Sunday Tribe Articles

[Smooth]

News and notes from around the Indians' minor-league system.

Published on Sunday, Jul 20, 2008

News and notes from around the Indians' minor-league system. (Statistics are through Wednesday.)

Triple-A Buffalo

STATUS: The Bison are 43-56 and remain in fifth place in the International League North Division, now 181/2 games behind division-leader Pawtucket.

LEAGUE HONORS: Shortstop Asdrubal Cabrera (who was recalled by the Indians during the All-Star break) was the International League Player of the Week after batting .394 (13-for-33) with three doubles, three home runs, six RBI and eight runs scored in eight games. In 34 games after his demotion to Buffalo, Cabrera batted .326 (46-for-141) with seven doubles, a triple, four home runs and 13 RBI.

OLYMPICS BOUND: Pitcher Jeff Stevens (0-1 with a 3.92 ERA and five saves in 14 appearances) was selected Wednesday to the 2008 U.S. Baseball Olympic Team and will compete in the Beijing Olympic Games in August.

ALL-STAR UPDATE: Pitcher Rich Rundles threw an inning of shutout relief with one strikeout in the Triple-A All-Star Game on Wednesday in Louisville, but it wasn't enough as the Pacific Coast All-Stars beat the International League All-Stars 6-5.

Double-A Akron

STATUS: The Aeros are 61-35 and remain in first place in the Southern Division standings with a 61/2-game lead over second-place Harrisburg.

OLYMPICS BOUND: Left fielder Matt LaPorta and pitcher T.J. Burton were selected Wednesday to their respective 2008 Baseball Olympic Teams in the upcoming Beijing Olympic Games. LaPorta (.375 in four games since joining the Aeros) will join the U.S. squad, and Burton (2-2, 4.18 ERA) will be a member of the Canadian team.

ALL-STAR UPDATE: It was a tough showing for the Aeros All-Stars on Wednesday in the Eastern League All-Star Game in New Hampshire. The South All-Stars lost 5-3 to the North All-Stars. Third baseman Wes Hodges (0-for-2 with a walk) and second baseman Josh Rodriguez (0-for-4 with a strikeout) struggled. Pitcher Scott Roehl allowed a run on two hits in just 2/3 of an inning of relief. Aeros manager Mike Sarbaugh, pitching coach Tony Arnold, hitting coach Lee May Jr., player coach Shaun Larkin, trainer Michael Salazar and strength and conditioning coach Kris Schuler led the South All-Stars.

High Class-A Kinston

STATUS:The K-Tribe is 14-11 in the second half in the Carolina League Southern Division, just one game behind division-leader Winston-Salem.

WHO'S HOT: First baseman Beau Mills is on a nine-game batting streak during which he has hit .382 (13-for-34) with seven runs scored, four doubles, three home runs and eight RBI.

STREAKING: Shortstop Niuman Romero is on a 20-game hitting streak, during which he has hit .437 (31-for-71) with 15 runs scored, nine doubles, two home runs and 14 RBI. In 68 games for the K-Tribe this season, he's batting .311 (73-for-235) with 43 runs scored, 19 doubles, six home runs, 30 RBI and a .468 slugging percentage.

OLYMPICS BOUND: Outfielder Nick Weglarz (.276 with 57 runs scored, 17 doubles, 10 home runs, 60 walks and 36 RBI) was selected Wednesday to represent Canada in the 2008 Beijing Olympic Games.

Low Class-A Lake County

STATUS: After winning the first half title in the South Atlantic League Northern Division, the Captains are 11-15 in the second half. They are tied for fourth place with two other teams, eight games behind league-leader West Virginia.

BRYSON UPDATE: Right-handed pitcher Rob Bryson, one of three players whom the Indians received in the C.C. Sabathia trade to the Milwaukee Brewers, is 0-1 with a 6.75 ERA in two appearances with Lake County. In four innings, he has allowed three runs on three hits (including a home run) and two walks.

QUOTE OF THE WEEK: ''I wouldn't say I'm settled in yet,'' Bryson said. ''I'm still sleeping in a group of the guys' living room right now. But I am glad to be here and excited about this new opportunity.''

CARMONA REHAB: Indians right-hander Fausto Carmona (hip strain) made a successful rehab appearance at Lake County on Monday, both on and off the field. He threw four scoreless innings and allowed just one hit without incident, and his appearance drew a franchise-record ticket sales walk-up of 3,000 as the Captains welcomed 9,318 fans.

Short-season Mahoning Valley

STATUS: The Scrappers are 13-15 and have dropped into fifth place in the New-York-Penn League Pinckney Division, seven games behind division leader Jamestown.

CHISENHALL UPDATE: Infielder Lonnie Chisenhall, the Indians' No. 1 pick (29th overall) in June, is batting .238 (25-for-105) with seven doubles, two triples, a home run,10 RBI and 12 walks in his first 24 professional games.

KEEPING AN EYE ON TICE: Third baseman Jeremie Tice has hit safely in his past eight games and ranks fourth in the league in batting with a .346 (27-for-78) average that includes 16 runs scored, four doubles, a triple, two home runs, 11 RBI and 16 walks in 21 games. His .463 OBP (on-base plus slugging percentages) leads the league.

