The 2012 Playoffs-The ALDS

As the 2009 season drags ever onward (Spring Training started 8 and a half months ago on February 12th!), I decided I'd take a look ahead at the 2012 playoffs and what to expect (well hope to expect). It beats watching all those ex-Indians excel in the playoffs.....

Coming off a strong 95 win season, the Cleveland Indians won the AL Central by a robust 9 games and captured the two seed in the playoffs. Their opponent: the AL East-winning Yankees and winners of 92 games, having edged out the Red Sox for the AL East crown by a game. The fourth seeded Red Sox played the first seeded Texas Rangers, winners of 105 games.

Game 1 of the ALDS (New York Yankees at Cleveland Indians)

Cleveland's Lineup:
LF-L Michael Brantley
CF-L Grady Sizemore
C-S Carlos Santana
1B-R Matt LaPorta
RF-L Shin Soo Choo
DH-R Manny Ramirez
SS-S Asdrubal Cabrera
3B-L Lonnie Chisenhall
2B-R Jason Donald

RHP Hector Rondon

New York's Lineup:
CF Austin Jackson
2B Robinson Cano
1B Mark Texieria
RF Matt Holliday
C Jesus Montero
3B Alex Rodriguez
DH Nick Swisher
SS Stephan Drew
LF Derek Jeter

LHP CC Sabathia

Game 1 Summary:
The game started out well for the tribe as Michael Brantley walked, stole second, advanced to third on a ground out by Grady Sizemore and scored on a Carlos Santana sac fly. Manny Ramirez, who signed a 1 year 4 million dollar deal over the offseason to give the prominently left-handed lineup some balance and spell the oft-injured Travis Hafner, made it 2-0 tribe on a towering solo homer in the second. However, CC Sabathia handled the Indians from there, allowing just two more hits and a walk the rest of the game. Hector Rondon was roughed up allowing 5 runs over 5.1IP including 5BB. Despite a terrible, injury-filled season (.257, 14 HR), Alex Rodriguez went 3-5 with a double, homer and 3 RBI.

Box 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 R H E
NYY 0 0 2 1 0 3 1 0 0 = 7 12 0
CLE 1 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 = 2 4 1

Noteables: NYY Sabathia CG, 4 H, 2ER, BB, 9 K's
CLE Ramirez 1-3 HR, RBI

Game 2:
The Yankees used the exact same lineup and turned to free agent pickup Matt Cain (14-8 3.78 ERA) for game 2. The Indians turned to Carlos Carrasco and used the same lineup except young Nick Weglarz (who was called up following a shoulder injury to Hafner in July) got the call at DH instead of Ramirez and left handed hitting Luis Valbuena replaced Jason Donald.

Mark Texieria welcomed Carlos Carrasco to his first postseason with a 2 run shot in the first and Austin Jackson's two run double in the second made it 4-0 Yankees early. Matt Cain was perfect through 4 1/3 innings, but ran into trouble in the 5th when Shin-Soo Choo rocketed a solo homer to destroy his perfect game, no hitter and shutout. Cain surrendered hits to Weglarz and Cabrera before Lonnie Chisenhall roped a 2 run double into the right field corner making the score 4-3 Yankees. Carrasco was yanked after 5 and the Indians bullpen held it a one run game until the 9th. The Yankees closer Phil Hughes was almost perfect through the season converting 46 of 48 save opportunities and had the Indians down to their last out before Luis Valbuena rocked a 2B into the right center alley to plate Asdrubal Cabrera. In the 10th, Joba Chamberlain struck out
Grady Sizemore to begin the inning, but walked Santana and LaPorta before giving up a game winning single to Shin Soo Choo. Indians win 5-4.

