Toughest Foe Since KC Coming Up For Browns

Judging from some of the comments we have heard from Browns’ fans since Sunday’s win in Minnesota, hopefully the team can lose enough games to finish high in next year’s draft and they can get a new quarterback.

Look, Baker Mayfield didn’t play a good game in the 14-7 win over the Vikings. He completed less than 50% of his passes, threw for less than 200 yards, and yes, missed some wide open receivers.

But the Browns still won! If that type of performance becomes the norm, and the play of the quarterback becomes a deterrent to winning football games, then and only then, should there be conversations about the QB spot.

Our guess is Mayfield will bounce back this Sunday against the Chargers (we really want to write San Diego) and last week’s contest will be a blip on the radar. We are sure the Mayfield critics will not soon forget though.

However, it would seem to prudent for Kevin Stefanski to dial up a run heavy attack against the Chargers considering they rank 4th from the bottom against the rush in the NFL through four weeks. They are 5th vs. the passing game.

By the way, offensively, Cleveland leads the league in rushing yards.

Los Angeles, led by second year QB Justin Herbert, likes to put the ball in the air, ranking 6th in the NFL. By comparison, the Browns are 26th. So, the Browns defensive front will need to put pressure on Herbert this Sunday.

Back to the quarterback play, we are sure everyone knows on the difference in Mayfield’s efficiency when Odell Beckham Jr. plays and when he’s not on the field. In short, the Browns quarterback plays better when Beckham isn’t on the field.

The first four games haven’t done anything to dispel that notion. His passer rating the first two weeks with OBJ still rehabbing his knee injury was 97.5 and 105.0, completing 81.6% of his throws.

The last two weeks have seen his passer rating at 97.0 and 59.5, and his completion percentage fall to 53.1%.

It will be interesting to see if this trend continues because it is disturbing. Of course, we’ve heard folks ask if it means Mayfield cannot play with an elite wide receiver, and their answer is, we will find out when he gets the chance.

It does seem David Njoku has disappeared from the offense the past two weeks, and we feel he can be a huge mismatch problem for opposing secondaries because matching him up with a linebacker or safety is usually a win for the Browns.

Again, it is a small sample size and hopefully Beckham and Mayfield are on the same page on Sunday and this problem is just another question that will be ignored as the wins keep piling up.

Make no mistake, this will be the biggest challenge for Stefanski’s crew since the opening weekend loss to Kansas City. And it’s on the road, the west coast no less.

The Browns, as a team, and not just Baker Mayfield, need to play better in Los Angeles Sunday afternoon. Winning while playing poorly in the sign of a good football team. So is beating another good football team, and the Chargers are that.

Cleveland Baseball Has Big Chore In Improving Offense This Winter

The Cleveland baseball team ended it’s season on Sunday, just missing a non-losing season at 80-82, their first non-winning season since 2012, when they finished 68-94 and Manny Acta lost his job.

They finished 13 games out of first in the AL Central, and 12 games out of a wild card spot, but despite almost breaking even this year, hopefully the ownership and front office realize there is a lot to fix if they want to be in the hunt for a playoff spot in 2022.

There are a lot of weaknesses on this ballclub that need to be addressed. According to Baseballreference.com, the Guardians have the worst catching in the American League, the second worst play out of their first basemen, and the fourth worst second base play.

Looking at the division winning White Sox, they have no positions ranking last or second to last in terms of value. NOTE: This is using WAR.

No doubt this organization values defense and handling a pitching staff at the catching position, but Austin Hedges and Roberto Perez were pretty much useless with a bat in their hands this season.

Hedges hit 30 points higher than Perez (.178 vs. .149) but still had a lower OPS (527 vs. 564) because he simply refuses to walk. It is doubtful (to us) that both will return in ’22, and our guess is that Hedges will be the regular. He is younger and makes less money.

Cleveland simply needs to get more offense out of the position going forward.

At first base, while Bobby Bradley looks like Ted Williams compared to Jake Bauers, especially in the power department, the fact remains, the Guardians need more offense out of the position. Bradley did slug 16 home runs, but by and large is an out maker, with an on base percentage of just .294.

He also still has severe contact issues, fanning 99 times in 279 plate appearances.

We are a little bit more optimistic at second, because we think Owen Miller’s minor league hitting prowess will translate. That said, it didn’t in the second half, but he did hit .236 (638 OPS) in the second half.

