Tribe Happenings: Indians are sliding fast

The Indians slide has no end in sight.

(Photo: AP)

Some news, notes, and thoughts from my Tribe notebook…

Offensive ineptitude

Over the past month or so a lot of attention has been placed on the struggles of second baseman Orlando Cabrera and third baseman Jack Hannahan. While pointing out those struggles is warranted, they are much more magnified because the key cogs in the Indians offense have been absent for a good portion of the season.

If you polled people going into the season who they thought the four key contributors to the Indians offensive attack would be to have success, a resounding majority would have said outfielder Grady Sizemore, designated hitter Travis Hafner, outfielder Shin-Soo Choo, and catcher Carlos Santana. Obviously there were injury concerns going into the season with Sizemore, Hafner, and Santana, but for the Indians offense to be successful those guys would have to come back and perform well.

Things looked good early on as Sizemore tore things up the first two weeks he was back and Hafner was a hitting machine up until his injury four weeks ago. The same, however, cannot be said for Choo and Santana, two players who for most of the season have hit third and fourth respectively in the batting order. Both have been inconsistent all year and have not come anywhere close to the level of production expected of them.

With Hafner currently out injured, Sizemore struggling, Santana inconsistent, and Choo looking completely lost, this has put a heavy burden on the rest of the lineup to produce. The result is what we are getting now as while the key cogs are searching for answers to fix what ails them the rest of the guys are trying unsuccessfully to step up and in the end are hurting themselves as performers in the process.

We can talk all we want about replacing Hannahan, Orlando Cabrera and whoever on the bench, or calling up this player or making a trade for that player. But until those four key cogs to the lineup get back on track, the offensive problems are not going away.

Sinking ship

At the conclusion of play on May 23rd the Indians were a season best 30-15, 7.5 games up on second place Detroit, and riding high. There was electricity in Cleveland and a feeling that the Indians may be the feel good story of the summer. Since then they are 4-13 and their once large seven-plus game lead in the AL Central has evaporated as they are tied for first with the Tigers, and now the excitement is quickly fizzling and people are wondering if the losing will ever stop.

So, is this merely a small rough patch the Indians are going through, something every team goes through over the course of a 162-game season? Or, is this the sign of a team that overachieved for the first seven weeks of the season and now things are leveling out?

Chances are that it is the latter. If you look up and down the Indians roster and compare it to some of the other contenders in the American League you have to wonder how they have gotten to where they are to date. They have a lot of emerging stars and talent, but the inconsistency of the team as a whole with youth and inexperience from so many players on the roster is starting to show itself. With that inconsistency they are bound to go through long cold spells and long hot spells, something we saw back in 2004 when they re-emerged as a future contender.

I still believe that ultimately when the season ends they will prove to be a .500 team or slightly above, which even after the disappointment of a midseason fade would be something to really be excited about going into next year. But even for how bad things are currently they still have the potential for getting better considering the way the game itself sometimes plays and the fact they are playing in a very winnable division.

While they may not exactly be bottoming out and more or less are just leveling out, there still should be hope that they will remain in the thick of the AL Central race through the end of the season. They can still win the division if a few things go their way with health and performance like it did in April and most of May.

Phelps makes his debut

Indians infielder Cord Phelps took on a bit of a cult figure persona because of his good performance at the plate in Triple-A Columbus while the offense in Cleveland has struggled since the beginning of May. The Indians finally made the call on Wednesday when they promoted him to the big league roster and he made his Major League debut the same day going 0-for-4 at the plate but showing some good leather in the field.

The arrival of Phelps should help inject some life into what has been a brutal offense for the Indians for going on six weeks now. In 55 games with Columbus he hit .299 with seven homers, 40 RBI, and a .879 OPS, so he certainly provides the potential to add some offense, but due to his inexperience he will probably struggle in the short term. Hopefully his adjustment is quick to the big leagues so he can start producing and helping the Indians in a huge area of need as their inability to create runs is destroying their season.

O-Cabrera takes a back seat

With the arrival of Phelps the Indians informed incumbent second baseman Orlando Cabrera that Phelps would get the majority of the playing time at second base. The plan for now is to play Phelps a majority of the time against right-handed pitchers and Cabrera a majority of the times against left-handed pitching. Since over 70% or so of the pitching in the league is right-handed, this will be a serious blow to Cabrera's playing time.

