More Injuries for the Tribe – With Update
Written By: Scott | Category: Cleveland Indians | Comments: 9
As if having Jake Westbrook, Fausto Carmona and Travis Hafner on the disabled list wasn’t enough to endure, the Tribe have officially placed Victor Martinez and Josh Barfield on the 15-day DL.
Recall that Barfield has had all of six at-bats since being called up to the bigs. The injury to the second baseman is being described as “left long finger pain.” While this opens up a ton of opportunities to joke about fans and their “left long finger,” I’ll leave that for you guys in the comments. Martinez, who has been experiencing nagging hamstring troubles since the opening weekend, is being shelved with right elbow inflammation.
The odd thing is in the two players that the Indians are calling up to take their spot on the 40-man roster: catcher Yamid Haad and infielder Jorge Velandia. Neither is a top prospect, nor are players that many have even heard of before.
Velandia, a shortstop, has split the season between Triple-A Syracuse (Toronto) and Buffalo. He’s 33-years old and is quite the journeyman, having played for Oakland, San Diego, New York Mets, Tampa Bay, and Toronto.
Haad has been in the league for 14 years and has played in 18 total games at the big league level. He’s currently hitting .159 for Triple-A Buffalo. Wow. I’m lost for words there.
Odds are that we won’t see much of either of these guys. In fact, Wyatt Toregas is currently listed as a catcher on the 40-man roster, so he’d likely be the immediate backup for Kelly Shoppach. Jamey Carroll is now the full-time second baseman, and will have to avoid all injury as the other infielders (aside from Velandia) are all corner men.
While the two guys that have been added to the roster will likely not make an impact, this move definitely makes things a lot harder to take. Would a team that’s attempting to stay in the hunt call up guys that are not expected to make an impact? Or is this simply due to the lack of options that we have in our farm system?
Hopefully, Cabrera gets his swing back soon and this is all in the rear view. Wishful thinking?
Update: I really want to add this quote in here, so I’ll just toss it out there:
After the game, manager Eric Wedge revealed that the elbow had flared up on Martinez during the at-bat and that the catcher has been battling the elbow problem all season.
So, you mean to tell me that on top of the hamstring problem, he’s had elbow issues ALL season? The team page is also tossing around the word “surgery.” This isn’t going to end well – just a hunch.
Update II: Just as suspected. Martinez will undergo surgery tomorrow, will miss 6-8 weeks. Oh joy.
Author: Scott
Scott is a co-founder/editor of Waiting For Next Year who resides in Cleveland, Ohio. Feel free to follow him on Twitter or email him at scott@waitingfornextyear.com.Scott has written 1700 articles for Waiting for Next Year.
4th and long, just punt.
screw punting, just withdraw
I was going to say, “Stick a fork in us, we’re done.” But that fork has been firmly in place for about 2 weeks now.
The only thing to save us now would be for the owner to die and leave the team to his villainousness wife with shenanigans ensuing.
I’m gonna pistol whip the next person that says shenanigans…
Hey, Farva…
I just don’t understand all the concealing of injuries, particularly when it is so obvious for so long that the players with the injuries are in no way playing to their potential and it’s costing us games. I know it’s considered sportsmanlike to “play through the pain,” but it is disloyal to the team and the fans when doing so inflicts pain on the team’s performance and in we who are devoted to them and placed under the impression that they’re just “in a funk” or “in a spell” and that they’ll “come around any day.” This isn’t just imprudent baseball management; it’s immoral treatment of the players and fans.
*Really doesn’t want to be a Cleveland sports fan anymore, but just…can’t…stop* Thank god I have support groups like this
As a read this I couldn’t help but to think of the movie Major League. You know with that mean lady that takes away all the clubhouse equipment just to make sure the players get injured and play poorly. You’d think these guys would be getting massages and full body CAT scans daily just to catch/prevent injuries. Especially injuries that HAVE BEEN GOING ON ALL SEASON. They need their own wing in the Cleveland Clinic, and as a tax payer I’d happily pay for it…if it means a healthy season/championship. This team will never become contenders this year, unless they develop some team unity. Something to rally everyone around, like a giant card board cut out, or something simple like getting healthy.
Should have joined in the boycott! Shenanigans!
Thier own wing in the Cleveland Clinic? Isnt that where the Browns staph infections are supposedly coming from? I dont know that we should take that risk.