3rd Base

I just read a few articles online (Plain Dealer and Dispatch) about the return of Andy Marte. And the general vibe I got from these articles is that they're going to option him to the minors.

I will go on the record as saying this: YES.

The Indians are not known for being proactive with such decisions. Let us not forget that Grady Sizemore was benched for a certain aging outfielder who injured himself in his first at bat back. And let us not forget that we had to wait until the last few days of spring training before Garko even made the team, and even after that it took them weeks to realize that he deserved to be the every day first baseman.

But Casey Blake has earned the job.

He was hitting .206 on May 5th. He's currently hitting .265. In 11 days he's raised his average nearly sixty points! And he's been solid defensively.

I hate to say it, but we screwed him over from the start. Casey Blake should have been at third base for the Tribe all this time.

And there it is. No more platoon at first. No more platoon in right. And not for nothing, but Jason Michaels is hitting .278 vs. lefties and .286 vs. righties. So why are we platooning him? And if not him, then what about Choo?

I love this. I love seeing the creme rise. I love being able to rattle off the names of nine guys for our line-up.

Now if only we knew who our starting pitchers were...