Key Injuries For Tribe, And Can They Survive Them?

The Cleveland Indians avoided the injury bug for the first quarter of the Major League Baseball season, but it has come back to bite them in the past few days.

Two key members of the Tribe, continuing to battle in the American League Central at 26-21, just a game and a half behind the front-running Chicago White Sox, will be among the missing for probably 4-6 weeks, if not more.

Saturday, Franmil Reyes, the second best offensive threat Terry Francona has had at his disposal this season, strained an oblique and was placed on the injured list. Reyes leads the team in RBIs with 29 and is second in home runs with 11, one behind Jose Ramirez.

The next day saw another key injury as Zach Plesac fractured his thumb (off the field injury) and was also forced on the IL. Plesac was one of the three starters (Shane Bieber and Aaron Civale, the others) the skipper can count on right now, so the starting pitching is very, very thin right now, especially when it comes to experience.

Losing the second best hitter on a below average offense will make it even more difficult for Francona to cobble together lineups that can score runs. Owen Miller came up to replace Reyes on the roster, but really, the Tribe needs Eddie Rosario, currently hitting .228 with just 3 home runs to start hitting the way he did against the Indians when he was with the Twins.

It would also help if Josh Naylor stepped up more, and Cleveland could get more offense out of the first base position. Jake Bauers has been better lately, but a .303 slugging percentage says he’s not providing much pop.

As for Miller, he’s off to a slow start, but since the Tribe brought him up, they have to play him everyday to see what he can contribute.

Reyes’ absence also means opposing teams will have even more incentive to avoid Ramirez in late inning situations, where he has been lethal. We would let E. Rosario, Jordan Luplow or virtually anyone else to beat my team late in a contest rather than Jose Ramirez.

The loss of Plesac can be devastating. Cleveland brought up Triston McKenzie, just sent to AAA to work on control issues, to pitch last night, and right now, the only start not going to Bieber and Civale that is etched in stone is Sam Hentges going on Saturday.

The problem is exacerbated by Monday’s doubleheader (albeit seven inning games, meh) against the White Sox

The obvious thing to do (at least to us) was to start stretching out Cal Quantrill, which the club announced yesterday. With the resurgence of veteran Bryan Shaw and the emergence of rookie Nick Sandlin in the bullpen, and the fact that Francona prefers to use certain relievers when he has a lead, Quantrill has a very limited role in the ‘pen, pitching in very low leverage situations.

And remember, going into spring training, Quantrill was being groomed as a starter. He dropped out of contention for the rotation because of command issues and Logan Allen pitching lights out in Arizona.

It seems to us, right now Quantrill is more valuable to the Indians as a starting pitcher, keeping the team in games early.

We would also give a start to another rookie Jean Carlos Mejia. Mejia started the year in the rotation at Columbus, making two starts, and has pitched in two games in the bigs, allowing just one hit and fanning six in 3-1/3 innings.

Who knows, maybe the organization finds out they regained some rotation depth in Quantrill and Mejia.

This is where Francona’s one game at a time pays dividends for his team. He won’t bemoan the injuries and who isn’t there, he will just ask his team to win the game they are playing that night.

Really, that’s the best approach to take right now.

Where, Oh Where Is The Cavs’ Front Office?

It is kind of a tradition for the point man for professional sports teams to be the general manager, and normally that person speaks to the media when a major event happens or when the season ends.

That’s why it is peculiar at best that Cavs’ GM Koby Altman has not been neither seen or heard from since he completed the Jarrett Allen trade on January 13th.

Look, we get it. It’s not a pleasant task to discuss what went wrong after a losing season, especially one that ended as dismally as the Cavaliers did, losing 13 of their last 14 contests.

On the other hand, as we tell our children, would you like a list of things we have to do that are part of our job that we don’t particularly care for? It’s part of the gig to stand up and talk to the media about both the good things and bad things that occurred during the season, and to answer questions about the future.

The underlying question must be is Dan Gilbert contemplating a restructuring of the front office. Will Altman emerge from the restructuring with his job or just a new boss? That has to be the only option, because otherwise not having availability with the media after the season concludes is either a bad look, or just plain fear.

We have said before we believe someone else needs to be involved in the future planning of this basketball team and that person cannot and should not have the last name of Gilbert. It needs to be someone who has played or coached in the league, and should be someone not that far removed from doing those things.

