of the biggest power blackouts in U.S. history.
July 20, 2004: Goes 4-for-4 with three homers and six RBI vs. Angels.
July 16, 2005: Suffers concussion when hit in the face by a pitch from White Sox lefty Mark Buehrle.
Sept. 18-Sept. 24, 2005: Homers in six straight games.
2005: Receives Man of the Year award from Cleveland’s chapter of the Baseball Writers’ Association of America. Finishes fifth in AL MVP voting by BBWAA.
April 5-8, 2006: Reaches base in 11 consecutive plate appearances.
Aug. 13, 2006: Ties an MLB single-season record by hitting his sixth grand slam.
August 2006: Named AL Player of the Month for hitting .361 (35-for-97) with 13 homers and 30 RBI.
2006: Hits 42 homers despite missing the last 29 games of season with a broken right hand. Leads the AL with a 1.098 on-base plus slugging percentage. Sets team record for homers (39) and RBI (110) by a DH.
July 12, 2007: Signs four-year, $57 million extension, biggest in team history.
Sept. 4. 2007: Hits 126th homer as Tribe DH to become franchise leader.
May 28-Sept. 8, 2008: On disabled list with a sore right shoulder. Plays just 57 games during the season.
Oct. 14, 2008: Undergoes right shoulder surgery.
2009: Plays 94 games, hitting .272 with 16 homers and 49 RBI.
2010: Hits .329 (51-for-155) with 15 doubles, five homers and 21 RBI in 44 games after the All-Star break.
May 13, 2011: Hits walk-off homer against Seattle.
May 18-June 16, 2011: On disabled list with right oblique strain.
July 7, 2011: Hits walk-off grand slam against Toronto to give him 12 as an Indian.
Aug. 22-Sept. 10, 2011: On disabled list with right foot strain.
May 24, 2012: Goes on disabled list with sore right knee.
Aug. 16, 2012: Goes on disabled list with a bulging disc in his back.
Oct. 2, 2012: Hits his 200th homer as an Indian.
Oct. 3, 2012: Singles in seventh inning for what could be his last hit as an Indian.
— Paul Hoynes
Hafner by the numbers
200: Home runs in 10 seasons with Indians, ranks eighth in team history.
.278: Career batting average with Indians.
688: Career RBI with Indians.
.509: Career slugging percentage with Indians, eighth in team history.
.890: OPS (on-base plus slugging percentage) with Indians, ninth in team history.
42: Homers in 2006, eighth, single season, in team history.
.659: Slugging percentage in 2006, tops in the American League.
1.097: OPS in 2006, fifth in team history.
110: RBI in 2006, most ever by an Indians DH.
6: Grand slams in 2006, most in a season by an Indians hitter.
CLEVELAND, Ohio -- Ubaldo Jimenez will be back with the Indians in 2013. Part of it has to do with the tangled talent in his right arm, but a lot more has to do with saving face.
Travis Hafner will not. The same for Roberto Hernandez. It is safe to say that for at least the moment. In two or three months things could change, but it's not likely.
Cleveland knew Hafner best. Ten years with the same team in the same city rarely happens anymore. Indians fans thought they had a good line on Hernandez. Big guy, good arm, terribly inconsistent.
Except for the physical description, turns out that they didn't know him at all. Hernandez used a fake name and fake birth certificate for 12 years before he was exposed in January because he refused to grease a certain palm in the Dominican Republic.
The Indians had the choice to exercise the 2013 options on all three players Wednesday. They said yes to Jimenez and his $5.75 million and no to Hafner at $13 million and Hernandez at $6 million. Hafner will still cash a $2.75 million buyout check.
Jimenez got the nod even though he led or was near the top in almost every significant negative pitching category in the American League for 2012. When you cost a general manager the organization's No.1 picks in 2010 and 2011, good money is sometimes thrown after bad. Not to mention new pitching coach Mickey Callaway – the fourth in the last two years -- being dispatched to the Dominican Republic as soon as Jimenez starts his throwing program.
Hafner, out of the three, was the only one to make Cleveland home. He married a Cleveland girl, built a big house with the biggest contract ever handed out by the Indians and has raised his family here.
