Preseason playoff favorites, the Indians are now, one game shy of the season’s half-way point, 18 games out of first place in the AL Central, 15.5 games behind in the Wild Card race, and three games below .500. While simply matching their Pythagorean record would improve their record, and thus the above standings, by six games, the Indians, an organization overflowing with young talent, has decided to take a longer view of their future.

The result is that starter Jason Johnson, signed to a one-year deal this past winter but dragging the team down with a 5.96 ERA was released and top pitching prospect Jeremy Sowers was called up to fill his spot. Veteran first baseman Eduardo Perez, signed to platoon with Ben Broussard–and excellent strategy that resulted in a .303/.343/.636 line from Perez and, with Perez taking all of the at-bats against lefties, the 29-year-old Broussard’s best season–was flipped to Seattle for 20-year-old middle-infield prospect Asdrubal Cabrera, making room for perennial minor league masher and righty-hitting first baseman Ryan Garko on the Cleveland roster. Meanwhile, with both corner outfielders on the DL, the Tribe has called up Franklin Gutierrez, one of their top outfield prospects, and have been starting him in right field. The Indians have also returned veteran backup catcher Tim Laker to the minors in exchange for Kelly Shoppach, the 26-year-old catching prospect obtained from the Red Sox in the Coco Crisp deal. Shoppach has been receiving his fair share of starts behind the plate, while the Indians have been working star catcher Victor Martinez into their first-base picture in order to keep his bat in the line-up on “off” days.

These moves are at the most a couple of weeks old (Gutierrez for Casey Blake in right) and in some cases (Garko for Perez) happened just a couple days ago, so there’s little to say as of yet about how these players are panning out, though the Yankees will get a good look at one of the more compelling little Indians tonight when they face Sowers in what will be just his second major league start.

Sowers was drafted by the Indians out of Vanderbilt University in June 2004 and made his professional debut in 2005 working his way all the way from the single-A Caroline League to the triple-A International League in his first pro season. After a rough spring training with the big club this March, Sowers returned to triple-A, where he had made just one start the year before, and went 9-1 with a 1.39 ERA in 15 starts despite an unimpressive K:BB ratio of 1.86 that was due largely to a low strikeout rate. His major league debut came at home a week before Sunday against the Reds.

In that game, Sowers pitched well in four of his five innings, but was undone by a fourth inning in which a lead-off walk was plated by a Ken Griffey Jr. homer and an infield single also came around to score on a home run by Adam Dunn. The end result was an ugly 7.20 ERA and a 4-2 Indians’ loss, but one can hardly blame a rookie for giving up taters to Griffey and Dunn. Meanwhile, the walk was the only one he surrendered while throwing 61 percent of his pitches for strikes, striking out three Reds in his five innings of work.

The Yankees jumped all over Alay Soler on Sunday, but they could easily come down with a case of the URPs against the 23-year-old Sowers, who is a very highly touted prospect who gets by on guile, changing speeds and breaking pitches rather than heat and sheer physical ability.

Looking to keep pace with Sowers will be Chien-Ming Wang, who turned in a gem his last time out against the Braves, needing just 91 pitches through eight innings, while holding the Braves to two runs over that span. Wang has steadily improved as the season has worn on, posting a 4.80 ERA in April, a 4.28 ERA in May, a 3.19 overall ERA in June and a 2.39 ERA in his last five starts, each of which saw him pitch a minimum of seven innings.

Incidentally, the Indians expect to activate Jason Michaels before tonight’s game, which likely means either the 23-year-old Gutierrez’s audition is temporarily over (which his .233/.250/.256 line suggests is a distinct possibility), or veteran minor league infielder-turned major league utility man Joe Inglett (1 for 7) will get the boot and Todd Hollandsworth (.219/.236/.438) will return to the bench.

Cleveland Indians

2006 Record: 37-43 (.462)
2006 Pythagorean Record: 43-37 (.539)

Manager: Eric Wedge
General Manager: Mark Shapiro

Home Ballpark (2005 Park Factors): Jacobs Field (94/94)

Who’s Replaced Whom?

• Franklin Gutierrez replaced Jason Michaels (DL)
• Ryan Garko replaced Eduardo Perez
• Joe Inglett replaced Casey Blake on the roster and Todd Hollandsworth replaces Blake in the outfield
• Kelly Shoppach replaced Tim Laker
• Jeremy Sowers replaced Jason Johnson
• Edward Mujica replaced Jeremy Guthrie

Current Roster:

1B – Ben Broussard (L)
2B – Ron Belliard (R)
SS – Jhonny Peralta (R)
3B – Aaron Boone (R)
C – Victor Martinez (S)
RF – Franklin Gutierrez (R)
CF – Grady Sizemore (L)
LF – Todd Hollandsworth (L)
DH – Travis Hafner (L)

Bench:

R – Ryan Garko (1B)
L – Ramon Vazquez (IF)
L – Joe Inglett (UT)
R – Kelly Shoppach (C)

Rotation:

L – C.C. Sabathia
L – Jeremy Sowers
R – Jake Westbrook
R – Paul Byrd
L – Cliff Lee

Bullpen:

R – Bob Wickman
R – Rafael Betancourt
R – Fernando Cabrera
L – Rafael Perez
R – Guillermo Mota
R – Fausto Carmona
R – Edward Mujica

Tyical Lineup:

L – Grady Sizemore (CF)
R – Rafael Belliard (2B)
R – Jhonny Peralta (SS)
L – Travis Hafner (DH)
S – Victor Martinez (C)
L – Ben Broussard (1B)
L – Todd Hollandsworth (LF)
R – Aaron Boone (3B)
R – Franklin Gutierrez (RF)

15-day DL: R – Casey Blake (RF), R – Jason Michaels (LF)
60-day DL: R – Matt Miller