Texas-Sized Split

Just when you think the Indians potentially may string together a few wins... they don't. While hitting in The Ballpark in Arlington is similar to hitting at Softball World, at least the offense got going a bit. I will give the rotation a pass for the past 4 games as it must be extremely difficult to pitch there, but the bullpen is an utter mess. 11 pitchers have been used in relief and a total of zero of them have been consistent. General Manager Mark Shapiro laments the fact that bullpens are volatile, and he has never been more correct. If the Tribe's relievers were even average, this team would be over .500 and probably tied for first place.

This team is now at a crossroads. There are 102 games left in the season, so I would say the next 20 games will tell the tale of how management proceeds the rest of the season. If they tank, I say deal CC Sabathia when you have a chance to get value for him. Now I realize that they probably won't deal CC since Carmona and Westbrook are on the DL, but might as well try and build for 2009 while maybe pulling together something for the rest of 2008. If the Tribe can string any type of winning streak together over 4 games, they are immediately back in the race. I personally don't feel to encouraged right now, and here is why:

• Victor is obviously hurt and not the same player. Just end his misery and place him on the DL.


• No meat in the middle of the order. Garko had a great series, but he is not a clean-up hitter. The Indians have no legitimate middle of the order hitters.


• Jhonny Peralta's inconsistency at the plate has been excruciating to watch. He flails away at the high fastball, waves at curveballs in the dirt, and has actually less range in the field than he did last year. I wrote back in early April that Jhonny was destined for a breakout year, boy was I wrong.


• Injuries to Carmona, Westbrook and the myth Adam Miller has quickly dwindled the teams pitching depth. One more injury to the starting staff and guys like Jeff Harris and Matt Ginter are in discussions about starting. EESSHH.


• Travis Hafner is also on the DL and hopefully he is searching for his stroke because it is gone. Along with Sizemore and Martinez, he is vital to the success to this team. Without him performing at least average, the Tribe has struggled mightily.


• Guys like Blake/Dellucci/Carroll/Choo/Gutierrez/Cabrera have to over perform to make this team a contender, and they have not. This team lacks punch, and besides a few great single game feats of strengths, these guys have all collectively been well below mediocre.


• The Bullpen as I stated before is awful. Nothing deflates a team more than the blown save, and this squad, (especially Betancourt) has blown a bunch. Names such as Bauer, Mujica, Elarton, and Slocum do not strike fear into the hearts of opposing batters, (all of which are actually sitting out in the pen). The Wahoos will not go anywhere this season without a decent bullpen, and that is looking less likely game by game.

The team did hit the past four days sans a 15 batter stretch Thursday. No lead is safe in that park, so with the Rangers pitching looking pretty terrible, I assume they will not be a contender in the AL West.

Here were some of the Highlights:

Ryan Garko: 11-20, 6 runs, 7 RBI's. The singles machine sure got some confidence back over the past 4 days. If he can consistently bat around .300 it will help this team immensely.

Ben Francisco: 9-20 HR, 5 RBI. One of the few consistent hitters on this team. Had some pretty bad at bats Thursday, but everyone is entitled to bad days. Will play everyday in this lineup as long as he continues to hit.

Casey Blake: 6-18, 2 HR 8 RBI's (7 in one game). Casey had a great Tuesday, would love to see him in a super sub roll instead of an everyday player.

David Dellucci: 6-10, 2 HR, 7 RBI's. Double D raked in his former ballpark, which was nice.

Areas of Concern:

Victor Martinez: 4-15, 5 RBI's. Drove in some runs, looks uncomfortable at the plate. I would stick him on the DL, looks like Victor will continue to "grind."

CC Sabathia: 6 IP, 4 earned runs, 9 hits, 3 walks, 8 K's. CC pitched ok but seemed to lose his composure after infield hits and defensive misplays (Choo). Needs to work through these situations and lose his cool.

