Cleveland Indians

By now, Cleveland Indians fans have grown accustomed to watching their favorite players being shipped out of town around the trade deadline.

Casey Blake, Paul Byrd, Mark DeRosa, Ben Francisco, Ryan Garko, Cliff Lee, Victor Martinez, Carl Pavano, and C.C. Sabathia have all been shipped off between late June and early August the last couple years—and that doesn’t count winter exports Franklin Gutierrez and Kelly Shoppach.

A (hopefully) monthly look at the Tribe's performance from a variety of statistical angles. Suggestions for additional stats and categories are welcome - just let me know.

It only took two rehab appearances for the Cleveland Indians to feel Kerry Wood is healthy and ready to help the team. Wood, who has been out all year because of a strained right latissimus dorsi muscle was activated from the 15-Day DL yesterday.

Wood was roughed up in his first rehab appearance giving up six runs in two-thirds of an inning, but settled down in his second appearance to pitch a scoreless inning of work. Wood felt he was ready after his second appearance and if a 6′5″, 220 lb Texan says he is ready, I’ll take his word for it.

The Cleveland Indians' bullpen, usually the source of anguish amongst fans when seasons are going right, is this year at least handling itself well. The Indians' bullpen ERA up to now is 4.03, which is not amazing, but it is definitely an improvement from 4.66 last year, fourth worst in the league.

Welcome to a series on the Cleveland Indians entitled "The Problem" where we examine one issue surrounding the current club. Although there is probably more than one problem with the Indians, you have to fix issue at a time.

Today's problem is Matt LaPorta and the horrific numbers he's put together offensively. Not only is the power not there, he flat out is one of the worst overall hitters on the club.

He's been a dependent rally killer when in the lineup and the reason for a lot of run-producing failures.

I didn’t have high hopes for the Cleveland Indians this season.

I understood that this year was about seasoning our young core of prospects and sorting out our jumbled rotation. I even opposed the few veteran signings we made out of fear that their presence would jeopardize our rookies’ playing time.

The Cleveland Indians are toiling at 9-13 right now, and while their won-lost record isn't really a surprise, the biggest concern is their lack of offense. With the Indians closing in on a month of games, I really only have one question: Wasn't the Indians' offense supposed to be the strength of this baseball team? There wasn't a lot of doubt that the Indians had some talented sticks heading into the season.

Cleveland Indians manager Manny Acta certainly didn't get off to the start he and his club were hoping for. After years of rough April outings, there was hope things under Acta would change.

The standings may not indicate it, but I think they have. Acta's Tribe only won nine games, but they were lucky to even do that after being outscored by 27 runs in the month of April. The team is showing a lot more promise than most expected and it has been the pitching that has carried them to this point.

May is a new month, which means they are closer to the point where they historically heat up.

Welcome to Tribe Talk, where Bleacher Report's Tribe fans weigh in on the ups and downs of the Indians each week throughout the season.

This week, we wonder if being on the road is a legitimate excuse for losing, compare our fantasy baseball teams, and answer a question about Justin Masterson that has inspired no less than two Tribe Talk panelists to begin writing a manifesto on the topic.