Time To Take Action For Tito, Tribe.

Another week has gone by with the Cleveland Indians apparently ignoring a big problem. Their offense isn’t good enough to win the American League Central Division.

The Tribe continues to rank near the bottom of the league in not only runs scored, but pretty much every offensive category.

Here’s the tale of the tape–

Runs scored 14th
Slugging Percentage 15th
Doubles 15th
Triples 15th (in fact, they don’t have one)
Home Runs 14th
OPS 15th
OPS+ 15th

The season will be 25% over when this trip ends in Chicago on Tuesday night, so you can’t say it’s early anymore. And with the 2nd best ERA in the league, if the Indians don’t start scoring runs soon, they are going to waste a yeoman effort by their pitching staff.

You can’t place blame many places, but really, what does that accomplish? You can’t go back in time and sign Michael Brantley, a professional hitter this lineup so badly needs.

Currently, the league average in OPS is 741. The only Indians who have a figure higher than that are Jordan Luplow (851), Carlos Santana (815), Francisco Lindor (745), and wait for it…Brad Miller (742), who was ceremoniously released when Lindor returned to the active roster.

The roster is poorly constructed with tons of left-handed hitters, so when a southpaw faces the Tribe, Terry Francona is forced to play Jason Kipnis (.148 vs. LHP) at second, and at least two of these outfielders: Leonys Martin (.171 vs. lefties with 14 strikeouts in 35 at bats), Carlos Gonzalez (.167 with 10 whiffs in 24 at bats), or Tyler Naquin (.214).

The ugly numbers continue. The league average for scoring to date is 4.65 runs. The Indians have played 10 games in May and scored 25 runs. Even the most mathematically challenged can discern that’s 2.5 per game.

They’ve scored five runs three times, and that’s the high water mark for the month.

Outside of the debacles last Sunday and Monday in which Cleveland lost 10-0 and 9-1, the pitching staff has held the opposition to four runs or less in every other game this month.

With a league average offense, that would mean eight wins. Instead, they are 4-6.

We have some suggestions as to what the Indians should do, but really, when it comes down to it, isn’t doing the same thing the worst thing they can do?

The organization, from Chris Antonetti and Mike Chernoff down to Francona have to stop burying their heads in the collective sands and start doing things differently.

Here are our recommendations:

End the Gonzalez experiment. The veteran didn’t have good numbers away from Coors Field last year, and it is time to start giving time to Jordan Luplow, who has an 874 OPS in AAA.

Let’s find out what the 25-year-old right handed hitter an extended shot at a job.

Bring up Oscar Mercado. Let’s not make Mercado the savior, but he had a great spring training, and outside of a 1 for 25 stretch at AAA, has been very good there, hitting .303 with a 909 OPS.

Plus he has 14 stolen bases in Columbus. It might be against the grain in today’s game, but why not run as much as possible with the hitting suffering.

An outfield of Martin, Luplow, and Mercado should be very good defensively too. This would also free Bauers to play some first base, giving Santana some rest.

Mike Freeman hasn’t done a bad job as a backup infielder (he had two hits yesterday), but he’s a left-handed hitter, so Francona has no alternative to Kipnis.

This recent stretch has nothing to do with the injury to Corey Kluber. This has been a problem since day one.

The frustration from the fans and media alike is the lack of trying something different. It’s time to take action.

Oh, and by the way, this isn’t helping sell tickets, Mr. Dolan.

Our View Of Winning And Leading In Hoops.

Basketball can be viewed differently by a lot of people, it’s a very subjective sport.

Many people view it from a numbers perspective only, meaning players who score a lot are good players, although there are some guys who do that at the expense of everything else, so they aren’t really important to winning teams.

We hear it all the time in conversations about basketball, and we can cite examples right on our own Cleveland Cavaliers.

We believe people undervalue Larry Nance Jr. because he’s not a scorer, his career high in points per game is the 9.4 he tallied this season.

But Nance does a lot of good things on a basketball court. First, he makes 52% of his shots, meaning he understands his limitations in that area. He also grabbed 8.2 rebounds and dished out a career high 3.2 assists.

A big man who can pass is very valuable. Look at Nikola Jokic for the Denver Nuggets, who averaged over seven assists a game for the team with the second best record in the Western Conference.

Conversely, we aren’t big fans of Jordan Clarkson, who we believe is nothing more than a scorer for bad teams. Think about it, the Cavs averaged 104.5 points per game, and they were one of the worst teams in the NBA.

