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Tribe forced to make decisions on young players

Hello Tribe Fans Everywhere!

Descisions, decisions. Seems as if Cleveland Indians General Manager Mark Shapiro and Manager Eric Wedge have had to make quite a few calls in recent weeks concerning Cleveland's young players.

Fausto Carmona was optioned back to Buffalo and then recalled when Jake Westbrook went down. Jason Davis was sent packing to Seattle, as the Indians called up Edward Mujica.

Andy Marte pulled a hamstring and went to Buffalo on a rehab assignment. "He'll be back as soon as he's ready," said Wedge. But, now that Casey Blake is playing a solid third base and his bat is heating up, it appears there's a possibility Marte might stay at Buffalo.

If it were up to me, I'd keep him down on the farm. Marte was not at all impressive in the early games he played before getting injured. He blamed his poor fielding on the bitter cold spring weather, but that's a lousy excuse.

Shapiro and Wedge must also be worried sick about Fernando Cabrera, who was booed by fans at Jacobs Field last night after surrendering three hits, two runs and another home run in one-third of an inning. Cabrera has coughed up homers in successive appearances now, and he looks nothing like the sharp young reliever he was three weeks ago.

Is he hurting? It's a possibility. Cabrera has no minor league options left, but he could go on the disabled list and later put in a rehab stint at Buffalo. I would definitely give that option some serious consideration.

Finally, should the Indians send Jeremy Sowers back to Buffalo? If he continues to struggle while Westbrook convalesces, I would say yes. But, fortunately, that's not a call the Tribe brass has to make yet. Sometimes it's good to take as much time as you need before making the important calls.


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The answer to yesterday's quickie quiz is: Boog Powell smashed 27 home runs while playing first base for the Tribe in 1975.

Today's quiz: Who stole more bases, Joe Sewell or Kenny Lofton?

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-- Kevin Cuneo

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This page contains a single entry from the blog posted on May 16, 2007 5:03 PM.

The previous post in this blog was Fond memories of Gomer Hodge live on for Tribe fans.

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