Cabrera Gets it
Posted July 22nd, 2007 by Stephanie Storm
After all the other players and coaches had quickly headed into the lockerroom late Saturday night, Asdrubal Cabrera sat silently by himself in the dugout, absently staring out onto the field for about five minutes.
Cabrera didn’t get a hit in the Aeros 6-1 loss to visiting Reading that included three errors. In taking a few minutes to think about things, he seemed to sense that his team is more than headed in the wrong direction having won just four of their last 15 games.
Even the best baseball teams will go through their share of losing streaks during a 142-game season. But there’s something about this prolonged skid that just doesn’t bode well for postseason play.
“We’re not playing well in all aspects,” Aeros manager Tim Bogar said. “We’re not pitching well, we’re not hitting well, we’re not running the bases well and we’re not fielding well. Our decision making is not very good right now, either. Him sitting out there like that just shows you he knows - and he cares.”
Not to put the entire team’s struggles on Cabrera’s shoulders, but as Bogar hinted, when he’s not playing well, nobody seems to. When he plays well, it provides momentum for the rest.
“He knows he hasn’t been hitting well lately, and he takes a little bit of the losing streak on himself,” Bogar said of Cabrera.
Despite his recent struggles, Cabrera is still batting .312 with 21 doubles, eight homers and 47 RBI. In many other organizations, he’d already be promoted to Triple-A by now.
I’m hoping Cabrera is just tired and not caught up in being worried about a promotion to Buffalo. He’s done so much this season to put his name on the lips of the Indians front office staff, all he has to do is finish strong and remain patient.
Of course, the same could be said for the rest of the team.
July 22nd, 2007 at 4:32 pm
I know the Bisons aren’t your beat, but I’m wondering if you had any hint as to what is going on with Aaron Laffey? He got pulled this afternoon after 2.2 innings and only 48 pitches. Speculation was that he was getting called up to Cleveland, or possibly had been included in a trade. Have you heard any rumors regarding either direction?
July 22nd, 2007 at 5:04 pm
Roger - Haven’t heard anything yet, but have some feelers out. I’ll jump back on and update as soon as I know something.
You’re right - it could be either a call up or trade. If the Indians have finally reached the end of their rope with reliever Fernando Cabrera, Laffey would be the logical person to take his roster spot.
And if the Tribe is in the midst of a trade, I can see using Laffey in a deal, as he’s had a breakout year. In Akron he was 4-1 with a 2.31 ERA in six starts. Since being promoted to Buffalo, he’s 7-3 with a 3.23 ERA in 11 games - including a pair of complete games and a shutout.
Stay tuned.
July 22nd, 2007 at 7:01 pm
I’m guessing the dugout meditating helped, as he provided another game-winning AB. How many is that this season? I know it’s two in the past week, and if I remember correctly he had about two or three earlier in the season. It wouldn’t surprise me if he’s had more, but I’ve only been in Akron since mid-May.
July 23rd, 2007 at 12:21 pm
I have a hard time figuring out why a player would want to make the jump from AA Akron to AAA Buffalo. Buffalo might be known for inventing the chicken wing, but they don’t have Swenson’s there. And that’s reason enough to stay in Akron.
July 24th, 2007 at 3:02 am
laffey was on a pitch count and had a big warm up appratnly so he was only allowed to through 50 pitches is what I read
July 24th, 2007 at 7:17 am
The Buffalo writers are saying that the excuse isn’t real because nobody warmed up the day before. Also, they are reporting that Laffey’s locker is cleaned out. Something is going on…