JOSH WEIR
Canton Repository
July 04, 2008 11:40 pm
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MINNEAPOLIS — It’s here, that purgatory of the baseball universe, where competing and evaluating, the present and the future, are supposed to be accomplished at the same time.
The Indians officially turned their sights to 2009 on Friday, designating closer Joe Borowski for assignment. It’s the first of what could be multiple moves by the Tribe before the July 31 trade deadline.
GM Mark Shapiro talked about several topics during a conference call Friday. C.C. Sabathia’s status was not one of them. Shapiro refused to make any comments about trade talks or contract negotiations with Sabathia.
The Brewers are said to be coming hard after the free-agent-to-be Sabathia with their surplus of young talent. Brewers Manager Ned Yost denied to comment on Sabathia Friday.
“A rumor’s a rumor,” Yost told the Associated Press.
Are the Indians, who entered Friday 12 games back in the Central Division, surrendering?
“I’m not sure it’s time for a monumental declaration like that,” Shapiro said. ”I think there?s more of a duality of how we have to approach each game right now. One of the things we need to accomplish is still compete to win each night. But there are secondary things that are important to address at this point due to the outcome of where we are.”
Shapiro believes the Indians need to “ensure we get something out of this season,” which means evaluating and developing what they have with some of the club’s younger players.
That process started Friday with Joe Borowski being designated for assignment. The 37-year-old Borowski, who led the American League with 45 saves last year despite a 5.07 ERA, spent time early this season on the DL with a triceps strain and never seemed to settle in. He had blown four of his 10 save opportunities, going 1-3 with a 7.56 ERA.
The Indians also designated reliever Rick Bauer for assignment, while recalling relievers Brian Slocum and Jensen Lewis from Triple-A Buffalo. Masa Kobayashi will get the bulk of the closing situations.
Borowski, as expected, was professional about the situation.
“I understand where they’re coming from,” he said by phone. ”Sometimes in the front office, you have to make those decisions and a lot of times you want to see what the young guys can do and what you’re going to need for next year.”
Shapiro doesn’t look at what the Indians are doing as rebuilding. Maybe more of a re-shuffling. The No. 1 step in Shapiro’s mind isn’t bringing new players in. It’s getting the wounded (Victor Martinez, Travis Hafner and Fausto Carmona, and Jake Westbrook at some point next year) back healthy.
“If you look where Chicago and Minnesota were a year ago, I think we’re as well positioned if not better than they were,” Shapiro said of the first and second-place teams in the Central. ”So we’ll need to do some things and we’ll need to address some things, but getting those injured players back and getting them healthy will be bigger than anything we do externally. And then we’ll continue to look for ways to supplement and add to our team.”
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