This Headline Gives Me a Partial

Have you ever seen something so good? We haven't had a smile this big since the clock hit 0:00 in San Antonio the evening of April 7th.

Eight Men Out

You know what the funny thing is, its probably going to get worse! As each passing day flies by, GM Mark Shapiro's talent evaluations going into 2008 (hello David Dellucci and Jason Michaels in Left!) look worse and worse. Let us for once, not dwell on the pathetic offense we've watched all year (two runs on two hits last night, both in the first-inning). Remember at the beginning of the year when we heard all about the eight-man rotation and the best bullpen in baseball? Lets examine where we are today:

The "Eight -Man" Rotation

CC Sabathia - traded to Milwaukee. Started poorly and then came back into Cy Young form, with an ERA just over 2.00 since April 22. Never to be seen in an Indians uniform again.

Fausto Carmona - A 4-2 start was marred by a control problem (1.59 WHIP) and has been on the DL since May 25th with a hip injury. Should be back after the All-Star break.

Jake Westbrook - The rock of the rotation, beginning the first year of his three-year, $33 million extension, blew out his elbow and is out until next August after having Tommy John Surgery.

Paul Byrd - The master of control and not walking anyone, leads the Majors in Home Runs allowed (23), is 3-10 overall and was horrific in June, going 1-5 with a 7.47 ERA. Would be bounced from the rotation or even released if the Indians had any other options.

Cliff Lee - Who saw this one coming? 11-2, 2.43 ERA, 1.04 WHIP, 99 K's to 19 walks? Looks like the All-Star game starter for the AL. Imagine how bad this rotation would be without the man we once referred to as"Stiff Lee."

Aaron Laffey - The 23 year old is a keeper. Looks even better than his solid 2007 finish where he saved the rotation when Lee melted down. Deserves better than his 4-5 record (3.45 ERA). Will be your #3 guy in '09.

Jeremy Sowers - The former #6 overall pick is the only Indians first-round pick in the last 10 years on the roster. Not that he deserves to be. With all of the injuries to the rotation, Sowers got his chance and has failed miserably. In eight starts, he is 0-5 with a 7.81 ERA. He doesn't strike anyone out (18 in 40 innings), gives up jacks (10), and loves putting guys on base (1.86 WHIP). In short, a soft-tosser with no command who looks 4A.

Adam Miller - The Indians top Pitching prospect, dubbed "Atom" Miller by our friends at The DiaTribe, continues to battle the injury bug. This time, it's a finger injury that has him out for the year and has ruined yet another year of development. No doubt he'd have been up by now, either in the bullpen or in the rotation, leading with his trademark 97 MPH heater.

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So on July 9th, the rotation has a finished Byrd, a guy who shouldn't be in the majors in Sowers, a re-tread to be figured out at some point in the next day or two (looks like Matt Ginter - yikes), Laffey, and Lee. CC is gone. Fausto is DL'd, Jake is out for over a year, and Miller is out for the year. No team can overcome this, especially when your bullpen is currently ranked dead last in the AL and the offense puts the "P" in putrid.

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And what about that bullpen? It currently sports such 4A specials as Edward Mujica, Brian Slocum, and Tom "Nasty" Mastny. It's been a revolving door of such winners as Rick Bauer, Craig Breslow, and Jorge Julio. Joe Borowski, aka Jo-Blow, has been rightfully dumped after showing us his 83 MPH fastball on a regular basis, and they wondered why he couldn't get the job done again this year. They tried Rafael Betancourt as a closer - didn't work. Masa Kobayashi has been given his shot, after his previous stint earlier this year failed (remember the Adam Dunn walkoff jack in Cincinnati that still hasn't landed?).

Jensen Lewis has been on the Buffalo shuttle since losing his velocity from a year ago. Betancourt, the most dominant set-up man in baseball a year ago, has been a shell of himself, posting an ERA of 5.67, walking 12, and allowing seven HR's in 39.2 IP. Last year, he walked just nine and allowed just three HR's in 79.1 IP. Lefty Rafael Perez has been OK, but far from the spectacular work we saw in '07.

The one constant is inconsistency with this group. More good news, its probably only going to get worse. It's going to be one long summer in C-Town.

From Can't Miss to .150

Everyone seems to be extremely jacked over the prospect Matt Laporta, who looks like he is a can't miss guy? But you know who else was once a can't miss kid? Our very own Andy ".150" Marte. Don't believe me? Check out this amazing find by our own King Diesel, who came across this beauty from December 8, 2005, the day Marte was acquired by the Red Sox for Edgar Renteria:

DALLAS -- The Boston Red Sox gave up on Edgar Renteria just one year after lavishing a four-year, $40 million contract on him, trading the shortstop to the Atlanta Braves on Thursday for third base prospect Andy Marte.

The move left Boston without a shortstop, but Red Sox senior adviser Bill Lajoie denied a much-rumored deal that would wheel Marte to the Tampa Bay Devil Rays for Julio Lugo. Lajoie said he expected to see Marte play for the Red Sox this year, putting him in the outfield or first base if it's necessary to get his bat in the lineup.

"We want to keep that player. ... He's ready to have a good year," said Lajoie, one of four Boston executives at the winter meetings in the absence of a general manager. "He would be one of the five players you would want to start a ballclub with."