If we were in charge, he would get the first shot at the everyday job in spring training.

This team also needs guys who can get on base, and by this we mean not “out makers”. The only measurement of baseball is the number of outs, and Cleveland has a lot of players who make a lot of outs.

It is not a surprise that the top five teams in runs scored in the AL all rank in the top six in the league in on base percentage. We understand you need extra base hits too, to get those runners home, but the Indians/Guardians/Tribe has one player that gets on base more than 35% of the time: Jose Ramirez. Myles Straw fell just short at .349.

And there are not many who avoid making outs in more than 70% of the plate appearances either. The next closest player to Straw is the strikeout prone, hit by pitch king Bradley Zimmer at .325, followed by Franmil Reyes at .324, and then Amed Rosario, who finished at .321, despite a .282 batting average.

By the way, that’s tough to do.

We talked about catcher, 1B, and 2B, but in reality, Cleveland should be satisfied only with Ramirez, Reyes, and Straw. They should be looking for an upgrade at every other spot.

That’s a tall task for the front office.

You win with pitching, but you have to score runs to get to the post-season. Four of the playoff teams in the American League rank in the top five in the league in runs scored.

Cleveland has to improve their offense next season. Hopefully, the front office isn’t fooled by some brief glimpses of hope by certain players in the last two months of the 2021 season.

Cavs Start Camp. What Exactly Will They Be?

In a little more than two weeks, the Cleveland Cavaliers open the regular season. They hasn’t been a big turnover from the roster of last year’s team that went 22-50 in the COVID shortened season, and quite frankly we don’t know what to expect.

The best player from a year ago no longer on the roster is Larry Nance Jr., moved in a three team deal which netted GM Koby Altman forward Lauri Markkanen.

Nance is an all around player, but missed more than half the season a year ago, playing in just 35 of the 72 contests. He will be missed, but the potential of Markkanen could more than make up for his loss.

Altman also brought in veteran point guard Ricky Rubio, which is nice, the Cavs could use a veteran who plays smart basketball. However, he plays the same position as one of the team’s best players in Darius Garland. Rubio could be a good sounding board for the third year player, but if Garland makes the strides expected by many, how much time does Rubio get on the floor?

Coach J.B. Bickerstaff still has a relatively inexperienced team. The only “old heads” are Kevin Love and Rubio, both of whom have been in the NBA for 10+ years. Beyond that pair, the two oldest players who figure to see decent playing time are newcomer Denzel Valentine (28) and Cedi Osman (27).

The most important Cavs figure to be Garland (21), Collin Sexton (22), Jarrett Allen (23), Markkanen (24), Isaac Okoro (21) and rookie Evan Mobley (20).

That’s a lot of youth for the coaching staff to have to teach about the ways of the NBA.

We also still have concerns about how the roster fits. Starting Garland and Sexton at guard, as expected, leaves the Cavaliers very small in the backcourt. Okoro, a tough player who had a solid rookie season last year, is short at 6’5″ for a small forward.

We still believe his size makes him a better fit at the off guard, but can he score enough to play there.

Then we have the frontcourt where the bulk of the playing time will go to three seven footers, Allen, Markkanen, and Mobley.

And what to do with Kevin Love, who is still here, and it probably won’t be long, particularly if he isn’t getting a lot of time, before he makes it known he would like to be elsewhere.

What style will Bickerstaff use for his squad. Right now, this doesn’t figure to be a strong outside shooting team, particularly from three point range. So, does he try to defend, force missed shots, and try to take advantage of fast break opportunities?

The problem with that is can the smallish guard apply the type of defensive pressure needed for this to work? Defense is as good as the weakest defender on the floor. Good teams will find the bad defender and take advantage.

Can Cleveland have that kind of defense?

We have heard the staff wants to use Mobley off the bench, at least early in the season. We think this makes sense, because at his stature, we can see him taking a pounding from bigger, more veteran players. It might be best to use him about 18-20 minutes per night at the start of the season, and we also might use him at small forward at times as well.

But the biggest thing for this team is can they play together, for each other, particularly when things go poorly. Can they make each other look like better players than they are individually?

That’s the key to success. And knowing what you can do and can’t do as a player, and where you rank in the pecking order on the team.

That’s our biggest worry about the wine and gold. Altman hasn’t made any bad picks, none of his high picks are complete busts. However, right now, they don’t seem to fit very well together. Getting them to do just that is the biggest key for success by the Cavs this year.

