ColumbusSports.com

If you are a Tribe fan it has been a crazy past few weeks. The Indians’ organization has made many changes and to be honest it has been very frustrating to me and to others. It is understandable that some changes needed to be made, but if you have to trade a player make sure you get a quality player in return. They traded away many key players:  Cy Young Award winner Cliff Lee, Rafael Betancourt, Ryan Garko, and all star switch-hitter, Victor Martinez. It was very disappointing.  It seems that the Indians always trade away their above average players for “prospects”, a bad word in Tribe baseball. I felt like Allen Iverson; I was saying to myself, “Prospects, prospects, we are talking about prospects”.  It does not make much sense trading better than average players for unproven players. The Cliff Lee trade even included a single A player who is going to take at least two or three years before he even sees a major league pitching mound.  You have to get some proven talent. It all was very hard to accept.   It would be easy to quit watching the Indians and watch “Major League” instead every time a game would come on. However, even though all these trades have gone down, it is still surprisingly fun to watch them play.

The Indians have been playing better lately. They have won ten out of their last fifteen games and four out of their last five series.  Pitching was a major concern for the team early in the season but Fausto Carmona has made his way back to the major league level that we saw a few years ago and Aaron Laffey has also played much better. The bullpen was horrible but they are starting to make strides too. Kerry Wood has gotten a few saves lately. It is almost like there is a new energy in the Cleveland dugout.

It would have been easy for the team to throw in the towel after all the moves that were made. However, right after the Cliff Lee and the Victor Martinez trades, they had a great series with the Central Division leading Detroit Tigers. Taking the series 2-1, they played like they were fighting for the Division lead and not like they were twelve games out. They could have very easily swept the series. They had multiple chances to win game two in extra innings. How many times have you seen a team twelve games back taking two games against the Division leader into extra innings? Game one was great. It went thirteen innings with Jamey Carroll hitting the walk off winner. We have not seen too many of those this year either. It was the first game that was fun to watch in a while. The bats seem to be doing better also. Proof of this is based on the runs they have been scoring lately. They have had double digit hits in many of their games. This change in play helped them win their latest series with another Division contender, the Minnesota Twins.

Now I know most of you might wonder why I am taking such a positive approach on this second half of the season. Don’t get me wrong. I am not saying that they are going to come back and play the last series of the season for the Division. The Tribe has already tried that against the Chicago White Socks. That will only happen once in a lifetime.  We all know how that turned out. You have to remember something.  This is not only the Cleveland Indians of this year but likely the Cleveland Indians of many years into the future.  They have decided to go young and start over again. Give these guys a chance.  It is not the players’ fault the team changed everything around.  These young players are playing hard and treating each game like it is for “all the marbles”. You cannot ask for much more than that. If the team is going to play this well when they are basically out of contention, can you even imagine how good they will be when it truly does mean something?  Don’t give up Tribe fans, don’t give up!

Tags: cleveland indians, cliff lee, jamey caroll, mlb, rafeal betancourt, ryan garko, victor martinez