Indians Confidential

Indians V.P. of baseball operations and assistant General Manager Chris Antonetti talks about taking over the General Manager’s duties from Mark Shapiro, the September call-ups, and the state of the team going into next year…

Indians General Manager Mark Shapiro talks about the trade of 3B Jhonny Peralta to the Detroit Tigers, as well as the teams future plans for third base and what is to come.

Last night emotions ran high at Progressive Field just hours after Victor Martinez was dealt, the final nail in the awful Indians 2009 season. The team responded well with a win in extra innings, and tried to carry that momentum into Saturday night’s Victor Martinez bobblehead night, looking for another win for themselves and their former captain.

In the end though, a poor inning for Jose Veras and a rally that fell just short in the bottom of the 12th saw the Tribe fall 4-3 to a Tigers team that has a heck of a lot to play for. Veras’ 12th inning outing included a pair of walks and a balk that allowed a run to score.

The Tribe came back with the tying run on 3rd in the bottom of the 12th, but Grady Sizemore swung at the first pitch from Zach Miner, popping it up to shallow left field for the final out in an otherwise entertaining game.

Jeremy Sowers was another bright spot, as he threw 6 innings, getting out of a jam that inning, and allowed two runs on four hits with four walks and three strikeouts. He’s looked way more poised in his two outings since his return from AAA Columbus.

The team had 10 hits, with Asdrubal Cabrera hitting a huge triple to start the 9th with the team down 2-1. He eventually scored the tying run on a Jhonny Peralta sac fly. Cabrera went 2-for-5 with a run scored, and is now hitting .298 (don’t tell Mark Shapiro, they may try to trade him too!).

Jamey Carroll and Trevor Crowe both also had two hits apiece. Even Wyatt Toregas, who admitted he was shaking in his first pro at-bat, had a hit, and went 1-for-5 in his pro debut. He also collected his first Major League RBI.

Sunday at 1:05pm is the finale of the three-game set, as Carl Pavano goes against Armando Galarraga. The Indians are now 43-61 on the season.

Wow. Last year I could understand the deal that sent C.C. Sabathia to the Milwaukee Brewers for prospects, but the deal today that sends Cliff Lee and Ben Fancisco to the Phillies – I don’t get it.

The backlash on this one is going to be very severe to say the least. Mark Shapiro has been stressing pitching in trying to make deals, yet in the deal which the Indians get prospects class A right-handed pitcher Jason Knapp, Class AAA right-handed pitcher Carlos Carrasco, shortstop Jason Donald and catcher Lou Marson, that’s only two pitchers, and the best prospect Philly had, prospect Kyle Drabek, was off the list.

Lee is expected to make his next start Friday for Philadelphia. The deal will be official once all pass their physicals. Good luck to the Indians trying to get fans in the ballpark now. Wow.

I think at this point if the Indians trade Cliff Lee, I might just stop writing about them for the rest of my life.

What good reason would at this point Mark Shapiro give up on Lee, who has been the rock of the rotation the last two seasons, and was the AL Cy Young award winner a year ago? Lee was great against the Toronto Blue Jays on Tuesday night, going the distance as the Indians won with two in the 9th to beat the Jays 2-1.

Lee allowed one run on seven hits, not walking a batter and striking out four. Sure he’s just 6-9 on the season, but when you take into account the run “support” that he usually doesn’t get, it’s amazing he’s even got this many wins. Lee is the talk of baseball now that the trade deadline is getting near, and some say that he’s the number one target of Charlie Manuel and the Phillies if they can’t get Roy Halladay from the same Jays the Indians beat Tuesady.

That would make no sense AT ALL right now for this team to move Lee. End of story.

He’s got another year left on his deal after this year, and has never really complained about much, and seems to be a good locker room guy. Trading Cy Young award winners in back to back years will get you nowhere, and if the Indians do it – they would be fools.

Back to the game, trailing 1-0 in the 9th, the Indians got two runs in for the win with a single, fielder’s choice, intentional walk, then a shallow double by Victor Martinez that scored the two runs to win the game. Not taking any chances with Kerry Wood, Lee allowed a one-out single in the 9th, but that was it.

The Indians move to 20 games under .500 at 37-57 on the year, and will continue the series tomorrow night at 7:05pm.

Heading into Sunday the Indians stood 16 games under .500, but despite that and a team that appears headed nowhere fast, the club evidently is not going to push the panic button of firing coach Eric Wedge or any of the other coaches on the team.

The AP had the following today about Wedge’s job being safe for the rest of the season:

Eric Wedge’s job is safe for the rest of the season.

Cleveland general manager Mark Shapiro said Sunday that the manager and his coaching staff would remain in their jobs with the last-place Indians.

“As I’ve said all along, the responsibility for the disappointments of this season don’t rest on one person,” Shapiro said. “The responsibility is spread equally throughout the players, the front office, Eric and his staff.

