The Indians are taking a chance on Johnny Damon, who they're activating for Tuesday night's game in Chicago, and you can't really blame them for that.

They've scored just 17 runs in their last seven games. In their last nine games, their starting left fielders (mostly Shelly Duncan, but also Aaron Cunningham) have scored no runs, and driven in just two.

Damon has to be able to do better than that, doesn't he?

Probably so, but can they live with him playing left field?

That's the problem, and that's why there's a real chance this won't work.

Damon's last three teams decided his outfield defense was unacceptable. He has started just 11 major-league games in the outfield in the last 20 months, and only 17 since the end of June 2010.

And the Indians already have a full-time designated hitter, Travis Hafner.

So this is a gamble, a low-risk gamble worth taking for a team that is in first place in the American League Central despite a severe lack of offense.

The Indians have been searching for outfield help since spring training, when Grady Sizemore was hurt. They even seriously considered trading for Bobby Abreu this spring, before deciding he can't be the answer (and they're not interested in him now, even after the Angels released him).

So now it's Damon, who scored 79 runs and drove in 73 last year for the Rays, with a .743 OPS. He's a winning player, a good clubhouse influence, and he can hardly be worse offensively than what the Indians have been seeing.

Indians people will point out that they've been playing in cold weather that isn't conducive to hitting, and that their pitchers haven't been allowing many runs, either. The Indians haven't homered in 11 games, the second longest drought by an American League team in the last 20 years, but they've gone 6-5 in that span and remain a game ahead of the Tigers and White Sox atop the AL Central.

Still, they could use a boost, and maybe Damon can provide it.

He's 38 years old, and he's not the player he once was, but he's still useful at the plate.

If he could only play the outfield, he'd be perfect. Too bad all the evidence suggests that he can't.