And in our opinion, it needs to be someone from outside the organization, meaning someone with a fresh viewpoint on the players on the team. For example, the Cavs have put a lot of stock in Collin Sexton, but what do others not in the Cleveland organization think of him? Who does that person think should be the building blocks of the next winning team wearing wine and gold?

We understand Sexton is a lightning rod among Cavs’ followers, so we can pick out another example. Can Dean Wade be a key piece for a playoff team? He averaged 6 points and 3.4 rebounds playing 19 minutes per game, playing in 63 of them. He’s a stretch four, shooting almost 37% from beyond the arc in 2020-21.

However, to us, he’s a 10th-12th man on a good team. We watch the NBA playoffs and we can’t see him getting meaningful minutes. We don’t think he’s a good enough defender to play at that level.

We think it’s time for a second set of eyes at this point. Perhaps someone new will come in and think Altman is 100% correct with his assessment of things, and if that happens, it will still give another basketball person a chance to evaluate players.

But if that person thinks the future of the franchise is best served by going in another direction, say, building around Jarrett Allen, then that should be the course taken going forward.

We maintain the problem isn’t talent, nor is it coaching, it’s fit. And we are right, then Dan Gilbert and his family have to do the right thing.

People have always taught us that the smartest people know what they don’t know.

Finding #4 and #5 In Rotation Is Tribe’s Newest Issue

When you trade three starting pitchers the caliber of Corey Kluber, Trevor Bauer, and Mike Clevinger since the middle of the 2019 season, it stands to reason there will be a void in your starting pitching.

That’s where the Cleveland Indians are today.

When the Tribe had that trio in their rotation, along with Shane Bieber, and prospects like Zach Plesac and Aaron Civale in the pipeline, there was a comfort among fans and we would guess the coaching staff. They had a chance to win each and every game.

They thought coming into the 2021 season they had the pieces in place for another good rotation. Triston McKenzie showed promise last season, albeit in a shortened season, and Logan Allen went to Goodyear and won a spot in the Opening Day rotation.

However, remember that McKenzie didn’t pitch at all in the 2019 season, so he is very inexperienced, and Allen was a good prospect, but that’s all. He’s still a rookie.

Allen started out fine, pitching five innings in each of his first two starts, but he couldn’t get out of the third inning in each of his next three starts and was sent to Columbus, where it hasn’t been pretty. He’s pitched 11-2/3 innings, allowing 19 runs in three starts.

McKenzie simply couldn’t throw strikes. He’s walked 30 hitters in 31-1/3 frames with Cleveland this year, and his lack of control comes suddenly. In his last start Friday night before he was send to Columbus, the 23-year-old righty sailed through the first three innings, allowing one run. In the fourth, he started walking everyone in sight.

Outside of his second start, a four inning stint against the White Sox in which he walked two, McKenzie walked three or more in every other start, and he went no more than five innings in any of those outings.

The struggles of the four and five spots in the rotation put a lot of pressure on Bieber, Plesac, and Civale to pitch well and pitch deep into games when they start to keep the Tribe in the race for a post-season spot. They won’t acknowledge that, they will simply say they go out and do their job every fifth day.

So, where does Terry Francona and the front office go from here? Is there another Plesac or Civale, who seemingly comes out of nowhere to fill the last two slots in the rotation?

Young, 24-year-old Sam Hentges has started twice and had extended outings in two others, with mixed results. His first start was a 4-2/3 outing vs. the Cubs, in which he held them off the scoreboard, but walked four, running his pitch count up so he couldn’t complete five innings.

He will get another opportunity against Detroit this week.

Will another rookie, Jean Carlos Mejia get a start this week? He made his major league debut Friday, pitching 2-1/3 innings, striking out five. But, he has pitched just 11 innings over the Class A level in his career, meaning no one knows what he will do when he has to go out there every fifth day.

At Columbus, there is Kirk McCarty, a soon to be 26-year-old southpaw who is 3-0, 2.66 ERA, 14 K’s, 5 walks in 23 innings, but he has also not pitched above Class A before this season.

Eli Morgan is a 25-year-old right-hander who has experience in AA ball, and is 0-1 with a 3.95 ERA and 13 strikeouts in 13 innings this season. He has walked eight though, but his minor league career doesn’t indicate wildness.