Indians fans soared with Hafner when he was The Man Called Pronk, one of the best power hitters in the league from 2003-07. For the last five years, when his right shoulder went from rocket launcher to paper clip and rubber band, they grumbled and called him a juicer.
Hafner knew this was coming. The Indians under President and former GM Mark Shapiro have always been brutally honest with players. GM Chris Antonetti told Hafner in his exit meeting at the end of last season that his option wouldn't be exercised. When he hit a pinch-hit two-run game-tying homer in the ninth inning on the second-to-last game of the season, he knew he was gone. It gave him 200 homers as an Indian, eighth overall in team history, a nice even number to go out on.
The next night, the season finale, Hafner blooped a single to left field for his last hit as an Indian.
Hafner covered his Cleveland career in two swings of the bat, a before and after picture for all to see. Game-tying, two-run homer followed by a weak single to left. Pronk and the anti-Pronk.
"The injuries were really frustrating," said Hafner, late Wednesday afternoon. "I spent a lot of time working out and staying in shape behind the scenes and during the off-season so I could stay in the lineup.
"To be hurt, to miss a significant amount of playing time, is really devastating. You just try to get better as fast as you can."
This year, arthroscopic surgery on the right knee and a bulging disc in the back put Hafner on the disabled list twice and limited him to 66 games. Since playing 152 games in 2007, Hafner did not play more than 118 games in a season between 2008-12. That covers seven trips to the disabled list.
"When you get hurt like that during the season, your timing and rhythm are never the same," he said.
Hafner signed a four-year extension worth $57 million at the All-Star break in 2007. The meat of the deal paid him $11.5 million in 2009, $11.5 million in 2010, $13 million in 2011 and $13 million in 2012.
"When I signed in 2007, I really anticipated getting the to playoffs a few more times than we did," said Hafner. "We live here. I know how hungry this city and these fans are for a championship. I really wanted to be part of winning that for them."
The year Hafner signed was the only year the Indians made the postseason in his 10 years here. Needing one victory to reach the World Series, they blew a 3-1 lead to Boston and manager Terry Francona, who just happens to be the Indians new manager.
Hafner, 35, is certain he wants to keep playing. Deep down, he'd like it to be with Cleveland, but that time has probably come and gone.
Antonetti has never been one to close a door completely on a former Indian. Grady Sizemore will attest to that, but when asked about Hafner, Antonetti said, "It would be hard to put a probability on it. ... It will depend on how our roster takes shape."
If this is it, few Indians have experienced the sustained highs or lows that Hafner has. In his first five seasons, he averaged .290 with 28 homers and 95 RBI per season. In his four, he averaged .259 with 12 homers and 43 RBI per season.
Hafner really doesn't know what his market value is. He does know it will take time to see if the Indians or any other team is interested. Meanwhile, he's not going anywhere.
"We love this area. We have a lot of friends here," he said. "My wife is from here. I'm going to keep calling this home for quite a while."
In the end it will come down to flexibility. It is a word that the GMs of this age love. By not exercising the options of Hafner and Hernandez, Antonetti has cut $19 million from next year's payroll. Indians fans have learned that hard way that under the ownership of Larry Dolan that does not mean that $19 million will automatically be put back into the 2013 big-league club.
What it does mean is that Antonetti has a little more wiggle room today than he did Wednesday. It's doubtful that wiggle room includes the return of Hafner or Hernandez.
On Twitter: @hoynsie
Published: Wednesday, October 31, 2012, 9:45 PM Updated: Wednesday, October 31, 2012, 9:57 PM
By Paul Hoynes, The Plain Dealer
"When I signed in 2007, I really anticipated getting to the playoffs a few more times than we did," said Indians DH Travis Hafner, whose contract option was not picked up on Wednesday. "We live here. I know how hungry this city and these fans are for a championship. I really wanted to be part of winning that for them."
Travis Hafner timeline
Looking back at Travis Hafner’s time with the Indians:
Dec. 6, 2002: Acquired from Texas with RHP Aaron Myette for RHP Ryan Drese and C Einar Diaz.
