I hate off days, especially after getting blown out the night before.
What to say about last night's nationally-televised debacle? Much of the same issues the Indians have had to deal with this season showed themselves; shaky starting pitching, poor defense, and awful relief pitching. CC Sabathia had his poorest outing in a year, the bats were shut down by John Lackey, and Joe Morgan was doing the game. Yeah, it was bad.
Tomorrow is the "Rule 4" Draft, and while the Indians don't have a first rounder, they do have a lot of picks (seven, to be exact) between the first "sandwich" round and the third round. Plus, the top tier of talent seems much weaker than past seasons, so I'm not that unhappy about the Indians not picking until #39.
What do the Indians need? Middle infielders mostly, but they could use all types of position players. The strength of the organization, pitching, happens to be the strength of this year's draft. The Indians also might be inclined to draft some prep players, as they are fielding a GCL team this year. Emmanuel Burriss, a shorstop out of Kent State, might be a logical pick. He's a shortstop with speed to burn, and projects as a major-league second baseman.
The draft will be aired live on MLB.com tomorrow at 1 PM. The draft format is very low-key compared to other major sports; it's a conference call, and the picks occur in rapid-fire fashion.