Odds and Ends

The Tribe is 2-2 over the past 4 games, which is actually a slight improvement. They took the three game series against the Oakland A's, which was a nice change of pace. Yesterday's game was more of the same, as new Indians Chris Perez and Winston Abreu helped to give up 9 runs in 2 innings. Random thoughts from a horrible season.

• Eric Wedge and his staff got the dreaded vote of confidence from GM Mark Shapiro Sunday. The team promptly lost the next two games. I don't think Eric will be back in 2010.


• Shin Soo Choo has been on fire the past few days, and has played like an All-Star. Seems to be one of the position players the team can build around.


• Victor Martinez is in a huge slump. Hopefully he it is just one of those baseball things and not him being frustrated with the results of the club this season.


• Trading a 24 year old struggling reliever (John Meloan) for another bullpen retread (Winston Abreu) looks like a horrible trade and makes absolutely no sense at all.


• Putting Chris Perez in a bases loaded situation in only his third game when he plunked two White Sox batters in his first game as an Indian was just a bad idea. Put him in spots where he can gain confidence instead of throwing him into the fire.


• Fausto Carmona and Rafael Betancourt are close to returning to the Indians, probably after the All-Star break. Carmona needs to find his control and help stabilize the rotation. Betancourt will help the pen, but also may be trade bait.


• Jeremy Sowers 5 and fly starting pitching dance is nearing an end. He has proved himself unable to be a consistent major league starter. It is time to try him as a long reliever in the bullpen.

The beat goes on for the beaten Tribe. A few roster moves not posted have happened, as Matt Herges was designated for assignment over the weekend to make room for the amazing Winston Abreu. Also, Rafael Perez and his gas can were sent to Columbus to make room for the return of Aaron Laffey.

Rondon Promoted to Columbus

Not only has pitching been an issue for the Indians this year, it has also been quite awful for their triple A affiliate Columbus Clippers. After reading Scott Leo's Blog, who is the Clippers radio announcer, he commented on the fact that the Clippers starting pitching has tallied only 34 quality starts in 83 games. Furthermore, Columbus has the worst team ERA in the International league which is 4.67. Sound like a chip off the ol' block.

With this being said the Clippers promoted right hander Hector Rondon from Akron over the weekend and they got a quality start from Fausto Carmona last night as the Clippers beat the Mud Hens 8-1. Carmona has made two minor league starts prior to last night, allowing one run in 13.2 IP. He is 2-0 with a 0.66 ERA in the minors. Last night he was mostly strong in his Clippers debut. He went five innings, giving up a run on six hits, one walk and five strikeouts. Rondon, the top pitching prospect in the organization, won each of his first five starts and was 7-5 with a 2.75 ERA for the Aeros. His ERA was the fifth-best in the Eastern League, he was tied for fourth in victories, and tied for fifth with 73 strikeouts in just 72 innings. He was holding Double-A opponents to a .227 batting average. Rondon is expected to start Wednesday against Indianapolis at Huntington Park.

Indians Trade for Reliever Winston Abreu

In a minor move, the Tribe has acquired 32 year old reliever Winston Abreu (pictured left) from the Tampa Bay Rays for reliever John Meloan. Abreau was recently designated for assignment, so he fit in for what the Indians are looking for to fill their pen, journeymen relievers. Meloan was brought to the Indians from the Dodgers (with Carlos Santana) in the Casey Blake deal. He has struggled mightily down in Columbus, posting a 5.52 ERA in 25 appearances this season. With as bad as the bullpen has been up in Cleveland, he was never brought up to the fire. The organization must have been really down on him to favor the various jobbers that have toed the mound in the big leagues this season. I am surprised they have given up on Meloan, since he only just about to turn 25 next week in favor of a well traveled hurler. Winston is expected to be added to the 25 man roster tomorrow.

Abreu, a fastball/slider pitcher, made two appearances for the Rays this year, allowing a run on three hits with two walks and three strikeouts in 3 2/3 innings. He was called up from Triple-A Durham on June 14 and designated for assignment last week.
A native of the Dominican Republic, Abreu has spent the bulk of this season at Durham, where he went 3-0 with a 1.41 ERA in 23 appearances. He's walked 10 and struck out 49 in 32 innings.
Abreu has 13 years of Minor League experience pitching in the farm systems of the Braves, Cubs, Royals, Dodgers, D-backs, Orioles, Nationals and Rays. He has gone 37-36 with a 3.68 ERA in 322 appearances. He has 929 strikeouts and just 374 walks in 776 2/3 Minor League innings.

Who knows if this will work out, but it looks like just another gas can to throw onto the fire.