Box 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 R H E
NYY 2 2 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0=4 12 0
CLE 0 0 0 0 3 0 0 0 1 1=5 10 0

Notables: NYY Texieria 1-3 2 BB, HR, 2RBI
CLE Choo 3-5 HR, 2 RBI


Game 3
AJ Burnett toed the rubber for the Yankees for only 3+ innings allowing 6 runs and 5 walks. A bases loaded 3-run double by Carlos Santana finished him with no outs in the 4th. Rookie of the Year TJ House pitched 5 strong before running into trouble in the 6th inning. With one out, House gave up gave up consecutive doubles to Mark Texieria and Matt Holliday and would be yanked after he issued a walk to Jesus Montero. In relief of House, Zach Putnam struck out Alex Rodriguez, but gave up a 3 run homer to Nick Swisher to cut the lead to 6-5 Indians. In the 7th, the tribe's bullpen ran into further trouble as Jess Todd and Tony Sipp coughed up 2 runs to get the Yankees a 7-6 lead. Bobby Jenks, who'd thrown a perfect 7th for the bronx bombers, ran into trouble in the 8th issuing walks to Luis Valbuena and Michael Brantley before Grady Sizemore connected on a double into the right field corner. Valbuena easily scored, but a terrific relay throw from Robinson Cano gunned Brantley down at the plate. 7-7, mid-8th. Nick Hagadone came on for the tribe and struck out the side to go to preserve the tie into the 9th. Phil Hughes came on for the Yankees and after taking care of Santana and LaPorta, Shin-Soo Choo connected on a 2-2 fastball into the gap for a 2 out triple. Hughes threw the very next pitch about 56 feet and Montero was unable to prevent it from going all the way back to the backstop. Choo scampered home to make it 8-7 tribe going into the bottom of the 9th. Seemingly shaken by the obnoxious Yankee crowd, Cleveland closer Chris Perez walked Mark Texieria on 4 pitches to begin the inning. After falling Perez fell behind 3-1, Matt Holliday connected on a fastball for a base hit up the middle putting runners on 1st and 3rd with none out. Jesus Montero, first pitch swinging, popped up to the 2B to give Perez his first out. With the tying run on 3rd and winning run on 1st, A-Rod stepped up to the plate and swung through two 97 MPH fastballs to fall into an 0-2 hole. He slammed the next Chris Perez offering, but right into Matt LaPorta's glove, who is able to tag out Holliday before he can retreat back to first. Indians win 8-7.

Box 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 R H E
CLE 1 0 0 5 0 0 0 1 1= 8 11 1
NYY 1 0 0 0 4 0 2 0 0= 7 12 1

Notables: NYY Nick Swisher 2-4 BB, HR, 3 RBI
CLE Carlos Santana 4-5, 2 2B, HR, 4 RBI

Game 4
Three hours prior to game 4, the NY Post leaked a story claiming that A-Rod had had an affair with CC Sabathia's wife. A-Rod came out of the dugout with a black eye, which he claimed was caused by his dog. Sabathia seemed shaken in this crucial start allowing three Indians run in the first two frames. After settling down and pitching scoreless 3rd and 4th innings, Sabathia coughed up another 3 over the next two innings and it took him 131 pitches to get through 6. Justin Masterson seemed unfazed by the pressure yielding only two solo homers to Texieria and Swisher over 6 innings of quality work. Already down 6-2, the Yankees bullpen imploded in the 7th. Jenks and Chamberlain walked 5 batters between them and Lonnie Chisenhall capped the inning off with a grand slam to give the tribe 7 in the 7th. A dejected and divided Yankees dugout watched as Aaron Laffey retired all 9 batters he faced and the Indians mobbed the center of the diamond with their 2nd ALDS victory at Yankee stadium in 6 years.

Box 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 R H E
CLE 2 1 0 0 1 2 7 1 0 = 14 14 1
NYY 0 1 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 = 2 6 1

Notables: NYY CC Sabathia 6.0IP 8H, 6 ER, 4BB, 8K's
CLE Lonnie Chisenhall 2-5 HR, 6 RBI

ALCS matchup Cleveland vs. Boston (next week).

Your Pal,
Alex Trebek

PS: Don't be afraid to comment and tell me what you think!

My thoughts on Acta

On this gorgeous Indian summer day in Ohio (pun intended), I'd like to give my two cents on the tribe's hire of Manny Acta. Although other writers (ie Pluto, Cousineau and Lastoria) have already covered this hire in far more depth than I intend to here, I hope to add my take to the historical record. Personally, I'm pleased by the move. It doesn't feel like a slam dunk to me, but Acta seems to be the best choice available.

