Found: Tall right-hander, Answers to the name 'Fausto'

Fausto Carmona - missing in action for nearly two years now - has been found.

And he was right where the Tribe left him - on the mound at Progressive Field (though it was Jacobs Field when he was last seen prior to Sunday).

For the past two seasons - we have learned - an impostor has been wearing Fausto's No. 55 and taking the hill for the Tribe.

It is rumored that Tribe manager Eric Wedge, being tied up with his self-challenge to come up with 162 different lineups in one season, didn't realize the impostor had slipped into Fausto's uni beginning in spring training 2008.

It is unclear where the real Fausto has been over the past 23 months.

One thing is clear - the "real" Fausto - or at least what the Tribe hopes is the real Fausto - made the start Sunday at Progressive Field.

This Fausto had a ball that moved, but just far enough out of the zone to entice Seattle hitters to put the ball into play, or in the case of eight Mariners - miss it altogether. He had poise and "stayed within himself," as the players like to say.

It made all the difference in the world.

In all Carmona went seven innings, allowing five hits, one walk and one run. He threw 116 pitches - 76 of them for strikes.

It was - no doubt - Fausto's best outing of the season.

Tony Sipp and Chris Perez finished things off quite easily over the final two innings, lending more credence to the rumor that some semblance of a bullpen has also been found - also after a two-year absence.

The guys who are likely to make up the core of next year's team - Travis Hafner, Jhonny Peralta, Grady Sizemore, Luis Valbuena and Matt LaPorta continued the team's hot hitting, making for a pleasant "family fun" day at the ballpark.

All of which is well and good, but the best piece of news to come down the pike in a while is that the real Fausto apparently has been found.

That, more than any other individual development in recent weeks, is key to the Tribe returning to respectability next season.

Why we still watch

Wow. Wasn't that fun?

Just finished watching the Tribe take it to the Angels tonight.

If you're anything like me you ask yourself nightly, Why am I still watching these guys?

The games mean nothing for this season.

And, as we've learned the hard way time and again in the Wedgie years, what's happening now probably won't mean a heck of a lot for next year either.

But, we keep watching because nights like tonight keep the flicker of hope alive within us.

It's easy to picture Justin Masterson slicing up one of the game's best offenses next year, with a huge assist in a tight spot from Tony Sipp.

Sounds like a formula for a lot of wins in 2010, doesn't it?

And then there was that sixth inning, with everyone contributing - top to bottom.

The vets on the club contributed - with Travis Hafner doubling with two guys on, driving in one of the runs and later scoring on a sacrifice fly. He added an RBI single a couple of innings later.

You can just see Hafner, his shoulder in much better shape, knocking in runs in bunches next year.

Jhonny Peralta had three hits, with Sizemore, Cabrera and Choo each contributing two. Even Andy Marte had two hits, though one was a checked swing roller.

Matt LaPorta 2.0, making his first appearance since being recalled, had a key hit in the heart of the seven-run sixth, knocking in two and adding another ribbie later. And can't you just see LaPorta at the heart of many a rally next year?

It's hardly an every-night occurrence, this team hitting on all cylinders. But it has been happening more lately.

On the surface, Tribe fans - me especially - are curmudgeons and pessimists. But the truth is, with me - and I'm betting with you - way down deep inside we still believe that some day, some way, we will make it to the promised land and it's nights like this that contribute to what some might consider a delusion.

Why else would we be watching and then writing or reading about it when it's over?

(Full disclosure: I did spend an awful lot of time in the hot sun today.)

How's Wedgie doin'?

It was the 4th of July weekend when Tribe GM Mark Shapiro went public with his promise that Eric Wedge and his coaches would be around at least until the end of the season, when all would be evaluated.

Since that time the Tribe has played 35 games and put up an 18-17 record. Better than they had been to that point, but hardly an exciting number.

But at the time Shapiro said the post-season evaluation would have less to do with wins and losses than with player development.

Specifically, Shapiro was looking for Wedge to polish off a few prospects to the point where they could be counted on to be a positive presence next season.

So, to borrow of a phrase from former NYC mayor Ed Koch, "How's Wedgie doin'."

Maybe the easiest way to do this is to take each of the youngsters one-by-one and see what type of progress they've made, or in the case of some how much regression there has been this season.

The dismal first half was a collective effort, with all facets of the team underperforming - except possibly for the ground crew and field operations folks who found a quick solution to the seagull problem that cropped up in the late spring.

But it was the pitching - especially the bullpen - that was most responsible for the disaster that the 2009 season quickly became.

So let's start up on the hill.

There are so many failures here a case can be made for many a player, but for argument sake let's just say Fausto Carmona was the biggest disappointment and the biggest drag on the team's success.

As you know, Fausto was sent to Arizona to have his hard-drive cleared and to start the season all over with a clean slate.

Carmona's made four starts since returning from his reprogramming. At first glance, it looks as if some progress has been made in remaking Carmona.

Going into his start Tuesday, Carmona had made 3 starts since his recall, pitching 17 innings and allowing just 5 earned runs - for an ERA of 2.65. But in those 3 starts, Fausto gave up 15 hits and 10 walks in 17 innings. That's a WHIP of 1.47. He'd averaged only 5 2/3 innings in those 3 starts, mostly because he was at or near 100 pitches by that time. He threw three 299 pitches in those three starts, with 172, or 55%, of them being strikes. Not good at all.

Granted tonight's start versus the Angels was against an offense that has averaged about 8 runs per game over the last 6 weeks or so, but it was perhaps Fausto's worst outing since his return. While he gave up just 3 earned runs in 5 innings, the outing was a lot uglier than those numbers indicate. Carmona gave up 10 hits and two walks over those 5 innings, which took him 110 pitches (66 of them, or 54%, strikes) to complete.

So far, Carmona has not shown he's anywhere close to the pitcher who won 19 games just two seasons ago. Better than he was in May, but with still a long way to go.

Aaron Laffey is another story.

Since returning from a mid-season injury, Laffey has made 7 starts and has put up an ERA of 2.93 in 47 innings. In three of those 7 starts Laffey was unscored upon. His 1.38 WHIP has been a little high, but for a groundball pitcher base runners can be easily erased two at a time.

Laffey is looking as polished as any one of the youngsters on the club and should be someone to be counted on next year.

Jeremy Sowers? A string of 3 starts in late July and early August in which Sowers actually survived into the 7th twice and had 3 so-called quality starts seemed to indicate he might be coming around. But in his last outing Sowers folded after 5 again, much as he has done throughout most of the season.

Has Sowers progressed this year under Wedge? I vote no.

Over 17 starts this year, David Huff has put up 6.55 ERA, a 1.65 WHIP and a .319 BA against. Having seen many of his starts on the dish, it seems like those numbers are a bit worse than Huff's actual performance. He has shown flashes at times. But has he developed as he should have this season? Nada.

