Tribe Hanging In After Another Benchmark

After last night’s game with the Detroit Tigers, the Cleveland Indians hit another benchmark on the 2012 season. They have played one-third of their scheduled games and sit with a 29-25 record.

That puts them on a pace for a record of 87-75 for the entire season, which could very well be good enough to win the AL Central Division.

It’s also time to look at the team and the current state of the ballclub.

While everyone came into the season claiming the pitching was solid, so far the results are just the opposite, ranking 12th in the AL in ERA.

The starting pitching in particular has been problematic, with only Derek Lowe (7-3, 3.06 ERA) providing consistent quality performances.

Justin Masterson (2-5, 5.09 ERA) has been up and down, and last night notwithstanding, Ubaldo Jimenez (6-4, 5.31 ERA) has been mostly disappointing.

Josh Tomlin (2-3, 5.32 ERA) has not pitched like he did early last night when he put up a string of quality starts. Really, prior to his last two starts, Jeanmar Gomez (3-4, 4.42 ERA) might have been the second best starter for the Tribe this season.

It was said during spring training and it is still true, Jimenez is the key to the success of the Indians, and right now he is joined by Masterson. If they cannot give Manny Acta good performances on the nights they start, it will be difficult for the Tribe to stay in the race.

The bullpen has been solid, but Acta seems comfortable using only lefty Nick Hagadone, and right-handers Joe Smith, Vinnie Pestano, and Chris Perez is games the Tribe is leading. That could create a tired bullpen going down the stretch.

Someone else needs to step up and give the team quality innings late in games. Acta seems to want veteran Jeremy Accardo to be that guy.

If the starting pitching can be more consistent and can get deeper into games, the bullpen will be more rested, and probably more effective.

That’s starts with Jimenez and Masterson.

Offensively, the Indians are right in the middle of the pack in runs scored, ranking 8th in the AL. This has been done despite holes in several positions, many of them spots traditionally known for offense.

Left field has been a mess with neither Shelley Duncan nor Johnny Damon doing much with the stick. Outside of a two-week span in May when he was respectable with the bat, Casey Kotchman has been a disaster at first base.

Yes, yes he has a good glove, but good teams need hitting at that position.

While Asdrubal Cabrera and Jason Kipnis have been consistent and productive at the plate, CF Michael Brantley has been a surprise, hitting .283 and has knocked in 25 runs for the year as well, even though he hasn’t homered.

He does have 19 extra base hits (16 doubles, 3 triples) though, and is even starting to steal bases effectively (9 of 13). If he starts drawing more walks, he can be a very good offensive player.

Shin-Soo Choo (.379 OBP) has been very good since moving into the leadoff spot, providing a solid top of the order with Cabrera and Kipnis.

Unfortunately, outside of Brantley, the rest of the batting order has struggled. Carlos Santana has just 5 HR and a slugging percentage of under .400. He needs to provide some pop.

Travis Hafner is hurt again, out until the All-Star break. Jack Hannahan hit well early, which likely wasn’t going to last, but he’s been hurt for basically the last month.

The hope is that 3B Lonnie Chisenhall can provide some power, and he’s hit 2 HR’s since being brought up a little over a week ago.

Matt LaPorta was brought back up to help at first and in left, and probably could be an upgrade over the players in those spots now, but he’s not going to be a middle of the order presence.

If the Tribe is going to contend, they need Santana and Chisenhall to provide some power or GM Chris Antonetti will need to make a deal.

Once again, a third of the season has been played and the Indians are still in contention. If the starting pitching can step up, the Tribe can stay in the race into September.

Acta Shorthanded With His Bench

With the Cleveland Indians struggling since their sweep of the Detroit Tigers, the weaknesses fans have been concerned about all year have started to raise their ugly heads.

The starting pitching has been the main culprit, as in those nine games (the Tribe has gone 2-7 in those contests) only Derek Lowe’s performance against Minnesota in which he pitched 6-2/3 innings and allowed one run, can be considered very good.

The struggles of the starters has forced the Indians to play from behind quite a bit, and with their lack of power, that is not a good situation.

The Tribe is 8-18 in games they haven’t hit a home run. More to the point, they are 20-7 when they do hit one over the wall.

The Twins’ series was a perfect example. Friday night, Lonnie Chisenhall and Jason Kipnis went deep in a Cleveland win. There were no round trippers the rest of the weekend, and the Indians dropped the final two games of the weekend.

And of course, the last problem area to show up again is the problem the Tribe has against southpaws. Scott Diamond started for the Twins Sunday afternoon, and the Cleveland bats took a nap, losing 6-3.

However, the roster construction doesn’t do Manny Acta any favors. Right now, there are two players on the pines who are there because they play a certain position. That is their only qualification for being on the team.