I suggested earlier on this blog that I wanted Bobby V as the tribe's next manager. Bobby V would have been a lot of fun and I'm sure, if he'd accepted the job, he would have clawed and fought as hard as anybody for this ballclub. However, I have a sinking suspicion that Bobby V simply wanted to raise his profile again and show he's "back in business." The rebuilding project in Cleveland just seems wrong for a personality as big as Bobby V (remember Piniella in Tampa Bay?). I wouldn't be surprised if he ends up the manager of the Mets, Dodgers, Cubs or Braves after next season. It appears likely those teams will have openings after 2010 and Bobby V's personality would mesh best with a bigger market and more established team.

Well, back to the man of the hour. I'm impressed that by Acta's energy and youthfulness and I'm glad the tribe picked somebody who values advanced statistics to a veteran retread manager (sorry Grover). I believe that Acta's legacy in Cleveland will hinge upon his work with our latino players. The underachieving trio of Fausto Carmona, Jhonny Peralta and Rafael Perez have stagnated, or in Carmona's case fallen off a cliff, since early successes in their respective careers. It's hard to remember, but Fausto finished 4th in the CY Young vote as a 23 year old, when Peralta was 23 he had an OPS of .886 and just two years ago Perez looked to be the next big thing as far as left handed relievers go. But most importantly, there are two electric latino arms in AAA that could spell success or doom for this latest rebuild. Acta has a reputation for being a good manager of young players, but will he be able to channel the immense talents of Rondon and Carrasco? I think that's what will determine the success of his regime.

Alex Trebek

PS: I've got a fun post scheduled for Wednesday or Thursday, so make sure to stop by!

The Starting Pitching Plan

After an optimistic look at the tribe's farm system and offense, their pitching is a downer.  Despite 4 months of Cliff Lee, the tribe had the 2nd worst team ERA (5.06) in all of baseball right behind Washington (5.00, 103 losses) and ahead of Baltimore (5.13, 98 losses).  Yikes.  The only consolation is that the Indians' pitching couldn't get much worse.  Without further ado and grumbling, here's what our starting pitching looks like going into 2010.

SP Jake Westbrook.  Westbrook won 49 games between 2004 and 2006 and looked to be about as steady as a pitcher comes.   He took a signed a discounted extension of 3 years and 33 million dollars (2008-2010) at the beginning of the 2007 season.  The tribe's rock-solid #2 starter looked to be a fixture in the Indians' rotation for years to come.  However, after a decent 2007 and admirable effort in game 7 of the ALCS (after Sabathia and Carmona laid large respective eggs the two games before), Westbrook made 5 starts over 2008 and 2009, although he did sport a good 3.12 ERA (sarcasm).  Coming off Tommy John Surgery, Westbrook hopes to be back at the beginning of the 2010 campaign, but take this with a grain of salt because he was supposed to be back in June of 2009, but well that didn't happen.  As it stands, Westbrook is a big old question mark.

SP Justin Masterson.   I guess Masterson is the de facto #2 starter as it stands.  His CG, 4H, 12K performance to end the year places him above Aaron Laffey and his 2IP, 8ER performance on this list.  Masterson has an exciting, electric arm and is fun to watch.  Although I have some reservations about the Lee trade, the Martinez trade which netted Masterson, Nick Hagadone and Brian Pryce looks like a solid return to me.  Although he has a tough time against lefties (.869 OPS against), righties can't hit him (.586 OPS against).  On an encouraging note, amongst pitchers with at least 120 IP in '09 his FIP (4.04) was roughly the same as Matt Cain (3.89) and James Shields (4.02) plus he's only 25 next year.  I think he could easily settle in as a league average starter by as early as next year and potentially could become a #2/3 guy.

SP Aaron Laffey busted onto the big league scene after Cliff Lee's demotion to AAA during the 2007 season (seems like another world, eh?).  He pitched admirably that season and got the call again early in the 2008 season.  He pitched well until a rocky July and after another demotion he found himself back in the minors.  After a brief stint in the minors in April of 09, Laffey established himself as the Indians' second best pitcher in April and May (as a starter and reliever) until a damn oblique injury shelved him until mid-July.  Overall, he pitched well for the tribe, but faded badly at the end of the season.  His ERA ballooned from 3.36 on September 2 to 4.44 by the end of the season (only 5 starts).  Hopefully, Laffey (just 25) can regain his consistency and provide some quality work in 2010.  Does 30 starts, 11 wins and a 4.40 ERA sound about right?