You could argue that the utter failure of Raffie Perez and Jensen Lewis to perform up to expectations was an even bigger factor in the first half than Carmona's disappearance. I wouldn't give you much of an argument.

Perez has been up and down a few times and Lewis was sent back to Columbus for retooling. Has either been straightened out?

Four of Perez's 5 outings since his latest recall have been scoreless, which is encouraging. But I would hardly say he's been lights out, having allowed 9 base runners in the 5 innings he's pitched over those 5 outings. Still, there's hope Perez can show he's back on track over the next 6 weeks.

Jensen Lewis, like Perez, has had 5 outings since his recall, 4 of which have been scoreless over 7 innings. He too looks to be heading back in the right direction, but lets not forget he put up 13 saves during garbage time with the heat off last August and September as well.

Tony Sipp was most recently recalled in late June. He was horrid in June/July, giving up 7 runs in 7 2/3 innings over 12 outings and allowing 14 base runners in that time frame. August has been another story, as Sipp has allowed only 1 run and 4 base runners in 7 1/3 innings over 8 outings. Another guy who seems to be showing improvement of late.

Chris Perez has been as-advertised since coming over from St. Louis (excepting 2 bad outings in his first 3 appearances with the Tribe).

Jess Todd, the other pitcher obtained from the Cardinals for Mark DeRosa, is still getting his feet wet, but he hasn't looked good doing it - allowing 4 runs in 5 innings over 5 outings. Not much to go on with him yet though.

As far as position players go, there are fewer to be looked at, at least to this point.

Andy Marte continues to be hopelessly lost at the plate and at times (like tonight when he made a costly error and failed to cut off a throw to the plate that cost the Tribe an out) in the field.

Is Marte just lacking the intangibles that separate AAAA players from big-leaguers?

Is he unable to get anything going because Wedge stubbornly refuses to play him every day and he can't get his timing down?

Is he pressing because he knows Wedge won't play him regularly unless he starts to rip it up at the plate?

Who knows. But one thing is clear. When it comes time to look at players Wedge and his staff were charged with developing, this is their biggest failure.

Chris Gimenez? What is Wedge's infatuation here? And is Wedge retarding the development of others by giving Gimenez so much playing time?

Much like with Gimenez, Wedge apparently sees a lot he likes in Luis Valbuena.

In this case I agree with him.

Something about Valbuena's body language on the field, and the attitude he brings makes you feel as though he expects to succeed. And, despite a less-than-stellar .233 BA, he has a nice stroke and rips the ball into the gaps, allowing him to put up an .840 OPS in July and .768 so far this month.

The middle infield appears to be an area of little concern for next season.

We haven't seen enough of Wyatt Toregas to make an assessment yet, and just when it seemed like Trevor Crowe was getting a feel for things he came out of the lineup with an injury.

In September, there are likely to be some new youngsters for Wedge & Co. to work with. Hector Rondon seems like a sure call-up, as does Carlos Carrasco, who is 4-0 with a 3.45 ERA in 4 starts since coming to Columbus in the Cliff Lee deal. Just as important, he's walked only 5 and has struck out 27 in 28 innings at Columbus.

Looking forward to seeing what this duo will do at the big-league level, even if it will be just a September call-up for them.

Which brings us to the other likely call-up next month - Matt LaPorta. I say "likely" because there were three other times this season that I thought he would get recalled, and he remains - mysteriously - in Columbus.

Why LaPorta is not here now - especially since the Tribe has been forced to start Jamey Carroll in the outfield the past few games - is beyond me.

The only thing that makes any sense is that Shapiro was so unhappy with Wedge's indifference to playing LaPorta when he was up briefly earlier this year that he doesn't want to give Wedge another chance to sew seeds of doubt in the youngster's head.

And if that's the case, none of the rest of what I've written will matter. Wedge will be a goner.

And not a moment too soon.

The Cleveland Indians - forever riding in coach

So how 'bout that Tomo Ohka?

OK. That's not really what I want to talk about.

It's been a few days since the Dolan family told us all that the hard reality of MLB in the 2000's is that Cleveland, and other towns like it, has to accept second-class status. At least as long as the sport's current economic system is in place, and it isn't likely to change any time soon.

So far, from what I can tell by reading reaction on a variety of online sites, Paul Dolan's comments are not being well received by most.

The comment by Dolan that pretty much said it all to Tribe fans, and brought home to many the distasteful position we are in as fans of a small market team, is the following:

"Every four or five years, if we can have a shot at the World Series like we did in '07 and compete for the playoffs like we did in '05, that's as good as it gets."

So those are the goal posts - one run for a playoff spot, one shot in the playoffs and three seasons of underachievement every five years.

It's a statement that is frank, and a reality that hits Tribe fans right between the eyes.

Dolan is right.

The truth is that under baseball's current system there really is no long-term run to be made by small-market teams.

Instead, they have to get rid of anybody that's worth anything to the big boys (or some other also-ran who happens to be having a hot year), load up with youngsters that will all mature at roughly the same time, and make a one- to three-year run sometime four or five years from now.

As hard as that is to accept. It is reality. And to make matters worse, the small market teams have to hit paydirt on virtually every one of their trades made in the dismantling period, or they will find themselves several players short for a serious run down the road and forced to rip things up yet again.

(See KC Royals, Pittsburgh Pirates, Oakland A's - despite their reputation a few years back as a team that learned to beat the system - and now the Tribe).

The disparities between baseball's haves and have-nots are blatantly obvious at the big league level, but they go all the way down the minor league chain and right to the feeding of the system - the draft.

While most of the headlines from Dolan's presentation were about the projected financial losses for this season and next, and Dolan's assertion that playoff runs will - by design - have to be periodic, one of his points received less attention than I thought it deserved.

It's a point I try to argue with my Yankee-fan friends, neighbors and colleagues when they think they've trumped my argument that the team buys its success. They rattle off the names Posada, Jeter, Pettitte and Rivera and point out that this long-time core of the team was home grown.

But what few people know, or at least recognize, is something that Dolan pointed out this week. The system is skewed toward the big boys when it comes to acquiring young talent too.

While there is no pay cap at the MLB level, there is also no restriction on the amount of money a team can spend on draftee signing bonuses and foreign talent.

Dolan says that plays to the advantage of big-market teams.

"The larger market teams have managed to take their money and, in fact, manipulate the amateur draft situation so that not only are they bringing in the elite talent at the Major League level, but they're bringing in at a disproportionate basis the elite talent at the entry level of Major League Baseball."

While the have-nots typically go first in the draft by virtue of their awful win-loss records at the MLB level, it is not uncommon for teams to take not the best player, but the best player they think they can afford when it's their turn at the draft table.

Or, they can take a chance on the bigger talent and then watch the youngster say "no thanks" and go back to college and hope for a higher payday from a richer team a year later.

Did you know that the Tribe once drafted Tim Lincecum? It was back in 2005, but they couldn't get him to sign and he ended up with the Giants a year later.

