Countdown to Indians’ 2020 Opening Day – 38

Baseball takes little time off in between seasons, so neither can we. Follow along at Did the Tribe Win Last Night as we count down to March 26, when the Cleveland Indians host the Detroit Tigers for game one of the 2020 season. – BT

Countdown to Opening Day – 38 days

Eric Haase, who had worn the number 38 in a handful of big league appearances, has vacated the number for the Indians as he was a roster casualty this winter. Read More

Tribe Alumni Set to Face Off in World Series

At least two former members of the Cleveland Indians organization will become World Series champions over the course of the next two weeks as the Houston Astros host the Washington Nationals in the 2019 Fall Classic, set to kick off Tuesday night, October 22, at 8:08 PM ET. Read More

Countdown to Indians’ Opening Day – 38 – Eric Haase

The Cleveland Indians will conduct their first full-squad workout today ahead of Major League Baseball kicking off the 2019 season. All 30 teams will take the field on March 28 with the league’s earliest start ever (excluding international openers). Follow along with Did The Tribe Win Last Night as we count down the days until Opening Day 2019. – BT

Countdown to Opening Day – 38 days

The Indians seemed to be showing some faith in the catching depth in the organization since last July, trading away top prospect Francisco Mejia to the San Diego Padres at the trade deadline and All-Star backstop Yan Gomes to the Washington Nationals in November. The moves took the position from an area to strength to a sudden area of concern, as light-hitting defensive specialist Roberto Perez and #38 Eric Haase became the only two catchers on the 40-man roster.

Haase, 26 and a 2011 seventh round pick, spent the majority of his eighth season in the organization at Triple-A Columbus last season, his first full season with the Clippers (he played the final two games of the 2017 season there as well). One of the club’s big movers in the last couple of years, thanks in large part to the systematic emphasis on launch angle to help revolutionize the long ball in its most prolific increase since the steroid era, Haase has to feel good about where he stands in the front office’s eyes if they were willing to move the present and the future of the position to bring in All-Star closer Brad Hand and to free up money over the course of the next few years. Read More

Countdown to Indians’ Opening Day – 38

While the offseason has been historically slow and the winter has crawled along at an even slower pace, we at Did The Tribe Win Last Night look ahead to the warmer days of the 2018 season by remembering Tribe players past and present.

Countdown to Opening Day – 38 days

Thirty-nine players have worn the number 38 for the Indians, most recently reliever Joe Smith in his return to Cleveland last season.

Plenty of big names in franchise history have spent a spell in the number for the Tribe, including a pair of Hall of Famers – Bob Lemon (1941) and Early Wynn (1963) – and another legend in club history in Rocky Colavito (1955-57).

None of the players to don it since Wynn are Cooperstown bound, but that does not mean that they have not made some important contributions in Tribe history. The best have come from a pair of relievers – the aforementioned Smith, and 1990s right-hander Eric Plunk. Read More

Indians Bullpen Took Free Agent Hits, But Hardly Crumbling

When a baseball team loses a pair of late-inning relievers to free agency, as the Cleveland Indians did this past week, it is certainly cause for some concern and worry. However, it is nowhere near time for Tribe fans to start hitting the panic button when it comes to Cleveland’s bullpen and its prospects for remaining a team strength in 2018.

Watching Bryan Shaw sign with the Colorado Rockies and then Joe Smith ink a deal with the Houston Astros was definitely frustrating for the faithful followers of the Wahoo Warriors. The sky is not falling and the walls are not caving in, however, at the home bullpen at Progressive Field. Read More

Tribe Bullpen Could Look Different Without Shaw Next Season

How much money are the Cleveland Indians willing to put toward their vaunted bullpen?

That is something Tribe fans may find out this offseason. Arguably the best relief corps in baseball, the team has two key free agents in Bryan Shaw and Joe Smith. The bullpen would definitely have a different feel to it without Shaw, but to what lengths should the Tribe actually go to keep a reliever who is not one of its top two pitchers? Read More

All Good Things Must Come to an End; Royals 4, Indians 3

The Cleveland Indians did something for the first time on Friday night since August 23 – they lost.

