It has been a long and bumpy road for Fausto Carmona. Once upon a time he was 4th in the voting for the American League Cy Young. Before that he illegally changed his name and age to make himself more likely to be signed by a Major League team. After many struggles in the majors (and minors) and a short prison sentence ended with community service, Carmona is back, this time using his real name of Roberto Hernandez. Now, three years older than previously though, Hernandez will be looking to make a comeback and the question remains, can he still pitch? 

The Indians have had no short list of troubles with their starting rotation and will gladly welcome anyone who could throw 6 innings per game and keep an ERA under 4.00. Whether Hernandez can do that or not is extremely doubtful. After his struggles and return to the minors in both 2008 and 2009, Carmona had a pretty good 2010. Good enough to be an All-Star at least. He regressed in 2011, putting up what could have been considered his worst season in his career as he lost 15 games and posted a 5.25 ERA over 32 starts. Roberto hasn't faced Major League hitting since the end of that season and will not get a chance to face a true big league team until his return on August 11th. 

Until then Roberto Hernandez will be undergoing his 3 week suspension that is well deserved and well needed. It will give him time to pitch against professional baseball players in game situations instead of the batting practice he was throwing in the Indians Dominican Republic training facility. The Indians front office wants to keep a close eye on him, so he will likely start for Lake County and move up through the system as he makes 4 to 5 starts in the Indians minor league system. He should have to make at least one start at AA and two at AAA before he is deemed ready.

Once his suspension is served and his sinker is sinking there will certainly be a spot in the rotation for him. If the Indians think with their heads rather than their wallets he will replace Derek Lowe in the rotation rather than the expected Josh Tomlin. Lowe has gotten worse from start to start and is obviously out of gas after an extremely lengthy career. The best move for the Tribe would be to make him a long man out of the bullpen to replace one of the inconsistant pitchers there, preferably Jeremy Accardo. This would also give the Indians another option if the Roberto Hernandez experiment fails miserably. Rather than releasing Lowe or sending Tomlin to the minors, they would have his replacement ready to go immediately. 

This is all still three weeks away so a lot could still change. One thing I know for sure is that I don't want to hear a single person say that this is like the Indians making a big trade to get another starting pitcher. It is nothing like that and they should still be aggressive in the trade market trying to get another pitcher and another right handed hitter. If the Indians traded for a pitcher of Hernandez's caliber the front office would be booed out of Cleveland so they shouldn't try to make this a bigger deal than it is.

Welcome back Fausto. We love you, we really do.

Lou Marson has been the Indians back-up catcher since 2009 and he is finally starting to deserve all the at bats he has been given through the last four seasons. Although his playing time has been very limited this year (after starting the first two months batting under .200) he is now on pace for career highs in runs scored, hits, triples (already tied for career high), walks and all his rate stats (AVG, OBP, SLG) are already at career highs. This is not coming at an increase in playing time as is usually supposed (he has played less this year than the previous two seasons), but at a change in strategy against right handed pitchers. Over his career, Marson has hit .206 against righties, but this season he has turned things around and is currently hitting .322 on the season.

Recently most of Marson's starts have come against left handed pitching, although he does get a rare start against a righty every once in a while. In a recent tear, Marson had RBI in 4 consecutive games spanning from June 30th through July 7th. Three of those games featured left-handed starters and the Indians won all four of them, despite having a terrible record against left handed pitching this season (10-18 despite winning four of their last 6). Of the last four wins against left handers, Lou Marson went 1-3 with a double, walk and run scored against the Orioles' Bruce Chen (6/28), 4-5 with a double, triple, walk and 3 runs scored along with one driven in against the Orioles' Dana Eveland (6/30), 1-3 with an RBI and a steal against the Orioles' Brian Matusz and 1-3 with a double and a walk along with a run scored and an RBI. If he could do this every day then he would be an acceptable starter, but we already know he is incapable of that. As it is he deserves to take Casey Kotchman's place in the lineup for every game against a left handed starter, which will allow Carlos Santana to play first base. There is no question that Marson has been very instrumental in the Indians recent successes against left handed starters.

An aside for those of you calling for Lou Marson to take the starting job from Carlos Santana, here is a recent history lesson. Before Marson, the Indians had a back-up catcher named Kelly Shoppach, who had a decent season as a back-up in 2007 when he hit 7 home runs and drove in 30. He replaced super star Victor Martinez when he was injurred in 2008 and had a very good season hitting 20 home runs. This gave the Indians the confidence to allow him more at bats in 2009 by playing Martinez at first base almost half the time. Shoppach responded by batting .214 and the Indians were forced to trade him to Tampa Bay for Mitch Talbot. Before that the Indians had another catcher named Josh Bard who tried to cut it as a starter, but couldn't beat out Martinez either. Bard hit .193 in his final season with the Tribe before being traded for Kelly Shoppach. Skipping Tim Laker, who never tried to be a starter, will show the most offensive example of them all. Following the 2000 season the Indians decided they didn't need to resign their superstar catcher, current bench coach Sandy Alomar Jr, because they had the future in tow in Einar Diaz. Diaz played very well as a reserve in 1999 hitting .281 and 2000 hitting .272. Even in 2001 he was not terrible as he hit .277 and knocked in 56. Diaz then fell apart in 2002, batting .206 over 102 games with just 21 total extra base hits and only 16 runs knocked in. The best thing that every happened because of Einar Diaz is that the Texas Rangers were so stupid they traded Travis Hafner for him prior to the 2003 season. Alomar went on to play most of the rest of the decade, while Diaz retired after 2006.