It's happened close to home and it happens around the league every year. There's no way to prove that a team has passed on a better talent in favor of an affordable talent on draft day, but that could explain the dismal early-round performance of the Tribe in the past decade.

And then there's the role money plays in bringing in talent from Japan, Korea and Latin America.

Dolan suggested a world-wide draft with a slotting system as a way of helping to balance the disparity of teams at the MLB level by making things a bit more fair at the player-entry level.

The suggestion makes a lot of sense.

In the next round of collective bargaining the players are no more likely to accept a salary cap then they have been for the past 20 or 30 years. But the rank and file of the players union might be willing to throw the young, unknown and as yet undrafted players under the bus as long as they get to keep their unrestrained salaries at the MLB level.

That may be especially true if it starts to look like some of the small-market teams just can't make it work anymore - meaning fewer jobs at the MLB level.

But until something changes in the way MLB does business, as the Dolans have reminded us, we will have to be content to take a once-every-five-or-six-year run at things.

It's been the Florida Marlin way for years, and they've been reasonably successful at it.

The Tribe's first stab at it has been a bust and we now find ourselves in rebuild number two.

The life-insurance actuarial tables say I've only got four or five more rebuilds to go, And given the fact that I don't exercise or eat the way I should, it could be even fewer than that.

So let's hope the Tribe gets it right sooner rather than later.

(To check Top 50 TV markets based on figures provided by Nielsen Media click here and scroll down a bit. The numbers are from 2004 so there may - undoubtedly has been - some reordering of the markets.)

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On the field, the Tribe has been looking a lot better lately. They're 11-6 in their last 17 games and over .500 (12-9) since the All-Star break.

We've gotten two decent looks at Justin Masterson - one of the major acquisitions by the Tribe in their recent fire sale - and he's looked quite solid both times out. It'll be fun to see what he does when he is stretched out enough to really take hold in the rotation.

Jhonny Peralta and Kelly Shoppach have started their "keep-me-on-the-team-next-year" hitting binges. Too little too late, but at least it makes the games a bit more fun to watch lately.

Trevor Crowe appears to be a different person in his third go-round with the Tribe.

Chris Perez has, for several appearances now, looked like what he was advertised to be when he was brought over from St. Louis as partial payment for Mark DeRosa. Jess Todd was a little later getting here, but it will be interesting to see what he adds to the pen as well.

Overall - save last night once Masterson left - the team has looked crisper and a lot less disinterested than they did a few weeks back.

All of this, one would think, would be a positive for Tribe fans.

But many fans seem to be worried that a second-half surge (or at least a surge-ette) will bolster the argument for Eric Wedge's return next year - something I feel comfortable in saying the vast majority of fans do not want.

In his chat with the media during the week, Paul Dolan addressed that as well.

It's difficult to say where he stands on the prospect of Wedge returning on 2010.

On the one hand:

"Eric and his staff have achieved a lot in their time here. I think fans tend to forget that. When he took over in '03, he took over what was, in essence, an expansion franchise. In a relatively short period of time, he turned it into a competitive team. He and others deserve a lot of credit for that."

But on the other hand:

"Despite that, we have not been successful the last few years with a team that should have been successful. We have to understand why that is. We also have to understand that sometimes fans want or need to hear a different voice."

My gut tells me that with a fan base as disgusted as Tribe fans are with the recent trades and the team's overall lot in life in MLB, that last point Dolan makes will weigh heavily in the Dolans' decision on Wedge. (It's theoretically Mark Shapiro's call but the Dolans will obviously have a big say in the matter.)

After telling the customers they'll have to eat lots of hamburger before they get even a whiff of steak, it just seems to me that Wedge will be the sacrificial lamb in the offseason. Something to satiate those thirsting for blood.

And that ain't necessarily a bad thing.

One last thought before I go.

Haven't we seen enough of Chris Giminez? The guy is not bad as a catcher, is a stiff at 1B and doesn't appear to be much of a hitter.

Can we PLEASE get Matt LaPorta up here, put him at 1B, and see what he can do? Why is the Tribe so reluctant to bring him topside?

At the very least let's get Andy Marte in there every day. I still think he's a bust, but let's give him an every-day job so he can - once and for all - show what, if anything, he has to contribute.

Is it Rocky Colavito all over again?

The past week or so has been depressing and difficult for Tribe fans. This fan included.

That is especially true coming, as it does, on the heels of last year's forced dumping of CC, and his eventual donning of pinstripes.

Cleveland fans are justifiably angry by the team's performance, and even more so by it's dismantling.

Fans, for whatever reason, become emotionally attached to the guys wearing their city's colors - much more so than the other way around.

But with Victor Martinez, that was clearly not the case. His emotional goodbye and just the pride on his face each day as he wore the Tribe colors seem to prove that the fondness the fans had for Victor was felt equally strongly by our now-departed hero.

With the trading of Victor and Cliff Lee, and to a much lesser degree of Ryan Garko, Raffie Betancourt, Ben Francisco and Mark DeRosa, the hue and cry from the fans has been loud and long.

Again, justifiably and understandably so.

I was 3 1/2 years old when Rocky Colavito was traded to the Tigers on the eve of the 1960 season, so I'm not going to pretend to know the level of fan outrage at the time. But as we have all read (and some experienced), it was considerable.

(The PD's online archives go back only to 1991 at this point but the above link is a clip from a paper called the Eugene Register-Guard. I can only assume the paper is from Eugene, Ore. If you double-click on the link to open it, then left-click and hold on the clip itself, you can move the page around and find that even in Eugene, the trade was big news and that one of the articles was about the fan reaction to the deal in Cleveland).

It wasn't until at least the following season, and maybe the one after that, that I was old enough to have any tangible memories of the Tribe or any real understanding of what was going on on the field. But I do remember the bitterness of the fans that pervaded the city for most of my formative years.

In my own family it was tangible. My grandpa would wear his wishbone-C Tribe cap, but would almost always have a funny, yet sarcastic, comment about the team and those who ran it. My uncle and older cousin would go to several games a year and bring me along with them - but we expected the worst and were rarely disappointed.

Anger at the Indians for the Colavito trade lasted a long time in Cleveland and shaped the attitude of an entire generation of Tribe fans.

We were serious fans, with hope every April, but with the deep-down knowledge that no matter how many game-winning hits Gomer Hodge had in the first two weeks of a season, the bottom half of the standings is where we were heading before the year was out.

Just as with the trades of Lee and Victor, Tribe fans have threatened many times to boycott the team - or at the very least just follow them on the radio, or TV. But in the early 1960's, these anger-induced declarations turned out to be more than idle threats. And they may or may not play out again in the 2010's.

In 1959, the year Colavito won the HR crown wearing a Tribe uniform, the Indians drew 1.5 million fans to Municpal Stadium, compared to an American League average of 1.1 million.

