Indians Confidential

It’s amazing to think that Cliff Lee is the Indians MVP at this point of the season, but that fact came back to the forefront last night in Detroit as he pitched well enough to earn his 10th win of the season as the Indians topped the Tigers 8-2. The win wraps up the teams longest road trip of the season, an 11-game outing in which they went 5-6, hitting KC, Texas and Detroit.

Lee is the first AL pitcher to win 10 games, he went 5 innings, allowing two runs on six hits. The reason for the short outing was the fact the game was hit by a 57-minute rain delay. The bullpen finally did a nice job after blowing a game Saturday, as Rafael Perez, Rafael Betancourt and Masa Kobayashi went a combined four innings, allowing one hit total and walking three, striking out two.

The offense got off to a fast start, as Ryan Garko hit a three-run blast to deep left off of Tigers starter Dontrelle Willis in the first inning to give the Tribe a quick 3-0 lead. The team chased Willis in the second, as Kelly Shoppach hit a two-run homer to make it 5-0, then Garko got hit by a pitch to bring in a run, Jhonny Peralta singled to score a run, and Shin Soo-Choo hit a sac fly to make it 8-0.

Willis lasted just 1.1 innings, allowing 8 runs on three hits. He has been a big bust so far for the Tigers, has he’s been hurt, and is carrying an 0-1 mark now with an ERA of 10.32. He has started just four games, and has pitched only 11.1 innings, allowing 13 earned runs on seven hits. The Indians only had six hits, but were on cruise control most of the night due to the early lead that they carried as well as their bullpen.

New second basemen Josh Barfield batted ninth, and did little at the plate, going 0-for-4 with a fly out to center, foul out to right, fly out to deep left, and ground out to third. Grady Sizemore got a rare night off, as Franklin Gutierrez started in center and hit lead off.

Tonight the Indians come back home for the first time since late May, as they start the first of six at Progressive Field vs the Twins and then a weekend interleague series vs the Padres. C.C. Sabathia, who’s 3-and-8 with a 4.81 ERA, will start for the Indians. The Twins will send out Scott Baker, who’s 2-and-0 with a 4.03 ERA. First pitch is set for 7:05 p.m.

With the season slipping away, the Indians today made a roster move they hope will do something, anything, that will get the team pushed back in the right direction. That move was to call up former second basemen Josh Barfield from Buffalo, and send down struggling Asdrubal Cabrera.

Cabrera was batting just .184 with seven doubles, a homer and 14 RBIs in 52 games for the Tribe. Barfield, who was in the starting lineup for Monday’s game against the Tigers, was batting .255 with 16 doubles, a triple, five homers and 21 RBIs in 62 games for Buffalo.

Here is the presser from the Indians:

The Cleveland Indians today announced the club has recalled INF JOSH BARFIELD from AAA Buffalo. To make room on the Major League roster, the Indians optioned INF ASDRUBAL CABRERA to AAA Buffalo.

Barfield has spent the entire year to date at AAA Buffalo where he was batting .255 (66-259) with 26 runs scored, 16 doubles, a triple, 5 home runs and 21 RBI in 62 games for the Herd. He has hit safely in 9 of his last 12 games at Buffalo batting .288 (15-52) with 6 runs scored, 2 doubles, a home run and 5RBI. He wears #29 and will be in uniform tonight as the Indians take on the Detroit Tigers in Comerica Park at 7:05PM ET.

Cabrera hit .184 (29-158) with 16 runs scored, 7 doubles, a home run and 14RBI in 52 games for the Indians.

Interesting dinner conversation tonight in the Indians press dining room, as I had the pleasure of catching up with media pals Greg Brinda of WKNR and the always entertaining Bruce Drennen of “All Bets are Off” on SportsTime Ohio.  The topic turned to the Indians offense (or lack of), and the latest rumor mill that Bruce said was a topic on his show today, which was the rumor of the Indians having interest in Rockies 3B Garrett Atkins.