Rafael Betancourt: (Thursday Game): 2/3 IP 2 hits. 2 walks, 3 earned runs. Has been up and down (mostly down) all year. Apparently he almost went on the DL a few days ago, might be there soon. Mr. Conquest was a main key to this team last year, and his terrible pitching this year is killing them.

Tribe Decision Makers (Shapiro, Wedge, Willis) I understand that the team was in a bind Wednesday with Westbrook going on the DL, but how could they have not known of this potential issue beforehand? Having to start a reliever in a major league game is inexcusable. They basically threw away the game and chalked it up as a loss. The way the Indians have played in 2008, can they really afford to do this? Call up a guy in Akron or Kinston, someone who can pitch more than 2 innings. If it means you may lose an arbitration year or a crappy guy like Elarton, Mujica or Slocum off of the 40 man roster, than so be it. This is not 2007, every game counts now after the proverbial hole they have dug for themselves being 6 games below .500.

I am not ready to kick dirt on the 2008 Wahoos, but am really close. They can't gather any momentum and seem to just float on by series by series. Since sweeping Oakland on May 15th, the team has went 5-14. That just is not going to cut it, even in a division as bad as the AL Central this season. Expectations were huge going into this season, as many pundits (including myself) predicted a World Series appearance. I knew I shouldn't have done it, since the last time I predicted such success was 2006, when the team fell apart. I predicted a 3rd place finish in 2007 which was smart since I wanted to avoid my self-inflicted jinx. This blog and my prediction may have jinxed the 2008 Indians, but who believes in such things? Every time the Tribe has people expecting big things, they fall on their face. I am now predicting the 2009 Cleveland Indians will finish in last place with the worst record in baseball.

Indians Select Infielder Lonnie Chisenhall with First Round Selection

The Cleveland Indians just selected with the 29th overall pick in the 2008 MLB Draft shortstop/third baseman Lonnie Chisenhall Pitt Comunity College in North Carolina. Only 19, this left handed hitter projects to be a corner outfielder in the majors who has a crisp line drive swing with potential power. He was arrested as a freshman at the University of South Carolina on charges of burglary and grand larceny and was subsequently kicked off of the team. The Indians front office is very thorough in their background checks of players, so they must feel confident that Chisenall's past digressions are now behind him. With the lack of high ceiling position players in the minors, the Tribe was almost forced to go with a bat with this selection. Baseball America ranks him as the 74th top prospect so Shapiro and Company may be reaching here a bit. Minor League Baseball has an excellent write-up on him here, and also check out Cleveland Indians Minor League Insider with up to the minute draft news.

Breaking Blockbuster News: Mastny and Lewis sent down, Brian Slocum and Rick Bauer called up.

Can you believe it? I sure can't. In a move that is sure to change the Indians fortunes, Tom Mastny and Jensen Lewis were sent to Triple A. You cannot really blame Mastny for his performance Tuesday, but he was really, really bad. Lewis was more of an emergency call up as the front office still wants him to sort out his velocity issues. Rick "Jack" Bauer was called up and his minor league stats are impressive (1.55 era, 15 saves). Hopefully it will translate to the majors. Brian Slocum on the other hand has been getting pounded down in Sabres country, posting a 5.44 era in starting duty. Apparently that performances warranted a call up. Slocum is also apparently the clubs barber in Spring Training, so I guess with the way the economy is today, a player with multiple skills is a plus. Either one of these guys (or possibly Elarton or Mujica) will be sent down Sunday when Jeremy Sowers is called up to start. One of the strengths I felt going into 2008 was the bullpen. Boy was I wrong. Watching the army of arms toting the rubber last night gave me flashbacks of Mark Wohlers and Jose Jimenez, which is never a good thing. And by the way, Edward Mujica is horrible. Also, pictured to the right is Brian Slocum, I had no idea what he looked like so here he is!

