Cavs Focusing On Youth and Athleticism

The rebuild of the Cleveland Cavaliers continued in the past week with the acquisition of two more young players. And they also continue to add wing players, which should make for great competition during training camp.

Last week, they signed David Nwaba, who played for the Chicago Bulls a year ago, as a free agent.

Nwaba is 6’4″ and will start the season at 25 years old. He averaged 7.9 points per game playing 23.5 minutes a night, including 21 starts. He also gathered almost five rebounds per game, and was one of the Bulls’ better defenders.

On Sunday, GM Koby Altman traded a trade exemption to the Los Angeles Clippers for former first round draft pick Sam Dekker, who is 6’9″ and just 24 years old.

Dekker, who played the first two years of his career in Houston, saw a loss of playing time with LA, dropping from 18 minutes per game with the Rockets, to just 12 with the Clips.

His three point percentage also dropped from 32% in 2016-17, to just 16% last season.

He is certainly worth a gamble, especially because the Cavs gave up nothing to take a look at him.

These pick ups are just an example of the wine and gold collecting a bunch of young players and hoping at least a few of them will become the core of the next playoff team in Cleveland.

They have surrounded Kevin Love with a bunch of athletic players in their mid-twenties. In addition to Nwaba and Dekker, you also have rookie first round pick Collin Sexton (19), Larry Nance Jr (25), Cedi Osman (23), Ante Zizic (21), Rodney Hood (26 at the start of the season), and Jordan Clarkson (26).

And don’t forget another rookie in Billy Preston (21 shortly after the season starts).

Coach Tyronn Lue has always talked about playing faster, but the Cavaliers ranked 12th in pace this past season and they were 15th the previous season. When your roster is headed by a superstar in his early 30’s, and he is surrounded by veterans, it is tough to play fast.

That will no longer be a factor in this season. Our guess is that this season’s edition of the Cavs will feature pushing the ball at all times, looking for easy baskets.

It will be a season of learning and judgment for the coach and GM, trying to figure out who has a future with the Cavs and who won’t be able to fit in with Lue and Altman’s vision.

Make no mistake, there are more roster moves coming. There are rumors that Altman is shopping two more veterans. Kyle Korver, still a threat from long distance, but now 37 years old, is rumored to be heading to Philadelphia, and JR Smith, who will turned 33 years old next month, has been talked about in a deal with Houston.

We also would not be surprised if Tristan Thompson is elsewhere when the season opens in mid October, but only if another big man comes in return.

Don’t forget, they have Love, Frye, Nance, and Preston who can play the four, and we are sure they want to get Zizic more time at the five.

On the other hand, they may pair Thompson with Love/Frye, and team up Zizic with Nance. Our guess is Preston plays a lot in Canton.

If nothing else, this year’s Cavs will be interesting to watch at the start of the season. The question is, will they win enough early on to stay interesting.

The OPS Debate

Right before the Major League Baseball trade deadline, the was a lot of talk about the relative value of players, and of course, statistics were brought up.

At this point, we would like to point out that we regularly purchased and read Bill James’ Baseball Abstract and found it fascinating, a different way of looking at the game and the players on the field.

So, we understand many of the sport’s new statistics, like OPS, and we usually list a player’s OPS when discussing his offensive prowess. We also look at WAR (Wins Above Replacement) in terms of a player’s profile, but our opinion is it is biased toward middle of the diamond players, Jose Ramirez’ current season notwithstanding.

By the way, that’s our opinion, so save the anger. But when Matt Chapman, third baseman from Oakland (we know not a middle infielder) measures to have the fifth highest WAR this season, it raises an eyebrow.

This isn’t to say Chapman isn’t a good player. He has an 830 OPS and is a great defensive player. He isn’t the 5th best player in the sport this season, and for that matter, Milwaukee’s Lorenzo Cain isn’t 6th either.

Let’s get back to OPS though. James’ original premise was a batter who had an on base percentage of over .350 and a slugging percentage over .450, therefore displaying an ability to get on base and drive the ball, is a very good offensive player.

