Mark Shapiro’s Take on Yesterday’s Moves

That locker that is given to veteran players has been considered off-limits.

“We’re going to let it cool off for a while,” said Amato. “You’re talking about two big moves in the same month.” (Plain Dealer)

CC and now Blake.. I told you they’d be clearing it out again. Why not just play it safe and give it to someone like Grady?

Oh and Casey Blake stopped by the park before he left to get his gloves.

Mark Shapiro was DOWNRIGHT GIDDY over this trade… Look at this quote.

“The deal came together quickly,” said GM Mark Shapiro. “We had a very good feel for their system and a good idea of who we liked. We’ve been scouting these guys [Santana and Meloan] for a long time because of the talks with CC.” (Plain Dealer)

They were scouting these guys for a CC deal, and we got them for Casey Blake?

Are you serious?

It should be known Mark Shapiro had no intentions of dealing Casey when he got to work on Saturday, it was the Dodgers that initiated and heightened these talks.

It should be noted that the Indians are picking up the remaining two million in Blake’s salary.

Who cares? Look at what they gave us.

Steve Henson says the Dodgers really showed how desperate they were with this deal.

“So in addition to their other problems – the injuries to shortstop Rafael Furcal, closer Takashi Saito and outfielder Juan Pierre, the deterioration of outfielder Andruw Jones, the absence of starters Brad Penny and Jason Schmidt – the Dodgers had to address the pop-gun production at third base to hold out any hopes of edging out the Diamondbacks.

It’s a shame they had to trade two of their best minor-leaguers for an emergency solution at a position the front office had projected would be filled capably by the homegrown LaRoche and DeWitt.” (Yahoo! Sports)

It looks like Meloan will be a reliever.

“I think most organizations saw him as a reliever. We’ll move him to the pen so he doesn’t get too many innings, take a look at him as a reliever and then take the off-season to decide what role he’ll come to spring training in.” (Plain Dealer)

As for the Anthony Reyes deal.

“We think Reyes has significant upside,” said Indians GM Mark Shapiro. “He’s had mixed results [10-24, 5.38 ERA] in the big leagues.” (Plain Dealer)

Andy Marte is a guy short of words.. But he himself is happy about getting the third base job for the rest of the year.. Why wouldn’t he?

“He’s one of the best teammates I’ve ever been around,” Marte said. “But it’s good for me because I’m still young and I get to play and get better. It’s good for me and my career.” (Indians.com)

Wedge is hilarious though.. I love to see him say this stuff he’s been saying about Marte now that he’s hitting. If there’s one reason for Marte to play well it’s to shove it in Eric Wedge’s face.

Thoughts on all of the Tribe Moves

So with all the news I haven’t really thrown in much of my 2 cents.

Let’s start with Casey Blake.

I love Casey. I’m gonna miss him and his dead-pan humor. He was THE player that you can point to and say… “I want every man on my 25 man roster to be like Casey Blake.”

Put it at that. He will be missed, but this was a move that needed to be made. Andy Marte needs to be seen, Ryan Garko needs to be seen, Franklin Gutierrez needs to be seen.

I’ll miss him and if we need a utility man next year, I’d make Casey choice number one.

As for what we got in return.

I’m more ecstatic about it than what we got for C.C. Sabathia.. Here is why.

We knew Sabathia would yield us some good prospects.

I had NO clue that Casey Blake was going to result in such a talented duo of players.

Some say Carlos Santana is one of the best hitters in the Dodgers system. He leads the entire minor leagues in RBI with 96 and his on base percentage is over .400. Switch hitting Catchers are a dime-a-dozen man. He’s an athlete.. Simple as that.

I also like the Jon Meloan get. He will be moved to the bullpen and the 350 some strikeouts over 260 innings is something to fawn over. He’s struggled as a starter this year, but we have no use for him as that. I like the pick-up.

Anthony Reyes was a good pick-up. Why not take a chance on a guy who is said to have a high-ceiling.

Luis Perdomo in my mind was sort of expendable with guys like Jeff Stevens and Randy Newsome. You can never have too many relievers, but if Anthony Reyes pans out like he should, I think losing Perdomo would be well worth it. Take in mind, he JUST got to Akron.

I’m in full support as we know of moving Aaron Laffey back down to Triple-A. He needs to fix himself and get his confidence back. Matt Ginter gets lost if you expose him to waivers. Of course now with Reyes in the fold, you do have some room to wiggle, but I think they’d prefer to have more than less.

