Mesa became the Indians first dominant strike out closer for the Cleveland Indians, becoming a relief pitcher in 1994 after being in the starting rotation from 1992 to 1993. Although the Indians could see Mesa's raw talent, it didn't show through when he started and he was the worst pitcher in the rotation each of those two seasons. In 1994, Mesa was replaced in the rotation by free agent starter Dennis Martinez and thrown head first into the bullpen, where he proceeded to have the best season of his career, setting career bests in ERA, WHIP, K/9 and BAA. In 1995 he replaced Jeff Russell as closer, a year after Russell lead the team with eight save opportunities. In 1995 Mesa has 48 save opportunities and set an Indians record with 46 saves. 

1995 was a perfect combination of a lot of things, leading to the Indians first World Series appearance since 1954. Mesa was a huge part of that, throwing what was probably the greatest season in Indians history as a relief pitcher. Mesa allowed 8 runs during the entire season and, although he blew two saves, never took a loss. The Indians had a penchant for comeback wins that year and Mesa was a huge part of their ability to keep a lead. Along with being an Indians record, his 46 saves lead the AL as well and were enough to win him the Rolaids Relief-Man of the Year award for top reliever. He continued his success through the first two rounds of the playoffs, allowing just a single run in 6 innings, but in the World Series it all came apart. Mesa's luck had run out and he would never be as good as he was during the regular season of 1995 again.

Through 1996 and 1997, Mesa remained the closer, but with just 55 total saves across the two years after 46 in a strike shortened season the year prior. In his final season with the Tribe, Mesa was replaced as closer by Mike Jackson (another of the Indians top ten all-time closers), then traded to the Giants for a utility player and a short inning relief pitcher. Like many closers, Mesa was a fire that burned hot and quickly going from a beloved pitcher for the Tribe to a hated villain in just a few short years.

On the first page of Omar Vizquel's autobiography Omar!, Vizquel wrote that Mesa's eyes were dead and basically accused him of blowing the 1997 World Series. Because of this accusation, Mesa threatened to kill Vizquel the next time he saw him and years later was given his chance, after both players were long gone from the Indians. Mesa threw at Vizquel's head with his first pitch, was ejected from the game and suspended. Mesa still pitched through 2007, playing for eight teams, but the he still spent more years in Cleveland than with any other team. Because of his negative personality traits and short career with the Tribe, Mesa is unlikely to be enshrined in the Indians Hall of Fame, but he was still important enogh to be mentioned as an All-Time Indian.

Prior to the season starting the writers for Burning River Baseball made some predictions about all of Major League Baseball as well as for the Indians more specifically. We didn't fare all that well on the team predictions, so let's see how the big league predictions went.

All the focus here should be placed on the fact that I perfectly picked the NL Central which should have been one of the harder divisions to pick as he has more teams than any other division and they are more evenly matched. I also correctly picked the Braves as a Wild Card team. We both completely blew the AL East as did almost every person who predicted the outcome preseason. The same is true of the AL West. In the NL West, the Diamondbacks and Rockies were huge disappointments the the Dodgers being unexpectedly good. None of any of the four World Series picks even made the play-offs, so this was pretty far off. Overall, I got four of the eight playoff teams correct while Jen got three.

Along with the team standings, we also picked the winners of the two major postseason awards. 

At first glance it looks like we did terrible, as there are no correct answers, but it isn't all that bad. In the AL Cy Young, we picked the #2 (Verlander) and #3 (Weaver) placed pitchers, but of whom had great seasons. In fact Verlander finished just 4 points beind Price overall. In the NL, Dickey was a surprise runaway as no one picked him prior to the season to do much after years of mediocrity before joining the Mets. Lee and Greinke were both obvious preseason choices, but Lee struggled behind a poor offense and Greinke was traded to the AL mid-season. Neither received any votes.

The NL MVP was another surprise with Posey blowing everyone out. Tulowitzki wasn't a bad preseason choice, but an injury kept him out for most of the year. Upton also had some problems on a poor Diamondbacks team and didn't receive any MVP votes. Cabrera was probably the least surprising of all the major award winners in 2012, but for some reason we each went different directions. The ultimate first half player, Bautista had another great first half and then missed most of the second half of the season with injury. Pujols had a terrible start, but ended up making up some ground, finishing 17th in the voting. Who would have thought preseason that Fernando Rodney and Jim Johnson would have been better AL MVP picks.

