Nicknaming players this year, has in general, blown up in our face. We might need to establish a moratorium on nicknames.

Sorry Robbie.  Seemed like a nice guy.  

... I'm not that sorry.

What's the state of the 25? DD and Roberto made it 23? And now another decision has to be made to add Westbrook? Or is he already on it and it was at 24 before today?

Sorry for all the questions. I don't know where to find answers I trust. Westbrook is not on the 25 on the Indians website.

So...Mujica and Francisco can't go down for what, 10 days? So someone else is getting cut or moved when Westbrook is added for his start this weekend?

My understanding is that anyone with an option may be sent down at any time, regardless of how much time they have spent with the big club.  However, once there, they must stay in the minors at least 10 days, unless they would be called up to replace someone on DL.  

Well all right, that answers my question - it appears last night's extended look at Hernandez was in fact a test. Which he failed. If he simply remains in his same iffy role in the pen then Wedge's move (or lack of it once Oldberto faced Howard) with the game in doubt was very questionable.

There is more spilt milk here besides last night's game - the loss of several million $$ and a high draft pick with pretty much zero return - but its not worth crying over, that's baseball.

Looking forward, the youth movement continues with the callup of Francisco and Mujica. It's no real surprise that Ben makes it up - he has been amongst the IL leaders in several offensive categories all season, showing the blend of speed, defense, avg and gap power that makes him profile as at least a 4th outfielder in the major leagues. Looks like he will actually get some at bats now and the most extended look in front of the Tribe brass since spring training when he made a very good impression.

Bringing Mujica up is a little surprising, especially since the proven righty specialist, Matt Miller, has done quite well and looks ready to go. Mujica hasn't had much success in his brief ML stints, and despite a good start in Buffalo this year, has proven vulnerable to the big inning, sporting a 6+ era (12.00 over his last 10 outings).

It could be that the decision to keep Stanford as the long man in the pen has already been made, and Mujica is here to hold down a spot until Westbrook gets put back on the roster this weekend. We'll see.

All in all, this is further encouragement that the brass will not be as patient with non-performing vets as they have been in the past, and that there is more emphasis on winning now, this year. Trot Nixon becomes the sore thumb sticking out in this regard, and probably the most difficult choice confronting Wedge and Shapiro, for many gritty reasons. Most likely he will lose some at-bats against righties to both Gutz and Ben, but remain the primary platoon guy for now.

It's pretty remarkable at first glance how much roster turnover we've had this year considering we have pretty much been (and still are, by the way) a first place team all season.  But then again, I guess that's how Shapiro has constructed the club.  The veterans were signed to cheaply provide options...if they do great, super.  They're cheap, and in most cases, we can keep them cheaply for another year or two if we want.  They also let Francisco, Gutz, Mujica, Mastny, Choo and others prove why they should be in Cleveland.  So far we've had a little from column A (veterans doing well, like Michaels) and a little from column B (Mastny, Mujica, and now Gutz and Francisco playing their way onto the club).  Meanwhile, the demotion of Marte did not result in a dropoff because of the flexibility Blake provides.  I love it.  It's great baseball from an organizational perspective.

I wonder what impact this will have on next year's draft.

Pretty insignificant, but I wonder if Barton will get bumped to Buffalo to fill Francisco's spot for the time being.

He gone!

Mujica probably has an astronomical BABIP, so I'm not worried about his ERa. His peripherals look outstanding.

Not a fan of Francisco being called, obviously. Gutierrez better start seeing significant playing time.

Also if Barfield bats 2nd again, I'm flipping a shit.

Wedge:  Stanford here to stay

us and give us a true long-man in the bullpen; that way, you can use Perez in more late-inning, key situations, which it seems Perez is more ready to take on now.

I've just re-nicknamed him Goneberto!

I just renamed Hafner "Project" instead of "Pronk."  All "Project," no "Donkey."  :-)  

FWIW, per the mlb indians webpage, the Tribe decided to cut ties with Hernandez now, instead of on Saturday (when Westbrook would have been activated - am assuming Mujica goes back down then), since this road trip is a family one (the players take the wives and kids with them).

They felt it wouldn't be nice to cut Hernandez midway on the trip. And since Mujica has already had his option burned this year, no big deal to have him up for a couple of days.

Essentially Stanford becomes the long man and takes his spot on the 25, with Westbrook moving back into the rotation.

Now we all rip on the FO for a lot of things, but in my eyes this was a very classy move.

that **they* always appreciate