It's out with the old and in with the young. After trading Jake Westbrook and Kerry Wood on Saturday, there few, if any, veterans left to get in the way of the Indians' youth movement.
View full sizeVeteran Shelley Duncan, right, survived the Tribe's trading purge. "I just became ancient on this team," Duncan said.TORONTO — What in the world are the Indians doing to themselves?
Jake Westbrook, gone. Kerry Wood, gone. Austin Kearns, gone. Jhonny Peralta, gone. The same with Russell Branyan, Mark Grudzielanek, Jamey Wright and Mike Redmond.
If you sprout a gray hair around the Indians, they'll trade you faster than you can say multiyear contract. They were already the youngest team in the big leagues before trading Kearns, Westbrook and Wood this weekend. What are they going to do, use rattles instead of bats?
"Most of these guys knew what was coming," said manager Manny Acta, after Saturday's 4 p.m. deadline passed and the bodies stopped flying out of the Tribe's locker room. "We were trying to shape up our club for next year."
Now the rebuilding begins for real.
"This is a great opportunity for me and my coaching staff to mold these kids the way we want," said Acta. "It's a great opportunity for these kids. This isn't a September call-up. We're just starting August. Most of these young kids will get a chance to play and make an impact on the organization."
When the Indians put this team together during the off-season, they added a sprinkling of veterans just in case they got lucky and contended. So much for preseason plans.
Shelley Duncan is the only player left from that group.
Asked if a team can lose its focus after losing so many veterans, Duncan said: "This is a first for me. I hope not. I can see how it does. But once we get settled in and understand that this is our team, it might be pretty fun.
"There's nothing to lose. We almost have the Columbus Clippers up here. I really think this should be fun. Just relax and let it loose."
Still, it had to be an unnerving feeling to watch Kearns get traded Friday and Wood and Westbrook get dealt Saturday.
"It feels like we just got stripped of everybody," said Duncan. "It was like hold your breath until 4 p.m. and maybe we won't lose anybody. We ended up losing everybody.
"I just became ancient on this team, but it creates a lot of opportunities for a lot of people."
New guys: Outfielder Jordan Brown joined the Indians in the fifth inning Saturday. He took Kearns' spot on the roster.
View full sizeOutfielder Jordan Brown.Acta said Brown will DH for Travis Hafner and play some outfield. Hafner has missed the last three games with a sore right shoulder. He said he was going to try to play today.
Jeanmar Gomez took Wood's spot on the roster. He'll start today against the Blue Jays.
Acta said Gomez and Josh Tomlin will stay in the rotation for the time being. They need to add a starter to replace Westbrook, possibly Carlos Carrasco or David Huff, while waiting for Mitch Talbot and Aaron Laffey to come off the disabled list.
Surprise factor: Wood was activated before Saturday's game. He figured he'd get traded sometime before the Aug. 31 deadline.
The Yankees, however, acquired him during Saturday's game.
"I talked to Joe Girardi and Brian Cashman," said Wood. "They said they'd seen me enough."
Westbrook said his agent called him Saturday night to tell him a deal with St. Louis was close. He was scheduled to start Saturday.
"I came to the ballpark, but didn't think I was going to pitch," he said.
Said Acta of Westbrook, "If they ever form a school on how to be a big leaguer, I think Jake should teach there."
Finally: Overlooked in the frenzy of the last two days was Justin Germano's return to the big leagues Friday. He relieved Justin Masterson and pitched 2 scoreless innings in an 8-1 loss. "It was my first big-league game in three years," he said. "My stomach was jumping all day. But when I walked through the bullpen gates, I was all right."