The Cleveland Indians played their 50th game of the 2008 season yesterday, and once again the offense was dormant, scoring just one run in a 2-1 10 inning loss to the Texas Rangers. The Tribe has now scored less than three runs in more than half of their games. A percentage that leads one to believe contention for a playoff spot will not be happening if the problem is not fixed, and fixed right away. Skipper Eric Wedge said changes were imminent, what will they be?
The first move that should be made is designating David Dellucci for assignment when Shin-Soo Choo is ready to be activated. This blog gave the veteran the benefit of the doubt earlier in the year when he was getting on base via the walk and driving the ball a little bit. However, in the last month, that has gone away. His batting average has dipped below the .220 mark and he banged into two double plays Sunday. Although he was injured a good part of last year, he really hasn’t done what was expected of him since he was signed as a free agent. Replacing him with Choo gives the team a little more speed, and better outfield defense.
Asdrubal Cabrera is a tremendous defensive player at both 2B and SS, but the team can’t afford to let him lose confidence in his hitting. His batting average has dipped below .180 and pitchers are continuously jamming him at the plate. He has not been able to make any adjustments. Josh Barfield has not done what the front office asked him to do, which is improve his plate discipline, but he is hitting over .250 at Buffalo. He also has been driving the ball, accumulating some extra base hits. It’s a pretty good bet he could hit at least .230 at the big league level which is 50 points better than Cabrera. No one is saying Barfield is the answer, but he is not an automatic out either.
The last immediate move to be made is to find out once and for all about Andy Marte. It is apparent that the Tribe brass has soured on the 3B, but it is difficult to believe he can do worse than the .214 batting average that Casey Blake has. Yes, we know Blake leads the team in RBI, but he accumulated many of them in three or four games. He is hardly a consistent force in the lineup. Marte deserves a chance to play every day for at least two weeks. Defensively, the team doesn’t lose anything either as Blake is not a Gold Glove candidate.
These moves are in lieu of not being able to make a substantial deal at this time of year. One name that intrigues us is San Diego outfielder Brian Giles, who could be had for a prospect in the Indians pick up the remainder of his contract. Giles still gets on base and has a little pop in his bat. This move would enable Wedge to move Grady Sizemore into the #3 spot in the batting order, since Giles could be a leadoff option. Keep in mind that Sizemore leads the Indians in extra base hits, which is usually a stat reserved for a middle of the order hitter.
These moves aren’t a cure all, but it is an option different than doing the same things every day. Even Wedge admits the status quo is not working. Something has to be done as the Tribe is just 4-1/2 behind the White Sox. You don’t want to sit idle and find yourselves 7 games out in a couple of weeks.
MW
Cleveland Sports Perspective 