Overall, there weren't very many upsets among the award winners. Mike Trout (AL) and Bryce Harper (NL) were picked to win the Rookie of the Year awards when they made their debuts and they did. Bob Melvin (AL) and Davey Johnson (NL) each excelled where they weren't expected to, so they deserved their manager of the year award. The AL Cy Young was one of the closest races and any one of the three pitchers could have won the award without much controversy. If there was one snub, it was the NL MVP, where Andrew McCutchen and Ryan Braun each had arguably better seasons than the Giants catcher. Most likely they were both hurt by their team's failure to make the postseason.

For the Indians-centric view, no Cleveland Indians players received a single vote for any award in 2012. If any Indian got snubbed here, it was Zach McAllister who probably deserved about a fourth place finish in the AL Rookie of the Year race.

Rick Manning was one of the top ten center-fielders in Indians history both offensively and defensively. He won his Gold Glove with the Indians in just his second year with the team. Manning excelled quickly to the Major League level, playing just three years in the minors before playing 120 games his rookie year. In 1977 Manning broke his back limiting him to 68 games, but he came back strong to play another five full seasons with the Tribe, racking up 142 steals and 500 runs scored. In 1983 Manning was traded along with Rick Waits to the Milwaukee Brewers for closer Ernie Camacho, Jamie Easterly and Gorman Thomas. He then played out the rest of his career (four years) in Milwaukee.

The most famous play of Mannings career had more to due with someone else than with him. On May 15th, 1981, Manning caught the last out of Len Barker's perfect game, jumping in the air after the catch and synchronizing himself forever in history with the event and Barker.

The trade didn't ruin Cleveland for Rick as he came back home in 1990 to be the Indians television color commentator. He has called games each season for the Tribe since then while they switched from station to station, settling for the present with Sports Time Ohio and WKYC (NBC). He already has been commentating on tv for the Tribe for longer than any other announcer in team history. He currently works with Matt Underwood, but spent the majority of his announcing career working with John Sanders on Fox Sports Net Ohio (1998-2006) and Sports Channel Ohio (1991-1997). Some of Mannings main talking points are the importance of baseball players wearing sunglasses and the time he spent in Milwaukee. 

Now that the Indians have picked up Ubaldo Jimenez's option, the next step needs to be fixing him for the 2012 season. When Jimenez came to the team in 2011 it was too late in the year to work on much of anything and he struggled through the end of the year. In 2012, Jimenez struggled again through most of the year, although he did have moments of brilliance. By utilizing his option, the Indians are showing they want to compete now, rather than rebuild again, as he is only signed through 2014 anyway.

If the Indians want to compete in 2013 and 2014, they will need Jiminez to be better than he was during the past season, when he pitched well below replacement level. For him to be better, he will first have to find out what he did wrong.

One major issue Jimenez had last year was control. When he was able to get ahead in the count, he was able to unleash his nasty curveball that gave hitters fits. This was especially evident in those games when he was almost unhittable, like on 5/6 against Texas and on 7/24 against Detroit. One of his biggest issues this year was that he was unable to get ahead in the count consistently. In 2012, Ubaldo went 1-0 to 426 batters and 0-1 to 417 batters (compared to 443 1-0 counts and 474 1-0 counts in his best year, 2010). These control issues, especially early in the season, likely lead to Jimenez throwing easy pitches to lead off at bats, just trying to throw a strike. As a result of this, during the 72 at bats that ended after the first pitch, he gave up a batting average against of .371 compared to a .261 BAA in similar situations in 2010. Interestingly enough, this appears to have continued even if he did throw a good first pitch, as he allowed an average of .424 after a 0-1 count (.215 BAA in 2010). One last note on count situations, once Jimenez gave up the first ball, he often had hard time getting back into the at bat, walking 75 batters after starting off 1-0 and 33 (out of 52 total chances) after getting down 3-0.

Jimenez's struggles have often been blamed on his mental outlook. It has been stated all over the web that he felt dismissed when Troy Tulowitzki and Carlos Gonzalez each signed long-term contracts with the Rockies. Ubaldo felt he was part of the future of the franchise and was slighted by his much smaller contract offer. More likely, the Rockies saw a flash in the pan who far outperformed his expected ability in 2010 and was poised for a fall. The trade further pushed Ubaldo down his current train of thought and instead of striving to prove his old team wrong, he proved them right.

