Indians Confidential

Talked about this the other day and earlier today here on the site, and it was not much of a shock when it hit the wire that the Tribe cut Jason Michaels earlier today.  He was simply not living up to his part of the left field platoon that began the season between he and David Dellucci.  Maybe if the team was playing better, or if others on the team were hitting, having Michaels in a slump would not be as big as it was.  But, with the team barley hitting 31 games into the season, some moves have to be made.

“This one transaction is not going to solve all our offensive woes,” Mark Shapiro said Monday. “Jason Michaels was certainly not the primary cause. We just feel it’s time for us, where we can, to start to make some small moves that might help. But the answers to our offensive issues lie within. When you have five to seven guys up and down your lineup struggling, you are not able to make one move or two moves to solve those problems.”

Michaels is hitting .207.  Ben Francisco should be able to help the offense at least a little bit.  He was hitting pretty well in Buffalo, and last season hit .318, winning the International League batting title.  Bottom line is if he can hit .250 or better, he’ll be a welcome addition to the lineup.