Hello Mario,

I agree with you – Wedge sometimes will go ahead and let relievers sit for 7-10 days at a time, then call upon them to get out of a crucial jam, and most times, they can’t do it.

Now, granted, in this season where a postseason birth is very unlikely, it doesn’t matter, but it does matter in the sense that Wedge has done this even when we’ve been in contention. He doesn’t seem to work all the bullpen pitchers enough in order to keep them sharp. Granted, when our starting staff was going well last year, it’s difficult, but it’s still doable, and it’s his job to find a combination that works, not going with just 3-4 guys in that bullpen, possibly overuse them, then let the other ones get rusty and then falter often when they are finally called upon to get out of a crucial situation.

Unfortunately, the situation with Laffey is not the first time Wedge has done this either – I remember a year or two ago when Paul Byrd was having a rough start, but managed to be tied or have the lead going into the 5th inning. The logical choice would have been to take him out of there and extend the bullpen for that night. Instead, Wedge sent him back out there (and I said at the time, “Wedge is trying to get Byrd the win”), Byrd fares poorly in that 5th inning, Wedge finally sends someone else in to relieve him, but we still lose the lead, and eventually, lose the game.

I too wish that Wedge would consider the best chance for the team to win that game, regardless of whether the starting pitcher goes 5 innings or not – sometimes, it’s not going to happen. And granted, you can’t go to the bullpen every night in the 5th inning, but once in a while is not going to kill your ballclub, and if going to the bullpen in that inning gives you a better chance of winning that game, you have to do it. After all, as we know from the 2005 and 2007 seasons, every game is meaningful, so “tossing away” our best chance to win a game by sending out an ineffective starter to try to get through the 5th inning just because it’s expected of him or because the pitcher would have a chance at a win does not seem like a sound strategy to me, one that has blown up in Wedge’s face on more than one occasion.

Yesterday’s game was just another example of this, and this is something that Wedge must be aware of and avoid when we are back in contention. Overextending the bullpen once in a while will not kill your team, presuming of course you don’t let 2-4 members of your bullpen sit out there for 7-10 days with no work.

Just my 2 cents – no offense.

Hello Andrew,

I can see why Laffey came back out here, but it’s important to note that Wedge has also done this when we’ve been in contention (note the Paul Byrd reference in my post above, which I believe was during the 2007 season, or at least when we still in contention during 2006), and under those circumstances when we are in contention, I cannot believe that sending out an ineffective starter who’s barely managed through 4 innings is going to give you the best chance to win the ballgame.

It seems unlikely to me that a starter who has struggled for the better part of 4 innings is all of a sudden going to find it in the 5th inning. I could see a starter struggling the first inning, maybe the second inning, and then finding it at times, but not struggling through the better part of 4 innings and then finding it – that seems unlikely in my opinion.

Therefore, in this season, you’re right – it really doesn’t matter much, but if Wedge keeps doing this when we’re in contention, and he has done it in past seasons when we’ve been in contention, then it becomes a problem that needs to be addressed and corrected.

Just my 2 cents – no offense.

Yea … Mastny was really good as a starter this year too.

(sidenote, that was the same day as King Justin Day, right?)

It’s hard to quibble with Wedge’s handling of the staff last season.

(sarc)

Suggesting, perhaps, the skipper’s answer to the question “is victory irrelevant?” Pinch-hitting Blake makes perfect sense if you’re trying to win the game, and no sense at all if you’re trying to decide whether Marte is in the mix for Opening Day 2009.

Yeah, but when is Marty the Moose’s birthday?

Are you going to be part of the deal? Casey and a FTBNL?

( http://www.letsgotribe.com/2008/5/23/534783/it-s-time-to-blow-up-this )

maybe we can just get Choo and Caleb Campbell to have an organized fisticuff and call it even.

four trainwrecks in five starts, 8.37 ERA

damn mid-west media bias

CST rules. Everything in my life happens before it does in yours. Your going to die at least an hour after me. I’ll never have to miss you.

Reichert’s given up three hits and one run through five, although two were for extra bases, including a solo shot by Whitney. LaPorta is 0-for-2 so far, with a GIDP and a popup. SLG at Akron now .300 (obviously not indicative of his ability).

Maybe “suspend disbelief”? The “willing suspension of disbelief,” as S.T. Coleridge, noted pitching coach, had it? Why is the Ancient Mariner like a bad shortstop? He stoppeth one of three.

the only guy who has earned anything in this organization is Ryan Goleski.

Hello APV,

Don’t forget, Mulhern is no longer holding them back – he’s no longer in the organization, remember? He was traded along with Dan Reichert to the Pirates for future considerations or cash (don’t remember which).

Just a clarification – however, I know what you mean. I’m still surprised Jason Cooper is still with this organization – I keep thinking he’s holding back somebody, like Crowe, though admittedly, Crowe may not have been ready for AAA. But when he and Constanza are putting up decent to solid seasons at AA Akron, you might as well find out if they have some future (even as a utility guy or backup outfielder) by promoting them to AAA. After all, neither of them are particularly young (they’ll both turn 25-YO after this season is over).

Just my 2 cents – no offense.

What’s so ridiculous about thinking they ought to promote a guy and then 6 hours later they promote him? I have trouble seeing the absurdity. My complaint was that the Indians have, at times, dragged their feet about moving these sorts of guys.

I wish Snyder had started 2006 in Buffalo. I wish Whitney had already been moved to Buffalo. I wish Stephen Head was already in Buffalo. I wish Goleski was just throw into the fire in Buffalo.

Do they need to move all three of those guys up at once? No. That’s a terrible idea. But why not at least one? Buffalo is a wasteland right now. Couldn’t we take advantage of that and just put some of these way to old guys into the highest developmental league we have and see what happens? These gentlemen are valueless where they are but if they can go to Buffalo and put together a good half season, all the sudden they have vague value not only to the Indians but also on the trade market.

As Adam said, what do we have to lose?

I wish MIcheal Aubrey had played more than 300 games in the Indians system. 300! Isn’t that crazy?

More than anything, I wish someone would tell me what the point of AAA is. It’s clearly not the next developmental step when you look at the kind of players populating the rosters; I want to know how much different the Indians think Buffalo is from Akron. I want Akron to Buffalo MLEs.

But Dellucci is 34 and, excepting April 2008, has consistently posted poor numbers each month he has been in Cleveland. His VORP on the season is -1.2. He’s been awful, he hasn’t shown signs of improvement, and I think it is difficult to make a strong case that he’ll be a valuable member of the team going forward.

The Indians have a slew of questions going forward into next year: Can Marte hit enough to be a regular 3B? Are Gootz and Francisco anything more than fourth outfielders? What should be expected of Garko next year? They sacrifice a little bit of data on these guys each time Dellucci is inserted into the lineup. I really am perplexed. Maybe they are just hoping to recoup a bit of his salary in a trade, or hoping that he’ll turn things around and contribute next year, but continuing to play him seems like a mistake to me.