Blog #18: The Curious Case of Jhonny Peralta

Jeff Schwartz

Blog #18: The Curious Case of Jhonny Peralta

July 28, 2010

In all of my years watching the Cleveland Indians there has not been a player who has confused me as much as Jhonny Peralta has. He’s the infield version of a conundrum. How could I possibly not want to keep a guy who hit 35 doubles, 18 home runs, and 80 RBI's a season, while maintaining an average of .264? How could I possibly want to trade, cut, waive, send down a guy who hit .300 in his lone year of playoffs, 2007? Am I nuts? But the more I thought about it, the more I smiled because finally after being a part of the Indians organization since 1999, Jhonny Peralta was no longer able to call himself a Cleveland Indian. He was never a locker room cancer or a bad guy. In fact Jhonny Peralta was a really nice guy. He signed autographs, he took photos, he cut really funny commercials, but I’m happy he’s gone. Jhonny Peralta is in fact a really good person, and for once I feel bad that I’ve buried an athlete on the field. But again, I’m so thrilled he’s not part of the Cleveland Indians team anymore.

So, as I was thinking back about the last seven years Jhonny Peralta spent on the Indians big league roster I thought of five solid reasons why I’m excited to see Jhonny Peralta move on. First and foremost the man had steel feet. He may have had worst defensive range as a shortstop in Major League Baseball from 2003-2009. I saw him have more balls go up the middle and between third and short in six years than I did from 1994-2003 with Omar Vizquel.

Secondly, his glove work was downright embarrassing. Peralta had more balls stick to his glove than any type of glue could have helped. Any great shortstop that is dead is currently rolling over in their graves. The third issue I have with Jhonny Peralta is that he always seemed lazy. His numbers at the plate seem to refute that claim most of the time however his carefree attitude seems to come off as lazy. Lazy running the bases, lazy in the field, lazy in the way he carried himself. Jhonny just looked like he didn’t care.

My fourth issue with Jhonny Peralta is one that he can’t take all of the blame for. Mark Shapiro, who I’ve got a lot of anger toward signed Peralta to a five year, thirteen million dollar contract. When the deal went through, many fans seemed to be thrilled. After a year of that contract those same people who were excited could not wait to be rid of that deal. Peralta’s agent Bill Rego may have collected that contract with a ski-mask and gun because he robbed the Indians. There was no reason Bill Rego and Jhonny Peralta should have said no that contract, but it still said Jhonny Peralta on the deal and that’s reason enough to be bothered.

The fifth and final issue with Peralta is what he represented. Jhonny Peralta represents an era of Cleveland Indians baseball that promoted laziness, “grinding out wins,” no homeruns, no World Series appearances, and a whole lot of spin control. In fifty years Peralta’s name will appear amongst losers like Eric Wedge, Grady Sizemore, Larry Dolan, Paul Dolan, Jason Michaels, David Dellucci, and the biggest representation of all the bad Casey Blake. When you do not win, and you look lazy on the field, all the while people are making excuses for you, there is celebration when you leave town.

Make no mistake about it, Jhonny Peralta is a good human being. He’s represented The Cleveland Indians very well in public. There were no code of conduct issues with him. He was just lazy, unmotivated, and represented an era of really sad baseball for Cleveland fans. This trade is not like moving C.C. Sabathia, Cliff Lee, and Victor Martinez, nor is it like Albert Belle, Manny Ramirez, or Jim Thome leaving. The trading of Jhonny Peralta today, to the Detroit Tigers is a positive in every way, shape, or form. Today is the start of the resurrection of the Cleveland Indians infield.