Here is the moves.. I updated all three boards.

Luis Perdomo Traded to St. Louis in exchange for Anthony Reyes. Reyes optioned to Buffalo.

Fausto Carmona activated from Disabled List, Aaron Laffey optioned to Buffalo.

Laffey and Reyes will go into the rotation. Buzachero will probably lose his spot and I could see David Huff getting sent down.

Casey Blake Traded to the Dodgers for Catcher Carlos Santana and Pitcher Jon Meloan. Carlos Santana sent to Kinston. Jeff Stevens will soon be added to the Inactive list when he goes to the Olympics. That should open up the spot for Jon Meloan.

Also, Matt McBride has finished his rehab assignment and has been sent to Kinston. Kinston now has FIVE catchers. I’d expect someone to get sent to Lake County. I’d also expect a trade for one of the others. Also, maybe they move Chris Gimenez to another position.

Travis Hafner was sent to the 60 Day Disabled List retroactive to May 26, which is exactly 60 days ago. He’ll be eligible to come off when he is ready, he goes for another strength test on Monday.

His move was to clear up a spot on the 40 man roster for Andy Gonzalez who was called up to take Casey Blake’s spot on the 25 man roster.

Report: Indians close to trading Blake to Dodgers

From ESPN, it looks like Casey Blake is as good as gone!

The deal looks like Blake, and Cash for minor league catcher Carlos Santana (not the musician), and Pitcher Jon Meloan.

Here is a article about Santana trying to become the catcher of the future for the Dodgers. He’s just 22 years old right now and he should really bolster the Indians depth at Catcher.

Here is a profile on Carlos Santana from Fire Ned Colletti Now. Here is a profile on Jon Meloan.

Globe Spots Says It’s Done.

Carlos Santana is a switch-hitting catcher who was moved from third base. He has power potential and him playing third sort of tells you he isn’t just a catcher type player. He is a little bit of an athlete. He has a good arm behind the dish. He’s 22 years old and was at the Dodgers High A Club.

Jon Meloan is a 24 year old starting pitcher in the Triple A level. He was a reliever as of last year and even earned a MLB call up last year. The Dodgers moved him into the rotation and he has sort of set back from the looks of it. The Indians could keep him there or move him back into the bullpen, he might be ready to contribute rather soon if they move him back. Meloan has 355 career strikeouts in just 262 innings.

I hope they move Meloan back to the pen. We could use him there.

Overall at first glance, We got a hell of a deal here.

Morning Update: Nady Trade Could Make Blake Prime Target

Jamey Carroll left yesterday’s game because of a left hamstring strain.. Thank you for that!

Couple of cool stats.. The Indians lead the league in fielding percentage.. You don’t hear about the defense, and that is why.. They’ve been GOOD. Also pitching has been awesome.. 10 shutouts is right behind Boston for the league lead.

Also people are enjoying Paul Byrd’s book. I’m going to Barnes N Noble next week to pick up a college preview magazine… I think I’m going to pick up Byrdie’s book as well.

Speaking of Byrd, he seeked the advice of Twins announcer Bert Blyleven on his Curveball.

Casey Blake loves Cleveland very much. They took a chance on Casey and it paid off and I think he feels like he just fits here… It is his kind of town anyway. Well, last night Xavier Nady was traded and that might be the piece that needed to fall for Blake to go. I’m guessing that with Nady no longer available. Casey Blake is probably one of the prime targets for teams like Tampa Bay and the other New York team, who both lost out on the Nady sweepstakes.

Kelly Shoppach is benefiting from the Victor Martinez injury.

“I think he’s been pretty consistent,” Wedge said. “I feel like he needs to keep doing what he’s doing. If he keeps doing what he’s doing, he’ll continue to improve.” (Indians.com)

Glad Kelly has had this opportunity. It only justifies how important he is to this team as a back-up catcher and that we have no business getting rid of him.

The starting catcher is getting ready to begin baseball related activities though. Victor Martinez will pick up a bat on Monday and play catch.

In other injury news, Travis Hafner’s next strength test will be on Monday as well. We’ll find out how much he’s improved. Right now he has at 65% and remember it was said he needs to be at 75% before they think about letting him swing off a tee.

Fausto Carmona makes his return tonight and Carl Willis believes his wildness has been tammed.

“It led into the mechanical side,” Willis said. “He’d sit on his back leg and overthrow, and tend to push. That starts with his adrenaline and emotion level.” (Indians.com)

Expect Carmona to only throw anywhere from 85 to 90 pitches. They don’t want to push him in his first game back.