Browns Could Use A Road Win

We had to laugh at Kevin Stefanski’s locker room comments following the Browns domination of the Chicago Bears last Sunday. The coach told his team “whoever we play” next is the biggest game of their lives, except he used more colorful language.

What was funny is that we are sure Stefanski knows exactly who they play this week, because it is a place he spent his entire coaching life before coming to Cleveland. The Minnesota Vikings.

We are sure the head coach will remind his squad they have not won on the road yet this season, and the Vikings are undefeated at home, although they’ve played in the Land of 10,000 Lakes just once this season.

And we know Stefanski doesn’t like to look ahead, but the following game against the Los Angeles Chargers, also on the road, appears to be a big game as well. The Chargers are now 2-1, coming off a victory over the Chiefs last Sunday.

We wondered in the off-season if Cleveland could have one of those offenses that could be unstoppable if they were healthy, and currently the Browns rank 7th in total yardage in the NFL, and 7th in yards per play at 6.4.

And that’s without both starting wide receivers, Jarvis Landry and Odell Beckham Jr. in the lineup at the same time.

However, here’s a reminder that the Browns are still a running team, second in the league to Baltimore in gaining yards on the ground, with both Nick Chubb (3rd) and Kareem Hunt (20th) in the rushing leaders.

The Vikings have allowed the fifth most yards in the league to date, ranking better against the run (21st) than the pass (27th). So, it would figure to be another good day for the Browns’ offense, although the coach would probably remind us there is a reason why you actually play the game.

One thing is for sure, Kirk Cousins will be more difficult to defend that Justin Fields, making his first NFL start, so the Cleveland defense better be up for the challenge.

It is funny, but despite the production of the Browns’ offensive attack, the leader in receiving yards is Hunt with 104, followed by David Njoku (94), who wasn’t even targeted on Sunday.

The offense has really spread it around in the passing game, with six players having five or more receptions, led by Hunt and TE Austin Hooper with 10 each.

Hard for defenses to take away all of the weapons at Baker Mayfield’s disposal, right?

It was another week, another rookie to stand out for the brown and orange, this time LB Jeremiah Owusu-Koramoah, who was all over the field against Chicago, getting four tackles and a half sack. That’s three weeks in a row, a newly drafted players has made a big impact on the game.

And how can we not mention Myles Garrett, who set a club record with 4.5 sacks, impressive no matter who is the opponent.

The former first overall pick is now 7th (revised total occurred over the summer) in sacks all time for the franchise with 48.5 in just 54 games. Next up on the list is Michael Dean Perry, who has 51.5…in 109 games.

It’s not a stretch to think Garrett will get into the Browns’ top five (Paul Wiggin has 60.5 in 146 games) this season.

Barring injury, it’s really a matter of time before Garrett surpasses Bill Glass, the franchise leader with 77.5 in 94 games.

Stefanski will tell you every week is a challenge in the NFL, and certainly, the Vikings are a step up in class from the Browns’ two previous opponents. We are sure he would also tell you his team is capable of playing much better. They will need to in order to get a win this week.

Memories Of One Last Indians’ Game

Saturday night, we made our final trek to Progressive Field to watch the Cleveland Indians. Yes, we know the team isn’t going anywhere, and there will major league baseball on the shores of Lake Erie in 2022, but as we headed down to the ballpark, there was a melancholy feeling here.

We thought about the games we attended as a kid, and joked about taking the rapid downtown from West Park before we were able to drive, something we would never let our kids do today. It was no big deal back then.

Our group talked about where we used to park when the new park first opened and attending World Series games in 1995 and 1997, and reminisced about how we couldn’t believe the Indians, who were mediocre as long as we remembered, finally made it to the Series, something that was just a TV show in October.

We were handed rally towels as we entered Progressive Field that said “Let’s Go Tribe”, curious indeed considering the upcoming name change.

We settled into our seats down the left field line, near the “Home Run Porch”, fine seats indeed. Our friends thanked us for the choice, but we didn’t want to sit in the upper deck for this one.

The ballpark wasn’t really enthusiastic when the game began, and there were many at the game from Chicago, doing the weekend thing of seeing the White Sox and the Bears in our town on the same weekend.

