Wahoo Roundup

Random thoughts from a less than active blogger...

Not much interesting going on with the Tribe, they are battling for last place, their most interesting youngsters are still years away from the bigs, and football season is almost here. It is hard for me to get too involved with this team on a daily basis with updates as it is just not that compelling. When Hafner and Martinez come back, that should infuse my fandom a bit again.

The Paul Byrd trade saved the Indians 2 million dollars, let's see them spend it next year.

Jensen Lewis' velocity is up and is closing now. He looks good, but can he pitch this way in April and May?

The 2009 Tribe thirdbasemen will not be Andy Marte.

Adam Miller will be in the bullpen in the Majors in 2009.

Francisco and Choo are a lock next season, unless one is traded.

Sal Fasano is still awesome.

Two pitchers between Laffey, Sowers, Reyes, and Huff will be in the starting rotation at the start of next year.

Asdrubal is hitting in August, can he hit in April?

Ryan Garko will be on this team next season.

The Kansas City Royals come to town in the battle for the basement tonight.

100th Post, Worst lineup in 100 years

Well it toook about 5 months, but we have officially reached the one hundred post mark, whatever that means. If there are any readers still out there feel free to post a comment on your feelings about the Tribe in 2008. I will give you a topic, here is the batting order for the Indians today...

CF Franklin Gutierrez,

3B Jamey Carroll

LF Ben Francisco

SS Jhonny Peralta

RF Shin-Soo Choo

DH Ryan Garko (Andy Marte replaces Garko for not running out a ground ball)

1B Andy Gonzalez

C Sal Fasano

2B Asdrubal Cabrera

LHP Jeremy Sowers

This has got to be one crappiest lineups the Tribe has trotted out in decades. Only 3 of the guys (after Garko was benched) started in the playoffs last year. The sad state of affairs really makes me wonder how this team expects to contend in 2009. Their offense is weak, their bullpen is horrific, no closer, and only two starting pitchers penciled in (Lee, Carmona). This may be a one and done type of team, where they can contend to a point and then have to start over. I can't even begin to think about what they could do in the off season as there are too many holes to fill. This front office has really no track record of signing any free agent besides fill in guys, so how do these questions become answered? Unless this team promotes guys who look like future solutions (Crowe, Reyes, Huff, Hodges), the rest of 2008 will continue to be one giant yawn.

Weekly Wahoo Update

Sorry for not updating as often, it has been a busy summer (baby on the way). Casey Blake was traded to the Dodgers and is playing well (5-13, 1 ejection). The 2 guys they picked up (Jon Meloan and Carlos Santana) seem like a pretty solid return for a player in his free agent year. I will miss Casey as being a constant in the lineup, wherever in the field he was playing. He was one of GM Mark Shapiro's best moves over the years and would not mind seeing him back next year on a 1 year contract. I imagine someone will give him at least a two year deal because of his great versatility in the field. Also, the Indians traded for Cardinal starting pitcher Anthony Reyes, while shipping out Akron reliever Luis Pedromo. Reyes will serve as a reclamation project as he started game one of the 2006 World Series, but since has struggled. Look for him to jump to the majors sometime in August, especially if Paul Byrd is traded. Finally, Aaron Laffey was sent down to "straighten things out." Why he can't do that at the major league level for a last place team is beyond me.

On the field:

The Indians are so far 2-3 on their current homestand. I went to the game on Saturday and witnessed Fausto get pounded in the first but was OK with things since we had club seats and I was eating nachos in air conditioning while Carmona was lighting the mound on fire. Andy Marte hit a homerun, which was ok I guess. While we were leaving my friend Scott kept mumbling, "maybe next year," which seems to be the theme of Cleveland sports. Other random thoughts:

Jhonny Peralta seems to be back.

Cliff Lee surprised everyone this year besides one, himself.

When Ben Francisco is in a slump, it gets magnified. He is an aggressive hitter who swings often early in the count.

Grady Sizemore is only going to get better.

Betancourt has completely lost all of his confidence. He won't even talk to reporters anymore.

Victor Martinez seems to be only a few weeks away from returning, which will help the lineup out immensely. The season of Nightmares continues today as Cliff Lee goes for win number 15 tonight against Nate Robertson. Are you in the Tribe? Still?

Split the Road, Tribe

Tribe Times has been on hiatus for a week and not much really happened. The Indians have been playing better of late sans Aaron Laffey's last two starts. The team as a whole seems to be having more fun actually playing the game rather than "grinding." It will be a long last few months of the baseball season, so I am going to add another addition of Random Thoughts.

