While the 2011 Cleveland Indians team didn't reach their ultimate goal, a few of their players did make a name for themselves by entering the Indians record books. Asdrubal Cabrera and Carlos Santana were forced into the spotlight when every other starter on the team was injured and they didn't disappoint. The Tribe bullpen was also a strong point, made essential by the lack of offense and the erratic starting pitching. Here are the new Cleveland Indians single season record holders.

Carlos Santana

While no there were no all-time records broken, there were some that were shattered by position. Carlos Santana played more games in 2011 than any other starting catcher has ever played for the Indians. Even though he played some time at first base, his 155 games seems silly with the amount of player coddling that happens now. The previous high for a player who was primarily a catcher was 153 by Victor Martinez in 2006. Santana also broke the runs record set in 2006 by Victor Martinez by scoring two more runs, a total of 84. Santana's 27 home runs beat out Victor's 25 in 2007, but only tied the all-time best for the Tribe, 27 by Gary Alexander in 1978. The 97 times Santana walked were more than 20 better than the next best catcher as both Steve O'Neill and Johnny Romano had 73 walks for the previous high. This combination of patience and switch hitting power is what made him seem like such a prize to the Indians in the first place and now he is starting to show it is for real. Hopefully I'll be able to write another one of these next season about how he broke all of his own records from this year.

Asdrubal Cabrera

After his hot start, it seemed like Asdrubal was going to break every Indians record there is for a short stop. It turned out not to be too easy as the Indians have had some of the greatest short stops in all of baseball play for them. Most noteably Joe Sewell and Lou Boudreau who hold each of the top 7 RBI seasons for an Indians short stop. Asdrubal's 92 in 2011 is still 8th best all time, but that isn't that impressive. Closer to the top, his 25 home runs were second most for a player whose primary position was short stop, behind only Woodie Held's 1959 season, when he hit 29. Since Held played some time at third that year, Cabrera does have the official record for most home runs while playing short stop. In setting this he surpassed Jhonny Peralta's 2005 season when he hit 24.

The Bullpen Mafia

While no single season records were set in 2011, there were some that were attempted. The single season holds leader list has been completely overhauled as three new names appear in the top 10. Rafael Betancourt still holds the record of 31 holds in 2007, but Tony Sipp's 24 and Vinnie Pestano's 23 were good enough for 4th and 5th place all time. Joe Smith also added his name to the list with 16 holds, tying him for 9th. Since holds only became an official statistic in 1999, these records are not quite as meaningful as some others.

Chris Perez just scratched the top ten in his own category of most saves in a single year. His 36 saves in 2011 place him firmly in 9th place all time, behind some guys named Mesa (1995 and 1996), Borowski (2007), Wickman (2005), Jackson (1999) and Jones (1990 and 1988). While we do have save records for all of baseball history, teams didn't really have closers before the 1970's and didn't use closers only in save opportunities until the 1990's.

Anyone who has read the blog over the past year knows that I have an equation for finding out who the 'Player of the Game' in each game. The updated career standings can be found here. I feel that my equation is a pretty accurate when discussing any players performance over any length of time. One cool thing about this stat is that I can split it encompasses every aspect of the game and can be split up into those different parts. Here are the final totals for the 2011 Cleveland Indians:

GP = Games Played, Offense = Total Offensive Score, Defense = Total Defensive Score, Pitching = Total Pitching Score, Total = All 3 Scores Together, PPG = Average Score Per Game, POG = Number of Awards Won In 2011.

Like you might expect, Asdrubal Cabrera and Carlos Santana were the teams top offensive performers of the season while Justin Masterson lead all pitchers. Note that almost every player has a negative defensive score. This is due to the fact that unearned runs count against the player who made the error, rather than the pitcher. This is why Lonnie Chisenhall has such a poor score for the season. A large part of his offensive score was made irrelevant by his many costly errors. Catcher scores are also very low in defense as most (but not all) stolen bases are counted against them.

While the chart above is interesting, it doesn't tell the whole tale. In the next chart I split the numbers again. This time between wins and losses. Players performances during wins can tell more about how much they helped the team during the season. 

W Total = POG Score In Wins, Wins = # of Wins Played In, PPGWin = Points Per Game in Wins, POGWin = Awards Won In Wins.

Starting pitchers have the largest disparity between winning games and losing them, because they are the most crucial players on the field while they are playing. Especially sticking out in this case are Carlos Carrasco, David Huff and Ubaldo Jimenez, all who had per game scores of around 5 while pitching during wins and negative scores during losses. Justin Masterson's much more even numbers between wins and losses shows he is better at keeping his team in every game, but the other pitchers were more likely to actually win the game when they played well.

