The front office of the Cleveland Indians was optimistic in spring training about how the 2011 season would turn out. 

They liked the way their pitching staff finished the year, and thought guys like Justin Masterson, Josh Tomlin, and Carlos Carrasco could be effective major league starters.

Then, the Tribe got off to a red-hot start, winning 30 of their first 45 games, and the team looked like one that had post-season aspirations.

Since then, the Indians have lost 20 of 30 games, and now sit at just five games above the .500 mark.  But they are still tied for first place with Detroit with the halfway point of the season a week away.

What should they do at the July 31st trading deadline?

Well, in a month’s time, the Indians’ season could be very different.  They could be firmly in first place, still battling with Detroit and/or Chicago, or they could be out of the race.

However, right now, they are very much contenders, and they owe it to the players on the roster and to their fans to do everything they can to try to win right now, even though they may be a year or two ahead of schedule.

It’s premature to start thinking of trading some of Cleveland’s top prospects to help a pennant drive.  Forget about dealing players such as Lonnie Chisenhall, Jason Kipnis, Alex White (who is currently injured), and Drew Pomerantz. 

Those players are the foundation for what hopefully will be years of post-season contention by the organization.

GM Chris Antonetti can look to move some decent prospects to help fill the current holes on the roster, but the problem there is finding a trade partner.

A current look at the American League standings show no team is more than 10 games out of first place, and only five clubs are more than five games out. 

So, there aren’t many AL teams looking to tell their fans that it is time to look toward 2012.

In the National League, four teams (Marlins, Cubs, Astros, and Padres) are more than 10 games out of first, and the Mets and Dodgers are 9-1/2 out.

Those might be teams looking to trade players on the last year of their contracts.  A lot of speculation has centered on Padres OF Ryan Ludwick, who is a good right-handed bat, and may be available.

Another player to try to get would be Cubs OF Reed Johnson, a fourth outfielder type who has had good success against left-handed pitching.

The point is this, it’s easy to say the Indians should go out and make a trade, but there aren’t a lot of teams ready to call it a season and trade veteran players. 

Therefore, it is incumbent on the front office to go to the minor leagues for some help, because it is clear that there is need for improvement, particularly now that Shin-Soo Choo will be out for at least six weeks.

Players like Luis Valbuena deserve a shot to be more productive with the bat that the Austin Kearns and Adam Everetts of the world.  Valbuena, who suffered through a horrible season with the Tribe last year, is hitting .314 with 10 HR and 49 RBI and a 892 OPS at Columbus. 

As for Everett, he could be replaced soon by Jason Donald, who spent much of last year with the Indians. 

If the Indians continue to hover around first place in a month, there won’t be much of a debate.  The Tribe management will need to do something to bolster the team for the stretch run.  If they don’t, more questions will enter the minds of the fans regarding the current ownership.

MW

A night that was supposed to be one of excitement and optimism turning out to be disappointing for fans of the Cleveland Cavaliers.

Yes, they picked the best player available in Kyrie Irving, the point guard of the future with the first overall selection.  But after weeks of speculation regarding Enes Kanter and Jonas Valenciunas, GM Chris Grant selected F Tristan Thompson of Texas with the fourth overall pick.

So, the disappointment with Thompson is probably more because he wasn’t thought to be the guy the Cavaliers wanted.  People will speculate they wanted Valenciunas, but didn’t want to wait, and Kanter was taken with the third pick, thus ending ideas that the Cavs could take him and deal him for more picks.

Thompson is considered a good defender and shot blocker at 6’9″ and 230 pounds, and well as having good hands, which translates into being a force on the boards.  However, he is limited offensively.  He does draw an inordinate amount of fouls, but isn’t a good free throw shooter at this time.

He is just 20 years old, and you can improve a shooting touch with a lot of work, and the rookie is said to have a good work ethic.  You can’t teach defensive instincts or the desire to rebound as easily as you can help someone put the ball in the basket better.  Thompson ranks high in quickness, rebounding, and intangibles.