If his problem is mental, maybe he will be able to use his current contract situation to help work it out. At 28, Jimenez has one more shot at a big contract, but if he blows 2013, he won't even get the $8M option he already has offered for 2014. If he pitches like he has in the past next season, he could move back into the elite starter level, make $8M in 2014 and have the potential for much more once he leaves the Indians. If he doesn't pitch well next season, no team will trust him with a long term contract, even if he wins the Cy Young in 2014. If this isn't enough motivation to push Jimenez to his highest potential, then the problem isn't motivation.

If the problem isn't mental at all, but physical, this will be the job of new pitching coach, Mickey Callaway. His main goal should be to focus on Ubaldo's concentration, making sure he works for every pitch, throwing good pitches to start each batter off rather than get-me-over fast balls. If Ubaldo can get this together, he may never be able to be the pitcher he was during the first half of 2010 again, but he still could be a great starter for the Cleveland Indians for the next two seasons making the entire rotation stronger at the same time.

With a strong Ubaldo at the front of the rotation, the Indians would have Justin Masterson, and Jimenez as two strong starters, followed by the mid level Carlos Carrasco and Zach McAllister and whoever else the Indians choose to fill out the rotation. If Ubaldo struggles, the Indians will have no hesitation replacing him in the rotation as his 2014 option is not the deal the 2013 one was. He will be on a much shorter leash in 2013 with Corey Kluber, Eric Berger and others waiting in AAA, who would have been better than the 2012 Ubaldo Jimenez. Since the Indians already need a fifth starter with Ubaldo in the rotation, removing him would push the Indians pitching depth to a point that should be uncomfortable for management. Because of this, fixing Ubaldo needs to be the Indians number one in house priority this offseason.

In 1926 George Burns became the first MVP in Cleveland Indians history. Burns originally arrived in Cleveland in 1920 (the Indians first championship season) after being purchased from the Philadelphia Athletics. After one good full season in 1921, Burns was traded to the Red Sox before 1922, only to return through another trade in 1924. During his time in Boston, Burns came into his prime and when he came back to the Tribe had five great offensive seasons before being purchased by the Yankees for the second time in his career. Overall, his career had some interesting symmetry. His career by team looked like this; Detroit, New York, Philadelphia, Cleveland, Boston, Cleveland, New York, Philadelphia. During this long 15 year career, he spent the most seasons (7) and played the most games (757) for Cleveland.

In 1920 Burns played in just 44 games during the regular season for the Indians with Doc Johnston being the starting first baseman. In the World Series that year, he played as an equal with Johnston, each playing in five of the seven games. Burns knocked in three runs during the Series (tied for second on the team) and was among team leaders with a .300 batting average. In 1921 Burns was back behind Johnston again in the depth chart and played in 84 games, batting .361 with 21 doubles.

It wasn't until his return in 1924 that Burns really blossomed, taking over the starting job at first and knocking in 68 while hitting .310. In 1925 he was even better, knocking in 79 with 41 doubles all while raising his average to .336. For this effort he earned enough MVP votes to rank 21st in the league. George Burns hit his peak in 1926, leading the league in hits and doubles while winning the American League MVP. The race wasn't even close with Burns getting votes on 98% of ballots, destroying the second place Johnny Mostil, a centerfielder from Chicago. Not only were his 64 doubles that year enough to lead the league, they remain the Indians record for most doubles in a single season. That team was incredible when it came to legging out two base hits in general as three players had more than 40 (Tris Speaker, 52; Joe Sewell, 41). 

Burns followed up in 1927 with another 51 doubles, enough to rank in the top ten for the second time in his career. Over his career, he also ranks in the top ten in batting average in Indians history. Burns didn't play enough seasons for the Tribe to rank among the top hitters in Indians history, but is still one of the best firstbasemen. He will always be remembered as the Cleveland Indians first Most Valuable Player. George Burns died in 1978.

