Cleveland Indians

Following the Cleveland Indians' offseason has been like watching paint dry. New Tribe GM Chris Antonetti has followed his predecessor, Mark Shapiro, in playing the waiting game when going after players through free agency. Finally it would seem as though Tribe fans have something to get excited about.

According to Jordan Bastian of MLB.com, the Indians are close to signing free agent pitcher Jeremy Bonderman. The former first-round pick of the Oakland Athletics, Bonderman is no stranger to the Central Division. The right-hander has pitched for the Detroit Tigers since making his debut in 2003. 

Finally, some news of significance in regards to the Cleveland Indians.

I am pretty confident in saying the Indians have had the quietest offseason of any team this winter: Not one significant free agent signed, not one significant free agent lost, not one significant trade, not one nothing from the Indians.

The most significant move the Indians have made this offseason was bringing back Austin Kearns; I am not joking either—that’s been the level of their offseason.

Last year, Manny Acta made a splash by dropping Grady Sizemore to second in the batting order.  This year, he's considering moving him back to leadoff.  Is either the right move?  And how should the rest of the lineup look?

As good as he is, Evan Longoria is not single-handedly winning your fantasy baseball league for you. Why? Because most of the owners in your leagues are getting fairly off-setting numbers out of their first round picks.

However, the players discussed here could win you that championship, because while everyone is getting minimal value from their late-round picks, you could be getting early-round numbers.

With all of the attention put on the search for a third baseman, the Cleveland Indians might have just as much of a problem at second base this year.

Maybe the hole that is second base is being forgotten because some of the candidates for the third base job (Jayson Nix, Luis Valbuena) are originally second basemen. This compounds the problem, though. Nix and Valbuena probably should not be starters at either position.

Jordan Brown is a good baseball player.

Good enough to win an International League batting title in 2009. 

Good enough to win back-to-back MVP awards in 2006 and 2007. 

Good enough to be a third-team All-American at Arizona.

The Indians front office, as usual, was relatively dormant in the offseason. By now, everyone has heard the joke: "were the Indians even AT the Winter Meetings?". 

Still, with the ever-looming budget restrictions in mind, first-year GM Chris Antonetti made a series of smaller moves designed to support the team's core of young players. 

With so many of the Indians' offseason signings being minor league contracts for players who may not even make the Opening Day roster, it is difficult to grade Antonetti's performance before a single pitch has been thrown. 

Dear Mr. Antonetti:

Congratulations on your promotion to be the next General Manager of the Cleveland Indians.

I grew up watching the Indians of the 1980s, as John Addams' drumbeats echoed through the cavernous and usually empty Municipal Stadium. But when you're a kid, the fascination of simply seeing a major league game was good enough for me, But as I grew up, I learned more and more about the game itself, which not only made me a more informed fan, but a more critical one as well.

It’s easy to forget the immediate impact Carlos Santana had after being called up by the Cleveland Indians in mid-June. Before Santana’s season was cut short on August 2^nd by a knee injury, he managed to compile a .260 batting average with 23 R, 6 HR, 22 RBIs and 3 SB.