When Larry Dolan bought the Cleveland Indians, he and his new GM Mark Shapiro made a statement that would change the direction of the franchise.
They were going to build the team around pitching.
How’s that working out for them?
In the last 11 seasons that Shapiro has run the organization, the Tribe has had a few dominant starting pitchers, including three Cy Young Award winners, two won with the Indians (C.C. Sabathia in 2007 and Cliff Lee in 2008), and one elsewhere (Bartolo Colon in 2005).
Since the trades of Sabathia and Lee for little return (that’s a subject for another day), the Tribe has struggled to find effective starting pitching.
A good way to find an effective starter is to look at his hits to innings pitched ratio and his strikeout to walk ratio. If they’ve allowed fewer hits than innings and struck out twice as many as they’ve walked, then they are good pitchers.
Since trading Lee in 2009, Cleveland has had just two pitchers accomplish this feat, both last season. They would be Justin Masterson and Josh Tomlin.
So, looking at 15 regular starters (five per year for three years), only two hurlers can be viewed as being solid starters.
Keep in mind that Tim Belcher was the Tribe pitching coach in 2011.
So, the Indians don’t have any pitchers that can throw strikes, and they don’t have anyone with good enough stuff to overcome that.
Going forward, would you blame the front office is they cleared the decks and brought it five new starting pitchers?
Masterson looks to have good stuff, and may be worth salvaging, but does he have the mental toughness to be a starter on a good team? Certainly his joking with Tigers’ slugger Miguel Cabrera after allowing a home run to him has to raise some eyebrows in the front office.
As for Ubaldo Jimenez, he’s another who doesn’t appear to be mentally tough enough to be a starter on a contender. Perhaps it is because his mechanics are a mess, so he’s lost confidence, but it’s tough to imagine putting him out on the mound 35 times next season.
Zack McAllister throws hard and for the most part is around the strike zone. He’s probably the only starter who should be in next year’s rotation for sure.
Carlos Carrasco also has a leg up if he’s healthy. Remember, he had a very good run last season before his elbow started to hurt, going 4-2 with a 1.90 ERA in June.
The sinker ball theory this organization has trotted out in recent years leaves too much room for error. Groundballs find holes, and if mixed with walks, allow runs to score.
If you make your living getting guys to hit the ball on the ground, you must have good control.
It’s another failed experiment for the Indians.
Shapiro and GM Chris Antonetti seem to run the Tribe as a 7th grade science project, trying different things that may cost less money and still allow the team to win.
You have to get pitchers who can strike people out. That’s a tried and true way to win baseball games.
Sure, you can have a sinkerball/control type pitcher who can win, but name pitchers like that who are good on a consistent basis.
Whether they get them in trades, or develop them in the draft, the pitching isn’t going to get better unless the front office gets some guys with swing and miss stuff.
Guys like Colon, Sabathia, and Lee.
It’s another case of the Indians’ organization selling the fans a bunch of fertilizer.
MW
Cleveland Sports Perspective 