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Despite a 27-24 record, the horizons might not be that bright for the Cleveland Indians. Unfortunately, so much of the Tribe’s recent success has been uprooted by the injury bug, and now Chris Perez has been shut down for a minimum of seven days.
The closer position is a large one for any MLB team looking to compete considering they’re solely responsible for nailing the all important last out in so many close games. Perez has gotten off to a slow start in 2013, but don’t take one glance at his numbers and call this injury a minor blow because his consistency is one thing the Indians have been able to hang their hats on.
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Perez notched 39 saves last year and 36 the year before that, so the ability to mow down fierce American League slugging is definitely there. It has been obvious for some time that something just hasn’t been right with Perez’s delivery. On May 18th Perez blew his second save and his ERA ballooned after allowing two solo shots to the Seattle Mariners. Not so coincidentally, Perez was placed on the disabled list less than 10 days later.
Cleveland is now forced to throw Vinnie Pestano into the role who has also struggled with elbow issues of his own and has five saves to his name. The rubber is going to meet the road with this Indians team as they are already in the middle of the pack and can’t afford to slip any further in the tight AL Central race.
I see a trip to the 60-Day disabled left for Perez, as pitchers are rarely shut down for a brief period of time with little to no setbacks.