Someone has to score those points. When Clarkson did play for a good team, the second half of the 2017-18 season with Cleveland, he was invisible much of the time, particularly in the playoffs.

He doesn’t do much else to help a team win, and in our view, that’s why he is very replaceable.

Another thing that irritates us is talk of a players’ legacy, or determining who is the leader of a team.

Leadership is a very difficult thing, getting people to follow you isn’t easy. One thing we believe is that leaders don’t have to tell you they are the leader. Everybody just knows.

LeBron James did inform the media all the time he was the Cavs’ leader, but the players seemed to understand that as well. The holdovers from last year’s roster talked a lot this season on the work ethic that carried on even though James was in Los Angeles.

James led by being prepared for every season and every game. He is talented enough that he didn’t have to be, but he was. His teammates saw that.

And sometimes, players thrive when they aren’t a featured performer.

For example, Kyrie Irving wanted badly to have “his own team”. Right now, the phrase “be careful what you wish for” comes to mind.

Irving is having a problem with the leadership role, and really, there’s nothing wrong with being the second best player on a team that wins a title.

Look at how people view Klay Thompson or Scottie Pippen. They are thought of as great, even though they played with better players. They are important reasons as to why their teams are champions.

There seems to be too much self awareness in the game today. Why not win as many titles as you can? We understand that players can be free agents and can play where they want, and we don’t begrudge that. They’ve earned that right.

But shouldn’t the goal be to win? And win as much as you can?

It may be a generational thing, we guess.

Basketball is a beautiful game when played well. And as we said, it is a very subjective sport. This was our view.

How Long Of A Leash Will Some Tribe Players Get?

When you rank last in the league in runs scored, shouldn’t patience go out the window?

We have always said people in the front office have to be more patient than fans. Heck, many fans want to cut players because they go hitless in two straight games, or even worse, strikeout with the bases loaded in a one run game in the bottom of the ninth.

Baseball professional always talk about the numbers on a guy’s baseball card. What they mean is players who have reached a certain level will almost certainly return to those levels.

It’s why the Tribe brass isn’t panicking about Jose Ramirez’ slow start, even though it extended from the last six weeks of last season.

Last year, Paul Goldschmidt, a frequent MVP candidate, hit .144 (14 for 97) in May. He rebounded to hit .364 with 10 home runs in June.

That’s the way baseball is.

However, there should be a sense of urgency when you have played roughly a fifth of a baseball season, and your team in last in the AL in runs scored, which is the tale of the Cleveland Indians’ 2019 season right now.

Surely, it is easy to have patience with Jose Ramirez, who is 26 years old, and coming off a season in which he finished in the top three in the MVP voting. He may have been the best hitter in the league from the beginning of the 2018 season until the middle of August.

However, when a player gets past his 30th birthday, and he goes into a slump, it is natural to wonder if it is indeed a slump, or the beginning of a decline.

In the Indians’ case, if the offense was rolling, and everyone except for one player was producing, it would be easy to overlook the struggling player and give him time to work out whatever issue he is having at the plate.

But when they are only one or two hitters putting up decent numbers, there comes a time where the manager simply can’t wait anymore. And save your overly patient Tito comments for the time being.

Which leads us to ask, how long does the rope go for two non-performing veterans right now, Jason Kipnis and Carlos Gonzalez?

Since the end of the 2016 season, Kipnis has hit .227 with a 688 OPS. That’s below average production.

CarGo has just two extra base hits in 65 plate appearance this year, and last season had just 17 non-singles in 265 times at bat. Compare that to 35 in 239 times at the dish in Coors Field.

The question of whether or not the veteran outfielder was a product of the thin air in Colorado seems appropriate.

Keep in mind, Kipnis is 32 and Gonzalez is 33.

We get that it is not fair, but that’s the way it is in baseball today. Young players get the benefit of the doubt. Studies have shown ball players reach their peak between ages 27 to 29.

Once you reach 30 years old, there is additional pressure to maintain your production in order to keep a roster spot.

So, if the Tribe’s offensive struggles continue, at what point do they move on from the two veterans?

In Kipnis’ case, there really isn’t any alternative. The club’s best middle infield prospect in the high minors, Yu Chang, is hitting .151 at AAA. Does journeyman Mike Freeman start getting at bats in place of Kipnis? Not likely.