Asdrubal stands out on this chart as well as he increases his points per game significantly during wins, showing that when he plays better, the Indians play better. This is not true about everyone as some players, like Ezequiel Carrera, Jason Donald and Cord Phelps, didn't see their averages change much between wins and losses.Cabrera also led the team in the only 'Player of the Game' awards that really matter, the ones that happen during wins.

One of the Indians greatest strengths this season was their defense. Not only by itself, but also as an asset to the pitchers by making plays that can't normally be expected. Every time I saw an out of the ordinary play this season I wrote it down and after evaluating the entire season I found 196 above average plays, 55 great plays and 15 amazing plays. Here are the top 10 plays in reverse order along with the 5 plays that just didn't make the cut.

The five that almost made it:

Jack Hannahan's "Living Grab"

Ezequiel Carrera makes a flying catch

Carrera's forward dive

Trevor Crowe's falling catch

Austin Kearn's slow motion, full extension dive

#10 Kosuke Fukudome's diving sacrifice fly:

On August 11th the Indians were facing the Tigers heavy into the Central Division race and looking for a sweep. With one out in the first Fukudome made this great diving catch to save an extra base hit. The run did score, marring this play and keeping it from being a little higher in the countdown. The Indians ended up losing the game by one run, then went on to lose the next 9 games against Detroit.

#9 Major League quality defense:

In his Major League debut, Cord Phelps proved that he was ready for the show by making this full extension diving catch from second base. The play came with a runner at second, so it possibly saved a run from scoring. The Indians ended up losing this one to the Twins by one run.

#8 Fukudome climbs the wall:

While it was not a home run saver, Fukudome helped out closer, Chris Perez, immensely by grabbing this ball off the right field wall in Minnesota to make the first out in the 9th. The catch was made all the more difficult by the overhang located above the fence. Perez managed to finish the rest of the inning safely and won the game for the Tribe.

#7 And now for something completely different:

Fukudome's third and final play on this countdown was a little different than the first two. This one was more of a conrolled fall as his momentum carried him through the air. The out was the final out in the 4th inning of a big win against the White Sox. 

#6 Shin-Soo Choo's game ending catch:

Chris Perez was on again to try for a save with runners on second and third and two outs in the 9th. Shin-Soo Choo made this amazing forward diving catch to end the game and save it for Perez.

#5 Zeke goes deep:

Ezequiel Carrera had a pretty good defensive season after a stumbling start and, like Fukudome, had three plays up for the top ten. However, this was the only one that was good enough to make the cut. This diving catch came in a loss to the Rangers and was a full speed, back to the infield catch to save Vinnie Pestano at least a double.

#4 Asdrubal Cabrera flings one to first:

If Asdrubal Cabrera gets any talk about being a Gold Glover this season, the fact that this is only the 4th best defensive play this season could be a reason. One thing that makes any play amazing is the fact that a regular person couldn't do it ever. This play is so ridiculous that there are probably only a handful of Major Leaguers who are capable of pulling it off. 

#3 Asdrubal shows off:

The non necessity of the behind the back throw on this play makes it great. Three days before the #4 play, Asdrubal made this stunning combination of a line drive out and behind the back flip to catch Brannen Boesch off second base. If you think this is good, just wait to see what #13 has coming up.

#2 The slowest triple play ever:

Carlos Santana made the second best play of the season in just the third game. In the fourth inning the White Sox and Ozzie Guillen were trying to get something started with runners on first and second and no one out. Trying for a little small ball, Alexei Ramirez popped up a sacrifice bunt that Santana made an all out diving catch on. This catch was made more impressive by the fact that it was his first regular season game at first base. Because the runners were off with the pitch, Santana was able to take his time throwing to Orlando Cabrera at first, who then noticed the runner who was supposed to be on second was off hanging out somewhere else. Asdrubal Cabrera caught the ball to complete the triple play, because he has to be a part of every great defensive play the Indians make. This play and a strong offense lead to the first Indians win of 2011.

#1 The 1-6-4-3 Double Play AKA: Something you may never see again:

Joe Smith should get all the credit for this play, because if he didn't tip this ball, it would have been a tailor made double play. Asdrubal Cabrera's amazing instincts to shift momentum, grab the ball barehanded and throw it hard to second are second to none. This is undoubtedly the best play in Asdrubal's young career and the best play by any Indian this season.