March 31, 2003: Opening Day first baseman in 6-5 loss at Baltimore.
April 17, 2003: Hits his first home run as an Indian off Baltimore’s Sidney Ponson.
Aug. 14, 2003: Hits for cycle against the Twins on date of one of the biggest power blackouts in U.S. history.
July 20, 2004: Goes 4-for-4 with three homers and six RBI vs. Angels.
July 16, 2005: Suffers concussion when hit in the face by a pitch from White Sox lefty Mark Buehrle.
Sept. 18-Sept. 24, 2005: Homers in six straight games.
2005: Receives Man of the Year award from Cleveland’s chapter of the Baseball Writers’ Association of America. Finishes fifth in AL MVP voting by BBWAA.
April 5-8, 2006: Reaches base in 11 consecutive plate appearances.
Aug. 13, 2006: Ties an MLB single-season record by hitting his sixth grand slam.
August 2006: Named AL Player of the Month for hitting .361 (35-for-97) with 13 homers and 30 RBI.
2006: Hits 42 homers despite missing the last 29 games of season with a broken right hand. Leads the AL with a 1.098 on-base plus slugging percentage. Sets team record for homers (39) and RBI (110) by a DH.
July 12, 2007: Signs four-year, $57 million extension, biggest in team history.
Sept. 4. 2007: Hits 126th homer as Tribe DH to become franchise leader.
May 28-Sept. 8, 2008: On disabled list with a sore right shoulder. Plays just 57 games during the season.
Oct. 14, 2008: Undergoes right shoulder surgery.
2009: Plays 94 games, hitting .272 with 16 homers and 49 RBI.
2010: Hits .329 (51-for-155) with 15 doubles, five homers and 21 RBI in 44 games after the All-Star break.
May 13, 2011: Hits walk-off homer against Seattle.
May 18-June 16, 2011: On disabled list with right oblique strain.
July 7, 2011: Hits walk-off grand slam against Toronto to give him 12 as an Indian.
Aug. 22-Sept. 10, 2011: On disabled list with right foot strain.
May 24, 2012: Goes on disabled list with sore right knee.
Aug. 16, 2012: Goes on disabled list with a bulging disc in his back.
Oct. 2, 2012: Hits his 200th homer as an Indian.
Oct. 3, 2012: Singles in seventh inning for what could be his last hit as an Indian.
— Paul Hoynes
Hafner by the numbers
200: Home runs in 10 seasons with Indians, ranks eighth in team history.
.278: Career batting average with Indians.
688: Career RBI with Indians.
.509: Career slugging percentage with Indians, eighth in team history.
.890: OPS (on-base plus slugging percentage) with Indians, ninth in team history.
42: Homers in 2006, eighth, single season, in team history.
.659: Slugging percentage in 2006, tops in the American League.
1.097: OPS in 2006, fifth in team history.
110: RBI in 2006, most ever by an Indians DH.
6: Grand slams in 2006, most in a season by an Indians hitter.
CLEVELAND, Ohio -- Ubaldo Jimenez will be back with the Indians in 2013. Part of it has to do with the tangled talent in his right arm, but a lot more has to do with saving face.
Travis Hafner will not. The same for Roberto Hernandez. It is safe to say that for at least the moment. In two or three months things could change, but it's not likely.
Cleveland knew Hafner best. Ten years with the same team in the same city rarely happens anymore. Indians fans thought they had a good line on Hernandez. Big guy, good arm, terribly inconsistent.
Except for the physical description, turns out that they didn't know him at all. Hernandez used a fake name and fake birth certificate for 12 years before he was exposed in January because he refused to grease a certain palm in the Dominican Republic.
The Indians had the choice to exercise the 2013 options on all three players Wednesday. They said yes to Jimenez and his $5.75 million and no to Hafner at $13 million and Hernandez at $6 million. Hafner will still cash a $2.75 million buyout check.
Jimenez got the nod even though he led or was near the top in almost every significant negative pitching category in the American League for 2012. When you cost a general manager the organization's No.1 picks in 2010 and 2011, good money is sometimes thrown after bad. Not to mention new pitching coach Mickey Callaway – the fourth in the last two years -- being dispatched to the Dominican Republic as soon as Jimenez starts his throwing program.