However, Jose Ramirez shot some energy into the crowd with a two run HR in the first, and the “Jose, Jose, Jose” chants were heard all around us. After that, it was more about taking in the atmosphere for our last Indians’ game.

A lot of jerseys were worn by fans, many of them bearing the name of “Lindor”, a symbol to us of an ownership that has never connected with the fans, despite putting a winning team on the field for most of the last eight years.

It was also discussed that the ownership trading the beloved “Chief Wahoo” mascot to get the All Star Game in 2019, and probably dealt the name “Indians” to get the state government to pony up some funds to renovate Progressive Field and extend the lease.

The best throwback jersey we saw was a 1970 pinstriped jersey with the shadow lettering and numerals with #48 on it, the number of our first favorite player, Sam McDowell.

We talked about the surveys the organization sends to fans talking about ticket plans, renovations to Progressive Field, etc. and how no one ever hears from the organization about responses. We laughed about the questions, asking essentially, why we go to the ballpark. Our answer: “to watch a baseball game”.

Sometimes it seems like the organization is looking for a secret answer as to why people don’t come down to the place formerly known as “The Jake”. Sometimes, it’s a simple as talking to fans, real baseball fans, to find out what’s missing. That’s what the great Bill Veeck would do.

As for the new name, we all agreed the ownership could’ve handled it better. They could have picked three or four names and had the fans vote on it, including them in the process. Another way the disconnect could have been narrowed.

It could be part of the problem with the new name is the fans feel it was forced upon them. They had no say.

We looked at the giant scoreboard in behind the left field bleachers with sadness, knowing “Indians” would either be gone or replaced with “Guardians” the next time we were at the park.

At the 7th inning stretch, the crowd seemed to increase the volume when the line “root, root, root for the INDIANS” was reached, seeming to say they weren’t happy with the change.

We walked around the ballpark one last time, knowing there will be big league baseball there in 2022, but also aware the park will look different, with the renovations starting this winter.

Again, we understand why the name was changed in our heads, but that doesn’t mean it hurts our hearts as fans. Memories will still be with the Indians, the Tribe, and the Chief. Heck, every spring, stations play Major League and Major League 2, which of course, feature the Cleveland INDIANS!

So, the name isn’t going to go away. Nor will it be ignored.

The elementary school and church we attended as a kid has changed its name too. But not for the people who attended it. We are sure that’s how it will be for Cleveland baseball fans in the future.

Tribe Needs To Do Better Vs. Good Pitching

It would not be shocking to say the Cleveland Indians need offense in the off-season. After all they rank 10th in the American League in runs scored, 12th in drawing walks, and 13th in on base percentage.

They also have a dreadful record against the better teams in the league, save for the divisional rival Chicago White Sox, who they have an 9-9 record against.

They are 9-25 against the Rays, Red Sox, Yankees, Astros, and Blue Jays, all of whom have won 85 games or more this season, so they will all approach 90 victories. And throw in the beating administered at Progressive Field by Milwaukee a couple of weeks ago, and that mark drops to 9-28.

After an offensive resurgence in August, the hitting has been abysmal in September, as Friday night marked the fifth time (in 24 games) that the Indians were whitewashed. They have also scored 3 runs or less 14 times (more than half for non math majors) in the last month of the season.

The league average for runs scored by an AL team this year is 4.6, and Cleveland averages 4.38, making them below average, which we already established.

We wanted to see how they did against the best pitching staffs in the league. Tampa leads the AL in ERA and in the seven games against the Rays, Tribe hitters scored 23 runs, just 3.3 per contest.

New York is second, and thanks to the pair of drubbings in Yankee Stadium last weekend, the Indians averaged over five runs per game. They also had the best record against them out of all the AL East post-season contenders.

Third best in ERA is the White Sox, and although the Tribe is 9-9 against them, they are only scoring four runs. Fourth place Houston? Cleveland went 1-6, averaging exactly 3 runs a game.

Toronto is known for their hitting, but they are 5th in ERA and the Tribe scored just 22 runs in the seven games, which is a 3.1 average. Then comes Oakland, whom the Indians went 2-4 against, mainly because they scored just 17 runs in the six games, which is less than three per contest.

Why have the Tribe struggled against the good teams? Because they can’t score against good pitching staffs, and they have to get some bats that can succeed against the better hurlers in the game.

