Luis Tiant was the first great Cuban born Major League pitcher and has won more games than any other player from his home country (229). In 1962, the Cleveland Indians signed the Cuban refugee out of the Mexican league and he went on to become a borderline Hall of Famer (garnered 30% of the votes in his first year of eligibility), playing for the Indians, Red Sox and others. Although he did not spend the majority of his career with the Tribe, he certainly left his mark. His 1968 season was especially spectacular as he set the Indians record for best opponents batting average during a single season and left marks in the top five in WHIP and ERA. He lead the American League in ERA and shut outs that season as well. That effort earned him fifth place in the MVP voting that year, but he didn't get Cy Young consideration until he went to Boston. In 1968 he lost the award to Denny McLain who took home 100% of the votes.

In 1969 Tiant had the biggest drop off in Indians history. No other pitcher in team history has went from being a 20 game winner one season to being a 20 game loser the next. His ERA for that season still looks good by today's standards (3.72), but is more than two runs higher than it had been the year before. The biggest difference between the seasons seems to be his control as he walked 50 more batters in ten less innings. The real reason for the change in win/loss record had a lot to do with luck as 1968 was an outlier for Tiant as far as being great goes and his 1969 numbers were certainly below his talent level. The change in luck along with a poor offense helped Tiant to this unique distinction.

As far as his Indians career goes, Tiant still holds a spot in the top five career BAA of all time and in the top ten in strikeouts, shutouts, K/9 and WHIP. Luis Tiant was eligible for induction to the baseball Hall of Fame by the Veteran's Committee in 2012, but was not chosen.

Last season the Indians got with the times and embraced social marketing for the first time. Instead of punishing players for bypassing the press and talking directly to fans, they encouraged it. Over the last year many players have filtered through with some fading away and others showing their twitter excellence. Since I've yet to come across a comprehensive list of Indians twitter accounts, so I made one myself. This list includes every player within the Indians development system who has ever had an account and some relative information about them. The information provided should be useful when deciding if each player is worth following. Verified accounts have been checked by twitter.com to ensure these are the real athletes, but I am fairly sure of the accuracy of the rest as well. The language is the primary language tweeted.

Notes: 

1. Highest tweet per day average.

2. Indians player with the most followers (31,111).

3. Longest active Indians twitter account.

4. Has tweeted in the past, but has since deleted. Account is now inactive.

5. Newest Indian to twitter.

6. New account to replace his original @DHuff11.

7. Most total tweets.

8. Protected account. He'll allow you to follow if you request, but keep it nice since he isn't public yet.

9. Most followed minor leaguer.

10. Greatest mustache on twitter.

Along with the players, there are a few front office personnel and others involved with the team on twitter. Here are some of those accounts:

For those looking for the official twitter accounts of the different levels of the Indians organization, they can be found here:

For those wondering why some players have not been included in the lists above. Here is a list of inactive accounts (no tweets in 2012) and some that have been deleted:

The tale of Matt LaPorta is one that should be taken note of. He was originally on twitter before most of the team was and he quit before the Indians changed policies due to negative feedback. During the resurgance in 2011 when the entire "Bullpen Mafia" among others started tweeting, he reactivated his account. After a very short time the amount of negativity and death threats caused him to delete his account for good. Remember that these are real people who will possibly read everything that you send to them. It is like they gave you their personal cell phone number to send texts to all day. None of these athletes need to do this, it is for the fans enjoyment alone. If one person abuses this gift, they can be blocked individually, but if a large number of people do it, we will probably see the openness of these players disappear like the accounts of Nick Hagadone, Lonnie Chisenhall and LaPorta. If you don't have something nice to say, then don't @ mention someone. If Indians fans as a community can act like human beings then we all will be able to enjoy getting to know these players a little better. 

6. Nick Hagadone, LHP
DOB: 1/1/86
Height/Weight: 6-5/230
Bats/Throws: L/L
Drafted/Signed: First round in 2007, University of Washington
2011 Stats: 1.59 ERA (22.2-14-7-24) at Double-A (12 G); 3.35 ERA (48.1-42-15-53) at Triple-A (34 G); 4.09 ERA (11-4-6-11) in MLB (9 G)
Tools: He has a late inning-worthy fastball/slider combination.

