Indians Confidential

The Cleveland Indians have traded away most of the veteran players they started the season with. They are the youngest team in Major League Baseball with an average age of 26.5. With that said, there is really no one in the clubhouse that is taking the reigns as a leader of men. Someone needs to take that responsibility, and I think short stop Asdrubal Cabrera could be that man.

Although he is only 24 years old, and along with Travis Hafner and Grady Sizemore, he is one of the only players left on the team that went through the playoff run of 2007. Both Sizemore and Hafner have been with the team longer, but have made no effort to become a vocal leader in the clubhouse.

Cabrera comes off as a really quiet and introspective person, but manager Manny Acta has another viewpoint. He said jokingly, “He’s quiet in English, he’s not quiet in Spanish”. The organization wants him to take that leadership role, but they aren’t going to force it. Acta also said, “He’s a gamer, man…he’s a guy that wants to be out there all the time, that’s why I feel he can be one of the leaders going forward.”

Hopefully Cabrera will be here for the whole season next year and not on the disabled list. At least there is no Jhonny Peralta to fall on him anymore.

Today the Indians got some relief from the injury bug. With Grady Sizemore lost for the season and Asdrubal Cabrera on the sixty day disabled list with a broken arm, the Tribe has activated Andy Marte from the fifteen day D.L. from a non-baseball injury. The first time Andy has even swung a bat was three days ago, and he only played in one rehab game yesterday. He said that he is very happy to be off the disabled list and back in Cleveland with the big league club.

He also stated that he has never experienced an injury (ingrown hair) that strange. Andy would not disclose the location of the injury but he did say that it was very painful. Matt LaPorta was optioned to AAA Columbus to make room for Marte on the roster. He is not starting in today’s game, but manager Manny Acta said he will be able to start in place of Russel Branyan at first or Jhonny Peralta at third to give them a rare day off.

The Indians have confirmed through an email that Grady Sizemore will have surgery on left knee. Here is what the team says about the surgery:

Sizemore will undergo a right knee arthroscopy in Vail, CO by Dr. Richard Steadman. The plan is for the surgery to take place within the next 5-7 days. He will be out for at least 6 to 8 weeks and the type of surgical procedure will be determined within the surgery itself.

In 33 games this year, Sizemore has no homers, 15 runs and 13 RBIs with a .211 average.

The team also recalled pitcher Jensen Lewis from AAA Columbus. To allow room on the 25-man roster the Indians optioned lefty Aaron Laffey to Columbus. There was talk of Laffey going into the rotation as a starter, but he blew that chance on Saturday after he came in for David Huff and gave up 6 runs on 2 hits in just 1.1 innings, walking three and hitting a batter.

If you haven’t seen this, take the 5 min to watch it. My good friend and Cleveland sports legend Bruce Drennan goes OFF on the Indians for their awful offense as of the first month plus of the 2010 season!

The Cleveland Indians Organization has issued the following statement regarding OF Grady Sizemore and recently published on-line photographs:

“We fully support Grady as he deals with this personal matter. The posted photos were stolen from his girlfriend’s email account and a legal investigation is underway.”

For Jeremy Sowers as it’s been all season, it comes down to one inning. Wednesday night at Progressive Field, it was the 5th inning that did him in on a night when Jared Weaver was on his game, as the Indians fell to the LA Angels 3-0 for their second straight loss.

Sowers had allowed just two walks without allowing a hit in the first four innings, but it was that fifth inning that became his undoing. A walk, double, single, bunt single, sac to third, ground out to short and fly out resulted in three runs, and that was all the Angels would need.

The Indians again were soft at the plate, as they did have seven hits, but had three doubles, and for the 8th straight home game failed to go deep. They left seven men on base, and continued to not be able to come up with the big hit when they needed it. The top three hitters in the lineup, Grady Sizemore, Jamey Carroll and Asdrubal Cabrera went a combined 1 for 12.

Weaver went the distance to improve to 13-4, and came back nicely from a poor outing his last time out vs the Orioles. He walked just one and struck out three, and despite a hot night seemed to be cool and calm all night long in throwing 116 pitches to get the win.

The team is back to 17 games under .500 at 51-68, and they have lost this series losing the first two games. They will try to salvage the finale of the three-game set on Thursday as Justin Masterson goes for the Indians vs John Lackey at 7:05pm.

Um, who exactly are these guys?

Yes, the Indians are actually playing pretty good baseball for the last week, as Sunday vs the Mariners in the great Northwest wrapped up a three-game sweep with an impressive 12-3 win. Maybe if they would have played a little more like this in the first half when they fell 20 games under .500, these big wins wouldn’t mean as little as they do.

Sunday’s win was highlighted by a player that a lot of teams are talking about – Cliff Lee. If it’s not in trade rumors, Lee is still getting some highlights since he’s the best player the Indians have this season. He allowed two runs in the first, but then shut down the Mariners the rest of the way, allowing just six hits in seven innings, not walking a batter and striking out four to move to 7-9.

The Indians offense feasted on Seattle pitching all weekend long, outscoring them 31-5 in the three-game beating. They won games with scores of 9-0, 10-3 and now 12-3. Sunday they pounded out 16 more hits, and every player in the lineup minus Kelly Shoppach who walked twice, got a hit.

Grady Sizemore hit a homer and went 2-for-5 with two runs scored. Asdrubal Cabrera, Shin Soo-Choo, Jhonny Peralta, and Travis Hafner all had two hits. Ben Francisco had three hits in going 3-for-5 and raising his average to .243. Ryan Garko had one hit and is hitting .285.

The Indians had a good time all the way around in Seattle, and have won five of their last 6, their best stretch of the 2009 season. They will get a day off Monday before playing the Angels of Anahiem in a three-game set starting on Tuesday.