The Cleveland Indians are a patient organization and general manager Mark Shapiro will tell you that we all need to wait 40 games before making evaluations about the ballclub.
In some respects, he is correct, a few days ago, Lou Marson looked completely overmatched at the plate. The last two games, it appears he may be able to contribute at least something offensively. It’s way too early to give up on players, particularly ones with track records, like Grady Sizemore.
That being said, here are some early impressions on the 2010 Cleveland Indians.
· Thank goodness for Austin Kearns. Outside of Shin-Soo Choo, he is the only Indian who has provided any kind of pop this season. He leads the team with nine extra base hits despite being just eighth on the team in at bats. His record shows that this likely will not last (he’s hitting .383), but he’s been a solid acquisition thus far.
· Justin Masterson isn’t a starting pitcher. You have to love the guy’s arm, but he certainly can’t start if he can’t get left handed hitters out. Lefties are 18 for 37 with seven walks against him so far this year. He might be better served working as a set up man in the bullpen because he throws hard and can strike out hitters. And here’s the guy he can replace in the relief corps…
· Joe Smith. Smith is one of those guys who should be classified as a National League pitcher. He did have some success against right-handed hitters last season (they hit .198 against him), but as a sidearm pitcher that’s not all that impressive. This year, righties are 6 for 18 with 2 HR’s against him. Wednesday night, he came in to face one hitter, Torii Hunter, who promptly doubled and scored the winning run. Let’s see if there is any interest in Smith from the NL when Kerry Wood is ready to go.
· Mark Grudzielanek is a solid pro and has been a productive major league player over the years, but he seems to struggle to hit the ball out of the infield. He has seven hits on the year, all singles. Wouldn’t Jason Donald or Anderson Hernandez give the ball club more right now?
· The Tribe is last in the AL in runs scored, and the biggest reason is the performance of three players: Grady Sizemore, Travis Hafner, and Jhonny Peralta, who coincidentally hit second, fourth, and fifth in the batting order. You have to think all three will start hitting better at some point based on track record. Sizemore is hitting .192 with no home runs and only six walks to go with 17 strikeouts.
Hafner is hitting just .190 and has just four extra base hits, and he is striking out (17) almost twice as much as he walks (9). Peralta had a good series in Anaheim, but is still hitting just .190 with just five extra base hits. Peralta is walking more this year, which bodes well for the rest of his season.
· You would think the Indians lead the league in hitting into double plays, but they aren’t even in the top 3. The Tribe has hit into 23, trailing the AL leading White Sox by six.
· The pitching by and large has been pretty good, but only three Tribe pitchers have good strikeout to walk ratios. They would be Masterson (24 K/11 BB), Aaron Laffey (4 K/2 BB) and Jensen Lewis (6 K/3 BB). That isn’t positive for the future. If this trend continues, the pitching will not be as successful as it has been in April.
The Tribe’s record is 9-12 going into a weekend series with the Twins, and really, it’s surprising their record is that good considering the anemic hitting. If some of the guys who are supposed to hit do not start doing so, it’s hard to see even a small improvement in this team.
Then again, winning doesn’t matter to this ownership, only profit margins.
KM
Cleveland Sports Perspective 