Tribe Offense Succeeds or Fails as Team

The Cleveland Indians hitting has struggled as of late. That is no secret.

They have scored just 21 runs in their last eight games, seven of which have been losses. Scoring less than three tallies per night will not translate to a lot of victories in the American League.

However, a look at the AL team batting statistics shows the Tribe ranked fourth in the junior circuit in runs scored, making them one of the more prolific attacks in the league.

Why doesn’t it seem that way?

Certainly, any team that is not hitting looks lethargic and that is playing into the feeling that the Indians need some hitting. The other reason is that there isn’t really one Tribesman having a huge year at the dish.

Jason Kipnis is having a solid season, his best in the major leagues, but his numbers project to this for a full season: .290, 20 HR, and 94 RBIs. Good numbers, but they aren’t big time statistics.

With Mark Reynolds being released (he is still tied for the team lead in home runs), it appears Kipnis will be the only Indians who will hit 20 dingers, and unless someone gets scalding hot, no Cleveland player will knock in 100 runs this season.

The only other regular with an OPS of over 800 is Carlos Santana and right now his numbers projected to .262, 17 HR, and 68 RBI, numbers comparable to last season, which was considered a down year for the switch-hitter.

There is no question Terry Francona has received a huge lift from his bench, particularly from Ryan Raburn and Yan Gomes, who is starting to get more and more playing time.

Raburn has 13 homers and 38 ribbies in a little over 200 plate appearances, but he is succeeding because he has been used on a limited basis. His previous employers tried using him everyday and he has a horrible year.

That’s the reason he is in Cleveland rather than Detroit.

Gomes is just 25 years old and is giving the skipper more and more reasons to put him in the lineup more often.

The catcher acquired in the heist that also brought Mike Aviles in exchange for Esmil Rogers, has 8 home runs and 28 RBIs in less than 200 plate appearances, and he’s hitting for average too at .310 for the season.

And he’s hitting over .300 against both right-handed pitchers and southpaws, which gives Francona more reason to start giving him everyday at bats.

Yes, the Tribe bats have got hot at times and that is a reason they rank 4^th in the league in scoring.

They are 6^th in the league in home runs, but as noted earlier, they may not have anyone hit more than 20.

They are 5^th in the AL in drawing walks, but no one will walk 100 times for the season. The leaders in getting free passes are Santana (60), Kipnis (54), and Nick Swisher (54).

The point is that the Tribe has a very balanced lineup. That works to their advantage at times, but when many guys aren’t hitting, they don’t have that one great bat that can carry them.

Kipnis did it in June when he was red-hot, but no one else has approached that level since.

That’s why the attack is sputtering. If no one gets hot and soon, it will be very difficult for the Indians to reach the post-season this season, and it makes it a necessity to get a big time hitter for next season.

Actions Speak Louder Than Words on Jimenez

We just finished reading Terry Francona’s book (written with Dan Shaughnessy) about his days with the Boston Red Sox.

First of all, we recommend that all Tribe fans read the book, because it gives tremendous insight on how the skipper relates to players, and to what kind of players he likes.

It is no surprise after reading the book how much Francona values Jason Giambi in his clubhouse.

Francona also talks about his managerial philosophy in regards to handling players in the media. Basically, no matter how upset he is with a player, he handles it privately and publicly backs the player in question.

The reason we are bringing this up is today’s announcement that the Indians will bring up Danny Salazar to start Wednesday night’s contest vs. the Tigers, a big series for Cleveland. While it’s probably not make or break because it is the beginning of August, it is more important than the series at the beginning of July because it’s later in the season.

Still, the Indians need to show the Tigers they can beat them, and there are only seven games remaining between the two teams.

Although Francona always speaks in positive tones about Ubaldo Jimenez, his actions tell us something else.

The manager couldn’t have been pleased at Friday night’s performance where the right hander threw 107 pitches in four innings, making Francona have to use his bullpen for four innings.

This after arguably Jimenez best start of the season, an eight inning effort against the Rangers where he didn’t allow a run.

It says here that’s the problem for the skipper, Jimenez is inconsistent and can’t be counted on to pitch well.

