Deep Left Field | A Cleveland Indians Blog

When Will V-Mart Be Open for Business Again?

The collective breath of Indians fans everywhere since Opening Day is still being held, but perhaps we can all ease up a little bit in knowing that Victor Martinez’s hamstring injury isn’t as bad as originally feared. According to him, he doesn’t feel any pain while walking, but has no idea when he will be able to return to his catching duties.

There is no need to rush him, because Kelly Shoppach is certainly capable of carrying the load for a certain amount of time. Manager Eric Wedge doesn’t believe Martinez will need to spend time on the disabled list, so that should be looked at with a positive attitude. Besides, the team is perfectly capable of winning without Martinez, especially behind the strong pitching seen so far.

While there is no specific timetable for the catcher’s return, it is believed that it will be sooner rather than later. The Indians spend the next six games playing Oakland and Anaheim, so his return could happen as soon as next week. Despite his ability to walk without any pain, I think the Indians are going about this right by not trying to set some sort of timetable and rush him back.

• One thing about the Tribe’s 7-2 win over Chicago on Wednesday night: the best thing to see out of the offense is that it was able to draw seven walks from White Sox pitchers (four from Javier Vazquez and three from Mike MacDougal). As a huge advocate of on-base percentages and simply getting guys on base, this was a very satisfying statistic to see. Oh, and Grady Sizemore is beginning the MVP campaign early.