It's pretty obvious. If you're looking for an announcement that we're going to start trading guys, you won't get that until we make our first trade. But I think it's fairly obvious at this point.

Arroyo won for the first time in six starts since May 26. Tuesday in Toronto, the right-hander was rocked for 10 runs, including four in the second inning when he didn't get an out. That dropped him to 0-3 with a 10.07 ERA in five starts in June.
"I threw a lot more bad pitches today than I did in Toronto," Arroyo said. "I hung a lot of breaking balls. I got away with a lot. They were popping them up. It shows how strange this game is sometimes.
"After the first inning, [pitching coach] Dick Pole said, 'It must be turning for you. You hung two curveballs and got out of it.' It's a funny game."

Rosenthal:
After Sabathia, the Indians' player drawing the most trade interest is third baseman Casey Blake, who leads the majors with a 1.281 OPS with runners in scoring position.

Blake, who turns 35 on Aug. 23, is coveted because of his ability to play first base and both outfield corners as well as third; he would be a good fit for teams such as the Dodgers, Mets and A's. Class AA third baseman Wes Hodges projects as the long-term replacement for Blake, who is a free agent at the end of the season.

The idea that the Indians have to trade Sabathia and plan for the future is yet another example of a significant negative trend within baseball: judging teams too quickly. We’ve developed this NFL mindset in which a three-game losing streak, or a bad month, leads to rumors and firings and chaos. Baseball is wired differently. Baseball needs time. There’s nothing unusual about a very good team playing around .500 for a month or three, or for that matter, a bad one doing the same. There’s nothing insurmountable about a 6 ½-game deficit, and if the Indians aren’t in trouble, then the same can be said for the Mets, or the Yankees, or the Braves, or any of a number of other teams around whom there’s an air of panic.

Baseball doesn’t reward panic. It rewards perspective and patience, and those two traits are in ample supply in Cleveland. The Indians are perfectly capable of not just making their season interesting, but extending it well into October. They should hold on to C.C. Sabathia because doing so helps them reach their goal: a championship in 2008."

... really, a .437 batting average on balls in play is not regression to the mean - it’s regression so far past the mean that it can’t even see it with a telescope. It might be tempting to look at Lee’s 5.51 ERA in June and determine that he’s back to being what he always was, but the old Cliff Lee was never a 2 BB/10 K/1 HR pitcher. His core stats from June would fit right in with Johan Santana’s career line. June is simply not an example of Lee reverting to previous form.

"The Indians may be the biggest recipients of random bad luck over the last four seasons."

Pinto over at Baseball Musings, wonders why Wedge "never seems to be on the hot seat.

Byrd to the Yanks?

• The Yankees would probably be thrilled if Chien-Ming Wang pitched again this year, leaving them to look around for a starting pitcher. I still don't think they will trade for C.C. Sabathia, partly because it may be some time before the Indians are ready to blow up their own season, and partly because the Yankees resolutely rejected making a similar deal last winter for Johan Santana. They're more likely to swap for a B-lister such as Paul Byrd, who may soon be made available.

... in this imaginary swap, the Indians get center fielder Colby Rasmus and catcher Bryan Anderson. As Kevin Goldstein will tell you, the tools-laden Rasmus is one of the best prospects in all of baseball, and Anderson has the potential to be the next, well, Victor Martinez ... On the whole, the acquisition of Ramus and Anderson would give the Indians a much-needed dose of high-upside offensive talent. That's something they sorely need.

Travis "is not where he wants to be." Rehab assignment is delayed.

Remarkably, of the ten times the Indians have made it to the postseason, only once- in 2001- have they not been in first place on June 13, and in 2001 they were just a half-game out. Of course, ten years out of 108 is a pretty small sample size, and what the Indians did in 1920, 1948, or even last year has little to do with the situation in which they find themselves in the here and now. But it isn't exactly cause for optimism. To qualify for the playoffs in 2008, the Indians would have to do something they've never done in over a century of play.

Can they do it? For your sakes, I'll leave that to the experts.