Willis Hudlin was one of the greatest innings eater in Indians history. While he wasn't the greatest pitcher ever, he pitched 15 years for the Tribe (out of 16 seasons in his career) throwing at least 125 innings each year except for 1936. While he didn't play in the best time in Indians history, he was able to make the most of it and outpitched every other pitcher on the team during his tenure. Between 1927 and 1928 three Indians starters lost 17 games (tied for 10th most single season losses for the Tribe), but Hudlin managed to avoid this. Over those two years Hudlin went 32-28 while the rest of the team went 96-151.

Over his career Hudlin added up a lot of numbers getting into the Indians top five in losses, games, starts, innings, hits allowed and runs allowed. While it is a negative, it is also worth noting that he has the record for most runs allowed in a single season (155 in 1931). In his career he is also in the top ten in wins, complete games and walks allowed. The list of pitchers ahead of him in most of these numbers is very impressive and includes Mel Harder, Early Wynn, Bob Lemon, Stan Coveleski, Addie Joss and Bob Feller. A list of Indians Hall of Famers and a few retired numbers. Hudlin himself is not in the Cleveland Indians Hall of Fame, mostly because of his 4.02 ERA in an era of pitchers like Coveleski (2.80 career ERA). Hudlin died in 2002.

Joe Carter was a five time All-Star (all after leaving the Tribe) that got his start in Cleveland. He played his first six full seasons for the Indians and quickly smashed more than 150 home runs, the 12th most in Indians history. This was done in fewer games than every other player in the top 16. Carter is especially famous for accumulating huge RBI totals on poor offensive teams, leading the league in 1986 with 121. He was also incredibly durable, playing 162 games four times in his career, setting two top ten highs in games played for the Tribe and grabbing the record for most at bats in a season in 1986.

Carter came to the Indians in a trade along with Mel Hall (and two others) for George Frazier, Rick Sutcliffe and Ron Hassey in 1984. After a few great seasons with the Tribe, he was then traded again, this time to the Padres for Carlos Baerga, Chris James and Sandy Alomar, Jr. This was one of the few times where both the team trading the player and the player getting traded had happy outcomes. Carter ended up with the Blue Jays, bringing the first (and second) World Series championships to Canada, while Baerga and Alomar helped the Indians get to the World series a few years later in 1995. Had he stayed in Cleveland the team would not have been ready for the Playoffs while he was in his prime and they would still have been missing their All-Star catcher and second baseman. Carter did stick around long enough to rank among the best Indians centerfielders.

Carter was considered for the MLB Hall of Fame, but didn't receive enough votes during his first year. He is, however, a proud member of the Canadian Baseball Hall Of Fame after winning the 1993 World Series with a walk off home run.

Saturday, the Indians traded the recently acquired Esmil Rogers to the Toronto Blue Jays for short stop Mike Aviles and Yan Gomes. Aviles was just acquired by the Jays from Boston when they traded their manager to the Red Sox. Rogers spent just half a season with the Tribe after being picked up from waivers from the Colorado Rockies, where he had allowed an 8.06 ERA in 23 games. For the Indians, Rogers threw 53 innings, making him the fifth most used reliever and held an ERA of 3.06. This amazing turn around had a lot to due with increased control, some of which was probably due to the decrease in altitude. Rogers walked 18 batters during his limited time in Colorado, but just 12 while playing for Cleveland.

An even bigger part of his turn around was his BABIP (batting average on balls in play). While with Colorado in 2012, his BABIP was .425, almost 150 points higher than later in the season with Cleveland. While some of this may have been caused by park factors, and some to because of better pitch selection (not as many 3-0 fastballs) it is also a good show of how lucky Rogers was. Rogers was great during the second half of 2012 with the Indians, but the chances of him repeating that performance are almost zero. The Indians traded Rogers at his absolute peak, making this trade an almost certain win for the Indians no matter what the returns are. Bullpen depth is the Indians biggest team strength and Rogers was the most expendable of the group and the one that outperformed his talent level by the most last season, making him worth the most to other teams.

