Browns Are Young, They Will Make Mistakes.

The Browns first pre-season game was a success, at least from the standpoint that they won, defeating the Detroit Lions 19-17.

However, it’s tough to judge what occurred during the game because of the people Pat Shurmur had sitting out due to injuries and/or rest.

For example, the run defense was not good. This is something that has plagued the franchise since returning to the NFL in 1999. But without Ahtyba Rubin and D’Qwell Jackson playing, you really can’t point to this as being a weakness right now.

Neither player is expected to miss any regular season time, so both will be back in there next week.

Of course, everyone wanted to watch the rookies on the offensive side of the ball, particularly QB Brandon Weeden.

The first year passer from Oklahoma State played like, well, a rookie. He hit on 3 of 9 passes for 62 yards, making some good throws (the sideline shot to fellow rook Travis Benjamin on the first series), and some poor ones. He was picked off once, and should have had another, although Bernie Kosar blamed that one on Josh Gordon, yet another rookie, not running a crisp enough route.

He also was charged with a fumble, but that was the result of poor pass protection. That’s not to exonerate the rookie, but he’ll learn when to it’s better to take a sack than risk a turnover.

Look, even though he’ll be 29 years old during the season, he’s an inexperienced NFL quarterback. He will get better the more time he spends on the football field. This was one game. If improvement isn’t made next week, and the week after next, then people can question the Browns’ decision. It’s silly to do so now.

It was encouraging though to see some downfield throws, something not seen often last year. In fact, it was telling on Colt McCoy’s first possession at the helm that he threw a completed six yard pass on 3rd and nine.

McCoy played well statistically, hitting 6 of 8 for 88 yards, the bulk of those a 42-yard strike to TE Jordan Cameron that he had to wait on. Still, Cleveland only mustered a field goal in his quarter of play, against the Lions second team defense.

As for the rookies, 2nd round pick Mitchell Schwartz struggled with the speed of the NFL game, but again, it was his first game and he will likely get better.

Benjamin looked good at WR, catching two passes for 46 yards, and flashed the great speed the Browns talked about when they drafted him. Josh Gordon looked raw, like he hasn’t played in a while, which he hasn’t.

The other rookie that stood out was CB Trevin Wade, drafted in the 7th round this spring. Granted, he wasn’t out there covering Calvin Johnson, but he’s a guy that merits watching throughout the rest of the pre-season.

There could also be a problem going forward with WR Mohamed Massaquoi, who may have suffered another concussion on the first play of the game, a 12-yard reception.

It the diagnosis is correct, it would be his third injury of this type in three seasons, and could put his career in jeopardy. The front office spoke highly of his potential all off-season long, so it was be a tough blow to lose the veteran.

Reserve DT Scott Paxson also went out with a knee injury, as did CB Dimitri Patterson. The Browns are already thin at both positions, so these could be key injuries.

It’s still pre-season, so it’s just step one in the evaluation process. Remember, the Cleveland Browns are a very young football team. They will make mistakes, but if they eliminate them going forward, that’s how they should be judged.

Tribe Has Much to Do Before ’13

A few weeks ago, we advocated that the Cleveland Indians be buyers to try to stay in the race for the AL Central Division title.

They were around 3 games out at that point.

We aren’t backing off that statement because if you are that close, you owe it to your ballclub and your fans to try to win and get into the playoffs.

That seems kind of ridiculous considering what has happened since the All Star break.

The purge has started with veterans Derek Lowe, Johnny Damon, Jeremy Accardo, and Jose Lopez all being jettisoned recently, and more moves are likely to follow.

So, if the front office is looking ahead, then we need to as well. And the future is very pretty, at least for 2013.

The lineup has just six players who figure to be in the Opening Day line up for certain: CF Michael Brantley, SS Asdrubal Cabrera, 2B Jason Kipnis, RF Shin-Soo Choo, C Carlos Santana, and 3B Lonnie Chisenhall.

That leaves gaping holes at 1B, LF, and DH. Oh, and also, the Indians need a quality right-handed hitter to fill in at least one of those spots.

The starting rotation is a mess right now. Justin Masterson and Ubaldo Jimenez are the only for sures that have any kind of track record, and both are those hurlers have been inconsistent to say the least.

Josh Tomlin? He has marginal stuff and needs pinpoint control to win. He can’t be counted on.

Zack McAllister? No track record. He’s made less than 20 major league starts.

Roberto Hernandez? Another up and down pitcher, and he hasn’t pitched in the big leagues this year.

