1. Baseball Prospectus has a fielding-rating system called defensive efficiency, and the Indians are among several franchises that value it. Well, the Tribe ranks 29th out of 30 in that category - only Baltimore is worse. Don't be surprised if you start to see more of Jhonny Peralta at third, Luis Valbuena at second and Asdrubal Cabrera at short. Mark DeRosa would be in the outfield under this setup, which might be used a few times a week. A year ago, the Indians ranked 22nd in defensive efficiency, and they were 17th when winning 96 games in 2007.
2. While the Indians don't say it, they are hoping for better defense from DeRosa at third. He has a strong arm, and he's a good athlete. He says he is more comfortable at third than at second, where he played most of the time for the Cubs. Last season, he started 80 games at second (eight errors) and 10 at third base (two errors). He also had 57 starts in the outfield. In 2007, he had 88 starts at second (six errors), 31 at third (four errors). So he has not played that much third base (41 starts) the past two years. For his career, DeRosa has 261 starts at second, 195 at third and 139 at short. He also has played first and the outfield. I've not heard any talk of DeRosa playing second for the Tribe. 3. The Indians' outfield play in the corners with Ben Francisco and Shin-Soo Choo also has been inconsistent, another area of concern because both are capable of being above average at the position. The Indians also want Grady Sizemore to be more forceful in center calling for balls. He has done a better job of that lately, after some early-season plays where fly balls dropped between Sizemore and another outfielder.
4. I hear Scott Lewis had a minor setback as he tries to rehabilitate his strained forearm, so it's not sure when he'll be back.
5. Carl Pavano's overall numbers (2-3, 6.61) look terrible, but they are skewed by his first start (allowing nine earned runs in one inning). In four of his next five starts, he pitched at least six innings. In those starts, he was 2-2 with a 4.15 ERA. He walked only five in 30 1/3 innings in that span. In three starts at Boston, New York and Detroit, he allowed only five runs in 19 1/3 innings.