Hafner, out of the three, was the only one to make Cleveland home. He married a Cleveland girl, built a big house with the biggest contract ever handed out by the Indians and has raised his family here.
Indians fans soared with Hafner when he was The Man Called Pronk, one of the best power hitters in the league from 2003-07. For the last five years, when his right shoulder went from rocket launcher to paper clip and rubber band, they grumbled and called him a juicer.
Hafner knew this was coming. The Indians under President and former GM Mark Shapiro have always been brutally honest with players. GM Chris Antonetti told Hafner in his exit meeting at the end of last season that his option wouldn't be exercised. When he hit a pinch-hit two-run game-tying homer in the ninth inning on the second-to-last game of the season, he knew he was gone. It gave him 200 homers as an Indian, eighth overall in team history, a nice even number to go out on.
The next night, the season finale, Hafner blooped a single to left field for his last hit as an Indian.
Hafner covered his Cleveland career in two swings of the bat, a before and after picture for all to see. Game-tying, two-run homer followed by a weak single to left. Pronk and the anti-Pronk.
"The injuries were really frustrating," said Hafner, late Wednesday afternoon. "I spent a lot of time working out and staying in shape behind the scenes and during the off-season so I could stay in the lineup.
"To be hurt, to miss a significant amount of playing time, is really devastating. You just try to get better as fast as you can."
This year, arthroscopic surgery on the right knee and a bulging disc in the back put Hafner on the disabled list twice and limited him to 66 games. Since playing 152 games in 2007, Hafner did not play more than 118 games in a season between 2008-12. That covers seven trips to the disabled list.
"When you get hurt like that during the season, your timing and rhythm are never the same," he said.
Hafner signed a four-year extension worth $57 million at the All-Star break in 2007. The meat of the deal paid him $11.5 million in 2009, $11.5 million in 2010, $13 million in 2011 and $13 million in 2012.
"When I signed in 2007, I really anticipated getting the to playoffs a few more times than we did," said Hafner. "We live here. I know how hungry this city and these fans are for a championship. I really wanted to be part of winning that for them."
The year Hafner signed was the only year the Indians made the postseason in his 10 years here. Needing one victory to reach the World Series, they blew a 3-1 lead to Boston and manager Terry Francona, who just happens to be the Indians new manager.
Hafner, 35, is certain he wants to keep playing. Deep down, he'd like it to be with Cleveland, but that time has probably come and gone.
Antonetti has never been one to close a door completely on a former Indian. Grady Sizemore will attest to that, but when asked about Hafner, Antonetti said, "It would be hard to put a probability on it. ... It will depend on how our roster takes shape."
If this is it, few Indians have experienced the sustained highs or lows that Hafner has. In his first five seasons, he averaged .290 with 28 homers and 95 RBI per season. In his four, he averaged .259 with 12 homers and 43 RBI per season.
Hafner really doesn't know what his market value is. He does know it will take time to see if the Indians or any other team is interested. Meanwhile, he's not going anywhere.
"We love this area. We have a lot of friends here," he said. "My wife is from here. I'm going to keep calling this home for quite a while."
In the end it will come down to flexibility. It is a word that the GMs of this age love. By not exercising the options of Hafner and Hernandez, Antonetti has cut $19 million from next year's payroll. Indians fans have learned that hard way that under the ownership of Larry Dolan that does not mean that $19 million will automatically be put back into the 2013 big-league club.
What it does mean is that Antonetti has a little more wiggle room today than he did Wednesday. It's doubtful that wiggle room includes the return of Hafner or Hernandez.
On Twitter: @hoynsie
Re: Articles
2618The only way I sign Grady again is if the contract is almost all performance-based. No play, no pay!
Re: Articles
2619Baron wrote: I wonder if the "Sizemore" on the Jersey I bought a couple years ago is stiched or sewn on....gonna have to ask the wife to check for me when she gets back to TN. Still trying to get rid of that "Hillis" jersey I got.