The Retro 1989 jerseys need to be sold in stores and uses next year. Paul Hoynes said that the Mariners gave the 25 man roster a chance to buy their respective jerseys for charity and a whopping 20 did so. Bring them BACK!!!

Casey Blake may not be traded, which is not necessarily a bad thing. If they can sign Casey to a one year contract with a club option for 2010, I would be all for bringing him back. He is a definite team leader and a good guy to have around. Blake may not take such a deal since this is his first opportunity at Free Agency and he may want the security of a multi-year deal. That would be risky since he is 35.

Aaron Laffey better straighten things out our the 2009 rotation is looking thinner by the day.

Tom Mastny introduces himself with an "I'm Tom Mastny," meatball everytime he pitches.

Edward Mujica may not be as bad as I thought he was.

Juan Rincon may be worth a 2009 look, but will probably end up like Jorge Julio/Roberto Hernandez.

David Dellucci should be duct tapped to the bench.

Andy Marte is playing better, but is not the long term solution at 3rd Base.

Ryan Garko should not be our starting firstbaseman in 2009.

Jhonny hit good, field bad.

Travis Hafner may be done for the year.

Would you sign K-Rod to a 5 year, 65 million dollar contract if it meant no offensive help next year? I would.

Matt LaPorta will be an Indian in May of 2009.

Shin Soo Choo and Ben Francisco will form a platoon next season. Book it!

Fausto will be one of the few players to watch left this season.

Jamey Carroll has a future being a jockey at Thistledown.

Sal Fasano is one of my favorite Indians of all time.

Two roster moves happened over the past week, as Asdrubal Cabrera was called up and Jorge Velandia was sent to Buffalo. Also Fausto Carmona is due to pitch on Saturday for the first time since the middle of May, so look for Matt Ginter to be sent down.

Browns training camp opened today so I imagine not many people but the diehards are reading this anymore. Thanks to those who do, whoever and wherever you are.

Lee, Sizemore help lead A.L. to Victory

The American League won yesterday 4-3 in 15 innings with the help of Cleveland's own All-Stars Cliff Lee and Grady Sizemore. Lee pitched two scorless innings, striking out the first two batters he faced. Grady went 1-5, scored the game-tying run and stole a base. It has been a solid 7 days for the Indians in an otherwise disasterous season. Tribe Times will be on hiatus pretty much until Sunday as I am on vacation in that crummy state up north. If anything of importance happens I will post when possible. The Indians head to the west coast Friday to face Seattle for three. Let's hope they can salvage something out of the rest of the season

Matt LaPorta Update

Akron Aeroes Left Fielder Matt LaPorta went 3-6 today in a two game double header. All of his hits were singles, and in the second game he had 2 of the teams' 4 hits. Hey, he is the future, so might as well check up on him. The Aeroes now possess most of the position player talent in the Indians farm system (LaPorta, Hodges, Rodriguez, Crowe) so they seem to be much more interesting to follow than our floundering ballclub.

Tribe loses 10th in a row.

Wow what a finish! I actually thought the Indians would win tonight after they were up 6-0 in the fifth inning. The bullpen of nightmares continues to haunt my dreams. Why did Wedge only let Rafael Perez pitch to one batter in the eighth when he is clearly the best reliever on the team. I guess he wanted to boost Jensen Lewis' confidence by having him face the meat of the Tigers order in a tie game. Wedge has had issues all year with the gas cans out beyond the fence, but he needs to develop some type of continuity. Grady had three hits and two rbi's, while Jhonny continued his hot streak with 2 hits and 2 rbi's. Paul Byrd pitched well, but let 2 batters on in the seventh which ended up killing them. If this game was in April Wedge would have yanked Byrd after six, but the way the pen is, I can't really blame him. Striking out three times in a row (Choo, Garko, Marte) with the bases loaded didn't help either. Thankfully there is only 4 games left until the All-Star break. With Wednesday's loss, the Indians have now lost 10 consecutive games for the first time since 1979, when I was 7 months old. The record for most losses in a row was 12 set in 1931. Let's hope that record is not broken

Juan Rincon added to roster, Elarton to DL

Juan Rincon was added to the worst bullpen in the major leagues today, as Scott Elarton was placed on the DL. Rincon was lighting up Buffalo with a 6.75 ERA but showed good arm strength and has late innings history on a playoff club, according to Eric Wedge. The Indians lost to the Tigers tonight 9-2 on 2 hits. CC looks great as a Brewer. I am going to go throw up now.