We have long maintained that you have to score runs to get to the playoffs. The top five in the Junior Circuit this year? Houston (likely AL West champs), Tampa Bay (playoffs), Toronto (wild card contender), Boston, (wild card leader), and the AL Central champion White Sox.

And against good teams, you have to execute offensively. How many times this season have the Indians had a leadoff double, only to see the runner never move off second? It happened Friday night when Owen Miller got to second base with no one out, only to see Roberto Perez, Oscar Mercado, and Bradley Zimmer not even put a ball in play.

Yes, the Indians are a young team, so there is room for improvement and growth, but on the other hand, we haven’t seen many hitters making adjustments from at bat to at bat against good pitching, recognizing what the opposing guy on the mound is trying to do and then counteracting it.

Some times you have to tip your hat to the pitchers. We have seen opponents have to do that to Tribe pitchers.

It can’t just be Jose Ramirez though. The Indians have to be able to handle good pitching, and it hasn’t just been this season. It’s one of the reasons the franchise hasn’t won a post-season game since they took a 2-0 lead against the Yankees in the 2017 Division Series.

Sad, But True. Last Weekend For The Indians.

With yesterday’s rainout, Monday afternoon will be it for the Cleveland “Indians” playing at Progressive Field. When the 2022 season opens, the script of the team’s name will no longer sit atop the huge scoreboard in leftfield.

Whether it is replaced with “Guardians” remains to be seen, and also as everything else with this franchise currently, probably depends on the cost.

We understand many fans are pissed off about the change, and we get that, but it was inevitable, although it seems like the Kansas City Chiefs and Atlanta Braves’ fans can use a native American war cry at their games without people going crazy.

Some people don’t react well to change. It’s understandable, especially when you are in our age bracket, and you spent your entire life with the baseball team in Cleveland being the Indians.

Chief Wahoo was retired a few years ago, and we can remember in our college days wearing a pullover with the iconic logo on it, and a young woman commenting that they liked the “little dude” on the apparel. To this day, our friends still sometimes refer to Wahoo as the “little dude”.

We understand fans attending the last game (which is now Monday) will receive some sort of memento from the team identifying the event as the last contest in the ballpark with the team being called “Indians”. Perhaps that will be valuable in a few decades.

The loss of the mascot and the name change has driven more of a wedge in the relationship between the fans and the organization, most notably the Dolan ownership. And despite what many on social media tell you, it is on the franchise to repair that rift. Fans don’t have to buy tickets, it’s not a mandatory thing.

Hopefully, this .500 season is the low point of “retooling” of the roster, and the Guardians can be back in the mix for a post-season berth next season. It is somewhat remarkable the run the organization has been on since Terry Francona was hired prior to the 2013 season. This is the first time since then the franchise has not played meaningful games in September.

Winning is important to fans, but attendance has waned despite good teams. The local television ratings are extremely high, so the front office should be challenged with finding out why people watch on TV, but don’t come to the ballpark. That needs correcting and we don’t think it has anything to do with way the edifice is laid out now.

Speaking on that, the end of this season also is the last time Progressive Field will look the way it does right now. The modernization of the now 27 year old facility will begin this season, although it has not been announced what will be the first step.

Even though the time has come for the franchise’s nickname to go away, it doesn’t mean fans don’t have the right to be melancholy about it. For many of us, the names “Indians” and “the Tribe” were part of growing up, it was synonymous with baseball, summertime, and for our age bracket, a lot of losing.

On March 31, 2022, a new era will start at Progressive Field when the Cleveland Guardians takes the field. New traditions will start, and heck, maybe “the Guards” will be what folks will say when they talk about going to Progressive Field.

Make no mistake, it will be strange not to have the Tribe around anymore.

Not All Wins Are Works Of Art, Browns’ Fans

When it comes to winning in sports, we think sometimes fans don’t understand how difficult it really is, especially at the professional level.

It is even more difficult to do coming off a loss, something Ohio State fans saw on Saturday, and Browns viewed Sunday afternoon at First Energy Stadium. There is a certain lethargy that goes with losing the previous game, and sometimes it takes a quarter or a half to shake the staleness that goes with losing away.

There is no question the Cleveland Browns are a better football team than the Houston Texans, but it took Kevin Stefanski’s team a little while to show it.

Still, a win is a win, and the Browns, along with the rest of the AFC North are sitting at 1-1 after two games, so it now becomes a 15 game season, we guess.

