Tribe Talk: Eagerly Awaiting Fausto Carmona's Return, Or Dreading It?

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Sometimes, against pitchers who have bad control or try to go for the strikeout, that works beautifully. Other times, when a Justin Verlander or Brian Bannister (two completely different pitchers, mind you), throw strikes and throw them effectively on the corners and early in the count, it is a disaster.

This team needs to be a little more aggressive in certain situations. That's Derek Shelton's downside as a hitting instructor; the fact that he doesn't know when to tell these guys to be aggressive. He's got great ideas and sometimes, maybe even most of the time, his strategy works. Other times it doesn't, and when it doesn't, it usually creates a failure for the team of a far greater significance than the success it creates when it does work.

Samantha Bunten: In theory this is a worthy solution to a problem the Indians seem unable to solve. But in reality, a small ball approach does not make sense for this team.

I am of the opinion that small ball is an excellent strategy even in the American League, and from a philosophical standpoint I like the way it uses the lineup more democratically than an approach that relies on the team’s power hitters does.

Unfortunately, I do not think the Indians are a team that is built for this style of play. With the exception of Choo and Sizemore, their lineup does not have much to offer in terms of successful base-stealers or even smart base runners.

Cabrera and Francisco both have the speed to fit into this category, but at this point do not yet have the savvy required to be considered truly smart base runners at the major league level. At the plate, the team as a group posts too many strike outs and makes too little contact to produce the number of base runners needed to successfully run a small ball offense.

Also, far more important to the case against the Indians adopting a small ball strategy than the player’s ability to execute such an approach on the field is the fact that manager Eric Wedge is not even close to possessing the level of strategic ability required of a manager to run a small ball style of offense.

Wedge has always been a manager who shied away from aggression in his approach and who reacts to events on the field as passively as possible. Just look at his approach to handling the pitching game: leaving pitchers on the mound for far too long and being sharply reluctant to pull the trigger in yanking them out of a game betrays a sense of hesitancy that would make him a guaranteed failure if he tried to run a small ball offense.

Given that Wedge is, for all intents and purposes, already a failure, perhaps there is no harm in trying. Still, as much as I respect the small ball style and would like to see the Indians be more aggressive on the base paths and utilize the hit-and-run more often, I don’t think small ball is in any way the right approach for them.

Dave Wiley: Sure, the Indians have a lot of speed at the top of the order and could play small ball. That strategy might even help the likes of Sizemore and Francisco, who are always trying to clobber the ball.

Base hits and OBP should not be sacrificed in order for a bunch of 1-run homers. There are enough slow dudes at the bottom of the line-up to swing for the fences. The work of the hitting coach has not been an Indians’ strong suit for two years now.

The Coop:

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