The moral to this story is that a back-up catcher should stay a back-up catcher when playing behind a superstar, unless you can trade him for another superstar. No one has every said that Lou Marson could be a multiple time All-Star and possible Hall of Famer, but people have said that about Carlos Santana. Give him some time to recover from his injuries and let him get back to his old self. The Indians aren't the Browns and Santana isn't Tim Couch, I mean Kelly Holcomb, Charlie Frye? Brady Quinn? Derek Anderson? I guess it's Colt McCoy now isn't it. Feel free to constantly boo the current guy and beg for the next guy with the Browns, but the Indians don't work that way. When you get a guy like Carlos Santana for a player like Casey Blake, you keep him for as long as he will stay.

Nick Hagadone had it made. He was a huge piece of the a trade that sent an Indians superstar (Victor Martinez) away and the Indians always over value the players brought back in such deals. He pitched well in a short time in 2011, and well enough this Spring to make him the first relief pitcher called up from AAA this year. In the pros he was good enough to earn the top left hander spot in the bullpen as Rafael Perez was injured and Tony Sipp has been inconsistent. Scott Barnes, who was also pitching well during the early part of the season got blown out once and was sent down, thus alleviating any competition for Hagadone on the 40 man roster. All he had to do was sit in the bullpen, warm up when he was told and pitch to the best of his abilities when called upon.

Instead this idiot punched a wall (or something else hard enough to break his arm). Hagadone will now be out for the season, placing him in the same place next year that he was this year (fighting for a spot in the bullpen) instead of working on his game in the Majors, trying to get better. Now he has to sit for the next two months without even holding a baseball and will need to rehab after that. The Indians have placed him on the disqualification list meaning they don't have to pay him until he comes back from injury and they are completely justified in their actions. Hagadone was purchased (for a very large price) from the Red Sox as property and he has made that property useless. If this was accidental it would be a totally different situation, but this was a conscious decision to hurt his pitching arm with full knowledge that he would probably hurt himself and that he would lose all respect of the Indians front office.

Good luck to Hagadone in 2013. He is still welcome to pitch for the Indians, he just needs the rest of the year as time to cool off. He had it made, but overreacted after a small failure (2 hits, 2 walks and 2 runs allowed in 0.2 innings) and showed everyone a little bit more of his character. Hopefully during his time off he can spend some time with Josh Tomlin to learn how to be zen. Nick Hagadone was supposed to help the Indians in their playoff chase. Now he can just sit back and watch and think about what an idiot he was.

At the half way point in the season, the Indians find themselves just where they were projected, between the White Sox and the Tigers. The unexpected part is that the White Sox are in first while the Tigers are in third. Cleveland is currently 3 games behind Chicago and a half game ahead of Detroit. The Indians will be able to decide their own fate this season, at least as far as Detroit is concerned as they will play each other in four more series. The Tribe also have two series against Chicago to end the year.

Overall the Indians have been very inconsistent this season, although the same could be said about every team in the AL Central. If this was not the case someone probably would have ran away with the division by now. One of Cleveland's biggest problems has been facing left handed pitching, where they have gone 9-16 compared to 35-25 against right handers. They seem to have made some advancements of late in this situation, winning their last two. In fact since I wrote this article (Lefties Suck, 6/4) they have gone 5-4. This change can most strongly be pinned on Lou Marson, who has not played much against righties, but has been starting against some left handers. At the beginning of the season he was basically an automatic out (.147 batting average in April and May), but recently he has played well enough to get his season batting average up to .297 and has knocked in 7 of his 8 RBI in his last 30 games. Shelley Duncan, Casey Kotchman and Johnny Damon have all also picked up their game slightly of late, leading to an increase in Indians run production all around.

Another issue the Tribe has faced and pulled through is the starting rotation. It will probably require some more tweaks as the season goes on, but things are much better now than they were in April. Justin Masterson and Ubaldo Jimenez are the team's two aces and are finally pitching like they belong there. Jimenez has about half his strike outs in the last month alone and each pitcher has lowered their ERA significantly, finally bringing them toward respectability. Josh Tomlin is still an issue and I have doubts that Derek Lowe will be able to finish this season, but Zach McAllister has performed admirably, giving the Indians at least three quality starters each time through the rotation. Tribe management acted quickly replacing Jeanmar Gomez with McAllister at the first sign of trouble and will hopefully do the same with either Tomlin or Lowe should they get any worse. The Indians AAA team is very deep in starting pitching including Corey Kluber (who threw out of the Indians bullpen late in 2011), former Twin Kevin Slowey, David Huff, Spring Training invitee Chris Seddon and the mustache himself Eric Berger. On a rebuilding team you can afford to allow young players some time to work out their struggles, but that isn't the case in a playoff chase.