Another lefty, Scott Moss, has been bandied about over the last two seasons, but left his last start with a hand issue. So, he’s probably not a candidate.

If the Indians are going to stay in the race for a post-season spot, finding someone who can give them quality innings after Bieber, Plesac, and Civale is critical. We would doubt that any kind of deal is coming either, that’s not the organization’s style.

The number of off days is dwindling, so Francona and Carl Willis have to find some answers. The comfort level of knowing you have a chance to win every day is gone.

Time To Give Miller A Shot.

When you are hitting .212 as a team through a quarter of the season, you should be looking for offense wherever you can.

That’s why the debate on is there a place on the 26 man roster for Owen Miller is getting ridiculous. Miller has played shortstop more than any other position on the diamond during his minor league career, but if the organization is concerned about his defense, there are many other places where the Indians can use his bat.

First, we aren’t claiming Miller is the second coming of Babe Ruth. However, he is a career .317 hitter (830 OPS) during his professional career, so he has hit wherever he has played, and while we understand spring training numbers don’t mean much, but he hit there as well.

In 12 games at Columbus thus far, the right-handed hitter is batting an incredible .442 (23 for 52) with a homer and seven runs batted in. The only down stat is 13 strikeouts in 56 plate appearances, although he hasn’t fanned more than 86 times in any minor league season to date.

It would be more difficult to come up with a reason NOT to bring him up.

As to where he should play? Well, there are a few suggestions, but we’d pencil him in everyday at first base, where Jake Bauers and Yu Chang have combined to hit .171 with two home runs and 12 ribbies.

You could keep him at SS, where Andres Gimenez failed at the plate (534 OPS) and although Amed Rosario has had a couple of decent games at the plate, he is still hitting just .231 with a 629 OPS.

Since we like Rosario better than the Bauers/Chang platoon, that’s why we’d put Miller at that spot, and basically check back in after 20-25 games to see how he is doing.

He isn’t a power hitter really, but the Tribe ranks 8th in the American League in home runs now. What the Indians really need is a guy who gets hits and gets on base, they are second from the bottom in the AL in on base percentage and Miller has a minor league career .375 on base percentage.

When you think about it, if he came up and hit .250, that would be an improvement for the Tribe offense, and quite frankly his minor league pedigree says he will do better than that number.

We subscribe to the “can’t do any worse” theory, and Owen Miller, who came over in the Mike Clevinger deal last season, can’t be worse at first base than who Terry Francona writes in the lineup every day right now.

Is it an ideal situation to bring up a player who has played just 12 games at the AAA level? Of course not, you would like to see him get more at bats at that level. But it has been done before. Fernando Tatis Jr., although a much better prospect than Miller, never played at that level.

And for old school folks (like me), former Tribe manager Mike Hargrove came up to the Rangers after playing in A ball. If you can hit, you can hit. Since the Indians are starving for some consistency from anyone not named Jose Ramirez at the plate, it’s time to give Miller a shot.

This isn’t to say Owen Miller is the savior, we don’t want to put that kind of pressure on the young man. We are saying he’s likely better than at least one player in the lineup the Tribe is putting out there on a daily basis.

Cavs Need A Large Step In The Winning Direction

People’s views on the just finished Cleveland Cavaliers’ season probably depend on what their definition of progress is.

Yes, the Cavs have improved in each of the last three years since LeBron James departed for a second time via free agency. In the first season, they were 19-63, a .232 winning percentage.

The following season, the win total stayed the same, but due to the COVID pandemic, the season was shortened to 65 games, so they won at a 29.2% rate. That was followed by an increase in the win column, from 19 to 22, again in a non-traditional 72 game slate, so the winning percentage increased to .306.

The last two seasons came with a draft pick selected in the top five.

If you like a slow rebuilding process, these Cavaliers are for you. But at this pace, the wine and gold will make the playoffs around when this decade ends.

That may not be fair, but this franchise hasn’t made the NBA playoffs without James since the 1997-98 season, so pardon everyone if they are skeptical about the future of this team.

It has been reported that owner Dan Gilbert is contemplating making some changes to the front office, so we guess that would put the man at the top in the not so patient class.

