The Cleveland Indians showed some encouraging signs immediately following the All-Star break, winning 13 of 24 games against contending teams (Detroit, Tampa Bay, Boston, New York, and Minnesota). The young players contributed, the starting pitching was surprising, and the bullpen was very effective.
Since then, the Tribe has dropped six of nine, despite playing three of the American League’s bottom feeders: Baltimore, Seattle, and Kansas City. Such is life for skipper Manny Acta managing a very, very young team.
Acta held a team meeting yesterday, probably to remind his squad that the same intensity and execution needed to play well against the contenders is needed to beat team on the same level as the Indians.
Of course, then they went out and made five errors in a 7-3 win over the Royals.
The team dealt 3B Jhonny Peralta, which was definitely the right move, but since the trade, the hot corner was become the black hole. Anyone who plays the position has seemingly forgotten how to field a ground ball. Andy Marte, who normally is a solid defender has made 3 errors. Jayson Nix has made four since Peralta was dealt. And those numbers don’t include the grounders scored as hits that should have been fielded.
Cleveland pitchers have got to cringe every time a ball is hit to the third baseman.
That’s why the organization should bring up Jared Goedert from Columbus right away. Yes, he’s made 15 errors at AAA, but he’s young and deserves a chance. Plus, as is our mantra, he can’t do any worse.
Comments on other players:
Michael Brantley: Hopefully, Brantley’s ankle problem is minor because he’s starting to look like a guy who can play in the majors. He has started to drive the ball, which was our criticism in the off-season. And he’s started to hit the ball on the line and on the ground instead of hitting an endless supply of fly balls.
Jayson Nix: Nix seems struggle when there are men in scoring position, but the stats don’t bear that out. He’s hitting .286 with men in scoring position. However, he has an extremely low total of RBIs (22) compared to home runs (10). His biggest problem seems to be strike zone judgement. He’s fanned 49 times in 197 at bats, which projects to about 150 whiffs in a full season. He seems to take many called third strikes.
Frank Herrmann: Herrmann provided a boost to the bullpen when he was called up, but has struggled lately. He throws hard, but lacks a strikeout pitch, fanning only 14 in 30 innings. He’s allowed five home runs, and seems to give up a lot of long fly balls. He does throw a breaking ball, but doesn’t throw it often. He needs to come up with an off-speed pitch to put hitters away. It bodes well for his future that he throws in the mid-nineties.
Luis Valbuena: What is he still doing on the roster? He hit well in Columbus after being sent down, but after returning to Cleveland, it’s been more of the same. He batting just .163 in over 200 plate appearances. He’s not a platoon candidate either right now because he’s hitting .141 against right-handers. Perhaps Josh Rodriguez should get a chance?
MW
Cleveland Sports Perspective 