Cuts Galore, Now At 44

There are 44 players left in Indians camp.  22 of the 44 have secure roster spots.  The rotation will be Cliff Lee, Fausto Carmona, Carl Pavano, and Anthony Reyes.  Kerry Wood is the closer with the setup and middle relief roles going to Jensen Lewis, Rafael Perez, and Rafael Betancourt.  Joe Smith and Masa Kobayashi haven’t been put on the roster yet, but both will probably be in the pen.

The infield roster spots are held by Ryan Garko, Asdrubal Cabrera, Jhonny Peralta, Mark DeRosa, Victor Martinez, and Kelly Shoppach, plus Jamey Carroll to be the versatile utility guy.

The outfield is also pretty well set.  Grady Sizemore, Ben Francisco, Shin-Soo Chin, and David Dellucci are in.  Travis Hafner has also been named starting DH.

With Jake Westbrook rehabbing from Tommy John surgery until June, there are 21 players still in question.  Manager Eric Wedge has already been quoted as saying that Matt LaPorta and Michael Brantley will start the season in the minors barring a path of injuries.  If one of the outfielders caves by opening day, the extra roster spot would go to Trevor Crowe who will start the season back at Triple-A.

Adam Miller’s finger injury has pretty much taken him out of the running for a spot in the bullpen.The rest of the moves will be pretty obvious… except… who to keep as another utility player, Josh Barfield or Tony Graffanino.  Barfield worked hard this month learning many positions which Graffinino has made a career of.  The age factor could play a role, Barfield is 26, Graffanino is 36.  I still think this spot will go to Barfield and say he will be starting somewhere by years end on the big club.