Year in Review: He was part of the Victor Martinez deal in 2009. Hagadone had his second straight healthy season and missed bats during his short yet effective big-league debut.
The Good: Hagadone is an intimidating presence on the mound who comes at hitters with a mid- to upper-90s fastball that misses bats. His slider gives him a second plus power offering. He's made strides in his command and control, to the point they project as average.
The Bad: Hagadone has had Tommy John surgery and there is still considerable effort in his delivery. He had trouble falling behind in the count with the Tribe last year, and needs to throw more strikes with his slider as opposed to using it solely as a chase pitch. He's 26 years old, so there is little projection left.
Fun Fact: More than 50 pitchers have been selected out of the University of Washington.  They've combined for only 85 wins in the majors and Tim Lincecum accounts for more than 80 percent of them. Can Hagadone be as effective out of the bullpen as Lincecum is in the rotation?
Projection: He’ll be a set-up man with some chance to close.
Fantasy Impact: It’ll be minimal, unless he's getting saves.
Future Outlook: Hagadone will compete for a big-league bullpen role in spring training.

(Scouting report courtesy of Tony Lastoria at Indians Prospect Insider)

Note: Jesse Burkett is included in this "All-Time Indians" series because I consider all the teams to play in Cleveland to be important to the city and the Indians history. This includes the Forest Citys, the Naps, the Blues, the Infants, the Buckeyes and of course the Spiders.

Jesse Burkett had a short, but hot, career with the Spiders that ended with the dismantling of the team in 1899. For his efforts, Burkett became the only member of the Cleveland Spiders to be inducted into baseball's Hall of Fame with the team. In his best season, 1896, he lead the National League in hits, batting average, runs scored, games played and total bases. He lead the league in hits and average the year before as well.

His Spider records are even more impressive as over a three year span (1896-1898) he set the records for at bats (624), runs (160), hits (240), batting average (.410) and slugging percentage (.541). Even compared to players in the modern age, Burkett still maintains the top three best seasons as far as runs scored, has the most hits in a season as a Cleveland player and holds the top two spots in both batting average and slugging percentage over a single year. If you get to know one player from the Cleveland Spiders teams of the 1890's, know Cy Young. If you get to know two players, make the second one Jesse Burkett. He died in 1953.

They always say that pitchers and catchers have reported to Spring Training, but how can you believe them? We here at Burning River Baseball have terrible quality video and decent quality photos proving that the Cleveland Indians players have actually reported to Goodyear, Arizona. As many as tens of fans watched as Indians starters and relievers participated in the most the important training there is, PFP. After the pitchers moved to the bullpen to throw some real pitches while the catchers came out to hit a little batting practice. The group in the video below consists of all the potential starters in the upcoming season. Along with Justin Masterson, Ubaldo Jimenez and Josh Tomlin were new-comers Kevin Slowey and Derek Lowe as well as Jeanmar Gomez, David Huff and Zach McAllister. 

For pictures in addition to the video, check out my flickr page here. This page will be updated as I take more pictures.

The Tribe recently signed veteran shortstop Cristian Guzman to a one-year deal.

Talk about doubling down: after already getting a four-year, $16.8 million deal from former Nationals GM Jim Bowden before the 2005 season, Guzman managed to have 18 months of relatively useful production into a two-year, $16 million extension signed during the 2008 season. The ink on the contract was hardly dry before he reverted to his  "out-making" ways. His ephemeral offensive value had been constructed on a short-term jump in his line-drive rates and the concurrently higher BABIPs they produced, but walking in fewer than three percent of his plate appearances last year—a rate only surpassed in the NL by the swingin’ comedy team of Miggy and Bengie—guaranteed that he would once again show up on most “OBP sinkhole” lists. The Nationals once considerd a move across the keystone to hide his ever-decreasing range. It’s safe to say 2010 was his true level of production.

According to Paul Hoynes of the Cleveland Plain Dealer, Guzman will compete for the utility infielder's job. His last year in the big leagues was 2010, when he played for the Nationals and Texas. The switch-hitter batted .266 (97-for-365) with two homers and 26 RBI. He played shortstop, second base and right field. Guzman said he had rotator cuff surgery on his right shoulder three years ago and it prevented him from playing last year. He spent the first six years of his career as the Twins' shortstop where Indians fans hated him for turning hard ground balls in the Baggie-Domes rock hard carpet into "seeing eye" singles.

Cristian Guzman will compete for a spot on the 25 man roster.

