Chris Antonetti’s Genius: The Early Years: Back in 2008, when Chris Antonetti, the man that brought Ubaldo Jimenez and Derek Lowe to Cleveland, was still the Assistant GM, he was given charge of negotiating Carmona’s contract. He responded by giving Carmona the highest amount of guaranteed money ever (at the time) for a pitcher not eligible for arbitration. Carmona was going to be a Super Two guy. One would thing the GM would handle a negotiation of that importance, but Mark Shapiro had more pressing duties, like signing Matt Ginter and Scott Elarton.
Mitch Talbot is Gone, Daddy, Gone. The Tribe removed him from the Forty Man Roster in October. Talbot signed a $300,000 contract with a the Samsung Lions in Korea, meaning no one else in Major League Baseball wanted him either. The Indians didn’t need Talbot because they acquired Lowe for big bucks 9relatively speaking) to get that sort of performance.
The Security Exchange Commission is investigating the Florida Marlins. Imagine that. It appears the Marlins are so dirty that even the SEC is turning their heads.
Jeff Mathis is no longer an Angel as he was traded to the Blue Jays. A parade is scheduled in Anaheim, but Mike Scioscia is vowing revenge.
Dead Religions 
Compiled from stories carefully removed from the early A.M. Dognanewswire:
Indians GM Chris Antonetti vowed Cleveland would not get caught flat-footed in 2012 and he offered a response to the Marlins’ pitching a ten year contract offer to slugger Albert Pujols. “The Tribe is every bit the solid world series contender as the Rangers and Yankees” exclaimed Antonetti. “Congruent with our W.S. cusp status, I am bubbling over with excitement to disclose a very big deal. The Cleveland Indians have offered Travis Buck a 10 year deal every bit as tantalizing as Wayne Garland’s deal. I cant say more about it, but suffice to say we have wanted to make Travis Buck the cornerstone slugger in our lineup. Now his signing will usurp up the rest of our free capital heading into 2012 so we wont be signing new names, but we want to show our fans the kind of vision and financial commitment me and Larry Dolan are willing to make to get our fans a championship”. Signing Ubaldo puts us right there. Now Travis Buck puts up over the top. We are opening season tickets windows in the middle of January to anticipate the coming onslaught.
“BTW, there is one more blockbuster 10- year signing on the table. I cant reveal exactly who it is but he has been in our system, he is a future OF star, and his name rhymes with Clever Show. We got 8 years with an option on two more. Okay start guessing and I’ll tell you when you are getting warm”.