As it has been the last two years, the Indians bullpen is one of the best in baseball. Vinnie Pestano and Chris Perez have teamed up to become some sort of dynamic duo inside the Bullpen Mafia. In Indians wins they both have ERAs under 1.50 (Pestano 1.24, Perez 1.01) and have combined for 3 wins, 24 saves and 22 holds along with 61 strike outs in 55.2 innings between the two of them. If the Indians can get a lead going into the 8th inning, they are almost unbeatable. The rest of the bullpen has been a little shakier although Joe Smith has been as reliable as always and Esmil Rogers has been a total surprise. The left handed reliever spot has become a bit of a worry for the Tribe and what was a very deep position for the Indians at the beginning of the season has become a trouble spot. Rafael Perez is still out with injury for an unknown amount of time and Tony Sipp (while better the last couple of weeks) has been a major let down this year. Nick Hagadone played well to start, but is currently shelved in the minors pending an attitude adjustment and Scott Barnes is his emergency replacement. From what he has shown already this year in Columbus and Cleveland, Barnes should have what it takes to be the main lefty out of the bullpen. Although his ERA may look terrible, keep in mind that 5 of his 6 runs allowed came in one game in Cincinnati that was already a blow out before he came in.

The Indians will have a tough race for the rest of the season, but there is no reason they shouldn't stay in it until the end. Starting pitching is weak in general throughout the division as the White Sox, like the Indians, also are limited by their two aces (Jake Peavy and Chris Sale) as far as quality goes and the Tigers just have 2011 MVP and Cy Young Justin Verlander. Almost certainly one of the three teams will make a move for a big name starting pitcher, while at least the Indians will be looking to improve offensively before the trade deadline. While it isn't necessary for a playoff run, it would certainly help if the Indians could trade for corner infielder or outfielder and a starting pitcher.

International Free Agent signing season opened yesterday (7/3) and the Indians have quickly been making moves. Already the Tribe has signed Japanese pitcher Naoki Hashimoto and Venezuelan catcher Yoiber Marquina. They have also made agreements with four players out of the Dominican Republic including catcher Francisco Mejia, outfielder Hector Caro and infielder Grofy Cruz.

The International market has been a huge success in recent years for the Tribe as they have brought in such players as Rafael Perez, Fausto Carmona, Victor Martinez and Jhonny Peralta. I for one hope they do a background check on this Grofy character as there is no way that is his real name. We don't want to see another Roberto Heredia Hernandez here. The biggest signing of this group is Hector Caro who is 16 years old and will be making a reported $1.1 million signing bonus.

The Indians had some ups and some downs in June. Here are the players that brought their batting averages up, ERAs down and those that were called up and sent down to and from Columbus. Same rules as last time, the ranking is for the entire year, the stat for the last month.

1. Jason Kipnis Even (0)

8 Steals: Kipnis lead the team again in June and retains his top spot in the player rankings. This month he stole 8 bases as he continues to lead the team in that stat among others. He was not caught stealing during the month of June.

2. Justin Masterson Above (+4)

2 Wins: Justin Masterson finally pitched like the ace he is this month as he only allowed 8 runs in 35 innings and earned two wins for his efforts. He did lose 3 games during the month due to lack of run support, but he showed a vast improvement in his overall results.

3. Shin-Soo Choo Above (+5)

.579 Slugging Percent: Choo really turned it on during the last two games of the month to make his numbers respectable. With those two games (10 total bases) he took over the team lead in batting average and slugging percent in June.

4. Asdrubal Cabrera Above (-2)

20 RBI: Cabrera lead the team in June in RBI batting out of the second spot in the lineup. The fact that he could do this at all goes a lot to show how successful Choo has been as a lead-off hitter and how well the bottom of the lineup is getting on base. Cabrera has had to his part too, by actually taking advantage of these scoring opportunities.

5. Vinnie Pestano Above (+4)

4 Hits Allowed: Pestano was dominant again in June and he only allowed 4 hits and 1 run in his 9.1 innings. He also added another 5 saves to his already impressive total.

6. Michael Brantley Above (-1)

10 Walks: Brantley improved so much in June that he was temporarily placed in the clean-up spot with Santana on the mend. The 10 walks match his total for the previous two months and show his improvement in maturity as a hitter.

7. Chris Perez Above (0)

0 Walks Allowed: Perez continued his streak of perfection as he saved another 6 straight games. During save opportunties he has been just about perfect and didn't allow a single walk all month.

8. Ubaldo Jimenez Above (+7)

.210 Batting Average Against: The former finally found his stride during the month of June and not only didn't allow runners on by hit, but also cut his walks down as he only walked 11 compared to 32 strike outs.

9. Derek Lowe Below (-6)

3 Losses: What happened to Derek Lowe? Reality. With rate stats of a 6.49 ERA, .317 BAA and 1.64 WHIP it is no surprise that Lowe lost three of his six starts. What is surprising is that he didn't lose all six.

10. Joe Smith Even (+4)

12 Games: Smith pitched in more games than any Indians reliever this month. He should be the Indians most used as he continues to keep batters off the bases and from crossing the plate.

11. Carlos Santana Below (New)

20 Strike outs: In limited playing time (20 games), Santana still managed to strike out more than all but two players on the team. This wouldn't be as big of a deal if he had more than 11 hits during the entire month.

12. Casey Kotchman Even (-2)

3 Home Runs: No one expected this type of power coming out of Kotchman this season, but it is a good thing he has been hitting the long ball as he isn't hitting much else. His .229 average during June is a far cry from the top ten hitter the Indians thought they were getting in the off season.

13. Jose Lopez Below (-2)

.273 OBP: What would be a fairly good batting average for Lopez is a terrible on-base percentage as he only managed to walk twice all month. Things were looking good with Chisenhall taking his place as back-up third baseman, but with Lonnie out for the foreseeable future, Lopez will have to step up his game over the next month.

