How can the Cleveland Indians help their starting pitching?

Question

I know that Carmona and Sabathia each have 13 wins, but their other pitchers, Westbrook, Lee, and Byrd, have less than 10 wins. Sowers is still rebuilding his confidence in the minor leagues and is not ready to return to the big leagues. With the trade deadline fast approaching, who could they trade?

The fans don't like Lee anymore.

Answer 1

Sabathia and Carmona have been outstanding this year. Byrd has been solid compared to westbrooke and lee. I think they should look into bringing up and trying out Sowers again. It was about this time last year that he came up and pitched extremely well. As for the bullpen, bentancourt and perez are the only good relivers we have besides Barowski. They need to bring up or get a solid reliever who can go out and pitch 2-3 innings when needed and hold a lead if the starter gets into trouble. I am happy though because they just activated Aaron Fultz today and he should help out the bullpen.

Answer 2

The tribe's 5 man starting rotation of CC Sabathia, Cliff Lee, Fausto Carmona, Paul Byrd & Jake Westbrook is a solid group for the regular season, however if the Indians make the playoffs they would need 4 first class starters, and thus would most likely drop Lee to the Bullpen. This 4 man rotation would at best be classed as satisfactory when rated against other AL playoff bound teams. e.g.

Boston - Beckett, Dice-K, Wakefield & Schilling.
Detroit - Bonderman, Verlander, Rogers & Robertson/Miller.
Los Angeles - Colon, Lackey, Escobar & Weaver.

The key is to get the ball to Borowski with a lead no earlier than the 9th inning. To enable this the Indians would need trade for another top starter which would enable them to strengthen the bullpen by putting Westbrook there. I think the key options available to them would be - Braden Looper (STL), Dontrelle Willis (FLA) & Jon Garland (CWS) for a few prospects maybe Michael Aubrey at 1B as they have Barfield or Franklin Gutierrez OF, although I doubt they would want to trade the latter as Trot Nixon will be 34 next season, whilst Barfield is still young. Go Tribe!!!

Answer 3

Trust me, if the Indians had anybody to replace Cliff Lee, he would be designated for assignment in no time.

Dont be fooled, Carmona is our best pitcher. CC has been in a slump as of late, while Carmona is still going strong. I would say they should go for Jose Contreras, but hes doing absolutley terrible this season. I heard we might go for some relievers on the Royals, and possibly Gagne, but its highly unlikely we get Gagne. The Yanks are looking to deal Kyle Farnsworth, so thats a possibility. Ive also heard that the Tribe is looking to get Brad Lidge.

Although as of today, we just got Kenny Lofton, back for the 3rd time, and we gave up a minor league catcher.
What the Indians are mainly going for before the deadline though, is hitting. Ive heard theyre looking to get Jermaine Dye from the White Sox which is good, because were a little weak at right field. I doubt the Tribe gets him though, with teams like Boston and the Mets in the considerations. We may be looking at getting Scott Rolen from the Cards.

Answer 4

Lee is having an "off "year but relax he'll be fine. Remember he was hurt and usually didn't get a lot of run support when he did pitch well. Byrd has been inconsistent for the majority of his career. Remember a few years ago, he started out 8-0 for Kansas City but got rocked in 2 straight starts by Baltimore and ended up with either a .500 record or worse. Westbrook is in the same boat as Lee so cut them slack. The bottom line is whether or not their rotation can get them a playoff birth

Answer 5

I cant say that i'm writing them off. As i glance on the vital, the Tigers in basic terms have the terrific rotation via far interior the branch. Gary Sheffield will supply them the further potential that their offense desires. i could say that the Tribe and the Tigers each and each have a 'wildcard'. For Cleveland-How sturdy will Sowers be over the direction of an entire season? If hes as sturdy as i've got heard some trump him as much as be, which would be a great strengthen for Cleveland. And if Chris Shelton could be a dominant hitter (i could opt to verify a extra valuable thumper than Sean Casey before each little thing), Detroits' possibilities are that plenty extra valuable. All advised, i admire Detroit to win the AL vital, yet whilst issues fall suitable with the Indians and the Twins and the Tigers stumble, it would be a dogfight.

Answer 6

I think the Indians should go ahead and Trade Williams,Lee, and Byrd for much better Pitchers from other teams that actually have Good pitchers that have more than 10 wins each and that would then mean that the Cleveland Indians would Obviously have a much better Pitching rotation which would in turn mean that they would be tougher to beat(obviously).

Answer 7

The problem is that most teams are looking for pitching and there will be very little to nothing available. They might be able to find someone equal to Westbrook, Lee, or Byrd but what is that going to do for them. The Indians definitely need some pitching help to get them get to the playoffs and to go deep into the playoffs but I don't believe they are going to be able to find any help.

Answer 8

I think it is just a bad year for those three.

Lee has a career record of 54-36.In 2005 he went 18-5 with a 3.79

Westbrook is not good. I don't know why they sighed him

Byrd is ok he has won more games than he has lost.

I look at it like they will make the playoffs but not do much

Answer 9

Westbrook, Lee and Byrd have the combined trade value of a moldy terd and some used batting practice balls.

Answer 10

The Indians should have acted before the deadline to trade for some new pitchers, but no, they don't do anything.
Instead they let the Red Sox get Eric Gagne.
Nice going, Tribe! ;-D