Gaylord Perry was inducted into the Hall of Fame in 1991 as a member of the San Francisco Giants, but his short time with the Indians was enough to place him among the greatest Tribe pitchers of all time. In 1971 the Indians acquired Perry from the Giants for another all-time Indian, Sam McDowell. Gaylord went on to immediately win the American League Cy Young in his first season as an Indian (1972). He later became the first pitcher to win the Cy Young in both leagues when he won the award again with the San Diego Padres in 1978.

Perry's 1972 season has him ranked among the top five best single season records in both starts and and innings pitched and the top ten in WHIP. The next also ranks among the top five all time in starts and innings. In fact he pitched over 320 innings in each of his first three seasons with the Tribe. In his career, Perry has thrown more innings per game than any Indian pitcher ever and ranks in the top five all-time in WHIP. His career numbers are strangely similar to his brother Jim Perry, who also played for the Indians. Each pitcher had exactly 70 wins, but Gaylord had ten less losses. Gaylord also had exactly 20 less starts, but threw just one less inning. The rate stats are where they really differ with Gaylord's ERA being 1.05 runs per nine innings lower than Jim's. Gaylord's batting average against is also better, in fact his .213 is among the top ten Indians pitchers of all time. His four years of service were enough to get him recognition by the Indians as he was inducted into the Cleveland Indians Hall of Fame in 2012.

Wow, what a winter it has been for ground ball pitchers! You know times are tough when Livan Hernandez and Jon Garland settle for minor-league deals. Aaron Harang got a comfy two-year deal, but that alone can’t fund all the organization getaways and giveaways that come with being a card-carrying innings eater. At least Garland’s minor-league deal is sensible, as it comes on the heels of right shoulder surgery. Some teams seemingly subscribe to the motto that “elbows heal, shoulders kill,” so it isn’t surprising that it took until the final week before camp for Garland to latch on.

When right, Garland is your average pitch-to-contact innings sponge, having tossed fewer than 180 innings in a season in 2011 for just the first time since 2001—and even then, he completed more than 150 innings between the majors and minors. He won’t give a team many strikeouts (he has topped six strikeouts per nine just once in his career), and his strikeout-to-walk rates have sat at below 2.0 in each of the past five seasons, meaning shiny peripherals are unlikely too. What Garland will give you is 30-plus starts and more than 60 percent quality starts by changing speeds and locations and by getting batters to beat the ball into the ground.

The Tribe was primed to trot out a groundball-heavy rotation prior to Roberto Heredia’s arrest. Should Garland return to form, he could add some more ground balls to a staff that already includes Heredia (should he return this season), Justin Masterson, Derek Lowe, and Ubaldo Jimenez. Another storyline to watch for is if Garland can out-pitch Heredia (again, should he be allowed to return to the States). Bill James' and ZIPS projections knows not of Garland’s surgery, but Garland’s projected 4.39 earned run average is close to Carmona’s 4.33 figure. Heck, is it even silly to think Garland may have out-pitched Carmona over the past three seasons?

 * QS- Quality Start

Joe: We have come to the last installment of four in our discussions of the Cleveland Indians roster make-up. All that is left to discuss is the unit known as the Bullpen Mafia. How do you feel about the Mafia?

Mike: Unlike the real mafia, bullpens are extremely hard to predict. There is very little correlation between how a bullpen performs collectively one year and how it does the next. What we saw last year was rare so our expectations should be tempered a little bit.

Joe: Bullpens as a whole may be difficult to predict, but individual pitchers are not. Bob Wickman played for many years for the Tribe and was the same pitcher every year. Mariano Rivera has been throwing the exact same pitch over and over for a decade with the same results. The unpredictability comes from the lower levels of the bullpen and new players.

Mike: You named two pitchers out of how many that make up a bullpen every year? Chris Perez was a lucky guy last year. He earned a .234 BABIP easily the lowest on the team. That will be higher this year so you can expect a higher ERA.

Joe: He may regress a little bit, but the way he pitches will keep him successful. He's a hard thrower who doesn't mess around and throws strikes. He also has a swing and miss ability that has been missing from the closer's role since Jose Mesa. I'm not worried about Perez at all. Here's another player I'm not worried about at all, his set up man, Vinnie Pestano.