Westbrook to DL again, Lewis back up, Mastny to start tonight

Jake Westbrook is being placed on the 15 day DL for the second time this year tomorrow with elbow issues. Jensen Lewis has been recalled, and Tom Mastny will start tonight in Texas. With the Rangers starting a minor league pitcher due to Vincente Padillas' family issues and the Tribe going with the pen, the score may resemble a beer league softball game. That puts three key guys on the Disabled List (Carmona, Hafner, Westbrook), and another hobbled (Martinez). They won yesterday, so let's make it two in a row for the first time in three weeks!

Mastny up, Aubrey down.

Tom Mastny has been recalled by the Cleveland Indians, and First Baseman Michael Aubrey has been sent to Buffalo. I understand sending Aubrey down because he has struggled for a week (along with the rest of the team), but bringing up a pitcher? I guess it really does not matter, but carrying 12 pitchers on a team who can't hit is kind of ridiculous. Another blockbuter move by the Wahoos.

Royal Rubbish

The Cleveland Indians have lost their fifth series in a row Sunday by losing to the hapless Kansas City Royals Sunday 6-1. Paul Byrd pitched terrible, the team continues not to hit, and the Tribe is barely even watchable. Apparently Manager Eric Wedge believes this team is close to coming out of it, but I have no idea how that is possible. The middle of the lineup looks pathetic, and the team collectively looks like they are going through the motions. Will they make a trade? Probably not until July, and unfortunately that will probably to dump CC. I predicted a successful May for the Indians, and I was way off. Oh well, better to be an optimist.

Here were some of the Highlights:

Grady Sizemore: 3 Homeruns, drove in 4 of the 8 runners who scored over the weekend. He single-handedly won the game Friday with his 2 homeruns and amazing catch to end the game. Only player on the team that strikes any fear within the lineup.

Areas of Concern:

Starting Pitching: Was less than stellar over the weekend. If they struggle at all, more losses will occur due to the utter crappiness of the hitting.

Hitting: What can possibly be said that hasn't been rehashed? They suck.

Victor Martinez: Wedge said yesterday that Martinez is still nursing a sore hamstring for TWO MONTHS! Great job by the Indians brass covering up these injuries, we could never figure it out. The guy has 0 homeruns and bats cleanup. Stick him on the DL so we don't have to watch him struggle anymore.

Cleveland travels to Arlington today to take on the Texas Rangers for 4 games. Aaron Laffey takes on Vincente Padilla. The beat goes on.

Pronk to DL, Choo to the Rescue

Friday the Indians placed Designated Hitter Travis Hafner on the 15 day DL with a shoulder injury. Hafner should be out for at least a month due to interleague play coming up in the middle of the month. This is the best case scenario for Hafner, as he has struggled all year. Hopefully he can heal and straighten out these massive batting struggles. Shin Soo Choo is back, and will be added to the various platoons going on throughout the lineup. We will get to see what type of hitter he is as he will be used 3 or 4 times a week. With Victor Martinez continuing his own personal power outage, the middle of the lineup looks bleak. Still the team is only 5 games out, so who knows.

Tales from the Teepee Volume 8: Alex Cole

With the Cleveland Indians of 2008 in desperate need of a true leadoff hitter, (Grady should be batting third), we decided to go back 18 years and look at who the Tribe felt would be their leadoff hitter for the next decade.

The year was 1990, and the John McNamara led Cleveland Indians were in need of a spark. Hank Peters had noticed that the St. Louis Cardinals possessed a slick fielding speedy outfielder who sported motorcycle goggles. With Mitch Webster not exactly tearing the cover off of the ball, the Indians went ahead and traded catching prospect Tom Lampkin for Centerfielder Alex Cole.

