Moves Made, Things To Say

I'll be quite honest.. There will be nights I just don't feel like doing anything but talking.

So that's what I'm gonna do.

There will be no Minor League or Morning Update today, but I'll get most of the stuff I want to say out of the way now. I'm posting this on Wednesday but I wrote this during the game last night.

There was a ton of moves today, as expected, and there will some more to come.

Let's try and iron this out.

Cleveland: Added Jamey Carroll from DL
Columbus: Added Josh Barfield from Columbus
Akron: Added Matt McBride from Kinston, Ryan Edell from Columbus
Kinston: Added Johnnie Drennen from Akron
Mahoning Valley: Erik Stiller moved to Reserve List

Also.. The big news of course is that Edell will be taking the rotation spot of Hector Rondon, who is moving to the bullpen.

I'm not sure what to think of the bullpen move, but will get to that in a second.

Jamey Carroll is healthy and Eric Wedge believes that with Valbuena, he has a Left and Right handed combo on the infield as back-ups. That's why Barfield went down.

Personally I'm not fond of Luis Valbuena sharing a utility role with Jamey Carroll. Wedge says he has all these options and he wants to use all these guys in different ways.. Well he's essentially saying he wants to get like all the position players in somehow someway. There isn't enough starts in a week to do that.

Send down Valbuena, get him regular at-bats and regular time in the field, make sure he's sharp. Let Josh Barfield have the role of coming off the bench and being a spot starter. He certainly has shown he can do that and the key here, do it effectively.

But whatever, I won't quarrell with that.

Barfield should play just about everyday in Columbus. Be it at second base or the outfield, especially with the injury to Stephen Head.

Johnnie Drennen to Kinston. He's just going backwards at this point. He was once very promising and he finally got out of Kinston this year (not based on his performance though, more like hey... there is no one else to play outfield in Akron) but now he's going back.

Why? Because Matt McBride is a monster.

McBride will play the outfield,probably most of his time out, but also share DH and 1B with Beau Mills I'd imagine.

We all know what a rip McBride has been on to start the year. He's hitting over .400, well into a month and a half of the year. His numbers are just unworldly.

Akron just got a whole lot better with McBride being moved up. Wegz, McBride and Jose in the outfield. Mills, Rivero, Rodriguez and Goedert (when both are healthy of course) on the infield. Of course Santana behind the plate.

I mean jeeeeeeeze there is a player at every position that isn't really a "organizational player" with no ceiling. They aren't all going to be major leaguers, but they are all very talented players who are capable of contributing and moving on.

Not only that but Mills, Santana, Rivero, Wegz, and I think we'll throw in McBride because now that he's healthy, are all prospects who can be major leaguers based on their bats.

Okay but now the other move for Akron.

Hector Rondon to the bullpen?

I'm kind of on the fence on this one.. I've been for it, then against it, and for it, and against it.. Then said maybe under these circumstances. I've battled back and forth in my mind and I just can't decide if I like it if it were to happen.

Now that it has.. He's moved into the bullpen, effectively almost immediately and he'll probably be on onto Columbus rather quickly. That or the move makes no sense.

I'll reserve judgment. I'm leaning more towards, disliking, just because he's been so phenomenal up to this point, and that we've already moved enough starters into this rotation role. But I also think if he gets up here, he's got the type of stuff to be one of those guys who can give you a few above-average (from his perspective, so way better than he usually is, which is pretty good to begin wtih) innings and maybe help out a weakness on the team.

But I don't know. I hope it doesn't mess with him. I'm just hoping it helps the team and maybe, who knows.. It could put him on a fast-track to the big leagues and maybe he needs that, maybe he's better than this. He's been dominating the Double-A ranks this year.

Now the second item on the agenda.. Mark Shapiro spoke with the media on Tuesday before the game and you can see a video clip of this here. Let's go over some of his quotes.

First things first, he supported Eric Wedge and his staff.

"I feel the answers are here," Shapiro said, "with Eric and this coaching staff and these players."

"What I can tell you is I believe nobody cares more about these players or this organization than Eric Wedge," Shapiro said. "I feel strongly that he's making every effort to move this in a positive direction."

Again, Shapiro is too loyal to pull the plug on Wedge after just a month and a half.

Now Shapiro isn't done finding arms for this bullpen. A trade isn't imminent but in a month or so, when teams start dropping out, if the Indians are in a position to contend and need the help, they'll probably go get it. But right now, moves like Laffey show the Tribe is urgent to establish themselves as a contender.

"The Aaron Laffey move was indicative of the kind of thinking we're going to have to display, whether it's searching the free-agent market, looking at other Triple-A clubs or looking at our farm system," Shapiro said. "There is a sense of urgency, and that's also indicative in our belief in the rest of this club."

Now moving on.. Shapiro says that the leadership this team is looking for is on the field, by example.

"This isn't football," Shapiro said. "Leadership is the way guys play the game, the way they prepare, the way they treat each other and the way they respect the game and play. When you struggle all at once, you wonder if there's leadership in the room. But we have character in that room. We have guys who prepare the right way. In the game of baseball, that's leadership."

And finally.. I want to say this, because this is biggest point here. In a division that sucks... Anything is possible.

"If we had to dig out and win 95 games, we might have put ourselves in a hole that's insurmountable," Shapiro said. "But we're one good stretch away from being right back in it. That's easier said than done, and with what we've gone through the past month, it sounds harder to buy into. But that's a fact. And I think we can dig out of it."

That being said.. Shapiro said the run of the mill-stuff that you expect and he kind of put a little calm in here if you ask me. Kind of like. Okay the voice of reason is here, let's listen up, he makes sense.

I've got nothing left to go over. Enjoy this damn day game, I will not get to see it as I start work tomorrow. Darn. I'll def be checking my phone for the score updates though. I swear..