The two players the Indians got in return are at opposite ends of their careers. Indians fans should remember Mike Aviles from his time with Kansas City, but Yan Gomes is a young player who just made his debut this past year. While Aviles is the big name of the trade, Gomes is almost certainly the player the Indians are more excited about. In 2012 in Las Vegas, Gomes hit .328 with 43 extra base hits. He did this while transitioning into his first year playing third. Since his first professional season in 2009, he has been primarily a catcher, catching 172 games in the Blue Jay minor league system. The Indians are in drastic need of a back-up catcher after Lou Marson put in one of the worst seasons by an Indians back up catcher in team history. While this isn't a position worth wasting free agent money on or trading a big name for, this trade filled this hole perfectly. I entirely expect Yan Gomes to be a front runner for the back-up catcher job going into Spring Training next year. With any luck he could even pan out to be more if Carlos Santana is needed to cover the DH or firstbase positions in the future.

Aviles is a past his prime middle infielder, although he did have career highs in home runs and RBI last season for a very bad Boston team. For the Indians he will be at most fill in as a utility infielder with all the infield spots taken with very talented rising stars in Jason Kipnis, Asdrubal Cabrera and Lonnie Chisenhall. Each of these players are already more productive than Aviles ever was and they are all younger and under team control. The current utility man, Jason Donald, however, is very replaceable. In 2012 Donald was one of the worst players on the team and his numbers make Aviles look like an All-Star. Since the Indians were willing to trade for him, he should simply be given the utility role outright and Donald can now be traded or released to make room for other, more productive players.

Overall, this trade looks fantastic. This is the type of move the Indians need to make to stay competitive, by trading players who are outperforming their own abilities for undervalued players who could turn into something special, but are acceptable even at their current level. This trade fills two minor holes on the 2013 roster without creating a new one (Frank Herrmann or Nick Hagadone could easily fill his place in the pen) and makes the team just a little bit better than it was before.

Last week I published articles on prospective free agents for the Indians to look at and about one interesting trade option. While even those options may seem far fetched for the penny-pinching Indians, these are going to be out of the park. With free agency starting tomorrow it seems a good time to bring up three more players that are available and the Indians would love to pick up, but almost certainly have no chance at.

Dan Haren

Our sister site "The Outside Corner" recently posted a rumor article that Haren is to be traded (possibly within the week) and that the Indians are one of the contenders. Haren has a $15.5M team option going into 2013 with a $3.5M buyout. Because of the buyout, the Angels may be more willing to eat at least that much of his salary, bringing him down to $12M, a paltry amount for a pitcher of his potential. If he came to the Tribe he would immediately be the best pitcher on the staff, even if he struggles as he did during this past season (4.33 ERA, 142 K's). Since the Indians accepted the option on Ubaldo Jimenez (as everyone knew they would) they have the first four pitchers in their rotation solidly in place (Justin Masterson, Zach McAllister and Carlos Carrasco are the other three) and Haren would give the team some much needed depth. More importantly, it would be adding a pitcher to the front of the rotation instead of the back (the opposite of their normal strategy). By putting Haren at the front, Masterson can be the number two starter and each following pitcher should expect better match-ups and less pressure during the season. If all that it takes is Chris Perez to bring Haren over the Indians should make this trade in a second, but I highly doubt that would be enough. Before giving up the entire team they need to remember that Haren is only signed through next season and will need to be signed long term for any trade more than just Perez to be worth it.

Adam LaRoche

LaRoche declined his player option yesterday officially making him a free agent just in time for free agency season to open up. He will likely be the best first baseman on the market and the Indians need a first baseman/DH more than anything else on the team. In addition to an impressive offensive season (career highs in hits, home runs and RBI) LaRoche won his first Gold Glove this season (for whatever that is worth). Since he declined an option of more than $10M it is unlikely he will sign for anything less than $15M, placing him out of the Indians range. Of course the Indians could go for a family discount as his father, Dave LaRoche, was a closer for the Tribe back in the 1970's. His brother Andy also signed with the team a few years ago, but was not good enough to make the team. Most likely LaRoche will be a bomb for whoever signs him as his numbers for 2012 are incredibly out of line with his last few years. For anything under $15M he could be a good deal as a one season player for a team trying to win in 2013, but the Indians can't place all their hopes on a single season. They should be looking to try and win at least as long as the Jason Kipnis, Vinnie Pestano group of players is under team control (through 2016).

