While there have been problems aplenty in Cleveland with the Indians this season, a lot of the team's offensive struggles can be attributed to the fact they've gotten absolutely nothing out of Travis Hafner this year. After having an MVP-caliber season in 2006 (.308 42 HR 117 RBI 1.098 OPS), Hafner struggled last season hitting only .266. Of course, even though he was struggling, he still managed to hit 24 homers and drive in 100 runs.The Indians probably wish he could struggle so much this season, but Pronk's been battling a bad shoulder injury since May and hasn't played a game since being placed on the DL back on May 25th. Still, despite the fact his shoulder is healing incredibly slowly, Pronk still thinks he'll be back in time this season to help get the Tribe up to fourth place in the division.
"It's been a really slow process," said Hafner, who has four home runs in 157 at-bats this season. "Seems there were three or four weeks that I just wasn't making a whole lot of progress. Here in the last couple of weeks, it's really come around and I'm starting to make a lot more gains."Speaking of Hafner's contract extension, the Indians really haven't gotten much of a return on their investment. Since Pronk signed the deal one year ago today, he's managed to hit .235 with 14 homers and 65 runs driven in. Of course, they gave Cliff Lee an extension in 2006 only to watch him suck in 07, and now he's starting for the American League in this year's All-Star Game. So, logically, that means Hafner will hit .415 with 79 dingers and 248 steaks next season. Hooray!
Hafner, who signed a four-year contract extension worth $52 million around this time a year ago, claims to have more than 50 percent strength in his right shoulder (compared to his left shoulder). That might not sound impressive, but consider Hafner said he was close to zero percent when he went on the DL.