Aaron Cunningham is here because he can play CF if something happened to Michael Brantley, and Juan Diaz is on the roster because he can play shortstop.

GM Chris Antonetti hasn’t been able to develop or acquire a legitimate fourth outfielder or a utility infielder.

That is troublesome because it doesn’t give the skipper a lot of flexibility.

Neither player has shown he can hit, particularly with the limited at bats they receive, and on a team that has difficulties hitting left-handed pitching, that’s tough to digest.

Cunningham can play all three outfield spots, but there has to be someone within the organization that can provide better hitting and has the ability to play centerfield.

The same is true for Diaz at SS, although he is here because the guy whose job he has, Jason Donald, didn’t hit, and is having trouble defensively at short in Columbus.

The problem is Acta cannot have any confidence putting either of these guys in a lineup when needed. And if that’s the case, a change needs to be made.

The same problem is occurring in the bullpen with lefty Tony Sipp. The reliever has done a good job the past few years, but this year is struggling.

He came in Saturday with the team trailing 5-4 to face two left-handed hitters, Ben Revere and Joe Mauer. A single and a home run later, the score was 7-4.

This isn’t to bury Sipp, but he needs to go back to the minors to work on getting back to where he was in 2010 and 2011.

Right now, it is doubtful that Acta can find any situation in which to use him except in a blowout situation.

That’s not fair to the manager.

Most major league managers need a 25 man roster to work with, especially those who pilot small to mid-market teams.

Right now, Manny Acta has a 22 man team because his roster is littered with players like the three mentioned.

Maybe Acta’s the one who wants these guys, but that’s doubtful.

The front office needs to upgrade this roster, and the sooner they do it, the better the Indians can hang in the race to win the AL Central.

Another Chance to Add Talent for Cavs

Now that the ping-pong balls have dropped and the conspiracy theorists have spoken, the Cleveland Cavaliers now have the fourth pick in this year’s NBA Draft, which coincidentally, they had last year.

Now we can start the speculation as to who the Cavaliers will take with the selection, as well as the other three picks they will have in the top 34 choices.

Here’s what they won’t do. They will not trade F Tristan Thompson to move up to the second pick in the draft. If you have watched NBA basketball over the years, you know the biggest leap a player takes is from his first year to the second season.

Players learn what the NBA is all about, how to condition their bodies for an 82 game schedule, and have a full summer to work on the things the coaching staff and front office want them to improve on.

It is probable that Thompson will come to training camp in October a much better player than he was at the end of the 2011-12 campaign. Think about how much he improved during his rookie year, particularly on the offensive end.

GM Chris Grant should look for someone who can put the ball in the basket, especially since the team lost second leading scorer Antawn Jamison after the season as his contract expired. Coach Byron Scott needs to make up for the 18 points per night Jamison contributed.

That’s why the choice should be between Florida G Bradley Beal, rated by most to be one of the top five players, or UConn guard Jeremy Lamb, a key contributor on the Huskies 2011 national championship team.

There is no question the top pick will be Kentucky C/F Anthony Davis and likely Kansas F Thomas Robinson will be picked in the top three, leaving them unavailable for the Cavs.

A couple of players we will hear plenty about are Connecticut C Andre Drummond, classified as a guy who could be Dwight Howard or Kwame Brown, and North Carolina F Harrison Barnes, who was hyped as a first team pre-season All-America choice before he played his first collegiate game.

Keep in mind, more mistakes are made in the NBA draft on big men than any other position. Yes, a good one is difficult to find, but Grant needs to get a guy who can play the game, not someone Scott will have to prod and cajole in order to get production, which may be the case with Drummond.

As for Barnes, it is difficult to think of any collegiate game that he was part of in which he was a dominant player.

F Michael Kidd-Gilchrist may be available at #4, but he’s more of a solid player, a guy who does a lot of things well. He has been compared to players like Gerald Wallace and Andre Iguodala, both very good players, but not scorers.

Beal may not be a great leaper or stunning athletically, but he’s a scorer. In watching Florida lose in the NCAA tournament to Louisville, you wondered why the Gators didn’t get the ball to Beal when they were struggling down the stretch.

Lamb is thin, but can shoot off the dribble, can handle the ball, and has a beautiful mid-range game, hitting 60% of his shots inside the three-point arc.

Either would be perfect fits for the Cavaliers and would team with rookie of the year Kyrie Irving to set up a very good backcourt for the future.

The Cavs still need size, but they still have three more picks (although they will likely trade one so they don’t bring four rookies into camp) to beef up the frontcourt.

Once again, Grant’s ability to judge talent will be the key to any progress made by the wine and gold, and also whether he will have an NBA GM position five years from now.