Do you agree? Disagree? Have a play you think got left out? Don't be afraid to leave a comment on the bottom of the page or to sent one via twitter to @BRBBlog

All video courtesy of MLB.com

The 2011 Cleveland Indians season has ended with silence after a very exciting first half. The Tribe went 20-8 (.714) over the first 28 games, giving hope to a fan base that hasn't had much to cheer for during the last 3 seasons. During that stretch they had two separate win streaks of more than 7 games including sweeps of both Boston and Detroit. Few expected this kind of performance from the Indians this season and the dream was to be shattered very quickly. Over the rest of the season Cleveland went 60-74 (.448). The hot start enabled the Tribe to grab an early lead in the AL Central and keep it every game from April 8th to June 14th. The battle for the Central Division crown then ensued between the Indians and Tigers during the following weeks. While Indians fans wish it could have lasted a little longer, the Tribe did put up a fight, holding at least a share of first until July 22nd when they were unable to keep up with the red hot Tigers. Series losses to White Sox, Angels and Royals placed the Indians in a solid second place and the 10 straight losses to Detroit to end the season cemented their position.

Unsurprisingly, the Indians success and failure corresponded with a rash of injuries that plagued the team all season. While Grady Sizemore started the season on the disabled list, he was the only starting player on the list at the time. The first big player to go down was Mitch Talbot. While it may not seem like a big deal, Talbot had played extremely well the season before and had pitched well in his first two starts. After the injury he was never the same. His first start back was probably his worst in his short career as he went 3 innings and gave up 8 earned runs. Carlos Carrasco was injured about a week after Talbot, extremely taxing the Indians rotational depth. Jeanmar Gomez and Alex White were called up in their stead, but White was injured after only 3 starts and was never to pitch for the Indians again. Around this same time, Travis Hafner strained his oblique and Grady Sizemore returned to the DL with another knee injury. There are very few teams in Major League Baseball who could still compete with two of their star players missing, but the pain was only beginning for the Indians. Within a month and a half Matt LaPorta, Shin-Soo Choo and Fausto Carmona all hit the DL as well. Before Choo came back from the DL, Sizemore, Talbot and Carrasco all made return trips. 

During this hard stretch, the Indians decided to go all in to try to win the Central. Trades with Colorado and the Cubs saw the exit of Alex White and Drew Pomeranz in exchange for the services of Kosuke Fukudome and Ubaldo Jimenez. These players possibly could have helped if the rest of the team had maintained, but shortly after their entrance, the rest of the team fell apart. Michael Brantley, who had been the Indians second most productive player to that point of the season broke a bone in his hand and was announced out for the year. Jason Kipnis, a rising rookie star fresh off of home runs in 5 consecutive games tore his oblique and strained his hamstring. He managed a short comeback at the end of the year, but by then it was too late. Josh Tomlin, who was the second best Indians starter this year, missed his last 6 starts due to elbow soreness.

The greatest piece of this Indians team in 2011 was undoubtedly what became known as the "Bullpen Mafia." While the rest of the team struggled with injuries and slumps, the "Bullpen Mafia" powered through the season, playing just about as perfect as a bullpen can. Chris Perez anchored the pen as the closer, but was not necessarily the best pitcher. Joe Smith had the best ERA and was so much more than a right handed specialist. Vinnie Pestano has the composure of a 10 year vet, but the energy level of the rookie he is. Tony Sipp was the perfect set up man and led the team in holds, while Rafael Perez was still available for any extra lefties that needed to be faced. The final year long bullpen member was Chad Durbin, who, while he struggled, still managed to pitch in 68 innings, more than any other reliever. His numbers are not good, but he saved the Indians numerous wins by pitching multiple innings in lost cause games, saving the talented members of the bullpen for more important situations.

Next season looks to be a lot different than this one. Already changes has been made with the bench and pitching coaches deciding to retire. Indians management has also already announced plans to add to the team by spending competitively in the free agent market. On the other hand some things will stay the same. Manny Acta has already been extended for 2012 and every integral member of the team is signed on for next year. Only the 2011 free agent pick ups like Durbin and Jack Hannahan have expiring contracts. One thing that will be completely different is that the Indians won't be able to surprise anyone. After the way they played in the first half, everyone knows this team has what it takes to win the division. All it should take is a little luck and some smart off-season moves and hopefully next year will be even more exciting than this year was.