14. Zach McAllister Above (New)

1 Start: McAllister only made one start during June, but it was a good one as he only allowed 2 runs and earned the win.

15. Josh Tomlin Below (-2)

.346 BAA: Tomlin and Lowe, along with Gomez have been the two Indians starters keeping the team down during the past month as their two aces have started performing. Tomlin has been especially bad as he allowed more runs and hits than any other pitcher this month.

16. Jack Hannahan Below (New)

0 Extra Base Hits: Hannahan missed the end of May and the beginning of June on the DL, but since his return he has made Indians fans wished he stayed there. He will see more regular at bats with Chisenhall out despite his .143 batting average that month.

17. Esmil Rogers Above (New)

1.74 ERA: The Rockies must be shocked as Rogers looks like a completely different pitcher for the Indians than he did in Colorado. His ERA this month is fairly significant as well as he pitched the third most innings of all the Indians relievers with 10.1.

18. Johnny Damon Even (-1)

12 Runs: Damon has struggled his whole time with the Tribe, but was a little better this month. Damon lead all players that aren't every day starters with 12 runs and 12 RBI.

19. Jeremy Accardo Below (-1)

12 Strike Outs: Accardo struck out 12 in his 12 innings pitched, but he also gave up 20 base runners. It's hard to give up that many runners with giving up runs and Accardo didn't prove that wrong as he had an ERA of 5.25.

20. Shelley Duncan Below (-4)

9 Hits: Duncan has been seeing less and less playing time since the signing of Damon and that trend will likely continue as more Indians come back from injury if he continues to bat near .200.

21. Lou Marson Above (+4)

.383 AVG: Marson made the biggest improvement of any Indian during June. After only 5 hits and 5 runs during the first two months, he hit 18 times in June with 10 runs scored. He also increased his extra base hits (5 in June after only 2 the previous two months) and RBI (4 in June, 1 in April and May combined). His biggest leap was in batting average where he increase his .147 average to .284 in just one month.

22. Nick Hagadone Below (-10)

12 Runs Allowed: Only three pitchers allowed more runs than Hagadone this month and all three are starters with more than over 20 innings pitched while Hagadone only threw 7. His failure has kept the Indians from using him in close situations this month after he was given two save opportunities just last month.

23. Aaron Cunningham Below (-5)

.139 OPS: This low of an OPS should not be possible in the Major Leagues. No value of late inning defense is worth the putrid batting abilities of Cunningham. He needs to be the next player out the door with his playing time given to Duncan to see if his season is savable at this point.

24. Tony Sipp Below (-5)

0.90 WHIP: Sipp finally stopped allowing so many runners as he recorded season lows in batting average against and WHIP this month. While he still allowed a lot of runs (5 on 4 home runs), the decrease in batters on base is a confident sign that he is improving and the runs should stop scoring as he continues his improvement.

25. Jason Donald DNP (New)

Jason Donald did not play this month as he was just added to the roster on the last day of the month. Donalds poor play early in the season was not enough to move him out of last place.

No longer with us (May Ranking in parenthesis):

Matt LaPorta Below (DNP)

Jeanmar Gomez Below (4)

Lonnie Chisenhall Even (21)

Scott Barnes Below (24)

Last year I posted this attempt to get Indians fans to the polls (website) to vote for their favorite Indians to be in the All-Star game. I waited this long to write one this season because it simply doesn't matter. The Indians only have a few players worthy of an All-Star spot and only two of those play in positions you can vote for. In both of these positions they are being blocked by Yankees who they are arguably better then. The difference between the top Yankee and the nearest Indian: about 2.5 million votes. Go ahead and vote your 50 times, but remember each time you do there are 50,000 Yankee fans doing the same thing. With the system set up the way it is the Indians are likely never to have another All-Star starter. Even if they don't get voted in, here are the Tribe players that deserve a spot on this year's squad.

Asdrubal Cabrera

Derek Jeter has played better this season than last, and Asdrubal Cabrera has played worse, but there shouldn't be much question about which one is currently the superior short stop. Last season Jeter pulled himself out of the game as he believes himself to good for All-Stars and it allowed Cabrera to start as he should have been voted for in the first place. This year, 2.57 million votes separate the Yankee captain from the young Venezuelan. Cabrera currently leads all AL shortstops in OBP, SLG, and OPS and is second in home runs (to J.J. Hardy who has no chance of making the team),  RBI (to Mike Aviles who has little chance of making the team), and doubles (also to Aviles). The leading vote getter has managed a .305 batting average (top for all AL shortstops) mostly by hitting singles. Jeter has 92 hits, but only 19 of them have been for extra bases compared to Cabrera with 72 hits, 27 beings for extra bases. Playing in the powerful Yankee lineup has allowed Jeter to rack up some impressive run totals as well, but Asdrubal has played a much more important role on his team in the number two and three spots in the lineup. In total production Asdrubal leads as well with 60 runs created (R + RBI - HR) to Jeter's 58. Another player that has not been mentioned, but is also deserving of a spot (and more deserving than Jeter) is the Rangers Elvis Andrus. Andrus leads the group in runs scored, triples and steals and is tied with Asdrubal in doubles. He leads all short stops in runs created with 72.

