Who's Next Off the Island?

You should know the drill by now. Who did you vote for and why?

Casey makes another game changing error this week, he’ll be splittin’ time with Marte

I voted for Asdrubal. Blake may lose PT, but Asdrubal won’t be benched. He’ll be sent down if he continues to hit poorly so he can regroup and play regularly in Buffalo. i imagine they’d call up Barfield, although it’s possible they could call up Gonzalez and play Carroll regularly for a while to see which of Barfield/Cabrera shows progress.

Blake – only because it is so awkward trying to sell people on the Indian Uprising with Casey Blake as your leading RBI-man.

Next guy off will be Francisco. He will be optioned back to Buffalo when Choo is ready to play. .... Unless he OPS 900 for the next 3-4 weeks.

blake, though it won’t happen.

The two obvious choices seem to be Shelton and Cabrera. I can’t see Shelton just because Shapiro emphasizes again and again the importance of an organizational approach to hitting and Shelton seems to be a big part of that. But maybe I’m over-valuing his role in that process. I can’t see Cabrera because we have no one to make up for Cabrera’s middle-infield defense and we start 2-3 extreme groundball pitchers every week. So out of default I voted Blake…but I think things would have to get VERY bad for that too happen.

I chose Cabrera, but would have voted for none of the above. I really think our next move is a trade giving up someone valuable not on this list, but not Asdrubal.

Asdrubal makes the most sense. But I think this (current) team will plug along until the trade deadline and something big will happen.

Asdrubal – Carroll takes over at second and we trade one of our second tier pitching prospects for a utility infielder or pick one up off the waiver wire.

If he doesn’t have an instantaneous turnaround, I think it’ll be Blake. The most likely scenario is that’ll he’ll continue sucking for another 2-3 weeks. Shapiro’s patience will expire at that point. He’s had the biggest decline among the guys with little upside, and he has backup. Carroll over Asdrubal is less likely in my mind. It’ll be a very bad omen for Wedge.

marte. he’s going at some point, we all know it, might as well be next.

No point in sending down Cabrera if the alternative is Jamie Carroll, unless you’re making the argument that Cabrera is performing so badly, he’s hurting his own confidence blah blah blah….

Or, unless the Indians are going to go out and get themselves some Brian Roberts. But Roberts is only signed through next year, is pricey (though affordable) and it’s going to take big talent to get him.

Way too early for Derek Shelton to be fired. This team has come to far under his control. A bad start will not get him fired.

I’m writing in Luis Isaac. He just has a lousy attitude. Have you seen the way he holds that clipboard in the bullpen? And this crap is contagious. Our hitters cannot be expected to focus on scoring runs as long as Isaac is allowed to remain on the team.

Wedgie—His usefulness (if there ever was one) has passed. He doesnt manage the game well in general, his ability to connect with the younger players is less in play now with an older team with at least one Bona Fide leader (Victor), and he plays some major favorites (Blake, JP over B. Phillips, J. Mich for too long a streach). It will not happen as long as Shapiro is there but it should!

Because I can’t go with Mastny, the obvious choice… I chose Shelton. Blake obviously stays, and barring a trade for a 2B, we don’t have anybody better than AssC as an everyday player. Carroll is good, but he’s not an everyday player.