I'd like to take the time to introduce you guys to a new contributor to Curse Of Cleveland, Cody. Cody and I first met when we attended Buckeye Boys State the summer before our senior years of high school. Cody and I talked a fair amount of Tribe baseball for the week-plus that we were there, and we've stayed in touch since then. Cody goes to Capital University, which isn't too far from my home base at OSU. I asked Cody to give his take on some issues in the Cleveland sports world because he is really plugged in. He has his own radio talk show and was an intern for the NHL's Columbus Blue Jackets last season. He has many more accomplishments that I know I'm forgetting, but he has great knowledge and will help contribute to the already strong writing staff. Without further ado, here is Cody's first article. Cody says he found this letter lying on the ground at the Tribe game when he got up to leave.

 
Photos: Cleveland.com/Profantasybaseball.com

I've been trying to look at the Tribe's current situation in a positive light; I truly am. Following that path, I am proposing that the Indians make a large number of roster moves that would start with a few minor trades of players who are nearing the end of their time with the team. Here is what I would do in the coming weeks.

Callups from Columbus: Michael Brantley, Matt LaPorta, Andy Marte, Jeremy Sowers, Jensen Lewis, Rafael Perez, Hector Rondon

Trade Away: Carl Pavano, Jamey Carroll, Rafael Betancourt

Sent to Columbus: Mike Gosling, Jose Veras, Winston Abreu, Chris Gimenez

My points with this setup:

-Fausto Carmona is not ready to resume being a major league starting pitcher. The Indians sent him down to Arizona to learn how to pitch again essentially. I watched him pitch in person once at Columbus, and he still is not throwing enough strikes. The Triple-A hitters are helping him out by chasing his pitches outside the strike zone, but more disciplined hitters in the big leagues won't offer at those pitches as often. The Indians should wait until late-August or September to bring Fausto back into the Tribe rotation. When they do, he can take Tomo Ohka's spot.
-Andy Marte, gulp, deserves one last chance with the Indians. I can't believe I said it, but you cannot deny his production at Triple-A this season. Meanwhile, the Indians are watching Jhonny Peralta underacheive on a daily basis. Like Terry Pluto of the Plain Dealer alludes to, Marte could split time at third with Peralta. Marte has shown these power numbers before at Triple-A (14 homers, 57 RBI), but he has never hit above .275 at that level (.320 currently). With the way the season is going, he deserves a look.

Photo: Cleveland.com

Photo: Matt Groening/Newsday 

With the Indians last weekend completing a four-game series with the Seattle Mariners, who have former Indians Russell Branyan and Franklin Gutiterrez performing well everday, I felt it was a good time to glance at some of the players performing well in the majors that the Tribe gave up on. Here's a few of the most painful ones under the Shapiro regime.

Brandon Phillips, 2B, Cincinnati Reds (Indians '02-'05)

Part of the Bartolo Colon trade in which the Indians also grabbed Grady Sizemore and Cliff Lee, Phillips was the Tribe's everyday second baseman in 2002 at just 22 years old. While his defense was major-league ready, his bat was not. Phillips hit just .208 with 6 homers and 33 RBI with 4 steals in 112 games. This case is a dual failure by Shapiro and manager Eric Wedge. The Indians tried to get Phillips to be a high-average guy who used all fields and frowned upon his attempts at power mashing. Well, he certainly is mashing now with the Cincinnati Reds. In April 2006, Phillips was dealt to Cincinnati, and he finished that year hitting .276 with 17 homers, 75 RBI, and 25 stolen bases. The following year he became a 30 homer and 30 steal man (32), driving in 94 and hitting .288. This season, Brandon is batting .271 with 14 long balls, 63 RBI, and 14 steals. He is a core player for the Reds and still a gold glove second baseman (won his first in 2008). The guy we kept instead of Phillips, you ask? Ramon Vazquez, who that season with the Tribe played in just 34 games, hitting .209 with one homer and 8 RBI. Letting Phillips go for a bag of baseballs is by far the worst offense of the Shapiro-Wedge era.

