It'll all tie together

On April 15th, Tom Mastny was promoted to the major league team when Joe Borowski was disabled. The next day, he relieved CC Sabathia in the fifth inning of a shellacking at the hands of Detroit, got four outs before having to get relieved. He gave up 2 hits, 3 walks, 2 runs and left with the bases loaded, throwing 49 pitches, less than half of which were strikes.

On April 29th, Mastny came in with 2 outs in the 9th inning of a game that was 2-2 entering the top of the 9th inning. Rafy Betancourt didn't have his stuff, giving up a 3 run home run to Adrian Beltre. Craig Breslow, himself pitching for the first time since April 16th, didn't have his stuff either, giving up four baserunners and recording one out. By the time Mastny took the hill, the score was 7-2, and there were runners on first and second. Mastny induced a ground ball to short that was booted, then recorded a strikeout.

On April 17th, the Indians won 11-1. On April 22nd, the Indians won 15-1. In neither of these games did Mastny (or Breslow) appear. On the 17th, Jensen Lewis, Masa Kobayashi and Rafy Betancourt were used to pitch the last two and a third innings. On the 22nd, Jorge Julio, Jensen Lewis and Rafy Betancourt were used to pitch the last three innings.

The Indians are currently tied for 8th in the league in runs per game at 4.54. If advanced metrics are more your thing, the Indians are 10th in the AL in VORP - Value Over Replacement Player. Basically, the offense is not very good. The Indians are hurt by another tough start from Travis Hafner. The Indians are being hurt by a tough start from Asdrubal Cabrera. The Indians are being hurt by a tough start from Jason Michaels. The Indians are being hurt by a lack of offensive flexibility on the bench.

On an average day, given the 'regular' starting lineup, the bench consists of:

1. Kelly Shoppach, backup catcher.
2. Andy Marte, third baseman. The manager is hesitant to play him, giving him 16 plate appearances in the month of April. He is out of options.
3. Jamey Carroll, utility infielder. Despite hitting just .216 this season, his OBP is a robust .383. Of course, his slugging is only .270.
4. Whichever of Javid Dellichaels isn't starting today. Dellucci is deathly afraid of lefties, while Michaels has been horrible with the stick, hitting at a .207/.258/.276 clip.

That's it. That's the bench. The roster has 12 pitchers, seven of which are relievers, but only five of whom were used in a 12 day period which consisted of two double digit wins. Eric Wedge doesn't even trust two of his relievers to hold a double digit lead.

Meanwhile, during this period, the Indians had to promote Aaron Laffey to replace Jake Westbrook in the rotation, and Jeremy Sowers to make a spot start due to a rain induced doubleheader. This led to roster shenanigans, where Westbrook was disabled on Tuesday and Ben Francisco was promoted for a few days. Sowers needed to make his start, so Francisco was shipped out. There was a delay between Sowers and Laffey's start, so Sowers was demoted and Brad Snyder was an Indian. The next day, he wasn't, and that has continued to be the roster since.

In the ninth inning this past Saturday, the day Sowers started, Grady Sizemore turned his ankle. Subsequently, he was unable to play the next two days, as the outfield was Dellucci in left, Franklin Gutierrez in center and Jason Michaels in right against a pair of righties. Sunday, the Indians had Snyder in reserve, Monday they had nobody. The only other outfielder on the 40 man roster is Shin Soo Choo, currently disabled and recovering from Tommy John surgery.

Due to all of these roster maneuvers and MLB's rules, Francisco cannot be promoted again (excepting a player getting disabled) until next Tuesday. Snyder cannot be promoted again until a week from today. That means if an outfielder suffers a slight owie that will rule him out for a few days, the Indians outfield goes back to threadbare status, likely including either Dellucci against a lefty or Michaels against a righty. Just in case you forgot, Francisco led the International League in batting average last year, slugged .500 in the majors last year and went 2-6 with a double this year. You know, he hit the ball.

Obviously the Sizemore injury occurred after Francisco was already sent back down, but why did he need to be? The theory behind the seven relief pitchers is that you can use the back end of the bullpen in games that aren't close, so that you don't burn out your better relievers. Yet, it's been shown that Wedge won't even use Mastny or Breslow in these situations. So send down Mastny, who has an option, and leave Francisco on the team. Or send down Mastny when Laffey needed to start, just to keep Snyder around in case something happened while Sizemore was slowed. This wouldn't even be a panic move, this would be a simple reorganizing of the roster to fit a need that became apparent during the early part of the season that wasn't so apparent in the spring.

Earl Weaver used to say that his backup shortstop was in Rochester. The Indians need to make their seventh reliever in Buffalo, available on short notice in case the bullpen gets burnt through. That's when you send down Francisco.