As the Indians furiously attempted to mount a ninth inning comeback, their hottest hitter came to the plate to lead off. Asdrubal Cabrera dug in picked out a fastball to his liking. The home crowd cheered as the ball landed beyond the rightfield fence and AzCab trotted around the bases. With the heart of their order still to follow the Tribe had trimmed the Texas lead to 11-2.
Yeah, kids, that is as good as it got. Thanks to the re-emergence of the Tony Sipp's "Gas Man" persona Justin Masterson was saddled four earned in his 6.1, but we should not let the big man off of the hook. 11 baserunners is not a good thing. Still, Justin fared a bit better than the utterly worthless Chad Durbin. My newest plan is to trade Chad back to the Phillies for former Indians farm hand Wilson Valdez. The skill Valdez showed in beating the Reds in last week's 19 inning marathon can surely be of better use than Durbin's toss and lob fest. In fact, Valdez became the first player to start a game in the field and eventually earn the win since some dude named Babe Ruth back in '21. Me rikey.
Seriously though, it is past time for Adam Everett to go. A .606 OPS and a .900 fielding percentage can no longer be tolerated. Release him. Call Cord Phelps up. Put him in the lineup once or twice a week at second for Orlando Cabrera (.602 OPS) and the same at third for Jack Hannahan (.673 OPS). There is absolutely no downside. Even if there is concern about his fielding, he is not going to look as out of sorts as Everett. Worst case scenario, he hits .140 and looks completely over-matched. Then we bring up Luis Valbuena instead, still better than Everett. A number of different metrics describe Adam as one of the best fielding shortstops of all-time. That would be quite useful if we ever played the man at his natural position (0 starts, 7 innings all year).
Let us review --
Kick 'em out: Carlos Carrasco, Adam Everett, Chad Durbin
Call 'em up: Zach McAllister, Cord Phelps, Nick Hagadone
Oops. We have not yet spoken on the last. Tomorrow, kids.
Cheers.
No comments:
Post a Comment