Yes, the error by Asdrubal Cabrera on a possible double play ball in the first, a mistake the shortstop took full responsibility for, made the pitcher throw a lot more pitches than he would have had to without the bobble. However, it was still first and second with one out against a Marlins’ team that isn’t known for swinging the bat.

Jimenez allowed three more hits in the inning (to be fair, one was a bloop double by Logan Morrison), and had to throw 23 more pitches. But he threw 34 more pitches in the second inning and allowed another run before Cabrera’s second error of the game.

You would think that after shutting out Texas for eight innings and facing a poor hitting Miami team, Jimenez would come out and be aggressive, challenging the hitters. He didn’t, and that has to drive Francona and pitching coach Mickey Calloway crazy.

Francona cited Jimenez poor results against Detroit this season (1-2, 6.93 ERA) as the reason for the move, and said he would make his next appearance against the Angels on Friday, but more likely the real reason is his lack of confidence in having Jimenez pitch well in a key game against the division leaders.

Certainly, the desire to see more of Salazar, who has been dominating in AAA, striking out 78 in 59-1/3 innings of work with the Clippers, and allowing just two earned runs in his last 33-1/3 frames.

If the kid throws another good game against Detroit, it could lead to him staying and being used out of the bullpen for the rest of the season. Imagine him coming in every third or fourth day for two or three innings.

This is a bold move by Francona and GM Chris Antonetti. Regardless of how it works out, you have to commend them for making the move.

Santana and Cabrera Can’t Catch Break

We understand that radio sports talk shows and Twitter are not representative of the feelings of the majority of sports fans anywhere, particularly in Cleveland. However, in listening and reading daily, there seems to be a lack of support for two regulars for the Cleveland Indians.

Those players are Carlos Santana and Asdrubal Cabrera.

Santana got off to a great start in 2013, hitting .389 with 5 HR and 13 RBI in April. Still, he is putting together his best full season with the Tribe, batting .272 with 12 HR and 48 RBI for the season. He currently is enjoying career highs in batting average and on base percentage, and has a 835 OPS and anything over 800 is very good.

For the stat guys out there, Santana ranks as the fourth best catcher in baseball in VORP (value over replacement player) behind just Buster Posey, Yadier Molina, and Joe Mauer. Posey and Mauer are former MVPs and Molina is a viable candidate for the award this season.

Much of the criticism of Santana comes on his handling of the pitching staff. However, the Tribe pitcher’s ERA with Santana behind the plate is 4.17, not all that different from the 3.87 figure with Yan Gomes, the new people’s choice. The league ERA is 4.32, so Santana is better than average.

Santana has struggled in throwing runners out on the basepaths, getting just 12% of the runners stealing, and he has been behind the plate for 38 of the league leading 56 wild pitches thrown by Tribe hurlers.

Granted, he’s not the second coming of Johnny Bench defensively, but he’s still one of the better catchers in the game and a very good offensive player. What’s not to like about a player, who at 27 is just entering the prime of his career.

Cabrera is tougher to defend because he is having an off-season in 2013, but he still is a two-time All-Star at shortstop, and still puts up solid numbers offensively at a defensive position.

According to VORP, Cabrera ranks right in the middle of American League shortstops, between Erick Aybar and Stephan Drew.

He could be suffering from having a down year after two solid offensive seasons, both of which he tailed in the second half, but he’s solid, not spectacular defensively. He also probably suffers from not being Omar Vizquel, one of the more popular Indians of the late 90’s.

Before the trade deadline, there were a lot of fans who wanted GM Chris Antonetti to trade the team’s starting shortstop for pitching prospects and turn the job over to Mike Aviles.

Admittedly, it may be prudent to deal Cabrera over the off-season with prize prospect Francisco Lindor possibly being ready for the big leagues as early as next season. But to trade him now would be crazy.

Neither Santana nor Cabrera is an outgoing player with the media, probably because they aren’t comfortable speaking English, their second language. That doesn’t play well in Cleveland, where talkative players become popular ones.

However, the reality is both are solid, if not very good players and both are extremely important to Terry Francona and the Indians. Most teams would love to have both guys playing regularly in their lineups.

