Mercado, Perez, and Bieber Key Tribe Resurgence

On May 26th, the Cleveland Indians lost to Tampa Bay, 6-3 at Progressive Field, ending a four game series against the Rays losing three out of four.

Their record was 26-26 and they were floundering, especially on offense. Their lineup that day featured five hitters with OPS under 681.

The starting rotation lost Corey Kluber at the beginning of the month, and Carlos Carrasco would make his (to this point, hopefully) last start four days later in a 10-4 loss to the White Sox. Mike Clevinger was still on the injured list, after making just two starts.

With games coming up against the Red Sox, Yankees, and Twins, it was easy to see the season quickly going down the toilet.

Then something weird happened, the Tribe started winning, going 23-12 since then, helped by playing well against the big boys of the American League (they went 6-3 vs. NY, BOS, and MIN) and taking advantage of a decidedly soft schedule.

Who were the big players in this turn around?

First, Oscar Mercado started getting regular playing time. Mercado received a call up on May 14th, and instantly gave the offense a shot in the arm.

His OPS is 777 and his batting average hasn’t dipped below .259 at any point in that period. He gave Terry Francona another solid hitter to add to Carlos Santana and Francisco Lindor.

He has some pop in his bat, slugging .440, and also is not a big swing and miss guy, with 34 strikeouts in 182 plate appearances.

Another huge contribution came from Roberto Perez, who since that date has belted 10 home runs and knocked in 21. Many criticized the veteran early in the season when he was hitting under .200 as late as April 26th, but we always liked Perez’ patience at the plate.

Even when he wasn’t hitting, and he had a .212 lifetime batting average coming into the year, he didn’t swing at a lot of bad pitches. We felt with regular playing time, he would be a better hitter than he had shown.

His emergence gave Francona a fourth bat in the lineup, and with Jason Kipnis’ recent hot streak (he has since cooled, going 3 for his last 23), and Jose Ramirez showing signs of regaining at least some of his old form, the offense suddenly wasn’t anemic.

And the rightfield platoon of Tyler Naquin and Jordan Luplow has been contributing too.

As for the pitching, with the top three in the rotation (Kluber, Carrasco, and Bauer) down to just one, someone had to step up.

Rookie Zach Plesac gave the squad several solid starts, although he has had rookie struggles lately. And another rook not on the radar when spring training began, Aaron Civale pitched in with a solid outing too.

Adam Plutko made seven starts, five of them very good, including a win at home over the Yankees.

But the breakout star, much like Clevinger in 2017, has been Shane Bieber, who was voted to the All Star team this week.

The righty, who made his major league debut just a year ago, is 8-3 with a 3.45 ERA on the season with 141 strikeouts in 112-1/3 innings.

The strikeouts put him 4th in the AL (behind Garret Cole, Chris Sale, Justin Verlander, and Matthew Boyd), while the ERA is 12th in the league.

His batting average against is the league’s 6th best figure.

With Clevinger back, Bieber gives the Tribe a new big three at the top of the rotation with Bauer, who has been the constant.

And if Kluber and Carrasco return this season? That’s a helluva rotation.

Who knows where the Tribe would be without this trio of players? We can be sure the front office would be contemplating who to sell off at the end of July.

That’s how important these three have been to the Cleveland Indians.

Still No Love For Kevin Love

It is a yearly rite of passage for Cleveland professional basketball fans. Each and every year after the playoffs end, there are those who talk about trading Kevin Love.

And we keep thinking that mostly, this makes no sense.

Yes, Love is injury prone, the most games he has ever played in a season with the Cavaliers is 77, and that was in his first year here. He played 75 the following season, and from there it has gone downhill: 60, 59, and last season, 21, although he could have played more if the Cavs were trying to make the playoffs.

And yes, the game has evolved too, and the sport where Love once averaged 26 points and almost 13.5 rebounds per contest is no longer being played. Teams want big men who can defend on the perimeter now, to contest the three point shot, and that isn’t Love’s strength, although he does make an effort.

However, Love is still unquestionably the Cavaliers best player. Shooting a career low 38.5% from the floor, he still scored 17 points and grabbed almost 11 boards per game.

Part of that came from getting to the free throw line with a greater frequency (5.2 per game) than he ever did wearing the wine and gold, his best figure since his last year with Minnesota (8.2 per game).

Many people forget that Love has two second team All NBA honors during his career, which is one more than Kyrie Irving, who made second team this season, and a third team honor with the Cavs.