As for CarGo, the shadow of spring training sensation Oscar Mercado looms. If he starts hitting like he did earlier in the season, can the club afford to leave him in Columbus?

And if they bring him up, whose playing time decreases?

The point is the overall malaise of the offense doesn’t afford the opportunity to be patient for Terry Francona and the front office.

It’s not fair, but it’s reality.

Tribe Front Office In A Slump Too

The front office of the Cleveland Indians is well respected among Major League Baseball. Other teams are always interviewed people within the organization for jobs, people like Derek Falvey, now running the Minnesota Twins, Neil Huntington (Pirates), and David Stearns (Brewers).

Heck, even the Cleveland Browns hired a former Indians’ executive in Paul DePodesta.

However, the current front office is in a slump, otherwise it is hard to describe the moves made by the front office since the end of the 2018 season.

We understand the ownership ordered the executives to cut the payroll, even though the Tribe has won three consecutive division titles. That alone is a head scratcher, but we have already discussed that numerous times.

As the hot stove league started, we thought we understood what Chris Antonetti and Mike Chernoff were doing. The ’18 Indians were getting old. Among the regulars, only Francisco Lindor and Jose Ramirez were under 30 years old.

So, Michael Brantley left through free agency, and Yan Gomes was dealt to Washington, in a move that could pay dividends, as Jefry Rodriguez is now very much needed as a starter with the injuries to the rotation.

They traded Erik Gonzalez to Pittsburgh for Jordan Luplow and Max Moroff. Luplow has had a lot of minor league success that so far hasn’t translated into the big leagues.

The move that was really curious was dealing Yandy Diaz, an on base machine, to Tampa for Jake Bauers.

First, let us say, we like Bauers. He works counts, shows some pop, and is second on the Tribe currently in RBIs. But Diaz has started to hit with power, hitting seven homers to date with Tampa, and is still getting on base 36% of the time.

Only Carlos Santana can say that among the regulars with Cleveland.

The organization wanted to get younger and wanted to commit to younger players, but it seems the guys brought in were lottery tickets, they didn’t go all in and get a stud, like perhaps Alex Verdugo with the Dodgers, currently hitting .346 with a 981 OPS.

We felt the extension to the plan was to deal from strength, meaning moving a starting pitcher, either Corey Kluber, Trevor Bauer, or Carlos Carrasco, for a package involved a stud bat.

Either the offer wasn’t there, or the front office overestimated the market value for one of their starters, but it seems like they stopped short.

As spring training wound down, the front office seemed to think it made a mistake, so they signed veteran bats like Matt Joyce, Hanley Ramirez, and Carlos Gonzalez. Only the latter is still here, and quite frankly, hasn’t been an impact bat to date.

Players like Asdrubal Cabrera, Derek Dietrich, Adam Jones, and Nick Markakis (yes, we understand he probably was only interested in re-signing with the Braves) were all available and signed for very little money.

One of them could have been signed to give the team the veteran bat missing with Brantley’s departure.

Greg Allen had a very good last two months in ’18, and a great spring training, but Terry Francona buried him on the bench early in the season, and he floundered. It is tough for a young player to be in a reserve role.

Maybe the front office is trying to show ownership that you need to spend to win, this is their subtle way of protesting the payroll cut.

The pitching moves are odd as well. Cody Anderson was brought up because the team needed someone to soak up innings after the bullpen was heavily used in the first game of a series vs. Kansas City.

Anderson was in AAA to get stretched out after Tommy John surgery to be a starting pitcher again. The right-hander was used that night for two innings, but then stayed on the big league roster for a week, instead of going back to lengthen his workload.

Now, he is starting today, and Francona is probably hoping to get four innings. Of course, they currently have nine relievers on the team.

It’s an odd way of handling things over the last eight months. Hopefully, it’s just a slump.

Dorsey And Kitchens Reeling In Expectations

Yesterday, Browns’ GM John Dorsey said he didn’t like the hype surrounding the 2019 edition of the team.

After second round draft pick Greedy Williams proclaimed the Browns were going to the Super Bowl after they drafted him, head coach Freddie Kitchens told people he was going to talk to the rookie and explain that his team wasn’t going to behave like that.

Really, both Dorsey and Kitchens were telling everyone, fans included, not to get carried away.

And they are right.

We get it. The Browns have been a doormat for so long, people are excited that finally there is light at the end of the tunnel.

Since Bernie Kosar was released in 1993, Cleveland football fans have waited for a franchise quarterback, and it appears they picked one last year in Baker Mayfield.

