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Gave IF Zach Sorensen (AA) his outright release

In Other News...

Jeff D'Amico is going to make a rehab start in Lake County this Monday, and, given the lack of other healthy starter candidates, will probably return to be the 5th starter.

The lack of starting pitcher depth has been a concern for me this entire season, and now it might get worse before it gets better. Jason Stanford is probably going to be out until July, Kyle Denney may be on the shelf a month, and Jason Davis has been mostly awful this season. What is Jason's problem? Who knows, but things like this will happen with a young, inexperienced pitcher. The Indians really have no choice but to keep him in the rotation, as there really are no other viable options within the organization right now.

Victor Martinez is breaking out. He hit his 8th home run last night, and is in the process of catapulting himself into an elite group of catchers. If the All-Star selections were made today, manager Joe Torre would be very hard-pressed to leave Victor off the team. Unfortunately for Victor, the American League is loaded with offensive catchers this year. Ivan Rodriguez returned to the AL after a one year absence, Jorge Posada looks to be having a career (even an MVP) year, Jason Varitek isn't far behind Posada's start, and Javy Lopez jumped to the AL after playing his entire career with the Atlanta Braves. And this isn't counting what the catching situation would be if phenom Joe Mauer hadn't hurt his knee in the first series of the year.

Here's Victor's competition:

Jorge Posada 108 AB, .324/.456/.667/1.123, 13 2B, 8 HR
Jason Varitek 128 AB, .297/.416/.516/.913, 7 2B, 7 HR
Victor Martinez 133 AB, .293/.366/.541/.907, 9 2B, 8 HR
Ivan Rodriguez 159 AB, .340/.376/.522/.898, 8 2B, 7 HR
Javy Lopez 150 AB, .333/.388/.500/.888, 7 2B, 6 HR

Is 2004 The Year of the Catcher? It's still early, but it's looking that way.