Minor League Baseball’s website (www.milb.com) has a story featuring today’s games about Tribe farmhand Carlos Santana. The article refers to San Francisco calling up their prime catching prospect Buster Posey, and wonders if Santana is next. To this I say, ha ha ha ha ha. How naive of these people.
Instead, Indians’ skipper Manny Acta told the media that the team is looking forward to bringing up some of their top prospects AFTER THE ALL STAR BREAK! Why the wait? After all, everyone in Cleveland is interested in seeing the Columbus Clippers win the International League title.
Uh, no we aren’t. Tribe fans have no interest in seeing Columbus win the IL, nor do they care if Akron wins the Eastern League.
What they do care about is when the current regime will put a competitive team on the field once again.
This weekend was a perfect example of the problems this team has.
First, Tony Sipp’s problems were slightly predictable considering the workload put on him by Acta, mainly because he is one of two pitchers the skipper can count on late in games. Sipp has been in 23 of the team’s 48 games. That’s too many.
That’s not to blame Acta, because what other choice does he have considering the make up of his relief corps.
Rafael Perez has shown signs of life recently, but largely has been horrible much of the season. Jamey Wright is a bum who can’t throw strikes on a consistent basis, but we knew that going into the campaign.
Aaron Laffey was good early in the year, but lately has forgotten that he’s not a strikeout pitcher who can get away with a walk here and there. His problems being a consistent big league pitcher has been the inability to throw strikes. Saturday’s game earned him a trip back to Columbus. Jensen Lewis is Jensen Lewis, meaning he’s up and down like an elevator. And Hector Ambriz is only on the roster because he’s a Rule 5 guy, and has to be offered back to Arizona if he’s not on the major league roster.
By the way, when Saul Rivera was traded to the Diamondbacks, did GM Mark Shapiro ask for permission to send Ambriz to the minors in exchange? Or was he ordered to take the cash considerations?
Of course, some radio guys decided to rip Sipp, who along with Chris Perez have been the only reliable options for Acta.
Why doesn’t the front office get some help for the manager? Frank Herrmann has pitched 25-1/3 innings this season for Columbus and has an ERA of 0.36, allowing just one run all season. He’s fanned 18 batters and walked only eight. He was signed as a non-drafted free agent, so he’s not recognized as a top flite prospect. But, could he do worse than Jamey Wright?
Vinnie Pestano just came up from Akron and hasn’t allowed a run in 7-1/3 frames while striking out 13 hitters. Why not give him a shot as well?
It’s the fear factor that consumes this organization.
Benjamin Franklin said the definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over and expecting a different result. Too bad Franklin isn’t the general manager of the 2010 Cleveland Indians.
MW
Cleveland Sports Perspective 