Many people thought the Indians were capable of making a run at the wide-open AL Central this season, myself included. I didn't say that they would win the division, but I did think they would win at least 85-88 games and be right in the thick of things until the end. However, we all know that will not be the case as they are camping out in the AL Central basement with a record that only the Washington Nationals envy.

The feeling I have with this team right now is helplessness, a feeling I probably share with most of Northeast Ohio. How exactly did this happen? After spending so much effort in the offseason strengthening the bullpen by signing Kerry Wood and trading for Joe Smith to add to Rafael Betancourt, Jensen Lewis, Rafael Perez, and Masa Kobayashi, only three of those six remain on the big league club right now. Only one, Wood, has been there from wire to wire thus far. In case you wanted to induce vomiting, here are a few highlights of the bullpen performances this season.

Jensen Lewis 5.03 ERA in 39 1/3 innings with 4 blown saves
Kerry Wood 5.28 ERA in 30 2/3 innings with 4 blown saves
Rafael Perez 8.88 ERA in 25 1/3 innings with 1 blown save
Masa Kobayashi 8.38 ERA in 9 2/3 innings

Combine that with some of the 26 pitchers who have graced the bullpen with their presence including Luis Vizcaino, Greg Aquino, Matt Herges, Winston Abreu, Jose Veras, Chris Perez, my god I could go on all day! It all adds up to a 5.00+ ERA for the bullpen and one giant migraine for Eric Wedge every time he strolls to the mound.

With news that Fausto Carmona was making a start for the Clippers tonight, I headed to Fifth Third Field in Toledo to watch the Tribe's Triple-A Clippers take on the Tigers' Triple-A affiliate, the Toledo Mud Hens. It was a highly entertaining game with a heavy Indian flavor as the Clippers used six late runs to pull away from the Mud Hens in a 8-1 victory.

This game was a Tribe fan's dream, or nightmare, depending on how you look at it. Of the 26 players on the Columbus Clippers roster, 13 of them had spent time with the Indians this season. The list includes Greg Aquino, Rafael Betancourt, Fausto Carmona, Vinnie Chulk, Zach Jackson, Masa Kobayashi, Aaron Laffey, Jensen Lewis, Rich Rundles, Josh Barfield, Tony Graffanino, Trevor Crowe, and Matt LaPorta. Add in Andy Marte, who spent more than enough time up here, and that's quite a Tribe snippet. In fact, all four Clipper pitchers have pitched mainly with the Tribe this season.

Let's start with Carmona's performance. The biggest question on most Tribe fans' minds is, "Is he ready to return to the Indians' rotation?" In my opinion, he is not ready to step in and return to form on the big league stage. Carmona pitched 5 innings, throwing 86 pitches (52 strikes, 34 balls), allowing one run, six hits, walking one, and striking out five. That sounds pretty good, but watching in person and reading between the lines tells a different story. Fausto failed to get ahead early in the count, and he looked incredibly uncomfortable at the outset. I know, that's pretty normal for him, but he stepped off of the mound several times, adjusting his cap, belt, jersey, and anything else he could find. He had five strikeouts and only one walk, but let's remember that minor league hitters are far less patient than big league hitters. They helped Carmona out at times, and if he had thrown like that at the big league level, he would've probably walked himself into some more trouble. His speed was fine (registering 95 twice in the fifth inning), but he didn't throw his fastball or sinker consistently for strikes. Also, several Hens got good rips off of some hanging sinkers and flat fastballs, including Wilkin Ramirez's first inning homer to dead center and Clete Thomas's first inning double that hit off the left field wall. I have to admit that Carmona settled down in his final two innings, but the fact that they only let him throw 86 pitches says to me that he needs AT LEAST one more start at Triple-A before considering throwing him into the shark-infested waters again. My main reason against bringing him back now is that we are 12 games behind the Tigers and sitting in last place. If we were still in the thick of things, it may be a reasonable gamble to stick him in the rotation, but not when we're basically pissing in the wind.

Photo: Wikipedia

In case you haven't noticed, and judging by the attendance you haven't, the Indians' chances of winning the AL Central and making the playoffs are toast. Tonight, GM Mark Shapiro indirectly acknowledged that by shipping arguably the Tribe's most consistent hitter and run-producer to the St. Louis Cardinals. In return, the Tribe will receive right-handed reliever Chris Perez and a player to be named later.

