Panic unneeded for Tribe, but concern is merited
Posted by Terry Pluto terrypluto2003@yahoo.com April 17, 2008 22:20PM

Before the Indians beat Detroit, 11-1, on Thursday night, Mark Shapiro mentioned his team had "four dead spots" in the lineup
The general manager's point was the season being only 16 games old and so many things going bad, it's too soon to make moves from what would seem like a panic position. In the Tribe talk that you hear from this and other modern front offices, the "sample" is too small. Sixteen games is only 10 percent of the season.

The general manager is right, you can't fix four flat tires that have brought the offense to a halt.

But why not start with one?

On the night when Jason Michaels busted free from his 4-of-33 start by with two singles, three RBI and throwing out a runner at home plate from left field -- I still don't buy into the left-field platoon.

Yes, Dave Dellucci has come back from a major hamstring injury that required surgery to have a solid start. He's batting .276 on a team that entered Thursday night hitting an American League-low .232. Dellucci's .432 on base percentage is second on the team.

Can he maintain and improve on this? Who knows? But at least he's doing something.

Dellucci is 34, Michaels will be 32 on May 4. Neither player is likely to change, and that means the Indians won't get much pop from the position.

In his first two seasons with the Tribe, Michaels batted a modest .268 with only 61 extra base hits (16 HR) in 761 at bats.

The Indians love the OPS, which is on-base percentage added to slugging percentage. With the Tribe, Michaels' on base is .325 (.330 is the big-league average) and slugging is .395 (.440 is average). He is primarily a hard-working singles hitter with little speed on the bases.

Neither player is like the gifted 25-year-old Franklin Gutierrez, who is off to a slow start but deserves patience because he has power potential and is an excellent defensive right fielder.

In spring training, I wrote that the Indians should try to trade one of the veterans -- even if they have to pay most of the contract to convince another team to take a player such as Michaels ($2.1 million). That may be the only way to make it happen.

Ben Francisco is waiting at Buffalo, but the 2007 International League batting champ is off to a lousy start, batting .204 with no homers and a .283 on-base percentage. I'd still like to see Francisco in the outfield mix. After 953 Buffalo at-bats in his career, it's time to either move up or move out to another organization at some point this season.

Or the Indians could look at the bullpen, where Jorge Julio has a 5.63 ERA and has allowed 13 base-runners in eight innings. He's 29 and with his sixth team. In the last four years, his ERAs have been 5.23, 4.23, 5.90 and 4.57. That's not a track record that inspires much confidence, despite his 94 mph fastball.

When Joe Borowski went on the disabled list, they recalled Tom Mastny from Buffalo -- where he had allowed nine hits and four walks in 5 1/3 innings. He walked three in 1 1/3 innings with the Tribe Wednesday, and there is reason for concern because he's a control pitcher who suddenly is wild. Jensen Lewis has walked six in 9 2/3 innings, and his fastball has rarely been even 90 mph after reaching 92 mph a year ago.

Shapiro is right, now is not a time to make sweeping changes. He likes to wait 35-40 games to evaluate his team, but there are reasons to soon tinker with a roster that is far from perfect.