I think maintaining some respectability is worth more than 5 or 10 spots in the draft. The amateur draft is a pretty huge crap shoot, even in the top ten picks. I get that 60 wins vs. 75 wins doesn’t do much for most people, but I just can’t stand all that losing. It will be harder to sell the team to the city and its fans. It hurts to watch. I just don’t want any part of that.

I have problems with some of the things Wedge did as a manager this year (and in the past), in particular involving how he handles guys in the bullpen. But, playing Blake at this point is hardly stupid; as Chuck said, he’s actually hitting the ball. I think the Indians still had hopes of making a little run in the last week or two (with a soft schedule and all that), so playing Blake made sense. I think they SHOULD play him at first and in the outfield, not just at 3rd (where he’s pretty marginal), which would give Marte a few AB’s, keep Garko out of the line up (please!!), and maybe even crowd Dellucci out a bit more.

Without intending to defend Wedge, the problem with this team starts elsewhere - bad bullpen, guys like Gutierrez and Garko and Cabrera who have taken several steps backward, injuries, young players like Choo and Francisco who are inconsistent and mistake-prone, overconfidence in the front office, etc. Did Wedge get the most out of the guys he has? NO, obviously. But, it’s hard to imagine which manager would have made this into a playoff team. Have a look - it’s not a very good team, at this point.

That made the hurt feel better? You could really look into chemical dependency or displaced vengeance next time.

More accurately, Hammy has bought into the gritty/gamer fallacy stuff that Fire Joe Morgan is always railing against. I remember hearing Hammy and Hegan wax rhapsodic over Darin Erstad’s grittiness and his football career at Nebraska. Blake and Carroll are gritty gamers. Marte is perceived not to be so. Really, Hammy has been all over Marte ever since watching him make so many errors on that crappy infield at Winter Haven and nothing that has happened since has changed his opinion.

a deal like that would make dellucci’s contract look like a colon-trade level steal.

Blake is auditioning for a trade

maybe, maybe not

I don’t think the idea that Marte has not gotten any real opportunity to play — and therefore we don’t know what the hell he really is — is in any way statistically advanced, or even sophisticated in a general way.

Hammy could say: “There’s no real reason to think Andy Marte is any kind of answer, at third base or in the lineup.” That would invite minimal if any flak around here. More honest and observant still would be to then add: “Of course, we really don’t know whether he’s the answer or not, since he’s never had a chance to play on a regular basis.”

Marte’s big audition this year was starting five starts in eight days — and only getting lifted twice! — for a grand total of 18 PA. He didn’t set the world on fire, but he wasn’t terrible either — he went 4 for 17, with a double, a stolen base and a successful sac-bunt. Not bad, considering he hadn’t seen live pitching almost two weeks prior to that — and we don’t know that Francisco would do any better in those circumstances.

Outside of those glorious eight days, Marte has not been sent to the plate more than 8 times in any ten-day span this year.

I don’t know whether Hammy is right or wrong, but his statements about Marte have to be put into the context of his complete dislike of Andy. I remember listening to Hammy during game 1 of Spring Training and hearing him flat-out dog Marte at every chance available. He’s pretty much maintained that attitude since. At some point prior to this pre-season Hammy decided Marte sucks and has ridden that train ever since.

Also! Guthrie.

I disagree with only one thing you said …

Losing last night sucked because we had the game won.

... JoBo was on the mound with a one run lead and a strong wind blowing out to left.

You must have misunderstood my sarcasm in saying it was a blessing. That’s the most absurd thing people usually say at a funeral, because it doesn’t make the departed any less dead.

I was listening to the game on regular AM radio – my XM receiver (and the Sox announcers) was (mercifully) in the other car. Even more mercifully, I was driving under street lights when the home run went out, so I missed the precise call and didn’t know who had a shot.

The box score I looked at had Gutz in left. While I found that odd, it’s all I had at the time of the post.

(All that being said, Gutz probably would have had a shot at the ball if he wasn’t so damned lazy.)

I didn’t see it. How on earth could Ben have a shot at a ball Gutz couldn’t / didn’t get to? I’m very puzzled.