Matt LaPorta has a four game hitting streak. You probably haven't noticed because it has occurred over the Indians last 12 games. LaPorta, who is fourth on the team in home runs and RBI, has been essentially removed from the Indians roster as he has only been allowed to play in four of the Indians last 22 games. LaPorta's replacement has been Lou Marson who, as a back-up catcher, has played in 22 of the last 31 games. So far this season, there is no question that LaPorta is a superior player to Marson as he has a slightly higher batting average and a slugging percentage more than 100 points greater. The real question is why is then, Lou Marson starting over Matt LaPorta?

Matt LaPorta has struggled a lot over his tenure thus far with the Cleveland Indians. This is no secret and has been talked about ad nauseum, so I won't reiterate any more to that here, other than to point out that his line stats of .234/.300/.395 are not only unacceptable for the middle of the lineup spot he was supposed to be in, but are terrible even for a bottom of the order hitter. Here are a couple quotes from manager Manny Acta about Matt LaPorta from earlier in the season:

“He has made progress, but expectations for a guy like him are high. That's not because of the trade, but because of being a high draft pick and the way he cruised through the minors.”

“He's had a lot of inconsistency, but shows flashes of what we anticipated. He needs work on plate discipline. He's projected as a walks, power guy and it is still not there.

While his last point is accurate, the first isn't really the best way to think about the situation. There are so many draft busts and scouting errors, that it is a mistake to evaluate a current player based on what he did five years ago. While his numbers are not necessarily a good predictor of his future performance, the Indians must have had enough time to see where his real talent level lies. I believe that at some point during the season Tribe management decided that Matt LaPorta will never become the player they need him to be. As soon as the Indians were legitimately out of the playoff race, LaPorta was removed from the roster and sent to AAA, never to make a return to the starting line up. If there was any chance of LaPorta being the starting first baseman next season, I don't think that Manny Acta would have insulted him by replacing him with a back-up catcher. If they have already decided to part ways with LaPorta, it makes sense to see what Lou Marson is capable of in an every day role (early results: not very much).

Much has been made of Carlos Santana playing first base, but this would extremely weaken the Indians offense. While a player of Santana's talent is among the best available at catcher, he is only an average first baseman. Since Santana is a given in the roster, the question is whether the Indians will be able to find a better first baseman or catcher next season and amazingly talented catchers are in short supply.

Starting off fresh at first next year makes sense, especially if the ownership decides to finally spend for that big free agent. There are quite a few big name first basemen that should be available next year, possibly allowing some of the lower tier ones to slip to the Indians. The Yankees and Red Sox are set with Mark Teixeira, Adrian Gonzalez and Kevin Youkilis so they will likely be inactive in this market, allowing other teams a shot at big names. The biggest names out there will be Albert Pujols, Lance Berkman and Prince Fielder. With the extremely low payroll of the Indians, along with an option to renegotiate with Grady Sizemore, the Indians should have enough spending money to get even a top tier player. The success early in the season and the addition of Ubaldo Jimenez for the next few years should place the Indians as an early season favorite for the Central Division in 2012 and the Dolans may pick next year as their time to take a chance.

This is it. Now that Detroit has taken care of business, sweeping their two divisional rivals back-to-back, the Central Division race is over and Wild Card race never began. Now is the time for the Indians to ready the ship for 2012 and a more series attempt at winning a championship. The success of the 2011 team took a lot of people by surprise, but no one will be surprised next year. In order to make sure everyone is ready for next season, there are a few things that need to be done this year still.

Heal the Wounded

The most prominent reason for the Indians failure down the stretch was the plethora of injuries that occurred to almost every starting player on the team. Since there is nothing left to play for, these players should get extra time off for any surgeries, rehab or just plain rest. Michael Brantley and Carlos Carrasco are already out for the season with hand and Tommy John surgery respectfully, but there are a few others that could use the rest of the season off. There has been a lot of talk about Travis Hafner needing foot surgery to repair a tendon and he might as well do it now. The earlier the better as it will give him more time to get into running shape for next season. Jim Thome is a more than capable replacement at DH and will be a bigger draw for the fans anyway. Other veterans who have battled injuries should also get more time off, including Grady Sizemore and Shin-Soo Choo. Both players will be extremely important to the team next season and need to get any series medical issues fixed now.