In 1960, the year the Colavito deal was made just before opening day, 951,000 fans came to the stadium, compared with a league average of 1.2 million.

By 1961, Tribe attendance was down to 9,000 a game, or 726,000 for the season. The league averaged 1 million fans that year. Attendance cratered in 1963 at 563,000, or just under 7,000 a game.

(Attendance numbers are rounded for easier reading.)

So, in the year of the trade, attendance at Tribe games dropped 36.5% from 1959. The following year it dropped 52% from Colavito's last year on the team (the first time around). And at it's low ebb - in the fourth Colavito-less season of 1963 - attendance was off 62% from 1959.

During roughly the same period as the Colavito trade, the Indians traded off other eventual stars in the big leagues - among them Stormin' Norm Cash (also to the Tigers for Steve Demeter) and Jim Perry (for Jack Kralick) and Mudcat Grant (for George Banks and Lee Stange) to the Twins in separate deals.

During the years mentioned above, the team's record dropped with the attendance. The team ended 1959 with an 89-65 record, but finished a few games short of .500 every year after that until 1965.

Fans, of course, blamed the trade(s) for the big drop-off and stayed away in droves.

There were rumors of the team being moved because attendance was so low and the fan base so turned off.

The team, run then by Gabe Paul, was so desperate to turn things around with the fans (and resurrect the attendance and revenue levels) that they reacquired Colavito by trading two youngsters - Tommy John and Tommie Agee.

While Colavito (league-leading 108 RBI) and the team (87-75) had a solid season in 1965, it was a hefty price to pay to say the least. John won 288 games and played another 20 seasons (minus the years recouping from the surgery named after him) and Agee was rookie of the year in 1966 and a chief cog on the Mets' 1969 World Series championship team.

Still attendance did increase dramatically that season (43% from the prior season) as the fans came back to see The Rock. The team - for the first time since 1959 - outdrew the league average.

So, while the threats of angry fans who say they aren't coming back, - that "they're done with these bums" or will never again put money in an owners pocket - have often been idle threats, history shows that it has happened here in the past - at least for a long-enough period to be quite damaging.

The question is whether the anger pouring from Indians fans now is deep enough to allow history to repeat itself.

It is certainly understandable that it would be, and I hold at least some fear that this current generation of Tribe fans, like their grandparents, may have been pushed too far too often.

Coping with life after Victor

It's taken me a bit of time to get something up on this site tonight because I've been struggling to put into words just how I feel about the latest punch in the stomach - the Victor Martinez trade.

I was wild-eyed angry the other night with the trade of Cliff Lee.

I was angry that Lee was gone, but what really lit my fire was the realization that the deal meant another gutting and rebuild - with the next move sure to involve Victor.

So with Victor gone, I'm feeling an odd mixture of emotions, and anger is at the low end of list.

Sadness is probably the most prevalent feeling for me tonight.

How can you watch Victor's post-trade chat with reporters and not feel it?

How can you think of the 2007 season and not feel it?

How can you look at the unrealized expectations of the 2009 season and not feel it?

How can you see the latest core of players you thought might take us where we want to go, then see it broken up over the past 12 months - starting with CC -and not feel sad?

It's not an emotion really, but I'm also feeling a little sick to my stomach having just listened to Mark Shapiro during the Tribe game move up his contention-expectation clock to 2010. It was an obvious, and shameless, attempt to neutralize some of the venom being spewed by Tribe fans who are clearly not up for another rebuilding period that they just didn't see coming.

(I'm also feeling some nausea listening to Matt Underwood during the interview with Shapiro planting a big one right between the GM's two butt cheeks, but that's really beside the point I'm trying to make here.)

I would be lying if I denied the tiniest spark of curiosity about the new direction the team was forced into over the past few weeks. I would say the feeling stops well short of excitement, but I have already found myself mentally moving people in and out of the rotation, pen and starting lineup and trying to convince myself that there might just be enough new blood around to fill lots of holes.

We'll talk about that in detail at another time though.

Let's get back to the Victor deal.

As I said I have had two days to process all the anger that came with the Lee trade, and the realization that the plug has been pulled and some bleak days are ahead.

Unlike the night of the Lee trade, there was no surprise tonight.

I mostly just feel an emptiness that comes with knowing the heart and soul of the team - a real Cleveland Indian, the way Thome and Vizquel were real Cleveland Indians - has been sent packing.

It's not a feeling I haven't felt before and it's a feeling I'm sure to feel again, being a fan of a small-market team in a flawed system that stacks all the cards against teams like the Tribe.

So what is there to do but suck it up and see what we got for Victor?

My initial reaction to the deal was much like my initial reaction to the Lee deal - we didn't get the guys everyone else was looking for. In this case it was starter, and top prospect, Clay Buckholz and reliever Daniel Bard, both currently with the Red Sox.

While that is true, the Tribe did get Justin Masterson - a pitcher already up in the bigs and ready to step into the rotation once he gets stretched out after pitching in the bullpen with the Sox.

LHP Nick Hagadone is also a key piece for the Tribe, and the guy with the highest upside in this deal for Cleveland. He's a flame thrower who Shapiro said was clocked recently at 99 by Tribe scouts. More routinely, he's at 94-95 with what is said to be an exceptional slider. There is the little matter of TJ surgery less than a year ago, but based on what he's doing this year, it appears the operation was a success.

In his TV appearance tonight, Shapiro said Hagadone will either be put on an accelerated track to the back of the Tribe's bullpen, or a much slower track to the front end of the rotation. If he is put on the starter track, Hagadone's development will be slower because he will be on an innings limit due to to the surgery.

Bryan Price, like Hagadone, is pitching at Class A after being the 45th player picked overall in the 2008 draft. He's not looking so good so far, but he too has mid-90's capabilities.

Maybe it's the 48-hour cooling-off period since the Lee trade, or the encouraging outing tonight by Fausto Carmona, or maybe even the three Yeunglings I had with my burger tonight, but I'm starting to come to terms with the reality that the Tribe - again - is rebuilding.

Most of the Tribe's players have played poorly this season. Eric Wedge has been even worse as a manager. And the front office has failed for years to produce homegrown players to add to those they've acquired in trade.

There's a lot wrong with the organization from top to bottom.

There will be time to deal with front-office and management issues when the season ends. But the time to start fixing the talent shortage was now.

Time will tell if the pieces picked up by Shapiro were the right ones. But - after thinking things over the past few days - I began to see some merit to the argument that there was not enough talent at the top end of the organization to make a serious go of things. And since the Tribe can't just go out and buy the two top pitchers on the market and the top bat or two - like another team we know - this is how it has to be done.

My original sentiment was to just chuck it all and get a hobby like gardening for the summer. Many of you are threatening yourself with the same thing - giving up on the Tribe and baseball.

But I know myself too well, and I know that I can't do that.

I don't have to be happy about it. And I will continue to bitch about just how broken baseball's system is. But I will go through yet another rebuild with the Tribe and enjoy whatever good moments come along as this new group of Tribesman evolves into our next great hope.

