Re: General Discussion

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While Alfonso Soriano has a full no-trade clause in his contract, he has reportedly informed the Cubs as to which teams he would be willing to accept a trade to.
There have been no offers yet, but this will surely turn up the heat on a potential deal. The Cubs had discussions with the Giants earlier in the week, but Soriano informed them he wouldn't be willing to accept a trade there. The Dodgers are another possibility. The 36-year-old outfielder is still a very capable run producer, hitting .274/.324/.504 with 19 homers and 61 RBI on the season and could be the impact type of right-handed bat that many teams are coveting.

Source: Bob Nightengale on Twitter Jul 31 - 9:25 AM

I now understand why the Indians have not be mentioned with Soriano. Maybe he will waive the no trade today.

Re: General Discussion

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The thing about signing Hafner long term was he and his representation were cool on it until he suffered an injury, at which point the powers that be went DUHH HERP DERP

Exact same thing happened when they inked Cliff Lee to an extension. He wanted nothing to do with it, then all of a sudden out of the blue he signed, then he pitched like crap for two years, which I believe was due to an injury.

They need to start offering extensions, and if rebuffed, pull the offer.

Re: General Discussion

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CLEVELAND, Ohio -- The Indians have acquired first baseman Lars Anderson from Boston for a minor league knuckleball pitcher Steven Wright. He will report to Class AAA Columbus.

Anderson is 1-for-8 in the big leagues with the Red Sox this season. He's hitting .259 (88-for-342) with 22 doubles, two triples and nine homers at Class AAA Pawtucket.

The 6-4, 215-pound Anderson bats left and throws left. He's 24 and was the Red Sox's 18th round pick in 2006.

Anderson has spent parts of the 2010, 2011 and 2012 seasons in the big leagues. He's .167 (8-for-48) in 30 big-league games.

Wright went 9-6 with a 2.49 ERA in 20 starts. He struck out 101 and walked 62 in 115 2/3 innings.

Re: General Discussion

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husker wrote:Watch that knuckle ball pitcher come back to haunt us.
Knuckleballers are awfully unpredictable. Can you just keep Wright around in the hope that eventually he'll figure it out, if that doesn't happen till he's, say, 35? R.A. Dickey bounced around forever.

He's still walking more than 1 batter every 2 innings, and he's spent part of the last 5 seasons in Akron. He turns 28 later this month. Unless he does something like win 15 games in the majors next season, I don't think this is something you can really second-guess.

Not that I expect Anderson to amount to much. He was young for AAA when he first got there and struggled, but that's not the case anymore (the stats for his three seasons in Pawtucket are remarkably identical). It looks like he's basically a mirror image of LaPorta with the bat. Not to mention that I could fill out a sequel to Field of Dreams with all the horrific "hot prospects" the Red Sox have dealt us over the years.

Re: General Discussion

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Charlie T. wrote:
husker wrote:Watch that knuckle ball pitcher come back to haunt us.


Not that I expect Anderson to amount to much. He was young for AAA when he first got there and struggled, but that's not the case anymore (the stats for his three seasons in Pawtucket are remarkably identical). It looks like he's basically a mirror image of LaPorta with the bat. Not to mention that I could fill out a sequel to Field of Dreams with all the horrific "hot prospects" the Red Sox have dealt us over the years.

I'll call with Ricky Ledee and Zach Day.