Play the Rookies

Baseball pundits often talk about how inexperience can hurt a team. This is the perfect time to help some of the younger players get some experience. Lonnie Chisenhall should play every single game for the rest of the year. He has had a lot of time off of late so Manny Acta could play Jack Hannahan's hot bat, but with Hannahan injured and certain to be gone to free agency after this season, Chisenhall should see all the playing time at the hot corner. Seeing him in the pros for another 20+ games will go along way to finding out exactly what he is capable of. Jason Kipnis and Ezequiel Carrera should also play just about every day. For Kipnis this is mostly just for experience, but Carrera needs to prove that he deserves a spot on next years squad. The Indians should have a lot of outfield depth with Grady, Brantley, Choo and Trevor Crowe available to play. A couple of relief pitchers should also get a closer look. Josh Judy and Nick Hagadone could be great assets to future Indians teams as Chad Durbin will be gone and Rafael Perez is getting older.

A Day of Rest

Asdrubal Cabrera deserves a day off. He has done absolutely everything within his power to help the Indians win and he is starting to look dead out there. Let Jason Donald take over short at least one day a week with Kipnis and Cord Phelps manning second. This will not only give the three young players a little more playing time, but will give Cabrera a break after working harder than just about anyone else all season. He is not going to win the MVP, so Manny doesn't have to try to get him every single at bat he can for the rest of the year. Another player who has been playing every single day at a high skill position is Carlos Santana. He has played in every single Indians game since July 8th at either catcher or first base. Of course during his games at first, Lou Marson has had to catch, so I'm sure he could use some time off as well. The Indians need to bring back Matt LaPorta to take over first base on a daily basis and to bring up another catcher, hopefully Luke Carlin, to spell Lou Marson. The Bullpen Mafia could also use some time off after being the work horses of the Tribe. Save their fantastic ERAs and get some other pitchers some playing time by cutting back the use of Rafael Perez, Chris Perez, Tony Sipp, Vinnie Pestano and Joe Smith. Already mentioned Hagadone and Judy are good options for this, as well as Josh Tomlin (who will be returning from the DL soon) and Mitch Talbot (who is still in AAA). Both players have started for the Indians this season, but are no longer needed with Jeanmar Gomez and David Huff pitching well in the rotation.

When the first place Cleveland Indians fired hitting coach Jon Nunnally on June 18th, it came as a bit of a surprise. The Indians were producing enough runs to win games and the offense was much improved from the previous season. One of the main concerns manager Manny Acta had at the time were strikeouts. At the time of Nunnally's departure, the Indians had already struck out over 500 times, which was the worst in the American League. The question is: Does introducing a new hitting coach mid-season impact the statistics of the hitters? Jon Nunnally was replaced by Bruce Fields, who was the Indians minor league hitting coordinator. This article will compare the Tribe's offensive statistics under each hitting coach and determine if the coaching change was necessary.

Jon Nunnally ended his reign as the Indians hitting coach on June 18th. In 2011, he had coached in 69 games. While Nunnally was coaching, the team batting average was .251. The total team strikeouts was 502, averaging 7.28 strikeouts per game. strikeouts aren't the only concern for a hitting coach. Run production is also very important. Under Jon Nunnally, the Indians scored a total of 302 runs, averaging to 4.38 runs per game.

Bruce Fields took over on June 19th, and as of September 5th, had also coached in 69 games. Since he took over, the team batting average was .248, very similar to that of Nunnally. The total team strikeouts was 577, which is 75 more strikeouts in the same amount of games as Nunnally. The average strikeouts per game since June 19th was 8.36, over one more strikeout per game. The total runs scored under Fields is 280, averaging 4.06 runs per game. While an average difference of 0.32 runs per game does not seem like much, the Indians scored 22 more runs in the same amount of games with Jon Nunnally as the hitting coach.

Other factors also need to be considered when looking at these numbers. There have been many injuries on the team this year, with big hitters like Grady Sizemore, Travis Hafner, and Shin-Soo Choo spending time on the disabled list. This meant that Triple-A and bench hitters replaced them in the line-up, possibly skewing the stats one way or another. The bottom line is that Indians players enjoyed the coaching style of Jon Nunnally and his presence in the clubhouse and were taken off guard by his firing. His replacement, Bruce Fields, was brought in to try to take the Tribe's offense where it needed to be in order to contend for a playoff spot. The Indians strikeouts have noticeably increased, which has become very frustrating for the fans to watch. The Indians 1,079 strikeouts on the year make them the worst in the American League and tied for 5th worst in the majors. So can the hitting coach work magic and make strikeouts disappear? Would the Indians find themselves 7.5 games back in the AL Central if Nunnally was still their hitting coach? It is hard to tell at this point, but the offense has obviously not improved since Fields took over.