If you haven’t heard about it, Buster Olney of ESPN threw out the following on the possibility of the Indians taking a look at Atkins: If Colorado eventually turns the page on 2008, the Indians and the Rockies could match up well in a deal built around Garrett Atkins. The Rockies have a third baseman waiting in the wings, in Ian Stewart — although he is not faring well so far — and the Indians, as they look for ways to improve their offense, are flexible at first and third base.

Now if you don’t know much about Atkins, he’s a solid hitter (.335 with 7 homers and 26 RBI), and according to Drennen he’s more than serviceable at third.  The Indians need a stick, no doubt, and third base is a question mark for the future with Andy Marte not doing much of anything, and Casey Blake is playing well, but he’s not your 3B of the future.

Atkins is not going to come cheap, and two names that Bruce brought up in a possible deal would be pitcher Aaron Laffey and 2B Josh Barfield, who is playing OK in Buffalo.  Atkins last season had 25 homers, 111 RBI and hit .301.  Follow this one closely, and while the trade deadline is a long way off, there is no doubt that this is an interesting rumor that could gain more steam before it’s all said and done.

The team made a variety of roster moves yesterday and today, and here are the official pressers from Bart and the team on the moves:

The Cleveland Indians today announced the club has purchased the contract of RHP JORGE JULIO from AAA Buffalo. To allow room for Julio on the 40-man roster the Indians today designated LHP AARON FULTZ for assignment.

Julio, signed on January 31 to a minor league contract with a non-roster invite, has posted a mark of 0-1 w/a 1.64 ERA in 9 relief outings for the Indians this spring (11.0IP, 11H, 2ER, 7BB, 13K, .234 avg). Julio, 29, spent most the 2007 season with the Colorado Rockies, posting a mark of 0-3 with a 3.93 ERA in 58 appearances (52.2IP, 50H, 23ER, 20BB, 50K). He owns a career Major League record of 13-33 with 99 saves and a 4.35 ERA in 411 relief appearances.

Fultz appeared in 7 games this spring for the Indians (8.1IP, 16H, 14R/11ER).

Also today, the Indians optioned INF JOSH BARFIELD to AAA Buffalo and re-assigned RHP SCOTT ELARTON to minor league camp. The Indians spring training roster now contains 32 players.

The Indians this morning optioned RHP TOM MASTNY to AAA Buffalo.

The Indians Major League roster now stands at 27 players.

Opening Day for the Tribe and the rest of MLB is now just over 3 weeks away. Today the Indians played a split-squad affair with the Nats, and earlier we had up the box from their 5-2 win. The story of the game was Jake Westbrook, who pitched three strong innings in the win. He allowed one hit, walked one, and struck out five in his second start of spring training. Josh Barfield and Andy Marte both also homered for the Indians. The Nationals won the other split-squad meeting between the teams at Viera, 9-0. Below is a recap of the game.

Westbrook pitches three sharp innings to lead Indians past Washington 5-2

Another player on the Tribe that is looking to rebound in 2008 is Josh Barfield, who will try to wrestle back the starting second base job, or at least be more in the mix unlike the end of last season, when he was an afterthought. Barfield last season hit just .243, with 3 homers and 50 RBI, and worse yet, had 15 errors in the field. No question right now that the starting job is for the taking for Asdrubal Cabrera, but Barfield is going to have a solid shot to make things interesting if he has a good spring. Below is a story in today’s Newark Advocate about Barfield and his quest to be back at second this season.

Indians’ Barfield tries to get grip on old starting spot

New Arrivals… The following position players reported to camp and worked out today- OF Jason Michaels, INF Josh Barfield, Mountain Man Casey Blake (hasn’t shaved or cut his hair all winter), Asdrubal Cabrera.

Wedge Up North…Manager Eric Wedge left for Cleveland today to attend to the birth of his second child tomorrow in Cleveland, OH…Eric’s wife, Kate, is set to give birth tomorrow.

STO Starts Tomorrow… Spring Training Daily with Matt Underwood and Rick Manning begins tomorrow, Monday, Feb 18 and will air weeknights from Feb 18-22 and Feb 25-29 from 8:30-9PM …Tomorrow’s feature guest will be CC Sabathia.