For the second straight year, Shapiro sent a key position player with a grinder mentality (Casey Blake in 2008) to the National League weeks before the trade deadline on July 31st. Shapiro is from the school of thought that you get maximum value for a player when you aren't up against the deadline where a team may have to settle to get rid of a player that will not be back the following year.

Photo: Jon Fobes

"Some days are better than others, but it's a long season."

I found that quote from Eric Wedge while browsing around the internet this evening. It really says it all, but you could almost reverse it for the Tribe's sad state of affairs right now. Some days are worse than others, but now it's a short season: an incredibly short season as Eric Wedge stands stoic and tall like a tree in the forest that's been marked for demolition.

Let's get the obvious out of the way: Eric Wedge is not going to be back next season without his team playing .800 ball the rest of the season. The Indians have given Wedge more rope than any other Cleveland coach has had in my time following all three teams. Part of that is understandable. Wedge's first season (2003) was obviously the beginning of a rebuild for the Indians organization, and the Dolans put a lot of trust into Wedge and GM Mark Shapiro, who was John Hart's understudy during the glory days of my childhood. Out of respect, I guarantee that the front office does not want to cut Wedge loose midseason, but their hands are quickly becoming tied.

Congratulations to Danbury High School's own Michael Hamann, who was selected today in the MLB Draft by the Cleveland Indians at pick number 725 in the 24th round. Hamann has committed to play for the University of Toledo, but he has the option of going pro as well. If he chooses to go to school, he can enter the draft again in three years.

I played basketball with Hamann during my senior season, and even though it's an entirely different sport, you could tell he was incredibly talented and had a ton of potential. He grew a couple of inches from the time I played with him, and the Indians must like the odds that Hamann can add some more weight to his frame and add speed to his 90-92 mph fastball which has been clocked up to 94 at times.

I do know this: the MLB draft is a crapshoot. There are several first-round picks every year who never sniff the majors, but there are also those from the 24th, 34th, and 44th rounds who make it and become stars. If Hamann chooses to sign with the Tribe and likely report to Arizona Rookie Ball, I wish him the best of luck pursuing his pro career. If he doesn't, however, he cannot go wrong by getting his education and possibly increasing his draft stock at UT.

One more thing, if he heads to Arizona for the Tribe, maybe he'll be long toss partners with Fausto Carmona. That's my joke for the day, or is it?

Kirk

In today's seemingly average game, it really had it all for me. Mix in Jeremy Sowers, Trevor Crowe, Luis Valbuena, poor defense, and bad managerial decisions, and you've got the summary of the Tribe's season thus far.

You Oughta Know By Now: In today's game, 2B Luis Valbuena TWICE made a costly miscue in fielding his position. In the first inning, with Scott Podsednik on first base, Podsednik stole second after Martinez's throw beat Podsednik, but Valbuena was standing too far in front of the bag and applied the tag after Podsednik had touched second. It happened again in the seventh inning with Rafael Perez on the mound and Podsednik on first once more. This time it wasn't as obvious, but Victor Martinez was visibly upset as he slammed his catcher's mask to the ground. Let's see: Valbuena isn't hitting (just .190 in 65 at-bats) and this isn't his first miscue on defense by a long shot, so why the hell is he up here again? Better yet, why in the hell is he playing instead of Josh Barfield, who is exactly 5-for-8 on the season with 2 RBI, fields the position better than Valbuena, and has a much better and more experienced track record? Sometimes I wonder what exactly Josh Barfield did to piss off Eric Wedge. Did he bring his coffee to him with two sugars instead of three? Whatever it is, even the injury to Asdrubal Cabrera can't pry Barfield off the bench consistently.