The Day the Indians Died

The Monday of June 15th, 2009 was an optimistic one for Tribe fans. Their team had just won 6 of 9 games and just witnessed their reigning Cy Young award winner no hit the first place St. Louis Cardinals for 7 innings, pulling to a record of 29-36, the closest to .500 they had been for a long time. The Indians carried a 12-7 leading heading into the 7th inning over a solid Brewer ball club. Then, as after the bullpen had been somewhat solid for a few weeks, the group of all former 2009 Columbus Clippers gave up a collective 8 earned runs over their collective relief duty and retrospectively finished the teams' chances for a comeback season (fittingly it was Major League the movie Monday, were all fans got Rick "Wild Thing" Vaughn bobbleheads). Wedge went to his bullpen five times that night, and these are the folks (in order) who came out and what they did.

Greg Aquino 1 IP 2 H 2 ER 1 BB

Luis Vizcaino 1 1/3 IP 0 H 2 ER 3 BB

Matt Herges 0 IP 1 H 2 ER 1 BB

Rafael Perez 0 IP 3 H 2 ER 1 BB

Joe Smith 1 2/3 IP 0 H 0 ER 0 BB

Smith did a good job, but that was after Prince Fielder hit a line shot Grand Slam and took the air out of the Indians sails. Perez caught the WBC disease in early April and has been a trainwreck ever since. Looking at the first three names, would you really think any team that hoped to contend for a division would be trotting out these losers? I thought so. Why do I bring this game up? Because it started a string of 15 winnable games for the Tribe, and ended today with a loud thud. The Indians are 2-13 over those contests and look like a pathetic, hapless ball club. Their pitching staff is just terrible, and their hitters seem to be going through the motions over their latest 5 game losing streak. For all the Eric Wedge bashers who believe he should be canned, I can't disagree with you totally, but just look at this roster. If you look to the glorious (and looking like last in a long while) AL Central Division Championship season, their rotation was as follows...

2007

Sabathia/Carmona/Westbrook/Byrd/Laffey (with Lee down in Triple A trying to re-find himself)

2009 current

Lee/Pavano/Huff/Sowers/Ohka (with Lewis and Reyes done for the year and Carmona figuring things out in the minors)

Can anyone expect a team to win with that rotation, coupled with the abomination going out in right-center field? The team does struggle early every season and that could be attributed to the coaching staff. The knock of Wedge moving guys around in the field and the lineup is a 50/50 problem. If the team had guys capable of playing everyday and performing consistantly, the manager would not be forced to do that (I will go over the Pros and Cons of Wedge later this month, probably more cons). Injuries cannot be made as an excuse in 2009 because they stunk when they were healthy. Would I fire the Manager? No, because it really doesn't matter right now, they are going nowhere. If he is brought back in 2010, most fans will be up in arms, so I imagine the Indians will be forced to move in a different direction.

Most of the blame should be put on GM Mark Shapiro for feeling like his staff would be able to compete at previous levels. Besides Lee, there were no sure things in the rotation since Fausto struggled in 2008 and the Pavano/Reyes/Lewis/Huff/Sowers/Laffey poo poo platter contained way too many hopes and iffs. The real key to baseball is Starting Pitching, and no rotation guy(besides Lee) on the Indians has an ERA under 5. If the Indians ever want to contend again, Starting Pitching has to be the focus. Bringing in has-beens like Pavano or bright flashes of success like Reyes and Lewis only mask the real inadequacies in your ballclub (no wonder why Hector Rondon was moved so quickly BACK to starting duty). They need as a front office to come up with a plan today to infuse more upper echelon pitching into Double A and above that can be effective in the next 2 seasons.

After reading Paul's article over at the DiaTribe about Cliff Lee, I am now in the camp of moving him this season. Go get some stud pitchers that may develop into something in a few years, because contending next season seems like a pipe dream, even in a winable division. If they do play better, well then that is a bonus because Lee and Martinez will likely walk the following year, so changes would have to be made. Trade Cliff now when he has his highest value. It's not like attendance is going to drop, this City gave up on the Indians back in May.

As for the White Sox series, well it was awful. The Tribe was only really in the first game, but they didn't even score a run until the ninth when they were already trailing 6-0. Sizemore still looks hurt, Martinez is in a slump, the rest of the guys looked disinterested, and the pitching continues to be piss poor. They should use the Rick Vaughn bobblehead as a "JoeBoo" to exercise the demons that are this season. It is going to be a long 3 months out at Progressive field, so let's hope to see some more of the young guys and see if they are worth a look for the future. 2011 isn't that far away, is it?

Barfield sent to Columbus to make room for Perez

As mentioned several days ago the Cleveland Indians traded utility man Mark DeRosa to the St. Louis Cardinals for reliever Chris Perez and a player to be named later. That being said, the soon to be 24 year old Perez made his way to Cleveland and therefore was activated today. Not only will he be available for tonight's game against Chicago, he will also get to meet his fellow bullpen members (pictured to the left) for the first time. To make room for Perez the team sent Josh Barfield back down to Triple A Columbus. Although Barfield started the year with the Tribe he has been optioned three times this season. In the time he has spent with the club this year he has seen limited playing time in in that he has only appeared in 17 games and had just 20 at bats. Furthermore, this is not good news for Columbus Clippers All-Star Andy Cannizaro as Barfield will likely steal his playing time.