If Cleveland had approach the 30 win mark this season, a figure that should have been attainable, we doubt anyone would be calling for a review of how things have been done over the past three seasons. As Bill Parcells famously said, you are what your record says you are.

However, there is more to putting together a basketball team than collecting talent. And we don’t know if Altman and the current front office understands this. You need players that can play off each other, amplify the strengths of their teammates and minimize the weaknesses.

In short, you need players who play for the rest of the men on the roster.

You also need someone with a vision. Can they see the team winning with Darius Garland and Collin Sexton getting the most minutes at the guard position? And if you go forward with them as a backcourt duo, what do you have to do around them to lead to victories.

And what to do with Isaac Okoro, who played well as a rookie and took the task of defending the opposition’s best scorer pretty much on a nightly basis. Okoro can play in the NBA, but his size screams that he’s a two guard. Can he provide the offense that position requires?

The point is all three of those players have talent. In a vacuum, you would say Altman made solid choices on each player. But can you win with them playing point guard, #2 guard, and small forward? We wouldn’t bet our career on it.

We have said this before, but improvement in the win column has to be a priority. No matter what happens with the draft lottery this season, it should be made clear the franchise doesn’t want to be involved in it again following the 2021-22 season.

We believe winning is a learned skill, and it hasn’t been taught around this franchise since James left. That has to change right now, and that starts with ownership and Altman, or whoever is in charge of the basketball part of the operation.

The Cavs don’t need to be a playoff team at this time next year, but they need to take a significant step in that direction.

Tito Mixing And Matching Nightly With Lineup.

Mike Hargrove said it when he was managing the Cleveland Indians, there are two things that every man thinks he can better than everyone else, those are cooking a steak and managing a baseball team.

And despite winning two World Series and getting to a third, Terry Francona still hears his share of questions about how he handles the Cleveland Indians. Heck, half the fun of watching a baseball game is trying to manage along with your favorite team’s skipper.

We do it too, we aren’t going to deny it.

The Indians rank 9th in the American League in spite of being second last in the league in batting average. Yes, we know batting average isn’t in vogue right now, so they are also 14th in the AL in on base percentage.

They are doing it with a team that really only has five regulars: Jose Ramirez at 3B, Cesar Hernandez at 2B, Eddie Rosario in LF, Franmil Reyes at DH, and when healthy, Roberto Perez behind the plate.

Everyday, Francona has to decide who should play at shortstop, first base, centerfield and rightfield. Now, Josh Naylor has been in the lineup somewhere on an everyday basis, so he’s either at first or in right. But, Francona has to mix and match at three spots on a nightly basis.

He’s tried going with the hot hand. Jordan Luplow was hot earlier in the season, culminating in a walk off HR against Minnesota. So, he started getting regular playing time. He responded by going 1 for 22 over a seven game stretch.

Amed Rosario had four hits, including the game winner Wednesday afternoon against the Cubs. He started the first three games of the Seattle series at shortstop in place of a struggling Andres Gimenez, and went 1 for 12.

Harold Ramirez came up for the Kansas City series and gave the offense a spark, getting four hits in the first two games. He followed that with a 2 for 18 stretch, before getting two hits, including a home run in last night’s 7-3 loss to the Mariners.

At first base, everyone thought it was a matter of time before Jake Bauers would be replaced by Bobby Bradley as the left-handed hitting platoon. However, it’s the right-handed half that seems to have lost his job.

Yu Chang pinch hit last night, but hasn’t been in the lineup vs. southpaws over the past week. Going 7 for 50 with just two extra base hits seems to have cost him his job, and soon, perhaps his roster spot. At AAA, Bradley has started off just 6 for 37 with 15 strikeouts. He has belted three homers.

Bauers isn’t exactly tearing the cover off the ball either, and that has resulted in Naylor playing more at first.

Our point is that it’s a tremendous challenge for Francona and whoever helps him make out the lineup to put a competitive attack out there. Consistency is the best feature a professional athlete can have, and the Indians don’t have many consistent hitters.

And before you say just bring up players from AAA, it has to be a good fit. The last thing the organization wants is for a top prospect to come up and get sporadic playing time. It generally doesn’t help the development of the player.

That said, we believe some changes will be coming soon.

The pitching has for the most part held up their end of the bargain. We’ve said it before, how successful the Cleveland Indians will be depends on how many runs they can score.