The puzzling thing is that power forward is an area of strength for the wine and gold with J.J. Hickson and Anderson Varejao.  That probably means a deal is imminent involving one of those players. 

That depth makes Cleveland’s first pick in the second round strange as well.  They selected Justin Harper, a 6’9″ forward out of Richmond, although they traded him to Orlando for two future second round picks.

With their second pick in round two, the Cavs took another power forward in 6’9″ Milan Macvan from Serbia.  It is said Macvan will not play here this year, if at all, but he is a fundamentally sound player with strength, good post moves, and a good passer.  Some say he is the Serbian Brian Cardinal, so he’s a solid player.

For those complaining about the draft, remember that the off-season is not over tonight.  There is an entire summer in which moves can be made, and some could even be made before morning,  You never know.

Grant has not used the trade exemption.  He has a glut of power forwards, one of which could be moved for a shooting guard or a small forward.  He has three quality point guards, including Ramon Sessions, who is reportedly getting interest from the Bucks, Lakers, and Knicks.  He also has the potentially (depending on the new labor agreement) expiring contract of Antawn Jamison.

And it’s not as though Thompson is some sort of stiff either.  He’s a very young player with just one year of college experience, who has a great deal of room for growth.  The scouting report on him says he is a willing worker, and that’s a great attribute to have.

So relax, Cavalier fans.  They didn’t get the guys who were talked about for several weeks, but they did get a player with talent.  They also set themselves up to make a trade out of strength.  Teams looking for a quality power forward should be calling Chris Grant soon.  The Cavaliers have some available.

JK

The Cleveland Indians surprised many people Sunday when they announced the firing of hitting coach Jon Nunnally.  Nunnally has been replaced by Bruce Fields, who was the team’s minor league hitting coordinator, and has major league experience in this position with the Tigers.

Nunnally was the scapegoat for two months of slumps by key players such as Shin-Soo Choo, Carlos Santana, and Grady Sizemore, but it says here the biggest reason for the change was the continued strikeouts by Tribe hitters.

Indians’ hitters have fanned the third most times in the AL, behind only the Tigers and Angels.  Since manager Manny Acta likes to play what he calls “action baseball”, which includes putting runners in motion and the hit and run, this is not a good statistic.

When the Indians were having success offensively early in the season, they were in the middle of the pack in striking out.  Acta obviously believes that the hitters needed to cut down on swings with two strikes, and that message wasn’t getting through to the batters.

If you have a team that is below average in power, you need to make contact.

For example, the Angels, who rank second in whiffing and fourth from the bottom in home runs, have the third worst offense in the American League.  Acta doesn’t want that happening to his team.

If nothing else, it is a move that shakes up the ballclub.  And with the way the Indians have been playing in the month of June, that’s not a bad thing.

Another change that was made was with the injury to 1B Matt LaPorta, the skipper said Carlos Santana would get the bulk of the playing time at first, with Lou Marson going behind the plate.

With the other alternatives on his bench, it’s kind of sad that Marson is probably the best option offensively because he’s not exactly known for his stick.  However, when compared to Austin Kearns and Adam Everett, he looks like Albert Pujols. 

It is curious that Travis Buck was recalled to replace LaPorta on the roster because Shelley Duncan seems to be a better choice, although Buck is a better defensive player.  Isn’t that why Kearns is on the roster?

Look at the right-handed batter currently on the team, that is to say, exclusively right-handed hitters:  Marson, Kearns, Everett, and Orlando Cabrera.  No wonder the Tribe has problems against southpaws.

It is crazy to think that we are almost to the half way point of the season and Everett and Kearns are still here.  By the way, Cord Phelps game winning three run homer on Sunday gives him more RBI’s than those two players COMBINED.

Something else might have to be addressed soon, the performance of the starting rotation, or at least two fifths of the rotation, namely Fausto Carmona and Mitch Talbot.  Right now, those two and not keeping their team in games on a regular basis. 