That’s not to mention other guys who haven’t proven anything in the majors like Jeanmar Gomez, Corey Kluber, and dare we say, David Huff.

That’s no way to go into next season expecting to win, having a starting rotation full of question marks.

So, from this view, the 2013 Cleveland Indians need at least one solid bat (same as last year), two other regular players, and two solid starting pitchers.

With a farm system without a lot of talent in the upper levels, how does the organization accomplish this?

Well, one way would be to fill a hole by signing a free agent. The Indians have a lot of money coming off the books this fall (Travis Hafner and Grady Sizemore’s deals expire, among others), so there may be room to sign one. A reliable starter would be a good choice.

Another avenue to explore is to deal from strength, and the Indians have a pretty good bullpen. Perhaps dealing Chris Perez, who despite recent struggles has proven to be an elite closer, to fill some holes is a move that needs to be made.

Keep in mind what former Indians’ GM John Hart used to say, “closers grow on trees”, meaning they come in all different forms.

Vinnie Pestano is perhaps the game’s premier set up man. Can he close? No one knows for sure, but he is used to pitching in pressure situations.

Heck, for all anyone knows, Esmil Rogers might turn out to be the closer. Did anyone think Jose Mesa would be a good closer when he was a back of the rotation starter for the Indians in the early 90’s?

No matter how they do it, it isn’t just a piece or two that the Tribe needs to address for next season. It’s four or five pieces.

So, Chris Antonetti or someone else has a tall task.

If the Indians want to compete with the White Sox and Tigers next season, they have to do a lot more than they did last off-season.

Who Is Tribe Management Talking About?

As the Cleveland Indians’ season continues to fall into oblivion, one of the mantras GM Chris Antonetti chants consistently is the players currently on the roster have to do better.

That’s easier said than done.

However, who is Antonetti talking about? How many players on the current roster are underachieving?

Certainly, the starting pitchers have not done as well as the organization thought going into the season. Justin Masterson, in particular, looked like a guy who turned the corner in 2011, and has been terribly inconsistent this season.

Ubaldo Jimenez? He’s been up and down since coming over from Colorado last July. Has he under performed? If you compare him to his excellent 2010 season, yes.

But if the front office expected great things based on what we did last year, then they are crazy.

Josh Tomlin had a solid year in ’11, but he’s a control guy with marginal stuff, and struggled in the second half of last season. It can’t be a total surprise that he hasn’t been good this year.

On the offensive side, no one can complain about the job being done by SS Asdrubal Cabrera, 2B Jason Kipnis (although he’s slumped lately), CF Michael Brantley (a breakout player this year), and RF Shin-Soo Choo.

You can’t expect more out of those four players.

Carlos Santana has been a disappointment after last season. His minor league numbers show he’s too good of a hitter to be consistently around .240. He does walk a ton, and lately has started to be productive.

Even in a disappointing season, he still ranks third on the team in RBIs, behind Kipnis and Brantley.

So, what players are failing?

Travis Hafner is having a disappointing season, particularly with his batting average, but the truth is, he hasn’t been really productive since 2007. Why would the front office expect more?

Casey Kotchman is a journeyman 1B, who had a good season in ’11 with Tampa, hitting .306. However, he has a lifetime .263 batting average. It doesn’t take a great deal of vision to see he probably wasn’t going to hit that well this season.

What are the front office’s expectations for Kotchman? It seems they may be looking for too much.

Jack Hannahan? He’s a journeyman as well. He’s 32 years old and has had over 400 at bats in a season just once. Why? Because he’s not a good hitter.

Was the front office fooled into thinking he woke up one morning and became Mike Schmidt?

The management completely ignored the LF issue, unless you consider signing the oft-injured Grady Sizemore as a remedy. Most people, including the fans and media, thought that was a bad idea.

So, again we ask, who exactly has underachieved?

It appears it is the front office because they deluded themselves into thinking that players who haven’t been productive for several years, or who have no real track record for hitting were going to start hammering the baseball.

That’s foolish, and it’s one more reason changes need to be made on the corner of Carnegie and Ontario.

There aren’t many players on the Cleveland Indians who aren’t doing what was expected. The disappointment comes from a management team who was expecting the impossible from certain players, who weren’t capable of performing.

Perhaps Antonetti is deflecting attention from the inactivity that has plagued this organization over the past 12 months.

The only people who need to perform better are in offices at Progressive Field. For the most part, the players are doing exactly what should be expected.

