So far, the 2018 baseball season has been filled with question marks for the Cleveland Indians. They have been solid offensively, ranking 4th in the American League in runs scored.
Four-fifths of the starting rotation has been very good, with Corey Kluber and Trevor Bauer having all star first halves of the season, yet the pitching staff’s ERA ranks 8th in the AL, mainly because the bullpen has been dreadful for a good portion of the season.
Yet, the Tribe is just 36-33 on the season. They lead the AL Central Division by 2-1/2 games, but that is mostly because the division is probably the worst in the majors.
They have struggled mightily against the other teams in the AL with winning records, going 6-14 vs. Houston, New York, Los Angeles, and Seattle. And that can be expanded to 8-20 if you include the Indians struggles against the Twins.
On the other hand, they did take six of eight against the two leaders in the NL Central, the Brewers and Cubs.
So, they have dominated the bums, which good teams are supposed to do, with a record of 22-11 against everyone else on the schedule.
Offensively, the top three hitters in the batting order, Francisco Lindor, Michael Brantley, and Jose Ramirez, are having fabulous seasons. On the other hand, the positions of second base and centerfield are black holes in terms of hitting.
At what point do the Indians reconsider there loyalty to Jason Kipnis? We attributed last season’s struggles to injuries, but this season, Kipnis has had 250+ plate appearances and is batting just .198 with a 580 OPS.
It might be time to start mixing in Erik Gonzalez at second, or maybe bring up Yandy Diaz to play some at the hot corner with Jose Ramirez moving to the keystone.
Centerfield is another matter. Bradley Zimmer started the year, but he had extreme contact problems, fanning 44 times in 114 plate appearance. He was sent to the minors after recovering from an injury and because Greg Allen was hitting, but as soon as Zimmer left, Allen went into a deep slump.
So Terry Francona has returned to his 2016 platoon of Tyler Naquin and Rajai Davis. Naquin has hit very well thus far, but Davis is showing his lone offensive skill right now is stealing bases.
What is being demonstrated right now, is the Indians have a number of dead spots on their 25 man roster, and no matter how great the performances of Lindor, Brantley, Ramirez, Kluber, Bauer, and Mike Clevinger have been, they have kind of been balanced by mediocre jobs by the bottom of the roster.
We aren’t including Kipnis in this group right now, but certainly Davis, and relief pitchers Josh Tomlin and Tyler Olson have basically unusable right now.
No one is asking these guys to produce like all stars, but they can’t be this bad either. It’s like Francona goes into each game with 22 players, with the other team having a full compliment of 25.
The way Tito likes to have specific roles for everyone, it puts the Indians at a disadvantage.
Of course, some of this is because of Francona’s famed loyalty. Davis has an OPS of 573 and isn’t a great defensive player, particularly in CF, anymore.
And having a pitcher on the roster who has allowed 18 home runs in 39 innings, and is a guy you are afraid to bring into a game where you have the lead, is ridiculous.
Until this is corrected, we are afraid the Cleveland Indians are just going to tread water, which they have done all season. Everyone has to be pulling in the same direction.
MW
Cleveland Sports Perspective 