Cleveland Indians

Times are tough in Cleveland, Ohio nowadays. The local economy, seemingly on the rebound everywhere else, continues to stagnate near the bottom of the national conscience. 

It is the middle of October, and the Indians are left at home watching playoff baseball for the third straight season. The Browns, with their third string rookie quarterback, lost to the Steelers, again—only by 18 points this time.  

Welcome to Tribe Talk, where Bleacher Report's Cleveland Indians fans weigh in on the ups and downs of the club each week throughout the season.

This week, we present our final installment of Tribe Talk for 2010, handing out our end-of-season awards for the team and sharing our final thoughts on the 2010 Cleveland Indians. 

I would like to thank participants Dale Thomas, Nino Colla, Lewie Pollis, and The Coop for their outstanding contributions this week and throughout the season. 

Three things are a given in this offseason. First, Omar Vizquel will be a free agent and has only a year or two left in the tank. Second, the Indians need a third baseman for one year, and badly. Third, career-shortstop Vizquel spent last year at third base for the Chicago White Sox and wasn't too bad there.

So, wouldn't it make sense to bring back one of Cleveland's finest from the glory years of the '90s?

The Indians' disappointing summer is finally over, finishing with a 69-93 record, but still beating out the Kansas City Royals for fourth place in the AL Central.

Before we look ahead to next season, let's hand out some awards for the Wahoo Warriors who deserve them most.

Not surprisingly, the Choo train tops the list.

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Welcome to Tribe Talk, where Bleacher Report's Cleveland Indians fans weigh in on the ups and downs of the club each week throughout the season.

This week, we fess up on whether we're glad the season is coming to an end, discuss the season's biggest bright spots and disappointments, and share our best ideas for attractions at the Progressive Field Winter Wonderland. 

The Indians, in a trade involving two former promising prospects, acquired shortstop turned second basemen turned outfielder Preston Mattingly from the Los Angeles Dodgers in exchange for outfielder Roman Pena. 

Welcome to Tribe Talk, where Bleacher Report's Cleveland Indians fans weigh in on the ups and downs of the club each week throughout the season.

This week, we talk rain delays, Shin Soo Choo's 20/20 season, what statistical benchmarks a team needs to hit to be a playoff contender, and whether the 2010 Indians are better, worse or equal to the 2009 team. 

It's been a bad year for Cleveland Indians fans.

Most of us Tribe faithful had low expectations when the season began. This was supposed to be a transition year, as the fruits of one of the deepest farm systems in the game got their first taste of the big leagues.

But even if they weren't supposed to be serious contenders, it's hard to see the Indians flailing behind even the Kansas City Royals in the basement of the AL Central without wondering how things went this wrong.

After toiling away in anonymity his first two seasons in professional baseball, Chun-Hsiu Chen, 21, has posted numbers guaranteed to vault his status among the game’s top catching prospects. 

The Indians signed the Taiwanese backstop in September 2007 for $300,000 after he  grabbed headlines the previous season during the World Junior Championships. 

Chen, a dominant force in the batter’s box and on the mound, hit .417, slugged .500, and his fastball clocked as high as 92 mph. 

Welcome to Tribe Talk, where Bleacher Report's Cleveland Indians fans weigh in on the ups and downs of the club each week throughout the season.

This week we discuss the fate of the Tribe's 2011 arbitration-eligible players, project next season's payroll, wonder what's wrong with Mitch Talbot, and share our thoughts on possibly playing spoiler for the Twins or the White Sox this month.