Haslam Says the Right Things

If you live in northeastern Ohio, you have to be impressed with the press conference introducing the Browns’ new owner, Jimmy Haslam on Friday.

Haslam showed enthusiasm and a love of the game, promised the Browns were not moving anywhere (a nod to the paranoid fans), and that he wanted to restore Cleveland’s football team back to our of the elite franchises in the NFL.

He even said a few things that had to make the ticket buyers smile.

First, he never mentioned the name “Steelers”. He referred to the team he had owned a minority interest in as “the team in the east” or “that other team”. A cool thing, reminiscent of Ohio State fans never saying the actual name of their rival.

He also talked about how he was glad rookie running back Trent Richardson was on his side now, as Haslam is a Tennessee grad and supporter.

He said in his statement what a class act Randy Lerner was, saying that we know how Randy is, but there’s a major difference already. Haslam said more in ten minutes than Lerner said in ten years as owner.

Lerner would talk to print reporters, but not the electronic media, so the fans, the people who buy tickets to the games, never got to hear any passion about the Cleveland Browns. Reporters said he has it, but the public didn’t know that first hand.

They know it after a few minutes of hearing Haslam speak.

It only took those few moments to make the Indians’ ownership the least dynamic of the three professional sports owners in town.

There are a few disturbing things heard on sports talk radio, however, from the people of this area.

It is true that Jimmy Haslam is not from Cleveland, he’s not a lifelong Browns fan. However, Dan Gilbert was a Pistons’ fan growing up in the Detroit, and no one can doubt the passion he has for this area, and also in making the Cavaliers a winner.

Besides, Larry Dolan said he loved the Indians as a kid, and look at how that is turning out.

Another thing that bothers us is the portrayal of Haslam as a “hillbilly” simply because he is from Tennessee. People from this area don’t like when folks from New York or Los Angeles make fun of Cleveland, yet they can poke fun at a man because he’s from the south?

You’re better than that, Cleveland. This man is a billionaire! He knows how to run a successful business, and one that is based on customer service. He has learned what people like, and to be sure, he will apply some of those things in marketing his football team.

He’s also honest in saying he has things to learn, and he is going to talk to Robert Kraft to get a tutorial on the NFL. Based on the Patriots’ success over the last decade, there isn’t anyone better to learn from. And Haslam was also involved in the Steelers, another well run franchise.

It’s kind of full circle in regards to the Steelers. When Pittsburgh wanted a fresh start for a horrible franchise (that’s right Steeler Nation, your team was once a complete joke), they hired a former Brown and a native Clevelander in Chuck Noll.

Now with the Browns looking for a similar reversal, they turn to a Steelers’ minority owner.

Jimmy Haslam won the press conference, now he has to have his new football team win games.

A Few Suggestions for the Tribe.

It appears the last gasp of the 2012 baseball season for the Cleveland Indians was the four runs outburst in the seventh inning to beat Justin Verlander last Thursday night at Progressive Field.

It’s been downhill ever since both on the field and in the front office.

Fans of the Tribe are understandably both frustrated and infuriated as the organization sits back and does nothing while there are still a chance to compete for the division title.

Now, it appears very likely that the franchise will endure another season below the .500 mark, the ninth in the last 11 years under the Dolan/Shapiro/Antonetti stewardship.

The baseball season is over for the most part, and we can thank the inactivity of the front office, both in the off-season and during this season for that.

The funniest comment made yesterday by GM Chris Antonetti was that the organization learned in discussing trades was how other teams judged the Indians’ players.

The hidden message was opponents don’t think much of what the Tribe has on the big league roster and the upper levels of the minors.

So, what can the Indians do going forward to help repair their relationship going forward? Here are a few suggestions…

First, end the “what if” advertising campaign. With the lack of moves and winning, the commercials have become a source of ridicule for the organization.

Yes, the period from 1994-2001 may have been the best span in club history. It’s over! Showing us clips of Jim Thome, Kenny Lofton, and Sandy Alomar Jr. just makes fans angry that the Indians refuse to compete now.

Focus on the present. Tell fans why they should come to Progressive Field now. And if you can’t come up with a good reason, that’s another problem altogether. Get better as an organization.

Second, it’s time to get better at player development. When support is written or said for the Ubaldo Jimenez trade, the main argument is that Drew Pomerantz and Alex White aren’t doing anything with the Rockies.

That’s an indictment of the scouting system since they were both first round draft picks.

This organization has just one drafted player (Jason Kipnis) among its starters, and another Lonnie Chisenhall, who would start if he wasn’t injured and the manager didn’t have a man crush on Jack Hannahan.

