Indians Confidential

For those that were wondering where the money is going on the Indians roster this season, consider the following when it comes to what the following players are making, and where on the club they rank:

1. Jake Westbrook $10 mil per year - On the DL for the rest of the year after major surgery, and may not be ready to go again till the summer of 2009.

2. Travis Hafer $8 mil per year - Has never hit the same after getting his new deal, and was struggling before that. Is on the DL with a shoulder issue that really has never been fully disclosed.

3. Paul Byrd $7.5 mil per year - 3-10 this year w/ a 5.53 ERA. Was the subject of a steroids scandal story in the ALCS, and since then he’s been cleared, but has never pitched as well as last season.

4. Casey Blake $6.1 mil per year - Having a solid season, batting .279 with 8 homers and 47 RBI, but likely will be traded before the deadline.

5. Victor Martinez $4.4 million per year - Tweaked his hamstring opening day vs the White Sox, and has not been the same. Lack of power alarming as he’s hitting just .278 with no homers and 21 RBI. Also on the DL.

7. David Dellucci $3.7 mil per year - Has basically been a bust in the two seasons with the team, hitting just .220 with 7 homers and 27 RBI, was hurt a good portion of last season, and will be gone when his contract is up.

9. Masa Kybayashi $3 mil per year - Has had good and bad moments in his first year playing ball in America. Has four saves and an ERA of 3.21. The team has hopes that he may eventually be the closer.

10. Jhonny Peralta $2.5 mil per year - Hitting .250 with 14 homers and 40 RBI. Still blasted by many for his shoddy play at short and lack of big hits, Peralta has never regained his 2005 form when he hit .292 with 24 homers and 78 RBI.

The other two players in the Top 10 not listed are Cliff Lee and Grady Sizemore, two players that have lived up to or even passed expectations for this season.

Below is a quick look at all the news around the Indians Tuesday:

* Miguel Cabrera went 4-for-4, clubbing two homers and plating three, as Detroit crushed the Indians, 9-2, on Tuesday night. Marcus Thames and Curtis Granderson had three RBI apiece, with two of Thames’ RBI coming off his 17th long ball of the season. Ivan Rodriguez added a solo shot in the win. Justin Verlander tossed seven solid innings, allowing two runs and fanning seven to improve to 6-and-9 for Detroit, which has won two in-a-row to move to 45-and-44 on the season. Jeremy Sowers absorbed the loss for the Indians after yielding seven runs, six earned, over 5.2 innings of work. Jhonny Peralta clubbed a two-run homer for the Tribe, which has dropped a season-high nine straight games. The Indians will conclude their series with the Tigers tonight. Paul Byrd, who’s 3-and-10 with a 5.53 ERA, will start for the Indians. The Tigers will send out Eddie Bonine, who’s 2-and-1 with a 4.30 ERA. First pitch at Comerica Park is set for 7:05 p.m.

* The Akron debut of outfielder Matt LaPorta was delayed as the Aeros had their game against the Bowie Baysox rained out on Tuesday night. LaPorta is the main piece the Indians received from Milwaukee as they sent pitcher C.C. Sabathia to the Brewers. The game will be made up as part of a doubleheader tonight. The first pitch of the first game at Canal Park is set for 6:05 p.m.

* The Indians are expected to call up from Triple-A Buffalo today relief pitcher Juan Rincon. He will take the roster spot left vacant by the trading of Sabathia to the Brewers on Monday. The Indians will need a starter to take Sabathia’s turn on Saturday and could call up Matt Ginter from the minors.

* The Indians placed pitcher Scott Elarton on the 15-day disabled list on Tuesday for a non-baseball medical condition. Elarton had been on the restricted list because of personal issues. Manager Eric Wedge said that Elarton is out indefinitely. Elarton was 0-and-1 with a 3.52 ERA out of the bullpen.

