It has begun... Hey Did You Miss This?

Let's start this off real quick.

It went un-noticed by many and it came out after I had posted about he Cy Young Award..

But Grady Sizemore added a Silver Slugger to his expanding mantle. Two Gold Gloves, a Silver Slugger.. Is an MVP award next for him? Hard to say his future doesn't hold one. Grizz was one of four GG winners to get a SS.. That's gold glove and silver slugger for the abreviated impared. It probably would have saved time to just type it all out in the first place, meh.

This is probably going to start a run for him if he keeps it up.. You hit 30 home runs with a good average, hit a lot of doubles and some triples.. as an outfielder.. You might win a couple of these..

Kid has Hall of Fame Potential man.. He's piling up this stuff at a very young age.

"This kid's one of the best all-around players in the game. You talk about a Gold Glove and a Silver Slugger ... playing a premium position up the middle. What more do you want?"

That was Eric Wedge.

Let's get to some Cliff Lee praise and quotes..

"It was the most incredible season I've ever seen from a pitcher at that level," - Eric Wedge

"[Lee] was already a good Major League pitcher. This year, he took the step to greatness." - Mark Shapiro

"He and I had talked a couple of times over the winter, just about the control and command, and his first bullpen session back in February, he really showed that. He exhibited that. And I remember when he was done with that bullpen, I said to him, 'That's exactly what we're talking about. Just keep going with that." - Carl Willis

"I think probably after my fourth or fifth start, when I had under a 1.00 ERA, that's when I knew it was going to be a special year. I never rested on that and felt I had it figured out. I still continued to keep my mind in the moment. I wasn't going to get away from that." and

"My job is to come back in '09 and do it again. There's no reason to think I can't," Lee said. "I honestly feel like I'm going to come back and pick up right where I left off." and

"It would be great to see [Fausto] Carmona win it next year," - Cliff Lee

You can hear Cliff Lee and others talk about the Cy Young Award, here. Now we go around the web..

From a Fantasy Perspective, Eric Karabell says Cliff probably won't turn in those Cy numbers again, but he won't disappear. I'd have to agree.

Rob Neyer sorts through some of the ridiculous cases that other people have made about Roy Halladay over Cliff Lee and provides one of his own that is much more respectable. He also supports Lee winning the award. I'd have to say Neyer probably has one of the better perspectives out there.

I share the front page of the Baseball page of sportsline with this guy..

With all the awards pretty much handed out, I'd expect a few trickling votes in there for Sizemore for AL MVP, but that's pretty much it for us. Let's look at the Hot Stove.

Today is the day when free agents can get offered contracts from every team. The chips won't start falling for the Indians until the bigger names go, ahem CC Sabathia ahem, so we get to stew and just wait for things to happen.

ONE Development that occured yesterday was HUGE.

The closer situation is going to be heavily contested and I'd expect us to SIGN someone rather than make a trade.

"If there's a closer option out there, we will be involved," Shapiro told the Cleveland Plain Dealer this week.

Now... Kevin Gregg is off the market.. He is off to Chicago... That closes one option, but opens up another, potentially BETTER option for the Indians.

Kerry Wood

The Cubs are not bringing him back. Which means a good scenario fit for us is available.

Now... K-Rod is gonna make the big bucks, Brian Fuentes will make a little less, but still out of our range, and then that brings us to the Kerry Wood-Trevor Hoffman range.

I'd prefer Wood over Hoffman. It's one thing to spend 5 million on an old guy that could be past his time. It's another to spend say 6-7 million on the guy who you KNOW can get it done, if he's healthy.

That's how I look at it.. Wood want's multiple years though.. I wouldn't go past two.. How many does Hoffman want?

I still think our best interests lie in Chad Cordero or Jason Isringhausen, but if Shapiro were to sign Kerry Wood, I certainly wouldn't complain.

Seperately, on an un-related, but kind of note. NICK SWISHER IS GONE! Thank god.. He's alwasy been an Indian killer and now he's out of the division.

Ahhhhhhhhhh well.. Free Agency has begun, hide the children.