In the meantime, can I have another Yeungling please?

Tribe trades Lee, Francisco; Pulls plug on this year and next

(Updated at 10:39 PM EDT with Shapiro comments)

"We had some lack of conviction with the team's ability to be a definitive contender next year. If felt we could contend with zero additions, we definitively would not have made this deal."

And so we hear from the man himself.

Tribe GM Mark Shapiro - at a news conference officially announcing the trade of Cliff Lee to Philadelphia - essentially said the front office has no illusions that the team it created will contend in 2010, so key pieces of "now" are being shipped for possible pieces of "future."

Even more depressing for the fan base, Shapiro said at the press conference that he's been told by the Dolans that they will not pony up for additions to the roster over the winter. So, having determined that without experienced reinforcements the team will go nowhere again next season, the fire sale's biggest piece of merchandise was moved, with an equally big piece about to be shipped.

Now it's wait until 2011 - at least.

But if you've followed this team long enough, you know that tomorrow (in this case 2011 or 2012) never comes.

It is awful as a fan to always be on the butt end of these kinds of trades - where you get the prospects and watch one of your team's guys go off and help fulfill some other fan's dreams.

But it's even harder in cases like this one, where the deal fails to bring in return even the promise of something better down the road.

Shapiro, as you might guess, thinks he got a pretty good haul in this deal.

"The value was compelling. It had to be compelling. We received three players who can contribute [soon] in a meaningful way, as well as one player with high upside."

I suppose he couldn't say, "Look, the Dolans are pulling the plug on this thing and I had to get something for Lee."

But how else can you explain what Shapiro settled for?

At face value, the Tribe got four of the Phillies top 10 prospects.

They got an 18-year-old pitcher who throws in the high 90's in Jason Knapp.

The other pitcher coming to the Tribe in the deal, 22-year-old Carlos Carrasco, was seen by many as the soon-to-be-No. 2 man in the Phillies rotation.

So Shapiro got what he was looking for, right? Pitching, pitching and more pitching.

Well, maybe not so much.

Knapp, the 18-year-old supposed center piece of the deal from the Tribe's standpoint, has been on the DL since July 11 with a "tired" shoulder. Arm troubles already - at age 18

As for Carrasco, he was considered the No. 1 or No. 2 pitching prospect in the Phils' organization before this year began. But this season Carrasco is 6-9 with a 5.18 ERA at Triple-A Lehigh Valley. He's struck out 112 and walked 38 in 114 2/3 innings. Quickly doing the math that's pretty much exactly one walk every three innings. Carrasco was a guy the Tribe was offered last year when they were peddling CC Sabathia, and they didn't bite. And given his numbers, Carrasco's stock has dropped around the MLB this season, except maybe in one front office where a salarly dump is the main objective.

The two position players in the deal - catcher Lou Marson and SS Jason Donald - leave me equally underwhelmed.

The SS, Donald, is hitting .236 at Triple-A this year, and just got back from a stint of several weeks on the DL after knee surgery.

And Donald appears to be a utility infielder in the making.

Keep in mind these words about Donald - quoted by MLB.com - are coming from Phillies assistant GM Chuck LaMar, the guy doing the selling:

"He can be an everyday player. Like anyone with his skill set, he's got to prove it at every level."

Talk about your feint praise.

"Like anyone with his skill set, he's got to prove it at every level." Translation: He doesn't have terrific tools but he's a grinder who may find his way to a big-league bench through hustle and determination. Can anyone say Jamey Carroll?

And what does the Tribe need with another SS prospect anyway? They seem to have a young middle-infield combo they are happy with right now in Luis Valbuena and Asdrubal Cabrera. I'm not sold on Valbuena - at least at the plate - but Wedgie seems to love him to death (which, of course, may not mean anything come October).

Then there's the catcher coming the Tribe's way - Lou Marson. His numbers for the season at Triple-A: .294 BA, .370 SLG, a pedestrian .751 OPS and 1 dinger. Exciting. Especially in an organization that already has about six viable catchers (soon to be one less).

You have to assume Marson's arrival will be followed by someone's departure. With the Dolans edict on offseason spending and Shapiro's conclusion that next year is already a super long-shot, that somebody will be Victor Martinez.

Shapiro's take on Marson? Well he doesn't suck, or words to that effect:

"We're really impressed with his receiving, game-calling and leadership skills. Combined with his bat, he could be at least an average everyday Major League catcher."

(While he may or may not think it, I sure am glad my boss never called me "average.")

What's not to get excited about there? We get an "average" catcher in this deal.

The Blue Jays pulled out of talks with the Phillies because they couldn't get minor leaguer Kyle Drabek - the No. 1 MiLB pitching prospect in the Philadelphia system - or AJ Happ, already doing well for himself in the bigs. In fact, the Tribe didn't get any of four players the Jays were targeting.

The Jays walked away.

Maybe the Tribe should have done the same, unless of course the chief objective was to gut the payroll and at least get something for Lee.

Earlier this week I did a post that picked up a quote from an annonymous MLB executive who said he expected the Tribe to cut its payroll down into the 50s next season - a mammoth jump from this season.

A couple of you questioned whether the Dolans would ever think of cutting that much, and I have to admit I had my doubts too.

But the quickness with which this trade was made, and the seemingly poor return, does make it appear that the chief objective was to get Lee's salary off of the books for next season. And that the same priority will prevail in the now-very-likely Victor Martinez deal.

If the Dolans think Regressive Field is too empty now, let me use a phrase that we Cleveland fans have heard a lot from the guys who have run our sports teams over the years.

Wait 'til next year.

Oh, and just one other thing before I go.

Wasn't Andy Marte brought up to play every day in a do-or-die final audition with the Tribe? I know I must have just glossed over it, but I didn't see his name in today's lineup - only the second game played since his recall.

Bodies on the move, as the Tribe's future hangs in the balance

Wow.

Went away for a few days - down to Virginia to help my brother-in-law celebrate a milestone birthday.

And while I was away sampling pulled pork in like seven different varieties of barbecue sauce - and darting from car air conditioner, to home air conditioner, to hotel air conditioner - the Tribe was plenty busy on the field and off.

As I was packing my bags to go, so was Raffie Betancourt. And just about the time I was pulling into the driveway this evening - souvenir ham and peanuts in tow - Ryan Garko was being given an all-expense-paid trip Frisco.

To add to all that, the Tribe also announced the PTBNL in the Mark DeRosa trade of a few weeks ago.

As the dust settled, the Tribe found itself with two high-ceiling, class-A starting pitchers and two candidates for the back end of the bullpen for this year and beyond (including Chris Perez who is already with the club).

Meanwhile, while I was away from my satellite dish, the Tribe had its best weekend of the season on the field, winning three times in Seattle and putting up 31 runs in the process - and getting good pitching to boot.