Hopefully Perez can stir something up in this god awful bullpen and show these guys how to actually pitch. On a side note, Aaron Laffey decided that he wants to pitch like the rest of the Indians bullpen and suck it up. He made what was thought to be his last rehab start yesterday at Double A Akron and only lasted 3 1/3 innings giving up 3 runs on five hits. He also walked six (how can you walk that many people) and hit one batter. Eric Wedge actually made a logical comment stating, "We need to see more than that before we bring him up here." Well no crap Wedgie.

The Tribe take on the Chicago White Sox tonight in a three game series at Progressive Field. They have lost their last four series. To take a quote from the Chinese grounds crew from the Movie Major League, "these guys are sh!tty"

*The photo in this article was created by The Tribe Daily

Down on the Farm Report: Nick Weglarz

Last week it was announced that two Indians Minor Leaguers will represent the World Team in the 11th annual All-Star futures game on All-Star weekend on July 12 at Busch Stadium. The two players are catcher Carlos Santana who is the Indians number one rated prospect according to Baseball America and outfielder Nick Weglarz who was rated by Baseball America as the number 3 Indians prospect leading into the season. Both of which are teammates on the Indians Double A Akron Aeros squad. If you watched any of the World Baseball Classic this year you might remember the 21 year old Weglarz as he started in left field for team Canada. Nick also played for the Canadian team in the 2009 Summer Olympics in China as well.

The Indians selected Weglarz in the 3rd round of the 2005 Draft out of high school (Ontario, Canada). In his pro debut in 2005 at rookie level Burlington, at 17 years of age Weglarz held up well and hit .231 with 2 HR and 13 RBI in 141 at bats. In 2006, he played only one game for the rookie level Gulf Coast League (GCL) Indians as he was sidelined for the entire season with a broken hand. Weglarz is one of only a handful of players under 20 to have an OPS in the South Atlantic League of .892 or higher in the last 15 years. Here is what several sites have said about the young up and comer:

Indians Prospect Insider "Weglarz is a developed hitter with above-average hand-eye coordination, and he loves low pitches so he can extend through it either away or down and in. Weglarz has some flaws in his swing that will need to be tinkered along the way, but his long arms and good bat speed generate tremendous power."

Scoutingbook.com said he is, "A smart, savvy hitter with strong arms and developing power, Weglarz uses very fast hands to work the bat through the zone quickly, with line-drive power to all fields. His swing lacks the loft of a true power-hitter, though that may come soon as his large frame continues to fill out: In 2007 he produced 24 long balls in 127 games as a 19 year old in A ball. He took a step back when bumped up to high-A in 2008, but he's still a very young player with a lot to learn, so some growing pains are expected. A first-baseman in high school, the Indians have been using him in left field, though that experiment may soon end: his glove and arm are not better than average. While he continues to work on his power swing, his advanced plate discipline looks puts him firmly in the Future Youkilis Junior Achievers camp for now."

This year Weglarz started out the season playing for the Double A Akron Aeros as he spent all of 2008 in Single A Kingston. Although he started out slow by hitting below .100 in the month of April his numbers have really come around in the last two months as he has been on fire. Since May 1st he is batting over .320 for the Aeros. As of today he is hitting .261 and is leading the team in RBI's with 55. His OPS is .900. Furthermore, he was selected as the Eastern League Player of the week back on May 18th and then again this past week ending June 26th. Weglarz was at his best in the three-game series against Trenton last week. Weglarz hit .700 (7-10) in the series, homered in all three games, drove in eight runs, and collected his first four-hit game of the season Wednesday before becoming just the 12th player in franchise history to draw four walks in a game Thursday.

Since Weglarz is only 21 you can only expect more great things out of him. With the Tribe basically being all but out of it in 2009 it would be nice to see them bring up two other prospects from Triple A Columbus in Michael Brantley and Matt LaPorta so they can get some big league experience. The Clippers have been playing Brantley a lot more in left field so hopefully this is a sign that he will come up and get some experience as I would rather watch him than Ben Francisco. Benny boy is just terrible and I am tired of watching him as he is a minor leaguer at best. Bruce Drennen talked about him last night on All Bets Are Off saying that Francisco might be a nice kid but he has to go. I will be amazed if he is on a big league club next year. With this in mind, if either LaPorta or Brantley get called up you can probably expect that Nick Weglarz will be on the first bus to Columbus to play for the Clippers.

Frowns Town: Tribe loses another series

More of the same from the Sons of Geronimo, as the Indians lost 2 out of three to the Reds. The series started off so well, with a 9-2 thumping Friday. Saturday and Sundays performances were a giant yawn with Cincinnati dominating their cross state rivals. If you want to relive this awful year, read this great article, it pretty much sums up everything. More random thoughts from a lost season.

