No manager in baseball should be more tempted to ride his starting pitchers harder than Eric Wedge, because no team in baseball has a bigger dropoff in performance from the starters to the bullpen than the Cleveland Indians.

At present the Cleveland starting pitchers have the second best ERA in the American League, behind only the ridiculous Toronto starting five, but their bullpen ERA is the second worst in the league, ahead of only the execrable Texas Rangers relief corps. In addition, Cleveland relievers have the second least saves in the league with only 10, and have the league’s worst bullpen in terms of won-lost record, at 5-11.

Outside of Rafael Perez and Japanese import Masa Kobayashi, Cleveland relievers have been universally terrible. Last year’s unstoppable bullpen ace Rafael Betancourt has totally tanked, to the tune of a 5.40 ERA, attempts to get passable work out of veteran retreads Jorge Julio and Scott Elarton failed miserably, and perhaps worst of all, Cleveland continues to rely on Gagne-esque closer Joe Borowski (9.00 ERA) to try to close out games.

Of course the bullpen is not Cleveland’s only problem. The offense has also sputtered as nearly every hitter on the team has started out slow. But while it is inconceivable that every single Indians hitter will continue to be as bad as they have been, it is not inconceivable that this bullpen will continue to suck and suck mightily.

If I were Mark Shapiro, I’d be on the phone now to try to bring in a reliever or two.

- What They Need Index -

I feel that Tuesday often gets lost in the workweek shuffle. There’s Monday, which gets a lot of attention for being first. There’s Wednesday, which gets to be “Hump Day.” Thursday is often “thirsty,” or at least gets a sort of half-credit for being almost Friday. And then there’s Friday itself, which, when it rolls around, we’re all so thankful for. But where does poor Tuesday come in? The shock of Monday has worn off, but the ray of hope that Wednesday offers hasn’t yet broken through the gloom. Well, I’ve decided Tuesday needs more love. And on UmpBump, love = links. So let’s get to ‘em. And let’s do it lineup-style!

Leading off, my own Metro Column: A Few Reasons Why Baseball Is Awesome. Need I say more?

Batting second, the June amateur draft is just two months away and The Baseball Analysts are getting ready with a must-read preview series.

Third, Baseball Musings points out that Randy Johnson’s loss last night was unearned. Literally—all the runs the Giants managed came as a result of errors by the D-Backs.

Batting cleanup, Beyond the Box Score looks at some hot starts (and a few slow ones) and identifies which ones are flukes.

Fifth—this one’s for all you Milwaukee Brewers fans. Take heart! There is one closer who may be scarier to have in your bullpen than Eric Smelly Gagne (as my Red Sox-loving roommate still calls him, and will ever call him): Joe Borowski. Bugs and Cranks has the hilarious, heartbreaking rant.  (VegasWatch also chimes in, pointing out that thanks largely to Borowski, the Tigers aren’t in quite as deep a hole as it seems.)

Sixth, Joe Posnanski has a nice post about airport security lines. (And if that’s not baseball-related enough for you, then you can read this one about how much he loves Brian Bannister’s slow-ass fastball.)

Seventh,  this Marlins fan has started Florida Marlins Finances to prove it to the management that they are profitable, dammit, whether they like it or not and with or without that new, taxpayer-funded stadium they want.

Eighth, via River Ave Blues: the Red Sox and New York face off again tomorrow and the first pitch will be thrown from space. (Side note: doesn’t it seem weird that the Sox and Yanks are playing each other again already? And that the Brewers and the Reds will also be facing each other for the second time later this week? And that the White Sox and the Tigers have already faced each other twice? And that the Rays have also faced the Yankees and the Orioles twice? Divisional face-offs are all well and good, but the scheduler may have taken it a bit far this April.)

And batting ninth, the pitcher,  Rumors and Rants, who brings us more good news about Randy Johnson: the mullet (pictured above) is back! It is just as I hoped it would be!

And as a sort of pinch hitter, I have to give a shoutout to Tim Dierkes at MLB Trade Rumors for giving me credit for my foresight on Kyle Snyder, who has cleared waivers and accepted an assignment to Boston’s AAA affiliate, the Paw Sox. There were doubters at the time! But I was right! And as regular readers of UmpBump know, there’s few things Sarah Green loves more in life than being proven right (coffee, my as-yet-unborn children…let’s see…what else? Nope, I think that basically covers it).