The Cleveland Indians aren't hitting

That's the simple truth. There's probably a more complex solution, but the problem is quite simple.

My dilemma is this: every day I watch Cleveland.com and Yahoo to see if they made a trade for a hitter. I have convinced myself starting about, say, a month ago, that something is imminent. They have to make some kind of a move, right?

Instead, what happens? They promote Ben Francisco (who probably should never have been sent to AAA after spring training) and Michael Aubrey (who was a heck of a college hitter). Not bad moves if the team was rebuilding, but this a team that is wasting some pretty doggone impressive starting pitching.

As a fan, I am sick of watching the team flounder. I also have been wondering if we fans overrated people like Jhonny Peralta, Travis Hafner, Ryan Garko and the lot.

One interesting thing I noted is that young star Grady Sizemore's stats have gotten worse every year since 2006. Using the simple OPS formula (on-base percentage plus slugging percentage), he has gone from .907 to .852 to this year's .821.

I wish I had some solution that would save the Tribe's season, but I can't say much that hasn't already been said, and probably better by people like Terry Pluto (check out my links on the side of the page).

My only thought is this: It seems to me that the Indians may have to contemplate a move like the Toronto Blue Jays made before the 1991 season. They had a lot of good players, but they hadn't gone deep in the playoffs. So, they traded two of their best players, Fred McGriff and Tony Fernandez, to the San Diego Padres for Joe Carter and Roberto Alomar. They also added Devon White as a free agent, and the team won the division in 1991 and back-to-back World Series titles in 1992 and 1993.

I am not entirely sure that the economics of modern baseball would let the Indians do this, or if they have the players and the trading partner to re-cast their stars with other stars. But, if I were a member of the Indians front office, I'd be thinking about it.