Westbrook finishes perfect spring; Tigers pick up Fultz

Jake Westbrook has been having a pretty dynamite spring on the mound. In his last start he was perfect before giving way to the bullpen, and in his last start before the season he didn’t disappoint.

Perfect Spring: Jake Westbrook ended spring training with a perfect 0.00 ERA.

He capped it off with a 4 inning, 2 hit gem. He struck out 4 batters and walked only one.

Jake has been striking out a lot more batters than usual. Could we see more of that? I personally hope not, because that’s not his game.. But then again sometimes he knows what he has to do to get hitters out.

For instance last year Tampa Bay was swinging all day long at the change up, and it resulted in Jake getting a higher number of punch outs.

Jake pitched in 18 scoreless innings this spring, spreading them out over 5 starts. Let’s see how much longer he can go!

Game ends in 7: Jensen Lewis and Jorge Julio followed Westbrook with two perfect innings a piece before Masahide Kobayashi came in to give up 5 runs.

Only one run was earned though, as a pair of Indians errors effectively ended the game as rain started to fall.

The runs came from the bottom of the lineup as Casey Blake, Franklin Gutierrez, and Jamey Carroll all knocked in a run.

CNN Anchor Steps up to the Plate: CNN Anchor Robin Meade, an Ohio native and former Miss Ohio took batting practice with the Tribe today in Atlanta.

[Meade] showed some skill with the bat while waiting for the Indians to finish hitting, flipping it around like a baton, leading her mentor to say, “I’ll teach you how to hit if you teach me how to do that.”

Meade, donning an Indians batting-practice jersey, then dug in against Willis. After fouling off a couple of pitches, Willis lost the plate. (Indians.com)

Read the whole story over at the Indians website. Meade is a Tribe fan so we like her. She took some BP from Carl Willis and Willis got razzed for the easy throwing to her. She put a ball in fair territory which is more than LeBron James could say. Mwahahaha

Manager of the Year Stays in 07: Eric Wedge is keeping that 2007 Award with 2007.

“Winning Manager of the Year doesn’t mean anything to me,” Wedge said prior to the Indians’ 2008 Spring Training finale. “Regardless of what happens, the consistency with the players and the back-and-forth should always be the same. It’s no different this year than it was last year.

“What matters to them is that we all take care of each other as teammates and play the game the right way. That’s what they should worry about. If they look at me differently now than last year, then I’m doing something wrong. That’s as blunt as I can put it.” (Indians.com)

While it doesn’t really rub me the wrong way.. Of course it means something to you Wedge. It shows that your team really came together strong. It says a lot. Everything else you said though, is right.

Fultz Signs With Tigers: After getting dropped by the Tribe, Aaron Fultz has latched on with the enemy.

He won’t be there right away though. Fultz signed a minor league deal with the Tigers today and will report to Triple A Toledo. This was actually a decent signing for the Tigers considering they don’t have many lefties in their pen or in their system that are close to contributing.

But then again we all know it is Aaron Fultz.

Jorge Julio Prevails; Elarton, Barfield Optioned

It looks like the Indians have made their decision on the final spots on the roster.

Although they aren’t ready to decide if the last spot in the pen will go to Craig Breslow or Tom Mastny, they have made a decision on the other spot.

Elarton Option, Julio Added: Elarton was optioned to Triple A Buffalo where he will start the year. He is a great depth option if you ask me.

With the release of Aaron Fultz it added a 40 man roster spot, to which Jorge Julio will occupy, which basically says he will be starting the year in the Tribe bullpen.

Now Tom Mastny is still around and that is because it’s now a two horse race for the last spot.

While it appears Craig Breslow will waltz right in and win it, the Tribe does want to see him in action. He pitched a perfect inning today with two strikeouts and earned a save. Wedge said he should pitch one more game before they break Thursday.

Scott Elarton’s contract has a clause that will let him look elsewhere if he isn’t on the big league roster by June 30th. But If things go well and some teams poke in interest, I don’t think the Tribe would hold him around, they are pretty good about that.

Mastny although I think it’s getting to him. The pressure that is. If that’s the case they made the right choice.

“No offense, but I’m sick of talking about it.” – Tom Mastny (Indians.com)

Barfield Optioned: Another job was settled as the Tribe demoted Josh Barfield to Triple A Buffalo.

Barfield will play second base every day at Buffalo, which is a plus. But I’m on the record of saying he is going to end the year as the Tribe’s second baseman.

Barfield lost out to Andy Marte. Who went deep again in the game against the Yankees. The downside though is he made his 5th and 6th errors of the spring. It’s gonna be an interesting ride for Marte this year.

Fultz Designated: The official word on Fultz is Designated for Assignment. Which means they have 10 days to trade or release him.

We’ll see what happens. If they do trade him it would be for a famous PTBNL and probably they would end up eating his entire $1.5 million salary this year.

Fultz To Be Released; Laffey and Sowers Optioned

Paul Hoynes has learned that the Indian’s intend to release Aaron Fultz after claiming reliever Craig Breslow of waivers from the Red Sox.

I posted the news about Breslow just awhile ago, and I said it was interesting to see what would happen. I certainly didn’t expect this to happen and to happen this quickly.

“We try not to make decisions just based upon spring training,” said Mark Shapiro. “Aaron is a guy prior to his injury last year pitched very effectively for us. He never got back to that form after that. I’m sure he can still help someone in the big leagues. Our desire was to take that spot in the bullpen, try to upgrade and continue to get better.” - Mark Shapiro (CPD)

So this is very interesting. The Indians will go into the year with Craig Breslow? Maybe they give Breslow a little bit of an audition, use Jorge Julio to start the year, and if things don’t work out recall Tom Mastny.

Certainly this changes the bullpen in a big way. The top of it is solidified and it is the last two spots of a very deep pen. But all pieces matter. We’ll see what happens in the coming week.
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Lee Wins: It’s official now. Cliff Lee has the final spot as Jeremy Sowers and Aaron Laffey have been optioned to Triple A Buffalo.

Indians Claim Breslow; Fultz In Limbo

The Indians have made a roster move and have claimed Craig Breslow off waivers from the Boston Red Sox.

I’ll post a profile on Breslow later to give you an idea what to expect.

But this is an interesting move by the Tribe and it comes real soon. You can tell they are concerned about Aaron Fultz.

Fultz has a 11.88 ERA this spring and there are some telling stats to look at.

“But Fultz has had one of the rougher spring seasons of anyone on the Tribe roster. In 8 1/3 innings over seven appearances, he has put up an 11.88 ERA. He gave up seven earned runs on nine hits on just 16 pitches against the Braves on March 12.” -Anthony Castrovince (Indians.com)

Add on the bad start in a Double A Akron intrasquad game and Fultz is having a very eventful spring. 16 pitches in a game and he gives up 9 hits? That’s a disaster.

I’m no the biggest Fultz fan. I don’t like guys who can come into a game and be good for one left-handed hitter and be done. It’s a reason I think someone like Adam Miller or Jeff Stevens is going to finish the year in the pen and Fultz will be gone.

Breslow is an interesting option. He’s only 27 and really there is no room on the Red Sox for him. The left hander had a 4.06 ERA at Pawtucket last year. More on Breslow later today.