An era came to the end in the bullpen today as the Cleveland Indians released left handed reliever Rafael Perez to make room on the 40 man roster for Nick Hagadone. Hagadone had been on the minor league ineligible list since breaking his hand during the middle of the 2012 season. The move is interesting as it was unnecessary. Going into the offseason it seemed the Indians were going to need to move one of the lefties with Tony Sipp, Perez and Hagadone all ready to play at the major league level, but trading one of the three seemed to be the best move. Assuming the Indians did their due dilligence looking around the league for a trading partner, it must be assumed that he held no value, which is almost unbelievable seeing what teams are paying left handed relievers these days.

There were also better options on the 40 man to be removed to make room for Hagadone. David Huff (who will likely be released before next season starts), Juan Diaz (who is of little risk to be taken in the rule 5 draft) and Chris Seddon (no better than any of 10 other options the Indians have in the system already) would have all been better choices. By making the choice they did, the Indians are showing they are ready to move on and are officially giving Perez's bullpen spot to Hagadone.

Overall, this is the right move, replacing the old and worn out with the new, it is just disappointing that the Indians were unable to get anything for Perez as he enters his final year of arbitration.

Bob Rhoads came to the Blues in 1903 after a couple seasons with the Orphans and Cardinals and helped form one of the best starting rotations in Cleveland history. In his first season in 1904, Rhoads was the worst pitcher of the six pitchers who started at least 15 games, posting an ERA of 2.88. In 1905 the rotation came into it's own with Addie Joss at the lead, followed by Earl Moore, Rhoads and Otto Hess bringing up the back. A few starters fell out of the rotation from year to year, but they were always replaced by an equal or greater talent with Bill Bernhard coming up in 1906 and Glenn Liebhardt in 1907. Every rotation that Rhoads was part of until his retirement in 1909 was exemplary and they continue to hold many single season marks. Rhoads himself holds top ten marks in single season ERA for his 1906 and 1908 seasons.

Despite a short career by Indians pitching standards, Rhoads still ranks among the best Indians starters ever. His 2.39 career ERA ranks third all time among Indians pitchers and he also ranks in the top ten in shut outs and innings per game. His 15 home runs allowed during his 185 games are the least allowed by any Indians pitcher with more than 1,200 innings pitched. Of pitchers with more than 900 innings pitched, only fellow dead-ball era pitchers Bill Bernhard and Willie Mitchell allowed less career home runs.

While the Indians/Blues/Naps weren't able to garner much success during their formative years, these teams set the stage for the Indians first World Series in 1920. Bob Rhoads died in 1967.

The World Baseball Classic is returning for the third time in 2013 and this time it will be a little different. They have opened up the field and allowed 12 teams that had never been in the tournament a chance play in the Classic. These teams played the four worst teams from the last Classic for the right of entrance in the 2013 tournament. A few Indians (minor league) players played for their home country in the qualifiers for six separate teams.

The first round took place in Florida with South Africa trying to keep their spot against France, Israel and Spain. The best Indian in this round, Eric Berger, won the first game against South Africa for Israel. He won the game against another Indian, 2012 draft pick Kieran Lovegrove, who allowed three runs for his home country. Lovegrove played for the Arizona League Indians last season and is the first South African to play for an American professional baseball team.

Kieran also faired poorly in his second game, taking the loss in South Africa's elimination game against Spain. He gave up four runs in 1.1 innings, giving him a 31.50 ERA for the round. Lovegrove was not the only pitcher to struggle in that game as the South Africans ended up giving up 13 runs to the Spaniards. Berger had a similar fate with Israel, giving up four runs in 3.1 innings (5.68 ERA) as his team was also defeated in their elimination game against Spain. Spain advanced to the first round of the WBC in March despite having a 2-1 record in the qualifier and going 1-1 against second place Israel, who was also 2-1.

The second group played in Germany and featured Canada fighting to stay in the Classic against new comers Great Britain, the Czech Republic, and the home team of Germany. The lone Indian in this round was Martin Cervenka for the  Czech Republic. Cervenka was the third string catcher and was unable to make it into the two games his home country played as the Czech Republic were vastly outmatched by Germany and Great Britain (28 runs allowed to six runs scored). Canada handily won the round, sweeping their three games while scoring 38 runs and just allowing nine. Team Canada is one of the more advanced teams in the tournament and they won this round despite being without their two MVPs, Joey Votto and Justin Morneau.

The third round took place in Panama and featured the most Indians prospects of any qualifying round. The Indians new back-up catcher, Yan Gomes was a star for Brazil while Paulo Espino started for Panama and Geovanny Ushela played for Colombia. Nicaragua rounded out the teams as Panama looked to retain their spot in the tournament. Brazil swept their three games, with Gomes knocking in the sole run in the final game. He also had another RBI to go with his .333 batting average. Espino took the mound in the deciding third game for Panama against Brazil and threw 2.1 innings allowing a single earned run. Urshela had a great series, knocking in three runs and scoring twice for a very talented Columbian team. Columbia was upset in both their second and third games, only winning once against Nicaragua.