Vinnie Pestano

Slightly more deserving, but less likely to make the team is Vinnie Pestano. Pestano leads the majors in holds and has the third best ERA (1.86) and second best WHIP (1.00) among the American Leagues top ten set-up men. Of course fans cannot vote for pitchers, so he will have to be chosen by the American League players and coaches, but they do tend to pick one or two set up men per season. Currently he is pitching better than all but about four closers (one of which I will write about later) so he definitely has an outside chance at the team. With a current K/9 of 10.86 there are no other late inning relievers in Pestano's class.

Jason Kipnis

This is one match-up where the Yankees have a little bit of an argument. Currently Ian Kinsler (Texas) leads Robinson Cano in the voting at second base even though Cano is above Kinsler in almost every statistical category. Both players are almost 2 million votes ahead of Kipnis however and he is just as deserving as either. Kipnis currently leads all AL second basemen in steals (4 more than Kinsler and has been caught 4 less times), and RBI. He is second in home runs (to Cano), triples (to Jemile Weeks) and is third in runs scored behind both Kinsler and Cano. Kipnis has been the driving force behind the Indians offense all season long. His low batting average (.276) may keep some voters away, but it really shows what he has been able to do with the hits he has gotten. Kipnis has also been amazing with the glove this season and he leads all the All-Star candidates with a .991 fielding percentage (just 3 errors in 329 total chances. A solid second baseman is a key succeeding with to the way the Indians have their starting rotation set-up and Kipnis has been more than spectacular. Kipnis has a fairly good chance at making the All-Star team as a reserve or being on the final vote ballot that will be announced after the teams are decided.

Chris Perez

 One of the closers who could be considered better than Pestano is the Indians own Chris Perez. Perez made the All-Star team last year and pitched a single inning, allowing one hit and recording a strike out. Perez currently leads the world in saves and is only 13 shy of his total for all of last year. He has also dropped his ERA from last season almost a full run (to 2.54) and has only blown one save, his first attempt of the season. This gives him a streak of 23 straight saves. His WHIP has also improved this year and is even slightly better than Pestano at 0.99. Both he and Pestano are the absolute best at what they do right now. If the Indians only get one All-Star this year, it will be Chris Perez.

The Indians are 4-12 against left handed starters so far this season. This is the third worst record in the Major Leagues behind the Cubs and Padres who are both in last place in their divisions. Luckily for the Tribe, they have gone 24-13 against right handed starters, allowing them to stay in second place. There has to be some explanation for this discrepancy and I don't think it is a straight down the line reason like, "the Indians lineup is full of left-handed batters and left-handed batters as a rule can't hit left handed pitchers." 

So far this season, Indians hitters have batted .214 (last in MLB) against LHP and .272 (6th in MLB) against RHP. The top team in both splits is the Texas Rangers who have somehow managed to bat just one point different (.288 vs RHP, .289 vs LHP) between the two. The Rangers do have quite a few right handed batters on their roster, but three of their strongest hitters, including their MVP centerfielder Josh Hamilton are lefties. Assuming the immediate return of Carlos Santana, the daily lineup for the Indians should look something like this for the near future:

RF Shin-Soo Choo L

2B Jason Kipnis L

SS Asdrubal Cabrera S

C Carlos Santana S

CF Michael Brantley L

3B Jose Lopez R / Lonnie Chisenhall L

1B Casey Kotchman L

DH Shelley Duncan R

LF Johnny Damon L

We already know which side of the plate each batter hits from, but not necessarily how well they do against pitchers of the same or opposite handedness. Whose fault is it the Indians can't score against lefties?

Starting at the top there is an immediate problem. Shin-Soo Choo is hitting LHP at a pace of .143 on the season while he is hitting .339 against RHP. When Choo was at his best back in 2010, he hit .264 against LHP and .319 against RHP. This proves that Choo wasn't always this bad against left-handers, something must have changed. Even last season when he struggled most of the year he hit .269 against LHP and .254 against RHP. Having a lead-off hitter who can't get on base against a third of Major League pitchers is a big part of the problem, but he isn't the whole lineup.

Jason Kipnis also has a serious difference in his splits. He has hit .210 this year against LHP (much better than Choo, but still poor) and has shelled RHP by hitting .323 against them. His slugging splits are also significant at .346 vs LHP and .519 vs RHP, but he still produces against lefties as he leads the team with 2 home runs and 13 RBI against left handers. The verdict on Kipnis is that he isn't really helping the Indians against lefties, but he isn't hurting them eier.

Next in the lineup come the two switch hitters back to back. You would expect them to both hit better against lefties than the rest of the lineup and you would be half right. Asdrubal Cabrera is currently leading the team with a .339 batting average against lefties and Santana is hitting .231. Cabrera is obviously not the problem here. Carlos Santana is an interesting case because while he hits better against right handers, he gets on base more against left handers. This probably has to due with the fact that he has struggled this season, but is more confident against righties, so he swings more freely. Against left handers he is more patient and has drawn far more walks per at bat (13 BB in 52 AB vs LHP, 17 BB in 103 AB vs RHP). Carlos Santana is a problem, but not the left handed exclusive problem we are looking for.

Michael Brantley is proof that you don't have to be right handed to hit left handers well. Brantley is second on the team with a .296 average against LHP and has 6 extrabase hits against them as well with 12 more against RHP. All his line stats drop slightly against RHP, but he is pretty even across the board. It's not his fault.