Trading Carmona makes no sense because his value is very low, so perhaps a demotion to the bullpen with Jeanmar Gomez taking his start is in order.  Keep in mind that Zack McAllister and recently David Huff are both pitching well in Columbus as well. 

The front office could easily make a move by sending Frank Herrmann, who has pitched very well recently, back to AAA and moving either Talbot or Carmona into the bullpen to make room for Gomez.

No matter what happens in the next ten games, the Cleveland Indians are going to reach the halfway point of the season in contention.  That means they can’t afford to stand pat.  They need to improve the team any way they can to keep them in the race. 

MW

This Thursday night is the first day in the rebuilding of the Cleveland Cavaliers’ franchise. 

They will officially turn the page on the LeBron James era by having the first and fourth overall picks in the NBA draft.  Right now, they have those picks, that is.  They also possess the #32 and #54 overall choices, so a nice infusion of talent is coming the way of a team that won just 19 games last season.

Although there is debate on who Cleveland will choose with the first pick, there is no question they will take Duke PG Kyrie Irving.  Irving is regarded as the best player available, and if you have the first overall choice, you have to take the best player.  That’s how drafts work.  They are designed for poor teams to get talent, so you have to take the most talented player.

That is not to say Arizona F Derrick Williams is not a gifted athlete, he most certainly is.  However, the question on Williams is what position he will play in the NBA, the #3 spot or the #4 spot.  It is said Williams doesn’t have the ball skills to play small forward, and it is questionable he has the size to guard power forwards on the NBA level. 

Despite these questions, there is no question Williams is second best player available.

The next debate for the wine and gold is who to take at #4.  It seems to be a choice between C Enes Kanter and PF Jonas Valanciunas.  Kanter, from Turkey, is considered the more finished prospect.  He is strong and considered to be a player who can step right in and be a starter, or at least a rotation player right away. 

Valanciunas is viewed as a player with more upside, with plenty of room for improvement.  He also has contract issue with his European team and may not be able to play in the NBA this season.  Picking him would mean another choice in the lottery next season, which is considered by many a deeper draft with many of the guys who didn’t come out this year being included.

Of course, there is the possibility of a trade because GM Chris Grant has to use the trade exemption acquired when James went to Miami last season by the middle of July.  There has been talk of using that bargaining chip along with a player, perhaps Ramon Sessions, who would be superfluous with the Irving choice, to move up to the second overall pick, thus netting the Cavs, Irving and Williams.

And don’t forget the expiring contract of Antawn Jamison which will be a valuable thing as well, although not until the trading deadline in February.

Another thing, you know that Dan Gilbert is willing to absorb a bad contract to make a deal work in the long run.  That’s how his basketball team is sitting with the first pick, he was able to take Baron Davis’ contract which the Clippers wanted to dump in, and they received an unprotected lottery pick in return.

As for people questioning Grant credentials, it says here he is a better talent evaluator than his predecessor.  Remember, Grant signed Kyle Lowry to an offer sheet last summer, which Houston matched.  Lowry had a very good year with the Rockets.

He also found street free agents Manny Harris and Samardo Samuels, who were contributors in their rookie seasons.  They may never be stars, but they weren’t drafted and Grant found them.

Also, he picked up Sessions in a deal for Delonte West.  Sessions is a solid NBA player, and certainly helped Cleveland last season.

All in all, Thursday night will be a big night for the future of the Cleveland Cavaliers.  Kind of a re-birth of the franchise.

JK

Remember back in April when the Cleveland Indians called up rookie right-hander Alex White to make a start against the Detroit Tigers? 

It was viewed as a bold step for the organization, a departure from the days when the Tribe erred on the side of caution when it came to bringing up their prospects.  Critics of the front office heralded the change.

That seems like a long time ago.  The Tribe was winning then.

Now the Indians have lost 16 of their last 22 games and have fallen out of first place in the AL Central, yet they seems unwilling to try to improve the team by replacing some of the people on the roster who are struggling mightily.

Yesterday, Manny Acta was questioned about the lack of moves being made, and he gave the old Cleveland mantra, something along the lines of it’s not like a department where you can just go and exchange players. 