— Stephanie Storm

http://www.ohio.com/sports/indians/25660044.html?page=all&c=y

Pat's Beside the Point - Worse for wear

Westbrook hopes surgery fixes elbow after years of stress

By Patrick McManamon
Beacon Journal sports columnist

Published on Sunday, Jul 20, 2008

Jake Westbrook said he knew something was wrong last year.

He found a way to keep starting games, but there were problems in his elbow . . . pain . . . irritation . . . more pain. Those problems peaked in May, when Westbrook learned the constant wear and tear had done in his ulnar collateral ligament.

''It's not normal to throw a baseball,'' Westbrook said this past week. ''Over time, it got weaker and weaker and was tearing more and more.''

Consider the stress placed on a pitcher's arm.

In a recent story about Tim Lincecum of the San Francisco Giants, Sports Illustrated wrote that doctors at the American Sports Medicine Institute determined a pitcher's shoulder rotates at 7,000 degrees per second — the fastest measured human motion.

The story also said that the shoulder and elbow bear 40 pounds of force, just less than the maximum amount a body can take. (They determined it, SI wrote, by doing tests on the bones and elbows of cadavers.)

There are more facts that make a person wonder why any elbow would not wear down the way Westbrook's did.

There was no one pitch that blew his out, just stress upon stress upon stress. It seems it was only a matter of time.

''Last year and this year, my arm's been bugging me, and I just kind of found a good routine, a good spot to where I could maintain and still go out there and pitch,'' Westbrook said. ''I think over time, it got too much for me to handle and it wasn't bouncing back those four days between starts.''

The result: Tommy John surgery, which used to be among the most dreaded procedures in baseball.

The surgery — named after the former pitcher who first had it in 1979 — involves taking a tendon from the body (usually the forearm or wrist) and putting it in place of the elbow ligament.

It is attached through holes drilled into the ulna and humerus bones.

Yes, the thought can make a person cringe.

But more than 75 pitchers in the major leagues today are there because they had Tommy John surgery.

''The success rate is pretty good,'' Westbrook said, ''and hopefully I'll be in that percentage.''

Westbrook has run the emotional gamut, from hoping against hope he would not need the surgery to the emotional downer of having Dr. Lewis Yocum in Los Angeles confirm the need when he went for a second opinion.

That led to days of despondency, but Westbrook said he remembered flipping a switch in his mind that it was time to stop being disappointed and start focusing on what needed to be done.

''After a few days I was kind of ready to have the surgery,'' he said. ''Let's go ahead and start the process. That switch flipped on and I said, 'I'm ready to do what needs to be done.' ''

The recovery process is long, arduous and tedious. Did we say it will be long?

''I've already kind of got that drilled into my head,'' Westbrook said, meaning in a perverse way a successful return requires having the elbow and head drilled.

A year is a safe estimate for a return, and rushing the comeback dooms it.

Westbrook said his arm was in a light splint for 10 days after the surgery June 12. He said he now is working with light weights.

He will not start throwing — and that's light tosses — until three to six months after the surgery.

Westbrook has talked to outfielder Shin-Soo Choo and pitcher Paul Byrd, both of whom had the surgery. They told him patience is key.

Westbrook said that six to eight months into the rehab, he will feel like his elbow has recovered. But it will need more strengthening.

''That's where you have to be real patient with it, because you feel so good you want to go out there and do everything,'' he said. ''You still need to give it time and let it heal.''

The success rate has risen to 85 percent — mainly because of a greater understanding of what it takes to rehab and come back from the procedure.

Think about it, though, and it's almost an oxymoronic situation.

Pitchers do a stressful, repetitive motion — remember Westbrook admitted it is not normal — that causes serious damage to an arm. Then they repair the arm to go right back out and do what caused the problem in the first place. It's what they do, though.

''And I've been pitching for a while now with some discomfort,'' he said. ''Hopefully this will take care of that.''

• Eric Wedge's solution for extra-inning All-Star games: Play nine innings and then perhaps do a coin flip to determine home field for the World Series if need be.

Wedge admitted it's a tough situation with pitchers who should not be pitching being forced into the game in extra innings. As Wedge said, nobody should ''be put in harm's way.''

Here's a novel idea: Steal a page from soccer and hockey. Play nine innings and pick nine guys for a home run derby. Each guy gets two swings. Most home runs wins home field in the World Series.

Yes, it's ridiculous, but not more ridiculous than an All-Star Game determining the site of the seventh game of the World Series. You want to talk ridiculous, now that is as ridiculous as the Clapper.

And 15-inning All-Star games that end at 1:50 in the morning are even more ridiculous. Why don't sports just start their events at midnight and save us the trouble of deciding whether to stay awake or go to sleep when they drone on incessantly for hours through 18-minute commercial breaks?