For a small to mid market team, that’s a recipe for disaster. And that’s why the Indians is consistently under .500.

If you look at the best prospects in the game, only one player from the Cleveland organization is on the list, 2011 first round pick SS Francisco Lindor.

The talent in the organization has to be improved, or the failure rate is going to continue.

The last thing Antonetti should do is start building for 2013 right now. We are echoing what several people have said already.

It is time for departure to players who aren’t going to be part of group that meets in Goodyear, AZ next spring.

That means good-bye to Johnny Damon, Casey Kotchman, Shelley Duncan, Derek Lowe, and Jack Hannahan.

Let’s take a look at some of the players from Columbus, who by the way leads the International League in batting average and runs scored.

We have said this many, many times. Russ Canzler, Matt LaPorta, Ezequiel Carrera, Tim Fedroff, Corey Kluber, and Chris Seddon can’t be any worse than the players whose place they would be taking.

They should be called to the big leagues immediately.

It would also allow for some players from Akron to be moved up. The Aeros have a lot of players repeating the AA level for the second time, and it’s time to see if those guys are prospects or not.

At least it would make the games somewhat worth watching for hardcore fans.

The Dolan family, Shapiro, and Antonetti have some fence mending to do. It may already be too late.

Tribe’s Message to Fans: We Don’t Care about Winning

Perception is reality. This is something the front office of the Cleveland Indians doesn’t understand, or else the fans are exactly correct about the management of the team.

They don’t care about winning.

They can bring out their spreadsheets and flow charts and mission statements all they want, but the perception of the people who buy tickets is that the only folks involved with the Indians who want to win are the players.

That’s their perception, and perception is reality.

The Indians finished below the .500 mark last season, but they were in contention until the beginning of September. The team that won the division, the Detroit Tigers, added a premier free agent, Prince Fielder, to their roster.

The Tribe basically did nothing.

On May 24th, the Tribe beat Detroit to run their record to 26-18 and had a 3-1/2 game lead in the AL Central Division. They still had weaknesses, getting no offense out of 1B, 3B, and LF. The front office didn’t feel the need to add to the roster.

A month later, on June 24th, the Indians record was 37-34, meaning they went 11-16 in the last 30 days. They dropped out of first place, but were just a half game out of first.

The same weaknesses remained and Derek Lowe’s season started to go south. The Indians needed to get some starting pitching along with help to cover up some of the other flaws, but the front office still did nothing to help out a group of players trying to keep their heads above water.

On July 24th, the Indians beat the Tigers to improve their record to 49-48, meaning they went 12-14 over the last 30 days. The dropped to third place, but were just three games of the pace.

The weaknesses remained, but the front office did nothing outside of replacing the 25th man on the roster, replacing Aaron Cunningham with Brett Lillibridge.

It the meantime, the White Sox traded for Kevin Youkilis and Brett Myers, and the Tigers got Anibal Sanchez and Omar Infante.

The Indians’ front office claimed it was a slow trade market.

What they are really telling you is that they don’t care about winning.

Whether it’s the ownership holding the purse strings tight, and not allowing president Mark Shapiro and GM Chris Antonetti to add to the current roster, or it’s the executives not feeling this team needs help, the end result is they don’t want to win.

The disinterest has even seeped down to the dugout where Manny Acta seems void of emotion.

Three more blown calls which hurt the Indians were made in the series against the Twins with the skipper glued to his seat.

The one that occurred yesterday was protested vehemently by SS Asdrubal Cabrera, who seemed to be close to an ejection. Acta sat there like a statue while one of his best players argued.

Acta has done a good job keeping a team with more holes than swiss cheese around the .500 mark, but you have to wonder if he’s losing his team because he doesn’t seem to have their backs.

The perception, there’s that word again, is that Acta isn’t fighting to win, he isn’t defending his team.

Look, a manager can’t get kicked out of every game, but every once in a while, he needs to go out and show his team and the umpires that the Cleveland Indians aren’t going to be pushed around.

The entire organization seems slow to react to problems, slow to argue calls, slow to bring in more talent.

Then they wonder why fans are slow to show up to games.

It’s because the message they send is the Cleveland Indians do not care about winning.

Here’s is what we thought in April, before the season started…

Cleveland Sports Perspective

Last season, the Cleveland Indians led the AL Central Division for a little over three months before being surpassed and then blown away by the Detroit Tigers in August.

They wound up the season 15 games behind the Tigers.

