LaPorta has surgery on left hip, big toe

Is their anyone else headed for surgery? Every other week there is someone else having surgery.

"In a related story, Cleveland Indians beat writer Anthony Castrovince will be undergoing arthroscopic surgery today on his right index finger. Castrovince claims he hurt the finger back in July, while covering all the trades the Indians were making. The surgery will be performed by Dr. Thomas Graham, who has also been reconstructing Adam Miller's finger for the past three years. Apparently, Castrovince's finger caused him significant pain, but he refused to stop coming to work. "He's a grinder, that's for sure," said former Tribe skipper Eric Wedge. "If there is someone out there who can cover 162 games a year, healthy or not, it's AC." While it is not yet known if Castrovince will be healthy at the beginning of spring training or not, he is certainly looking forward to the time off. In his words, he is going to "Sit in my office, which smells of rich mahogany, and read my many leather bound books, during the day. And at night, roam the bars of Court Street."

lol pigeon. When will Lonnie have an update on his recovery?

They are holding a press conference tomorrow. And the timing couldn't be worse, as the Indians signed Castrovince to an extension through 2013, and he is set to earn 14 million a year.

Seriously, pigeon, maybe you should start writing a comedy column for this blog. Funny ha-ha, not funny sad, as AC, unfortunately, has the funny sad material covered (through no fault of his own, of course).

Hahaha.....Nice. Well crafted, Pigeon.

quality stuff there pigeon

Love it. Nice work, pigeon.

Thanks a lot guys, I appreciate it. The said thing is this story wouldn't surprise me at all. Again, I appreciate the compliments.

Thanks a lot guys, I really appreciate it. The sad thing is this story wouldn't surprise me at all. But seriously, thank you for the compliments.

Hmmm... didn't mean to post twice. My bad.

Nothing is surprising about the Indians season this year. Heck - I wouldn't doubt it if Matt Underwood went on the DAL (Designated announcers list... LOL made it up myself) for strepth throat ** don't make fun of me if I didn't spell it right. ** : ) My dad thought that Andy Van Slyke would look good as the new coach of the Indians?

AC: Anyone: What are your thoughts?

Stop by the blog.

Ted
http://tribewithted.mlblogs.com/

I guess I missed that little spot where AC mentions that LaPorta's recovery will be 4-6 months. Ouch...
Even in the best case scenario, he will be behind schedule. I wonder how that will affect the opening day lineup. I guess the Andy Marte trial period has been extended by a few weeks.

jk, that was my first thought, I'd say it guarantees that they hang onto both Marte and Jordan Brown

Is Matt LaPorta becoming Michael Aubrey 2.0?

bvielhaber, I would strongly doubt that. I'm really not worried about this LaPorta thing, other than him having a late start.
ST, honestly, now that I think about it, I would rather see Jordan Brown spell LaPorta than Marte. Marte has had several opportunities on the MLB level, and has never really shown the consistent quality at bats like he did in Columbus this year. I would like to see what Brown can do, and if he just doesn't fit in to our plans, then it would be a good opportunity see if he is ready to "show case" his MLB potential for a trade opportunity. I say all this, but think Marte will still have a spot on the opening day roster. With Peralta being so patchy this year, having Marte available for third base would be worth the roster spot.
Back to Brown, I know we aren't expected to make any moves this offseason, and dealing prospects would be way outside the current trend, but, I see Brown as an opportunity for another solid reliever or pitching prospects. Something similar to the Gutierrez for Smith/Valbuena. Thoughts?

I don't know that Brown has any value as it stands, goes back to the argument that the Indians should have called him up for September ... I argued at the time that they should rest Hafner and call up Brown, it he'd hit well in the 30 or so games it would at least have increased his trade value, if he didn't hit well, no loss ... I would say the best reason to hang onto Brown would actually be to hedge against Hafner being unable to perform, the problem with playing Brown at 1b is it would give the Indians almost an exclusively LH lineup, so Marte would have to be the first choice to fill in for Laporta, but if Laporta starts the season on the DL it would be good to have Brown on the team as an option ... I was for an offseason trade of Peralta for a reliever, but I think now that Peralta played himself out of any value and they may actually be better off hanging onto him, if he has a good 1st half they could get something for him with a deadline deal ... I think Brown and Marte currently are worth more as backups in case of injuries than as trade-bait, because I don't think they'd get anything for either player in a trade.