No word on who is getting sent down, or Released for that matter. The lockers of Ginter and Laffey are both in-tact but CastroTurf feels Ginter stays and Laffey gets sent down. I agree with it. You will never have a better chance. Get Laffey worked out.. It’s a whole lot better than releasing Ginter, letting Laffey make one more bad start and then having to call up someone like Jeff Weaver.

Morning Update: Choo’s Military Problem Could Halt Career

Hey quick news to pass along. Scott Elarton’s season is effectively over. He got moved to the 60-day disabled list. Sounds like something is really going on with Elarton or his family. I hope everything is okay with Scott and nothing too serious is going on. He’s a stand-up guy and he worked hard to get back to where he was with the Tribe. Best of luck to Scott and the Elarton family.

It’s looking more and more likely that Shin-Soo Choo will be factored out of the Tribe’s equation by a greater beeing. As we’ve chronicaled on here before. Choo can avoid this military obligation that he has to start serving by 2010 if he wins a gold-medal at the olympics or the Asian Games in 2010. He can’t partake in the Olympics beccause South Korea won’t take players on the 25 man roster away from the MLB. Choo can’t go to the minors because he’s out of options.

So.. Problemmmmm.

This has Choo really upset from what I can read.

“The Indians couldn’t send me to the minors [to be on the Korean team] because I’m out of options,” said Choo, who added “There’s too much stress to worry about it now.” (Plain Dealer)

I really feel for the guy.. He can become an American citizen and avoid it, but I’m not sure how long he’s been here and been living in the states and if he’ll have enough time under his belt before 2010 rolls around.

We’ll see how this goes. This is like the Caleb Campbell thing with the Detroit Lions. These guys have a dream.. The only thing different here is Caleb Campbell choose to go to a school where he’d have to serve. Choo didn’t, this is a requirement of every South Korean. If Choo doesn’t do it, his country will probably have some hostile feelings towards him and he probably won’t be able to ever go back. Not to mention whatever family he has there will probably get frowned upon.

Chinese basketball player Wang Zhi-Zhi went through that same type of thing.

Aaron Laffey’s struggles have prompted the sudden question that maybe they should send him to the minors come Saturday. that’s relief for Matt Ginter. It is a serious possibility at this point, Laffey has really struggled to find himself in these past few games. They want to work some things out in Buffalo and get him back up later. You never know.

Starting Pitching News All Around. Jake Westbrook’s check up went well.

“It’s stable,” Westbrook said of his elbow. “I’m pleased with it. It’s still a little achy and a little sore. Now it’s a matter of letting it heal and doing some rehab.” (Indians.com)

We talked about Casey Blake yesterday… Heres the thing though..

Hoynes suggested that Blake could garner a first or second round draft pick.

The problem is this.. If you offer Casey Blake arbitration money.. He might just take it.. Casey Blake isn’t looking to go nuts. He will foil your plan ala Greg Maddux if you hold onto him and offer him arbitration. I tried to do some research on what Blake would yield us, but there simply isn’t anything out there, YET. Coincidentially MLBTR brought it up today.

Let me say this though.

Trade Casey Blake. HIS VALUE WILL NEVER BE HIGHER THAN IT IS RIGHT NOW!

Thank you..

Tim Brown has a nice little thing on Paul Byrd and his continued struggle with his tumor. I really feel for the guy. He isn’t a cheater and I believe him in this whole thing.

I’ll be back shortly with a little bit of Closer Talk..

Boom goes the dynamite… Tribe Lose Barnburner

This was a good ole’ fashioned Jim Ross Slobber-knocker.. By Gawd.

You never got the feeling it was over, even when Mathis hit the grand slam. Especially since the Indians ended up scoring 11 runs. But man that was not the overall pitching performance this team needed.

Rincon had another perfect outing, but every other pitcher gave up a run. Laffey’s ERA went from the 2’s to the 4’s in the past few starts. He was just awful… Just Awful man.

Four innings plus, 12 hits, 8 runs, 2 walks on 77 pitches.

Just.. Wow.

Mastny gave up four(not including the ones he gave up that were charged to Laffey) and Jensen gave up 2.

Offensively.. Man Man Man

Grady Sizemore had the BEWSH 25th of the year. He tied Quentin until Carlos went deep for the second time today. So he trails Quentin by one.

