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.

From The Indians:

Yesterday, Cleveland Indians DH TRAVIS HAFNER was examined by Dr. Andrews in Mobile, Alabama.  After the examination, Dr. Andrews concurs with Dr. Schickendantz and the Indians medical staff’s evaluation regarding Hafner’s shoulder and recommends continued strengthening of the rotator cuff and shoulder girdle with interval strength re-checks every 7 to 10 days.  Travis will continue on his current shoulder strengthening program. 

From The Indians

The Cleveland Indians do not have a update on DH TRAVIS HAFNER today as Indians Head Athletic Trainer LONNIE SOLOFF has not spoken with Dr. Andrews yet today regarding his examination of Travis.  The Indians should have an update tomorrow on Hafner.

RHP FAUSTO CARMONA was examined this morning by Dr. Schickendantz in Cleveland.  Carmona again felt soreness in the left hip. A MRI revealed some inflammation in the hip, however the inflammation was less than he had experienced in late May.  Fausto will be shut down for 3 days then will be re-evaluated to determine a better time frame as to when he can resume to pitching activities.

Tuesday was not exactly a banner day for the Indians, as things that appeared to be heading on the right track after a 6-2 homestand went right back to despair. First there was the updated injury report, which included Josh Barfield having finger surgery, Fausto Carmona being sore after a 50-pitch session, and Travis Hafner heading to see “Dr.Doom” James Andrews for a second opinion on his shoulder.

Then last night in Colorado, the team took any and all momentum from winning five of their last seven and flushed it down the toilet with an uninspiring 10-2 thrashing at the hands of the Rockies. The loss had all the usual elements of a 2008 Indians setback - little offense, wasted chances, Paul Byrd allowing homers (in and park and out this time), and the bullpen giving up runs when trying to keep the team in the game.

Overall, not a good way to start a west coast trip to say the least. Let’s start with Byrd. As stated here on this site before, Paul Byrd is one of the classiest players you’ll ever come across. He’s also a guy that will stand up and admit his mistakes, and Tuesday night, he was on that side of doing that once again. Falling to 3-7 with a 5.21 ERA, you get the sense that Byrd at 37 might just be nearing the end of being a solid MLB pitcher. Last season he won 15 games, but with the way he’s going this year, it’s hard to believe he’ll get to 10 wins all season.

It’s too early to say, but one has to think that the next three and a half months will be the last for Byrd in an Indians uni. The team can dump him at the end of the year, and with some prospects pitching well, and the team likely to revamp some of the staff on the open market in 2009, I think Byrd will not be here next season, unless that is as some sort of long relief arm, which I think is unlikely.

Against the Rockies, Byrd allowed two more homers, one in the park and one out, putting that total to 19 this season. He allowed 27 last year in 192.1 innings, and this year has allowed 8 less in only 77.2 innings. Byrd started the year slow at 0-2, but things seemed to be on track after his 4-0 shutout win over the A’s on May 13th. Since then, the wheels have come off again, as he’s gone 1-4, and in his last two starts has gone just a total of 7 innings, allowing 10 earned runs on 15 hits.

His linescore on Tuesday read 4 innings, five runs on nine hits, two homers allowed, walking one and striking out four. The offense did little to pick him up, as they left 8 men on base, managed 9 hits, and plated two runs, the second with the team well out of the game at 10-1. Greg Reynolds pitched well against the Tribe, going 6 innings, allowing one run on five hits, not walking a batter and striking out four.

Jhonny Peralta was about the only bright spot at the plate, going 3-for-4 and raising his average to .235. Other than that, the offense never seemed to get off the plane arriving in Colorado for the interleague matchup. Now at 33-38, the team falls into a third place tie with the Tigers, who won over the Giants Tuesday night. They also lose a game on the White Sox who won, to fall to 6.5 games back in the AL Central.

Wednesday night the team will look to get back on track as Aaron Laffey, who’s 4-and-3 with a 2.83 ERA, will start for the Indians. The Rockies will send out Jeff Francis, who’s 2-and-6 with a 5.49 ERA. First pitch at Coors Field is set for 9:05 p.m.

From: The Indians

Today, the Indians announced the INF JOSH BARFIELD underwent left middle finger extensor hood reconstruction to stabilize the extensor tendon. The surgery was performed by Dr. Tom Graham in Baltimore, MD. Barfield is expected to return to play in 6 to 8 weeks.

Other injury news:

RHP FAUSTO CARMONA threw at 3.0 inning simulated game in Mahoning Valley yesterday. He felt general soreness after being evaluated in Cleveland today and will be re-evaluated tomorrow prior to determining when he will make his first rehab start.

DH TRAVIS HAFNER took dry swings as well as swings off the tee on Sunday in Progressive Field. According to Indians Head Athletic Trainer Lonnie Soloff, Hafner is not progressing as quickly as hoped and will be evaluated by Dr. Andrews tomorrow in Alabama to ensure he and the Indians are on the right track with his rehab plan in order to expedite his return.

Travis Hafner will need another week of strenght-building exercises before he is ready to start a rehab stint in the minors.  The Indians made that decision after Hafner took another round of swings in the indoor cages at Progressive Field on Sunday.  Hafner has been on the disabled list since May 30th with a strained right shoulder.  Hafner is hitting just .217 with four homers and 22 runs batted in this season.

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.