Tony%2520Lastoria Archive

Today we continue the IPI’s year-end awards with the announcement of the Comeback Player of the Year. This award goes to the player who came back from a rough 2011 season – be it due to injury or performance – and any other obstacles to put up a very good 2012 season and reestablished and/or solidified himself as a prospect for the Indians. In the coming days the Pitcher of the Year, Offensive Player of the Year and All-Tony Team will be announced.

Today we continue the IPI postseason awards with the announcement of the Relief Pitcher of the Year. The starting pitchers often get most of the focus, so this award gives an opportunity to showcase and recognize some of the top relief pitching performances over the course of the 2012 season. In the coming days the Comeback Player of the Year, Pitcher of the Year, Offensive Player of the Year and All-Tony Team will be announced.

Smoke Signals is back on the cyberwaves tonight for a special half hour edition from 11:00pm – 11:30pm EST. In tonight's special show, Tony Lastoria and Jim Pete discuss the hiring of Terry Francona as the Indians' new manager. They will look at how quickly the Indians moved through their process to find a new manager, what Francona brings to the table, if anything different can be expected with Francona in charge, what the future holds for Sandy Alomar Jr, and much more.

In Tony's weekly notebook he takes a look at how Terry Francona and Sandy Alomar were both very good managerial candidates, but how Francona was the right choice as the new manager of the Cleveland Indians. He also wonders if the front office will be receptive to change this offseason or are in denial, talks about the infield fly call in Atlanta on Friday, asks if the 2012 season was the worst in years, and more.

Today we continue the IPI postseason awards with the announcement of the Biggest Breakthrough. This award goes to the player who may not have been as highly touted coming into the season on prospect lists, but by the end of the season is definitely on the prospect map going into next season. In the coming days the Reliever of the Year, Comeback Player of the Year, Pitcher of the Year, Offensive Player of the Year and All-Tony Team will be announced.

Today we continue the IPI postseason awards with the announcement of the Biggest Disappointment, the one year end award no one wants to win. This award goes to the player who was a highly rated prospect coming into the season who performed poorly or suffered through an injury plagued season. In the coming days the Biggest Breakthrough, Reliever of the Year, Comeback Player of the Year, Pitcher of the Year, Offensive Player of the Year and All-Tony Team will be announced.

Instructional League carries on as today ends the third week of the four week period. The Fall Instructional League players had morning practice and no game yesterday, but the Parallel League team was in action. Tony recaps the game with all the stats and highlights including a big day at the plate from catcher Alex Lavisky and another dominating relief appearance by right-hander Grant Sides.

Both the Fall Instructional League and Parallel League teams were in action on Monday, and Tony has all the stats and information from both games. Ronny Rodriguez had a big day as he gets ready for Arizona Fall League action and several players in both games made their fall debuts.

Today we continue with the IPI’s year-end awards with the announcement of the Defensive Player of the Year, an award given to the Indians minor leaguer who had the best season defensively. Prospect standing is not considered with these awards as they are 100% awarded based on performance. In the coming days the Biggest Disappointment, Biggest Breakthrough, Reliever of the Year, Comeback Player of the Year, Pitcher of the Year, Offensive Player of the Year and All-Tony Team will be announced.

Today we kick off the IPI’s year-end awards with the announcement of the Rookie of the Year, an award given to the Indians minor leaguer who had the best professional stateside debut this year. Prospect standing is not considered with these awards as they are 100% awarded based on performance. In the coming days the Defensive Player of the Year, Biggest Disappointment, Biggest Breakthrough, Reliever of the Year, Comeback Player of the Year, Pitcher of the Year, Offensive Player of the Year and All-Tony Team will be announced.

Smoke Signals is back on the cyberwaves tonight from 9:00pm – 11:00pm EST. Tonight’s special two-hour show is hosted by Tony Lastoria and Jim Pete and is the final show of the season. This is one of the most critical offseasons for the Indians in some time, and Jim and Tony will wrap up the 2012 season discussing the firing of Acta, the the return of Antonetti, and give some final thoughts on the roster before they wrap up the show discussing the offseason and what strategy the Indians will and should use to improve and predict what the roster will look like next spring. Give then a listen!

In Tony's weekly Sunday notebook he touches on the firing of Manny Acta with his thoughts on why he was fired, if the reasons were legit, and where the Indians go from here in their search for a new manager. He also discusses the decision to retain Chris Antonetti as GM of the team and what he needs to do differently to get the Indians back on track, wonders where the Dolan's have been the past two months, and lots more.

Today, Tony provides his sixth and final piece of his six-part series recapping all six of the Indians' stateside affiliates. In Tony's review of the Indians' Double-A affiliate the Akron Aeros, he sat down with the Indians front office earlier this week and discussed their season, the resurgence of prospects like Thomas Neal, T.J. House, Matt Lawson and others, the emergence of the likes of Shawn Armstrong, Danny Salazar, Giovanni Soto and others, and the seasons of others like Rob Bryson, Adam Abraham, Roberto Perez, and many more.

The Cleveland Indians today announced that manager Manny Acta will not return as manager. The decision is immediate and he will not manage the team the last six games of the season. Bench coach Sandy Alomar will serve as interim manager for the remainder of the season.

Both the Fall Development Program and the Arizona Parallel League were in action yesterday in Instructional League, and Tony provides the full breakdown of both games with stats and information from all the players in both games. Players like Alex Monsalve, D'Vone McClure, Jake Lowery, Jake Sisco, Grant Sides, and others all had good games yesterday.

The Fall Development League was off yesterday, but the Parallel League which has the older more advanced players in Instructional League was in action. Tony recaps the good showing from the likes of LeVon Washington, Todd Hankins, Jerrud Sabourin, and others in this ongoing special edition of Around the Farm.