Mayfield’s a natural born leader, and he can play the position as well, throwing for an NFL tying record of 27 touchdown passes, as well as displaying uncanny accuracy.

On the other hand, he’s started all of 13 games, and the only playoff team he guided the team to a win against was the Baltimore Ravens. And the score of that game was 12-9 in overtime.

This isn’t to doubt Mayfield. We believe he will develop into one of the top passers in the NFL and it could be as early as next season. But those are the facts.

Without question, the Browns have added a lot of talent from last year’s roster, which did make a quantum leap to 7-9 from 0-16 in 2017.

Dorsey acquired an elite wide receiver in Odell Beckham Jr., a very good pass rusher in Olivier Vernon, and a solid defensive tackle in Sheldon Richardson. Those were the biggest additions in the free agent/trade market.

And the expectation is the rookie Williams will team with Denzel Ward to give the Browns a pair of shutdown cornerbacks, which is a great thing to have in today’s pass happy NFL.

We like Kitchens too, and he did a great job with the offense in the second half of last season, but he’s never been a head coach at the NFL level, so he is another unproven commodity.

We do like that he did things the players were comfortable with and putting the players in positions where they can succeed is one of the basic rules of coaching.

But how does he handle losing two games in a row, or three out of four. Does he keep the team together and maintain the players’ faith in him.

We feel Kitchens will handle it fine, but until it happens, it is up for question.

The biggest thing the GM and the coach are guarding against is a sense of accomplishment. Despite all of the excitement around the area and the country, the Browns are still a team that has made one playoff appearance since 1994.

The fans should be excited. This promises to be the beginning of a renaissance for a once proud franchise, one of the NFL’s flagships up until the franchise was moved.

On the other hand, for the players, this is a squad with something to prove. They’ve done nothing. No playoff wins for 25 years.

Dorsey and Kitchens want to remind them it takes a lot of work to become a playoff team. And that’s what they should do.

Tribe Season Review To Date: 27 Games In.

The late, great Mike Hegan used to say if you win three out of every five games, at the end of the year, you have 96 wins and you are probably in the playoffs.

Right now, the Cleveland Indians have completed 1/6th of the 2019 baseball season, and until the last two games in Houston, they were doing exactly what Hegan said. They were sitting at 15-10.

Even with the two defeats at Minute Maid Park, the Tribe hits the 27 game mark at 15-12, meaning they are still on a pace for 90 wins.

That’s the good news. The bad news is we have no freakin’ idea how they have achieved that record.

Really, we do. It has been pitching, pitching, and more pitching, particularly the starters, who have stifled some pretty good offenses. The Astros boast one of the sport’s best lineups and Cleveland held them to 12 runs in the four game series.

Tribe pitchers are 3rd in the league in ERA, and lead the AL in strikeouts per nine innings, and have the lowest rate of home runs allowed.

All that despite a slow start for Corey Kluber and a couple of hiccups for Carlos Carrasco, the two most veteran members of the rotation.

The question that still plagues Terry Francona and his team is will they score enough runs to make the post-season?

Cleveland ranks worst in the AL in slugging percentage and second to last in on-base percentage. It’s tough to generate a lot of runs if you can’t get guys on base and need two or three more hits to drive them in.

For the new age statistic people, the Indians have the worst WAR among non-pitchers in the Junior Circuit. They have over league average WAR at just three positions: Catcher, first base, and centerfield.

Now, we think shortstop and third base will take care of themselves with the return of Francisco Lindor and the return to form for Jose Ramirez, who is starting to come around, slowly but surely. And the catching is based more on the defense than any hitting being done by Roberto Perez and Kevin Plawecki.

The other spots? Quite frankly, we don’t see a lot of hope.

Even worse, are there any in-house solutions?

Right now, we feel comfortable with five hitters in the lineup, and to us, you need seven to have a solid offense.

Those five are Lindor, Ramirez, Carlos Santana, Leonys Martin (vs. righties), and Jake Bauers. They put together major league at bats.

Right now, Carlos Gonzalez is a lighter hitting version of Melky Cabrera–no walks, no pop. He has one extra base hit in 47 plate appearances.

Jason Kipnis is showing thus far that he is closer to the last two seasons than his outstanding 2016 campaign. He’s in a 1 for 22 slump after starting 7 for 20. In the past few years, he’s a feast or famine type guy, and when it’s the latter, he doesn’t help you.

