A quarter of the Indians season is gone in a blur of bad baseball and injuries. What awaits the Indians and their fans for the remainder of the season doesn't look so hot either.
If Grady Sizemore's ailing knee keeps him out for a prolonged period this summer, there would be little reason to believe the Indians' offense can ever get in gear.
HOT CORNER
Moving day: This is the time of year that the Indians start moving their prospects to the next level. Outfielder Nick Weglarz jumped from Class AA Akron to Class AAA Columbus this weekend after Shelley Duncan was promoted to Cleveland. Alex White, the No. 1 pick in 2009, just moved from Class A Kinston to Akron following Kelvin De La Cruz. Left-hander Nick Hagadone, obtained from Boston in the Victor Martinez deal last year, is expected to move from Kinston to Akron in the next 10 days.
Third baseman Lonnie Chisenhall, the top pick in 2008, won’t be moving anytime soon. He has an impingement in his right shoulder and will be shut down for the next several days. The Indians are still deciding if he’ll go on the disabled list.
Central casting: The Twins went into the interleague portion of their schedule with a 108-72 record since 2004. They’re tied with the Angels for the best record in baseball from 2004-09. “I have no rhyme or reason,” explained manager Ron Gardenhire to the Minneapolis Star Tribune. ... Lots of smoke surrounding the disappointing White Sox. GM Ken Williams has already had to say he’s not ready to fire manager Ozzie Guillen and his coaches. ... When Royals pitchers play catch between games, new manager Ned Yost has them throwing off the mound to catchers instead of playing catch with each other on flat ground. ... The Tigers had an all-rookie starting outfield of Brennan Boesch, Austin Jackson and Casper Wells on Wednesday for the first time, according to STATS, since July 4, 2003.
Nose for the game: There’s nothing like rich owners and their toys.
When the late Charlie Finley owned the Oakland A’s, he let his pet mule eat in the press room. Marge Schott, late owner of the Reds, let her St. Bernard romp on the field before games. Former Braves owner Ted Turner once tried to manage his team from the dugout.
Now you have Mark Lerner, principal owner of the Nationals, who got hit in the nose while shagging fly balls in the outfield before Thursday’s game. It took 30 stitches to stop the bleeding, but Lerner says it won’t keep him out of the outfield. Next time he may want to consider a catcher’s mask.
THE RANT
In spring training, the Indians went 5-0-1 against the Reds. They share the same ballpark in Goodyear, Ariz., so it was easy for them to play each other.
On Friday the Reds arrived at Progressive Field to start the six-game interleague series with the Indians. They were a half-game out of first place in the NL Central, while the Indians were last in the AL Central. It proves that spring training is more a snapshot than a three-hour feature film of what the upcoming season could look like.
While the Reds may be playing better than projected, the Indians are meeting most preseason predictions head on. Does that mean new manager Manny Acta didn’t prepare the Indians the right way in February and March? Not at all.
Acta took the only approach he could take — be aggressive, bring his team together in mid-March and win as many Cactus League games as possible in an effort to start the regular season at full stride. After watching the Indians stumble through April on the way to 97 losses in 2009, he had no choice.
The Indians were 9-13 in April. Certainly not the start Acta wanted, but with an impotent offense, lacking power, speed and high-average hitters, serious injuries to Grady Sizemore and Asdrubal Cabrera and a roster bound to get younger, 9-13 might look like a Usain Bolt 100-meter time by the end of this season.
STAT-O-MATIC
• 10 count: Boston’s Josh Beckett, 1-1 with a 7.79 ERA (37 earned runs in 45 2/3 innings) in his last 10 starts, was placed on the disabled list last week.
• Save me: Trevor Hoffman has already blown five saves this year for Milwaukee after blowing four in 41 chances last year.
• Good first impression: The Royals are 6-2 since Yost replaced Trey Hillman as manager on May 13.
-- Paul HoynesCLEVELAND, Ohio -- In spring training the consensus for the best adjective for the Indians' 2010 season was ... bad. So far, the consensus is right.
The Indians completed their 40th game Friday with a 7-4 loss to Cincinnati. It made them 15-25 and the sole proprietors of last place in the AL Central with a quarter of the season gone. Even their occasional cellar-mates, the Kansas City Royals, moved out last week after a two-game sweep at Progressive Field.
The immediate future doesn't hold much hope for improvement. The injuries to shortstop Asdrubal Cabrera and center fielder Grady Sizemore are devastating. Cabrera is scheduled to miss eight to 10 weeks with a broken ulna bone in his left forearm. Sizemore is on the 15-day disabled list with a bruised left knee.
Cabrera, if all goes well, might be back by August. Head athletic trainer Lonnie Soloff said Sizemore's injury could require surgery. The Indians, at the moment, don't really know when he will return.
"We're gathering medical opinions," said GM Mark Shapiro. "There is a broad range of potential return dates."
That sounds more serious than a two-week breather on the DL.
Which leaves manager Manny Acta with a nonexistent offense, a teetering rotation and a bullpen in need of closer Kerry Wood to convert the few save situations the offense produces.
So let's cut to the chase. When does catcher Carlos Santana make his way from Class AAA Columbus to Cleveland? If all is lost, isn't it time to go young across the diamond?
It seems not. At least where Santana and Michael Brantley are concerned.
Santana's bat would certainly look good in Acta's lineup, but the Indians' concerns about Santana's defense appear to be real. Scouts say certain parts of Santana's defensive game would get exposed at the big-league level if they aren't corrected in Columbus.
Besides, Lou Marson has done a solid job behind the plate after a shaky start in April. He'd help himself if he started to hit, but the same could be said about every position player outside of Shin-Soo Choo and Austin Kearns.
Trevor Crowe, not Brantley, is batting leadoff and playing center field in the absence of Cabrera and Sizemore. The Indians believe Crowe had just as good, if not a better season, than Brantley last year. He's their No. 1 pick from 2005, and for all the beating they've taken for their drafting record, it's clear they'd like him to turn out to be a useful player.
Crowe, recalled from Columbus when Andy Marte went on the disabled list with an infected ingrown hair on his abdomen, is hitting .310.
Brantley is hitting .313 at Columbus, but the Indians want him to drive the ball more and put his speed to better use on the bases.
Rotation-wise the debate over Justin Masterson -- starter or reliever? -- is still unanswered. The only place there's no argument is in the front office, because they have no options. If they did, it would probably be David Huff, not Masterson, who would be sent to Columbus.
Right-hander Carlos Carrasco would be the first to get the call, but he's been inconsistent at Columbus. Hector Rondon is on the disabled list and Jeanmar Gomez has struggled.
Cabrera's injury has left them thin in the middle infield as well. If they did have some depth, Luis Valbuena would have been sent out days ago. Now it's rookie Jason Donald at short and Mark Grudzielanek, 40 on June 30, and Valbuena at second.
Prospects Cord Phelps and Jason Kipnis are still a year away at least at Class AA Akron and Class A Kinston.
Eyes have it: The Indians, with the fifth pick in the June draft, were scheduled to scout Ohio State right-hander Alex Wimmers against Minnesota on Saturday. Wimmers, considered the top pitcher in Ohio this year, was returning from a hamstring injury after winning his first nine decisions.