As we prepare for the first Indians game since Sunday afternoon, here are a few things worth mentioning:

I’d like to welcome Jeanmar Gomez back to Cleveland (and Ezequiel Carrera).  If you haven’t heard, Mitch Talbot was placed on the DL due to a lower back strain, retroactive to Saturday.  I never like to see anyone injured, but I’m kind of glad I won’t have to watch him pitch this weekend.  Carrera will join the team in Baltimore for tonight’s game, and then another roster move will be made so Gomez can join the Indians and start Sunday in Baltimore.

Another roster move may be required for Monday as well – the Indians are scheduled to play a doubleheader against the Minnesota Twins.  The Indians anticipate that Fausto Carmona, who went on the DL July 3, will be activated for one of the games on Monday.  (He’s throwing a simulated start today in Baltimore, and the Indians will assess his progress after that.) The spot start in game two of the doubleheader will likely go to Zach McAllister or David Huff.

For the main SweetSpot Blog, we added our thoughts on what the Indians need, don’t need, etc. in the second half of the season.

And finally – for our local SABR chapter, we’re planning an outing to go see the Akron Aeros on Saturday, August 6 at 7:05 p.m.  (It’s a Canal Park miniature stadium giveaway that night to the first 1,000 fans.)  We purchased a block of tickets together, and have a number of tickets left.  If you’re interested in watching the Aeros with me and a group of local baseball fans, let me know in the comments!  We have the tickets at $6 a piece; we could either make arrangements for you to send us a check, and we’d send you the tickets, or perhaps we could even meet before the game on August 6 and exchange money and tickets.

 

5 Comments

  • Ryan says:

    Re: Sweetspot post:

    Buster Olney’s latest blog post briefly mentions the Indians are in the Carlos Beltran hunt. What could they reasonably offer that would interest the Mets for a two month rental? Valbuena looks like a guy that a club may be willing to take a risk on with his solid AAA numbers and struggles in his stint in the majors. To me he seems like a guy that could just as easily be the next Brandon Phillips, or the next Andy Marte.

  • i think we should send down carmona to the minors. i also think we should bring up huff or Mcallister. Until i know that carmona can get his confidence back and a few others things back we should keep him down there. i think kearns or buck should play the outfield until choo gets back. it is a shame that choo got hurt because he was doing well at hitting before he got hurt. the people who think kearns is not doing well in an everyday role are wrong because this is the best i have seen kearns hit while being on the indians. hafner and carbarea are keeping us in this race.

  • commenting on sweetpost if u think valbuena could be the next bradon phillps then we should keep him because he is a good player. also beltran is older and we shold keep who we have. and i dont care what people think becaus ei think we can win or run away with this division.

  • Norm says:

    Seeing the Indians in the hunt for Carlos Beltran, Would they give up Sizemore and someone from AAA (Valbuena etc.). Dumping Sizemore’s salary would allow the Indians to re-sign Beltran if that is the route they plan to go, or they would receive a 1st round pick (compensatory) if they use him as a rental and go another route.

  • Stephanie Liscio says:

    What worries me about Beltran is that he’s coveted by a number of teams. That means the Mets’ asking price could end up getting quite high if they get everyone bidding against each other. While I’d love to see him in a Tribe uniform, I’m not sure if the Indians will be ready to pull the trigger if it means giving up a significant prospect, or taking on a sizable amount of salary.

    Unfortunately, Carmona does not have any options left, so he can’t be sent to the minors without clearing waivers. They’d probably hesitate to do that, because another team could claim him. If he gets much worse, it may be a risk they’re willing to take. I’m not sure why they’re trying to rush him back from the DL when they have McAllister and Huff…keep him on the DL and work with him, and give one of those guys a shot in the meantime.

    I’ve always thought the Indians would be willing to deal Sizemore, just because they know he probably won’t stay in Cleveland beyond his current contract. I figured they’d use the same philosophy as they did with Sabathia, Lee, etc. Part of me wonders if they wouldn’t have already pulled the trigger with Sizemore if he hadn’t been injured last year (and part of this year). I doubt they wanted to sell low on him. I’m just not sure the Mets would want someone whose contract is up soon (although they’d have the means to resign Sizemore, so I’d think it was less of a concern to them than it would be a team like Milwaukee). I guess we’ll have to see how severe the bidding war for Beltran gets. I heard that San Francisco really covets him, and they may be willing to be more generous with prospects than the Indians.