With Jack Hannahan's injury, he has two replacements at third. Jose Lopez is hitting .267 vs LHP, good for third on the team and Chisenhall has gone 0-5 so far. Neither player has been starting long enough to draw any real conclusions, but it is safe to say that Lopez is playing way over his head right now and can't be to blame for any poor Indians offense.

Of the bottom three hitters, Kotchman is hitting .160 against LHP while Damon and Duncan are doing slightly better at .231 and .245. Both Duncan and Damon are significantly worse against RHP while Kotchman is slightly better. This part of the lineup hasn't been responsible for much of the run scoring this season so they wind up being slightly insignificant.

The answer to the Indians problems against left handers is the top of the lineup. While some of the problems occurred while Travis Hafner was still playing (.150 vs LHP), he will not be part of this team for the next month, so they will have to move on without him. Choo is the main player at fault at this point and it would probably be beneficial for the Indians to move him down in the lineup and place Brantley in the lead off spot against left handers. As for the rest of the problem it seems to be mostly from the fact that the Indians are hitting better against right handers than expected. No one can expect a lineup with Johnny Damon, Shelley Duncan, Jose Lopez and Casey Kotchman in it to out hit anybody, especially the way they are playing this season. What is keeping the Indians up against righties is the fact that Jason Kipnis, Shin-Soo Choo and for a time Hafner and Hannahan are tearing the cover off the ball against them. This success has made the bottom half of the lineup, which hasn't been able to produce against anyone less important against right handers.

In general along with a lineup change, the Indians are just going to play more small ball against left handers. They should learn from Carlos Santana and be more patient at the plate and not waste at bats. Choo and Damon could also benefit from using the opposite field a little more. Manny Acta could also help his team out a bit by continuing to use Lopez against lefties and possibly adding in Matt LaPorta's bat to give the Indians another look from the right side.

The results are in. Here is how your Tribe players fared in the month of May. The order is based on the entire seasons performance while the stats and rating are just based on May. Here are April's rankings to compare (the difference is noted in parenthesis).

 1. Jason Kipnis Above (+2)

5 Home runs: After going homerless in April, Jason Kipnis found his power stroke (and his running shoes) in May. He lead the team for the month in both home runs and steals and is also leading in leadership. This is the new face of the franchise. We are all Kipnisses.

2. Asdrubal Cabrera Above (+6)

14 RBI: With injuries to Hannahan, Santana and Hafner, Cabrera has found himself in a middle of the lineup role that he is taking well too. Cabrera lead the team in slugging for the month of May and was second in walks as well as he shows himself to be a well rounded player.

3. Derek Lowe Even (-1)

8 Walks: Lowe has been extremely frugal in allowing walks, but his 40 hits allowed have kept his WHIP higher than he would like. He saw a little drop back in May from his hot start, but is still performing at a better level than expected.

4. Jeanmar Gomez Even (+1)

3 Losses: It seems unfair that Gomez and Jimenez should have the same amount of losses. He has easily been the second best pitcher on the team to this point in the year although he, like Lowe, has seen a step back since April. He has the opposite problem of Lowe in that he doesn't allow many hits, but walked 15 during May.

5. Michael Brantley Above (+6)

7 Steals: Brantley is tied with Kipnis for most steals on the team. Most impressively, after starting off even in April (2 SB, 2 CS) he has since only been caught 2 more times. I said last month that Brantley was improving at the end of the month and he was, in every facet of his game.

6. Justin Masterson Even (+1)

30 K's: The Indians ace continues to lead the team in strikeouts as he shows at least some spark of improvement. Masterson definitely was better in May than in April, but still has work to do to become the dominant pitcher he was in 2011.

7. Chris Perez Above (+7)

100% Saves Converted: Perez certainly brought the Rage in May as he earned every Indians save but 2 and never blew an opportunity. He currently leads all of baseball in saves and fist pumps. What more could you ask from a closer?

8. Shin-Soo Choo Even (+7)

18 Runs: As Cabrera is learning to be a middle of the lineup hitter, Choo has been learning to lead off and taken very quickly to his new role. He was second on the team in runs for the month and has started stealing bases again (5 SB, 0 CS in May).

9. Vinnie Pestano Above (+1)

8 Holds: Pestano had an ERA of 2.25 and 9 decisions (1 win, 8 holds) in 13 games played in May. Pestano is basically dominating the entire league, just about every other day.

10. Casey Kotchman Even (+10)

6 Doubles: Kothman's rise has more to do with the large list of players no longer on the roster than his own improvements, but he has improved. He has hit this month the way he was expected to before he joined the Tribe. A lot of singles, a few doubles and one or two home runs. If he can play the rest of the season like he has this month, there is going to be a place on the roster for him.

11. Jose Lopez Above (+12)

.410 SLG: Jose Lopez has to have been the biggest surprise on this team. The Indians looked to be in trouble when Hannahan was hurt the same time Chisenhall was on the MiLB DL, but Lopez has filled in admirably. In limited action (17 games) Lopez had 12 RBI and 5 doubles and didn't play too bad defensively either.

12. Nick Hagadone Above (+10)

2.25 ERA: With Rafael Perez being placed on the 60 Day DL Hagadone is here for the long haul and that's not a bad thing. So far this year he has a .077 batting average allowed against lefties. This is one prospect that doesn't need anymore seasoning.

13. Josh Tomlin Even (-4)

3 Home Runs Allowed: Tomlin missed a couple starts this month with wrist problems, but in those he did make he showed the same results as last year. His .206 BAA and 1.09 WHIP show he doesn't give up many hits, but when he does they leave the ballpark. His inflated ERA of 4.42 can attest to that as well.