• Just when you think Jeremy Sowers is dead an buried, he throws 7 shutout innings? I can't figure him out at all, but he probably has a place somewhere in the Indians bullpen potentially in 2010 as a long reliever.
• Tomo Ohka needs to be back in Columbus where he belongs.

David Huff's performance Sunday was a bit of a disappointment. I was sure he had settled into a groove, due to him stringing together some very good starts. Hopefully it is just a blip on the radar because the Tribe really need him the rest of this year and next.

• My new favorite Indian Luis Valbuena is in a huge slump (1-22 i think). He needs a day off, but should still get a chance to play a ton for this last place club.


• The more I see Garko out in left, the more I realize he is terrible out there, but at least he gives effort and doesn't complain when he is benched for 3-4 days in a row. Garko is a good guy, just probably not an everyday 1st Baseman.


• So long to Mark DeRosa, we hardly knew you. You really didn't have a great glove at 3rd like you were supposed to, but you hit pretty darn well and played everywhere. I wish you the best!

Also, look for newly aquired reliever Chris Perez to be activated today with Josh Barfield riding the long bus back to Columbus.

The White Sox come to town Monday for a 3 game series. Don't miss it, because I am pretty sure most will.

DeRosa Traded to Cardinals

Mark DeRosa was traded today to the St. Louis Cardinals today for Chris Perez and a player to be named later. DeRosa was batting .270 with 13 homers and 50 RBI for the Tribe this season, playing all over the diamond (3B, 1B, RF, LF). It is ironic that he was traded for pitching because they gave up originally 3 pitchers to get him. Mark was a solid clubhouse guy and will probably be missed in the lineup as well. Look for Asdrubal Cabrera to take his roster spot tomorrow, with Perez possibly snagging Tomo Ohka's.

Chris Perez (pictured above)is a soon to be 24 year old who has went 1-1 with 4.18 ERA with one save in 29 games. The Right hander has stuck out 30 and walked 15 in 23 plus innings of work. He looks to be a pretty solid reliever the Indians are surely missing. The PTBNL is supposedly supposed to be a top prospect that the club will be tracking for the second half of the season (a la Michael Brantley). Look for that acquisition to happen after the season). By looking at his photo, he seems like a dude who likes to have a good time, which is always a welcomed addition.

I don't imagine that there will be many more trades by the Indians in trading off veterans. They don't really have that many assets available to be moved. Carl Pavano was a possibility, but he stinks right now and is probably hurt. This move should also stabilize the lineup a bit more, as Wedge won't have DeRosa anymore to move around the field and lineup each day.

Also, Jensen Lewis was sent to Columbus as Jose Veras was added to the bullpen from Hell. Lewis never could keep the ball down in the zone, resulting in 8 homeruns allowed. He will probably be back in a month. As for the team, they look to win their first series in 4 chances tomorrow with David Huff taking on Micah Owings.

Tribe drops 2 of 3 to the Pirates

Interleague play can't end soon enough for the Indians, as they have lost 8 of their last 9 games to their National League foes. The Pittsburgh series was a microcosm for the season, lose 2 games (one by the bullpen) and the only win you get, they almost blow it as well. Nothing real positive to say about this team right now, they are just floating along mired in the basement of an average division. With the Tigers rattling off 7 wins in a row, it is time for the Tribe to start building towards next season (a common occurrence in this town). With the Cavs getting Shaq and probably more, the Cleveland baseball team will struggle to get any attention in this town. T

here isn't a single move they can make to the moderate fans of the club interested, because if they trade Lee or Martinez, immediately they are considered cheap and worthless to watch. Trading Pavano (no one wants him) or DeRosa (should be able to garner some pitching) would let out a collective yawn from the fanbase. So what do the Indians do? Try and trade Francisco or Garko or both, they are not in the long term plans of this team, nor should they be. Go with a youth movement. Call up LaPorta and Brantley, move Laffey into the rotation, and let's see what they got (read this piece by The DiaTribe for more in depth moves, all of which I totally agree with).

Get guys like Matt Herges (pictured above) out of here and let whatever young relievers the system has (Rundles, Meloan, Herrmann) pitch up in Cleveland. We know that old man Herges will not be here in 2010, so get him out of here. I imagine the attendance is going to real tail off towards the end of August and in to September, so at least let what fans you have left see some young talent that may have a shot at the future, whatever that may bring.

I will be in attendence tonight as the Reds come to town. I sure am pumped to see 5 and Fly Jeremy Sowers throw. Only 108 games left in the season!

Trading Time: Aubrey to Orioles, Veras to Indians

Two minor trades were made today by the Tribe, as they shipped 27 year old first baseman Michael Aubrey to the Baltimore Orioles and received reliever Jose Veras from the New York Yankees for cash. Aubrey was a former 1st round pick by the Indians, but just never could stay healthy. He also was caught up in a numbers game as there are a plethora of 1st Baseman/Outfielders currently in the Indians' upper minors. Michael was hitting .292 with 16 doubles, a triple, five homers and 29 RBIs in 57 games for the Clippers. This transaction removes one more hurdle for Columbus Clipper Jordan Brown to finally make it to the big leagues in Cleveland, a promotion he has earned and deserves. Aubrey will best be known in Indians lore as the first baseman who just let Gary Sheffield charge the mound from first base without tackling him or intervening. Fausto still smoke Sheff in the face, but you gotta do something Mike, not just stand there like you usually do (see below).