Down on the Farm Report: David Huff

Since the Cleveland Indians are in the basement of the A.L. Central, we decided to further investigate the talent in the minor leagues. Today's topic is AAA pitcher David Huff. This southpaw was drafted in the 1st round of the 2006 amateur draft out of UCLA. While Huff is no fireballer (often topping out in the low 90's), he has rapidly moved through the Indians system. He has in two years went from rookie ball to AAA. Huff will turn only 24 in August and will be an option for the big club rotation in 2009. Ross Atkins has compared him often to Tom Glavine with his pinpoint control. His strikeout to walk ratio is outstanding in Buffalo (11-1), but I don't expect the Indians to rush him. With the season a loss cause, look for Huff to debut sometime in September. Here are his stats this year...

Akron 5-1 1.92 ERA 10 Games Started 65+ innings, 62 K's, 14 Walks.

Buffalo 2-2 3.79 ERA 7 Games Started 38 innings, 42 K's, 4 Walks.

Huff needs to show a bit more dominance in Buffalo to show the parent club he is ready for prime time. I hopefully think he will become more like Aaron Laffey than Jeremy Sowers as his strikeout numbers are higher. Don't see all three in the rotation next year because that would be way too many soft tossing lefties. The Indians pitching depth has been depleted over the past few months severely so Huff will definitely be a factor next season.

It's official, CC to Brewers for LaPorta and 3 others.

Multiple sources are reporting that 2007 AL Cy Young winner CC Sabathia will be traded to the Milwaukee Brewers tomorrow for OF Matt LaPorta, pitchers Zach Jackson and Rob Bryson, and a player to be named later who is likely 3B Taylor Green. Laporta is the main player in this deal, so expect him to be start out at Buffalo and make his way up to Cleveland after September 1st. Here are their stats...

Matt LaPorta: .291 (.404 OBP) 20 HR 66 RBI AA Huntsville

Zach Jackson: 1-5 7.81 ERA 22 Appearances (6 starts) AAA Nashville

Rob Bryson: 3-2 4.25 ERA 22 Appearances (5 starts) A West Virginia

Taylor Green: .297 (.381 OBP) 10 HR 50 RBI A Brevard County

I was hopping the Tribe could snag the Escobar kid, but we won't know how good this trade will be until 3-4 years from now. LaPorta seems to be the real deal, and the Bryson kid has 73 K's in 55 innings pitched. CC was one of the best players ever to don a Tribe uniform and will be sorely missed. It is a sad day to be a Indians fan as our best pitcher in the past 30-some years will now be pitching elsewhere. More to come over the next 24 hours.

Indians sign Jeff Weaver, wahh wahhhhhhh.

The Indians today signed Jeff Weaver to a minor league contract. Weaver looks to be CC's replacement when he traded sometime in the coming weeks. I would assume the Tribe is looking to move Paul Byrd also, but he has been pitching horribly lately. So if Byrd and Sabathia leave, look for David Huff and Jeff Weaver to replace them, while Fausto Carmona will probably be in line for Jeremy Sowers' spot. By the way, I have always hated Jeff Weaver, so it will suck to see him give up five runs a night in Cleveland.

CC to Brewers?

The Hefty Lefty may be gone sooner than we think! Ken Rosenthal is reporting that the Indians and Brewers have been in recent talks about CC going to the land of cheese. Through some rumors I have read on the web that I can't confirm, apparently the proposed trade is CC and Masa Kobayashi to the Brewers for OF Matt Laporta, SS Alcides Escobar, 3B Taylor Green, and P Alexandre Periard. All four players are in Milwaukee's top 20 prospects according to Baseball America. The rumor stated that this traded could go down befor Sabathia's next scheduled start. Apparently Milwaukee radio, newspapers, and Internet forums are abuzzed with these speculations. Laporta seems to be the real deal as he was selected 7th in the 2007 draft and has hit 19 homeruns, while Escobar is batting .333 with 7 homeruns and 52 rbi in double-a at age 21. Who knows if it is legit, but it makes the season a bit more interesting as if this deal goes down Peralta's future at shortstop seems bleak. Any news I hear I will pass on over the next day.

2007 A.L. Saves Leader Joe Borowski Designated for Assignment, (Bauer too).

The Joe Bo era in Cleveland is officially over. Joe Borowski was released Friday, as was Rick Bauer. Borowski amassed 45 saves in 2007, but arm trouble and ineffectiveness plague his 2008 season. Ole' Joe Bo did get the last out of the ALDS, so he does have a place in Cleveland Indians history. The rest of the season will see a closer by committee set-up between Masa Kobayashi, Rafael Perez and (gulp) Rafael Betancourt. Relievers Jensen Lewis and Brian Slocum were recalled to try and revive one of the worst bullpens in the major leagues.

As the Tribe Turns.....

