The Indians have been carefully monitoring the progress of left handed starter Cliff Lee all spring, but it seems his situation gets worse by the day. Lee has a strained abdominal muscle that's kept him out for about week now.
He had a bullpen session scheduled on Thursday, but due to his injury Lee was unable to get any throwing done. Lee is scheduled to throw again on Sunday but if he can't Indians trainer Lee Soloff says that would put the start of his season in question. Soloff would have to shut Lee down for at about 10-12 days which would mean the lefty wouldn't have enough time to get in shape to start the regular season.
''Because we're still early in spring training we want to be cautious and conservative,'' Soloff said. ''But we also realize that the clock is still ticking toward opening day.''
Eric Wedge is hopeful that Lee will be able to work through the injury, but if he isn't Wedge says the team is prepared to replace him in the rotation with Fausto Carmona.
Fausto Carmona is nice, but it won't be so easy for the Indians to replace Lee who has gone 49-28 with a 4.39 ERA in his career.
