Indians' MASH unit

My friend John Arthur Hutchison and I were discussing the Indians' disappointing season yesterday, and we pretty much agreed that it's time to start entertaining offers for C.C. Sabathia. Our guys are only 6 1/2 games out of first place, but seem to keep adding guys to the disabled list on a daily basis. Yesterday, it was Victor Martinez and Josh Barfield (which especially stinks for Barfield, since he just got called up from Buffalo a couple of days before). Jake Westbrook won't pitch again this year; Fausto Carmona, who was pitching very well, is out for at least a couple of weeks longer; and Travis Hafner might go on a rehab assignment soon, but wasn't hitting at all before he got shelved.

But there is some cause for optimism. Even not counting injuries, the Indians have been somewhat unlucky this year. Despite their 31-36 record, they've outscored their opponents 301-282 on the season, and as any sabermetrician can tell you, that's a sign that they're likely to turn it around going forward. The starting rotation is still very strong, judging by the recent strong outings by Mr. Cy himself, along with the brilliance of Aaron Laffey (pictured) since his call-up, and of course Cliff Lee's All-Star-starter-worthy numbers. And the offense has started to pick it up again. They absolutely battered Livan Hernandez in last night's 12-2 win. But can we count on guys like Jamey Carroll, Shin-Soo Choo and Ben Francisco to carry the offense going forward? I'm not saying we definitely can't, but I'd rather be counting on the guys who got us there last year.

All that said, the White Sox are clearly a better team right now, and as much as I like Kelly Shoppach as a backup catcher, I don't know if we can turn it around without Victor. I'm not saying Mark Shapiro should take the best offer he can get right now -- there's still more than six weeks before the trading deadline -- but he should at least start sniffing around. And he is. The man knows what he's doing.

Let's not fool ourselves into thinking C.C.'s not going to walk after this season. So the only question is whether we're going to contend this season. It's too soon to give up completely, but it sure looks like the answer's going to be no.