CastroTurf's Mailbag: Marte Almost Out of Time

post from The Tribe Time Report on 20 May 2008 12:07:00 PM. © The Tribe Time Report

I'll occasionally mention Anthony Castrovince's mailbag, because he does bring me smiles with his corny jokes and he does have some good concepts.

I don't understand this whole thing about keeping Andy Marte around. They say they are holding onto him because they don't want to let him go and then hear about him exploding elsewhere. What difference does it make? Remind me again what the point of holding onto him is.
-- Kevin W., Lexington, Ohio
Whatever point there was has all but eroded, Kevin. The Indians have some roster moves approaching with the impending returns of Joe Borowski, Jake Westbrook and Shin-Soo Choo from the disabled list. If Marte survives all those moves, I'd be shocked.
I argued a couple weeks back that if Marte's around, you might as well give him a shot in this struggling lineup. Wedge agreed enough to give Marte back-to-back starts in New York before benching him again. So if you have no inclination to play Marte, get rid of him. At this point, he might even sneak through waivers and get to play every day at Triple-A Buffalo.
Will the Indians be sending Ben Francisco down when Choo comes back from rehabbing?
-- Sean, McDonald, Ohio
Not with the way Francisco's swinging the bat. If the Indians could, they'd probably send down Franklin Gutierrez, who looks completely lost at the plate and basically has lost his starting job to Francisco the past week and a half. But Gutierrez is out of Minor League options, so the Indians have their hands tied.
I suspect the Tribe will go with five outfielders when Choo arrives (his rehab assignment will end June 3). That's why I made the above remark about Marte's tenuous spot on this roster.

So there you go... Marte could be out of time, and I highly doubt he sneaks past waivers.. They will probably end up trading him for a lower level prospect or a PTBNL. That is the way baseball works, because unless you are Jason Tyner, there is always a team out there willing to take a chance on you. Marte is REAL young and given he was a very highly touted prospect, there will be teams lining up for his services to give him a shot.

But once Choo returns, we may see the end of Marte.. So Wedge, good job on that one bud. You really screwed the pooch.

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