After the Indians took two out of three against the Detroit Tigers last weekend, a caller on Michael Reghi’s great show on WKNR asked the host which team he would rather have, the Tribe or the Tigers. Reghi, of course, said the Motor City Kitties, but it got me thinking.
Most definitely, Detroit’s pitching staff is much better than Cleveland’s, especially with Justin Verlander and Edwin Jackson at the top of the rotation. However, the everyday line up isn’t that much different, even with the trade of Victor Martinez.
It reinforced why the trades made last week were most definitely a curious decision at best.
1B: No contest for Detroit. Miguel Cabrera is vastly superior to Andy Marte, Chris Gimenez, Matt LaPorta, or whoever else the Indians want to place at the position.
2B: The Tribe is platooning Luis Valbuena and Jamey Carroll and the Tigers have Placido Polanco. The latter’s batting average is down to .263 and he never had a lot of pop, but he still gets the edge here. However, in a year or two, there is no question to me that Valbuena will be the better player.
SS: Cleveland gets the edge here with Asdrubal Cabrera over Adam Everett. Cabrera has an OPS of 808 compared to Everett’s 621. Everett is an excellent glove man, but his slight edge there doesn’t make up for the fact he is terrible offensively.
3B: This is where it gets a little tricky. Certainly, this year Brandon Inge is having a better year than Jhonny Peralta. However, Inge is having a career year and overall I would rather have Peralta playing the hot corner. In fact, with Peralta’s recent hot streak, I wouldn’t be surprised if the Tribe third baseman winds up having better numbers than Inge at the end of the year.
LF: No contest. Marcus Thames is better than any concoction the Indians have played in leftfield this season.
CF: This is another tricky one. Before the season, most people would have considered Grady Sizemore a little better than Curtis Granderson. This year, of course, Sizemore has been hurt and has performed well below his normal statistics. Meanwhile, Granderson is having a year like Sizemore had last season, which would have put him in contention for an MVP award had Cleveland been a contender.
RF: No contest in Cleveland’s favor. Shin-Soo Choo is much better than the combination of Magglio Ordonez and Clete Thomas for the Tigers.
C: With the Martinez deal, neither team is looking for a lot of offense from the position. Kelly Shoppach actually has a higher OPS (717) than Gerald Laird of the Tigers (646). Rate this position as even.
DH: Both teams have had injury issues here. The Tigers used Ordonez here for a while,and is now using Carlos Guillen, while Travis Hafner has been the Tribe’s primary DH, although he has missed considerable time. When Hafner has been in the lineup, he has been productive for the most part, thus giving the Indians a slight edge.
The verdict is the Tigers have clear edges at 1B and LF, while the Indians enjoy the same at SS and RF. The other positions could go either way.
This shows the everyday talent for the Detroit Tigers isn’t much better than the Indians, and they are leading the division. The difference is pitching, and that’s why dealing Cliff Lee, one of the best pitchers in the American League is galling. Add to Lee, and the Tribe could be sitting on top of the division in 2010. Now, there is a snowball’s chance in…
Yesterday, Indians’ president Paul Dolan announced that the ballclub is going to lose $16 million this season, a comment that interests no one except the team’s financial people. Fans don’t care. They want to see a winning baseball team in this city.
If you can’t sustain a loss of revenue like this, then you probably shouldn’t own a major league baseball team. I’m sure the Indians aren’t the only team losing money, but their owners aren’t talking about it. The baseball fans of Cleveland are looking upon the owners are crying about it.
Other things from his statements that should be refuted are his claim that team Eric Wedge inherited in 2003 was like an expansion team. Expansion teams generally don’t have players like C.C. Sabathia, and players such as Grady Sizemore, Cliff Lee, Victor Martinez, and Brandon Phillips is their system. The cupboard was not as bare as Dolan would like us to believe.
The other comment that bugged me is that fans would really be upset if they didn’t make the trades last week. I still maintain this team could have contended next year, and as we all know by now, if you get into the playoffs, you have a chance to win. I think the fans would like to have had a shot next year, they were denied that opportunity.
Dolan should learn that the only statistic fans are interested in is the win-loss record, not the bottom line.
These guys should run for public office the way they spin.
MW
Cleveland Sports Perspective 