This season we have seen several offensive sides of Jack Hannahan. In April, he was a typical, average hitter. From May through July, he was below average, and in August, his numbers have been astonishing. This article will compare Jack Hannahan’s stats throughout the season and provide some analysis behind the numbers. One of the key stats examined is Batting Average on Balls in Play, or BABIP. Because BABIP is based on balls “hit in play,” strikeouts are factored out of this equation. BABIP typically shows how lucky hitters are on the balls they hit. If BABIP is high, it usually means that balls hit in play found holes in the defense. If BABIP is low, it usually means that balls hit in play were right at a defensive player. Players with extremely high or extremely low BABIP typically tend to regress toward the league average. The league average BABIP is usually around .300. Therefore, if a player has been “lucky” with his hits and has a high BABIP, his hit pace will usually decrease and more balls hit into play will be at defensive players, dropping his BABIP.

April

Jack Hannahan started the season off strong. He won the starting third base position out of Spring Training when Jason Donald was sent to the disabled list after being hit by a pitch in a pre-season game. In the month of April, Hannahan batted with an average of .273, which included 21 hits, 4 of which were home runs. His On Base Percentage (OBP) was .349 and he had a Slugging Percentage (SLG) of .481. In the month of April, Hannahan’s BABIP was .309. This number was just about the league average.

May-July

There was a big drop-off in numbers for Jack Hannahan from May through July. In these three months, Hannahan only batted .187 with an OBP of just .282. His SLG was almost cut in half from his April number, down to a .265. In these three months, Hannahan only hit one home run in 166 at bats, compared to the 4 he hit in April in just 77 at bats. From May though July, Hannahan’s BABIP was .244. Though this number was under the league average, it was not enough to make any difference. Maybe a few more of his outs could have dropped for hits, but that still would not bring his batting average much over .200, which is still low for a three month span.

August

August is showing a new hope for Jack Hannahan, by far his best month of the year. As of August 28, Jack Hannahan has 15 hits in just 39 at bats, giving him an average of .385. He finds himself on base in nearly half of his plate appearances with a .478 OBP. His SLG is almost the same as April, at .462. Hannahan has yet to hit a home run this month and has not hit one since June 8th. When looking at his .385 average one must think: is this luck or is Hannahan hitting the cover off the ball? When you take strikeouts away, Hannahan has a BABIP of .517 in August. Part of this is due to the fact that Hannahan has struck out 10 times in 39 at bats. This shows that Hannahan is getting extremely lucky with his hits and that his trend of batting nearly .400 will probably not continue through the month of September.



With his next at bat, Jim Thome will begin his 13th season as a Cleveland Indian. Only 7 players have played more seasons than him, the most recent of which was Jim Hegan, who ended his 17 year tenure as an Indian in 1957. While he didn't leave on the greatest terms after the 2002 season, his accomplishments during his first 12 seasons with the Tribe far outweigh the negatives. Those accomplishments include the all time Indians records for home runs (334) and walks (997) as well as 3 all star appearances and a silver slugger. Bringing a player back from a long absence is nothing new for the Indians, who most recently brought back Thome's teammate Kenny Lofton for the 2007 playoff run. The most famous return was that of Rocky Colavito in 1965 after being traded to Detroit, but many others have come back to welcome receptions including Julio Franco, Doug Jones and Jim Perry.

This year, Thome can't be expected to near his past totals of home runs (37,49 and 52 in his last three seasons with the Indians), his power bat will be a huge improvement over Shelley Duncan and a suitable replacement for Travis Hafner, who now will not be missed as sorely if he truly does need surgery. I will be happy as long as he hits a couple more THome runs to increase his team record and continues the rate stats he had going with Minnesota (.248/.357/.385). Truthfully, all he needs to do to make me happy is to retire with a Cleveland Indians jersey on his back and go into the Hall of Fame with Chief Wahoo on his hat. Welcome back, Jimmy!

I've had this file saved on my computer for over a decade, glad I can finally use it for something.

The Indians and Jim Thome will not joining forces this season as the Chicago White Sox have made a claim on both Thome and Jason Kubel. It is still unknown whether the Twins will actually release Thome to the Sox, or decide to keep him, but the Jim Thome will not be an Indian in 2011. There ends another Indians dream.

*Edit: There are now conflicting reports that the Indians have also claimed Thome and that the White Sox may have just claimed Kubel. Since waiver news is supposed to be secret, there will be no official reports until an actual trade is made. There is also a rumor that Thome wants to return to Philadelphia and will use his no trade clause to avoid any other team.