Place Your Bets

Starting off with a little Lazy Sunday round-up:
Paul Hoynes suggests that if the Tribe can’t find a proven closer this off-season, their attention could turn to set-up guys.

The top 10 pitchers leading the lead in “Holds”, or essentially the stat that measures how many 7th or 8th innings are pitched, without incident, by a set-up guy, are:
Scot Shields – LAA
Scott Linebrink – SD
Aaron Heilman – NYM
Joel Zumaya – DET
Juan Rincon – MIN
Dan Wheeler – HOU
Brandon Lyon – ARI
Arthur Rhodes – PHI
Luis Vizcaino – ARI
Kiko Calero – OAK

Shields, Linebrink, Wheeler, and Calero would fit that “emerging set-up guy” that Hoynes speaks of.

Terry Pluto examines the Dominican Dandy and how the 3B battle in Winter Haven may take shape next year.

Tim Kurkjian identifies the Tribe as a “spoiler” for the last 2 weeks.

Ken Rosenthal comes out as the 1st national writer (I think) to board the SuperSizemore bandwagon.

Andy Call thinks the Indians’ big problem is their defense and touches on Guillermo Mota taking some parting shots at Victor Martinez on his way out of town.

With the roll call out of the way, it’s time to head to the Clevelandalay Bay Sports Book:
Going with the idea that the rotation will stay in its current state for 2007, let’s look at how the Bullpen Casting Couch is going.

With apologies to Danny Sheridan, these are the odds I’d give the current Tribe relievers at being out in the good guys’ bullpen in 2007:
Betancourt – 4 to 3
Brown – 25 to 1
Cabrera – 1 to 1
Carmona – 30 to 1
Davis – 4 to 1
Guthrie – 250 to 1
Lara – 100 to 1
Mastny – 20 to 1
Miller – 10 to 1
Mujica – 100 to 1
Perez – 50 to 1
Sikorski – Google to 1
Slocum – 250 to 1

So, if you’re scoring at home – I have Betancourt, Cabrera, Davis, and Miller in the 2007 bullpen. The 3 relievers to be named later will join them to form the 2007 pen.

Mastny, Carmona, Lara, Mujica, Perez, and Slocum would go to the Buffalo staff to refine their pitches as they all have options remaining. Tony Sipp (who will be added to the 40-man in the off-season) will join that group in Buffalo. Carmona and Slocum (and possibly Perez) would likely start in the Buffalo rotation to join Adam Miller and either Aaron Laffey or Sean Smith

The team likely will cut ties with Brown, Guthrie, Sikorski as all are out of options and have done little to play their way into this team’s future. Whether the Indians can package Brown or Guthrie in a deal in the off-season remains to be seen. Sikorski should make sure that he has his passport in order, because his days of pitching stateside are through. Add Jason Stanford to that list of players unlikely to be in the organization next year as his options have also run out.

After the abomination that has been the 2007 pen, expect Shapiro to spend a lot more attention (ergo money) on the back end of the bullpen in the off-season. Whether the arms come in through FA or via trade, the bullpen should have a decidedly different look next year.

If things get ugly in Browns’ Town today (and they might), take a listen to the Aeros’ game as they try to capture the Eastern League crown at 1PM. It’s free on MiLB Gameday Audio.
Bear Bay gets the start over Adam Miller, who has reached his inning total for the year.