SP David Huff received the call up to the majors in mid-May and led the team with 11 wins.  He sported an ugly ERA of 5.61, but his FIP was decent (4.69) and identical to Clay Buchholz (who is 8 days Huff's senior).  Huff is older (26) than both Laffey and Masterson and needs to work on his BB/K numbers (1.59 in Cleveland in 2010) and hopefully he'll come closer to his AAA mark of 5.40 in 2008 (16 starts).  I like Huff better than Sowers, but I think he's probably just a number 4 or 5 starter.

SP Fausto Carmona.  I could say a lot here, but everybody knows his story.  Rocky 2006, Great 2007, Rocky 2008, Awful 2009.  Carmona's arm is excellent, but his head is all over the place.  He's capable of brillance, but he's disrupted by his volatile emotions too often.  I think Rob Neyer put it best back on July 30th:   

"Carmona seems to me a delicate sort of flower, who will always be just a lousy outing or a small injury from shriveling again, perhaps permanently."

Sadly, I think Carmona peaked in Game 2 of the 2007 ALDS. But, I've been wrong before and Carmona is only 26 next year.

This pitching staff could be decent, but I believe that there are so many question marks (health, inexperience, composure), that it will be well below average.  I'm a fan of Hector Rondon and Carlos Carrasco (despite his lousy MLB debut), but I'd like them both to get some more seasoning at AAA.  Rondon is just 22 next year while Carrasco is just 23.  I fear Carrasco could turn into a Carmona redux, a great arm (from the scouting reports I've read he has an above average fastball, change and curve), but poor control over his emotions.  I wouldn't put too much credence into his September debut (take a look at the horrendous early MLB experiences of Roy Halladay, Chris Carpenter and Johan Santana).  Both of these guys have top of the rotation potential and that's a welcome change from the long line of soft toss lefties this system has produced of late. 

I'd spend 4 or 5 million on an innings eater to provide some consistency for this staff (like Pavano last year).  The free agent market is littered with pitchers with question marks and who would probably accept a one year contract at a moderate salary (Bedard, Duchscherer, hell even Pavano himself).

Here's a look at our probably 2010 staff:

RHP Jake Westbrook

RHP Justin Masterson

LHP Aaron Laffey

LHP David Huff

RHP Fausto Carmona/Free agent signing

Depth:

RHP Carlos Carrasco

RHP Hector Rondon

LHP Jeremy Sowers (who I like as a long man in the bullpen)

RHP Anthony Reyes (just kidding)

There's a number of guys at AA/AAA who'd probably be ok to spot start (like Scotty "Shoddy" Lewis), but I won't bother to meticulously list them here.

One last thing, I hope the Indians hire Bobby V.  I know he's expensive, but the tribe saved a ton of money through their firesales of the past two years.  Valentine would be a tireless promoter of this ballclub and fight for every inch.  He's got a fire that I like and this team has lacked.  He might even get Jhonny Peralta to elicit an emotion......

Alex Trebek

PS: Twitter: "trebek90"

$ Cash Money $- An offseason plan

Parents weekend is an October tradition here at Kenyon College.  Cars have clogged the streets and green spaces and parents attending classes make finding a seat an unnecessary ordeal.  To cope with this often aggravating situation, I'm lying low this evening until the elders head off to bed and I can reclaim my campus with my fellow young adults.  Until then, I'll escape into a baseball fantasy world.

Although one never knows in this lousy division, contention just doesn't look plausible for the tribe next year (forgive me if you've heard that before).  The tribe v. 2010 looks strikingly similar to the v. 2004.  Talented, but at least a year off.  With a payroll around $55 million assuming the Indians cut ties with Shoppach via trade or non-tender, the tribe looks fairly set.  I'd let the youngsters play to gain some experience.  Here's a look around the diamond at the hitters:

C- I'd suggest, and I'd imagine the Indians will, play some combination of Lou Marson and Wyatt Toregas for the first two months of the season.  Carlos Santana looks good to go hitting wise after he posted a .290/.413/.530 line at AA following his monster 2008 season, however he could use a little seasoning at AAA.  By all accounts, he's an excellent blocker and has a cannon of an arm behind the plate, but his English needs improvement and his game calling from what I hear is lousy.  Plus by keeping Santana in Columbus until June, they can avoid Santana becoming a super 2 and have him through 2013 as a non-arbitration eligible player and 2014-2016 as arbitration eligible. 

