Since the last time I posted, the Tribe have managed to fall back to Earth, going from what at one point was a 7-game lead in the AL Central to now being 6.5 GB, and virtually eliminated from playoff contention.
Now, under normal circumstances, I'd still feel pretty good about the season--giving us hope that we have young guys that could continue to get better and maybe even turn the Indians into contenders. However, our (idiot) general manager felt our best move at the trade deadline was to trade away our top-two pitching prospects (Alex White & Drew Pomeranz) for a pitcher with a season ERA close to 5. You all know who I'm talking about--Ubaldo Jimenez.
The ONLY good thing about this trade (and trust me, I dug for days trying to find a positive) is that he'll be under control through at least 2013 (2014 player option as well) with a team-friendly contract. So if we somehow can manage to make a playoff push in the near future, he should still be on the team. (As for how much he can help, who knows. He's been rocked in half of his starts, and he's pitched great in the other half.)
Now, onto the reason for this post. One of the greatest Indians of all-time made his return to Cleveland in an Indians uniform tonight. I'm talking about Jim Thome, the Indians all-time leader in HR's. With Travis Hafner out for the season, the Indians picked up Thome as a fill-in DH for the rest of the season. It's awesome to have him back, even though we most likely won't see any monster Thome playoff HR's from him.
Oh well. Childhood flashbacks are good enough for me.
On to the Browns!
