Inside Pitch

Lovullo, Radinsky off to Columbus

The Cleveland Indians made it official Friday, naming Buffalo Baseball Hall of Famer Torey Lovullo their manager of the Columbus Clippers in 2009. Lovullo, the Bisons' manager the last three years and a former player in Columbus in the Yankees' days, will have Buffalo pitching coach Scott Radinsky with him in Columbus as well.

Trainer Jeff Desjardins will also be making the move to the Tribe's new Triple-A home at Huntington Park. Hitting coach Dave Myers was not retained and has been replaced by former big-league outfielder Jon Nunnally.

The Tribe announced its full minor-league coaching staff Friday, and Buffalo pitcher Jeff Harris (the team's Most Inspirational Player Award winner the last two years) has retired as a player and will be the pitching coach for the new Class A rookie league team in Arizona under manager Ted Kubiak. Ex-Bison infielder Anthony Medrano will be the hitting coach.

As for the '09 Bisons, no word from the Mets yet on a staff although that's expected to be coming sooner rather than later.

---Mike Harrington

Lee gets the nod

Great to see a a landslide Cy Young Award go to Cliff Lee today. I was wondering which way voters would go -- Lee's 22-3 season for a non-playoff team or Francisco Rodriguez's 62 saves for a division winner. Oddly enough, Rodriguez didn't get a single first-place vote. Lee got 24 and Toronto's Roy Halladay got the other four.

I'm fine with it. The save can be a pretty overrated stat. Lee's numbers were dominant, especially for a team that was just about out of the race by the end of May. Quite a comeback story for the lefty, who told me late in the season at Progressive Field his goal when he was sent back to Triple-A in 2007 was simply not to be "that bitter guy in Buffalo."

Lee worked hard in the offseason to be healthy, fine-tuned his fastball mechanics and had a season for the books. Too bad the Tribe's woeful bullpen and injuries to Travis Hafner and Victor Martinez let it go to waste.

---Mike Harrington