Fausto Carmona

With the Mets having lost the Cliff Lee sweepstakes, they are still in need of another starting pitcher. Losing the last two games to the Braves and falling to five games out of first place and two back in the wild card race have made this need even more obvious.

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

This week, we discuss the Tribe's terrible luck with injuries, Fausto Carmona's All-Star Game nod, and the long-awaited emergence of Matt LaPorta.

The Yankees, Red Sox , and Rays have nearly come to a stand still in the fight for the AL East crown, and likely the best record in baseball.

So who is going to come out ahead?

Well, it is likely that the team that makes the best acquisitions is going to end up on top, making the month of July, more specifically the July 31st trade deadline, the deciding factor in this year's race in the East.

Welcome to the Cleveland Indians Trading Post, a weekly segment meant to help my fellow Tribe fans sort out which of the few familiar faces left on the team won’t be around much longer.

This week’s potential trade bait is Fausto Carmona.

The basics

As the trade deadline begins to inch closer and closer, it becomes more obvious what teams will be buyers and what teams will be sellers.

It is fairly obvious that the Indians will be one of the teams that will be sellers. They are currently 13.5 games out of first place and 16 games under .500 with a 26-42 record.

There has been talk about a few Indians pitchers being moved between now and the trade deadline. Jake Westbrook's name has been mentioned in connection with many teams.

Fantasy Baseball’s Pitching Line of the Week:

Stephen Strasburg (SP-WAS)  7 IP, 4H, 2R, 0 BB, 14 K, W

The long awaited Major League debut of Stephen Strasburg is officially over. The dust has settled, but some fans have yet to pick their chins off of the ground from the amazement that was a dominating fourteen strikeout performance.

After allowing just two walks all spring, it took Fausto Carmona two hitters to equal that number in his first start of 2010.

Collectively Cleveland sighed and exclaimed, "Oh boy, here we go again!"

He isn't fixed; he's still the same old rattled head case that can't throw strikes. This year is going to be even worse than we imagined. How could anyone put a single strand of hope into this enigma of a pitcher?

Carlos Quentin would eventually fly out and Paul Konerko would bring home the game's first run with a sacrifice fly. Remarkably, the damage was limited.

A 6.32 ERA…

A 1.76 WHIP…

A 5.67 K/9 vs. a 5.03 BB/9…

Looking at these statistics from 2009, you have to instantly conclude that the stats belong to one of the hottest pitchers entering 2010 for fantasy owners, don’t you? 

Of course, we’re talking about Fausto Carmona, who is arguably looking at one of the biggest turnarounds ever.

The Cleveland Indians finished last season with a 65-97 record, good for fourth place in the American League Central. While I expect marginal improvement this season, there are too many questions to suggest anything better than a last place finish for The Tribe in 2010.

36 hours into Manny Acta’s first spring training as manager of the Indians, and he’s already nestled himself a nice, warm place in the back corner of Cleveland’s media doghouse.

That didn’t take long, did it?

On one of the youngest teams in the majors with question marks for most of the team, Acta has curiously already ended all speculation and named Russell Branyan the starting first basemen.

“He’ll get a majority of the time at first base,” said Acta. “We didn’t sign him to be a backup guy.”