Anthony Castrovince thinks he has discovered the problem with the Indians this season

The Indians futility this year has been very unexpected and especially with Cliff Lee at 18-2. It shouldn't be a mystery, but for some, it is. Anthony Castrovince thinks he has figured it out:

Tribe has need for speed on basepath

If speed kills, consider the Indians harmless.

It doesn't. I don't. This is going to be good.

The Tribe is a team in need of speed, and one look at the stat sheet proves it.

Grady Sizemore, who homered twice and joined the 30/30 club in the first game of a series with the Tigers that continues Tuesday night at Comerica Park, leads the club with 34 steals. Second place goes to utilityman Jamey Carroll, who has ... six.

Yes and stolen bases are important why?

"We have one guy who's a true basestealer, and a couple other guys who have the ability to steal a base," manager Eric Wedge said. "Other than that, we're slow. There's no other way to put it."

And having such little speed at your disposal is no way to generate late-game scoring opportunities. The Indians have an offense very reliant on the home run. Manufacturing runs is not exactly a club specialty.

Reasons the Indians are not leading the central:
1. Victor Martinez and Travis Hafner have missed most of the season and were playing injured badly prior to that.
2. Jake Westbrook, Fausto Carmona, and CC Sabathia will make less than 50 combined starts for the Indians this year compared with 89 last year and Carmona especially was not as good.
3. Jhonny Peralta, Asdrubal Cabrera, Franklin Gutierrez, Dave Dellucci, and Andy Marte were aful for a good portion of the season.
4. The bullpen, led by Joe Borowski and Rafael Betancourt has by abysmal.

Not a reason for the Indians not leading the central:
Lack of stolen bases and manufactued runs.

When Franklin Gutierrez was caught stealing to end the top of the seventh inning on Monday night, it wasn't exactly a rare sight. Take away Sizemore's contributions, and the Indians this season have been caught stealing (20) nearly as many times as they've been successful (32).

I'd stop trying.

Gutierrez (five steals in eight attempts) is one of several young players the Indians would like to see utilize his speed better. Asdrubal Cabrera (three steals in five attempts) and Ben Francisco (three steals in six attempts) can also be considered part of that group.

None of these guys were expected to be big basestealers and they can all stop trying as far as I'm concerned.

Of course, speed is not just measured in stolen bases.

"When I look at that, I look at [whether or not a player can score] from first on a double," Wedge said. "And can you score from second on that routine single -- not the one that's smoked, just that regular groundball through the hole? Those are the indicators for me."

This would not be an issue if Travis Hafner and Victor Martinez was combining for 60-70 home runs.

All indications are that the Indians could use some help in the speed department. Consider that one of many potential areas for improvement this offseason.

Hopefully a low, low priority.