This Week on Wahoo’s on First: Trade Ideas and Wardrobe Malfunctions

Hope you had a nice holiday! Here are the biggest stories we featured this week while we prepared our turkeys.

In what has become the most-read article in Wahoo’s on First history, Evan came up with three trade ideas for the Indians:

"These deals would lead to a pretty impressive rebuild for the Cleveland Indians, focused on the acquisition of starting pitching depth. For teams who have trouble drafting offensive talent, like the Tribe, A’s, and Rays, the ability to rely on pitching could be the push to help the Indians join the other two in the playoff push in the near future."

David Richard-US PRESSWIRE

Lewie argued that the Tribe’s rumored willingness to trade Shin-Soo Choo and Asdrubal Cabrera is good news:

"These rumors suggest that the team has chosen a path. Painful though it might be to watch Choo and Cabrera shipped off to greener pastures, it would ostensibly be for the greater good. It’s a mature and reasonable recognition that stars don’t make a difference on a 90-loss team, but the young players they’d bring back will help out in the future."

Merritt imagined how the Indians might reconstruct their bullpen after a Chris Perez trade:

"The best part about this is that it trading Chris Perez would trim payroll and the Indians wouldn’t have to add any big, expensive arms through free agency. The key is Nick Hagadone (I’m not worried about Vinnie Pestano), but there’s a contingency plan if that doesn’t work out and he be slide back behind Rafael Perez."

Katrina made the case for why Cleveland should sign Kevin Youkilis:

"This isn’t the same situation as signing Johnny Damon or Derek Lowe. Youkilis might be past his prime, but he’s still capable of playing good baseball. He is sure to provide more offensive production at first base than Casey Kotchman did, and he is an extremely good defensive player as well."

In this week’s Wroundtable, we celebrated the holiday by listing things that we are thankful for as Tribe fans:

"Brian Heise: I’m thankful to have grown up in a city with Major League Baseball and that I have a team to root for. I can’t imagine the Indians not being a focal point in my life in terms of hobbies and interests, not in a million years. Good or bad, I’m all in. I also can’t wait to pass down this burden to my children the same way my dad did for me. (Thanks, Dad!)"

Jake Roth-US PRESSWIRE

Steve argued that Mike Aviles‘ ability to back up Jason Kipnis matters more than people realize:

"Whether the Indians trade Asdrubal Cabrera, or not the organization will have to find a hedge for Jason Kipnis against the dreaded sophomore slump and someone to help alleviate some of his exposure to left-handed pitching. For now Mike Aviles fills that role better than anyone else."

Lewie wondered if another team might select Matt LaPorta in the Rule 5 Draft:

"Given LaPorta’s track record and the commitment it takes to make a Rule 5 pick worthwhile, I’m not sure it would be a smart move for any team to claim LaPorta in two weeks. However, there are 29 other teams out there, and last month 70 percent of Indians writers said they expect LaPorta to be wearing some other club’s uniform in 2013."

Finally, Brian, our in-house fashion critic, explained the problems with the Indians’ current uniforms—and how to fix them:

"Look for yourself (note that the shoes with the home alts should be black, not red). Are the Indians red and navy blue or are they red and navy “it’s so dark it might as well be black” blue? Even the two variations of the road hat are different. The standard road cap is the navy “it’s so dark it might as well be black” blue while the Chief Wahoo cap worn with the blue alternates on the road bares a closer resemblance to the home cap. Yeah, there’s a lot going on here. And that’s just the start."

Happy Thanksgiving!