This was a tough decision for the organization to make as Cabrera has been one of the keys in the early going to the team's hot start. His leadership has also been tremendous. But for as much as he was a key to the hot start, his play the past six weeks is also a big reason for the Indians downward slide as since May 1st he is hitting .205 with no homers, 12 RBI, and a .481 OPS in 32 games.

If you have been reading this notebook the past few weeks then you will know several times I have called for this exact situation to occur to back off of Cabrera’s playing time a little bit. It may have taken a little more time than expected to make the move, but this was probably due to a combination of the respect the organization has for Cabrera and also the unsure nature of youth when it comes to Phelps. Either way, kudos to the organization for making what I know was a tough call and an uncomfortable move to make.

White shelved

To get Phelps to Cleveland the Indians played some roster maneuvering this week to get him on the roster. Since he was not on the 40-man roster the Indians had to first clear a spot on it to add him and then if the player removed was not on the active 25-man roster they also had to clear a spot there. To accomplish all of this the Indians optioned outfielder Shelley Duncan to Columbus to create a spot on the 25-man roster, and to make room on the 40-man roster right-handed pitcher Alex White was placed on the 60-day disabled.

White being placed on the 60-day disabled list is not a huge surprise as he will be eligible to come off at the end of the first week of August which would still be in the 8-12 week timeframe initially diagnosed for him to return. A few weeks ago he sprained the middle finger on his pitching hand, a very uncommon injury in baseball. If all goes well he will soon start throwing a ball probably sometime in the next five to ten days. From there it will be a very cautious, tedious approach to rehabbing the finger and getting him back up to game speed. Having been shut down for so long, when he is ready to start pitching again he will go on a minor league rehab assignment probably sometime near the end of July and will need a good three to five starts to get his workload back up so he is a Major League option again.

It still remains to be seen how serious the injury really is for White. The Indians have publicly stated that they are "cautiously optimistic" he will pitch again this season, but often times not everything is shared when it comes to injuries in order to protect the player (and with good reason). The only way anyone beyond White, the organization, and the training staff will ever truly know if the injury is more serious than stated or just a minor hiccup will be when he comes back (or doesn't).

Hafner close?

Indians designated hitter Travis Hafner is with the team in New York this weekend and is taking live batting practice. If all goes well, he is expected to be sent on a minor league rehab assignment sometime this coming week. Since he has been out of action for about a month, manager Manny Acta wants to get him into a few games before activating him off the disabled list in Cleveland.

Hafner's return will be a big boost to an offense which has really struggled since he was injured. He probably will not be on a long rehab assignment in the minors; likely just three to four games which would coincide with the team's return home to begin a home stand against the Pirates and Rockies on Friday. Due to interleague play and his availability only as a designated hitter he will get at most nine plate appearances in the nine game road trip when the Indians play the Giants, Diamondbacks and Reds from June 24th to July 3rd, so while he will probably return this coming weekend, assuming there are no setbacks he technically will not be a full time lineup until July 4th when the Indians return home to play the Yankees.

Chemistry is over-rated

A lot has been made this season of the Indians' incredible team chemistry. There is no doubt about it that when you win and win in exciting fashion like the Indians did the first seven weeks of the season that the chemistry will always look great on the surface. The difference though has been that the chemistry has carried itself over below the surface to the clubhouse and beyond.

But isn't it amazing though how chemistry goes completely out the window when you lose? Now that the Indians are in a tough stretch no one care about the team chemistry anymore. People just want to win. And the Indians apparently do too after they reduced Orlando Cabrera's playing time and shipped outfielder Shelley Duncan off to Columbus, two of the biggest chemistry guys on the team.

It all comes down to winning. You can have all the team chemistry in the world, but the best chemistry is always a byproduct of a winning team. It also shows that the value of "chemistry" can often be over-stated.


Follow Tony and the Indians Prospect Insider on Twitter @TonyIPI. Also, his latest book the 2011 Cleveland Indians Top 100 Prospects & More is available for purchase for $20.95 to customers in the US (shipping and handling extra).

Posted in: Alex White,Carlos Santana,Cleveland Indians,Cord Phelps,Grady Sizemore,Orlando Cabrera,Shin-Soo Choo,Travis Hafner