It's also no more ridiculous than soccer and hockey shootouts. The World Cup and Olympic hockey gold medal could actually be decided by a shootout, or whatever it's called, for crying out loud. Nine innings plus a home run derby might actually make that absurd home run stuff more meaningful.

http://www.ohio.com/sports/indians/25660064.html?page=all&c=y

About the Indians ...

An e-mail from Mike Mucci expressed the view of some fans (like Jason Kraus and Chris Guido) who wanted me to call for the firing of Eric Wedge: "He is the worst manager since Joe Adcock when it comes to in-game decisions in close games. I've watched him for over 800 games. ... I'm sorry, but it is a huge problem if you ever want to win a championship. And it all starts with the manager. A great manager can take a bad team and make them mediocre."

Dear Mike: Do you consider Jim Leyland a difference-maker as a manager? He has a $140 million payroll and is struggling to keep his team at .500. Look at his record in Pittsburgh after they cut payroll, or with Colorado. Or look at Joe Torre with the Dodgers. It does not all start with the manager. It starts with the players, and especially the guy who picks the players. Wedge is not a great manager, but to put much of the blame on him for this is to take a short-cut and ignore the real problem with the roster. And Wedge was at least a little better than Joe Adcock, please. Also, people who write this never mention the manager they want to hire, unless he already has a job. The exception is Keith Conklin, who suggested Yankees coach Tony Pena because Pena has a different personality than Wedge. At least there is some logic to that thought.

Mitch Bihuniak e-mailed that Jhonny Peralta ranks second among all big-league shortstops in doubles, homers, RBI and slugging percentage. He is fourth in OPS.

Dear Mitch: That is why the Indians want to keep him at short; they believe his bat makes up for his lack of range. I'm not about to argue stats, but I will say I shortstop is a defensive position and I want someone there such as Asdrubal Cabrera, whose glove makes a difference. I want to see Peralta and Andy Marte at third.

Matthew Pencek e-mailed: "Why did the Indians give Dave Dellucci a three-year contract?"

Dear Matthew: The Indians told me because another team offered him two years. My thought was, "So what, let them pay him." Dellucci on a one-year deal would have been fine. You can always cut those guys if they falter. But long-term, why? Especially for a then 32-year-old with a history of some injuries.

Ken Kahn e-mailed about what some fans asked me: "Wasn't it great to see the Tribe loosen up and play to their capability against the Rays? It's a pity that Wedge couldn't get that to happen when it still mattered."

Dear Ken: That four-game sweep was far more a case of Tampa Bay suddenly feeling the pressure of being in first place than what the Indians did. The Rays dumped two games in New York before coming here and were totally uptight, which happens to a young team. And the Indians got some pitching and hitting. I think Wedge had absolutely nothing to do with it, just as I don't hold him responsible for the major failures this year. Remember, it's the guys who pick the players and the players themselves who mean the most. My goodness, Mayo Smith won a World Series with Detroit in 1968 and no one accused him of being a great manager. But he had wonderful players and he stayed out of their way, which is not a bad idea.

Geoff Wilson e-mailed: "They traded CC Sabathia for four guys nobody ever heard of ... and they tell folks that they will re-sign him at the end of the season if he goes free agent."

Dear Geoff: The Indians made no such promise. A reporter asked if they would talk to Sabathia at the end of year, and they said they would. But they gave no indication they'd sign him, nor should they for a deal worth more than $120 million -- which will be the price if he stays healthy. There has yet to be a pitcher to sign for more than $100 to stay healthy for the length of the deal. As for the four guys from Milwaukee, only three have been named and their families probably know them.

Ben Francisco will be at the Wahoo Club meeting on Saturday at 11 a.m. For more details, check out wahooclub.com or call 216-999-1781.

http://www.cleveland.com/pluto/blog/index.ssf/2008/07/terrys_talkin_about_sean_jones.html

Just Manny being on the market?
Morning Journal Staff
07/20/2008

If the Indians are in the market for a hitter in the offseason -- and, by golly, don't you think they should be? -- it sounds like Manny Ramirez may be available.

Ramirez's on-again, off-again relationship with Boston management seems like it's off again.

Ramirez is in the last year of the eight-year, $160 million contract with which the Red Sox enticed him to leave Cleveland.

Boston holds two club options for $20 million each in 2009 and 2010, but it's questionable whether the Red Sox, at those prices, are willing to put up with two more years of Manny being Manny.

Last week Ramirez took some shots at the Boston front office, saying, ''I want no more (bleep) where they tell you one thing and behind your back they do another thing. I think I've earned that respect, for a team to sit down with me and tell me this is what we want, this is what we want to do.''

Speculation in Boston is if Matt Holliday becomes available the Sox might let Manny walk and take a run at Holliday.

Ramirez, 36, is represented by Scott Boras, who thinks Manny can play until he's 40, and will likely seek a four-year contract for his client, should Boston not bring him back.

That the Red Sox might be growing tired of Manny's act may be reflected by John Henry's response to Manny's comments.

''I find remarks that we have been anything other than completely straightforward to be personally offensive,'' said Henry.

http://www.morningjournal.com/site/news.cfm?newsid=19861856&BRD=1699&PAG=461&dept_id=46370&rfi=6