When Cole arrived in Cleveland, he was immediately put into the leadoff spot during a double header against the New York Yankees on July 27th. He went a combined 3-8 and stole his first base off of pitcher Jeff Robinson. That was the first of 40 stolen bases he would accrue over the next 63 games, a staggering feat. Just one week later he would set a Major League record by stealing 5 bases against the lollypop arm of Kansas City Royals catcher Mike MacFarlane. He ended the season batting .300 and driving in 13 runs. As an 11 year old back then, he instantly became my favorite player and I waited over 2 hours to get his autograph at a local baseball card shop that summer.

The Front Office was so excited about this projected future phenom patrolling center field for years to come they immediately moved back and increased the height of the center field wall in old Cleveland Municipal Stadium for the 1991 season. This was done to apparently maximize Cole's range and potential gap hit opportunities. Alex Cole was subsequently caught stealing 17 times that year and never showed his gold glove potential. The wall experiment didn't work as the Indians finished a dismal 57-105 and John McNamara was fired in the middle of the season. Murray Chass wrote about Cole's struggles in the New York Times on July 28, 1991. Here is what he said;

Alex Cole of Cleveland has posed this season's greatest stolen-base puzzle. As a rookie last season, starting a year ago yesterday, he had 40 stolen bases in 49 attempts in only 63 games. This season, he got his 12th stolen base last Thursday night in his 64th game, and he has been thrown out 12 times.

Ironically, Cole's performance in 1990 was pivotal in prompting the power-poor Indians to move back the Cleveland Stadium fences. They figured they would win with speed, primarily Cole's.

"I think it goes back to spring training when Alex fell coming out of the batter's box and dislocated his shoulder," Mike Hargrove, the Indians' manager, said, trying to explain the outfielder's enigmatic effort. "He's been tentative as a baserunner since. He's been hesitant about sliding headfirst, especially going back into first base. It's made him more cautious. He's not aggressive, and he doesn't get a good jump like he did."

Cole, Hargrove added, has played "like he doesn't want to make a mistake" and that, too, has made him cautious. "We did some things to calm his fears," the manager said. "We said if we make mistakes on bases, do it on the base ahead and not on the base behind. Go out and put pressure on the other team. We've let him know that no one's going to shoot him for being thrown out. No one's ever given him that idea. It's just a perceived notion of his that he's under pressure not to make mistakes."

Even though he has tried to steal only 24 times, Cole ranks second in the American League in number of times caught.

It was the beginning of the end for Alex Cole in a Tribe uniform, as he was traded on July 4th, 1992 to the Pittsburgh Pirates for minor leaguer Tony Mitchell to give way to former University of Arizona point guard Kenny Lofton. Cole bounced around the majors the next 4 1/2 years with the Pirates, expansion Rockies, Twins and Red Sox. He was out of the league after the 1996, while bouncing around the minors a few years after that. Unfortunately this is not where the Alex Cole story ends.

In 2002 he plead guilty to possession with the intent to distribute heroin and served 18 months in jail. Four years later, a judgment in excess of $30,000.00 was entered against him for running up credit card bills under a friend's name and then not repaying them (i.e. stealing money).

I prefer to remember Alex Cole as I did 18 years ago, as a speedy centerfielder with the cool goggles. There wasn't much to root for with the Wahoos back then, and he provided hope for a prosperous future. Hopefully the current Indians regime can find a spark plug that they can stick at the top of the order to set the table so we don't have to suffer through anymore disappointing summers.

Down on the Farm Report: Kelvin De La Cruz

Today we will look at Lake County Captain pitcher Kelvin De La Cruz. This guy is ripping up Single A with a 4-2 record with a 1.57 ERA in 51 2/3 innings. Kelvin idolizes fellow countryman Fausto Carmona, who are both from the Dominican Republic. He boasts a 94 MPH fastball to go along with a change and a curve. The amazing thing is his dominance at the level has occurred at such a young age. De La Cruz is 19 years old, and a towering 6'5, but still needs to gain weight as he is listed at only 187 lbs. With the depth of the pitching in each level, this guy may be a pitcher other teams target in future dealings with the Tribe. Look for him to be at Kinston sometime later this year with a spot in the Akron rotation looming in 2009.