Someone last week, an Eagles fan at Applebee's I think, asked me if my last name was Cribbs. I think when I looked at her like she had a penis growing out of her forehead answered her question but I still managed to reply with a simple "No it is not" and turned back to my beer.
There's a good chance I'll be watching this week's Browns Game with J.R. for a second consecutive week. If I can make it, maybe I'll break out my NFL stitched letter "Frye" Browns jersey to maybe give some folks with a good memory a WTF moment.
Re: Articles
2620seagull wrote:Since they're all free agents, make them a low ball offer.
1 Million offers to Hafner, Sizemore and Fausto.
Things in America and American sports are great when an offer of $1,000,000 for a year can be offered as a "low ball" option.
Re: Articles
2621Here's the exciting news we've all been waiting for. I know everyone was on pins and needles, wondering who would be on Tito's staff...
Cleveland Indians manager Terry Francona's coaching staff is complete
Published: Wednesday, October 31, 2012, 10:16 PM Updated: Wednesday, October 31, 2012, 10:19 PM
By Paul Hoynes, The Plain Dealer
CLEVELAND, Ohio -- New manager Terry Francona's coaching staff is set.
As expected, Sandy Alomar Jr. will be the bench coach, Brad Mills the third base coach and Mike Sarbaugh the first base and infield coach.
The Indians not only dipped into their minor league system to promote Sarbaugh, but Mickey Callaway as well. Callaway will be the Tribe's third pitching coach since the start of last season.
The other two hires are Ty Van Burkleo as hitting coach and Kevin Cash as bullpen coach.
Alomar, 46, finished the year as interim manager following the firing of Manny Acta. He'll be back as bench coach with the option of leaving should he get an offer to manage a big-league club this winter. Alomar, however, is focused on working with Francona.
"He's one of the best managers in the last 10 years," said Alomar. "This is an opportunity for me to learn."
Asked if he'd been contacted by another team to interview, Alomar said, "You can't go to the moon without a rocket."
Mills, 55, was fired earlier this year after 2 1/2 seasons as Houston's manager. He has coached for Francona in Philadelphia and Boston. They were teammates at the University of Arizona and on the old Montreal Expos.
"Mills has the ability to tell me I'm wrong and that's important," said Francona.
Sarbaugh, 45, spent the last three years as the Indians Class AAA manager at Columbus. He's managed nine straight seasons in the Tribe's farm system.
"I got to know Mike when I was here in 2001," said Francona. "It was a lot of fun telling Mike he got the job."
Callaway had been their minor-league pitching coordinator this year. The Indians’ fourth pitching coach in the last two years, he was given immediate marching orders. He'll go to the Dominican Republic to work with troubled starter Ubaldo Jimenez as soon as he starts his throwing program.
The Indians interviewed four candidates for the pitching job: Callaway, Ruben Niebla, Dave Miller and Kirk Champion. Niebla finished the year as interim pitching coach and Miller was the Tribe's bullpen coach all year. Champion was the minor-league field coordinator for the Chicago White Sox.
"That was the toughest hire," said Francona. "Mickey did an incredible job preparing. We really pushed those guys hard. I think Mickey is going to be a star."
Van Burkleo, 50, was the Astros big-league hitting coach for the last seven weeks of the season. He was Oakland's hitting coach from 2007-08 and Seattle bench coach from 2009-10. Before getting promoted to the big leagues, Van Burkleo was Houston's minor league hitting coordinator.
He played 15 years of pro ball, appearing in 14 big league games with the Angels and Rockies. He will be the Indians' third hitting coach in the last three years following Jon Nunnally and Bruce Fields, who was fired at the end of the this season.
"We really checked Van Burleo out," said Francona. "He's a guy who lives in the (batting) cage. We heard nothing but good things about him from players, coaches and managers."
Cash, 34, scouted for Toronto this past season after retiring as a player in 2011. The former catcher spent past of eight seasons in the big leagues. He played for Francona in Boston and Mills in Houston. Cash was knuckleballer Tim Wakefield's personal catcher in Boston in 2008.
"I think he's going to go through the coaching ranks quickly and be a manager," said Francona.