Veras (pictured right) pitched pretty poorly for the Yankees in 2009. In 25 appearances out of the New York 'pen this season, the 28-year-old Veras was 3-1 with a 5.96 ERA. He walked 14 and struck out 18 in 25 2/3 innings of work. He pitched a lot better in 2008, going 5-3 posting a 3.59 ERA in 57 + innings while striking out 63 and only walking 29 in 60 appearances. The Yankess designated him for assignment, so he would have had to clear waivers to stay in New York's organization. It will be interesting to see who is jettisoned off of the 25 man roster because Veras is expected to join the big league club sometime this week. He can't be any worse than what is currently out there. Can he?

Sizemore activated, Sipp recalled, Crowe sent down, Vizcaino sent packing

The Indians finally received some good news today, as All-Star Centerfielder Grady Sizemore was activated off of the 15-day DL. Hopefully Grady is fully healthy because his stats so far in 2009 have been less than stellar (.223 (46-for-206) with nine homers and 31 RBI, 25 BB and 52 K's).

To make room, Trevor Crowe was sent down to Columbus to work on pretty much every aspect of his game. Crowe hit a dismal .169 and did not display much confidence out in center field. He needs to work on a bunch of things in Triple A to even have a shot at a bench spot for the future. Look for Mark DeRosa to take over in Left, while Ben Francisco takes a seat on the bench for the foreseeable future.

Tony Sipp returns for a third time to Cleveland, where he has had some success (3.12 ERA). His main problem was walks, which he had 10 while striking out 10. Walking batters is a team wide issue, so he will fit in nicely. The Luis Vizcaino (or what I refer to him, as "The Rally Starter")experiment is now over, he sure showed us why the Cubs dumped him after only a few weeks. His 5.40 ERA in 11 games was a lot worse than the stats tell, because he walked 12 guys and always was teetering on the brink of disaster when he didn't blow the game entirely.

Hopefully these are some of the first moves in going with more young players, because this season is about over. Hopefully Sizemore and Sipp can help bring an end to the worst stretch of losing the Indians have experienced all year.

Down on the Farm Report: Hector Rondon

With the 2009 Cleveland Indians season quickly trickling down the drain, it is time once again to look to the future, because the future is all Tribe fans' got. The current starting rotation at the big league level is pretty weak, so don't be surprised to see Top Prospect Hector Rondon sometime later this summer donning an Indians uniform. Rondon was selected last season to the Futures All Star game at the tender age of 20 and hurled three shutout innings in big league camp this past spring training. The young Venezualan is just 21 years old and has had success at each level in the minors. Rondo sports a plus fastball that hovers in the 92-94 MPH range that can top out at 97. He primarily likes to throw the hard stuff, but also mixes in an improving slider with a curveball and changeup that he is trying to improve upon. Hector recently had some arm issues, but they have seemed to be nothing major.

Right-handed Hector Rondon has successfully returned from right bicep tendinitis, returning to action this past Sunday to go four shutout innings. When Rondon left his start early about two weeks ago there was a lot of concern up and down the Indians' organization for their prized right-hander, but thankfully the injury was not serious and he essentially missed one start and did not even have to go on the disabled list. As a precautionary measure, his pitch count was limited on Sunday, which is why he only went four innings. Indiansprospectinsider.com

That must have been a big sigh of relief to the organization as there really is a lack of top quality arms anywhere close to making the majors by 2010. Rondon is a lanky 6'3, 160 lbs, so he has plenty of room to fill out his slim frame. He is currently 6-4 with a 2.85 ERA in 60 1/3 innings. Those stats may be a bit inflated due to his brief stint in the bullpen. With the Big League Tribe's bullpen in shambles back in May (and even worse now), the Indians brass looked to Rondon as a potential impact arm to help this season. The experiment did not work out well. Here is more from indiansprospectinsider.com from Ross Atkins about why Hector was returned to starting duty...

On Hector Rondon: "When we considered him as a bullpen option and talked about who the best arms are in the system who could help the major league team now, he was the clear choice. I think what we did was exhaust the process in thinking about is this best for the organization, and while we were considering that he was a viable candidate and a more immediate candidate having thrown out of a bullpen in a professional setting. It was two outings, and he pitched well and threw well and was better than his lined indicated. As we took time to further consider that while moving him and pitching him in the bullpen we also considered what it meant long term for him and what it meant long term for our organization and ultimately decided that Hector can help us in either role, be it starting or in relief as he continues to [work out of the starting rotation]. I think we are looking at it now from a more global perspective. By no means is he not a bullpen option. I think what he is now is just an option as a major league pitcher. Hector will continue his development, and we could see him at some point this year or next year, it is difficult to say. He has handled it exceptionally well, which was one of the reasons that we decided to try it because we knew he would be able to handle it and it wouldn't affect him negatively."

