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

Being a fan of an American League team my whole life, I have never really been a big fan of “small ball,” although I do see its merits. Mostly, I’ve always been content to wait for the 3-run homer. However, incorporating a few elements of small ball would probably help the team, at least in theory.

Unfortunately, I haven’t seen any evidence that the Tribe could do it! Seriously, think about how many horrible bunt attempts you’ve seen. How about stolen bases or hit-and-runs? The team never runs, so who knows which players would be best suited for this type of offense?

Then, to make matters worse, I don’t believe Eric Wedge has the stones to manage this way over the long-haul for 162 games. He’s not a grind-it-out kind of guy. He’s also content to wait for the homer. So, while I would not be opposed to trying some small ball, I think the team is lacking the players and manager to pull it off.

4. The promotion of some of the Tribe's top prospects this season (Matt LaPorta, David Huff, Trevor Crowe, etc.) has produced mixed results. Are there other players currently in the minor league system who you would like to see promoted to the Indians in the second half of the season?

Other than the players who have already made an appearance at the big league level this year, what current Indians minor leaguer do you think would have the most positive impact if called up to the Tribe?

 

Nino Colla: There are two in my mind, and there would have been three if the Indians didn’t just trade John Meloan for a journeyman reliever. The first one may sound crazy, but ever think of giving Andy Marte one more shot? I'm not sure there is a place to play him, but there is an interesting predicament going on with Marte in AAA.

With Crowe, Brantley, and LaPorta all in the outfield, Jordan Brown and Stephen Head also being able to play the outfield, be the DH, or play first, and Wes Hodges back at third, there are simply no at-bats for Marte.

The guy is a Triple-A All-Star who's been hitting the cover off the ball, not home run wise, but average wise. He still has a few flaws, but he's improved and sort of matured from what I can tell. Maybe it's time for him to get one last shot and see if there is anything there.

If you call him up and he bombs or rides the bench, all the value you built up in him is gone and you are back where you started earlier this year, only this time at the end of the season and he's just going to walk and sign on with another minor league team.

You could trade him now at the highest value you will ever have on him, unless he gets to the majors and explodes, or you can take a chance and see if that potential he has is still there. It's an interesting position that Shapiro is in and I think in the next week or so it will be resolved one way or another.

The one guy who definitely deserves a call-up is Jordan Brown. Like Marte, his position is sort of locked up, but he can play the outfield and you could give him some of Ben Francisco's time in left if you want to wait on LaPorta.

Brown is lower in the pecking order though and honestly, the Indians wasted their shot to see what Brown has earlier in the year. Brown is a motivated guy after not being rostered in the 2008 offseason.

There was a point this year when Hafner was on the DL that there were open spots, and the Indians could have given Brown a short audition at first, designated hitter, and the outfield with the opportunity to play 4-5 times a week. That isn't something they did though.

I think Brown is a professional hitter that deserves a shot. They traded Michael Aubrey away, which tells me they still have some faith in Brown, but them not giving him a call tells me they don't have as much faith in him as I do.

 

You're currently logged into Facebook

Do you want to share your Bleacher Report activity on Facebook?