After last night’s game in Chicago where Indians “closer” Joe Borowski gave up two runs in the bottom of the tenth to waste Casey Blake’s should-a-been game winner, I think it is officially time to stick a fork in the Cleveland Indians for 2008. They are so very completely ridiculously hopelessly done in an unbelievable fall from almost beating the Red Sox to go to the World Series last October. From injuries, to sophomore slumps, to complete busts, to tired players, this team has failed in almost all facets of the game this season.
I am not going to rehash it all for you in any detail, but imagine the moustachioed man who used to do the commercials for Micro Machines…
CC Sabathia’s early season slump, the failure of Jason Michaels / David Dellucci platoon, the continued struggles and injury of Travis Hafner, Jake Westbrook Tommy John surgery, Fausto Carmona hip injury, Victor Martinez elbow surgery, Asdrubal Cabrera sophomore slump, Garko failing to live up to expectations, continued inconsistency from Jhonny Peralta, Franklin Gutierrez’ utter failures at the plate, Joe Borowski injury and failures after returning, Rafael Betancourt seemingly tired and ineffective, etc, etc, etc…
So, where do we go from here now that the season is basically over?
- Sign or trade CC now. The Indians have been making a last ditch effort to lock up CC for the long term. If they can’t get that done, they need to get as much Triple and Double A talent as they possibly can for him. I don’t know if it is three players or more or even less, but they have plenty of needs from starting pitching to corner outfield and infield.
- Either give Andy Marte 20 games in a row or cut him. Andy Marte can’t be expected to produce when he plays sporadically. If he is going to get an actual shot at third base, give it to him.
- As Terry Pluto has stated multiple times, let Asdrubal Cabrera and Josh Barfield play the middle of the infield when Barfield is healthy. This means doing something with Jhonny Peralta.
- Either try to trade Jhonny Peralta or try him out at third base. Then again, with those offensive numbers maybe you cut your losses with both him and Marte.
- Trade Paul Byrd for whatever you can get. I like Byrd, but he is as old as the hills and I don’t expect him to be back in Cleveland next year.
- Trade Joe Borowski. I am not sure what value he has, but I am sure someone could use another bullpen guy.
- Last but not least, and I hate to say this, but trade Casey Blake. I love Casey Blake because he can play basically any position on the field and my friends and I have all built up an irrational, unjustified worship of Casey Blake. After a pinch hitter came into the game last week he even played a couple innings at short. Casey Blake could possibly help someone in the stretch run filling in at multiple positions and pinch hitting. His numbers are excellent with men in scoring position. Plus, if the Tribe really wants him back next season he will be a free agent.
The way I see it the Indians have somewhere between 3 and 5 guys who can leave via trade. If they can average 2 players per trade that means the Indians should be able to infuse at least 6-10 guys with potential at the AAA and AA levels. That means that the Indians won’t keep themselves from competing next season with guys like Fausto Carmona, Cliff Lee, and Aaron Laffey definitely returning to the rotation, and guys like Victor Martinez, Grady Sizemore and hopefully a healthy Travis Hafner to the lineup.
Finally, I have one question that I am left with after seeing this collapse this season. How is it that the Indians coaches are so beyond blame? I know Eric Wedge has had his haters all along since he was named manager of the team. I know he wasn’t as good a manager as the team performed last season. I know he isn’t as bad a manager as the team performed this season. Still, would a team with such high expectations have a staff that remains as unscathed as this one has in any other city? I don’t really know at what point the finger of blame has to end up on someone in Eric Wedge’s staff. Yet all is quiet. Seems a bit odd to me that even a hitting coach is untouchable in a situation like this. This team has regressed offensively in a big big way this season.