Peralta went 3-5 with an RBI. He continues to mash man.. Putting together some great at-bats as well. Just battled against Lackey.

Choo 2-4 with two RBI.. Marte 1-3 with an RBI and a walk. Garko had the big day finally starting… You gotta think Wedge is gotta start him more.. I mean come on, when is Casey Blake gonna get traded?

Anyway.. Ryan Garko went 3-5 with four RBI including a two-run blast to left.

Hell Even Dellucci (in the two hole now? What the hell) had an RBI.

It still wasn’t enough though.. Everyone in the starting lineup got a hit, except for Cabrera who really got into one with men on base but Juan Rivera made a great play to run it down. Blake’s 7 game hit-streak came to an end when he failed to get a hit in his pinch hit apperance.

Take this though.. Bruce Drennan just made a good point. This is the best record-wise team in the entire major leagues. So taking one from them, and losing by one and three runs isn’t bad. If only.. IF ONLY they played like this offensively yesterday and pitched like they did yesterday today.

Gotta put it together sirs.

Off Day Tomorrow-Which means a quick return to our new favorite feature.. Photoshop Off-Day! I know you’re excited. Then Friday we return home to face the Twins. Cliffffffffffad and Livan Hernandez. Let’s get 14 for the good man. Expecting a Hafner update tomorrow..

[BOXSCORE]

Morning Update: Deadline Looming For Blake Deal

As you know, tomorrow will be the one week mark for the Trade Deadline. Teams will be starting to fire up the trade discussions and two deals already got done yesterday.

The Indians are of course a prime team to trade some people. The most valuable being Casey Blake. But, for whatever reason, all quiet on that front. I’m going to be really upset with Shapiro if he doesn’t move him before the deadline.

Here is what has come through the pipeline on Blake.

Jon Heyman says both New York teams are interested in Blake.

Will Carroll of Baseball Prospectus has the Mets as well, but also adds in the Twins and the Rays as the top suitors. Would the Twins be willing to trade a prospect in-division? He also said that the Indians are just listening to all the offers. Well that’s sort of encouraging. I don’t think Shapiro is in any hurry to trade Blake away, which is baffling and just frustrating.

The infatuation with this club and Blake has gone on long enough. He’s done a lot of good things, but it’s time to move on.

Tim Brown (Not the former Raider Receiver) of Yahoo! Sports has Blake on the list of players the Indians are listening to offers for. But he also has Jamey Carroll and Paul Byrd. No surprise on Byrd, but I don’t think Carroll is going anywhere. Jhonny Peralta’s name also came up, but it would take one hell of an offer for Shapiro to give up on Peralta, especially with the way he’s hitting this year.

As for Casey Blake.. He’s hit in every spot in the lineup except lead-off this year.. Last year he did it all except the four hole or three hole(and leadoff) I believe. I’d never put it past Wedge to hit him lead-off though. He’s that crazy in love.

Wedge want’s to keep Jhonny Peralta fresh, so he gave him the day off yesterday and you could see it happen again soon. I’d imagine he would give Peralta a DH start rather than sit him though.

“We’ll give him two out of the next three days off [with Thursday's off-day],” Wedge said. “It’s a good time to get him a day off. There are days we’ll give him from time to time here in the second half to keep him strong and keep him going.” (Indians.com)

Peralta has done nothing but knock in runs since getting put in the clean-up spot.

“When you hit fourth, you know there are going to be people on base,” Peralta said. “I’ve been concentrating on every at bats. Right now, it’s been good for me.” (Plain Dealer)

A kind gesture by Paul Byrd to Masa Kobayashi the other day.

He gave him a t-shirt that said “I’m Huge In Japan.” I’m sure you’ve seen the ad for it on Snorg T’s or someone wearing it around. It has an alternative meaning, that I’ll let you figure out, but Masa was wearing it around the clubhouse.

Kobayashi is doing a good job closing out games for now, but Wedge wasn’t quick to rule out Rafael Perez having a shot. But he doesn’t seem to want to do that, because of Perez’s value as a left-hander and not having another viable one to use in situations that may need it.

“If we had a closer who can do the job,” Wedge said, “I don’t care if he’s right-handed or left-handed.”

“Ideally, you’d like to have somebody else to close,” Wedge said. “Because otherwise you’re searching for another lefty who might not be as good.” (Indians.com)

You could see Fausto Carmona pointing to the camera with a wild smile on his face in one of the ending clips to the game last night if you stayed up.. Neadless to say, he’s happy to be back and is cleared to make his return on Saturday.