Then, in the off-season, the front office basically did nothing to shore up the weakness on the team. Last year’s Indians finished 9th in the AL in runs scored and 10th in ERA.

They added Derek Lowe to the starting rotation, but lost Roberto Hernandez, and offensively, they did nothing to improve a hitting attack that badly needed some right-handed hitting.

It is entirely possible for the Indians to catch lightning in a bottle if an awful lot of things go their way, but there are too many question marks to think the Tribe will make the playoffs this season.

We’re predicting a fourth place finish behind the Tigers, Royals, and…

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Wonder How Long Haslam Has Been Involved?

It was a shock to all sports fans in Cleveland today to find out the Browns are in the process of being sold to minority Steelers’ owner James Haslam III, the CEO of Pilot Corporation.

So, one of the three professional sports teams will have new ownership. Unfortunately, it’s not the team most fans wish, as many would prefer the Indians be sold.

It likely will mean the departure of Mike Holmgren as team president because he was brought in to run the team on a daily basis, mostly because Randy Lerner didn’t want to do the job.

The rumors are that former Eagles president Joe Banner will become involved with the Browns as part of the Haslam ownership. That would seem to make Holmgren superfluous.

GM Tom Heckert and coach Pat Shurmur have worked for Banner before, so they should remain safe, at least for now.

One thing to ponder is how long have these negotiations been going on because there is no way this deal happened in the last couple of days. In fact, a little over a month ago, Philadelphia radio personality Howard Eskin reported the Browns were for sale, which of course Berea denied immediately.

If Haslam and Lerner were talking since the end of the season, for example, it’s likely that the new owner signed off on the drafting of Trent Richardson, the trade up in the draft move to get QB Brandon Weeden, and using a supplemental second round pick to get WR Josh Gordon.

It also may answer the question as to why the Browns were not very active in free agency. The Steelers are rarely involved in the process either, and perhaps the new owner feels if it’s good enough for Pittsburgh, it will work here as well.

It may be that the good feelings that have revolved around Cleveland’s football team this off-season started when Lerner made a decision to get out of the NFL business. We know he didn’t like it because he sent Holmgren to most of the league’s ownership meetings.

If Haslam has been the driving force behind the scenes of the team he is hoping to purchase, then he should be off to a good start with the fans. Playing time will tell, but it appears for the first time in a long time, the Browns have some playmakers on offense and the makings of a solid offensive line as well.

If Haslam was not involved in these moves, let’s hope he lets things play out this year, before making any decisions on front office personnel. If the team shows some improvement this year, it would not be good to start all over once again.

Browns’ fans are all too familiar with the constant rebuilding process that has cursed the franchise since 1999. Now that it seems like things are looking rosier, it would be a shame to halt the momentum.

For fans hoping for a more active owner, they have their wish. For those who said Lerner didn’t care about the Browns, they no longer have that to complain about.

Now if only someone would pop out of the woodwork to buy the Indians.

Tribe Management Gun Shy?

With last night’s win over the Detroit Tigers, the sixth in seven meeting against the Motor City Kitties this year, the Cleveland Indians are now just three games out of first place in the AL Central.

This means even if they were to drop the last two games of the three game set, they will be only five games out of first place as we hit the last weekend of July. Where we come from, that’s being in the race.

And don’t pay attention to folks who point out all the teams ahead of the Tribe in the wild card race. That might be a factor if this were the beginning of September, but the schedule still has over 60 games remaining, so there is plenty of time to pass all of those teams.

So, why isn’t GM Chris Antonetti making any moves to help a team this close to first place?

It may just be the sins of the past catching up with the organization.

Last year, Antonetti was aggressive going out and getting Ubaldo Jimenez from the Rockies for a slew of top ten prospects in the organization. Although Jimenez pitched well in the series opener last night, that trade hasn’t worked out as well as the GM probably anticipated.

To be sure, the Indians thought Jimenez was a top of the rotation starting pitcher with swing and miss stuff. He would be classified as the #2 starter for Cleveland right now, but he would be lower on most American League teams.

He currently leads the league in walks allowed and is tied for 10th in giving up home runs, never a good combination.

His lack of success may have the front office a little gun-shy go out and obtain another big name guy.

And of course, because of that deal, the Cleveland farm system is not as deep as it was in 2011. Several publications have the Indians ranked in the bottom 10 in all of the major leagues.

Still, there are some positions in the organization where there is some depth, most notably middle infielders (particularly at the lower levels), catchers, and relief pitchers.

