Wizblog

At The Jake

Saw my last home Tribe game of the year tonight, and went out with a nice win. Hard to imagine we'll beat Santana Friday night with Kyle Denney starting his third game ever, and the chances for W's are dwindling. With the last six games on the road, climbing back to .500 will be very tough. They'll need to go 6-3 to get there, but this team looked tonight like they have some spring back in their step. The kids from Buffalo like Peralta, Phillips and Sizemore are picking up some of the slightly fading regulars like Lawton, Belliard and Martinez. Coco Crisp, on the other hand, is peaking late.

Last night it was Peralta with the big 2-run double, and tonight Sizemore and Bard hit homers to stretch out the lead later in the game. Brandon Phillips looks like a completely different hitter than the guy we saw struggling in '03. He is hitting the ball hard to all fields and seems stronger and more confident. Jason Davis hit 100 miles an hour on his last pitch of the 7th inning, and was at 98 several times. He could be real bullpen help.

The tough thing for Wedge and Shapiro is that they are trying to get older as a team, because nobody wins with a bunch of rookies. But the young talent is coming in waves, this time in the form of Peralta, Phillips and Sizemore, and it will be near impossible to keep any of those three kids off the field in Cleveland next season. That is, if they are still in the organization at that time. Sizemore is untouchable, but someone may go if Shapiro decides to resign Omar Vizquel.

I do hope that the Indians will make a big fuss over Omar, thank him and fete him and ask him to wear the Wahoo cap when he goes into Cooperstown, and then let him sign elsewhere for his two swan song years. He'll be an upgrade for some team. He's the greatest defensive shortstop I've ever seen, and I've seen Ozzie Smith. But we need to get on with the business of building a contending team with Phillips, Peralta, Blake, Boone, and Broussard around the infield. I think Phillips will eventually be the shortstop, so if someone has to go for Shapiro to keep Omar around, it may well be Peralta.

A guy at the game tonight made the point that we'll never contend in '05 with Phillips and Peralta as our middle infielders, and he's right. But playing a 38-year old Vizquel next year only extends the transition process, and we don't have a chance to win it all in '05 anyway. We have a chance to be another 8-10 games better, but we won't be playing with the elite teams yet. I say roll with the youth movement on the infield, and add your "veteran leadership" to the pitching staff or outfield.

So even if the Indians pick up a veteran or two, I'm betting the average age of the 25-man roster next year will be lower than this year's team, and in the short run at least, that means more bumps in the road.

By the way, it occurred to me that tonight's game was a showpiece of sorts for Mark Shapiro's haul in the trade of Bartolo Colon. Brandon Phillips had an RBI double and played a flawless 2nd base, Grady Sizemore had two hits including a two-run home run, and Cliff Lee started and won his 12th game of his first full big league year. Yes Bart's a good starter, but Phillips and Sizemore have a chance to be very special players, and Lee a solid starter. Shapiro had to be smiling tonight.

Oh, and if you're a Tribe fan, start reading CIR regularly. Now would be a fine time to start.

Posted by dan at September 23, 2004 11:56 PM