These “experts” think there is only one way to build an NBA team these days, and that is by tanking and being successful in the draft. Of course, there is plenty of evidence to the contrary as Golden State and Toronto, who have won the last three titles, have not tanked to win.

We aren’t saying we would keep Love under any circumstance, in fact, there are very few players in that category, LeBron James being one of them.

For example, the Cavs were said to entertain offers for Irving after the 2016 season, because if then GM David Griffin could have improved the team in a deal for the former first overall pick, then he absolutely should do that.

We understand Love makes a lot of money, but if Cleveland get under the cap, which they will even with Love on the roster heading into the 2020-21 season, they aren’t attracting big name free agents.

The Cavs played much better when Love was on the floor a year ago, so why not let Collin Sexton, Cedi Osman, Ante Zizic, and the three rookies, Darius Garland, Dylan Windler, and Kevin Porter Jr. play with a still very good player and learn good habits from a five time all star?

If you can make a trade that decidedly helps the franchise, then by all means, make the deal.

For example, we keep hearing Portland as a destination. Then 22-year-old seven footer Zach Collins would have to be involved along with at least one unprotected first round draft pick, preferably after the 2020 draft.

Getting a young big and a future first rounder can make a positive impact for Cleveland.

And if Kawhi Leonard winds up with the Lakers, it would be surprising to see anyone make a huge offer for Love.

If he doesn’t, we still think Love has more value at the trade deadline, where someone can use him, providing he is healthy, as a chip to put them over the top.

Until Koby Altman gets “wowed” with a deal, there is no reason to trade the best player on the team. Unless that player is about to be a free agent, or causing a problem in the locker room, there usually never is.

Patience Should Still Be Short For Tribe.

We know the Cleveland Indians are in a race for a post- season spot, even if the team’s front office may not realize it, or in fact, may not want them to be.

Yes, we are being slightly facetious here, but if you are trying to win as many games as you can, you don’t use extreme patience with young players.

There is no question the Tribe received a tremendous boost from OF Oscar Mercado, whose production kind of forced the Indians to move on from Leonys Martin.

The rookie has the third highest OPS on the squad right now, behind Carlos Santana and Francisco Lindor, and his .837 OPS is a true 800+, meaning the magic “800” number came from having an on base percentage of at least .350 and a slugging percentage of over .450.

Mercado does, with a .360 OBP and a .477 slugging mark. He’s not doing it by slugging a bunch of home runs, so his slugging mark is like .550 and he can get on base.

Since they should be vying for a wild card spot, they may have to make some tough decisions on other young players.

This doesn’t mean writing them off for ever. We know some players don’t catch on in their first call up, but need to go back to the minors for more seasoning. It’s not a crime, nor is it a horrible thing, it’s just baseball.

Two such players for the Indians are Jake Bauers and Bobby Bradley.

Bauers has received a longer leash, playing in 77 of the Tribe’s 83 games, but quite frankly, we hasn’t produced up to expectations, hitting just .226 with a .300/.389/.689 OPS make up.

And Bauers has received most of his time playing left field, and let’s just say, he’s not reminding anyone of a gold glover at the position.

As for Bradley, the Indians hoped to catch lightning in a bottle because he was mashing homers at a crazy pace in Columbus, but since being moved up hasn’t homered and has whiffed in half of his last 18 at bats.

If the Indians were 15 games out of a wild card spot, we’d say play both on an every day basis to find out if they can hit. But they aren’t, they need very much to win games.

And they seem to have players ready to go at Columbus.

Switch-hitting OF Greg Allen was hitting at the big league level right before he was sent out when Carlos Carrasco had to be put on the IL and the Tribe needed an extra reliever for a bullpen game.

Allen was 7 for his last 21 with two triples, a home run and four RBIs before going back to AAA.

The other player who should be brought up is 23-year-old left-handed hitting Daniel Johnson, who came over from Washington in the Yan Gomes deal.

Johnson started the year in Akron, and combined at AA and AAA, has hit .272 with an 884 OPS (.358/.527/.884). At Columbus, he has fanned 27 times and walked 17 times in 161 plate appearances.

Plus, he has played a lot of centerfield in his past, so his defense will be better than Bauers if he would play LF, or he could go to RF and have Tyler Naquin DH.

Terry Francona would still need a back up first baseman to give Carlos Santana a half day off, but that’s the only downside to this.

Again, the time to have patience is when you are losing or it’s the beginning of the season. Right now, the Cleveland Indians shouldn’t have much of the virtue.

If they show an excessive amount, it might tell you what they think of this year’s team.