Jolbert Cabrera...

[Alex]

Perhaps it's time to forget about Jolbert's "Versatility"...and instead think of him as saving the club 7 or 8 million dollars a year!

I think Jolberts strongest postions are centerfield, left-field, and third base.

Jolbert is definitely better than a less than 100 percent Travis Fryman, and would have been Kenny Lofton's equal if he had been a shot in centerfield.

If we find a position that Jolbert's output would be equivalent to what we are currently getting, but at a mere fraction of the cost...wouldn't that be the most effective way to plug him into the line-up?

We don't lose output, but the team SAVES millions of dollars in salary.

Unfortunately, by signing Lawton and Gutierrez, we have pretty much relegated Jolbert to forever be a utility player.

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Alex

[This message has been edited by Alex (edited December 25, 2001).]

[The Crank]

Tells you what the Indians think of Jolbert, doesn't it? Reality is he does not have the OBP to be a cf/leadoff hitter, is a good defensive 3b but does not hit enough, and your posts to the contrary can not hit as well as Guiterrez.

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[Wally Cleaver]

Jolbert Cabrera is strictly a utilty player, the more he plays the more his weaknesses are exposed. He simply can't hit enough to be a everyday player. Replacing Fryman with Jolbert is another stupid idea Alex, Third base is a power position, Jolberts one home run a year does not qualify him for a power position but then again you prefer the weak stick of Mcdonald over Guitterez who hit .290 last year. If anything we should play Branyan at third not a weakling like Cabrera at third.

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[This message has been edited by Wally Cleaver (edited December 25, 2001).]

[srg]

Funny how there is so much intigue over weak hitters as Johnny Stiff and Jolbert Cabrera but a proven hitter like RickyG gets bashed by the simpletons on this board. A .291 AVG by Guitterez last year is ridiculed but .244 in Buffalo and .261 with 1 homer by Cabrera deserves more Playing time Unbelievable

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[Alex]

Missing the point guys.

Jolbert in Center, Roberto at second, Juan Gone in Right field...

That's the point.

Save 7 million in center by replacing Kenny with Jolbert.

Finley's contract was front loaded...save another 6-7 million.

Burba's gone, save another 5 million.

Rocker gone, save another 3 million.

That's a 21 million dollar savings!....Juan would have gotten a 2 million dollar raise...

We have shaved our payroll by 19 million, AND KEPT Juan and Robbie for the next two years...BECAUSE THEY DO WANT TO PLAY TOGETHER.

If we need to shave it any more, ask Nagy to help up us with his 6-7 million dollar contract...I'm sure he would restructure it...

and finally, ask Hart to take Cordero off of our hands, something could have been worked out...an additional 4 million dollar savings.

Jolbert put up better offensive numbers than Travis Fryman did last year, and Jolbert was Kenny's equal in the outfield.

Sure there are better players out there, but if money is going to influence all of our decisions...then getting a guy who will deliver 80%-90% at 10-20% of the cost...is a steal...and allows you to keep your superstar players.


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Alex

[This message has been edited by Alex (edited December 25, 2001).]

[The Crank]

You are missing the point.

Cabrera is NOT an every day player. He is NOT the solution in CF/Leadoff hitter.

And all that money you say we would have saved would have been spent on keeping us the same place that we were. Old, slow and expensive.

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[the teacher]

alex, you keep forgetting that the rest of the payroll doesn't stay static from last year. you can't just subtract burba or whomever and arrive at this year's payroll. there are substantial raises to other players built into the 2002 payroll: diaz, shuey, etc. we have to cut back just to stay even.

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The Teacher

[Alex]

Certainly these raises were not that large, nor anywhere near as large as the reductions.

I find it interesting that some are saying that Robbie and Juan are "old", past their prime.

Nonsense...they each have at least two more years of greatness in them.

We would have plenty of time to work Bradley and Branyan into the mix.

New York had many "old" players on their team.

They did fine, and then, when those players retired or weren't brought back, they used the freed up money to immediately get other talent.

With the young pitching talent we now have, the best complement to them would be a starting nine that changes gradually over time.

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Alex

[This message has been edited by Alex (edited December 25, 2001).]

[the teacher]

juan and robbie are at the tail-end of their prime: not the time to sign juan, and the perfect time to trade robbie.

and sure, everyone would love to keep the same $100 million starting nine and gradually mix in new guys, ala new york.. but we're not new york, we don't have new york's money. it ain't an option. we've got to get to $80 million.

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The Teacher

[Alex]

Is the teacher fudging numbers?

We were at 93 million...it looks like we could have kept Robbie and Juan, and still dropped payroll between 18-25 million...

that puts us around 71 million...

Then add probably around 5-8 million in raises...

We end up around 76-79 million.

Right around where Dolan wanted to be...

AND, we ensure plus 40,000 a night crowds.

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Alex