"It is What it Is"

Manager Eric Wedge is the king of cliches. Grinding, battling, taking one day at a time, tomorrow is another day, and we're close, are all phrases used by the skipper. Well Wedge decided against using any of these today as he pretty much layed into Rafael Betancourt after he blew yet another game for the Tribe today. Betancourt was abused by his fastball staying up in the zone and his inability to pitch inside.

This is out of the ordinary for Wedge, as he usually spits out hyperbole. Maybe the manager shouldn't have pulled out Rafael Perez when he put two runners on in an obvious sacrifice situation? The first runner got on due to a Mandy Marte error, and the second runner got a bloop broken bat hit. With no outs and the White Sox trailing by two, you would figure Ozzie Guillen would have Orlando Cabrera bunt (he did). Then with one out and runners on second and third, lefty A J Pierzynski was due up. Why not keep the lefty on lefty matchup prevail and force the Sox to make a move? Well Betancourt proceeded to give up back to back doubles and the game was over right there.

Why bring this up? Wedge is not the reason this team can't hit or pitch out of the bullpen. He is becoming frustrated and feeling a bit helpless. That is not a good sign for Tribe fans when the usually stoic Wedge is fuming publicly. I unfortunately do not have the answer to the Indians problems, but as stated earlier I believe a deal for a polished hitter would at least shake things up.

Here were some of the Highlights:

Aaron Laffey: 6 IP, 7 hits, 1 earned run. Pitched out of trouble a few times, continues to show grittiness and calmness on the mound. Should not even be considered in any trades as he looks to be a staple in the rotation for years to come, especially with the injury to Adam Miller (my friend Ryan says he told us so).

Jhonny Peralta: 4-13, 2 Homeruns. At least he drove in a runner than himself today. Still sucks at shortstop, but hit the ball hard Wednesday. Hopefully his flailing away at third strike curveballs in the dirt are over.

Tuesday's Game: They won a game, which was a nice change of pace.

Areas of Concern:

Grady Sizemore: 2-13. Regressed a bit from a solid weekend. If this team can ever find a leadoff hitter, he needs to be batting 3rd to alleviate the pressures of getting on base.

Rafael Betancourt: Blew the game Wednesday, giving up back to back doubles. His control has been off and on. Need him to staighten himself out before the season is lost.

Ben Francisco: 2-13. Seems to have caught "the sickness" from the rest of the lineup. It is a sad state of affairs when a guy who was not good enough to start the season on the 25 man roster is now our 3 hitter. He may be pressing. Also his rightfield defense has been shaky at best.

An 11 game homestretch begins Friday in Kansas City as Cliff Lee takes on Gil Meche. There are still 109 games left, so I guess anything can happen.

Believe it or not, Jorge isn't at home

Anthony Castrovince of indians.com is reporting that Jorge Julio will be designated for assignment tomorrow when Jake Westbrook is activated from the disabled list. Jorge has been horrible as of late, laying proverbial eggs against the White Sox and Rangers. Management liked his fastball, and apparently so did opposing hitters. Everytime he came in to pitch, Tribe fans everywhere I think died a little. Surprisingly, Scott Elarton and Edward Mujica survived to pitch another day, but neither are on solid ground. The Bullpen now consists of...

Borowski

Kobayashi

Perez

Betancourt

Elarton

Mujica

Not exactly reminiscant of the Nasty Boys. Hopefully guys like Mastny and Lewis can figure out there issues in Triple A. Also I imagine that they will eventually stick Travis Hafner on the DL and promote Shin Soo Choo over the weekend. With Interleague play coming up, the current lite hitting Hafner won't be needed until the end of June.