Finally: The Indians outrighted Vinny Rottino and Kevin Slowey to Columbus. Lefty Scott Maine was claimed on waivers by Toronto.
The Indians have 34 players on the 40-man roster and three on the 60-day disabled list.
Cleveland Indians manager Terry Francona's coaching staff is complete
Published: Wednesday, October 31, 2012, 10:16 PM Updated: Wednesday, October 31, 2012, 10:19 PM
By Paul Hoynes, The Plain Dealer
CLEVELAND, Ohio -- New manager Terry Francona's coaching staff is set.
As expected, Sandy Alomar Jr. will be the bench coach, Brad Mills the third base coach and Mike Sarbaugh the first base and infield coach.
The Indians not only dipped into their minor league system to promote Sarbaugh, but Mickey Callaway as well. Callaway will be the Tribe's third pitching coach since the start of last season.
The other two hires are Ty Van Burkleo as hitting coach and Kevin Cash as bullpen coach.
Alomar, 46, finished the year as interim manager following the firing of Manny Acta. He'll be back as bench coach with the option of leaving should he get an offer to manage a big-league club this winter. Alomar, however, is focused on working with Francona.
"He's one of the best managers in the last 10 years," said Alomar. "This is an opportunity for me to learn."
Asked if he'd been contacted by another team to interview, Alomar said, "You can't go to the moon without a rocket."
Mills, 55, was fired earlier this year after 2 1/2 seasons as Houston's manager. He has coached for Francona in Philadelphia and Boston. They were teammates at the University of Arizona and on the old Montreal Expos.
"Mills has the ability to tell me I'm wrong and that's important," said Francona.
Sarbaugh, 45, spent the last three years as the Indians Class AAA manager at Columbus. He's managed nine straight seasons in the Tribe's farm system.
"I got to know Mike when I was here in 2001," said Francona. "It was a lot of fun telling Mike he got the job."
Callaway had been their minor-league pitching coordinator this year. The Indians’ fourth pitching coach in the last two years, he was given immediate marching orders. He'll go to the Dominican Republic to work with troubled starter Ubaldo Jimenez as soon as he starts his throwing program.
The Indians interviewed four candidates for the pitching job: Callaway, Ruben Niebla, Dave Miller and Kirk Champion. Niebla finished the year as interim pitching coach and Miller was the Tribe's bullpen coach all year. Champion was the minor-league field coordinator for the Chicago White Sox.
"That was the toughest hire," said Francona. "Mickey did an incredible job preparing. We really pushed those guys hard. I think Mickey is going to be a star."
Van Burkleo, 50, was the Astros big-league hitting coach for the last seven weeks of the season. He was Oakland's hitting coach from 2007-08 and Seattle bench coach from 2009-10. Before getting promoted to the big leagues, Van Burkleo was Houston's minor league hitting coordinator.
He played 15 years of pro ball, appearing in 14 big league games with the Angels and Rockies. He will be the Indians' third hitting coach in the last three years following Jon Nunnally and Bruce Fields, who was fired at the end of the this season.
"We really checked Van Burleo out," said Francona. "He's a guy who lives in the (batting) cage. We heard nothing but good things about him from players, coaches and managers."
Cash, 34, scouted for Toronto this past season after retiring as a player in 2011. The former catcher spent past of eight seasons in the big leagues. He played for Francona in Boston and Mills in Houston. Cash was knuckleballer Tim Wakefield's personal catcher in Boston in 2008.
"I think he's going to go through the coaching ranks quickly and be a manager," said Francona.
Finally: The Indians outrighted Vinny Rottino and Kevin Slowey to Columbus. Lefty Scott Maine was claimed on waivers by Toronto.
The Indians have 34 players on the 40-man roster and three on the 60-day disabled list.
Re: Articles
2624RUSTY: Sorry, I didn't look very carefully before I posted. But my version must be a later one, since it has more info.
Re: Articles
2625It is amazing that we are still chatiingg about the same stiffs we were chatting about in 2006 except for Ubaldo. Sizemore cost us the playoffs in 2006. Forget him.