There are hitters around baseball with 10 or more home runs on the season. Six of them to be exact. Martin leads the Indians in extra base hits with nine. Only Santana has more than six, he has seven.

It’s tough to score runs this way.

Oscar Mercado may be able to help, but remember, he’s never had a major league at bat. Expecting him to come up and be a consistent bat might be a pipe dream.

The organization has to hope Gonzalez and Kipnis regain the pop in their bats, but is that realistic?

And assuming Lindor and Ramirez return to form, aren’t the Indians in the same place as they were last year with a very top heavy offense?

It’s still early, but it’s not if that makes sense. Francona and the management have to find runs somewhere. Either that, or the pitching will have to continue to be overwhelming throughout the remainder of the schedule.

That might be very difficult.

Browns’ “Dawg Defense” Had Two Star Corners. Is This Part II?

Most people figured the Cleveland Browns would go heavy on defense in this year’s draft, and GM John Dorsey did not disappoint.

He selected five defenders, one offensive lineman, and a kicker on Friday and Saturday, upgrading a defense that ranked third last in the NFL in yards allowed last season. They also ranked 21st in points allowed.

They survived and even thrived early in 2018 because they were causing an inordinate amount of turnovers, but once those declined, the Browns had problem stopping opponents.

And that 29th ranking in yards allowed was helped by two good performances against the offensively challenged Broncos and Bengals in two of the last three games on the slate.

Dorsey took a page out of the Browns’ past with his first pick, the 46th overall, taking CB Greedy Williams from LSU.

The last time the Browns had a very good defense, and indeed, the last time they had a Super Bowl contending team, was in the late 1980’s and their defense was led by a pair of shutdown cornerbacks, Hanford Dixon and Frank Minnifield.

With Williams and last season’s rookie sensation, Denzel Ward, the Browns hope to have the same effect.

Williams’ supposed weakness is considered to be the willingness to tackle, but seriously, would you rather have a cornerback who could tackle, but not be able to cover?

Those 80’s teams did not have a pass rusher like Myles Garrett, let alone someone like Olivier Vernon on the other side. Those guys should see sack totals rise because the corners will be able to provide tight coverage.

Adding those two to T.J. Carrie and Terrence Mitchell give new defensive coordinator Steve Wilks a lot of guys who can cover wide receivers, and that’s is of the utmost importance in today’s NFL.

Dorsey also added two linebackers who should help provide depth in third round pick Sione Takitaki from BYU, and Mack Wilson from Alabama.

Wilson was projected by some draft experts as a second round value, so getting him with the 155th choice (5th round) could be a coup for the front office.

And really, that’s what this draft was about, right? Good teams have depth. You can’t have one injury bring your entire team down. Hopefully, guys like Takitaki and Wilson can challenge players like Joe Schobert and Christian Kirksey, and therefore build a stronger roster.

One thing we know about the NFL, there will be injuries, and how you handle them goes a long way in determining your final record.

6th round choice Drew Forbes, brings another athletic offensive lineman to the roster, again, an area where you can’t have too much depth.

They still have Desmond Harrison, who started early last season, and Austin Corbett is a first year starter. Dorsey brought in Eric Kush, Bryan Witzmann, and Kendall Lamm in free agency, but you can’t have too much depth there.

The surprise pick was kicker Austin Siebert. A former teammate of Baker Mayfield, he is reputed to have a strong leg.

Greg Joseph did a decent job last year after arriving during the season, but was still too inconsistent. We are sure Dorsey and the coaching staff would like someone more “automatic” on field goals and extra points.

We have said this before, but the “trust in Dorsey” folks have it right. After what he has done to this roster, he earned and deserves the benefit of the doubt.

With this draft, he emphasized the biggest area of weakness on the team, the defense. On the other hand, there was talent here, Pro Bowl talent like Garrett, Ward, Schobert, and newcomers Vernon and Sheldon Richardson.

The Browns want a defense that puts pressure on their opponents. Let’s see if this draft helped that. Having two press cornerbacks helps for sure.

Tribe Bullpen Springing Some Leaks…Again

The Cleveland Indians’ bullpen was a trouble spot for the 2018 team, there can be no debate about that.

Losing Andrew Miller to injury early in the season didn’t help, and several pitchers who played key roles in 2017 were ineffective or injured, or both.

Dan Otero had a poor season. Nick Goody started the season getting hit and eventually went on the disabled list for the rest of the season. Zack McAllister’s luck getting by throwing one pitch for a strike caught up to him.