Flashing the Leather: There were two incredible defensive plays today. The first belongs to White Sox SS Alexei Ramirez. In the second inning with runners on the corners and one out, Ryan Garko hit a ball just out of pitcher Gavin Floyd's reach and it looked like Garko had himself an infield hit. Instead, Ramirez barehanded the soft grounder and fired it home to get Travis Hafner on a fielder's choice. The throw just beat Pronk, who did an absolutely perfect job of reading the play, but plays like that will beat good strategy. The other one came courtesy of CF Ben Francisco. Benny had to track a ball off the bat of Jayson Nix to deep center where he made the catch and crashed into the wall in a play that may have very well saved a run with Josh Fields on first.

Thome-nator Powered Off: Today, former Indian and current White Sox DH Jim Thome struck out in three of four plate appearances against Jeremy Sowers, the other being a walk. What's so odd about that? Well, Sowers has been nothing but Thome's personal slave/batting practice pitcher in every game I've seen in recent memory, including a game where he hit two homers off Sowers earlier this year.

Photo: Chuck Crow/The Plain Dealer

The woes of the the Cleveland Indians continued tonight as the Tribe dropped their fifth game in their last six thanks to poor starting pitching courtesy of Jeremy Sowers.

Carroll Activated, Barfield Demoted: First, taking care of some transaction news, the Tribe activated utility infielder Jamey Carroll from the 15-day DL today after he went on a short rehab in Columbus. Carroll broke a bone in his hand on the final day of spring training. Carroll is the perfect utility guy for this or any ballclub. He has great discipline, and he is a solid defender at second and third; Carroll also provides another veteran influence. Once again, Josh Barfield was uncermoniously told to get the hell out for the second time in this young season. Barfield leaves Cleveland with a 1.000 batting average (3-for-3) with an RBI and 3 runs scored in EXTREMELY limited action. After there was so much enthusiasm and praise of Barfield for coming to camp and showing the ability to play third base and outfield as well as second base, Barfield was asked by manager Eric Wedge to do nothing more than fetch him his morning newspaper, provide him with a fresh doughnut now and then, and occasionally pinch run. Now, I'm not saying that Barfield should be playing everyday, but shouldn't he get a shot considering some of the offensive woes? While the Tribe brought up Valbuena and LaPorta to infuse some youth into the team, they chose to ignore Barfield. I just don't understand that.

New Face, Different Place: The Tribe welcomed Matt LaPorta back into the starting lineup after a four-day layoff, but this time it was at first base. LaPorta, who has played first just once this season at Columbus, has been taking grounders there over the last week in anticipation of this move. In all honesty, anything to get him in the lineup, I like. However, I think there's more room for him in the outfield. At first, you've already got Victor Martinez half the time along with Ryan Garko the rest of the time. Sure, Garko can DH and Victor can catch, but that leaves Shoppach and Dellucci out of the picture, which Wedge is not willing to do at this point. I think starts in the outfield or at DH are more feasible, but an occasional start at first should be acceptable. Tonight, LaPorta showed he's green at the position as he went too hard after a grounder toward Asdrubal Cabrera. LaPorta had to run back, find the bag, and catch the ball. Unfortunately, he missed the bag with his foot on first try, and Scott Podsednik beat it out.

Jeremy Sours: I've never hidden the fact, nor do I intend to at any point from here on out: I do not care for Jeremy Sowers. He had one solid second half in 2006 at 23 years old where he went 7-4 with a 3.57 ERA. My reasoning is that no one was used to hitting off someone with no movement or velocity or intimidation factor. Since then, in the last three season, Sowers has compiled a record of 5-17 with a 6.16 ERA. Why do the Indians continue to give this belly-itcher an opportunity to stink up the joint? His fastball is about the same speed as his changeup and that "heater" tops out at 90 mph on a good day. If the Indians do finally give up on him, he certainly has a job as Jim Thome's personal batting practice pitcher. It looked like he was auditioning tonight as he served up a gopher ball in the first inning that soared over the center field wall. Then, in an encore performance and just before his early exit in the fifth, he underhanded another one to Thome, a 2-run bomb as well. I remember a day when I enjoyed watching hit those towering shots in The Jake. Now, I cringe as I watch them take flight at "Progressive Field"... *sigh*. Sowers finished with 4 innings of work, 5 earned runs, 7 hits, 3 walks, and 3 strikeouts. Thanks for the quality start, Sours.