“I thought it was important for the second half to remove a potential distraction that exists from that speculation.”

The Indians, expected to contend in the AL Central Division, are 33-49, the worst record in the league.

Wedge, in his seventh season as Indians manager, is signed through 2010. The Indians are 529-525 under Wedge. They won the Central in 2007 and came within a game of reaching the World Series and Wedge won AL Manager of the Year.

So while the rest of the city seems to want Wedge’s head for what is going to be another lost season, the club does not appear ready to do anything till at the least the offseason, and who knows even then if anything will be done?

The question now should not be IF the Indians are going to make a change at the manager spot – it’s WHEN.  Tuesday night not even their Cy Young award winner from a season ago, Cliff Lee, could stop the bleeding of a losing streak that just keeps growing, as Lee allowed a season-high-tying 7 runs in three and a half innings as the Indians fell to the White Sox 11-4 in a rain shortened game.

The team has now dropped 12 of their last 14, and 7 of their last 8 at Progressive Field, which saw another sparse crowd of just 14,793, most of which left during the second rain dealy.  The Tribe should really thank Mother Nature for ending this debacle, as there was a 32 minute waste of a dealy to start the game, a 30 minute dealy at about 8:45pm, and then the final dealy which was 57 minutes starting in the top of the 7th which in the end was the nail in the coffin.

You have to wonder just how many runs and hits the White Sox would have had off Indians pitching, as off of Lee, Mike Gosling and Matt Herges, Chicago put up 11 runs, 17 hits and pounded out three homers.  They scored in every inning except the 2nd and then the 7th, when the rains hit again and the game was called.

The only thing the team has left to do is get rid of manager Eric Wedge and GM Mark Shapiro’s spot with the franchise should also be carefully looked at, as this team is in one of the ugliest tailspins we’ve seen for some time.  Lee, their MVP from last year, was awful.  He got pounded for 7 runs on 11 hits with one walk and three strikeouts.

The Indians offense was paced by Travis Hafner, who homered, and Asdrubal Cabrera, who hit a double to score three runs to make it a 9-4 game in the fifth.  Hafner has hit in 9 of his last 12 games and has three homers and 9 RBI over that stretch.

The likely White Sox sweep will come Wednesday night at 7:05pm as Jeremy Sowers tries to follow up his solid previous Friday night outing vs the Reds.

You can take the Indians recent 4-2 homestand vs the Twins and Padres one of two ways – you can look as it as a step in the right direction that the team won two straight series’ and the offense is coming around, or you can simply look at it like they are just staying enough above water for Mark Shapiro and company not to pull the plug on the season and start looking to shop around players like C.C. Sabathia.

On a positive note, after being at and watching the last six games, if you don’t agree that Grady Sizemore is not one the five most exciting players in the game, then you don’t watch a lot of baseball. Sizemore almost lifted this team on his shoulders from an offensive standpoint over the last week, hitting .310 with 5 homers and 9 RBI. Sizemore simply took the offense to another level this week, and picked up the slack when the team needs it with Victor Martinez and Travis Hafner on the bench.

I enjoyed watching the youth of this team get going as well this past homestand, with players like Shin-Soo Choo, Ben Francisco, Franklin Gutierrez and Kelly Shoppach all having a part in winning games at the plate. The team scored 48 runs this past week, an average of 6.8 runs per game. That has got to be an encouraging sign to management and manager Eric Wedge.

Yes, there were moments of frustration, such as Paul Byrd having a poor outing on Wednesday night in the teams 8-5 loss to the Twins. Byrd is one player that has never got on track this season, and in his last five starts is 1-3 and has allowed 21 runs as well as 7 homers. One has to wonder if his time as a quality starter in the Majors is over. Byrd is a class act and has always spoken out when he has had poor outings, but if this team is going to make a run, his pitching simply has to improve, and he’ll be the first to admit that.

The bullpen continues to be the great unknown, as pitchers like Rafael Betancourt, Rafael Perez, and Masa Kobayashi have to be on the verge of giving Wedge an ulcer. You never know how these players will respond in tough situations. In the Saturday night loss, the team got into the 8th with a 3-2 lead, and Perez gave up a homer on the second pitch after a good outing by Betancourt. Then in the 10th, Edward Mujica walked in what was the game-winning run, and then made matters worse by allowing a grand slam.

One beat reporter commented to me that he has no idea what the team sees in Mujica, as he has been terrible this season, allowing three homers in 6 games he’s pitched in, and has an ERA of 9.00. Add to that the 8.31 ERA in 13 innings pitched in 2007, and the reporter who made that comment to me has a valid point, and one that the team should look at.

Overall though, I’d have to say the week had more positives than negatives, and the team did gain a game on the Sox to move within 5.5 of first. With the Rockies, Dodgers, Giants and Reds up next, all teams under .500, this team seems poised to finally tell us once and for all if 2008 is going to be a season of hope, or a season of despair.