Perhaps the biggest news of all was the fact that Jeremy Sowers got past the fifth inning with his head still intact on Saturday night.

On Sunday the Tribe announced they picked up reliever Jess Todd - 24 saves and 2.20 ERA at Memphis - from St. Louis to complete the DeRosa deal. Todd should come up (I would hope sooner than later) and get his feet wet on the big club some time this year. With Chris Perez getting his act together in his last five outings or so, it looks like the Tribe got a decent haul for DeRosa and has taken a first couple of steps to repair the bullpen for next year.

From the Rockies, in return for Betancourt, the Tribe got Class A right-handed starter Connor Graham. He's at Class A, so who who knows. But he's got 87 Ks in 80 innings this year. At 6'-7" though, he has control trouble - having walked one batter every two innings. He'll remain a starter this year, but with only a two-pitch arsenal he could be considered for a bullpen role as well. But not if the walks keep up at their current pace.

Which brings us to tonight's deal - Garko for Class A lefty starter Scott Barnes. Again, he's Class A so we've only got numbers to go on and a lot can go wrong as he moves up the ladder. But Barnes this season is 12-3 with a 2.85 ERA.

As distasteful as it is to keep sending major leaguers away for guys who may never see Progressive Field, to this point I'm on board.

That is, I was on board as I made the obvious assumption that last-year's big name acquisition in the CC Sabathia deal - Matt LaPorta - would be heading to the coast to join the Tribe in Disneyland.

What's that you say? Andy Marte is going to be making that trip instead of LaPorta? Good one! Oh, you're not kidding.

While I, in recent weeks, have advocated giving Marte one last shot with the Tribe in this lost season, 1B is not what I had in mind. I realize Jhonny Peralta has been smashing the ball during my four-day hiatus, but what is the point of playing Marte at first?

Makes you wonder if Shapiro and crew have seen something that makes them a lot less excited about LaPorta than they were a year ago at this time.

This would seem to be the perfect time to bring him up, and it does beg the question - just what is the front office's hesitation with LaPorta?

Apparently while I was away, there were also rumors of a blockbuster deal that would send Victor Martinez and Cliff Lee to the Dodgers, with names like Clayton Kershaw and James Loney tossed around as being among those players who would be coming this way.

The Dodgers have flat out denied the rumors - started by FOX sports - and MLB.com's Rhett Bollinger reported Sunday that the fantasy-baseball-like deal appears to be just that.

Still the New York Post's Joel Sherman reports the vultures continue to circle above the carcass that is the 2009 Cleveland Indians hoping to come away with Victor, or Lee - or both.

Sherman quotes one MLB exec (unidentified) who says deals for Victor and Lee are likely - and will be forced by the Tribe's need to cut payroll nearly in half next season because of all the empty seats at the home ballpark.

One club executive said he would bet "1,000 percent" that Cleveland moves Lee and Martinez because of financial reasons. This executive said that the economy has hurt the Indians as bad as any club and noted that the three players who make the most for the Indians next year are Travis Hafner ($11 million), Jake Westbrook ($11 million) and Kerry Wood ($10.5 million).

"That is $33 million for three players they can't trade and know are going to be part of their team next year when they will probably have to lower their payroll into the $50 million range," the executive said. "How do they get to that number with Lee ($8 million in 2010) and Martinez ($7 million) on the team, also?"

If it is true that a payroll cut of that magnitude is in the offing for the Tribe next year, and with the fan base as bitter as it is already, questions about the viability of the franchise would be the next thing to swirl above the heads of the Tribe.

Tribe spinning their wheels in a pointless second half

Not sure what the exact quote was, but as the All-Star break was coming to an end Eric Wedge made the comment that he was looking for stability in his lineup in the second half.

And then there's the one about the bishop, the priest and the rabbi...

In the four games since the break the Tribe has used the same lineup exactly - nunce. Not at all. Four games, four different lineups.

Not that I expect that - at this point - a stable lineup would make any difference on a team that is playing their games with one eye on the calendar - waiting for it to flip to October. But the disconnect between Wedge's talk and his action is just another example of him no longer having a clue about what to do with this team. It's also the reason no one - fans or players - put any stock in anything he has to say anymore.

Of course there doesn't seem to be any rhyme or reason for the decisions by the front office as to who is one the big league team anymore either.

The team has a youngster like Luis Valbuena up, but not playing everyday. What is the point there?

At the same time, the roster is full of retreads on the pitching staff, like Tomo Ohka and Winston Abreu.

I tuned in to the pregame show today just in time to hear the conclusion of an interview with with assistant GM Chris Antonetti, who said the goal of the organization at this point is to win as many games as possible while developing the young talent on the roster.

Huh?

How do these two things go together. Either you put the young guys in and let them play in the hope that they get comfortable and get better - W's and L's be damned - or you put your best lineup out there day in and day out to rack up as many wins as you can.

This team is so confused right now they can't even decide what is in their best interest for the rest of the season.

GM Mark Shapiro indicated the team is in no hurry to bring up youngsters like Matt LaPorta and Michael Brantley because: "we are doing some very good development work with a lot of these guys" right where they are.

From where I sit though, why lose with Ryan Garko, Ben Francisco and Tomo Ohka, when you could be spending the remainder of the season at least getting some sort of idea of what guys like Brantley, LaPorta and even Hector Rondon can contribute next year? (Unless you don't want the major league staff - which has proven itself inept at developing talent - anywhere near these guys.)

Perhaps things will change at the end of the month, when we find out who, if anybody, the Tribe has sent along to greener pastures, and which youngsters they get in return.

No one wants to watch the same old thing for the next two months. No one gives a damn anymore. The only way to make anything out of this wasted year is to see if there's any help down below that can be counted on for next year.

The current team is simply unwatchable and it serves no purpose for the Tribe to keep spinning its wheels.

Give us something to care about.

Battered and frustrated, Tribe heads into break with lots to do

Ahhh, the All-Star break.

Where does the time go?

Seems like only about six years ago the Tribe began the season (with a loss) in Texas, and now, here we are, already at the break.

And if a team ever needed the break, this one does.


If a fan base ever needed a break, this one clearly does.

Many of the more casual fans have moved on to other pursuits, but if you are still reading a blog about the Tribe (or, say, writing one) you definitely need some time off.

Eric Wedge has gone off on his club - uncharacteristically so - about a half dozen times in public. Who knows how many times he's done so without reporters around.

The tension seems to be getting very much thicker among the players as well.

Take Friday night for instance. Cliff Lee, who, to his credit, has sucked up agonizing defeat after agonizing defeat this season, could barely hold back the anger he must be feeling about a team that seems to go to sleep on him nearly every time he pitches. Friday, Lee pitched 7 innings, allowing 3 runs. The Tribe managed 1 run for him. After the game he didn't seem too happy, at least in this quote of him in a PD story.

"Print the same thing I said the last time. It's the same story."

