Cleveland Indians fans breathed a collective sigh of relief when GM Mark Shapiro and then-assistant Chris Antonetti finally gave Eric Wedge the long overdue boot from the team’s manager position following another disappointing season in 2009.

Manny Acta takes over the role and the entire coaching staff is revamped, including the hiring of beloved former Tribe catcher Sandy Alomar Jr. as a base coach. Meanwhile the front office is altering as Shapiro takes over as team president and relinquishes the GM title to his apprentice Antonetti at the end of this season.

But managerial changes will be hard-pressed to generate changes in recent team performance on the field. Cheapskate ownership by the Dolan clan forced Shapiro to trade off back-to-back Cy Young winners CC Sabathia and Cliff Lee as well as perennial all-star catcher Victor Martinez over the past two seasons, and the returns have little to show for the sacrifices- so far.

Manager: Having put together a 158-252 mark with the Washington Nationals from 2007-2009, Acta’s major league managerial career appears dismal on paper. He was fired mid-way through last season, but the Nationals’ front office takes a substantial part of the blame for giving Acta little talent to work with. 

Acta’s taken on another limping “small market” club, but already in 2010 he’s shown that the 65-win Tribe under Wedge in 2009 is a now a club with a more competitive fire. The Indians finished the second week of the season sporting a 6-6 mark following a Progressive Field sweep of the AL Central-favorite White Sox.

Grade: n/a. How can anyone grade a guy’s status after 14 games? A preliminary grade of B+ for sure, but Acta has to get his team back into contention in the AL Central, which houses the game’s best manager in Tom Gardenhire and World Series ring-bearers Jim Leyland and Ozzie Guillen. Good luck.

Starting Lineup: The year started with Sabathia-return Michael Brantley getting the opportunity to establish himself as the leadoff man out of LF, but he’s already been sent back to AA Akron. That pushes SS/2B Asdrubal Cabrera up from the two slot to leadoff. Cabrera offers some reliability at the top of the order, but until the guys behind him starting producing on the whole, his speed and ability to hit for average remains an island.

CF Grady Sizemore is by far the best returning Indian who helped the team nearly reach the World Series in 2007, but he’s coming off a surgical offseason and while he appears back to full strength, he’s hitting just .191 with five RBI and a stolen base batting in the three hole.

RF Shin Soo-Choo might be the top offensive guy in Cleveland now, already smacking four HR with 12 RBI on 15-for-48 hitting (.313), but batting cleanup the first few weeks of the year got little protection from Sizemore and clearly washed-up DH Travis Hafner. Hafner keeps getting the praise of the front office as a comeback candidate yet continues to tank and Pronkville at Progressive Field has been a ghost town in the post-“enhancement” era.

Career journeyman slugger Russell Branyan is Shapiro’s signature yearly head scratch FA signing, but returns from an injury to start at first and apparently bat clean-up. Branyan will hit homers, but what long balls he does launch will constitute his on-base percentage. He’s whiffed 947 times in 2,434 career at-bats. Folks, that’s a strikeout in every 2.6 at-bats recorded.

The Tribe finally did the right thing by taking Johnny Peralta from SS and sticking him at the hot corner where his career .973 fielding percentage belongs. Peralta, however, has never been an exceptional batter. He’s got power but is streaky and after seven campaigns of seasoning is still a very bland “slugger” (97 career HR) who has a knack for ending rallies with foolish at-bats.

The centerpiece prospect in the Sabathia trade, LF Matt LaPorta has had 63 games dating back to 2009 to strut his stuff. So far? 46 strikeouts, seven HR, 22 RBI, a .244 BA and an abysmal .299 OBP. Impressed? Maybe the front office can rename the urinals nearest the Homerun Porch beyond left “The LaPorta Potties”. 63 games and the start of a sophomore season aren’t fair measurements yet for LaPorta, but just take Andy Marte’s prospect billing and Shapiro’s man-love for him the past four years and ask yourself: is there a pattern here?

24-year-old 2B Luis Valbuena could become a respectable offensive contributor in time, but his 10 HR in 383 at-bats in 2009 were accompanied by 83 strikeouts. Meanwhile, his fielding (.973 career) has yet to draw comparisons to Roberto Alomar.