Morning Update: Carmona To Start Saturday

“It’s something we’ve definitely been looking forward to,” manager Eric Wedge said of Carmona’s return. “Obviously, he’s a big part of our starting rotation. To have him back should be a big boost for us.” (Indians.com)

Who else but Fausto?!

That’s right.. Fausto Carmona has been cleared to come off the DL and make a start on Saturday provided his side session goes well today (and who are we kidding, it will). Matt Ginter will be making his final start tonight against the Angels. It should be a big boost for the Tribe to get their Fausto Man back..

Carmona will be donning a new era when he returns. It’s the era of him being the Cleveland Ace with CC Sabathia gone.

I mean what can you say about Matt Ginter though? This will be his last start, but maybe he opened up another clubs eyes on him enough to give him a shot?

“You always want to think you’ve got a chance,” Ginter said. “I went [into the season] with the mind-set that I could make a good impression on them.” (Indians.com)

He did a good job, and hopefully he has one more left in him.

I’m really feeling for Josh Barfield now that Cabrera is aback with the team. The timing of that injury couldn’t have been more rotten. Now he probably won’t be starting every day unless they send him back to Buffalo, which would be downright cruddy.

“I just want to get back out there playing,” Barfield said. (Indians.com)

Barfield is with the team and he will begin to hit off the tee soon. He’s a matter of weeks away from returning.

Speaking of injuries, Victor Martinez might find himself in that every fifth day benching like he was last year. At least he won’t start at Catcher every day, which isn’t so bad for him coming off the elbow surgery.

Kelly Shoppach and Cliff Lee have really clicked and Lee has been really pleased with the job Kelly has done. Shoppach could become his personal catcher and his offensive output is just more helpful to that. Victor could get more time at first base in those situations, which really like I said, isn’t such a bad idea. Especially with Garko struggling.

Mark Shapiro isn’t expecting to spend much on Free Agents, even with CC Sabathia and Paul Byrd’s contracts coming off the books. There is roughly 20 million less that they had this year that they won’t have to worry about next year. Not to mention Casey Blake’s six million which is the second highest yearly salary on the team aside from Travis Hafner and Jake Westbrook.

One thing is for sure.. This team will sign a starting pitcher in some capacity. Be it a project or just a veteran that can get them through most of the season until Jake Westbrook is ready, if he is ready. Depending on what Andy Marte does and what happens with Peralta, they could bring in a veteran at third for a year. Other than that, I wouldn’t expect much. I wouldn’t even expect a first baseman signing, despite what Hoynes said about Garko. He brought up an interesting name though.

Jim Thome anyone?

Speaking of Shapiro. Mark was not happy about Grady Sizemore playing 10 innings in the All-Star Game.

“I didn’t like Grady [Sizemore] having to play 10 innings,” said Shapiro, referring to his center fielder. “But you can’t expend energy on it. You can’t blame the manager, but what are you going to do? (Plain Dealer)

While Casey Blake is being brought up about his impending free agency, Anthony Castrovince puts the market to Blake’s trade value.

“You don’t trade a guy just for the sake of trading him. It’s questionable how much Blake would pull in, and he could potentially remain in the mix with the Indians if they can sign him to a short-term deal.

All that being said, several teams — including the Dodgers, Mets and Twins — appear to have some interest in Blake. Nothing appears imminent at the moment.” (Indians.com)

Why the hell not? We can’t continue to move on with this guy as a starter. Casey is great to have as a utility player at this point, but this offensive output will not last. We need to move on. His value will never be higher.

The Mets are certainly interested.. At least Omar Minaya is.. According to Jon Heyman of SI, Minaya is a big fan of Blake. Quick do they still have Scott Kazmir? Oh no? Well uh.. How about any other blue-chip prospect? Quickly now, let’s go make a deal here before he remembers he traded for Victor Zambrano. Seriously, did he think he was getting Carlos?

Morning Update/Game Recap: Laffey Struggles After ASB

So…

Pretty depressing to watch that last night.

One of those games.. You got an ace on the mound for the other team, and your pitcher struggles.

The results are what you saw last night.

Granted, Aaron Laffey only got charged with three earned runs. But he was clearly not on his game. Errors be damned, Laffey couldn’t put hitters away after he got 2 outs. That entire 2nd inning mess all started with two outs. He also gave up the three run-jack in the 4th.

