Tribe Trades For Lofton
The Cleveland Indians on Friday brought back a member of the "Glory Days" to hopefully help return them to the post season this October. The Indians acquired Texas Rangers outfielder Kenny Lofton for minor league catcher Max Ramirez. Lofton who will be doing his third tour of duty with the Tribe, is expected to arrive at Cleveland's Jacobs Field in time to play in Friday nights game against the Minnesota Twins. Lofton, along with current NY Mets catcher Sandy Alomar Jr., and former Major League players Albert Belle, and Carlos Baerga were the nucleus that took the Indians from a perennial bottom feeding team to the 1995 World Series, which they lost to the Atlanta Braves. However, Baerga was traded to the Mets in the middle of the 1996 campaign, Belle left the team at the end of the year as a free agent and signed with the White Sox, and Lofton was traded before the 1997 season to Atlanta for David Justice and Marquis Grissom. Lofton re-signed with Cleveland for the 1998 season as a free agent and then left as a free agent after the 2001 season. Lofton has been with seven teams since 2001, and the Indians have been looking for a pure leadoff hitter since Lofton left. The 40 year old outfielder does have 21 steals so far this year but it remains to be seen whether Cleveland manager Eric Wedge will use Lofton in the leadoff spot.© Copyright thesackattack.com 2007
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