You’ve heard of who’s hot and who’s not? Well, pretty much every position player on the Indians’ roster other than Shin-Soo Choo is not.
With a suspect pitching staff, offense was expected to power the Tribe this season. A look at the numbers of the sagging sluggers listed below entering Saturday reveals that it clearly hasn’t been the case:
Asdrubal Cabrera (.250, 3-for-last-18).
Grady Sizemore (.212, 0-for-last-9).
Travis Hafner (.229, 2-for-last-12).
Jhonny Peralta (.133, 0-for-last-11).
Matt LaPorta (.242, 3-for-last-15).
Luis Valbuena (.185, 1-for-last-11).
Michael Brantley (.192, 1-for-last-12).
Lou Marson (.105, 2-for-last-19).
Mike Redmond (.143, 2-for-last-14).
Mark Grudzielanek (.091, 0-for-last-10).
Andy Marte (.167, 1-for-last-6).
Other than Choo, who was tearing it up with a .333 batting average, three home runs and five RBIs through Friday, Austin Kearns (.333 in five games) is the only other player hitting right now.
Imagine what this team would look like if its pitching hadn’t performed well above the preseason expectations.
It’s a safe bet that Cleveland’s pitching will not be able to carry the load the entire season, and if the offense doesn’t start picking it up, it could get ugly – uglier than it already is.
Pronk’s progress
Will Hafner ever be the feared hitter he was for three years from 2004-06? It doesn’t look like it.
Deemed completely healthy for the first time in three years, Hafner provided reason for optimism with a positive performance in the exhibition season. Still, he just doesn’t look like he has the thunder back in his bat.
Through the first 10 games of the season, Hafner had one extra-base hit, a homer in the fourth game.
He averaged just over 34 homers a year during his heyday, but he will be lucky to hit 30 this season.
Pronk’s power appears to have left with his multitude of shoulder ailments over the past two seasons, and the Indians need more from their cleanup hitter.
Shut it
What’s up with CC Sabathia courting Cavaliers star LeBron James to New York?
Dude skips town, declares his love for Cleveland with a full-page newspaper ad and then tries to help steal the city’s greatest basketball player ever.
In wooing James during an interview, Sabathia said that winning a world championship in New York was different, inferring that it was somehow better than winning anywhere else – namely Cleveland.
How would Sabathia know? He might have gained some insight into winning a World Series title in Cleveland had he manned up in Game 5 of the 2007 ALCS against the Red Sox, instead of buckling to Josh Beckett and Boston with the Indians a win away from advancing to the Fall Classic.
Truth is Sabathia, a California native, was always a West Coast guy when he was in Cleveland. I guess one year and a bunch of money in New York has turned him into an East Coast guy now, one who has forgotten where he got his start.
Contact Chris Assenheimer at 329-7136 or cassenheimer@chroniclet.com.