Or they realized that this guy may need to be in the rotation by season's end. Rondon apparently did not do too well warming up so quickly out in the pen, due to his regimen having to change from transforming into a reliever from his regular starting duties. His velocity was not as good and his control was erratic. One of the outings he came in with runners on, forcing the Aero to pitch immediately from the stretch. The Tribe went ahead and fast-tracked last years 6th round pick Zach Putnam to the bullpen (which has had mixed results) and promptly returned Rondon to beginning games from the mound.

His 61 strikeouts over 60 1/3 innings stands out, as well as him only walking 13 batters. Currently on a strict pitch count, Rondon threw 4 plus shutout innings Sunday to lead Akron to another win. With clearly being the ace of the staff, I imagine that this 21 year old phenom will be promoted to Columbus as soon as the Indians management feels he is ready to be extended to his maximum throwing potential. If he mows'em down in Clipperville, look for Hector Rondon to be added to the rotation to see if he is a viable option for 2010.

Wedge Watch

After watching the Tribe lose its sixth straight game and blunder away any hope to a surge this season, the Eric Wedge watch is officially on. Is he canned tomorrow? Does he last the season? Who will be his interim replacement? What about 2010? All of these questions are on the minds of Tribe fans today and is only the middle of June. As for the Windy City debacle, well the series was downright pathetic. I was originally planning on going this weekend, but I am sure glad I didn't because eventhough Wrigleyville is a great time, it would have taken a blacked-out bender to recover from these games. Random thoughts as always...

Luis Valbuena is looking more and more like the second baseman of the future.

There is really no way the Indians can trade Cliff Lee. He is literally the only starting pitcher the team has in the organization that could legitimately be in another MLB teams rotation. If he walks after 2010, then shake his hand and wish him luck. At least he gives you a shot to win every fifth day.

The Ben Francisco and Ryan Garko eras in Cleveland are quickly coming to an end.

Tomo Ohka is the 2nd best starter on the staff right now. That is really, really sad.

You can make the excuse that Kerry Wood is underused, but he still has to get it done. He is making 12 million dollars to pitch one inning and win your team a game. Just a joke.

What can be said about the bullpen that hasn't already been said. Nothing. Mike Gosling should not have picked the #20, it may be cursed by this guy.

Victor is in a bit of slump, which does not bode well for the club at all.

You will not see Jeremy Sowers in an Indian uniform in 2010.

If Wedge is canned, I would promote Clippers Manager Torey Lovullo into the interim role (along with his pitching coach Scott Radinsky). No coach on the current staff should even be considered, the team needs a new voice. Give the guy a shot this season with the promise that if he succeeds, he will be strongly considered for 2010 and beyond.

My 2010 Manager.... John Farrell. He is the pitching coach for a great staff in Boston and has plenty of knowledge of the Indians system.

Don't be surprised if Mark Shapiro steps aside either this season or before 2010 and becomes the teams President, allowing Chris Antonetti to take over. They may sound like clones, but I think Antonetti has his own ideas on some ways he would do things differently.

Trevor Crowe needs to be sent down immediately. I really liked what he did in spring training, but I have seen enough of him to know that he is a 4A guy and the Indians have way too many of those kind of players.

Kelly Shoppach may be on his way back to Triple A pretty soon. Being the personal catcher for Cliff Lee can only save your job for so long.

With the club currently 29-43 (most games under .500 all season), and reports that the Manager is possibly out the door, the question out there is who to blame? Let me know in the comments section below. The Wahoos are off to Pittsburgh to hopefully right this sinking ship.

Can the Indians Really Depend on the Pen?

This piece originally was posted March 23rd, 2009. This team currently has played 19 games since their last save. After today's bullpen debacle (blown 7 run lead), I just can't write anymore about this crappy relief corps. They suck.

Recent reports out of Goodyear have not been kind to Japanese import Masa Kobayashi. He currently is sporting a 14.40 ERA in 5 innings of work. Coupled with Easy Ed Mujica's 12.71 ERA, the duo is putting up stats reminiscent of the horrid bullpen of 2008 where a total of 6 pitchers who appeared in at least 14 games had earned run averages above 5.60! Thankfully young options (Sipp, Meloan, Jackson) to go with non roster guys (Chulk, Herges, Saarloos) are available to help sort out the final spots on the bench out in centerfield. The thought of those two toeing the rubber this season makes many Tribe fans quiver and for good reason. It seems as the Cleveland Indians bullpen goes, so does the teams' final record. Mark Shapiro has preached many times over the years that a teams relief corps is many times a crap shoot, and by looking at the corresponding ERA's with the Indians win totals, his analysis seems correct. Here is a breakdown of the past 5 years of Indians bullpens and how the club ended up.

