Indians following 2011 pattern?

[love_that_reefer]

Last offseason, the Indians made one major league deal with Orlando Cabrera. The rest were nothing but minor league deals. This offseason, it's more of the same. So far they have signed Ryan Spilborghs, Fred Lewis, Felix Pie, Chris Ray, Robinson Tejada, Andy LaRoche, Matt Pagnozzi and Jeremy Accardo to minor league deals. They also traded for Derek Lowe to bolster the rotation. Last year, this strategy worked with an 11 game jump from the previous year and a second place finish in the Central. Of course other factors helped that but the Indians didn't have to dig deep in the pockets to improve. Will the strategy work again? We'll see.

[love_that_reefer]

Indians traded for Kevin Slowey today.

[Kingdom]

I don't know how much of a strangehold Detroit has on the division, I guess it largely depends on the rotation after Verlander. Is Fister flukish? Do Porcello or Scherzer put it all together finally? They have an ace, they have a franchise bat. I don't know, seems like there's good potential for the division to be weird and up in the air. I think that even before Victor Martinez got hurt.

I would pick Detroit still but I would imagine you're going to get a fight from Cleveland, possibly KC, and Minnesota can't possibly be that bad a second year in a row..right? I think Cleveland's chances come down to production from Kipnis, Santana, Choo rebounding, and if Ubaldo pitches more like 2010.

[love_that_reefer]

Add Julio Lugo to the list.

[love_that_reefer]

Now add Dan Wheeler to the list.

[love_that_reefer]

Cleveland acquired versatile Russ Canzler, the top player in the International League last season, on Tuesday from the Tampa Bay Rays for cash.

The 25-year-old Canzler played four positions -- right and left field, third and first base -- last season for Triple-A Durham, where he batted .314 with 18 homers and 83 RBIs in 131 games for the Bulls. Canzler made his major league debut for the Rays on Sept. 11 and had one hit in three games.

Not a bad pickup it seems.

[love_that_reefer]

Indians signed Jon Garland to a minor league contract.

[zodious]

Indians signed Jon Garland to a minor league contract.

Not a bad pickup

[love_that_reefer]

Apparently Garland hasn't signed. Pirates should have tried to get him rather than spend $13 million for Burnett.

[love_that_reefer]

There will be a Cristian Guzman sighting in Cleveland's camp. He signed a minor league deal.