Meanwhile, Seattle, which finds itself surprisingly in contention in the AL West brought up their prize prospect, Dustin Ackley, to help them win right now.

Noted baseball writer Christina Kahrl reacted to Ackley’s promotion by saying sometimes you can win with young players, not despite them.

The Indians will likely active DH Travis Hafner in the next couple of days, and with that move coming, GM Chris Antonetti should not stop there.

Hafner’s activation should mean Travis Buck will be sent back to Columbus.  In a corresponding move, Cleveland should designate Austin Kearns for assignment and bring back OF/DH Shelley Duncan.  Duncan provides power from the right side, and is a better hitter against southpaws than Kearns.  It leaves the Tribe short a defensive outfielder, so…

They should designate Adam Everett for assignment and bring up OF Ezequiel Carrera.  Carrera might just be the best defensive outfielder in the organization, and could also fill a pinch-running role.

Losing Everett would leave the team an infielder short, so Orlando Cabrera can move into the role as a utility infielder.

Don’t forget that rookie Cord Phelps is on the roster.  Critics will point to Phelps 1 for 16 start and question why he should get more playing time, but the way he has been used hasn’t exactly been conducive to a young player’s success.

Playing a day, having two days off, and then playing again might be something a veteran can handle, but it doesn’t help someone who is used to playing everyday. 

If they don’t want to play Phelps, then replace him with Jason Kipnis, who is hitting .296 with 7 HR and 39 RBI (874 OPS) at Columbus.  By the way, most observers rate Kipnis just a notch below Ackley as a prospect. 

The last move to be made is with the starting rotation where it’s time to give Jeanmar Gomez another look-see.  Since being sent back to the minors, Gomez has been dominant, compiling a record of 6-1 with a 2.28 ERA. 

Gomez can take the roster space of Chad Durbin, he of the 7.39 ERA, with Mitch Talbot or perhaps Fausto Carmona moving to the bullpen.

This may sound radical or even crazy, but remember this.  In spite of this horrible stretch of baseball, the Tribe is still just a game out of first place.  They owe it to the players to try to stay in this thing as long as they can. 

Besides, they wouldn’t be losing anybody who figures into the organization’s long-range plans. 

The time to act is now.  Here’s hoping the front office doesn’t settle back in to its mode of looking toward next season.

MW

 

Last night, STO kept giving the score of the game between the Rays and Tigers, who are currently tied for first place with the Indians in the AL Central.

Granted, it was a light night in the American League with only three games in total, and one of those was a west coast game. 

So, in reality, it was the only other game going on at the same time as the Tribe-Yankees game.

It is way too early to start scoreboard watching because most teams have 100 games remaining on the schedule.  It’s almost like most Indian fans feel once the team relinquish its hold on first place, they will never be able to grab it again.

Of course, that’s what happens when a baseball team has lost 14 of its last 19 contests.  Everything appears to be doom and gloom.  Things will never get better, right?

Heck, the Indians could take two of three this week against Detroit and have a game going into interleague play.

While on the subject of games against the National League, strange things can happen there as well. 

Last season, the White Sox climbed back into the division race by clubbing NL squads.  In 2005, the Indians played very well during this part of the schedule and continued their hot streak until the last week of the season.

Remember the old expression, baseball is a marathon, not a sprint.  And right now, the season is nowhere near the halfway point. 

There could be two more hot streaks and two more losing streaks by each team in the division.  So, you have to look at things with the big picture in mind.

However, the Indians cannot hope to keep winning games by shutting out their opponents 1-0, which is how their last two victories came about.  They have to be able to score runs.

There is no question that manager Manny Acta is trying.  Last night, he juggled the lineup once again in an effort to get the attack in gear. 

He put Carlos Santana in the #2 hole and Asdrubal Cabrera in the clean up spot, two moves advocated in this blog a week ago.  When a team isn’t hitting, you have to try to put as many of the guys who are getting on base together in the order.