2004 80-82 Third Place

Bullpen ERA 4.90 (Ranked 12th in AL) opposing batting average .271

Omar Vizquels' Indian career was ending, Grady Sizemores' was just beginning, and the Tribe Bullpen was just plain sucking. Bob Wickman started the season on the 60 day DL, so the team decided to begin the season with a closer-by-committee format. Boy was that a bad idea. In an attempt to bolster the clubs' holes in the area, they traded a quartet of future big league regulars (Ryan Church and Maicer Izturis to the Angels, Willy Tavares and Luke Scott to the Astros) for Scott Stewart and Jeriome Robertson. These ill fated moves, along with the signing of Jose Jimenez doomed the club from the outset. Here are their scary stats...

Scott Stewart 23 games, 13 2/3 innings pitched, 7.24 ERA
Jeriome Robertson 8 games, 14 innings pitched, 12.21 ERA
Jose Jimenez 31 games, 36 1/3 innings pitched, 8.42 ERA

Another star of the bullpen was Chad Durbin, who may have set a record (later matched by Fausto Carmona in 2006) in giving up 3 walk off homeruns in the first 28 games of the season. If there ever were a bullpen from hell, this was it as 20 pitchers threw in relief for the Indians, headlined by such names as Lou Pote, Jack Cressend, David Lee, Jake Robbins, Rick White, Matt Miller, and catcher Tim Laker. Let's just say the Indians knew things had to improve for the team to compete in 2005.

2005 93-69 Second Place

Bullpen ERA 2.80 (Ranked 1st in AL) opposing batting average .224

What a difference a year makes! After starting the season slow, the Indians charged hard over the last two months and missed the playoffs by a mere one game. The team resigned Bob Wickman to close (45 saves, 2.47 ERA), acquired veteran lefties Arthur Rhodes (2.08 ERA) and Scott Sauerbeck (4.04 ERA), and got an amazing year out of reclamation projects Bob Howry (2.47 ERA in 79 games) and Rafael Betancourt (2.79 ERA in 54 games). The worst regular reliever was probably Jason Davis, and he wasn't that bad (4.69 ERA). This was a bullpen built for the playoffs, but unfortunately the young supporting cast fizzled at the end of the season. Shapiro and Co. may have taken the success for granted.

2006 78-84 Fourth Place

Bullpen ERA 4.73 (Ranked 11th in the AL) opposing batting average .274

As Joni Mitchell once wrote, "Don't it always seem to go. That you don't know what you've got 'till it's gone," could very well have been the mantra of the 2006 bully. In a desire to strengthen the position player depth in the organization, the Tribe included David Riske (3.01 ERA in 2006) in the Coco Crisp trade (Josh Bard too) that netted the team top prospect Andy Marte, Kelly Shoppach, Randy Newsom and Guillermo Mota. In a seperate move to augment the loss of Crisp, the Indians also shipped Arthur Rhodes to the Phillies for the immortal Jason Michaels. These two moves, along with the loss of Bobby Howry to free agency really put the bullpen in a state of confusion. Now granted, Rhodes and Riske were no where near as effective in 2006 then they were a year earlier, but maybe keeping the guys together out there who led the league in ERA in their same respective roles may have been a good idea. Wickman got hurt, Mota was horrible (6.21 ERA), Fernando Cabrera (5.19 ERA) and Rafael Betancourt (3.81 ERA) were tired from their appearances in the WBC, Scott Sauerbeck got drunk and hid in some bushes with a woman not his wife (6.23 ERA), and a guy named Brian Sikorski (4.58 ERA) had to be purchased late in the season FROM Japan. This Bullpen of Horrors almost claimed Fausto Carmona as well. After Bob Wickman was traded the Braves, the Tribe stuck the young Dominican into the closers role In the span of seven days (from July 30 through August 5), Carmona recorded four losses and three blown saves for the Indians, including wall off home runs surrendered to Boston Red Sox David Ortiz and the Tigers' Ivan Rodriguez. Thankfully he was returned to his original role as a starter soon thereafter. The lone bright spot was eventual call up of Rafael Perez, a future bullpen star.

2007 96-66 First Place

Bullpen ERA 3.75 (Ranked 4th in the AL) opposing batting average .254

Mark Shapiro made it a priority to rebuild the 2007 pen by signing a quartet of pitchers (Keith Foulke, Joe Borowski, Roberto Hernandez, Aaron Fultz) to compete for the many open spots in the bullpen. Foulke never made it out of Spring Training, so Joe Borowski assumed the role as closer. As much as JoBo made Tribe fans' hold their collective breaths all season, he pitched with guts, saving an AL leading 45 games (as well as game 4 of the ALDS). His 5.04 ERA was a cause for concern, but that will be discussed later. Rafael Betancourt had a downright magical 2007 season posting a 1.47 ERA in 68 games, while Aaron Fultz (2.92 ERA) pitched well in the first half of the season. Aging veteran Roberto Hernandez was a bust (6.23 ERA) but a pair of young pitchers really helped the Tribe make a run to the playoffs. Lefty Rafael Perez (1.78 ERA in 44 appearances) and righty Jensen Lewis (2.15 ERA in 26 games) provided stability and excitement after the All-Star break. Ultimately, it was the starting pitching that did in the Tribe in the ALCS, but the bullpen was a huge strength and looked to be one in 2008.

