Indians Confidential

1. Injuries: Jake Westbrook (elbow surgery) out for a year, catcher Victor Martinez (elbow surgery), Josh Barfield (finger surgery) out for a few months, Travis Hafner (shoulder) out for who knows how long, Adam Miller (finger surgery), Fausto Carmona (hip) having another “setback,” his return time is now the middle of July.

2. Bullpen: Currently ranks second worst in the American League in Earned Run Average. Once was a stable entity in the past. They are also last in the A.L. in saves.

3. Hitting: Indians currently sit last in the American League in hits and 11th out of 14 teams in the A.L. in on-base percentage. The injuries have taken there toll on the offense!

4. Void fillers: Guys like Peralta, Blake, and Garko have continued to struggle in the absences of Hafner and Martinez. In the past these players have stepped up when others were slumping, which has not been the case this year. None of these three players are currently hitting over .270.

5. Can’t win the Close ones: The Indians are currently 6-8 in games decided by one run. To be a contender these are the games you must win. (See Bullpen above)

6. Slow Start: With the high expectations for this team going into the year the Indians needed to jump out early. With the team being fairly young in age it was imperative for them to have some success in the early months of the season. March-May their record was 25-30.

7. Streaks: The Indians have gone on 2 runs this year in April they won 5 straight, however in May they lost 7 straight.

8. Struggling Ace: C.C. Sabathia has since turned his season around, but he began the season 1-5. His earned run average was 7.51 at that time and this did not bode well for the Tribe, nor the reigning Cy young Award Winner. His E.R.A. is currently 4.06.

9. Can’t Capitalize: The Indians are in the second worst division in all of baseball, yet they can’t seem to make ground on the other teams in the Central. The Detroit Tigers also came into the season with high hopes and they got off to an even worst start than the Tribe, but they now sit a game and half ahead of Indians in the standings.

10. Consistency: This team has not found any one thing that they are good at and consistent at. This has made Eric Wedge’s job more difficult and even more impressive.. If the team is good at one aspect of the game, then he could rely on that one thing and dwell on the many others. When it is all said and done, this could be Wedge’s best year in terms of managing because of the way that he has dealt with all of this teams obstacles.

As if playing shorthanded is not bad enough, the news went from bad to worse for the Indians this afternoon, as not only has catcher Victor Martinez been placed on the DL, the team also announced today that he will be arthroscopic surgery tomorrow to remove loose bodies from his right elbow joint.

Word is that Victor will be out 6 to 8 weeks, and that now the duties of the catcher role will be for Kelly Shoppach (.225 3 homers 7 RBI) and Yamid Haad, who was called up from Buffalo. Martinez has had a tough 2008, first he hurt his hamstring on opening day vs the White Sox and missed a few games, and now the elbow injury. So for now, here is the list of those hurt for the Indians:

C Victor Martinez
2B Josh Barfield
DH Travis Hafner
P Fausto Carmona
P Jake Westbrook (done for the year)

Hate to say it, but the winds of despair are blowing more than ever at Progressive Field, and morale has got to be on life support at this point after the news today.

The Indians pitching staff was dealt a blow today as it was announced that righty Jake Westbrook is done for the season and will have right elbow surgery. Here is the release from the team:

The Cleveland Indians today announced that RHP JAKE WESTBROOK will be sidelined for the remainder of the 2008 season as he will undergo right elbow (ulnar collateral ligament) reconstruction surgery. The surgery will be performed by Dr. Lewis Yocum and will take place in the next 7 to 14 days, with no exact date having been set yet. An approximate timetable on his return is 12 months.
Jake was having a tough season, first with a strained muscle in his left side he was on the DL from April 20th to May 28th, and then after coming back one game vs the White Sox, he’s gone again and will be gone for the year.

Westbrook was 1-2 with a 3.12 ERA in five starts this season.