Lee also was apparently irked by Ryan Garko's failure to catch a line drive down the right field line - good for two runs. Again according to the PD, Lee was asked if he thought the ball should have been caught:

"Do you? I don't pass judgment on that. I throw the pitches. Where it goes it goes. It's not up to me to move the outfielders or infielders. All I do is pitch. It did seem like it was in the air a long time. I don't know if they had him shaded the other way or what. You'd have to ask him or Wedgie."

Which is exactly what the press corps did.

Garko, also showing he may be reaching a boiling point, took offense to the questioning:

"Sometimes I think because it's me, I don't make a play, and it becomes a big deal. If [Shin-Soo] Choo's out there, it's a double and it doesn't become an issue. I got a good jump on the ball, went all out. I just didn't make the play."

If I may interject here. It is true that a big deal is made out of it because it is you Ryan. And rightly so. Even the most casual fan can see you are not an outfielder and people criticize not you and your willingness to take on this new challenge but your manager who should also be able to see that a guy with your plodding foot speed should not be playing in the outfield at all, let alone one the size of the outfield in Detroit.

After coming out of the game, Lee could be seen on the bench chatting (mutually muttering, apparently in agreement) with Victor Martinez, a teammate with whom Lee has had at least one public run in.

Friday the two seemed to be sharing their frustrations about the way the team goes about its business.

Victor, in fact, seems to have been in a funk now for about a month - about the same amount of time his BA has been dropping like a rock.

It's a chicken-egg thing going on.

Is Victor frustrated because of his deep and lengthy slump, or is his BA melting away because of his frustration with teammates who don't seem to be really into what they're doing?

Purely a guess on my part, but from what I hear and read about Martinez, I'd say his offense has fallen victim to his frustration boiling over, and not the other way around.

Perhaps the best thing for the guys on the team is that they get away and not see each other's faces for three days.

AFTER THE BREAK

After everyone has had a few days to simmer down, it will be time to get back to work.

The first thing Wedge has to do is get the following notion out of his head:

“We’re a long shot. I understand that. But this is a crazy game. Stranger things have happened. Just look at some of the comebacks in September, let alone with more than two months to play.”

He said that? He really did! Or at least the Beacon Journal's Indians blog Tribe Matters said that he said it.

In another - more coherent - moment, Wedge talked about being vigilant about keeping on top of guys who just might find themselves, shall we say, motivationally challenged in a meaningless second half.

“I think you have to have a heightened awareness of that in the situation we’re in."

Okay, so maybe he isn't delusional after all.

The Tribe Matters post goes on to talk about how Wedge and the brain trust must continue to evaluate what they have in the remaining months, but then focuses on Ben Francisco and the aforementioned Garko, saying Tribe officials don't seem to have made a final decision on them and their abilities.

Let me save you some time.

You get offered anything more valuable than a bag of balls for Francisco prior to July 31, you take it. He's a backup outfielder. No more. No less.

Garko has proven (despite his protestations of being judged too harshly) over the past several years that he is a decent DH. Period. At least on a team that has several options at 1B. And as everyone who watches the team seems to agree (except for Wedgie), he is not an outfielder. There's no way for me to know this, but I get the feeling Garko is fed up with being something less than one of Wedgie's favorites and, unless there's a change in managers at the end of the season (a likely scenario), he would just as soon be playing somewhere else. He should be accommodated.

Shapiro should also be looking to dump a few others in the weeks ahead - starting with Jhonny Peralta.

Peralta has turned out to be a decent 3B. He's much better there than at SS, even though he refuses to see it. As for his attitude, which has shown itself to be less than stellar in the past, he seems to be in an even worse place this season - the switch to 3B the likely culprit. The move was good enough for A-Rod and for Cal Ripken, but not Jhonny Peralta!

A perhaps more valuable piece for a contender would be Jamey Carroll, since he has a good attitude and some versatility. He's also used to performing off the bench. The Tribe might be able to get a decent prospect for him.

Contenders can always use another arm.

You have to assume Carl Pavano will pull a Kevin Millwood. That is, take advantage of the Tribe's need for bargain-basement pitching options to re-establish his career, then take off for the biggest bucks after the season. So you might as well get something for him now.

Raffie Betancourt - and his option of nearly $5 mil for next year - should be shopped if he proves himself healthy over the next few weeks.

Joe Smith? Not sure if the Mets shipped us the right Joe Smith, but the one wearing the Tribe uniform currently would not be missed.

Which brings us to Kerry Wood. I am still of the notion that his ineffectiveness this season is due to rust. The Tribe has no need for a closer this year, but we can hope and pray they will need one next season. Why go through the whole closer hunt again this off-season? I would keep him, but I think there's a decent chance he will be traded. The Yankees need a bridge to the 9th. They could care less about the $10 mil they'd have to pay him next year. And who knows when Mariano Rivera's wizardry might give out. Wood could be an insurance policy if age catches up to Rivera next season.

In the 'good luck with that one' department, Kelly Shoppach should be on the "get-rid-of" list. I doff my cap to those who clamored for the Tribe to sell high on Shoppach last winter. I thought he might be capable of being an everyday player, which would allow Victor to save his body at 1B. I thought wrong. Unless someone's starting catcher goes down, I can't see anyone giving up much for Shoppach.

There are three other names on the deadwood list - Winston Abreu, Jose Veres and Tomo Ohka. Since they would bring nothing in return, they might as well be kept around until all the trading dust settles and the Tribe checks out its hand. If they have enough MLB-ready players to go around, they should dump the trio. If not, they're warm bodies to play out the string.

Two things the Tribe should NOT do before July 31 - trade Lee and Martinez. There has to be something to start with when putting together next year's team. Neither guy breaks the bank in their option year. They both seem to give a damn about winning and losing and trading them would mean the turnstiles getting even more rusty next season.

Which brings us to the guys who need to play in the second half.

It does little good to have Luis Valbuena play every other day. If he's the choice at 2B, let him play. I still think Josh Barfield has talent, but his mind has been fried by the way he was used here, and I don't think he'll make any progress until he goes elsewhere.

Matt LaPorta should be up and playing 1B everyday. Michael Brantley should be up, and playing left field - center when Sizemore needs to rest is elbow.

If Peralta is traded, what harm can come of trying Andy Marte one more time? My guess is he is the classic 4-A player who lacks the confidence to make it over the hump, but there's no harm in giving him one last shot during this lost season.

David Huff must pitch every five days. They need him anyway since the numbers at SP are very thin, but he has shown some flashes of ability as he as pitched more innings (his last outing notwithstanding).

In September, I'd give Hector Rondon about 5 or 6 starts to get his feet wet.

And the Tribe must find a way to get Aaron Laffey, Fausto Carmona, Jensen Lewis, Raffie Perez and now (apparently) Chris Perez pitching back at their ability levels. I'm not all that optimistic about many of them, but the field staff has to try. And if they can't resurrect these guys, all the more reason to dump the whole staff come October.