It makes total sense to put a guy with a high on-base percentage like Santana in front of two players swinging the bat well in Michael Brantley and A. Cabrera.

That’s a good move by the skipper.  On the flip side, putting Orlando Cabrera in as a defensive replacement?  Ya gotta wonder about that one.

Fans don’t have the patience that front office people do.  Sometimes, that’s a good thing like last season with reliever Rafael Perez. 

Perez was getting hit hard at this time in 2010, and when he wasn’t giving up hits, he was walking batters.  But Acta and then GM Mark Shapiro stuck with the southpaw and he turned his season around.

He’s a valuable piece of the Tribe bullpen this year as well.

On the other hand, Austen Kearns really hasn’t been productive since April of last season, yet the Indians seem reticent to cut him loose. 

The management can’t get carried away after one or two bad weeks and make changes. 

Now five or six bad weeks?  Perhaps that’s testing the limits of giving a player the benefit of the doubt.

MW

It wasn’t that long ago that the Cleveland Indians sat on top of the baseball world with a 30-15 record. 

It was May 23rd following a 3-2 win over the Red Sox on Asdrubal Cabrera’s go ahead two run double in the eighth inning.  It was the Tribe’s fourth straight win.

Since then, it has been straight down like an elevator that has had its cable’s cut.  The Tribe is 4-14 since that victory and now shares the AL Central lead with the Tigers, who they had a seven game lead on at that time.

Now that’s a sharp change in direction.

Manny Acta has tried several different things in lineup changes, moving Carlos Santana and Shin-Soo Choo down in the order and then back up.  He’s hit Grady Sizemore fifth or sixth in the batting order, and now has him hitting third.  Acta has promised that more changes are coming.

The front office even called up Cord Phelps, who has started his big league career off by going 1 for 11 in his first three games.

Nothing has been able to shake the Indians out of this funk.

Yet, they are still tied for first in the division, so GM Chris Antonetti owes it to his players to keep trying to improve the roster because they still have a chance to make a run at the post-season.

The average American League player right now has an OPS of 718.  The current Tribe roster has four players who have number 100 points less than that figure:  Orlando Cabrera (575), Lou Marson (564), Austin Kearns (561), and Adam Everett (549). 

What this means for Acta is that we really doesn’t have any options to sit guys who are slumping, like Choo and Santana.  Both of those guys have OPS over 100 points higher than the players who would replace them, namely Kearns and Marson.

Honestly, Marson isn’t known for his bat and is an excellent defensive catcher, so his lack of production can be dismissed. 

One of the problems with the offense has gone under the radar is the way the number of walks the team has drawn has diminished as of late.  The Indians were once in the middle of the pack in drawing bases on balls, but entered today’s game against the Yankees 11th in the AL.

That’s third from the bottom everybody, ahead of only Tampa Bay, Baltimore, and Minnesota.  All three of those teams rank below the league average in runs scored.

Cabrera is the worst offender drawing just six walks in 222 plate appearances on the year, but other Indians aren’t contributing to the cause either. 

Grady Sizemore has just nine free passes in 143 PA’s, although he drew two today.  In fact, he’s walked four times in the Yankee series, which means he had just five walks on the season. 

Choo’s walked just 12 times since May 1st.  He had 83 free rides last season in total. 

If you are not hitting, you have to contribute something offensively, which you can do by working the pitchers and walking.  Jack Hannahan is not on this list because he’s worked 23 BB’s, ranking 3rd on the team behind Santana and Michael Brantley. 

Another problem is the approach of the left-handed hitters of trying to pull everything.  That usually results in groundout to second or first.  How many of those have we seen lately?

Outside of Hannahan’s double on Saturday, it is tough to recall a hit to LF by a left-handed hitter. 

A change in both of these areas would help the offense generate more runs. 

No team can expect its pitchers to throw a shutout every night.  In the last ten games for the Cleveland Indians, that’s the only way they picked up a victory.

MW

The Cleveland Indians are obviously going through a tough time right now.

