There is Talent on Tribe Roster

 

With possible changes in the news for the Cleveland Indians, pretty much everyone in the organization is taking heat, from owner Larry Dolan to the coaching staff.  Some criticism is well founded and based on good information; other stuff doesn’t have a lot of basis in fact. 

 

One such criticism is that the Tribe just doesn’t have a lot of talent.  While it is true that the team has had problems securing talent in the draft, they have acquired good players in other ways.  For example, look at the everyday lineup of this year’s team. 

 

If we assume Victor Martinez is the first baseman for these purposes, and we use VORP (Value over replacement players) as the criteria, the Indians actually have some very good players.  Take Martinez, for example.  I don’t think anyone would argue that Martinez is a quality major leaguer; in fact, he will probably make his third all-star appearance next month.  His 942 OPS lead the regulars, and he has a VORP of 28.4.

 

In fact, the Indians have four regulars with a VORP over 10.0.  Besides Martinez, Shin-Soo Choo (21.8), Asdrubal Cabrera (15.4), and Mark DeRosa (12.9) also are in this category.  Travis Hafner (11.8) is as well, but I didn’t include him because of his limited availability because of injury. 

 

As a comparison, the Boston Red Sox have six everyday players who have VORP’s of over 10.0, just one more than the Indians.

 

The lowest ranked players who have seen significant playing time for Cleveland are OF Ben Francisco (-0.5), Kelly Shoppach (-0.9), and Grady Sizemore (0.3).  Sizemore has his elbow injury as a reason for his struggles, and if that has been a problem since spring training, it could explain his poor season.  MLB Network analyst Harold Reynolds showed how Sizemore released his hand from the bat when swinging at an outside pitch, probably because of the pain involved in trying to hit that pitch.

 

With Luis Valbuena showing he can play a little bit, second base isn’t a problem spot either especially with Jamey Carroll on hand to back up.  Jhonny Peralta (4.4) is doing an average job at the hot corner. 

 

This means the two weak spots in the lineup are C (Shoppach) and LF (Francisco).  These positions can be easily remedied by putting Martinez back behind the plate more often (he has caught less games than Shoppach), and playing Ryan Garko (2.2) more often at first.  Garko isn’t doing much, but he is a better hitter than Shoppach.

 

With Hafner back at least two games out of three; DeRosa can play LF on an everyday basis, thus putting Francisco on the bench.  The point is, the Tribe puts a pretty good lineup on the field everyday, so saying there isn’t a lot of talent is wrong.

 

What there isn’t is a lot of pitching, which as its rank of 13^th in the American League in ERA shows, is dreadful.

 

The only starting pitcher, and in fact, the only pitcher who has toiled for the Indians this season and is doing a very good job is, of course, Cliff Lee (34.3).  The only other pitchers who have VORP’s of over five are Matt Herges (8.5) and Aaron Laffey (7.5).  The worst hurlers are really no surprises:  Fausto Carmona (-15.0) and Rafael Perez (-9.9). 

 

It makes sense too.  Carmona was the key member of the starting rotation, and he has been a bust so far, undermining the entire rotation.  If not for Carl Pavano, the rotation would really be a mess. 

 

Perez’ struggles have led to the overwhelming problems the team has had in the 8^th inning.  The Tribe figured they had three options for the eighth in Perez, Rafael Betancourt, and Jensen Lewis, who went 13 for 13 in save opportunities last season.  Betancourt has been hurt, and the other two have been complete failures.

 

The point is that Mark Shapiro and the Dolans said this team was going to be built on pitching.  Instead, the pitching has been horrendous, and the alternatives brought up from the minors apparently aren’t there.  It’s this facet of the team that is the chief culprit in the disastrous season the Indians are having.  First, it was the starters, and over the last two months it has been the bullpen. 

 

However, there is talent on this big league roster.  That’s another reason this season could have been salvageable with a move here or there.  Instead, it looks like Shapiro fiddled while his team burned.

 

MW