I was sitting around Sunday night, minding my own business. I like to use Sunday's to get things in order and be lazy.

Like most of us do, of course. By the end of the day though, I'm preparing for the week mentally and organizing what I have to do. All the while, taking in whatever football happens to be on.

With a victory in hand after the day's games and Aaron Rodgers still having to put in his time for my playoff bound team, I was just hoping to reclaim my weekly high score having already watch Adrian Peterson, Jamal Charles, and Vincent Jackson go off.

I quickly lost care for that, because when the Indians make a move, everything else can take a backseat.

This offseason has been one where the Indians have been classified as "aggressive". They've already pulled off a trade to get a utility man in Mike Aviles, and really the guy that would take over for Asdrubal Cabrera if he were to be traded, which continues to be a very strong possibility with as much he could bring in.

And so far in free agency, although they haven't made a huge Marlins-type splash, they've been making strong offers. Shane Victorino, Kevin Youkilis, Nick Swisher, the team clearly is trying to be a player.

They've had their hand in the discussion surrounding just about every available first baseman and corner outfielder available, and while we know Victorino, Jason Bay, and James Lonely will not be signings, we know the Indians tried to make them be.

The latest, before the activity on Sunday night was that the Indians were simply just waiting on Kevin Youkilis and Nick Swisher to decide what was up.

I guess for the Indians, waiting for Youkilis was just something they had no interest in doing.

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True confessions time…I did not anticipate posting a Lazy Sunday today. Without going into too much detail, I’m in the midst of the craziest travel month of my life, one that sees me waking up on this Lazy Sunday from the (almost) Highlands of Scotland, in beautiful Stirling. If that city name sounds familiar, it’s because it’s the site of the famous (or infamous if you’re English, I suppose) Stirling Bridge, the site of William Wallace’s first major victory over English forces in his war for Scottish independence. It was portrayed (inaccurately of course) in the movie Braveheart, in which they somehow omitted the bridge entirely, but that’s a story for another day. Anyway, with an insane international travel schedule that will have me in every corner of her Majesty’s United Kingdom for a week and a half, I didn’t really think I’d have a chance to put up an article this week. And with the Winter Meetings full of sound and fury but ultimatley signifying nothing, there wasn't a whole lot of real, actual Tribe news this week. No, I don't count being "linked" to specific free agents actual news. But we were all bailed out by a brilliant idea from esteemed colleague Adam Van Arsdale, formerly of LetsGoTribe.com.

 

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I hope you enjoyed this past week of baseball news to sort through. If you have been depressed with the fact that we don't get to discuss it as often in the winter months, you certainly had your fix in a matter of three days.

I certainly enjoy having baseball news to talk about, but if you are not prepared for what the Winter Meetings produce, it can be a tad bit overwhelming.

I was not overwhelmed with the amount of news that was flying out, but I do want to paste something I said last week in preparation for this event.

The Winter Meetings can be uneventful for the Indians. Or it could be really interesting. The only thing you need to know is that the little chat we had on "rumors" a few weeks ago still applies.

In fact, it applies double, triple, quadruple. Rumors are heavy and perhaps with even a little bit more of unrealisticness to them because of the simple fact that many deal ideas are exchanged, but little of them get anywhere of significance.

So stay guarded on what you read. We'll cycle through stuff, but not overanalyze it. Or we will, who knows, I know I like to do that.

Aside from the fact that I made up a word, the one thing that stands out in what I said is that it could be really interesting. It definitely was. It was also uneventful though. Strange how both statements, although contradictory at the surface, turned out to be true. 

And that is why you try and stay guarded on what goes out there. The Indians were probably just as much talked about as Texas and Arizona and that is directly because they were involved with trade talks with those two teams and the big name of Justin Upton, who ahead of Cabrera, seemed to be the Winter Meeting's biggest prize.

If you were not following along with myself and Adam Burke on The Cleveland Fan's live Winter Meetings Blog, then you avoided a lot of hearsay. Was it hearsay? Perhaps. 

Did the Cleveland Indians talk to the Arizona Diamondbacks about Asdrubal Cabrera?

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We found out a lot about the Indians this week at the Winter Meetings. They were one of the most aggressive ballclubs in Nashville, TN, looking into several free agent outfielders and meeting with several teams regarding an Asdrubal Cabrera trade. After all of that, General Manager Chris Antonetti left the Winter Meetings with a roster no better (or worse) than he had when he left Cleveland. The Indians created several lines of communication, were active in the bidding process for several free agents, and have given off the impression that they have money to spend. In that regard, the week was a success.

However, the week had to be considered a bit of a disappointment for Chris Antonetti. The detractors always argue that the Indians are a victim of their tight financial resources, not having enough money to be seriously considered by free agents. This week, they offered Shane Victorino a four-year, $44M deal and he turned them down for more annual money, but less total money, from the Boston Red Sox. We don’t know Antonetti’s final offer to Jason Bay, but he took a $1M base salary plus incentives from the Mariners. Bay lives in Seattle, his wife’s hometown, so the Indians were behind the eight-ball there anyway. The Indians are waiting for a response from Kevin Youkilis, after a reported offer of two years, $18M. The Yankees, who will be without Alex Rodriguez until after mid-season, have offered one year at $12M. Despite being a former Red Sock, and husband to New England Patriots QB Tom Brady’s sister, Youk continues to weigh his options. Nick Swisher is contemplating an offer from the Indians, reportedly in the four-year, $48M range. Swisher, a Columbus native and Ohio State alum, didn’t jump at the chance to play in his home state right away.

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