I have been on a self-imposed writing ban over the past week to see if the teams fortunes would change. Well they haven't as they have lost 5 of their past 6. I will update here probably still about 3 times a week but with less about the day to day games and more about roster moves, minor leaguers, and teepee tales. The season is officially over, so I am more interested in potential trades and young call-ups than discussing a crappy bullpen and an anemic offense. Here are just a few random thoughts about the Tribe in bullet point form.

• Jeremy Sowers is really bad, I don't think the Indians can count on him in 2009.


• I am going to read Paul Byrd's new book (Free Byrd). hopefully it won't eject itself from my backyard like his fastballs.


• Grady Sizemore should be an All-Star this year because he leads the league in Homeruns and has had to play with this crappy lineup all year.


• The Indians boast the ERA leader and Homerun leader in the American League but still are 11 games under .500.


• Speaking of Cliff Lee, I am truly amazed at how good he is this year, his command has been unbelievable. Between him and Carmona, we now have 2 aces for 2009.


• Shin Soo Choo is a fourth outfielder, nothing more, nothing less.


• Ben Francisco is a solid everyday outfielder, just not a guy who should bat in the 3 hole.


• Kelly Shoppach strikes out too much for an everyday catcher.


• David Dellucci is washed up and I hope he is released so we can stop watching him play every year.


• Casey Blake may be on the Indians in 2009, and that not be a bad thing. He also has more range at shortstop than Jhonny Peralta.


• Ryan Garko kind of sucks this year, should he be the first baseman of the future? I say no.


• The Andy Marte experiment was over in 2007.


• Edward Mujica sucks.


• Jhonny Peralta should start taking ground balls at third base today.


• Jamey Carroll is a grinder.


• Asdrubal Cabrera should be playing everyday in Cleveland, at shortstop.


• Franklin Gutierrez is a great defender, but an offensive hitter.


• Jorge Velandia and Sal Fasano should never be on a contending team, and they are not.


• Joe Borowski should retire.


• Raffy Left is way better than Raffy Right.


• Masa Kobayashi shouldn't worry so much about stretching his back, he should worry about stretching his neck.


• I excuse Mark Shapiro for this team's injuries, but I don't excuse the inactivity of the offseason.


• I don't excuse Mark Shapiro for overvaluing his existing talent.


• Eric Wedge says grinding way too much.

Supposedly the management and Wedge are having meetings today. Hopefully moves will be made because this team is pretty much unwatchable. Also props to North Olmsted High School product Adam Russell gaining his first 2 major league wins against the Indians. As a fellow alum of the baseball program, I couldn't be happier for him, but I just wish he didn't pitch for the White Sox.

Also, check out The Tribe Time Report for daily updates on the Indians. I give him big props for doing a great job writing and linking daily as I can't bring myself to do that for this crummy season. My RSS feeds do update frequently, which is nice.

Giant Misses

6 runs in 3 games = 1 win. The lineup the Indians have been trotting out has been just plain terrible. I understand not having Martinez and Hafner hurt, but I never realized how much since watching the past 12 or so games. Besides Sizemore (who has had a down year also), the lineup has a severe lack of power. Batting Garko and Peralta in the four hole is unfortunately their only option, which is not a good one. Also, when Sowers and Byrd have been on the mound lately, it has resulted in a loss. They both pitched admirably after giving up runs in the first in their respective last starts, but they are no Fausto Carmona or Jake Westbrook. This team is unfortunately a bad one, with half of the season to go. Crazier things have happened (2007 Rockies), but I just can't see this team putting together any kind of winning streak. The hitting is weak, the bullpen is bad, and two of the starting pitchers are inconsistent. When you mix that all together, you have a team that is just not very good. The Reds come to town this weekend, another under .500 team the Indians will probably lose to.

The remaining 2008 season will be probably rough to watch. Trading CC seems to be the only interesting facet left, and that may or may not happen. The Indians may feel 2 1st round picks is a better option than any of the proposed packages they may receive. If that is the case, at least we will get to watch a great pitcher throw in an Tribe uniform for August and September. This is how I would manage the rest of the summer months. I am tired of seeing David Dellucci strike out so they just need to Trot Nixon him and glue him to the bench. Andy Marte has been ruined by the Indians, so might as well throw him out a 3rd for a few weeks to see if he can get that elusive first RBI. Stick Casey Blake at first base, he is more productive than Ryan (right knee in the dirt) Garko. Platoon Shin Soo Choo between DH and right field, and let Sal Fasano grow out his mustache. Ship Edward Mujica out of here because he is terrible and bring up Jeff Stevens. Finally I would get rid of Paulie Byrd (even though I said earlier we should keep him) and bring up David Huff to see what we got. The Indians literally now have nothing to lose, they have lost enough.