Luis Valbuena

Luis Valbuena has found himself in the lineup everyday at short and 2nd base. He has never been a regular shortstop, ever. For whatever reason Wedge really likes this kid. The problem is he hasn't hit anything. Wedge says the numbers lie and that Valbuena is putting up good at bats but if your slugging, on base, and batting average are all under .300, along with 30 strikeouts(only 15 hits) in 80 at bats I would like to know how the numbers lie. He doesn't have one good offensive stat. I really think they are doing this just to spite Josh Barfield, who has seen less action than reserve 1st baseman/catcher Chris Gimenez.

Travis Hafner and the Bullpen

Travis Hafner went 3 for 5 last night with a double, a homer, and no strikeouts. The guy looked good, let's hope this continues.

The likes of Greg Aguino, Luis Vizcaino, Matt Herges, and Rafael Perez in 2 and a third innings of relief work last night gave up: 8 earned runs, 6 hits (including 1 homerun), and 6 walks, along with 2 wild pitches. I don't know what else to say about this, the bullpen had been really good lately.......

Out of last place

If you haven't noticed, and judging by the attendance, you haven't, the Indians climbed out of the cellar last night and moved ahead of Kansas City into 4th place in the AL Central Division.

If Aaron Laffey, Jake Westbrook, and/or Scott Lewis can return to the rotation by the end of June they might be able to get something going. I don't think they can rely on Tomo Ohka, David Huff, and Jeremy Sowers for the rest of the season. Sowers and Huff continue to show improvement but you can't wait and wait for one of them to break out this far into the season. If the Indians do not continue a steady climb in the AL Central standings prior to the All Star Break any hope will be crushed.

Jhonny Peralta

Peralta was out of the lineup on Sunday and is not in the lineup again tonight, plus we had an off day yesterday. I am wondering if he is hurt. With Asdrubal Cabrera on the DL you would think that JP would be in the lineup everyday at 3rd or short.

Fausto Carmona

Fausto Carmona was terrible again yesterday vs. the Twins. Tomo Ohka came in and ate up innings for a second time behind Carmona. How much longer are the Indians going to let this go on??? It's almost guaranteed that we are going to lose every 5th day. With 106 games left that means we would lose 21 of those games indefinitely.

With Aaron Laffey, Scott Lewis, and Jake Westbrook's returns on the horizon the clock will be ticking for Carmona. I wouldn't be surprised if they activate Travis Hafner today and option Carmona to Columbus and let Ohka take his turn in the rotation for the time being given that we currently have 8 relief pitchers.

The rotation should look something like this by mid-July: Cliff Lee, Carl Pavano, Laffey, Westbrook, and S. Lewis/Jeremy Sowers/David Huff.

Only time will tell if these guys are healthy enought to return to the rotation without any setbacks.

Is help on the way???

The following players could all potentially be back with the Tribe this month(June):
Travis Hafner - DH
Grady Sizemore - CF
Scott Lewis - SP
Asdrubal Cabrera - SS/2B
Joe Smith - RP
Jake Westbrook - SP

RP Rafael Betancourt and SP Aaron Laffey are listed to be back early July.

All of these players are key to the success of the Tribe this season, especially S. Lewis, Laffey, and Westbrook because they are starting pitchers. Smith and Betancourt would also be welcomed back to the bullpen with open arms and hopefully solidfy a bullpen that continues to get better, maybe they could be the final pieces.

Obviously having Cabrera, Sizemore, and Hafner back in the lineup would be huge since they are all batting in the top 4 spots of the lineup. Maybe they would move Pronk down in the lineup but he was hitting in the 3 and 4 spot at the start of the season. Maybe once these guys return Wedge will stop showing everyone's versatility and give some guys regular positions(wouldn't that be nice?!).

Today's Lineup

Once again I disagree with Wedge's Lineup. The order today features Shin-Soo Choo is left, Mark DeRosa at DH, Victor Martinez at catcher, Chris Gimenez at 1st and Luis Valbuena at 2nd. DeRosa and Jamey Carroll should be at 3rd and 2nd, Ryan Garko should be the 1st baseman, Martinez should DH with his banged up knee, and Choo in right.

What the heck Wedgie???

Wedge's lineup vs. my lineup:
1. Ben Francisco - RF 1. Francisco - LF
2. Carroll - 3B 2. Carroll - 3B
3. Martinez - C 3. Martinez - DH
4. Choo - LF 4. Choo - RF
5. Jhonny Peralta - SS 5. Peralta - SS
6. DeRosa - DH 6. Ryan Garko - 1B
7. Gimenez - 1B 7. DeRosa or Valbuena - 2B
8. Trevor Crowe - CF 8. Gimenez or Kelly Shoppach - C
9. Valbuena - 2B 9. Crowe - CF

Pitching, Pitching, and Pitching..............

Obviously Cliff Lee and Carl Pavano have been the bright spots in the rotation thus far. Jeremy Sowers continues to be up and down but looks like he might turn the corner and provide a quality start sometime soon(hopefully). David Huff has also pitched "ok" in his last 2 starts. The biggest problem is Fausto Carmona who is really struggling to get outs and continues to give up walk after walk.

Here are some extremely alarming stats for Carmona: In 58 innings he has given up 64 hits (7 homers) and walked 38, while only striking out 35. I guess you can say that at least he's healthy.

I'm hoping that Jake Westbrook, Aaron Laffey, and/or Scott Lewis can return to the rotation sometime soon. I think Westbrook and Laffey are the real keys here, we still don't know that much about S. Lewis yet. If any of them can return to the rotation I'm guessing Huff would be the first to be sent back down unless he really pitches well in his next couple of starts, unless the Tribe surprises me and sends Carmona down.