Here are some impressions following the win in the home opener–

**We said before the season started the defense would be a work in progress, and shouldn’t be truly evaluated until week five or six, and we haven’t changed that opinion. There are so many new pieces involved and it takes time to trust your fellow defenders.

That said, it was a little troubling to see the lack of pressure on Houston quarterbacks. The only sack came from blitzing S Grant Delpit, who looked good in his NFL debut. Myles Garrett still gets held quite a bit though, and drew a penalty towards the end of the first half.

You would think Denzel Ward and Greg Newsome would be a solid corner combo, but the Browns seemed reluctant to put either in press coverage last Sunday.

However, it’s still early. The unit should get better with experience.

**Nick Chubb is the best running back in the NFL. We know around here that is stating the obvious, but Chubb is fifth in the league in rushing yards, despite being 19th in carries.

The Browns are not going to give Chubb the 25 carries per game so he could pile up the huge yardage needed to get notice nationally. First, they have an excellent back in Kareem Hunt to team with Chubb, and also they want Chubb to play with the Browns for a long time. They are prolonging his career.

Now, when they get to the playoffs, and need the fourth year pro out of Auburn to tote the rock 25 times, he will be fresh. And that time may come at the end of this year.

Oh, and by the way, the only running back in Browns’ history better than #24 wore #32.

**We all knew the Browns had plenty of offensive weapons coming into the year, and we still haven’t seen Odell Beckham Jr. But GM Andrew Berry looks like he added two more in this year’s draft in WR Anthony Schwartz and RB/WR Demetric Felton, each of whom has been a factor already this season.

Felton scored his first NFL touchdown on a great run after catching a short pass on Sunday, and made a great move after another reception.

Also, you have to give Stefanski credit for trusting these rookies, because some veteran coaches would not. Trusting players regardless of experience is the mark of a great coach in our book.

**We still don’t understand why folks don’t think Baker Mayfield is the answer at QB. Again, because of the way the Browns run things, he’s never going to be someone who throws for 300 yards on a weekly basis.

But he’s a leader and he shows toughness. And for those who questioned his accuracy in the past, he’s completed 81.6% of his passes in the first two weeks. He only has one touchdown pass, but again, that’s because of the running game.

If you don’t think the Browns’ offensive is running well, consider that Jamie Gillan has punted three times in two games. That used to be his total for for a half. And Chase McLaughlin has attempted one field goal.

That’s efficiency.

Why Not Take A Look At Gonzalez, Kwan Before Season Ends?

It is not a secret that the Cleveland Indians’ offense needs to score more runs, and unfortunately consistency is not in their arsenal.

In two of their last three games, the Tribe has scored double digits, getting a dozen against the Twins on Wednesday night and 11 yesterday vs. the Yankees. That’s the good news.

However, in the last 11 games, Cleveland has been shutout four times, including being no-hit for the third this season, the first time in MLB history a team has done that. Included in that span, besides the no-no, the Indians were one hit, three hit, and four hit.

That’s a whole lot of ineptitude.

On an every night basis, interim skipper DeMarlo Hale trots out a lineup with as many as five or six batters who would at best be called mediocre. Is that in the name of development? Because at this point, we think most people would say players like Oscar Mercado or Bradley Zimmer aren’t going to become players who hit well enough to be in there everyday.

Now, what if we told you the organization has two players at AAA who have OPS of over 875 this season in the minor leagues. Wouldn’t you think the organization would like to take a look at these guys as the regular season winds down?

Cleveland is 7th in the American League in home runs, but in 9th in runs scored, mostly because they rank 13th in the league in on base percentage and batting average.

And down at Columbus, the organization has a player who has compiled a .413 on base percentage in 66 games between the AA and AAA levels in 24-year-old Steven Kwan, a fifth round pick in 2018.

A left-handed hitter, in his minor league career he has reached base 38% of the time, but the only year he’s been under .400 was in 2019 at Lynchburg. He hit .337 at Akron this year (950 OPS) and .339 in 15 games with the Clippers.

He also has a little pop as well with 28 extra base hits in 287 plate appearances. The big club has only two players (Myles Straw and Jose Ramirez) who get on base more than 35% of the time, so they could use more hitters who avoid making outs.

They could certainly use an outfielder who hits with power and has a good batting average, and Oscar Gonzalez, who is just 23, certainly fits that bill.