Not So Indian Summer

I will not be doing a recap of the Rangers series because who really wants to discuss anything about this lifeless team anyways. The Indians are a bad baseball team right now in need of some help. Minor league moves like promoting Shin Soo Choo or Josh Barfield will not do the trick. Some sort of impact bat is needed for the immediate future to help ignite the smoldering offense. With Travis Hafner sucking and now apparently having some sort of shoulder injury, the middle of the order has no power threat whatsoever. You may say, "Jhonny Peralta has 10 homers!" He also has driven in only 7 runners besides himself. The stat line of 10 HR, 17 RBI looks video game-esque.

The Tribe still has a pretty deep minor league system, especially when it comes to pitching. I would hope GM Mark Shapiro would stop sitting on his hands and make the impact trade for major league talent that he has yet to make in his seven years as general manager. They can ill afford to be afraid of dealing a potential top prospect anymore, this team is on the cusp of disaster.

I really do feel for Eric Wedge. People can blame him for lineup issues or relief pitching matchups, but really what can he do at this point? With the extreme lack of clutch hitting, it taxes the bullpen and starters. The pitchers can't give up any runs or the game is over. He could pull a Jim Leyland and swear up a storm, but that would go against everything Wedge's character as manager.

Mark Shapiro and company must let the fans know what their focus is for the rest of 2008 and beyond. GM speak is getting old quickly, so if he feels that this year may be a bust, then it his duty to cut bait (trade CC, Byrd, Blake) and focus on the future.

Fausto to DL, Lewis sent down, Mujica, Elarton called up

A whole bunch of roster moves were made Saturday, as apparently Fausto Carmona's hip hurt him enough for the Indians to place him on the 15 day DL. Also, the Tribe sent down Jensen Lewis in a move to help locate his velocity. Lewis has not pitched horrible, but if his fastball is not clocking in at least the high 80's, it is a problem. Scott Elarton returns to Cleveland to fill a role in long relief. The team did not really have an innings eater out in the pen all year. Edward Mujica was added for the time being until Jake Westbrook is activated from the DL. Mujica has been pretty bad in the big leagues so far, so I would imagine he will only come in in mop up duty, Elarton took the place of Breslow on the 40 man roster. Finally, the Tribe won last night for the first time in 8 games. It figures the first game I don't watch in a week they win.

Breslow Designated for Assignment, JoeBo Back

Anthony Castrovince of Indians.com is reporting that Craig Breslow will be DFA'd tomorrow in order to add Joe Borowski back to the big club. Breslow had a 3.24 in 8 1/3 innings of work. Craig, we hardly knew you since Wedge would pitch you every ten games. Andy Marte lives to sit on the bench another day.

That's all we got, two goddamn hits?

The Chicago White Sox beat the Cleveland Indians today 3-1, sweeping the three game series. The Tribe collected 2 hits, that's write, 2 freakin hits, one of which was a bunt single. I could give some sort of analysis, but it would be repetitive. The starters are good, the hitting is pathetic. There were zero highlights, just wasted starts by CC Sabathia and Aaron Laffey. The Wahoos scored 13 runs on the road trip in 6 games, a new high in futility. Seven players ont the team have as many or more strikeouts than hits. The areas of concern are the whole lineup and bench, as they collectively show no plate discipline, fire or toughness. It is almost like they have given up on themselves. You can blame Wedge or hitting coach Derek Shelton, but what good would that do? These are grown men who made the ALCS last year. If the season is a marathon as the Indians management keep insisting, then our team has been hit on a side street by a Greyhound bus. Shapiro has to make multiple moves, whether it involves trades or demotions. Manager Eric Wedge keeps insisting that this team will eventually come out of it, but he says it everyday and I am not so sure he even believes it anymore. His team has went from a 1 1/2 game lead in the AL Central to trailing 4 1/2 games behind the White Sox. The Texas Rangers come to town this weekend, as Kason Gabbard battles Fausto Carmona. Let's hope for a miracle, because anymore of this and I am heading for the 480 bridge.