Encouraging outings from Jensen Lewis and Juan Rincon to hold the opposition where they were.

Casey Blake did all the offensive damage with 1-4 including a solo shot.

Asdrubal Cabrera went 1-3 with a walk and a run in his return. I’m still reading Wedge quotes on the kid.

“He’s 22. He’s a baby. He has to learn what he needs to do throughout his daily routine to be the best player he can physically.” (Plain Dealer)

Can we stop asking Wedge these questions? Really.

Speaking of Wedge.. He spoke out about the All-Star Game.. I’m absolutely certain he wasn’t a happy camper that Grady Sizemore played virtually all of that game.

“Whether it’s nine, 10 or 11 innings,” said Wedge, “the game is called after that. That way you can plan for everyone to get in the game. You know you don’t have to pitch or play people who are tired or borderline hurt. If it’s a tie game, you flip a coin and whoever wins it gets home field advantage. If you want that game to decide it, there’s nothing else you can do.” (Plain Dealer)

From that link… You know before last night the Indians are the best defensive team in the league? Yeah I tip my hat for that at least.

Here is the reason Shin-Soo Choo wears the double ear flapped helmet.

“I just feel comfortable. Who knows, maybe next year I’ll go with one flap.” (Plain Dealer)

Oh come on.. That wasn’t any good.. I hope he keeps it, I love the double flaps.

Obviously.. Seattle is Grady’s stomping grounds. So, obviously he grew up watching Ken Griffey Jr.

“He was exciting to watch. He was the center fielder when I was growing up, he was that guy,” Sizemore said. “He was kind of emerging as a star, and it was fun to watch the way he played. It was exciting. So to sit there and play against him now is pretty special.”(Indians.com)

[BOXSCORE]

Hey a few site updates…

I’m not sure if you like the current layout… I don’t.. It’s only temporary, because I needed something larger on the right side.. I’ll be unrolling a new layout by next week, it’s done, but I’m working out the kinks.. It will allow me to do a lot more and It will all look a lot cleaner, no matter what resolution you are working with on your monitor. Less cluttered, easier navigation. I’m also gonna start a few new features. The best part is there is no more white text on blue background.

At this rate, the boards get updated anytime a major move is made, but if not I update them every two days. Stuff has been kinda slow though so no need for many updates. The only thing over there not being updated is the Prospect Notebook. A new version is one of those new features I’ll be rolling out.

Morning Update: Mujica Getting Meaningful Chances

In case you are wondering why Andy Marte was on the bench, after Eric Wedge said he was the everyday Third Baseman.. Fear not, for it was simply a day off for Marttttyyy.

Marte will be back in the lineup today and since Garko had such a great night, I’m going to take a wild stab and say he’ll be DHing. Playing Dellucci these days is pretty pointless if you ask me.

I’m sticking a fork in the Tribe career of Brian Slocum, who was sent down to make room for Matt Ginter.

“We’re still not seeing up here what we are seeing down there,” manager Eric Wedge said. “It’s not uncommon for a young pitcher, but he has to get to the point where he’s comfortable in a big league uniform, locker room and particularly on the field to where he can relax and pitch.” (Indians.com)

In other words.. He’s 27 and if he hasn’t shown it by now, then well I don’t think he will be showing it anytime soon. Slocum will be back, no doubt, but I don’t expect him to ever contribute. The Indians should have no problem next year with his lack of option years.

One young bullpen arm that I’m doing just the opposite for is Eddie(Edward, Ed, Edwin) Mujica. I’ve always like Squirrel boy and now he is showing he can get it done late in the game.

“What Mujica did has to be noted,” said Wedge. “For him to take advantage of that opportunity is something we’ve been waiting for some of these kids to do.” (Plain Dealer)

I like Mujica’s chances for a spot next year if he keeps pitching well. You knew there would be spots open, it’s just a matter of someone stepping up to get them.

Josh Barfield will play catch after the All-Star Break.

Fausto Carmona will be heading back to where the magic happened a few years ago.. He’ll make his first rehab start monday for the Lake County Captains. As for his bullpen session.

“I throw all my pitches, including a knuckleball” (Plain Dealer)

Very Funny Fausto.

Casey Blake got a new locker.

With C.C. Sabathia gone, the veterans locker became open and Blake has been moved to it.. I highly doubt he’ll be there for much longer though, so they should have just given it to Cliff Lee. Casey still hang out with Shoppach all the time anyway.

Also, Matt LaPorta got a day off last night, so no watch on him.