Click below to hear Indians trainer Lonnie Soloff talk about the surgery and Westbrook’s situation:

 

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Not a good sign for starter Jake Westbrook, who today will fly to Los Angeles to see arm specialist Dr. Lewis Yocum.  Westbrook Tuesday was placed on the 15-day disabled list on due to a sore right elbow.  Yocum is considered an expert in the field of ligament transplant surgery for pitcher’s elbows.  He is also the team physician for the Los Angeles Angels.  Westbrook had made just one start coming back off his last stint on the DL for a left intercostal strain.    

For the 2nd time in 2008 the Tribe is placing Jake Westbrook on the 15-Day DL, this time with swelling in his right elbow. The team is also getting Jensen Lewis back to the Major League roster. Below is a presser from the Tribe about the move:

The Cleveland Indians today announced the club has placed RHP JAKE WESTBROOK on the 15-day disabled list, retroactive to Wednesday, May 29th with a right elbow inflammation. To replace Westbrook’s spot on the Major League roster the Indians recalled RHP JENSEN LEWIS from AAA Buffalo.

Westbrook has made 5 starts for the Indians so far this year as he is 1-2 with a 3.12 ERA (34.2IP, 33H, 13R/12ER, 7BB, 19K). He experienced some soreness in his right elbow following his last big league start of May 28 vs. Chicago, a 6-5 loss to the White Sox (5.0IP, 5H, 3R/ER, 2BB, 3K). Today marks the 2nd DL stint (April 20-May 28 w/ left intercostal strain) of the season and the 6th DL stint of his Major League career.

Lewis began the season with the Indians going 0-2 with a 3.58 ERA (27.2IP, 29H, 11R/ER, 15BB, 19K) in 20 appearances before being optioned to AAA Buffalo on May 24th. While at Buffalo he has made 2 appearances going 0-0 with a 4.50 ERA (4.0IP, 5H, 2R/ER, 2BB, 6K). He wears #50 and will be in uniform tonight when the Indians take on the Texas Rangers at 8:05PM EST in Rangers Ballpark in Arlington.

The Indians always seem to find a middle of the road relief pitcher to give a shot to in spring training, and usually by this time of the year they find out why that pitcher was available on the open market. Hello Jorge Julio. The former D-Back, Rockie and Marlin is the latest in a string of bad relief pitchers to make a stop in Cleveland, and Tuesday night the Indians bid him “so long” as they dumped him in the call-up for Jake Westbrook. Juilo this season was 0-0 with an ERA of 5.60. In 17.2 innings he allowed 11 runs on 18 hits with three homers.

The nail in the coffin came Friday night when in relief for Fausto Carmona he allowed five runs on six hits in 1.2 innings in an eventual 13-9 loss to the Rangers in a game the team could have rallied to win if Julio was able to keep the team in the game. Instead he pitched like a guy that wanted to be released, and he got his wish. Add him to the scrap heap of guys like Guillermo Mota (1-3 with a 6.21 ERA in 34 games in 2006), and Arthur Rhodes (3-1, 2.08 ERA before leaving the team out of nowhere in 2005) for relievers that didn’t pan out.

Coming off their awful 0-6 road trip, the Indians look as if they will make some roster moves that could help the bullpen, and possibly the offense. Paul Hoynes’ Insider today says that the team will activate closer Joe Borowski today, this after he pitched a scoreless inning Wednesday night for Akron. Jo-Bo also looked close to ready when he pitched Monday night in Lake County. With the hitting null and void, the bullpen has also started to scuffle as of late, leaving the team hoping that Borowski, despite his issues already this season, can add a spark to the team. It’s been said all along that he’ll be the closer upon his return.

As for the offense, Eric Wedge also said that we could see our first appearance of outfielder Shin-Soo Choo in 2008 soon. Choo is on a 20-day rehab assignment in Buffalo, and could be with the team shortly. You can also expect Jake Westbrook to be back soon, meaning that Aaron Laffey’s spot in the rotation will be gone and he’ll likely be back at AAA Buffalo. As for who goes where when Borowski and Choo may be ready - Michael Aubrey, who showed some pop in his bat with two homers on this recent road trip, will probably go down. Hoynes also says that it could be time to cut the cord with Andy Marte. He has no options left, meaning that the team can’t send him down unless they designate him for assignment and he’d likely get picked up by another team.