Cleveland Indians breakdown: any comments?

Question

The Cleveland Indians have traded CC Sabathia and Casey Blake and have been building up their farm system. In the 2009 season, the Tribe will have catcher Victor Martinez, DH Travis Hafner and pitcher Fausto Carmona back, which has not been the case for a majority of this season (even though Carmona has just returned). In reality, the Indians are not too far away from contention in '09; they just need to add some missing pieces. These include a second baseman, bullpen help and a middle-to-bottom-of-the-rotation pitcher.

Reports have it that the Baltimore Orioles are more likely to trade second baseman Brian Roberts in the offseason rather than at the trading deadline. He should be a primary target of the Indians. The Tribe has plenty of bait for rebuilding teams, with major league players such as pitcher Jeremy Sowers and outfielder Shin-Soo Choo, or with their minor league talent (i.e. outfielder Trevor Crowe).

Answer 1

Several points:

Do you honestly believe that Victor Martinez's early season slump was due to the hammy problem he encountered in the first game of the season? Of course not ...but you couldn't make Wedge say that, could you? No, they just kept trotting him out there every day like he was only nicked up a bit. Shapiro and Wedge should have put him on the DL before May rolled around.

Who thought it was a good idea to keep Borowski on for as long as they did?  Who thought Cabrera or Garko were ready for every day play after just one season? Who didn't see the holes in Guitierrez's game? The blame here lies mostly with Shapiro and Wedge.

Choo? News that he has to do time in the army (up to two years) can't make him an attractive trade target. Sowers? Let him actually DO something at the major league level first. That's not going to get Roberts - Baltimore already has minor leaguers - they need major leaguers - and the Indians haven't got them to spare. Crowe? Bout the only one left in the system, isn't he? Aubrey, Jordan Brown, Miller, etc.? All huge question marks. Who's in the pen? Betancourt? Really time to cut him loose. Kobayashi? Maybe ... but he's 34 already.

Hafner can't be counted on, Who pitches all those innings Sabathia was being counted on for? What do you do when Byrd goes FA?

No, they have more questions than answers. Much as I wish they were closer, they have too many holes for 2009 to be considered a top contender as of right now.