Terry Francona has a challenge getting his team to do that with the current make up of the team.

Can Cavs’ Be Patient This Summer?

The Cleveland Cavaliers just broke an 11 game losing streak last night, and as they continue to sink in the Eastern Conference standings, they are rising in the draft lottery standings, which we believe is more important to them.

Right now, they sit in a tie for the 4th worst record in the NBA with Orlando, but only two teams, Oklahoma City and Detroit have won less games than the Cavs, with the Pistons trailing (leading?) the wine and gold by just one win.

Quite frankly, we don’t believe J.B. Bickerstaff’s team will win again this season, and again, we don’t think that’s a major concern for the organization.

So, what does this mean going forward for the organization?

The draft has been projected to have five prizes, so if the Cavs hold their spot in the selection process, they would get one of those five players. And right now, they would have a 52.6% chance to be in the top five, meaning it is almost as likely they will be in the top five as it is they aren’t.

So our question is what do the Cavs do if they don’t get a top five pick? There needs to be an alternative plan to getting lucky in the 2022 draft lottery. And that’s our problem with the current ownership/front office. They seem to be stuck in the maybe lightning can strike twice mentality and the next LeBron James winds up in Cleveland.

That’s what we would like to hear, what happens if they wind up with the 8th pick this summer?

The first order of business should be to lock up Jarrett Allen, who is a restricted free agent, to a long term deal. There aren’t many 23-year-old big men as talented as Allen, who has averaged 13.3 points and 9.8 rebounds per game, and is shooting 62% from the floor since coming to the Cavaliers.

Hopefully, because of the de-emphasis on the big man in today’s NBA, it won’t take a max deal to keep Allen, who despite of the takeover of the guards currently in pro basketball, should still be in demand as a rim protector and rebounder.

Big men who are athletic and can play should always be in demand.

What about Collin Sexton, who can be a restricted free agent after next season? The Cavs could offer him a contract extension this summer, but we would wait before committing huge dollars to him.

It’s not an indictment of him, but with Darius Garland’s rookie deal ending the following season (2022-23), it wouldn’t be a good idea for the franchise to have three large contracts on the books and a losing record. It would be another form of cap hell.

Think about it. With the proliferation of high scoring backcourt players, what kind of market is there for Sexton? What teams would be willing to open the vault for him?

It would also give time for the front office to evaluate the roster, seeing who can be contributors on a winning team. We have said it many times before, everyone who plays in the NBA has incredible talent, but the key thing is can they be contributors on a winning program?

They also need to resolve the Kevin Love situation, which has become untenable. First, he did what anyone would have done when you wave $30 million per year in someone’s face, but the Cavs need to deal him for another bad contract or just buy him out.

If they trade him, they may have to attach him to someone of value, but if the return is there, it might make sense.

The point is to not rush into things and leave yourself with a team with a poor record and no cap space. The organization has asked the fans to be patient. Now it’s time for the front office to exercise some of their own.

We don’t hold out hope for that.

Once Tribe Gets The Lead, The Bullpen Locks It Up

We feel fairly certain opposing managers in Major League Baseball won’t be thrilled with the news that the Cleveland Indians might have another bullpen weapon in rookie Nick Sandlin.

Now, we don’t want to get too carried away with three appearances totalling 4-1/3 innings, but the hard throwing sidearmer seems to have made quite an impression on Terry Francona, Carl Willis, and Reuben Niebla.

With last Thursday game in the balance, Francona brought in the rookie in a 3-0 game in the bottom of the sixth with two Kansas City Royals on base, and six time all star Salvador Perez at the plate. Perez hits cleanup for the Royals.

Sandlin induced a double play grounder to get two quick outs and then followed up by getting Jorge Soler on another ground ball. He pitched a three up, three down seventh, including two strikeouts, turning the game over to James Karinchak and Emmanuel Clase to close it out.

Generally, guys who throw from the side don’t get it up to home plate at 95 MPH, so it gives Francona an option to show opposing a different look late in games.

The Cleveland bullpen had already taken the look of a “if you aren’t ahead after six, it doesn’t look good for you” relief corps through the first 30 games because of the performances of Bryan Shaw, Karinchak, and Clase.