* As for the debut of Sabathia in a Brewers uniform - he picked up the win as Milwaukee edged Colorado 7-3 at Miller Park. Sabathia allowed two earned runs while fanning five and walking five over six innings to pick up the victory. Ryan Braun smashed his 22nd homer of the year, and Bill Hall plated two for Milwaukee, which has won seven-of-nine. Prince Fielder and Corey Hart had an RBI apiece in the win. Yorvit Torrealba doubled in two runs in defeat for Colorado. Mark Redman gave up four runs over five frames to fall to 2-and-4.

The good news on Sunday (hey, gotta find something positive, right) was that pitcher Cliff Lee and CF Grady Sizemore were named to All-Star team. Lee is rumored to be the starter for the AL, something that hasn’t happened since Charlie Nagy. Then, the Indians took the field. Actually, the game vs the Twins wasn’t that bad, that is until Lee, today’s starter, got in trouble in the 7th, allowing three runs in the teams 8th straight loss, 4-3.

The offense gave the Tribe a 3-1 lead entering that 7th, as Ryan Garko singled in a run, then Jhonny Peralta hit a two-run homer off of Glen Perkins to give Lee and the team a three-run lead. Lee allowed a run in the 6th when Alexi Casilla sinlged in a run, and then the wheels came off in the 7th, when the Twins put up a three-spot to put the game away.

Most of the damage came with one out, as Nick Punto singled in a run to make it 3-2, then the Twins number nine hitter, Denard Span, drew a huge walk off Lee to tie the game at three. A Chris Gomez ground out with the bases loaded got in the winning run, as it scored Brendan Harris to make it 4-3.

The Tribe went quietly in the final two innings, as they were not able to put a base runner on in either inning. Joe Nathan stopped them in the 9th with two strikeouts and a ground out to earn his 25th save of the season, pushing the Twins to 50-38. The loss puts the Indians at 37-51.

The team has Monday off, then they wrap up what’s been the road trip from hell with two games vs the Tigers on Tuesday and Wednesday before they start a four-game homestand vs the Rays starting on Thursday.

If there is one thing the Indians have been able to count on in this season that appears to already be lost, it’s the pitching of starter Cliff Lee. Last season Lee found himself in Buffalo with the teams Triple-A club, and this year, unless there is some stunning collapse over the next two weeks, Lee will find himself in New York with the American League All-Star team.

Last night at Progressive Field Lee moved to 8-1 when he’s pitched the day after an Indians loss, as he threw a career-high 11 strikeouts in the teams 4-1 win over the Giants to salvage the finale of the three-game set. Lee is now 11-1 on the season. He went 8 innings, allowing one run on four hits, walking one and recording 11 K’s. His season ERA drops to 2.34. Manager Eric Wedge said postgame that Lee and C.C. Sabathia have been carrying the starting pitching the last few weeks, but for the most part Lee’s carried it the whole season.

On offense, the team got to Giants starter Matt Cain early, scoring three runs in the third after getting runners on in the first and second innings. Jamey Carroll, who continues to play well, tripled in a run when the ball bounced off the wall in deep left, and then Jhonny Peralta doubled in two more runs to make it 3-0. The Giants got their only run of the game in the 4th, but the Indians came right back as Carroll singled in Kelly Shoppach to make it 4-1.

Carroll is now hitting .293 on the season, and an injury to Josh Barfield and the poor play at the Major League level by Asdrubal Cabrera has allowed Carroll to play everyday, which he’s taking advantage of. Peralta had two hits as well, and put his average at .244. Overall the team pounded out 8 hits, Shoppach also went 2-for-3.

The win puts the team back to 7.5 back of the White Sox in the division, but they still have a share of last place with the Royals. At 36-43, they sorely need to go out and sweep the Ohio rival Reds at home over the weekend. C.C. Sabathia, who is 5-and-8 with a 4.06 ERA, will start for the Indians tonight . Daryl Thompson, who’s 0-and-0 with a 0.00 ERA, will start for the Reds. First pitch at Progressive Field is set for 7:05 p.m.

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.