Mike: I agree. Perez’s strikeout per nine rate has plummeted while the league average rate has risen, with the same being true for his strikeout-to-walk ratio. This could partially be due to his fastball and slider both losing a mile per hour in velocity. The downward trending peripherals did not destroy Perez’s production last year, but they are a serious cause for concern entering this season. Combine the possibility of Perez’s results imploding and Pestano’s sustaining – his minor league FIP in 2010 was below 2.00 – and you get a player that should at absolute worst should be Pestano's set-up man.

Joe: I actually prefer the better pitcher to be the set-up man. It might not make sense at first, but the closer almost always comes in for a single inning with the bases clean. The set-up man can come in for multiple innings or match up against one hitter. He also needs to be available if there's a bases loaded jam and you can't trust anyone else to get out of it. Give the respect and the title to the player with more years, but the more important role to the better pitcher.

Mike: Thank God you are not GM! It's should go to whoever the best reliever is. Period. The name of "closer" should be renamed to "ace reliever."

Joe: Guess some one's a little behind on their Moneyball. We've named two members, but there are five more spots to go. Two of those will go to left handed specialists Tony Sipp and Rafael Perez while another goes to the side armer Joe Smith. I maintain my confidence with the later, however it slightly wains with the formers. How say you?

Mike: Tony Sipp has more upside simply because he has less career innings under his belt than Perez. Although, situationally, Perez has better splits against righties; making him more than a one hitter guy thus making him more valuable.

Joe: The only thing that bothers me about Sipp was the increase in his home run rate last season. He is still young and capable of returning to form, but he's a more likely victim of the bullpen unpredictability that you mentioned earlier.
With two players left to fill out the roster, there are suddenly a lot of choices. Frank Herrmann, Nick Hagadone, Corey Kluber who all saw time in the pen last year, Spring Training invitees Jeremy Accardo, Chris Ray, Robinson Tejada and Dan Wheeler along with a couple end of the rotation starters like Jeanmar Gomez, David Huff, Jon Garland, Kevin Slowey are all options. Pick two.

Mike: I'm high on Dan Wheeler (reference my article). Also, Nick Hagadon has nasty stuff. If you can remember, he was essentially the deal-breaker in the Victor Martinez to Boston deal; if the Tribe didn't receive Hagadone the deal was off the table. Live fastball and greak makeup for the bullpen. You'll see him have an increased role this year. Is it possible to have three lefties in the back-end of the bullpen?

Joe: You could have seven lefties if some of them could pitch against right handed hitters. Hagadone has starter stuff and I'd love to see him in the pen by the end of the season if he doesn't start. I would start this season with Harvard and either Wheeler or Chris Ray with Jeanmar Gomez and Hagadone ready to go at a moments notice. It will be interesting to see how some of these invites sort themselves out this Spring.

Mike: Ok, Drew Carey. I do not believe the bullpen will be as good as it was last year numbers wise. But it will be one of the best in the league and will be a strength; unlike in Detroit where they can only dream of having arms like ours.

Joe: But they do have Clint Eastwood, so there's something. That wraps it up for this year's preseason Indians Arguments. Stick around all year for more fun and hijinks. See you at Spring Training!

Andre Thornton was the first full time designated hitter for the Cleveland Indians. The Tribe spent the first few years after the implementation of the DH in 1973 plugging in various players, but didn't really have anyone who fit the role until Thornton. From 1977 until 1979 he played first and lead the team as the top offensive player. He then missed all of the 1980 season and was replaced at first by a youngster by the name of Mike Hargrove. Upon his return to the team in 1981 he was changed to DH to allow Grover to stay at first. By the next season Thornton was back to the top of his game, turning in the best season of his career with 32 home runs and 116 RBI. His 109 walks and 161 games from that year remain in the top 10 single season totals for the Indians all time.

As far as his career goes, he was two home runs short of making the top five Indians all time. When he hit his 214th home run it was good for fourth all time as an Indian, but he has been passed since by a trio of 1990's power hitters in Jim Thome, Albert Belle and Manny Ramirez. He remains in the top ten in career walks (and strikeouts) as well. His Silver Slugger in 1984 was the first awarded to a member of the Cleveland Indians. The power hitting first baseman with the big glasses didn't get to enjoy much success while playing with the team, entering and exiting during the down portion of the last century for the Tribe (from 1957-1993), but he will be remembered forever in Indians history as a member of the Cleveland Indians Hall of Fame (class of 2007).