Indians Midterm Grades - Part II

Written by Erik Cassano

He checked in on Tuesday with his midterm grades for the Indians hitters. And today, Erik Cassano finishes his halfway point report card for the Tribe with his grades for the Indians pitchers and team management. Which means you all have to see Oldberto Hernandez's name one more time. How did Eric Wedge grade out? Mark Shapiro? Fausto, Cliffie, and C.C? The grades await inside.

Click here for Part I of Erik's Indians Midterm Grades

And on we go to the hurlers and decision-makers…

(Statistics as of Thursday evening)

The pitchers

Rafael Betancourt, RP (1-0, 17 holds, 1.19 ERA)

At the start of the season, I questioned whether Betancourt could be this team’s primary setup man every day. He had problems pitching on consecutive days in the past.

Well, color me convinced. Betancourt is the glue holding this bullpen together.

Grade: A

Joe Borowski, closer (1-3, 25 saves, 5.51 ERA)

He has gained a somewhat-unfair reputation as “Bob Wickman Lite,” for his tendency to let runners on base as he is in the process of nailing down saves.

Opponents are hitting .311 off him. But as was the case with Wickman, he gets the job done, and if you’re asking for stress-free ninth innings, you’re missing the whole point of baseball. Ninth innings of close games are supposed to be stressful.

A lot of Tribe fans seem to scoff at any closer who doesn’t elicit memories of Jose Mesa in 1995. Those fans will never be satisfied.

Grade B-plus

Paul Byrd, SP (7-3, 4.71 ERA)

Jul 05, 2007 7:00 PM