They have lost 11 of their last 15 games, and the offense has been dormant.  No one is hitting consistently except for Michael Brantley and Asdrubal Cabrera.

Every once in a while, Baseball Prospectus takes a look at the season in reverse, and how it would change the perception of that team even though the record winds up the same.

With that in mind, if the Indians had started the season losing 11 of 15, and then got hot and were sitting at 34-26 through 60 games, and had a game and a half lead over Detroit, everyone would be ecstatic.

The point is the Tribe is eight games over .500, which no one expected at the beginning of the year, and despite this cold spell, they still do lead the division.

When a team isn’t scoring runs, it’s frustrating to watch because it makes the ballclub look listless.  And starting out the season with 30 wins in their first 45 games just makes you want to bang your head into the wall even more.

Once again, they still lead the division!

The losing streak is emphasized even more because the Tigers have gotten hot, winning nine of their last eleven games.  Can Detroit keep up that pace? 

Maybe, but if they had won just seven of their last eleven, the Indians would have a 3 game lead, and the worry around Cleveland would be lessened.

The point is, the Indians aren’t as bad as they are playing right now, and they aren’t as good as they were the first 45 games of the season. 

Detroit probably isn’t as good as they are playing now either.

We will still stay with our original projection that 88 victories will be good enough the win the AL Central.  If that’s a good number, then the Tribe needs to go 54-48 the rest of the season to reach that record.

That’s not an outrageous pace.

The promising thing for the Indians is that the starting pitching continues to do well, for the most part. 

Against the powerful Rangers’ lineup, the starters entered the seventh inning in the last games having allowed just two runs, and the Twins offense mustered only nine runs in the three game series which just concluded.

If that continues, the Indians will be alright.  Good starting pitching keeps you in every game, it gives you a chance to win even if your offense struggles.

On most nights, the Tribe has a chance to win.  In fact, the offensive struggles are more frustrating because one big hit could have changed many of the 11 losses which have occurred in the last 15 games.

What is not understandable is the offensive approach during the slump.  When you are struggling to score runs, sometimes playing for one run is the best move. 

When the Tribe does get a leadoff man on, maybe they should try bunting him over and playing a little National League ball.

Of course, that would also entail moving Asdrubal Cabrera out of the #2 spot because you don’t want him giving himself up. 

Based on his production this year, the Indians’ SS should be hitting third or fourth to drive in runs. 

How’s this batting order:  Brantley LF, Santana C (high OBP), Sizemore CF, A. Cabrera SS, Choo RF, LaPorta 1B, Buck DH, Phelps 2B, Hannahan 3B.

Despite the past couple of weeks, the Cleveland Indians still have a lot going for them.  It’s a little easier to produce runs than it is to prevent them.

If there pitching was horrible, you don’t have a chance to compete most nights.

KM

What happened at Ohio State is sad because the actions of a few people, including the head coach, have effected the rest of the team, its fans, and the reputation of the school’s athletic program.

We can get into the hypocrisy of the NCAA rules and regulations, and whether or not players should be paid, but the fact remains that Jim Tressel hid the truth on his players selling their memorabilia, and the “Tattoo 5” sold several items they were not allowed to sell until they left school.

Those are the reasons the NCAA will come down hard on the Buckeye football program, and also the reason Tressel is no longer the coach at Ohio State.

In defense of the program, the violations were not the most serious by most people’s opinion.  There was no recruiting advantages gained, nor were there any academic issues, such as grade changing. 

Instead, it was players selling their own stuff.  Unfortunately, that merchandise was given to them as a result of their athletic exploits, and they are not allowed to trade or sell them until they are no longer at the school.

Tressel knew the players were involved and did not report the problems to the school administration or the NCAA. 

He did that knowing they likely would have been suspended by the powers that be for breaking the rules. 

Therefore, he played ineligible players.

The odd thing here is that even though the NCAA knew this occurred, they allowed the players to play in the Sugar Bowl, which is a BCS game. 

So, they were wrong to break the rules, but we can’t allow something like that to effect one of the featured bowl games of the post season. 