The problem with Laffey and S. Lewis is that they are similiar pitchers and you can throw Sowers into that mix. They are all left handed finesse pitchers that don't throw hard. Although I'm sure the Tribe will take anything right now just to eat up innings and field a team.

Let's move on to the bullpen. Who would have ever thought that Matt Herges, Greg Aquino, and Luis Vizcaino would be the ones to stabilize the 'pen. We can't complain here, these guys came in and solidified the relief corps. Those guys are going to be needed to continue to play key roles while Rafael Betancourt and Joe Smith are on the DL, and until we find out which Rafael Perez and Tony Sipp shows up. Both lefties have shown hints of greatness but also have had extreme meltdowns. Kerry Wood and Jensen Lewis have been borderline consistent but not terrible so we'll take it. Guys like Tomo Ohka, Zach Jackson, and Vinnie Chulk are going to continue to travel between the Cleveland and Columbus.

Victor Martinez should be the DH!!!

Once again Victor Martinez played 1st base instead of DH'ing. Chris Gimenez went in for Martinez at 1st base in the 9th inning........I don't get this at all. Martinez is a little dinged up and the Tribe was up by 8 runs from the 7th inning on. There is no reason for Martinez to be in the field right now especially with Grady Sizemore, Travis Hafner, and Asdrubal Cabrera all on the disabled list. You would think that Wedge would want to preserve and protect Martinez like he is on the endangered species list. Especially with Garko just sitting on the bench, Garko is the the team's 1st baseman, use him there.

Another problem I had with the lineup tonight vs. the Twinkies was the use of Mark DeRosa in rightfield and Shin-Soo Choo in left. Numerous times scouts and Indians officials alike have stated that Choo is best suited for RF because of his arm and he has a hard time in left overall judging balls.

Why can't each player just have one god damn position?

I know it's tough with all the injuries but still guys like Garko and Choo should be easy to pencil everyday at the same position day in and day out. I wouldn't be surprised if we see a lineup featuring LF Garko, RF Chris Gimenez, CF Josh Barfield, 1B DeRosa, and 3B Luis Valbuena. I really hope Eric Wedge doesn't read this and get any idea's from it........................

I'll never forget the summer that I had to watch Eduardo Perez play 3 games in a row in rightfield at Miller Park in Milwaukee, WI. Man was that ugly. I know Wedge remembers that because you don't forget something like no matter how hard you try to block it out. He put him out there 3 days in a row for crying out loud!

"Versatility" is going to kill this team, write it down.

Offense takes another "hit".

Asdrubal Cabrera was taken out of yesterdays game in the 1st inning with a separated shoulder. Cabrera just recently took over full shortstop duties and the leadoff spot in the order with the injury to Grady Sizemore. The lineup, much like the rotation, is going to look thin without the likes of Sizemore, Cabrera, and Travis Hafner. Although Hafner is expected to return to the roster today or tomorrow since his rehab assigment expires today. My guess is that the team will Make Jhonny Peralta the everyday shortstop for the time being and then use Jamey Carroll, Mark DeRosa, and Luis Valbuena at 2nd and 3rd. DeRosa will also get his share of time in left and rightfield with Ben Francisco bouncing between left and center to makeup for the loss of Sizemore. I doubt minor league OF Trevor Crowe will see too much of the field. Don't forget that Victor Martinez is also dinged up after fouling a ball off of his knee.

Today's lineup should look something like this:
1. Jamey Carroll - 2B
2. Ben Francisco - LF
3. Victor Martinez - DH
4. Shin-Soo Choo - RF
5. Jhonny Peralta - SS
6. Mark DeRosa - 3B
7. Ryan Garko - 1B
8. Kelly Shoppach - C
9. Trevor Crowe - CF

Don't be surprised to see Martinez and/or Hafner in or not in this lineup. Although if Martinez isn't in the lineup I would guess that you would DH Garko and put DeRosa in at first with Valbuena at 2nd and Carroll at 3rd. This way you can move DeRosa around in case god forbid someone else goes down with any injury. With Cabrera and Martinez hurting and having 8 relievers in the bullpen that really only leaves rookie C/1B/cOF Chris Gimenez as the only healthy bench player............scary for a major league baseball team 10 games under .500.

I think it's important to play Garko more and we should never see DeRosa at 1st again the rest of the season, especially since he is going to pick up more time with the injuries to Sizemore and Cabrera. Why did Martinez play 1st last night over Garko, Martinez should have been the DH.

The Disabled List/Columbus

Here are your 2009 Cleveland Indians:
(All of the players listed below are on the DL, in the minors, or have been released but have spent time on the major league roster at some point).

Rotation
1. *Aaron Laffey
2. *Anthony Reyes
3. *Scott Lewis
4. *Jake Westbrook
5. Zach Jackson

Bullpen
*Joe Smith
*Rafael Betancourt
Vinnie Chulk
Rich Rundles
Masahide Kobayashi
John Meloan
Kirk Saarloos

Lineup:
1. *Grady Sizemore - CF
2. Josh Barfield - 2B
3. Victor Martinez - C (Not on DL but listed as "Day to Day")
4. *Travis Hafner - DH
5. Matt LaPorta - LF
6. Michael Aubrey - 1B
7. Andy Marte - 3B
8. David Dellucci - RF
9. Tony Graffanino/Jamey Carroll(started season on DL) - SS

*Indicates on DL