The fourth round featured no Indians although it did have recently former Indian Johnny Damon, one of the only Major Leaguers to play in this part of the tournament. Chinese Taipei was playing for their original place against Thailand, the Philippines and New Zealand in Taiwan. As was expected, New Zealand was destroyed and Chinese Taipei won the round. 

Overall, Brazil and Spain were the only new teams to enter the Classic with both Canada and Chinese Taipei maintaining their places. Yan Gomes will be the only Indian moving on, but there is a chance for others to play in the tournament in March. Most likely are Shin-Soo Choo playing for his home country of South Korea and any of the Venezuelans or or Dominicans that feel like playing for their home team.

Team America is always a surprise as there is such a plethora of talent to choose from, but most of the players don't want to play. There is a lack of pride found in the Americans as they already believe that their country is the best at baseball and are more interested in helping the team that pays them to play win, following their money rather than their patriotism. If the best American players play for the national team, there will probably be no Indians, but if most of the players decline, there are quite a few players like Vinnie Pestano, Chris Perez and Jason Kipnis who could make the team. No rosters have been announced for the teams that haven't played yet, but we will keep you updated when they are.

The Indians began with Louis Sockalexis. Although he didn't have an remarkable career, Sockalexis will be cemented in Indians history for the entire future of the franchise. When he came up through college, Sockalexis was considered a top prospect. His future looked so good that the Cleveland Spiders were able to look past their 1800's style racism and sign the first full blood American Indian in the history of professional baseball. Once he made the pro team, he was installed as the starting centerfielder, playing 66 games in his only full season. 

Falling into the stereotype, the combination of money, fame and injuries lead Sockalexis to alcohol and his demise. Over his last two years with the Spiders (also the last two years of the franchise), he only played in 28 more games. His alcoholism only got worse after his career ended and he died in 1913 at the age of 42.

Where he truly left his mark is far away from the record books, but actually in the name of the franchise. In Spring Training in 1898, the Spiders called their intra squad teams the Indians (the veteran team) and the Papooses (a team made of rookies) in "honor" of the man they called Chief. In 1899 the majority of the Spiders players were shipped to the St. Louis Perfectos and the Spiders had the worst season in the history of baseball to this day. Louis stayed around for the destruction of the team as he wasn't good enough to move to St. Louis as the two teams were combined to make one super team.

After a year without baseball, Cleveland brought in a new franchise in the brand new American League. The new Cleveland baseball team that started in 1901 chose to use a name from the past, the Blues, after Cleveland's former National League team (1879-1884). When Cleveland signed superstar Napoleon LaJoie, they changed the team name to match the player/manager and were called the Naps until LaJoie left the team in 1914. In 1915 the Plain Dealer ran a poll to find out what the Cleveland team's new name should be and the fans chose the Indians in remembrance of the first Indian to play professional baseball. The name has lasted through the years despite repeated attempts to change it.  While many may protest and consider the name offensive, those who really know the story understand that the name is meant in reverence to a former player. This actually makes the Indians one of the few teams that actually have a meaningful name and aren't just named after an animal that lives on the other side of the world (this means you Detroit). The Cleveland Indians team name should be kept in mind as a memory of Louis Sockalexis, just one of the many Cleveland stories of what could have been.

The role of the relief pitcher has changed extensively over the history of Major League Baseball and seems to be continuing to increase in importance. Left handed relievers are even more extreme. Since match-up relieving became the norm, the left handed relief pitcher has become the first pitcher to come into a game with the expectation of pitching less than a single inning. This hasn't been a very strong position in Indians history, but there have been a few players in recent times that deserve some credit. Like the positions of closer and DH, this position is heavily slanted towards the present. Here are the top ten Indians left handed relief pitchers of all time:

10. Bob Allen - Years as RP 1961-1963, 1966-1967

Allen pitched the second most seasons as a LHRP for the Indians (behind Rafael Perez), but only threw 274 innings over that time. Allen's first and last seasons were his best, throwing in 81.2 innings, all in relief, in his rookie year and keeping an ERA of 3.75. After three years of mediocrity, Allen finished his career strong with a 2.98 ERA through 54.1 innings in 1967. The three poor seasons in the middle of his career skyrocketed his ERA to 4.11, the second highest of all pitchers on this list.

9. Don Hood - 1976-1977, 1979

Hood played for five teams during a long career, but spent the most time with the Indians. Hood started 19 games for the Tribe in 1975 and 1978, two of his worst three seasons. These bring down his career averages despite pitching fantastically in three of his four relief seasons. His best year as a reliever was in 1977 when he threw 105 innings in 41 games (5 starts) and held a 3.00 ERA.

8. Harry Eisenstat - 1939-1942

Eisenstat was the most old school pitcher on this list, playing in the early 1940's, when the next earliest pitcher started in 1954. Because he pitched in a time of fewer aggressive hitters, he has the lowest K/9 among the listed pitchers and one of the best WHIPs. He only threw 257 innings in his Indians career, but was among the top of those on this list by averaging more than 2 innings per outing.