A right-handed bat, Gonzalez has hit .300 with 28 homers and 76 RBIs (886 OPS) in 112 games, 63 of them at the AAA level. He has a .548 slugging percentage and has struck out just (relatively in today’s game) 97 times in 459 plate appearances this season.

As a comparison, Bobby Bradley has fanned over 148 times in four different minor league seasons.

What is Gonzalez’ problem offensively? He simply doesn’t walk. He’s drawn just 21 free passes this season, and that’s a career high! However, he continues to hit for a solid batting average, .276 in Columbus this season, and a lifetime minor league .282 mark.

Although we are a big believer in strikeout/walk ratio as a measure of success in the big leagues, there are guys in the majors who succeed despite not walking. Tim Anderson of the White Sox comes to mind.

Anderson averages 166 strikeouts and 24 walks per season, yet has a career .284 batting average, and won a batting title in 2019, hitting .335. Another weird stat about Anderson is that the year he set a career high in walks (2018 with 30), he had his lowest batting average at .240.

Why didn’t (or won’t) the Indians take a look at these two players, who might have helped the offense because their skill set in the minor leagues seems to be the very thing the parent club could use.

Quite frankly, wouldn’t it make the last two weeks of the season more exciting if we could watch this duo get some big league time instead of seeing players who have been decidedly mediocre for two or three years running.

This organization lives in fear at times, and this is one of those times. Kwan and Gonzalez deserve a shot these last two weeks. It would be good for them and the organization moving forward.

Tribe Roster Decisions That Don’t Seem Difficult To Us

The last season of the Cleveland Indians is slowly winding down with just a little over two weeks remaining, a total of 18 games.

Of course, some would say the Tribe hitters have already taken the bats home, as they have scored more than three runs in a game just twice in the last 11 games. And in that span, they’ve been one hit and no hit, and were shutout three times.

When the season ends, besides the name of the team changing to Cleveland Guardians (still difficult for us to type), the next piece of business will be who will remain on the 40 man roster.

This front office is well known for their patience, so will they take into account some flashes from some of borderline players on the roster or will they look at an entire body of work, like more than 300 to 400 at bats in the majors.

For us, it wouldn’t be that difficult of the decision, we could release 5-7 players as soon as the 162nd game is played and wouldn’t look back.

First would be the perpetual prospect group, particularly those getting a little old to be considered prospects anymore.

Bradley Zimmer is the first name that comes to mind. Yes, Zimmer has hit some long home runs this year, and that’s impressive, but he’s also fanned 103 times in 290 plate appearances and has a 698 OPS, and will be 29 next season. The only saving grace would be his skill set (great speed, great defense) could be ideal for a 26th man on a roster, but if the brass is thinking he’s an everyday player, they are mistaken.

Oscar Mercado is another of those frustrating players who seem to have a lot of tools, yet aren’t real good baseball players. He will be 27 next season and has good speed and is a good glove, but can’t get on base enough or have any pop in his bat.

The third is this group is Yu Chang, who has received his most playing time in the big leagues this year, and has managed just a 659 OPS. His biggest issue? 199 plate appearances and just nine walks to go with 54 whiffs. He has some power and has played shortstop so he is solid defensively, but if the organization wasn’t going to play him when he was hot, it’s probably best for him to move on.

There are also some guys in the bullpen we believe won’t be kept either. The organization might be inclined to make another non-roster invitee situation for Blake Parker and Bryan Shaw, but we would doubt either stay on the 40 man.

And Nick Wittgren is likely to be looking for a new organization as well. His performance has declined in each of his three seasons here, and has become prone to giving up the long ball. We should also note that Parker, Shaw, and Wittgren are also all over 30 years of age.

Southpaw Alex Young, picked up on waivers from Arizona earlier this season, may join them even though he’s only 28. Having a 7.84 ERA and having really one effective performance (out of ten) doesn’t seem to engender any confidence in him.

The only thing that could be in his favor is if Carl Willis and Reuben Niebla see something in him they believe would unlock a good pitcher.

It will also be interesting to see how the team handles players like Harold Ramirez (we’d keep him), Scott Moss (who has pitched 20 innings since 2019), and Daniel Johnson (they really don’t seem to like him at all).

That’s a lot of players to make decisions on, but do any of them really catch an eye as a potential everyday player in the big leagues?

Again, the Cleveland baseball team (we are transitioning) is known for patience, but for us, it’s time to make a decision on these players.