1B- Well, a couple days ago I would have said Matt LaPorta should be a shoo in for this spot.  However with his 4-6 month recovery time, this possibly creates and opportunity for Andy Marte and Jordan Brown.  I don't really view Brown, 26, as much more than Ryan Garko and Marte is a slick fielder, but sports a laughable career line of .216/.272/.352, good for an OPS of .624 in 668 AB.  Whether it be Brown or Marte, they'll just be a fill in for Matt "Blue Chip" LaPorta.

2B- Luis Valbuena's line of .250/.298/.416 doesn't look particularly impressive to the naked eye, but as a 23 year old playing a premium position.... it looks good to me.  Valbuena isn't afraid to swing and I love the somewhat stunned expression on his face when he makes contact.  I wouldn't be surprised if in a couple years Valbuena consistently put up .280/.340/.460 seasons, pretty damn good from a 2B.  Baseball America even commented in its 2009 handbook "[Valbuena] has a higher offensive ceiling than Asdrubal Cabrera." And if Valbuena catches a case of the 2nd year hitting blues (like Asdrubal before him) or fails to improve his sometimes shaky defense, the tribe has Jason Donald to step in and show what he's got.   And, maybe, just maybe Omar Vizquel could be signed to help tutor the tribe's young 24 year old infielders in addition to selling tickets.

SS- Asdrubal Cabrera, Asdrubal Cabrera, Asdrubal Cabrera.  Asdrubal fulfilled his promise and proved himself to be a incredibly special young player in 2009.  His .799 OPS (already excellent for a SS) only ranked behind Pablo Sandoval, Justin Upton and Billy Butler amongst players 23 and younger.  He easily bested hyped rookies Colby Rasmus (.714) and Elvis Andrus (.702).  He's good with the glove too and only will improve with more time to adjust back to SS from 2B.  I hope the tribe offers this 23 year old stud a long term contract like the 6 year contract with a 7th year option offered Grady Sizemore after 2005 (with a little lower dollar amounts).  

3B- Ugh.  Jhonny Peralta's atrocious .690 OPS ranked him 10th from the bottom amongst qualified players in 2009.  I thought Peralta was ready for a breakthrough 30 HR season in his year 27 season.  However, he disappointed and regressed from his exceptional second half of 2008.  It's hard to believe he had 83 RBI.  Nonetheless, he's under contract for next year and should rebound at least to the .730-.750 OPS range which isn't god awful.  Where are you Chisenhall?

LF-Michael Brantley.  This 22 year old wasn't incredible in AAA this year, but I like his Kenny Lofton-esque spark-plug style and 46 steals in 5 months.  From Keith Law's September 1 blog: 

"Michael Brantley, CF, Cleveland: Brantley has great bat speed combined with outstanding bat control, which is how you can go 2,161 plate appearances in the minors with more walks (258) than strikeouts (190). He's also a plus runner and can play center field, although that position is occupied in Cleveland by Grady Sizemore at the moment. Brantley has below-average power, so playing in an outfield corner might be a stretch, although I think he'll hit for enough average to make it work."

That's encouragement enough for me.  I could see him developing into a .310/.400/.450 hitter in his prime (optimistic I know).

CF-Grady Sizemore.  Sizemore battled injuries all year and still had a .788 OPS, good for a CF.  He's an good fielder with excellent speed and is just entering his age 27 season.  The tribe is lucky to have him cheaply signed through 2012.  I think with good health, he'll bounce back to his 40 HR MVP potential over the next couple years.

RF-Shin-Soo Choo established himself as a premier player over the past year and a half.  He followed his .309/.397/.549 line of 2008 with a .300/.394/.489 in 2009.  A 20-20 guy with a cannon of an arm, he might be the Indians best corner outfielder since Juan Gonzalez in 2001. I hope the Indians lock him up this offseason for his four remaining years of team control and maybe his first year of free agency.

DH-Travis Hafner.  Hafner had a respectable year putting up a line of .272/.355/.470 in only 338 AB.  Hopefully next year, he can be healthy the entire year and give the tribe 500 AB of a veteran slugger this team desperately needs.  He'll never post a 1.098 OPS again, but I wouldn't be surprised if he managed 450 AB next year and a line of .275/.370/.500.  He didn't completely lose it, but he's not the slugger who took a big discount and signed a 4 year 57 million dollar extension to be a DH in 2007.