Alex Rodriguez

The biggest fish in this year's trade market, Rodriguez seems to be on the outs with New York after being essentially removed from the Yankees playoff roster during their sweep against Detroit. If the Yankees can't trust the best hitter in the history of Major League Baseball to bat in the ninth inning of a close playoff game, how can they use him at all next season. It is very likely that Rodriguez will be traded this offseason to free up some of his massive $28M contract for 2013. He is also owed almost $100M for the four years after that including incentives for home run milestones. In a dream world it would be great for Cleveland to get Rodriguez as the starting DH for the next five years with the Yankees paying more than half of his salary, but that will not happen. There is a slight chance the Yankees will be able to repair A-Rods pride and use him as a starter next year, but the team and fan base seems to be ready to move on. The scenario explained earlier is the only way the Indians would ever be able to get a player like Rodriguez, but since the Yankees have made a lot of bad moves in the past decade, it is technically possible. The Indians could replenish the Yankees minor league system that they trade away every year to bring in every other team's best players. If the Yankees were willing to pay for at least $10M a year of his contract, the Indians would have to find a way to afford him at such a great deal and having him under control through 2017 would be like having an even better Travis Hafner through the next expected run at the playoffs.

Just a reminder, none of these things will actually happen, this is just pretend. It would just be depressing writing an article about how the Indians are going to sign six more Johnny Damons.

The Top 10 Cleveland Indians Thirdbasemen of all time. For more information on any player click on the link on their name for their All-Time Indians Bio. Players will be linked as more bios are added.

10. Buddy Bell - Years Starting 3B, 1973-1978

Bell started his career with the Tribe before moving on to better things in Texas, but his time in Cleveland was long enough to allow him to break into this top 10 list. He played in almost 1,000 games in his seven seasons, allowing him to build up some decent numbers, but they really aren't that impressive when compared to a few other third basemen who had shorter careers.

9. Graig Nettles -1970-1972

Nettles is mostly famous as the 5 time All-Star, MVP candidate and Gold Glover that played for New York, but before that, he was with Cleveland. Between being traded to the Tribe for Luis Tiant and Stan Williams and being sent to the Yankees, Nettles put up some impressive numbers for the Indians. While he didn't play long enough to add up a lot of counting stats, he still is among the leaders with a .750 OPS.

8. Larry Gardner - 1919-1922

Gardner was the starting third baseman on Tris Speaker's 1920 World Series championship team. He didn't have a particularly long career, but still hit 128 doubles and 36 triples.

7. Bill Bradley - 1901-1910

Bradley was the Indians first third baseman and the only one over the next 100+ years that could be considered speedy. He leads every player on this list in triples and steals. He is still the second longest tenured 3B in Indians history, starting 10 years for the Blues and Naps.

6. Casey Blake - 2003-2004, 2007-2008

Blake was one of the more versatile players in recent Indians history, switching to right field full time in 2005, but moving back to third at the end of his time in Cleveland. 

5. Brook Jacoby - 1984-1990, 1992

Jacoby started eight seasons for the Tribe, missing just 1991 when Carlos Baerga was used primarily at third. His consistancy over this long period allowed him to become third all-time in home runs, doubles and RBI among third basemen.

4. Travis Fryman - 1998-2000, 2002

Fryman took over for Matt Williams after they were traded for each other from the expansion Diamondbacks in 1997. Fryman then won a Gold Glove and made the All-Star team in 2000.

3. Toby Harrah - 1979-1983

Harrah was certainly an underrated player during his time with the Tribe. His time at third occured during a particularly down part of Indians history, but he still managed a decent combination of good productivity and longevity. 

2. Ken Keltner - 1938-1944, 1946-1949

Keltner was the longest tenured third baseman in Indians history, starting for 11 of his 12 seasons with the team. He was an above average hitter and helped the Indians win their last World Series in 1948 as the starting third baseman. He leads all Indians third basemen in career games, runs scored, hits, doubles and RBI and is second in home runs. In 1950 he was released to make room for #1 on the list.

1. Al Rosen - 1950-1956

Rosen was the Indians last MVP in 1953 and was part of both the 1948 and 1954 Indians World Series teams. He hit more home runs than any other Indians third baseman ever (if you consider Thome a first baseman) and is second in RBI despite playing in 500 less games than the leader (Keltner). His .285 career average is second behind just Gardner while his slugging percent remains number one among third basemen.

Borderline: Max Alvis, Willie Kamm, Ray Boone, Matt Williams, Russell Branyan