For now, the Indians will stick with Carlos Santana, despite him having no homers since May 15 and hitting .185 in that span.
View full sizeIt's been 135 at-bats since catcher Carlos Santana has homered.ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. -- Yes, the Indians have talked about sending slumping Carlos Santana to Class AAA Columbus.
But here's the problem -- if not Santana, then who?
As in, who catches?
They can go with Lou Marson, who is batting a respectable .287 (.787 OPS) in 101 at bats this season.
But would Marson continue to hit?
He entered the year with a career .218 batting average and five homers in 570 big league at bats.
If the Indians do engage in some shock therapy and turn Santana into a Columbus Clipper, they would not promote someone such as Russ Canzler or Matt LaPorta.
They'd need another catcher, and that catcher would be 31-year-old Luke Carlin. He's a career minor-leaguer, who has been in the Majors in parts of three different seasons -- batting .175.
So they will continue to work with Santana, whose .221 batting average with five homers and 30 RBI fails to tell the entire sad story.
This Santana who slammed 27 homers last season hasn't hit one since May 15 ... or no homers in 135 at bats.
In that span, he is 25-of-135 (.185) with 10 RBI.
As the Indians prepare to play the third game of their series against Tampa Bay tonight at 7:10, they continue to work with Santana.
In batting practice, the switch-hitter shows some progress.
But as one baseball man told me, "That's because they don't throw you 2-and-0 curveballs and changeups in batting practice. Santana's problem is adjusting to the different speeds."
Santana sees only 51 percent fastballs, according to Fangraphs.com. Pitchers love to throw him things that slide, sink, dip and almost crawl up to home plate.
He's such a mess right now, that when he finally gets a fastball -- he fouls it off, pops it up or takes it for a strike.
The 26-year-old Santana signed a five-year, $20 million extension early this season.
He was a career .290 hitter (.899 OPS) in the minors who was batting .316 at Columbus when promoted during the 2010 season.
Santana has always hit for power and drawn a lot of walks, even if his big league batting average was .244 heading into the season.
He still has a respectable .348 on base percentage, because he draws walks.
For all the talk about his "pre-swing mechanics," this is more than a discussion of his toe-taping and high leg kick as he prepare for the pitch.
His confidence is drained, his sudden lack of power is alarming.
The Indians have made sure there are no lingering problems from his concussion in May. They say he rarely is even in the trainer's room. They don't believe health is an issue.
It's timing, it's confidence and it's a young hitter who clearly is thinking too much, trying too hard and delivering too little.
As Justin Masterson (6-8, 4.14 ERA) take the mound tonight, the Tribe is 46-44. They are 2-3 since the All-Star break and have scored 1-9-0-3-2 runs. In other words, only once in five games have they scored more than three runs.
Santana isn't the only reason for that, but he's a big one.
Quick Tribe Hits & Misses:
1. I heard the Indians are talking trade, but not really getting anywhere. There is a sense that they don't have enough in terms of prospects to bring an established hitter.
2. If the Indians decide to promote LaPorta or Canzler from Columbus, they'd probably send down Shelley Duncan. They don't want to do that because Duncan (.228, 9 HR, 24 RBI) is 13-of-36 (.361) in the last 12 games. They also are not sure LaPorta or Canzler would be an upgrade. That can change, but that is the thinking right now.
3. They believe they need Aaron Cunningham on the roster because he's the only backup outfielder who is even average defensively and capable of playing center. So he'll stay (at least for now), despite batting .189.
4. The Indians put Michael Brantley in the cleanup spot in the last two games, and he went 0-of-3 with five walks. Tampa Bay doesn't even want to pitch to him.
5. For now, they want to stick with Johnny Damon, who is hitting .278 with three homers and 12 RBI since June 1.
6. The Indians are now batting .114 with two outs and the bases loaded, lowest in the American League.
Source: http://www.cleveland.com/pluto/blog/index.ssf/2012/07/carlos_santana_likely_to_stay.html
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