There you have it.  While the Indians look to have an above average offense in 2010, the pitching well.... that's another story for another day.  

Alex Trebek

PS: Add me on twitter "trebek90" for irrelevant baseball banter all the time!

The Shape of Things to Come

Last season in Northern Ohio was tough, really tough.  At the beginning of April I remember I zealously predicted our Cleveland Indians to lose in the 7th game of the ALCS this year and then win it all in 2010.  But then the season began..... The Indians slipped to 0-3, then 1-7, and even further to 14-26.  I swore them off and despite brief glimmers of hope (the four game sweep of the Rays at the end of May and the 3 straight series wins culminating in Cliff Lee's gem on ESPN against the Cards) the Indians' season effectively ended with Prince Fielder's grand slam off of Rafael Perez on June 15th.  The Tribe played like garbage for a month and a half and chose to enter full rebuild mode when they traded DeRosa, Betancourt, Garko, Lee, Martinez and Pavano.  August brought hope for a brighter tomorrow with encouraging play, but September was atrocious and Michael Brantley's debut represented about the sole bright spot.

Sigh, the 2009 season will forever infamously stand with 1987 as one of the tribe's most disappointing seasons.  However, not all is lost.  The Indians still have an impressive, young offensive core built around Sizemore, Choo, Cabrera and LaPorta.  The Tribe's pitching is less shiny, but there's talent there too and incredible depth in the farm system.  Let's take a quick look at the state of affairs in the Indians organization as a whole. 

"The Young Core"                   

CF Grady Sizemore

SS Asdrubal Cabrera

RF Shin-Soo Choo

OF/1B Matt LaPorta

2B Luis Valbuena

SP Aaron Laffey

SP Justin Masterson

SP David Huff

SP Fausto Carmona (maybe)

RP Chris Perez

RP Tony Sipp

"Veterans"

SP Jake Westbrook

RP Kerry Wood

DH Travis Hafner

3B Jhonny Peralta

Note: I didn't add players to this list like Jeremy Sowers and Andy Marte who are at best decent role players.

As for the farm system, here are my top 20 (approx. expected arrival):

1. Carlos Santana-C (2010)

2. Lonnie Chisenhall-3B (2011)

3. Hector Rondon-RHP (2010)

4. Nick Hagadone-LHP (2011)

5. Michael Brantley-OF (2010)

6. Carlos Carrasco-RHP (2010)

7. Nick Weglarz-OF (2011-2012)

8. Jason Knapp-RHP (2012-2013)

9. TJ House-LHP (2012-2013)

10. Alexander Perez-LHP (2012-2013)

11. Alex White-RHP (2011)

12. Lou Marson-C (2010)

13. Jeanmar Gomez-RHP (2011)

14. Jason Kipnis-OF (2011)

15. Jess Todd-RHP (2010)

16. Bryan Price-RHP (2012)

17. Connor Graham-RHP (2010)

18. Eric Berger-LHP (2011)

19. Zach Putnam-RHP (2010)

20. Abner Abreu-3B/OF (2012-2013)

21. Chen-Chang Lee-RHP (2011-2012)

22. Beau Mills-1B (2011)

23. Jason Donald-2B/SS (2010)

24. Scott Barnes-LHP (2011)

25. Clayton Cook-RHP (2012-2013)

Other notables: LHP Kelvin de la Cruz, RHP Rob Bryson, RHP Yohan Pino, SS Carlos Rivero, 3B Matt McBride, OF Tim Fedroff, RHP Josh Judy, 2B Cord Phelps... etc (incredible depth here).

Here are a couple links from Project Prospect, one of my favorite prospect sites, with some goodies about the tribe's farm system in the rankings and chats (http://www.projectprospect.com/article/2009/09/01/top-25-position-prospects)

(http://www.projectprospect.com/article/2009/10/01/top-25-pitching-prospects)

The Indians are already fairly strong hitting-wise topside with the big question being "Who's pitching?"  Well, there seem to be definitive waves of arms on the way and hopefully Shapiro knows what he's doing.  Playoffs in 2011 and a World Series contender in 2012?  Maybe if these arms turn out....

Now I'm left to hope either John Farrell or Bobby Valentine becomes the next manager of this ballclub to lead us to greener pastures.

Your pal,

Alex Trebek

PS: Follow me on twitter: "trebek90"