Which brings me to the final two things Shapiro must do in the second half - scour the baseball world and come up with a short list to replace Wedge, and polish up his own resume just in case the ownership has the guts to start the management overhaul where it should start, at the top.

Tribe "Quotes of the Day"

There's nothing really new to say about the Tribe after last night's disaster - which featured the usual middle-inning disappearance by Jeremy Sowers and a huge blowup by the Tribe's two newest relievers, Chris Perez and Winston Abreu.

So I though I'd just have a little fun instead dissecting (alright, taking out of context) some of the quotes from various members of the team after the game and adding the thoughts that were going through my head as I read each one.

From various articles in the Plain Dealer and on Cleveland.com:

Tribe pitching coach Carl Willis on starting three straight, and very similar, lefties against the White Sox:

"We've got four lefties in the rotation. It's hard to break them up." Can't argue with the math.

"At the break, we'll put the rotation back together." All the king's horses and all the king's men...

"I think a lot of teams would like to have four good left-handed starters." I'm sure the Tribe would like four good ones as well.

Eric Wedge on his choice of poison in the sixth inning as Jeremy Sowers was melting down again.

"Normally, in that situation, you give a guy a chance to get through it. But time and time again he's struggled to get through that so you go to the bullpen and that doesn't work either." No comment necessary.

"We're going to have to see what our options are with Jeremy." Firing squad anyone?

Winston Abreu:

"I threw sliders to Ramirez and Konerko. I tried to throw them down, but they were up. That's baseball. Sometime you do good, sometimes you do bad." Geeze, don't take it so hard Winston.

From MLB.com

(Wedge) "There's never been more opportunity than there is in that bullpen right now, and there's never been more opportunity in our starting rotation than there is right now." Really?

Aaron Laffey on being activated by the Tribe:

"I'm ready for a regular start - something that means something." Join the club Aaron, and 'wait 'til next year.'

Wedged in for the foreseeable future

Finished up my trip to the home front on the 4th with a visit to the MetroParks Zoo. The last time I was there, my cousin and I were pulling around our now-20-something kids in a red wagon.

I ran into a big flock of seagulls while I was there (non-residents). Apparently they too got bored with the Tribe and are seeking entertainment elsewhere.

I was pretty much incommunicado the whole way home today. Not much in the way of radio in the hinterlands of northern PA.

But when I got home I read the news that Tribe GM Mark Shapiro gave manager Eric Wedge and his coaching staff a public assurance that they will be around 'til the end of the season - at least.

As unwelcome as that might be for many of us, the news was hardly a surprise.

Repeating his oft-stated mantra of the past month or so, Shapiro said that basically everyone in the front office and on the field is responsible for the disaster that is the 2009 Cleveland Indians.

No argument here. And as I've said many times before, we're well past the point where a change of managers might have sparked a rally by the club and a return to the race.

The only good that would come of releasing Wedge and his cronies at this point would be the knowledge that they won't be back next year. With today's announcement, that remains a possibility as Shapiro said the team is still in evaluation mode.

MLB.com's Anthony Castrovince speculates that Wedge's future may be decided less by wins and losses the rest of the way than by his staff's ability to develop the Tribe's many youngsters so they are ready to contribute next year.

If that is the case, I might be calling the realty company right about now if I were Wedge.

The list of current and former Tribesmen who either failed to progress or regressed under the tutelage of Wedge & Co. is long. Here are just a few names;

Fausto Carmona, Raffie Perez, Kelly Shoppach, Josh Barfield, Andy Marte, Jeremy Sowers, Jhonny Peralta, Ben Francisco, Franklin Gutierrez, Brandon Phillips, Jeremy Guthrie, yada yada....

On the plus side we can put Grady Sizemore, Shin-soo Choo, Asdrubal Cabrera and Victor Martinez.

Can Wedge and the boys get Fausto straightened by the end of September? Will their new favorite, Luis Valbuena, be hitting with any consistency by the end of the year? Will Raffie Perez snap out of it? Will they EVER bring up Matt LaPorta, and if so will he produce under the watchful eye of Derek Shelton?

If that's the bar that has been set, I wish Wedgie and friends good luck.

On one other topic, the PD's Terry Pluto wrote today that he believes LaPorta's return to the majors is being delayed by the injury to Sizemore, saying the Tribe brass needs to keep Ben Francisco around to play CF when Sizemore's balky elbow won't allow him to play.

Pluto further reports the Tribe wants to keep Chris Giminez around because they consider him a utility player of some value. Last time I looked, Gimenez and LaPorta play the same positions. Wouldn't LaPorta's presence make Giminez expendable?

But wouldn't LaPorta need a place to play everyday, you ask? Sure. He can play LF and Francisco can sit, except when needed to cover for Sizemore.

Pluto was clear to point out that he was just reporting the Tribe's thinking, not necessarily his own. From reading his piece, you get the idea that Pluto might make a different decision.

I certainly would.

Another Tribe head scratcher

I want to write something positive.

I desperately do. You have to take my word for it.

But again tonight I find myself with nothing good to say about the latest Tribe development - minimal though it may be.

The Tribe added another warm body to its bullpen today. A 32-year-old righty who doesn't even qualify at the level of journeyman, unless the journey through the minor leagues counts.

Winston Abreu, the guy picked up from Tampa Bay for 25-year-old reliever John Meloan, has pitched all of 42 innings at the big-league level, for three teams. He spent last season in Japan before getting a shot in spring training with the Rays.

Abreu has spent most of the season in AAA Durham, posting a 3-0 record with 10 saves and a 1.41 earned-run average, in 23 games. Triple-A batters hit .128 against him and he struck out 49 in 32 innings.

That performance prompted a call up by the Rays nearly three weeks ago, and in that time he managed 2 outings before being DFA'd. His lifetime ERA is 6.43 in just 42 MLB innings, with three different teams - and again he's 32 years old.

Sounds like he'll fit right in here in Cleveland.

In return, the Tribe sent to Tampa Meloan - a guy who created at least a mild stir around the Tribe corner of the blogosphere when he was acquired in the Casey Blake trade last year.

Granted, Meloan's numbers at AAA Columbus this season have been shockingly bad - a 5.52 ERA in 42 innings - but he is 7 years younger than Abreu, who - at his advanced age - has yet to establish himself in the bigs.

I'm not saying this trade will bring down the already-teetering organization.

The deal, like the team itself, prompts little more than a yawn.

But it's clear Abreu has shown he is not a major leaguer; his 6.43 lifetime ERA, and minimal big-league service time is all you need to know.

Maybe Meloan will never amount to anything either. But he is 25 and at least has a little while longer to figure things out before he can be declared a bust.

I know I've been advocating change. But trading a 25-year-old, ineffective reliever for a 32-year-old ineffective reliever is not exactly the change I was looking for.

Smells like a move for the sake of making a move to me.