That would be wrong.  This is where the NCAA shows its slimy side. 

The merchandise sales conducted by the players involved is either a generational thing, or it shows how disconnected these athletes are to the university they represent.

Imagine being a kid growing up in Ohio, dreaming of playing one day for the Buckeyes, and getting a pair of gold pants for beating the school up north.  You would treasure them forever.

Not these guys.  It became a way to get free tattoos, just like a Big Ten championship ring or bowl game merchandise.

When you live with lice, you get lousy. 

This is what the coach got when he went after the elite athletes who are not from Ohio.  Some have a questionable character, some have a different agenda.  Some of them don’t have the pride in being a Buckeye that players in the past have had.

Still, Tressel can justify in his mind that he was protecting his players, but as soon as he heard his players were selling memorabilia, he should have told his athletic director and the compliance people at OSU.

Had that been done, the players would have been suspended, possibly for less than the five games they eventually received, and Tressel would still be the head coach at Ohio State.

The former coach comes off as a guy who is like some politicians, which is ironic, because some nicknamed him “The Senator”.  He thought he was big enough to sweep the info under the rug.

Many supporters say Tressel is a good man, and there isn’t a doubt of that, but he violated the trust of the university and ultimately, the NCAA. 

He lost his job because of it.

MW

The panic is starting.  The Cleveland Indians have lost four in a row at home, and nine of twelve overall.

Still, they lead the AL Central at 2-1/2 games over Detroit, and also are tied with the Yankees for the best record in the league. 

Everyone would have signed up for that when the season began in April. 

With a three game series against the Twins coming up, followed by big series on the road versus New York and Detroit, it is definitely time to turn it around.

Do well in this stretch of games, and many critics will forget all about this weekend.

Remember, in 1996 the Tribe was a dominant team at home and the Yankees came in and swept a four game series at Jacobs Field (June 21-23).  Stuff like that happens in the baseball season.

The starting pitching wasn’t the problem either for the most part.  Outside of Carlos Carrasco’s outing in the series opener, the Indians’ starter held the Texas’ bats in check.  

In fact, the last three games of the series, Texas entered the seventh inning with just two runs in each game. 

Unfortunately, the bats weren’t working at all, scoring just two runs in the last three games, and none in the last two contests.

Right now, the Tribe has too many holes in their batting order, particularly with Shin-Soo Choo not hitting. 

Orlando Cabrera’s problems have been well documented here.  Manny Acta is also getting no offense from third base, no matter who is playing there, either Jack Hannahan or Adam Everett.

Everett, by the way, is having a Mark Grudzielanek (2010 version) type of season, with no extra base hits on the season.

When Austin Kearns is in the lineup as well, and add Choo’s struggles to the mix, that is four holes in the batting order. 

The only way you can win with this lineup is if the other five guys are red-hot, and they aren’t.

The Indians have to do something to help their hitting as soon as they can.  And forget about the ridiculous talk about getting guys like Michael Young or David Wright.  The reason those guys are on the market is their contracts are incredibly bloated.

So, the Tribe has to go to the farm system for help.  The question is can guys like Cord Phelps provide help to the offense.

When making that decision, people should go to the “can he do any worse” question.

That is to say, would Phelps do any worse offensively than O. Cabrera or Hannahan have done since the first of May?

Based on his minor league track record, the answer would appear to be no.  And not to be mean, but at this point, anyone who would not be an automatic out would be an upgrade.

That’s where the Indians will have to get improvement, from the farm system.  They are not going to give up their prime prospects for a rental player, nor should they.

And no other team is going to give you a good player for a marginal prospect until near the trading deadline.  The players who will be available will likely be guys who will be free agents at the end of the season.

Look at the standings.  There are not a lot of team out of the race for a playoff spot right now, so it’s very difficult to make moves right now.

That shouldn’t stop GM Chris Antonetti from trying to improve his roster immediately.  He can’t make a major upgrade, but there are players at Columbus who can help the Indians right now.

With a big trip on the horizon, there may not be a better time to get some help.

KM