The Indians dreams of a weekend sweep in L.A. vs the Dodgers were swept away by one bonehead base running decision by third base coach Joel Skinner in the 5th inning that allowed the Dodgers to escape with a 4-3 win to salvage the finale of the three-game set.  The loss puts the Indians back at 35-41, and they end the six-game stretch vs the Rockies and Dodgers at 2-4 when it could have easily been 3-3.

The mistake came with the Indians down a run, and Jhonny Peralta on first with David Dellucci at the plate.  Dellucci doubled down the first base line, and Peralta came racing around second to third.  Skinner waived him home, and Andre Ethier’s throw to second baseman Luis Maza came into the plate with plenty of time to spare, nailing Peralta and ending the threat.

Fromt there, the Indians had just one hit, a double by Peralta in the 7th with two outs, but from there, were shut down the rest of the day and never really came close to getting that tying run across the plate again.  The loss again was suffered by Paul Byrd, who allowed four runs on five hits in the first inning to fall to 3-8.  A James Loney RBI double brought in two runs, then catcher Russell Martin homered, a Byrd trademark, to bring in two more runs to make it 4-0.

The Indians did rally off of Dodgers starter Chad Billingsley in the third to make it 4-3.  Shin-Soo Choo hit a fielders choice to drive in a run, then a hit by Ryan Garko past short make it 4-2.  Casey Blake hit a ground out to short to make it 4-3, but as stated above, that was about all she wrote for the Indians offense for the rest of the day.

Four Dodger relief pitchers shut the Indians down, as they allowed just one hit, no walks and four strikeouts over the final four innings.  Byrd would have been great minus that first inning, as he went 7 innings, allowing the four runs on seven hits, not allowing a walk and striking out one.  His ERA sits at 5.21 following the loss.

The Indians get Monday off as they get back home for two more series’ vs the National League this week. Tuesday night it’s the return of Omar Vizquel to Progressive Field, as the 32-44 San Fran Giants come in for the first of three, then the Reds come in over the weekend for the rahter overrated “Battle of Ohio” part two.

On a season that has had more ups and downs than a roller coaster at Cedar Point, the Indians again have given their fans a reason to think that maybe, just maybe, the 2008 season isn’t over just yet.  After falling to 33-40 on Thursday after a loss to the Rockies, the Indians moved further west to Los Angeles, and in two extra innings have quickly moved back to 35-40, and more importantly, back to 6.5 back of first in the Central.

Saturday the team’s offense was held in check for more than 9 innings, as their only run came from - who else - pitcher C.C. Sabathia, who hit a homer to right in the third inning to make it 1-0.  Sabathia, who has been rumored to be on the trading block, was crusing for the first five plus innings, and made just one mistake, a homer to deep left center by the Dodgers Matt Kemp that tied the game at one.

The game stayed that way for five more innings, till the Indians offense exploded for one of its best innings of the season, putting up six runs on six hits to make a 1-1 game quickly into a 7-1 blowout.  Three outs later, and one Dodger run, the Indians were on the winning end for the second straight day with a 7-2 victory.  Masa Kobayashi pitched one scoreless inning to get the win to improve to 4-3 on the season.

Sabathia went 7 innings, allowing one run on five hits.  He walked one and struck out 10.  If the Indians do move Sabathia on or before the trading deadline, his stock over the past three starts has once again soared. In those three starts, he’s gone 24 innings, allowing four runs on 16 hits, striking out 25.  Needless to say, he’s looked like the Cy Young C.C. more than the one that floundered early in 08.

As for that 11th inning, the hits came at a furious pace, with Jhonny Peralta getting the first RBI on a single, then Casey Blake driving in a run with a single, Kelly Shoppach doing the same to bring in two more runs, and after a Grady Sizemore single, Jamey Carroll hit a sac fly to end the scoring at six for the inning.

The finale of the road trip and the three-game set in L.A. comes up on Sunday, with struggling Paul Byrd (3-7, 5.21 ERA) going for the Indians vs Chad Billingsley (5-7, 3.54) at 4:10pm.  Who knows, maybe another step closer to moving back in the AL Central race?