Today, there seems to be a group of people who value players who have high OPS due to dominance in the slugging area, leading to players who have low batting averages/on base percentages getting a lot of playing time.

The players who has the highest OPS with out being over the .350/.450 threshold in each category are as follows:

Javier Baez 914 OPS (.333 OBP/581 slugging)
Khris Davis 863 OPS (.326/.536)
Gregory Polanco 862 OPS (.344/.517)
Xander Bogaerts 855 OPS (.342/.513)
Joey Votto 852 OPS (.425/.427)

Out of those players, which one would you like to have?

For us, it would be Votto, who by the way, also has the most distinguished career out of the group, although to be fair, he’s also the guy who has been around the longest.

One thing we would like to point out about the on base percentage and slugging percentage.

A player with a 1.000 on base percentage never makes an out, while a player with a 1.000 slugging percentage can arrive at that figure by going 1 for 4 with a home run.

And we would also add is making outs is the only way “time” is measured in a baseball game. A team only gets 27 of them, and players who make them frequently shouldn’t be as valuable.

Look at the strikeout to walk ratios of the first four players–

Baez 101 K/17 walks
Davis    116 K/38 walks
Polanco    91 K/48 walks
Bogaerts    72 K/31 walks

In watching these guys hit, our feeling in watching them against the Indians is that in a tight situation, you can strike Baez and Davis out. They swing at a lot of pitches out of the strike zone, and if we can see that, we are sure major league pitchers know it too.

We noticed in this summer’s amateur draft, the Indians went for players with good contact rates, that is to say, they didn’t strike out much.

This could be due to the success of Francisco Lindor and Jose Ramirez, players who are good hitter, and can develop power later.

A look at the bottom ten teams in MLB in on base percentage shows nine teams not in the post season picture (Arizona is the lone contender). As for slugging percentage, there are three teams above .500 (Giants, Phillies, and Rays) in the bottom ten.

What does it all mean? We believe many people look at the statistics first in making judgments about players, and they value the total OPS. We believe you have to see how the stat is compiled to determine the value of the player.

Just something we wanted to get off our chest.

The Yandy Question.

One of the great conundrums of this baseball season is the Cleveland Indians’ offense. The Tribe ranks 3rd in the American League in runs scored, yet it seems like it could be even better.

Part of that feeling is well documented on this site, the offense is very top heavy. Jose Ramirez may just be putting together an MVP season, and no doubt Francisco Lindor will be in the top ten, and maybe top five as well.

Ramirez is threatening to put together the greatest season ever by a major league third baseman. Think about that for a second.

As great as that duo has been, and they have been supported by Michael Brantley, and to a lesser extent, Edwin Encarnacion and Yonder Alonso, the bottom of the order can have either three or four hitters who are struggling.

The need for another solid bat makes the handling of Yandy Diaz more curious.

In the minor leagues, Diaz has been an on base machine, a .454 figure last season at Columbus, followed up by a .414 figure this season.

Unfortunately, the Indians’ organization has pigeonholed him as a third baseman, and as we already mentioned, that spot is being manned in Cleveland by perhaps the AL most valuable player.

Diaz doesn’t fit the new hot thing in baseball today, which would be launch angle. Although he hits the ball as hard as many in the sports, but he doesn’t hit it in the air, and that results in very few extra base hits. His slugging percentage is at .392, down from last year’s .460.

So, why the Joey Gallo’s of the world are thought to be good hitters, Yandy Diaz is not.

While Diaz doesn’t hit with power, what he doesn’t do is make outs. He gets on base over 40% of the time, and even last year with the Indians, he had an OBP of .352 in 2017. That figure would rank behind only Ramirez, Lindor, and Lonnie Chisenhall on this year’s roster.

Remember, when Cleveland had their 22 game winning streak in 2017, Diaz was basically the regular third baseman because Jason Kipnis was hurt, and Ramirez was moved to second.