A back and forth ball game went in favor of the Kansas City Royals, who ended the Indians’ 22-game winning streak in a 4-3 contest at Progressive Field. Read More

Bullpen Clings to Win After Lindor’s Go-Ahead Single in Ninth; Indians 3, Tigers 2

As if playing two games was not enough excitement for one day, the Indians and Tigers flirted with the possibility of extra innings in the series opener Friday afternoon from Detroit. After twice letting the Tigers tie the game up, Detroit loaded the bases with two outs in the bottom of the ninth in a one-run game, but Cleveland reliever Joe Smith got the always-dangerous Miguel Cabrera to line out sharply to Francisco Lindor at short to give the Indians a 3-2 win in game one of the day’s doubleheader.

It was fitting that Lindor retired the final out after coming through with the go-ahead hit in the top of the inning to give the Indians (77-56) their eighth straight win. Read More

Red Sox Run Away Late With a Big Win Over Tribe; Red Sox 6, Indians 1

A four-run ninth inning by the Red Sox broke open a one-run game to give Boston a big victory over the Cleveland Indians on Wednesday night from Progressive Field, 6-1.

A game featuring a pair of 12-game winners in Cleveland’s Corey Kluber and Boston’s Drew Pomeranz lived up to the billing as a close contest took place between the two starters. Pomeranz would get run before completing six innings, but he kept the Indians off of the scoreboard in the process. His bullpen teammates would do the same until the bottom of the eighth, but a mess of a ninth by the Tribe relief staff erased any chances of a comeback by Cleveland on this night. Read More

Trade Deadline Dust Settles as AL Central Has New Names and Look for the Future

The trade deadline bar in Cleveland was set to unexpected highs last season, as the Indians trended against the company line and made a big splash on the trade market when they acquired reliever Andrew Miller from the New York Yankees for four prospects, including a pair of top minor leaguers in Clint Frazier and Justus Sheffield. The team also had a proposed deal in place for Milwaukee catcher Jonathan Lucroy in what would have been considered another giant and uncharacteristic deal. Frazier is now in the big leagues and making an impact in the Bronx, but Miller’s value throughout the second half and the postseason of last year and so far this season borders on immeasurable.

Those hoping for a second consecutive year with a deadline blockbuster were disappointed as the Indians made a minor move to strengthen their bullpen, adding right-handed reliever Joe Smith from the Toronto Blue Jays for Double-A starter Thomas Pannone and short-season second baseman Samad Taylor. Throughout the trade period, the Indians had been linked to several of the biggest names available, including a pair of starting pitchers in Sonny Gray and Yu Darvish and southpaw reliever Zach Britton. The club was also reportedly in on outfielder J.D. Martinez before Detroit dealt him to Arizona for a small collection of middle infield prospects.

Injuries to Jason Kipnis and Lonnie Chisenhall may have helped push for an offensive upgrade, while the injuries to Boone Logan and Miller make the Britton pursuit make all the more sense. But in the end, only Smith joined the Tribe. Read More

Joe Smith Returns to Cleveland as Indians Acquire Reliever from Blue Jays

Joe Smith’s Major League career blossomed while a member of the Cleveland Indians during a five-year stint from 2009 to 2013. He will get a chance to return to his former Progressive Field home, once again as a member of the Tribe, as the side-arming right-handed reliever was re-acquired by Cleveland in advance of Monday’s trade deadline in a deal with the Toronto Blue Jays.

To obtain Smith, the Indians dealt Double-A left-handed starting pitcher Thomas Pannone and short-season second baseman Samad Taylor. Right-handed reliever Perci Garner, who had spent the season between Double-A Akron and Triple-A Columbus, was designated for assignment to make room on the 40-man roster for Smith. Read More

Indians Change Their Sox for a Big Battle in Boston

While both the Cleveland Indians and Boston Red Sox could have been big buyers at Monday afternoon’s trade deadline, each club made just minor tweaks to its roster as the league prepares for the final two months of the regular season schedule. Both very much in contention, the two teams will play each other this week for the first time since the Indians swept the Red Sox in the American League Division Series last October.

The Indians (57-46) have turned around what looked like a frightening start to the second half of their season after opening 1-5 against two of the worst teams in baseball in the Oakland Athletics and the San Francisco Giants on a west coast road trip. Since then, they rattled off nine straight wins, including sweeping a perfect seven-game homestand, before they were finally slowed down by the Chicago White Sox, 3-1, on a walk-off homer on Sunday afternoon. Read More