Another factor that makes the organization hesitant to trade young players is the success of Brandon Phillips. We are all familiar with then manager Eric Wedge’s non-favorable opinion of the second baseman, which led to his trade, and ultimately a few all-star appearances in Cincinnati.

Cord Phelps is a good example of what happens now. The third round pick in ’08 reached the AAA level in 2010 hitting a combined (with Akron) .308 and an 825 OPS.

Last season, he didn’t hit in a cup of coffee in the majors (he was used sporadically), but put up a .294 batting average and 868 OPS in his time at Columbus. It would seem someone looking for a 2B might be interested, especially since the emergence of Jason Kipnis has made him an expendable commodity.

This year, his numbers have dropped at AAA to a .263 average and a 781 OPS, thus lessening whatever trade value he may have. His career has grown stale.

Maybe the Indians tried to deal Phelps over the winter, but there was no market for him because of his struggles (.155 in 71 at bats in Cleveland last season), but that seems unlikely. There was usually teams looking for middle infielders with a little pop.

Phelps might be able to play, but you never hear his name in the trade rumors which swirl at this time of year.

The Indians can’t afford to be this conservative. They need to trust their talent evaluators and go out and get some players who can help a team very much in the post-season race.

Come to think, maybe that’s the problem. They don’t trust themselves to get the right players. And if that’s true, that’s a bigger problem for the Indians’ front office.

The Tribe Shouldn’t Sell Right Now

After losing the first three games of a four game set against the Baltimore Orioles, the rats are jumped off the S.S. Tribe very, very quickly.

There are people even saying that perhaps the Indians should now be sellers at the July 31st trading deadline instead of trying to improve the team.

As horrible as the Indians have looked since the All-Star break, and they have been bad, especially on offense scoring just 31 runs in 10 games with 19 of those occurring in two contests, they remain just 4-1/2 games out of first in the AL Central Division, and a mere 3-1/2 games off the pace for the second wild card spot.

A few people have mentioned how many teams the Indians would have to climb over to get the latter spot, but that would only hold water if there were a couple of weeks remaining in the season. However, there are more than 60 games remaining, more than enough time to pass a number of teams.

That’s why GM Chris Antonetti cannot start trading his most marketable people in the next eight days. In fact, he still should be looking to help the current roster, because it is obvious the Indians cannot make gains in the standings with its current personnel.

While everyone wants the team to make a huge splash, dealing for an all-star type player, that may not be necessary. Improving the roster could involve cutting bait on players who haven’t been productive for the Tribe from day one.

That would mean finding replacements for the deadwood currently on the team, guys like Casey Kotchman, Aaron Cunningham, Jack Hannahan, and yes, even Travis Hafner. Replacing two of them could have an impact.

The same would be true getting another starting pitcher, even replacing one with someone from Columbus. Who knows? You might just catch lightning in a bottle.

The other night saw a rumor saying the Indians were close to getting Phillies OF Shane Victorino, a free agent at the end of the season. That’s not a sexy pick up, but Victorino is a switch-hitting outfielder, who has been productive in the past.

Let’s say the Indians get him. They would no longer have a need for Cunningham because Victorino is a CF by trade. Victorino could play LF for the Indians, upgrading the OF defense.

It strengthens the bench because Johnny Damon or Hafner would no longer be in the lineup everyday, and it adds another right-handed bat (and a productive one, he’s hitting .318 with a 981 OPS vs. lefties) when facing a southpaw.

And it would also allow Michael Brantley and Shin-Soo Choo to get an occasional day off, keeping them fresh.

It would also lengthen Manny Acta’s batting order, where production ends after the cleanup hitter usually bats (although with Carlos Santana starting to hit a little, it would be after the 5th spot).

It’s one smaller type move, but it should make a decent impact on the team.

Plus, it would also show the players that the front office believes in them, and is concerned with winning baseball games.

Two or three more moves like that could make an even bigger impact, and we’ve been advocating making these subtle moves for over a month.

Yes, the White Sox have lost five straight, but look at the immediate impact Kevin Youkilis made upon his arrival. By the way, does anyone else think it’s odd that the Red Sox wanted either Josh Tomlin or Zack McAllister from Cleveland, but accepted Brett Lillibridge (since released) and Zach Stewart (in the minors) from Chicago?

We’ve always thought you are in the race if you hit Labor Day five games or less out of first. There’s still five weeks or so before that holiday and the Indians have a smaller deficit.

It’s not the time to sell right now. Antonetti needs to help his team, not take it apart.