That put quite a strain on Cody Allen, and by the end of the year, the workload, perhaps an accumulation over the past three seasons, hurt him.

They turned to guys brought in over the winter on minor league deals, arms like Neil Ramirez, Ben Taylor, Matt Belisle, Evan Marshall, and Alexi Ogando.

Of that group, Ramirez did well upon his arrival, but faded as the season went on, very much prone to giving up home runs, a no-no for a relief pitcher, especially one who pitches late in a game.

In June, veteran Oliver Perez became available, and the Tribe signed him. And he helped stabilize the ‘pen, compiling a 1.39 ERA for the rest of the season.

In July, the front office dealt for closer Brad Hand and submarining righty Adam Cimber, to provide more options.

The bullpen was better, but not at the level of 2016 and 2017.

Last winter, Chris Antonetti and Mike Chernoff did pretty much the same thing, bringing in some arms on minor league deals, but some were hurlers with a solid track record, like Tyler Clippard and Alex Wilson, and made minor deals for Nick Wittgren, A.J. Cole, and Chih Wei Hu.

Unfortunately, when training camp broke, Clippard was injured, Wilson was released, and Wittgren and Hu were sent to Columbus.

That meant it was basically the same cast of characters again for the relief corps.

The bullpen was strong the first few weeks of the season, but it started to spring leaks in Kansas City and Seattle, and continued over the weekend at home vs. the Braves.

Hand hasn’t been an issue. Getting the ball to him has been.

Ramirez’ long ball woes returned. He’s allowed four in 10 innings to date, meaning he’s given up 13 in 52-2/3 frames since arriving in Cleveland. That’s an alarming rate.

Perez has regressed to the mean, and has allowed eight hits and two walks in 5-2/3 innings. Last year, his WHIP was 0.742.

Another lefty, Tyler Olson, has allowed eight hits and five walks in 7.1 innings. If you take out Olson’s scoreless streak at the end of the ’17 season, his ERA is 5.01 with the Indians, covering almost 55 innings.

He just isn’t that effective.

Otero has generally been effective, but he has given up a lot of hits. He tends to get ground balls though, so no complaints there.

Jon Edwards started the year with promise based on his September performance a year ago, but had problems throwing strikes and was sent back to AAA.

The bright spot over the last week has been Wittgren, who allowed his first run yesterday, and picked up a two inning save in the 1-0 win at Seattle. He’s fanned 11 and not walked a batter in eight innings.

It will be interesting to see how long the front office and Terry Francona keep confidence in Ramirez and Olson.

Cole has pitched well in Columbus, and could get called up today. And watch for James Karinchak at Akron, who has pitched eight innings and struck out 19 hitters. That’s domination at any level.

It seems like another case where the management’s disdain for change has hampered them. They may be forced to make alterations soon.

How Have Tribe Outfield Issues Played Out?

One of the biggest questions heading into the 2019 season for the Cleveland Indians was their outfield.

After letting Michael Brantley walk away via free agency, the Tribe headed to spring training with their most proven player in the outfield being Leonys Martin, and he missed the last two months of ’18 with a life threatening illness.

Before spring training ended, they wound up giving a look see to veteran Matt Joyce, who was released, and signed three time All Star (the Indians keep reminding us of that) Carlos Gonzalez toward the end of the spring.

Gonzalez was activated to the big league roster on April 14th.

Again, we understand the season is just 21 games old, but the situation Terry Francona has to deal with on a nightly basis is still pretty clearly in flux.

Martin has been the one constant, starting all but one game in centerfield, but he still has big platoon split issues.

Against right handed pitching, Martin is batting .302 with a 932 OPS, belting three home runs. Versus southpaws? Not so good. He is 4 for 22 with three walks and nine strikeouts.

We said before the season started he should be platooned and we stick by that thought.

Tyler Naquin has garnered the majority of the starts in rightfield (17), but outside of the Toronto series when he went 5 for 11 in three starts, he hasn’t performed well.

He’s hitting just .220 with a 568 OPS. Take out those three games vs. the Blue Jays, and that mark falls to .167. He’s struck out 20 times, walking just twice. That might be fine if you are hitting the ball with power, but the early 2016 sensation has just one dinger.

It’s hard to understand Francona’s fascination with him at this point.

Jake Bauers has been the semi-regular in left, starting 12 times, with Greg Allen getting seven starts.

