CLEVELAND — Things went from bad to worse for the Indians on the injury front Thursday.
Already with a number of key players sidelined, Cleveland added two more, placing all-star catcher Victor Martinez and second baseman Josh Barfield on the disabled list.
Martinez will undergo arthroscopic surgery today to remove loose bodies from the back of his right elbow and is expected to miss 6-8 weeks, while Barfield is scheduled to have his left middle finger sprain examined Monday in Baltimore by hand specialist Dr. Tom Graham, with surgery as a possible outcome.
Martinez and Barfield join two of Cleveland’s top two starting pitchers, Fausto Carmona and Jake Westbrook, and the team’s top run producer the past three seasons, designated hitter Travis Hafner, on the injured list.
“We’ve been fortunate not to have to deal with injuries the last couple years,” Indians manager Eric Wedge said. “For whatever reason, it’s all hitting us at once.
“We’re not going to give in to it. If everybody comes in and does their job, there’s no reason we can’t still win ballgames.”
Martinez has been hampered by a sore left hamstring since the season opener, with the elbow issue surfacing approximately five weeks ago. He chose to play through both injuries, with his offensive production suffering as a result.
Though Martinez owns a respectable .278 batting average, he is without a home run and was hitting just .211 (16-for-76) over his last 20 games before leaving Wednesday night after his first at-bat in the opening inning.
“I said, ‘I’m going to play until I can’t swing the bat or throw,’” said Martinez, who received a cortisone shot over a month ago and said it did not alleviate the pain. “It got to a point when it got worse and worse. I couldn’t handle it anymore.
“You can see the numbers and you see. I was having trouble extending on my swing.”
The Indians could have demanded that Martinez go on the disabled list before now, but believed the team was better with him at less than 100 percent.
“If the guy is still able to go out there and be better than the alternative, it’s tough to shut a guy down when he wants to go out and play,” Wedge said. “He took it as far as he could. Now, it’s get him fixed and back out there.”
Martinez, 29, has remained relatively injury free for much of his five-plus-year career, with this being his second trip to the DL and the first time he will undergo surgery.
He is hopeful that he will play again before the season is complete.
“I’m going to do my best to see myself in the lineup again,” Martinez said.
Westbrook is not as fortunate, undergoing Tommy John surgery Thursday in Los Angeles and expected to be out of action for at least a year. He is scheduled to return to Cleveland today and begin physical therapy Saturday.
The prognosis for Carmona and Hafner is more positive.
Carmona (left hip strain) threw his first bullpen session Thursday and is expected to throw another one Saturday. If all goes well, the right-hander could begin a minor league rehab assignment next week.
“He’s feeling good,” said Cleveland’s head trainer Lonnie Soloff.
Though Hafner has yet to take batting practice, he has been swinging the bat and working out and will be re-evaluated this weekend.
“He continues to improve from a strengthening standpoint,” said Soloff, who indicated that Hafner might begin a return-to-hitting program if he checks out, with the potential of starting a rehab assignment before the end of the month.
All five of the injuries took place within the last month for the Indians, who have struggled for much of the season in a bid to repeat as Central Division champions.
“You just never know what’s going to happen,” Martinez said. “Last year, we won every day and everybody was healthy. This year, we’ve been tested a lot. We’ll see what happens. There’s a lot of season left.”
Contact Chris Assenheimer at 329-7136 or cassenheimer@chroniclet.com.

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