Cleveland Indians

Jhonny Peralta headed into 2009 as a player many people thought would help buoy their middle infield, providing power from a position that was generally viewed as a source of speed.  After hitting over 20 home runs in three of the previous four seasons, who could blame them?

It wasn’t only that, however.  After injuries forced Peralta to spend the majority of his time in the middle of the Indians order in 2008, he responded with career highs in RBIs (89) and runs (104).  There just wasn’t much not to like about him.

With the end of year (and decade) approaching, we here at The Dugout Sports Show would like to present our “Cleveland Indians All-Decade Team”. After hours of studying stats, and much careful consideration, we put together the best seasons at each individual position. Enjoy!

The Cleveland Indians were 816-804 during the decade, including 9-8 in the postseason, winning one postseason series, which came in 2007 against the New York Yankees.

After a full week of reporting the happenings of Major League Baseball’s Winter Meetings, I resolve to finally put this subject to bed. But before I do, I wanted to add a few final thoughts from this year’s meetings.

With the exception of ”The Trade,” this year’s Winter Meetings were fairly uneventful. There were a few minor deals, but overall, the meetings were relatively quiet.

It's the quiet ones that you never suspect.

If you asked who is the least likely on the Cleveland Indians to be involved in any sort of public situation unrelated to baseball, Grady Sizemore would probably the last person I'd think of.

Here is a superstar that seeks not to be a superstar. He strives for greatness on the field, but could do without the accolades and attention that comes with it. He doesn't seek out endorsements and if he does have any, they aren't big time sponsors.

The week after Thanksgiving is Open Season for bargain hunters. Holiday shoppers all over the country flock to Best Buy and Target in search of discounted products they don’t actually need.

As the spending surge tapers down, it is clear that the shrewdest customer of the last few days was Tampa Bay Rays GM Andrew Friedman, who acquired Kelly Shoppach from the Cleveland Indians on Tuesday.

Though I confess that I already knew, but was sworn to secrecy, I'm excited to officially announce the signing of right-hander Jason Grilli to a minor league deal with the Cleveland Indians with a big-league invitation to spring training.

Grilli will be given the opportunity to compete for a spot in the Indian's bullpen. If he makes the big league club, he'll earn $800,000 for the season.

Folgers Coffee is suing Grady Sizemore for taking racy photos with the product under no contract with the company.  

"If he's going to take pictures, nude or not, with our product then we want to make some marketing points with that," a Folgers CEO said.  "We want his sweet ass to make us some money...wait, don't quote that."

Conducting his second television interview in as many days, Manny Acta sat on the set of All Bets Are Off with Bruce Drennan knowing full well he was about to drop a bombshell.

The idea was brought up in the past few weeks and was even denied by Mets general anager Omar Minaya. However, when push came to shove, the idea was about to become a reality much to the delight of the entire city of Cleveland.