2008 81-81 Third Place

Bullpen ERA 5.13 (13th in the AL) opposing batting average .280

With the success of the relievers experienced in 2007, Shapiro felt only minor tweaking needed to be done. He brought in Japanese closer Masa Kobayashi and veteran Jorge Julio to compliment his strong corps of arms. Kobayashi would serve as a type of insurance in the case of injury or major meltdowns like years' past. It may have been an omen of things to come when Aaron Fultz was released in Spring Training, making the Indians eat his $1.5 Million Dollar contract. The GM should have and probably internally did project the eventual decline of Joe Borowski (18 games, 16 2/3 innings, 7.56 ERA while showing at best 85 MPH fastball), but no one would have thought that the guys who had so much success in 2007 would fall completely on their face. Julio was a flop (5.60 ERA in 15 games). Betancourt looked terrible from the beginning (6.00 ERA in 42 games befor the All-Star Break) and never looked comfortable in closing games after Borowski was removed. Jensen Lewis's velocity was way down early and was eventually sent back to Buffalo (he rebounded late in the season, assuming the closers' role and saving 13 games). Kobayashi showed glimpses of being average, but eventually tired and posted a 10.32 ERA over his final 15 games. Here is the list of the over 5.60 ERA for the season club...

Edward Mujica 33 games, 38 2/3 innings pitched, 6.75 ERA
Juan Rincon 23 games, 27 1/3 innings pitched, 5.60 ERA
Joe Borowski 18 games, 16 23 innings pitched, 7.56 ERA
Jorge Julio 15 games, 17 2/3 innings pitched, 5.60 ERA
Brendan Donnelly 15 games, 13 2/3 innings pitched, 8.56 ERA
Tom Mastny 14 games, 20 innings pitched, 10.80 ERA

Those have got to be some of the worst stats a bullpen has put up in the history of baseball. I wouldn't want any of those guys autographs, let alone them pitching for my favorite team. The team did play quite well over, going 34-21 after July 31st. That success can be attributed in part to the stability of the closers' role (Lewis) and the lack of appearances of the jobbers listed above.

2009?

What will the 2009 bullpen look like and perform? The signing of closer Kerry Wood in the off season should solidify the Closer Role (assuming no lingering injuries), allowing the younger pitchers to settle into their respective spots in the Pen. The acquisition of sidewinder Joe Smith should help as well in providing depth and a different look. If the Cleveland Indians can compete with a better than average bullpen day in and day out, the statistics above support a better record and a most probable return to post season. Unfortunately as Shapiro has learned, Relievers are probably the most unpredictable positions on the diamond. The 2005 and 2007 seasons showed that having a guy finish games (Wickman and Borowski) effectively most of the time correlates into wins. Wood is saved 34 games in 40 chances and reportedly topped 98 MPH on the radar gun in the National League playoffs. Lewis and Perez have been lights out this spring, and Betancourt seems to be getting things together.

If these five guys can find consistency in their respective roles, 2009 should see a return to greatness for the Indians. It is also an odd year, which for some reason has proved to be good thing for these guys. From Jim Poole to Jose Mesa, Tribe fans have suffered through some excruciating performance from the last line of defense. Hopefully this season, Tribe fans can smile and not hold their breaths when the gate swings open out in centerfield at the corner of Carnegie and Ontario.

*Note... As of June 19th, the Indians bullpen had 15 guys throw at least 1 inning through only 79 games and is the worst in all of Professional Baseball. Guess which place they are in?

Tribe Designates Aquino, recall Gosling

On June 5th the Cleveland Indians signed LHP Mike Gosling (pictured to the left sporting a huge boner) to a Minor League contract just a few days after the 28 year old was released from the Minnesota Twins. He had a 7-1 record with a 4.37 ERA in 21 appearances at Triple A Rochester this year. Since being in Columbus he has thrown 8 innings giving up one run and striking out eight. With this in mind, it did not take the Tribe long to recall the newly acquired lefty as the Wahoo's bullpen is, to put it nicely, struggling and in need of a makeover. This just goes to prove my point in the last post that we really have nobody that is ready to be called up. I guess we have resorted to picking up some has been's (Vizcaino) and now this guy named Gosling.

Greg Aquino was optioned back to Triple A Columbus in the move to bring up "The Goose". There is only one team I would even consider putting Aquino on right now and it is this. I hope he takes his crooked hat back down to Columbus and figures it out.