14. Joe Smith Below (-2)

4 Wins: I'm not sure what happened to Smith this month. He pitched in more games than any other reliever and did pick up 4 wins, but he also allowed 19 total hits and walks in less than 12 innings along with 7 earned runs. 

15. Ubaldo Jimenez Below (-2)

2.00 WHIP: How does a former Cy Young award winner get a WHIP over 2.00? By walking 28 batters in 32 innings. Ubaldo has lost all control over his fastball and has struggled just as badly this month as he did last.

16. Shelley Duncan Below (0)

.214 ISO: Isolated power is the difference between slugging percent and batting average. This year, that ISO puts Duncan among players like Mark Teixeira, Luke Scott and Mike Moustakas. The difference between Duncan and a possibly All-Star bid? None of those other hitters are batting .167.

17. Johnny Damon Below (New)

.261 OBP: An on base percent of .261 is really impressive when you're batting just .171. If you didn't think someone could be worse both offensively and defensively, then meet his replacement.

18. Jeremy Accardo Above (New)

9.72 K/9: Accardo has been nothing but great since joining the Tribe in the position he should have held all year. It is such a waste that the Indians allow contract situations to dictate how they make their team. 

19. Aaron Cunningham Below (-1)

.150 AVG: The lowest batting average (of players with more than 11 at bats) on a team full of low batting averages belongs to Cunningham. I know he doesn't play every day, but neither did Mario Mendoza and he still managed a career average of .215.

20. Tony Sipp Below (-1)

.267 BAA: Sipp has vastly improved over April's debacle and his batting average against is the best stat to show it. Although he still allowed more than 5 runs per 9 innings he is starting to get things under control.

21. Lonnie Chisenhall Even (New)

3 Games Played: The rash of injuries has forced the Indians the Indians to bring up a few young players, but Chisenhall is one they should have brought up anyway. He hit a home run in his first at bat and will look to increase his level of play in the coming months to earn a permanent job as the Indians starting third baseman.

22. Juan Diaz Even (New)

4 Hits: Diaz has been extremely impressive as a call up straight from AA. He was the only option at shortstop while Asdrubal Cabrera was injured and hasn't looked like he is playing out of his level at all.

23. Luke Carlin Even (New)

100% SB%: Carlin stole a base during the last game of the month to give him a perfect stolen base percent. He also has a fantastic mohawk that helps protect him from getting a concussion when hit with a foul ball.

24. Scott Barnes Even (New)

1 IP: Scott has pitched an inning. It was a good inning. He walked two batters and struck out another, but didn't allow any runs.

25. Lou Marson Below (-1)

4 Hits: Marson has the same amount of hits as Juan Diaz even though he has 10 more at bats. Juan Diaz was in AA two weeks ago. Marson should be in AA now. He does, however, currently lead the team with facial stitches with 3.

No longer with us (in no particular order):

Demoted or Released (April ranking in parenthesis):

Jason Donald Below (17)

Zach McAllister Even (DNP)

Jairo Asencio Above (25)

Dan Wheeler Below (21)

Disabled:

Carlos Santana Below (6)

Travis Hafner Below (1)

Jack Hannahan Below (4)

Those are my rankings and assessments. I dare you to tell me I'm wrong. @BRBBlog on Twitter.

This is a new segment that may be recurring on a monthly basis. Basically I will be ranking the Indians players by importance to the team with notes to whether they are exceeding expectations, meeting them or falling behind. I will also include their most important stat and why it is so.

Travis Hafner Above

.450 OBP: Although his batting average has dropped a little over the last week (.295), Pronk is still second in the AL in OBP. His excellence in this, the all-mightiest of basic stats, makes him top offensive player on the team.

Derek Lowe Above

4 Wins: Lowe's greatest ability is that he can keep a team in the game. The Indians have rewarded his ability by giving him a league leading 4 wins through April. Lowe has certainly been the best surprise on the Indians so far this year.

Jason Kipnis Even

20 Games Played: Kipnis hasn't been the best offensive player statistically, but by being solid defensively and on the base-paths, he has become a steady point for this team to base itself around. He has played every game this season for the Indians at second base.

Jack Hannahan Above

14 RBI: Hannahan has been Mr. Clutch this year, knocking in the most runs on the team and doing so from the bottom half of the lineup. This is probably because the Indians lead off hitters don't get on base as much as their middle of the lineup hitters, but I'll try not to take all the credit away from Jack.

Jeanmar Gomez Above

.161 BAA: There isn't one stat you can use to describe Jeanmar's performance this year as they are all fantastic. He has done exactly what was asked of him, from the bullpen or as a starter, on short or long rest. He has not allowed hits, walks or runs scored and has struck out 13 in 15.1 innings.

Carlos Santana Even

18 Walks: This total ranks him second in the league, right above Travis Hafner. His ability to get on base by other means makes it a lot easier to accept a .262 batting average.

Justin Masterson Below

6 IP per game: Where is the Indians ace who had a chance to go the full 9 every five days last season? Masterson has been hit like crazy this year, giving up almost a hit per inning in addition to the 17 batters he's walked. His turn around is the single most important thing the Indians need for this baseball team to be successful.