Make no mistake about it, Lou Marson and Mike Redmond splitting the catcher duties is merely take-one-for-the-team filler as Carlos Santana gets a little more grooming at AAA Columbus. Santana will be in the starting C role and middle of the lineup by midseason to help erase the sting of V-Mart’s departure. So far through 13 AAA games this season Santana is hitting .364 with four HR and 14 RBI and has committed no errors.

Grade: C-. Aside from Choo, Sizemore and Cabrera, all others in the starting lineup are pretenders in one form or another. Santana’s arrival will come none too soon and inject a boost that will like result in a strong 1-4, but it won’t be enough to save a team that has been shut out twice already and scored two runs or less in seven of 14 contests.

Bench: Marte gets late-inning work at 1B, but Acta has quickly recognized the bust in Marte offensively. Presumably if Marte remains on the roster it will only be to play the corners on days off for Branyan, Peralta and Cabrera.

Journeyman 2B Mark Grudzielanek turns 40 on June 30, which makes him pretty old for a middle infielder. A career .289 hitter, Grudzielanek gives Acta a decent pinch-hitting option. 

OF Austin Kearns seems like a washup, but he’s still under 30 until May 20 and is a candidate to have a late-career emergence in his ninth-season. If LaPorta continues to struggle, Kearns will become the everyday guy in LF and is my darkhorse to become a darling Indian this summer.

Grade: D. Marte and Grudzielanek? Enough said.
 

Starting pitching: In a word, yikes. Jake Westbrook “anchors” the rotation after missing nearly all of last year with Tommy John surgery, and the no. 2 guy is one-time Cy Young candidate Fausto Carmona. Since a breakout 2007 season Carmona has been more like a break-in ending in disaster.

Justin Masterson, one of the trade pieces the lately swing-and-a-miss Shapiro hauled in from the Red Sox for Martinez, has the stuff to be at least a reliable two or three starter, but has yet to fully master control issues. After those three it’s a hodge-podge of maybes.

So far David Huff has shown some promise with a 2-1 start, but nothing of long-term proof with him yet. Mitch Talbot has also shown promise in the fifth rotation slot, but while both 26-ish, Huff and Talbot are inexperienced. If the three vets in front of them collectively struggle, Huff and Talbot may succumb to the pressure to carry the backend load.

Grade: D. The rotation is a big question mark, at best, something no team wants when confronting the many high-powered offenses present in the American League. If someone collapses completely, Carlos Carrasco, Hector Rondon and Scott Lewis are the top farm candidates to get a rotation opportunity on the big club.

Bullpen: Herein lies another big fat question mark. Chris Perez, Tony Sipp, Joe Smith and Jensen Lewis suggest stability from the pen, but already oft-injured Kerry Wood has gone to the DL for awhile, forcing Perez into the closer’s role where the former Cardinal obtained in the Mark DeRosa trade (2009) has recorded four saves but shown a lack of proper seasoning, currently donning a 5.79 ERA. Until and if Wood returns to close healthily, Sipp is allotted the set-up role but in it has posted a 6.75 ERA early on. Lewis (1.35) and Smith (1.93) are doing well as late-relief guys. Once formidable, Rafael Perez’s struggles in recent seasons continue as he’s off to rough start with a 6.00 ERA. Acta’s staff has converted Aaron Laffey into a mid-relief man and so far the numbers are respectable (3.18), but he gave up two runs in two-thirds of a frame in a recent 6-0 loss to the Twins. Jamey Wright is clinging to a pen roster spot with a 4.35 ERA.

Grade: C. Wood’s injury has already shaken up what could be a decent to very solid bullpen staff, and success or implosion in pens is often a contagion affecting the whole shabang. If Chris Perez and Sipp end up struggling into June, expect a trickle-down effect. Don’t count on Wood coming back at full strength. His body has proven to be too frail during his career.

Outlook: Remember the position the Indians were in with Jim Thome, Manny Ramirez, Albert Belle and Lofton young, Jacobs Field opening and a very good manager in Mike Hargrove in 1994? The Twins and their new Target Field are in a similar position in the AL Central now, with reigning MVP Joe Mauer seeing the promise and resigning to stay in the Twin Cities for the long term. It’s their division, plus the Tigers and White Sox have plenty of star power and solid pitching. The Tribe doesn’t. Acta may weave a miracle and get the team to finish third with an 82-80 mark, but let’s be realistic and go fourth in the Central at 74-88.

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