Cleveland Indians vs. Seattle Mariners series preview

The Seattle Mariners visit Cleveland as the Tribe tries for only its second winning series at home all season. The Indians are a woeful 11-16 at Progressive Field in 2015.

• Tuesday, 7:05 PM: Roenis Elias (L) vs. Corey Kluber (R)
• Wednesday, 7:05 PM: Taijuan Walker (R) vs. Trevor Bauer (R)
• Thursday, 12:05 PM: J.A. Happ (L) vs. Shaun Marcum (R)

When we last saw the Mariners in Seattle the last week of May, they had just reached .500 and were on a hot streak. But the Tribe took three of four in Safeco and the Mariners have been downright awful since. The Yankees swept them and then the Rays took three of four to conclude a turrible 2-9 home stand.

The Next Week: The Tribe head to Detroit this weekend and then do the annual home and home four game series against the National League. This year that opponent will be the Chicago Cubs and the first two game will be in Wrigley.

Division Watch: Royals at Twins, Cubs at Tigers, Astros at White Sox.

Team in a Box

The Mariners staff continues to fight the good fight. But for anyone thinking the Tribe has a bad offense, please take a peek at those Mariner hitting numbers. The on base percentage is sub-300, the slugging has dipped 20 points and the runs/game is dead last in the league. The pitching took a hit when James Paxton went on the DL during the visit to Seattle.

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The roster has had a bit of shuffling as well. Mark Trumbo was acquired from the Diamondbacks to try and boost the offense. Former Tribe draft pick Vidal Nuno was also acquired to add a third lefty to the pen. It cost the Mariners a pair of minor leaguers, reliever Dominic Leone and recently acquired Welington Castillo (who cost them reliever Yoervis Medina from the Cubs). To make room for Trumbo, Justin Ruggiano was DFA'ed.

Projected Roster

#combined stats with Diamondbacks and Mariners

In Seattle, the Mariners were riding a heavy bench, none of which who were hitting a lick. They needed another rotation arm when Paxton was hurt, so shortstop Chris Taylor was shipped out. Brad Miller took over in the infield. Smith, Jackson and Cruz have settled in as the current outfield with Trumbo assuming the DH spot. Oddly enough, Ruggiano, who was the only decent bench bat was DFA'ed and both Ackley and Weeks stuck on the roster.

As a team, the offense has a 232/292/332 slash. Only Jackson and Smith are above 800 OPS with Zunino, Cano and Miller all sub-500 OPS in the same time frame. During the Safeco series, Ackley, Zunino and Cano were the only decent bats, each with an 800 OPS.

Projected Staff

#combined stats with Diamondbacks and Mariners

As like before, the Tribe lucks out and misses King Felix again. But they do get two leftys. Elias lost 4-3 to Shaun Marcum on May 30 giving up all four runs in 5.1 innings, including a two run shot to Jerry Sands. He pitched better against the Rays in his next outing, but lost 2-1. Walker pitched an absolute gem and get the lone win in Seattle, allowing just two hits, no walks and eight strikeouts in beating Trevor Bauer 2-1. He lost another tough one to the Yankees 3-1 in his next start. Montgomery is taking Paxton's place in the rotation. He made his major league debut and took a no decision in a 5-3 loss to the Yankees and pitched really well against the Rays, losing 3-1. Closer Rodney did get the save against the Tribe, but has been very hittable in the past two weeks, six runs in five innings.

On the Shelf

• SP Hishashi Iwakuma [15 day DL], possible early July return
• SP James Paxton [15 day DL], no timetable for return

Almanac

*Does not include 2015 stats

Prediction: I'd love to see a sweep getting the Tribe over that ever elusive 0.500 hump, but I don't like the combo of two lefties, and especially a no name lefty. I think they take two of three to get them back within one of the median mark.