The big question for us is with the issues the Tribe has had in the outfield this season, why didn’t they move Diaz to RF and work with him in spring training. He played 27 games there in 2016 and nine games in 2017.

Couldn’t he play the position at least as well as, let’s say, Melky Cabrera? No one expects him to be Roberto Clemente out there. What we’ve seen of him at the hot corner doesn’t suggest that he’s a butcher in the field.

It would seem to us that his bat could help the big club. He takes walks, makes contact, and when he was called up for four games right after the All Star Game, he went 7 for 14 with the Indians.

Diaz’ offensive prowess is being wasted because he will be 27 years old in a few days (August 8th to be exact), but for some reason, the organization doesn’t seem anxious to find a way to get his bat into the lineup.

A lineup that needs a boost. A lineup that is short on players who can get on base. A lineup that lost one of its best on base percentage guys last off-season in Carlos Santana.

What is the organization’s problem with Yandy Diaz? Instead of looking for a way to get his bat in there, there seem to be burying him.

Tribe Makes A Solid Move In Getting Martin

It wasn’t a splashy trade deadline for the Cleveland Indians, but since play resumed after the All Star Game, there is no question the front office tried to address the Tribe’s weaknesses.

Getting Brad Hand and Adam Cimber helped the bullpen for sure, and in fact, with Cody Allen struggling a bit, it seems like Terry Francona is reshuffling the deck with how he uses his relief corps.

Yesterday, the Tribe improved their centerfield spot by trading for Leonys Martin, getting him from Detroit for SS Willi Castro, who was playing at AA Akron.

Martin replaces Tyler Naquin, who isn’t really a centerfielder, and Greg Allen, who was being rushed to the majors. Since Naquin was getting the bulk of the playing time, the defense also gets a boost.

A left-handed hitter, Martin was batting .251 with 9 HR and 29 RBI (731 OPS) with the Tigers, but vs. right-handed pitching, he’s hitting .275 with a 783 OPS.

We say center isn’t totally improved because Martin is a platoon piece, and against lefties, Rajai Davis, with an OPS under 600 against southpaws, will still be out there.

While Martin isn’t a “big name”, he definitely improves the Cleveland roster. The acquisition reminds me of getting Brandon Guyer at the deadline in 2016. That move wasn’t greeted with enthusiasm either, but Guyer was a big factor in the Tribe’s march to game seven of the World Series.

The front office made a rare trade of minor leaguers too, getting OF Oscar Mercado from the St. Louis Cardinals for Connor Capel, who was at Lynchburg, and Jhan Torres, who is in rookie ball.

Mercado was ranked the Cardinals’ 8th best prospect by Baseball America in their mid-season prospect ratings, and the report is he has developed a short quick stroke with power. He is regarded as a very good defensive outfielder and top flight speed.

At 23 years old, he is playing at AAA Memphis, hitting .285 with 8 HR and 42 RBI (759 OPS) and 31 stolen bases.

If he doesn’t get called up before this season ends (he likely will be after September 1st), he could be a candidate for a starting job next season, particularly with Bradley Zimmer possibility out until the all star break next season with a shoulder issue.

We would have liked to see another bullpen arm, especially with Neil Ramirez leaking oil just a bit, but Andrew Miller could be back as soon as next week, and as we all know, that could be a gigantic piece if the big lefty is back to form.

And while Martin does help, it would have been nice to have an everyday guy in centerfield instead of a platoon piece. Terry Francona is a master at using the platoon advantage, but we are sure he would like to do that on a limited basis.

Right now, we still think the batting order is one hitter short of being elite. There are too many games where the bottom of the order is contributing only a couple hits. That puts a lot of pressure on the top of the order, and with Michael Brantley struggling since the break, the offense isn’t clicking.

Leonys Martin isn’t a flashy name, but he’s a solid defensive centerfielder and can be a good bat against righties.

The Indians roster is better today than they were yesterday morning. That means the front office did their job.