Shaw is a remarkable story. He already ranks 8th on the Indians’ all time list for appearances with 391, and should be at least 6th by the end of the season. He was a mainstay of Francona’s bullpen from 2013 through 2017, pitching in 378 games, and led the American League in appearances 2014, 2016, and 2017 before departing for Colorado and a big contract.

He suffered through two bad seasons with the Rockies, a place not known to be kind to pitchers, and then pitched in just six games with Seattle last season, allowing 12 runs in six innings.

When he signed with the Tribe before spring training, there were plenty of comments, mostly negative. We thought what the heck, maybe he could regain his regular form after pretty much a year of inactivity.

He’s rewarded the Indians’ trust by being the man Francona calls on to pitch the 7th. He has a 2.03 ERA in 13 games, striking out 14 in 13-1/3 frames. The only down statistic is his eight walks.

Karinchek is putting up unworldly numbers right now. He allowed a HR to Hunter Dozier last week perhaps just to prove he is human, as he has allowed just 3 hits in 15 innings for the season, striking out two batters per inning. And his control, an issue in the past, has been excellent to date with just three walks.

He has been so dominant, he ranks 4th in WAR for the Indians at this point of the season, behind Jose Ramirez, Shane Bieber, and Aaron Civale.

Clase, with his 100 MPH cutter, has been more dominant than his numbers indicate, and his numbers are good (1.26 ERA and 15 K’s in 14-1/3 IP). He’s allowed 15 hits in those innings, but only six of those have been classed as line drives. The rest are ground balls that have gone either through the infield or been fielded but the batter beat the throw to first.

He’s also walked just three batters on the season.

We haven’t even mentioned Cal Quantrill (2.12 ERA), Phil Maton (16 strikeouts in 11 innings), and Nick Wittgren, who after a couple of shaky appearances has allowed just a single run in his last five outings.

And Rule 5 draftee Trevor Stephan hasn’t been in a game since April 28th.

The starting pitching gets a lot of the headlines because they keep the Indians in almost every game. But once the Tribe gets the lead, it’s very tough to get it back because of the bullpen. And if Sandlin continues to do what he did in KC, it’s a nightmare for opposing hitters and managers.

Nothing New: If Tribe Can Score, They Can Contend

So far in this 2021 Major League Baseball season, it’s quite simple: If the Cleveland Indians score four runs in a game, they win.

When the Indians get to that figure, they are 17-1 on the season. When they don’t, they are 1-13. The only game they lost when reaching the four run figure was the second Carlos Rodon/Zach Plesac matchup in Cleveland, when the White Sox beat the Tribe 8-5.

The only game they won scoring less than four? The epic Shane Bieber/Lucas Giolito game that went to 10 innings and resulted in a 2-0 Cleveland win.

Recently, the Indians’ offense has been a little better, Friday night’s no-hitter not withstanding. In their current stretch where they’ve one 10 out of 13, the Tribe has scored an average of 4.8 runs per game, getting at least four in all of the wins.

Overall on the season, the league average is 4.41 runs, and the Tribe is sitting at 4.25, so they are still below average.

So, it’s simple right? If the Indians can have close to a league average offense, they can be a contender in the AL Central. The two favorites coming into the season, the White Sox and Twins have problems. Chicago has lost two key offensive pieces in Eloy Jimenez and Luis Robert, and the Twins have injury and bullpen issues to date.

Now, the question is, can the Tribe put together a league average offense?

Right now, the Cleveland attack is very top heavy. They have two real good offensive players, with OPS’ over 800 in Franmil Reyes (914) and Jose Ramirez (891). They have only two other players with an OPS over 700–Jordan Luplow at 789, and his batting average is just .171, and Josh Naylor at 724.

To date, the league average OPS is 704, so Cleveland has just four hitters who are better than the American League average.

That’s not good, nor does it bode well for the future.

We believe Eddie Rosario and Cesar Hernandez’ track records indicate they will hit, and while Rosario has had several years where he has been above the 800 OPS mark, Hernandez is more of a 750 OPS batter, meaning he’s above average, but not on the elite level.

The key continues to be Josh Naylor. If Naylor can hit like he has so far in May (.300 with two home runs and a 930 OPS in a small sample size), the Tribe’s offense just may be good enough. Notice that his surge has tied in with the offense being better.

