Angels at Indians, 7/27/11

Well, that was painful.

After pulling a game out of their collective rear ends on Monday, we saw the Tribe lose a game they really should have come back to win (or at least send to extra innings) last night and then saw them get no hit today...and commit FIVE ERRORS.

But what did we really learn from all of this?

Well, we learned that if the front office makes a deal for a pitcher and doesn't make a deal for a bat, our front office is watching a different team than the rest of us.

Also, I don't care how badly he needs work or whether or not it's "baseball logic," Chris Perez should never pitch unless it's a save situation.

According to what I've read, the Indians actually offered the Mets a "good" prospect (I would guess Phelps or McCallister) and agreed to pick up ALL of Beltran's remaining salary.  But Beltran was never told about the deal, one would think because his agent, Scott Boras, scoffed at the idea of sending one of his big guns to Cleveland.  It appears now that he's going to San Francisco for less than what the Tribe offered, but you can't say it won't be easier for him to reach the post-season with that team.

The silver lining in this is that it's clear the front office is serious about adding offense to this team, and that they are willing to spend money to do it.  The problem now, however, is that there just aren't that many quality bats out there.  The best of the bunch is Hunter Pence, but the Astros seem to want the world for him, and the Tribe won't part with White, Pomeranz, Chisenhall, or Kipnis, and I don't blame them.

What's particularly frustrating about the situation for the Tribe right now is that, come the beginning of September, they could get 3 guys back from the DL, all of whom can have an immediate impact.  We saw what Grady Sizemore could do when he's healthy this season, and Choo's career numbers suggest that he'll get back on track.  They've decided to rehab White as a reliever for the big league team, and while there's no doubt he'll help, he could also slot in nicely if a rotation spot comes available.  He certainly performed better than the back of our rotation so far this year.

But we faced the Angels' three best starters in this series and countered with a guy who has been abysmal, a guy who has been roughed up lately, and a guy who has never had success in the majors, and we were right there in every game.  If we had any kind of offense at all, we probably could have taken all three.

I feel bad for Chisenhall and Kipnis, as I think they can make real contributions to this team, but they're being thrown into the fire with little room for error.  Even if we make a trade for a bat, though, one of them is going to have to start hitting more, ideally so we can slot them in the number two spot and move Brantley back to lead off.

There has also been some talk about starting Lou Marson more because he's the superior defensive catcher.  It's actually not a bad idea, assuming that Santana would then play first more.  Santana's BA is horrible, but he gets on base far more than Matt LaPorta, whose BA isn't too great, either.  In fact, LaPorta's hitting less than Marson, so the entire move would be an upgrade.  At the very least, Marson should start against every lefty we face.

I have no idea if the Indians will be able to make an impact deal before the trade deadline.  I really hope so, because the potential is there.  And once you get into the post-season, anything can happen.