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Tribe Caravan delivers ’09 hope
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Cleveland Indians manager Eric Wedge
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IT'S TRIBE TIME NOW: Cleveland Indians outfielders Shin-Soo Choo and Michael Brantley discussed teh team's prospects during the Tribe Caravan on Tuesday at Antone's in Boardman.
By John Kovach
Manager Eric Wedge believes the Indians bullpen has been upgraded.
BOARDMAN — One of the first signs that spring and baseball are not far away is when the Cleveland Indians Winter Caravan comes to town.
The Tribe made its annual tour stop Tuesday at Antone’s Banquet Centre and Gourmet Catering. The visit should remind area fans that spring and the Tribe’s opener on April 6 at Texas and home debut on April 10 against Toronto soon will be just around the corner.
In addition to the hint of spring, the team’s four goodwill ambassadors — manager Eric Wedge, starting outfielder Shin-Soo Choo, promising rookie candidate Michael Brantley and veteran radio broadcaster Tom Hamilton — were in spring-like and optimistic moods during a press conference, indicating good things may be coming this season for the team after a disappointing 81-81 finish in 2008.
“We had the best record in baseball in the second half of the [2008] season,” said Wedge of Cleveland’s comeback from a bad start to place third in the Central Division, seven games back of Chicago.
“Injuries and the bullpen hurt us [earlier in the season],” Wedge said. “The bullpen is critical. The best teams in baseball rarely have a bullpen that’s not a big part of their success.”
The manager feels the Tribe, which lacked effective closers coming out of the bullpen last year, will be in a stronger position.
“I like the different looks in the bullpen,” said Wedge, who will have newcomers Kerry Wood and Joe Smith joining holdovers Masa Kobayashi, Rafael Betancourt, Jensen Lewis, Rafael Perez and Adam Miller. “We have three or four guys in the bullpen who can be closers.”
Wedge said Wood, with 34 saves last season for the Cubs, “is the [key] closer with the team,“ although Lewis, with 13 saves and Kobayashi (six saves), are expected to be important contributors.
Choo, 26, is from South Korea and in his third season with Cleveland. He batted .309 last year with 66 RBIs, 14 homers and 28 doubles. Choo said he would like to run the bases better this year.
Choo, who joined Cleveland in July 2006 in a trade, and has a career .291 batting average with the team, may be available for only two more years because he has to complete compulsory military duty in South Korea.
“I have to join the Army for two years after the 2010 season. So you will have two more years of me for sure,” said Choo, who prefers playing left field. “I used to be a pitcher. I missed pitching a couple of years ago, but not now.”
Choo said he believes American batters are different from South Korean and Japanese batters.
“American players are more aggressive. They just keep swinging, whereas South Korean and Japanese hitters are more conservative and they take a lot of pitches,” Choo said.
Brantley, 21, a rookie candidate who comes from the Class AA Huntsville (Ala.) Stars last season, is being considered as a leadoff hitter for the Indians if he makes the team — because he knows how to get on base.
“I take plenty of swings in the offseason, about 200 swings a day. That really helps,” stressed Brantley, who said he “can play any outfield position and first base but center field is most natural to me.”
Hamilton was his usual buoyant and talkative self, and when you hear his familiar voice you automatically think Cleveland Indians.
Hamilton is thankful he has become the voice of the Tribe and a symbol of the team to his vast listening audience, just like former broadcasters Herb Score, Jimmy Dudley and Jack Graney were in their days.
“I have been the [Indians’] broadcaster 20 years and feel very fortunate doing the thing I love. I have been one of the lucky ones,” said Hamilton, who loves the fact he can reach and perhaps touch followers of Tribe baseball.
“Indians fans have a passion for baseball. They live and die with it, especially in this [Youngstown] area which is not a transient community like Atlanta and some of the other bigger cities, with people moving in and out,” he said. “[Indians’ baseball] becomes part of the fabric of the community.”
Wedge said he loves the Tribe’s new spring training facilities in Goodyear, Ariz.
“It’s beautiful. It’s great. It’s great for the kids,” said Wedge. “Most of the players now live in Arizona, anyhow. They used to live in Florida. It is so much more convenient. It’s a beautiful area for the kids and fans and The Indians now have a year-round presence there.”
kovach@vindy.com