Do you believe what you just read? Because I know I didn't when the Deez sent it my way. Lets hope Laporta isn't another Marte....

Send In The Clowns

After watching todays Mark Shapiro press conference, I came away with one image. Kevin Keane is a total knob. What on earth was that today? Here is the Indians GM having to face the media on the day he just traded the club's best pitcher since Bob Feller and the poor guy is being questioned by a rambling-foaming at the mouth-pea brained- tool. Keane of AM 1100 WTAM went into a diatribe about his talk-show callers and even phrased the Tribe as "we" at one point.

Spies tell DCB that Keane was wearing an Indians hat as he asked the questions. Seriously! What reporter shows up to a major presser wearing that team's swag? Keane wanted to know about the "emotional" side of the trade and how Shapiro should explain to the fans about "losing one of their own". You could tell Shapiro had no answer to what were two very ridiculous and poorly worded questions. Heck, were they even questions? This comes from a guy (Keane) who places "hot chicks of the day" on his webpage; http://wtam.com/pages/keanepage1.html. I need folks' comments on this. Do you agree?

See-Ya C.C.

It's a sad day in Cleveland. A boy we watched grow into a man before our very eyes has now, like all other home-grown Indians, has now moved on. In a deal that seemingly has been finalized, C.C. Sabathia is now a Milwaukee Brewer. Coming over to the Tribe is the gem of the Brewer farm system, AA Power-hitting OF Matt Laporta, who is hitting .288 with 20 HR's, and 66 RBI in 81 games. Supposedly two others are involved as well, but at this time the details are sketchy.

We will have much more on this story later and tomorrow.

Sources: Indians agree to trade Sabathia to Brewers for Minor Leaguers - ESPN.com

Brewers, Indians, agree on Sabathia - Milwaukee Journal-Sentinal

Later Loser

Happy July 4th to every one...... Nice parting gift from Joe Blow....a final blown save....He has finally been designated for assignment and we have been put out of our misery.

Enough With Joe-Blow

Haven't we seen enough of this guy by now? I mean seriously, did the Tribe brass really think a career journeyman who had 45 saves last year where the majority of them were done with smoke and mirrors was going to repeat that? I know I didn't. Yet it seemed OK coming into 2008...or did it?

Joe Borowski is finished. Has been since the day he set foot onto the field in April. Did we not see him topping out at 82-83 MPH? True story - I was at the Red Sox/Indians game on April 14th. The Tribe took a 4-3 lead into the ninth and before the inning started, I said to the person I was with "we are outta here after the bottom of the eighth." He looked startled and asked why we would do something like that. My response was simple: "do you really want to be here when Borowski blows it? I know I don't." Sure enough, Julio Lugo led off with a double, Coco Crisp bunted him to third, Dustin Pedroia sac fly'd Lugo home, David Ortiz singled, and of course Manny Ramirez hit one that still hasn't landed yet for the Sox 6-4 lead. Kevin Youkilis then doubled before Joe-Blow was put out of his misery by Eric Wedge.

What struck me that night was not that he blew the game, as was expected. Rather, it was something Tom Hamilton said as the 9th inning dragged. He mentioned from the first pitch that "something clearly isn't right with Borowski." Then noticed he wasn't hitting more than 82-83 on his fastball. That's just not going to cut it for a long reliever, let alone your supposed closer. Yet, the Indians trotted him out there to close a game, knowing he had nothing, against the team that stole their World Series title from them less than a year ago.

So they put Joe-Blow on the DL a day later with and elbow injury. The thinking from all sides, except for the Indians brass of course, was that Borowski was finally done, at least done closing for that matter. Nah...not our with our Tribe! On May 23rd, he was activated and put right back into the closer's role. Not that it has mattered much.

Last night was a prime example. The Wahoos were desperate for a W, any kind of W. Our boy Casey Fake (who by the way is having a very nice season and should attract a bunch of trade offers) hits a solo pizza in the 10th to break a 1-1 tie (how about those Tribe bats!) and Wedge again turns it over to his closer, who was hitting a whopping 86 on the gun. I bet you can't guess what happened? Yep, with two outs, he gave up a solo shot to Alexei Ramirez (not exactly Jim Thome), a single to pinch-hitting great (ha ha) Dewayne Wise, who then promptly steals second, and "closes" it off by giving up a game-winning RBI single to Orlando Cabrera. Tribe loses 3-2.

Not like Joe-Blow had to face Jermaine Dye, Jim Thome, and Joe Crede! He was handed a one run lead and the bottom of the order and couldn't deliver. What is the friggin point in trotting this old man out there any longer? The season is over. There is no closer in 2009. So lets see if we can invent one over the last three months. As John Hart used to say "closers grow on trees." Bring up Jeff Stevens from AAA and hand him the job. See what he can do. Or why not try it with Jensen Lewis (why is he still in Buffalo while Edward "4A" Mujica and Rick Bauer are still up here?). What about Akron closer Randy Newsom? Dude is 5-0 with a 1.75 ERA 24 saves.

Try anything, but please, Shappy, for the love of your loyal fans like myself, enough with Borowski. And while your at it, same thing goes for David Dellucci, Andy Marte, and Jorge Velandia.