Asdrubal Cabrera Even

10 Extra Bases: This is one of the stats I keep on my own and I believe it is even more important than stolen bases, because it brings greater reward to the team with less risk. His 11/13 on extra base attempts (extra bases + steals / extra bases + outs on the base paths) makes him the best base runner on the team this season.

Josh Tomlin Even

3 Walks: Every pitcher on the staff who was in Cleveland all month has walked more batters than Tomlin (except Pestano). This includes relievers who have only pitched 7 innings, while Tomlin pitched over 20. Josh is a control freak and be remain successful as long as he remains one.

Vinnie Pestano Above

8 Inherited Runners Stranded: Pestano leads the team in runners stranded by other pitchers as he has continued from where he left off last year. His job as holder is just as important as Perez's as closer and is usually more difficult as Pure Rage gets to come in with nobody on base.

Michael Brantley Below (but rising)

6 Doubles: Brantley has made a huge comeback after hitting below .200 for the first three weeks of the season and is now sitting at .250. He has also taken over the team lead in doubles. As he gets on base and into scoring position more, it will only increase the potential of Hafner and Santana.

Joe Smith Above

1.74 ERA: Smith leads Indians relievers in ERA and least amount of credit given. There is no question anymore of whether he is one of the top three coming out of the Tribe bullpen. The question is "is he the top one?" While Perez gets the glory and Pestano gets the love, don't forget about the lowly side armer, who destroys evething that gets in his path.

Ubaldo Jimenez Below

14 Walks: As a power pitcher, you should never walk more batters than you strike out, but Jimenez has come up with Fausto Carmona syndrome as he has only struck out 13 batters. He will need to start missing some bats if he wants to maintain his #2 spot in the rotation and will need to find his control if he still wants a job in professional baseball.

Chris Perez Even

7 Saves: Perez is tied for the league lead in saves as he is doing his job extremely well. He is paid to close out games, no matter how he does it and he has only failed once so far this season.

Shin-Soo Choo Below

.697 OPS: For those who don't know, great players usually have an OPS of 1.000+. Bad players, like Kotchman, have one around .500. Choo's OPS is embarassing for him and the only way to fix it is to start hitting for some power. Choo has walked a fair amount this season (10), but has yet to hit a home run or triple. Hopefully when he returns from his injury in May, he will find his power stroke.

Shelley Duncan Below

.344 SLG: The Indians have 5 players hitting above .400 slugging even though they didn't hit a home run the last week plus in April. Duncan is not one of them, but should be. The only powerful right handed bat in the lineup is being out hit by Kipnis and Hannahan among others. He will probably be pushed back into a pinch-hitting role with the acquisition of Johnny Damon.

Jason Donald Even

5 Runs: You may say that 5 runs scored in nothing, there are guys on the team with double that, but Donald has only been on base 8 times. He also has two steals and is yet to be caught, making him extremely productive when he does get on base. He has already played 4 positions for the Tribe this year as well, the perfect definition of a utility man.

Aaron Cunningham Below

2 RBI: Cunningham has mostly been used as a late inning defensive replacement, but also has started in right field for Choo during his injury. Through that time he has managed to get 37 at bats, but has produced as close to nothing as possible. He has a total of 9 hits and his 2 RBI came in back to back games. It is almost a surety that Cunningham will not be on the team the next time I write one of these.

Tony Sipp Below

5 Holds: Sipp has done just about the absolute minimum to get his job done at this point in the season. With young stud Nick Hagadone on the roster now, his job as left handed specialist may be in jeopardy.

Casey Kotchman Below

.149 Batting Average: This guy was in the top ten in hitting in 2011 (Currently is second to last in AL). Kotchman's absolute lack of success is inexplicable. All the Indians can do at the moment is drop him to the bottom of the lineup, enjoy his solid defense and wait for Beau Mills.

Dan Wheeler Below

4/8 Inherited Runners Scored: Wheeler has been very predictable when he comes in from the pen with runners on. He will let them score. He has really hurt Manny Acta's strategy of taking out a starting pitcher extremely early in the game.

Nick Hagadone Above

0.69 WHIP: Even though his sample size is small, his numbers are impressive as he has struck out 5 batters in 4.1 innings and has only allowed 3 base runners and one run to score. Hagadone belongs in the "Bullpen Mafia" and will hopefully never have to put on a Clippers uniform again.

Jose Lopez Below

1 Home run: This home run is pretty much the only thing Lopez has done this year. He has 3 RBI in 5 games and his .190 batting average in limited time makes him next on the chopping block if the Indians want to bring up someone else/Lonnie Chisenhall.

Lou Marson Even

3 Games Played: How can you judge a player with only 3 games under his belt. This is actually a great number as it means Carlos Santana is playing every day and at the position that he brings the most value to. Marson needs to be ready down the line, later in the season as fatigue hits Santana and he can't play behind the plate every day.

Jairo Asencio Below

0 Options: Asencio has the worst batting average against on the team and the second worst ERA (7.15). He has allowed more runs, hits and walks than any pitchers on the staff except 4 of the five starters even though he has pitched in less than half the innings those pitchers have. He does not deserve to be on a Major League roster.

Out: Rafael Perez (DL) Even

.143 BA (Against righties) .231 BA (Against lefties): So much for matching up. Did we learn nothing from Money Ball? It doesn't matter what hand you throw with. Get used to Hagadone, Cleveland.

Those are my rankings and assessments. I dare you to tell me I'm wrong. @BRBBlog on Twitter.