Cleveland Indians Sunday News and Notes: September 1, 2013

Last Night's Game

Cleveland Indians at Detroit Tigers - August 31, 2013 | MLB.com CLE Recap

Detroit Tigers prove for the 15th time why they're better than the Cleveland Indians | cleveland.com

MLB Final Score/Recap: August ends with another Indians loss - Let's Go Tribe

Indians lose to the Tigers again, guaranteeing that the narrative throughout the winter and spring will be whether the roster is improved enough to compete with Detroit in head-to-head matchups. Or whether the Indians have enough "mental toughness" or other talk radio BS phrase.

Indians News

Today is the first day of September, and with the minor-league seasons just about over with (most of the remaining teams' seasons end tomorrow), we'll be seeing a raft of promotions. And because Columbus and Akron will not be making the playoffs, the Indians will be bringing up as many players as they want to.

I'll be posting a more detailed look at the callups later today, but in the meantime, here's the list of players and when they'll be added to the roster:

September 1st (Sunday)

• RHRP Preston Guilmet (AAA)
• LHRP Nick Hagadone (AAA)
• RHRP Blake Wood (AAA)
• C Kelly Shoppach (AAA)*
• 2B/SS Jose Ramirez (AA)*

September 2nd (Monday)

• LHRP Clay Rapada (AAA)*

September 3rd (Tuesday)

• RHSP Josh Tomlin (AAA)
• RHRP Vinnie Pestano (AAA)
• RHRP Chen-Chang Lee (AAA)
• RHSP Carlos Carrasco (AAA)

*Not on 40-man roster

In addition, Corey Kluber could be activated during the Mets series. And Ryan Raburn will be back at some point.

Couple of quick thoughts:

• That's a lot of pitchers, much more than you usually see, but that's currently how the 40-man roster is set up. As of last night, there were only two healthy position players (Juan Diaz and Tim Fedroff) on option on the 40-man roster, and neither was having a good season. But just about every pitcher on the above list was doing well in Columbus.
  
• Adding Rapada and Hagadone gives Terry Francona four left-handers, a situation that would make Mike Hargrove green with envy.
• If you do the math, that means three players currently on the 40-man have to be shown the door. There's nobody else that the Indians can move to the 60-day DL, so that leaves the choices to those who are either currently on the 25-man roster or those who were not brought up. Matt Carson you would think would be a given to be DFAd.. The other obvious candidate is Matt Langwell, who was the one Columbus reliever not called up. That last guy to go would probably be either Juan Diaz or Tim Fedroff, and my money's on Diaz. The Indians have a lot of organizational depth here, and by promoting Jose Ramirez over him, it looks like they've already made their decision. Or maybe they DFA a pending free agent like Rich Hill or Matt Albers. Jason Giambi would be a logical candidate, but I don't think they'll do that.
• Here's the 25-man/40-man roster as of last night if you want to do your own analysis:
  

AL Central News

Breaking down Danny Duffy's last start - Royals Review

The Royals are pretty much out the race as well, so it's time for them to look to the future. One of their key guys next years is Danny Duffy, who just came back from Tommy John surgery. RR takes a look at his last start against the Twins.

Twins Trade Justin Morneau to Pirates - Twinkie Town

Here's the Story Stream for yesterday's Justin Morneau trade. The Twins get much for him (what do you expect for one month of a declining first baseman?) but there's a lot of history to sort through.

Jordan Danks nails the first half of his audition - South Side Sox

Jordan Danks (the outfielder) is getting an opportunity to win some playing time next year.

Today's Classic Clip

Cecil Cooper's two-run single helps the Brewers capture their first pennant. (1982 ALCS)