We are more impressed by Bauers the more we see him. He’s hitting just .219 with a 684 OPS, but he’s walked 10 times (with 15 strikeouts), and has held his own against lefties, going 5 for 20.

He’s getting more time now at first (with Carlos Santana DHing) with Gonzalez settling in left. We like his bat in the lineup.

Allen appears to be a young player who is having problems with a part-time role, starting the season just 4 for 34, with half of those hits coming Sunday night. He has fanned 11 times with two walks.

We would like to see Allen get regular playing time in right before determining if he needs to go back to AAA. As we said, his struggles may be the result of getting sporadic at bats.

We had high hopes for Jordan Luplow based on his numbers at AAA, but he struggled in spring training, and didn’t do much after opening the year with the Tribe. He has struck out 10 times in 25 at bats in Columbus.

The darling of spring training, Oscar Mercado, has continued to rake with the Clippers. He has an 897 OPS to date, and has stolen seven bases. We are sure the front office doesn’t want to call him up unless he will receive plenty of playing time, but he looks like he is forcing the issue.

And so is the lack of production that still exists in the outfield. Even if Gonzalez regains some of his form from his Colorado days, you still have a problem in CF against lefties, and RF is still a gaping hole of suck.

How and when will the front office resolve that problem? It this is still how things are going after 20 more games, action will need to be taken.

Tribe Survived Lindor’s Injuries

If the return of Francisco Lindor presents a line of demarcation for the Cleveland Indians, let it be noted they survived quite nicely.

As the superstar shortstop returned for the second game of last night’s doubleheader against the Atlanta Braves, the Tribe’s record was 12-7 and they led the American League Central Division by a game over Minnesota.

It is crazy to think this kind of record was possible despite an offense that ranked 14th (second from the bottom) in runs scored per game, and last in the league in on base percentage, slugging percentage, and of course, OPS.

Pretty much the only decent ranking offensively for the Tribe was being 8th in the AL in walks. The team batting average was a paltry .201, barely over the Mendoza line.

Yet, Terry Francona guided the team to a winning record behind tremendous pitching.

While it is a fact the Indians played seven of their 19 games against the Blue Jays and Tigers, who rank 13th and 15th respectively in runs scored in the Junior Circuit, they also went to Seattle facing the best offense in the league, and held them to six runs in the three game sweep, including a 1-0 win on Wednesday.

They also played five games against the Twins and White Sox, currently 3rd and 6th in the AL in runs scored. Those two squads scored 23 runs in five games, but 17 of those were in the series finales.

The Indians held them to under three runs in the other three contests.

Long time stalwarts Corey Kluber and Carlos Carrasco have combined for four starts in the 19 games where they simply didn’t have it.

However, Carrasco fanned 12 Seattle hitters Wednesday in the 1-0 game and Kluber looked like himself in the game one win yesterday. If those two start pitching like they have in the past, this rotation is scary.

Imagine if Mike Clevinger didn’t go down with a muscle pull in the shoulder/back region. He was dominant in his two starts.

A big question going forward is who will replace Clevinger long term. Right now, because of off days, he’s missed just one start.

The bullpen is starting spring some leaks though.

Brad Hand is the closer, no problem there. But on the recent trip, the relief corps struggled.

Neil Ramirez has 13 strikeouts in 9 innings, but has allowed 10 hits, four walks, and three homers. Since arriving in Cleveland, the long ball has been a problem. He’s given up 12 of them in 50 innings.

That’s a no-no for a relief guy.

Oliver Perez has not been the pitcher he was in 2018. He’s been okay, but last year he was incredible.

And in the second game yesterday, Adam Cimber couldn’t throw strikes. Generally, he’s been better than last season, but we are sure Terry Francona lost some confidence.

Nick Wittgren continues to be intriguing. He closed out the 1-0 win in Seattle, and to date has made five scoreless appearances, giving up just two hits and striking out nine in seven innings.

We may see him start to ease his way into a set up role.

Why Cody Anderson is still here is a mystery. We understand he is recovering from Tommy John surgery, but have him go back to AAA to stretch out his arm so he can be a starter.

He was brought up to eat some innings after Carrasco was knocked out in the first against Kansas City. After he pitched two innings that night, we don’t understand why he wasn’t sent back.

So, the Indians are still searching for the correct bullpen combination.

All in all, they survived not having their best player for 19 games. And that’s a huge relief to the front office and the fans, for that matter.