Between signing Todd Hollandsworth to a minor league earlier in the month and agreeing to trade Arthur Rhodes for Jason Michaels today, the Indians certainly appear to be stocking up on outfielders. Why? Well, perhaps because Coco Crisp is still expected to be dealt.
Jason Michaels is hardly a great player, but assuming everyone passes their physical and he ends up in Cleveland, it'd be hard for him NOT to finish with at least 450 at-bats, and that'd certainly be worth a couple of bucks in an AL-only auction.
I'm still a little confused about the prosposed deal that would send Crisp to Boston for Andy Marte and Guillermo Mota. It was Mota's bum shoulder that caused the deal to fall through, but even after trading Rhodes the team doesn't really need another reliever (between Wickman, Cabrera, Riske, and Betancourt, the team still has a handful of solid low-ERA/low-WHIP guys that should be useful in AL-only leagues).
But where does Andy Marte fit in? Is Aaron Boone on the way out? Or are the Indians just hedging their bets for 2007? Does anyone have any ideas?