7. Tom Hilgendorf - 1972-1974

Hilgendorf had a very short, but effective career in Cleveland, pitching three years in relief before being traded to Philadelphia. Although he only threw 190 innings, his 3.46 ERA and .256 BAA are among the most impressive on this list.

6. Paul Assenmacher - 1995-1999

Assenmacher was the preeminent left handed reliever during one of the most successful periods of Indians history. His average of two outs per appearance is the shortest average appearance of any Indians pitcher with more than 50 innings pitched. The combination of him with match-up happy manager Mike Hargrove lead to Assenmacher being the most specialized pitcher in Indians history.

5. Rafael Perez - 2006-2012

Perez was the Raffy Left part of the great Indians bullpen in 2007 along side Rafael Betancourt (Raffy Right). He ranks in the top ten in Indians history in K/9 and winning percent and is second all time in holds (first among lefties). 

4. Don Mossi - 1954-1956, 1958

In 1954 (as part of one of the best bullpens in Indians history) Mossi had the greatest single season as a left handed reliever. He held opponents to an BAA of .167 and held an ERA of 1.94. He threw 93 innings (some during his five starts as well) and was altogether pretty unhittable. He did fall apart a little bit in the late 1950's, bringing his career numbers down enough to keep him in fourth.

3. Jesse Orosco - 1981-1991 

Orosco had a three year stopover in Cleveland right in the middle of a very lengthy career. He was possibly the best overall left handed pitcher ever to relieve for Cleveland and one of the best in the history of baseball, but his short time with the team keeps him as low as third place.

2. Tony Sipp - 2009-2012 (Active)

Sipp leads all LHRP in K/9, WHIP and batting average against, a large function of his use against mostly left handed hitters, but also showing his dominance against that type of hitter. Only a lack of innings pitched keeps him from first place. If he can continue his career numbers for another 100 innings or so he will move into first.

1.  Sid Monge - 1977-1981

Monge threw more innings than almost any other left handed reliever, despite only starting twice (Mossi threw more innings but started 36 games). During this time he was one of the most dominant season-by-season relievers and he maintained this success over five seasons. Monge was good enough to be used as the closing pitcher in 1979 and 1980 and held an ERA under 3.00 through his first two full years (1978-1979). His position on this list is precarious as there are two active pitchers below him and as baseball moves more towards specialized pitching roles.

Borderline: Fritz Coumbe, Derek Lilliquist, John O'Donoghue, Jamie Easterly, Mike Paul

After more than a year, we have just finished the first batch of 50 All-Time Indians articles. As part of this milestone, all previous articles have been updated to include links to other All-Time Indians articles and pictures have been added of the plaques in Heritage Park at Progressive Field. For the most part the players that are already done are the top 50 Indians of all time and include all players in the Baseball Hall of Fame as an Indian. We have also started posting the top ten positional lists in Indians history. Every player profile created to this point belongs to a top ten player at his position except Willis Hudlin, who made the list due to his extremely long career.

The 50 started with the players who have had their numbers retired by the Tribe, like Bob Feller and Earl Averill, and continued with the Hall of Famers, like Early Wynn and Joe Sewell. Since the first 19 players were posted, every fifth player has been a modern player (from 1990 or later), in order to avoid having players from the same era bunched together. Seven players (and Mike Hargrove) from the 1990's Indians have already been covered and they will continue to be posted every fifth player until every player worthy of a page is done. Players that are currently active are ineligible to be considered as an All-Time Indian so players like Jim Thome and Omar Vizquel will get pages created for them the moment they announce their retirements, much like Manny Ramirez did earlier this year (maybe).

Going into the next 50 players, there will be many more marginal players included who did not have great careers, but were important for the franchise. In fact, the next scheduled profile will be of Louis Sockalexis, the original Indian. There will also be players who had short careers, but either won awards or had an impressive feat (like a perfect game). So far, only two players outside of Indians history (starting in 1901) have been profiled, Jesse Burkett and Cy Young. Expect a lot more in the future including the original Blues team, the Spiders and even the Negro League Buckeyes. Also, to this point there has been just one person profiled more for their time as manager than as a player, but that will change as well with Al Lopez and Frank Robinson scheduled for the next 50.

The Top Ten Indians Positional count downs will also continue and will be linked to each players personal profile. This way you will be able to get more details about any player just by clicking on them. These are being posted with the weakest positions first, so most of the players in the top 10 so far do not have profiles yet, but as they continue, the lists will be more and more complete. There are nine more positional break downs scheduled between now and the start of next season.

All-Time Indians articles will continue to be published at the rate of two a week (every Monday and Thursday) until Spring Training starts when they will drop to one every Monday. Through the regular season they will go down to one a month as it was during 2012. If there are any players that you would like to see in particular, send me a tweet to @BRBBLOG on twitter or e-mail to This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. . If they are already on my list of over 200 Indians, I may bump them up in order and post them sooner then planned and if they are not on the list I can put them on.

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.