Tom Hamilton for the Indians, like Jim Donovan for the Browns, fit the city rather than the teams they work for. These two men see so little reason on the field for hope, but when something good happens, they get more excited than any other announcers in sports. Every Cleveland fan gets chills just thinking about their home run/touchdown calls. Cleveland is city that needs to believe, against all evidence, and the passion of the announcers helps sustain that irrational belief.

Jason Parks is hysterical.

I never read this feature in its old incarnation, but I like this.

"That's an impressive historic anomaly, one done away with when the mounds were lowered, the strike zone expanded..." Why would expanding the strike zone decrease strikeouts?

1971? Do you mean 1871?

I'm curious where Lonnie Chisenhall would have fit into this list if he hadn't been called up last week...

This is a really interesting analysis...thanks!

Amazing that the Indians didn't take more of these spots given all the at bats they handed to Luis Valbuena, Trevor Crowe, Matt Laporta, Jason Nix, Jason Donald, Michael Brantley, Lou Marson and Andy Marte. I have to think they were 2nd or 3rd place for CF, 2B, SS, 1B and 3B.

I am amazed by the level of hatred for Rose, not that anybody but his mom could love the guy. If I recall correctly, Rose only bet on his team to win, never to lose. How is that related to fixing games? Or am I mistaken?

Really interesting insight into the mindset of a young player still establishing himself in the majors. We think of the guys with real talent and good stats such as Chris Perez as being so powerful, and they seem as worried about being laid off as an auto factory worker.

I WISH Cliff Lee was still with the Indians...

Anybody else think the results aren't just interesting, but rather depressing? As a fan of one of the have nots, I'm starting to feel like a Washington Generals fan...

Beau Mills had a REALLY bad year at AA (.724 OPS) for a 23 year old who needs to make the big leagues as a middle of the order 1B/DH. Doesn't look good, like most of the Indians pre-2008 draft picks.

This Indians season has been an awful nagging pain. Now the good players are scattered across the country to make the contenders better, the expensive players are unable to play due to injury or not very good, the rotation is filled with young players who don't have much promise, and the minor leagues (we hope) is now stocked with the players other teams drafted who can make all of this right again someday. I want to believe, but it's difficult right now. Attendance next year is going to be bleak.

This is a great article. However, one point I'm confused on...is the line drive year-to-year correlation .17 (2nd paragraph) or .12 (6th paragraph)? Or am I misreading?

I would say that the Indians followed this advice to a "T" in signing Kerry Wood, but didn't get the same return on their investment that the Braves would have with Dunn.

The scale refers to major league average, not humankind; but if more than half the pitchers are above major-league average, the scale could use a bit of updating. We also have to remember that there are some radar guns that inflate the numbers a bit. It would be interesting to see the velocity groups compared by some pitching effectiveness metrics. My guess is that the higher the velocity, the higher the effectiveness (on average).

Love this article...reads like one of the chapters in "Between the Numbers".

One minor point...Hagadone came from the Red Sox in the Martinez deal.

You've got a problem...Jim Thome can't have hit for two different sluggling percentages (.962 and .953) in 2002.

I like reading this column every week, but I often wish that there was more context for the quotes, because often there are subjects around the league that an Indians-obsessed fan like myself is unaware of. For example, who is the bench player that is Chone Figgins speaking about?

Oh, and by the way, thanks Kevin. I love to read about all the teams top few prospects, but when you get to my beloved Tribe it\'s like Christmas. It seems like the Shapiro regime always has more quality depth in their system than any other team, but is usually short on lights-out talent. Last one we drafted was CC. Just bad luck not drafting five star guys, or does it speak to their strategy?

Did anyone else have trouble downloading the interview with Chris Antonetti? I only got the first 10 seconds of the interview.

Seems to me that the ratings for these guys are a bit overrated. The five star guys profiles read like the profiles of other teams\' four star guys, etc. Do scouts overhype the Red Sox and Yankees as much as commentators do?

I would have loved it if David had followed up with Mr. Laurilia\'s response about the MLB networks conflicting interest with a question about the inherent conflict of interest for ESPN. To me, ESPN has evolved from a useful and fairly unbiased reporter of sports into an almost unwatchable 24-hour commercial for its own (and ABC\'s) programming. Anyone else notice that ESPN\'s coverage of hockey declined markedly when it stopped carrying hockey? ESPN devotes the majority of its reporting and games to the Yankees, Mets, Red Sox, Phillies and Cubs (maybe add in a couple more). ESPN hypes the teams it shows on its network. They also waste Peter Gammons, the best talent in the industry, who gets 30 seconds at a time to talk when real baseball fans would like opportunities to hear him talk baseball forever.

Almost every sentence made me wince. I think we all need to learn to care to care as much about the Hall of Fame, because Chaz demonstrates what a sham the voting system is. But having been to Cooperstown, I can\'t make myself stop caring about the Hall of Fame. I think we\'re stuck feeling dejected.

Great article, but I see a few problems: 1) the 30 inning injury rule for starting pitchers (Joba) 2) bullpens tend to be very unpredictable, and it\'s unlikely all those relievers with no track record will be as good in 2009 as 2008. The bullpen needs a guaranteed league-average reliver as much as the rotation needs a league-average starter 3) Your rotation won\'t make 100 starts next year, and you can\'t expect the kind of years Petitte and Mussina delivered again next year. Even the Yankees have to get it right most of the time on their young players and high-priced additions, and they haven\'t. Now the bill comes due if the kids don\'t pan out.

He really is an amazing story. I didn\'t realize his stuff was considered that good. I can definitely confirm that he looks incredibly confident out on the mound. He makes pitching look so easy this year. It\'s gratifying to hear that as an Indians fan I can expect him to be a very good pitcher next year. Of course, then I suppose we won\'t be able to afford to keep him in 2010! Life as a Cleveland sports fan...