First base is still a disaster area with Jake Bauers and Yu Chang combining to go 18 for 104 with just a single home run. Please note we are again talking about 32 games, not 10 anymore.

And the defense, particularly in the outfield, has been poor. Harold Ramirez has provided a bit of a spark with the bat (five hits this week, including three doubles), but he’s not a centerfielder. We know Naylor isn’t going to win a gold glove in right, and Rosario is average in left.

Terry Francona has tried to play Amed Rosario at shortstop against lefties, but it seems like he makes one misplay in each game he is out there.

And Roberto Perez’ finger injury means we will see a lot of Austin Hedges behind the plate, and let’s be kind and say he is offensively challenged. We know the Indians go defense first behind the plate, and we understand that, but right now, that position provides a slight upgrade over a pitcher offensively.

We have already seen opposing teams start to pitch around Ramirez and take their chances with Rosario and Reyes, and so far, they’ve come through. But given a choice, it wouldn’t be shocking to see more teams simply not give Ramirez anything to hit in late innings.

Nothing really has changed for the Tribe. If they can score, they can contend. Their ability to push runs across remains the key to the 2021 season.

Time For A Change In Philosophy For Cavs

We know we are late to the party, but the Cleveland Cavaliers really are a depressing franchise unless it includes LeBron James on the roster.

The last time the Cavs won a playoff series without #23 in the wine and gold was 1992-1993, which is 28 years ago, and right now, it looks as though that streak could very well extend to 30 years before it concludes.

We are grateful for James’ time here, including that title in 2016, the only professional sports championship for the city since 1964. But the next time he will be part of a celebration in northeast Ohio will likely be his jersey retirement ceremony.

So, for the Gilbert ownership group, it’s seven seasons without James in a Cleveland uniform, and the most wins by any of those teams would be the 33 in 2013-14, the year before LBJ came back to town.

We suggest it is time for the ownership to re-examine the way they run the franchise, but quite frankly, it’s been mediocre at best under their guidance.

We understand that Gilbert spent and spent big when James was here in an effort to end the city’s title drought and we are grateful that he did. He should be commended in a big way for that.

However, the basketball decisions made outside of spending big could be described as a mess. His unwillingness to give any of his general managers second contracts, outside of Koby Altman, is well publicized, and really, none of the rebuilding movements after each of James’ departures has taken hold.

And Altman doesn’t really want to address it. He seems reticent to answer questions about what is going on with the franchise.

The time to change this is now.

After this season, it’s time to clean out the front office of this basketball team and provide a clear direction for the operations of the franchise going forward. Step one should be to stop hoping for lottery luck and the next great player in the NBA to fall in their lap like James did.

Actually, Gilbert didn’t even own the team when the Cavaliers won the lottery to beat all lotteries, getting James in 2003.

Bring in an experienced basketball executive that has playing experience if possible. It doesn’t have to be a former GM, but should be someone who has been around the game and has talent evaluation in his background. Find someone like James Jones, the current Phoenix GM, who played on the title team in 2016.

And then, stop meddling and give them time to build something.

The playing experience is important because with the movement towards analytics and looking at numbers, it’s important for someone who has played to be involved in building the team. Basketball is a game where it is important for the pieces to fit, it’s not just all about putting a bunch of talent together and hope it works.

Then, allow that new leader to hire the coach he wants to carry out the vision. And that vision should be something the organization can hang its hat on, such as defense, ball movement, etc. Players who can carry out the plan are the guys to keep.

They need to bring in someone who can teach the young players to win. We believe everybody wants to win, but some players need to be taught how to win. There are few players on the current roster that don’t put out effort.

We like J.B. Bickerstaff and maybe he’s the right guy, but if you hire a new GM, you have to give him the opportunity to bring in his own person.

Changing GMs, hoping to catch lottery magic isn’t working. Yes, the Cavs and all professional sports are in the entertainment business. And the goal of that business is winning, and that requires a plan, and allowing people to carry out that blueprint.

When the team wins, everyone can share in the credit. Look at the championship team. Yes, LeBron was the star, but this area loves players like J.R. Smith, Matthew Dellavedova, Richard Jefferson, and Channing Frye, who were key pieces to the title.

It’s okay to admit when something doesn’t work. That where the Cavs’ management should be right now. There is apathy surrounding this basketball team right now, and that has to change. It’s time to start winning again.