Both players should get the benefit of the doubt from the ticket buying public. It’s a shame they seem to be more criticized than appreciated.

No Big Move for Tribe Now

The trading deadline came and went for the Cleveland Indians, and the only move they made at this point was getting another left-handed reliever, Marc Rzepczynski from St. Louis for a minor league shortstop.

The move certainly filled a need because Terry Francona needed another southpaw to go with Rich Hill to match up against tough lefty hitters.

While many are looking at the newcomer’s 7.84 ERA with the Cardinals and sneer, remember that he pitched just 10-1/3 innings in the big leagues in 2013, and with relief pitchers, ERA can be a very misleading statistic.

For his career, Rzepczynski has faced 365 left-handed hitters and limited them to a .224 batting average with 94 punchouts and a 607 OPS. This year he allowed five hits in 18 at bats vs. left-handed batters with four strikeouts, but right-handed batters were crushing him.

He most definitely is a LOOGY (left-handed one out guy) and Francona will most definitely use him that way, limiting his exposure to batters from the opposite side of the plate.

The bigger news coming from the deal is who the new guy replaced on the roster, as the Tribe sent VInnie Pestano back to Columbus.

While many fans were outraged by this news, after all, Pestano was arguably the best set up man in the big leagues the last two seasons, we believe it was the only move that could be made.

Who else should have been sent out?

SInce being taken out of the eighth inning role by Francona a few weeks ago, Pestano hasn’t done anything that showed the skipper he is ready to resume his usual spot in the bullpen.

And right now, the only pitcher who is struggling out of the ‘pen is another veteran Joe Smith, who took over Pestano’s eighth inning duties, and not with good results. However, Smith has over five years of big league time, so he can’t be sent out without his permission.

That makes Pestano, who has lost the confidence of his manager, the logical one to go.

The former set up man needs to go back, regain his own confidence (his walks are way up this season) and get back to helping this team in the stretch drive. The last two seasons, he walked 24 batters in 62 and 70 innings respectively, while this year he has issued 19 free passes in 33 innings of work.

It would have been nice to get another proven starter for the rotation, not that the starting pitching hasn’t been good thus far, but there aren’t a lot of proven pitchers on the list, so getting one would have enhanced the Tribe’s chance.

It also would have been nice to get another right-handed hitter to replace Mark Reynolds, who has fallen out of favor with the management because he’s really done nothing since the end of April.

GM Chris Antonetti said the asking prices were too high, and really, there weren’t a big slew of deals at this deadline because some teams are looking at the second wild card and thinking they are still in the race, a misguided notion for many of those teams (Seattle, Philadelphia).

There still is the waiver wire and some nice pieces could be moved in August. As long as the Indians play well, they will be in the market to help their ballclub.

For now, the deal they did make will help.

Tribe Fans: Good Team or Not, This Team Is In It.

After the first two games after the All Star break, the Cleveland Indians lost two games in very similar ways. They didn’t score runs, their defense was shaky, and their bullpen couldn’t get big outs when needed.

That started the fair weather Tribe fans trembling with fear and apprehension. See, this team just isn’t good enough.

That’s silly. Sure, this team isn’t the same as the teams that slugged their way to division titles in the mid to late 1990’s, but they are just a 1-1/2 out of first place. If you are that close, anything can happen.

In 2006, just seven years ago, the St. Louis Cardinals won 83 games in the regular season and went on to win the World Series.

Nineteen years earlier, the Minnesota Twins won 85 games in the regular season and were outscored on the season by 20 runs, yet still won the World Series.

You know what they call both of those teams? Champions! It doesn’t matter how you get to the playoffs as long as you do, and once you are there everyone has a chance. This isn’t the NBA where teams that just get in to the post-season really have no chance.

Does the current edition of the team have warts? Of course. The starting pitchers, outside of Justin Masterson, have problems completing six innings, putting a large burden on the bullpen.

In turn, the relief corps has been buckling under the weight put on them by the starters, leading to some shaky times for fans when manager Terry Francona has to go to the ‘pen.

Save for Jason Kipnis, the lineup has been inconsistent, suffering through off years by SS Asdrubal Cabrera and 1B Nick Swisher. With both of them struggling, the middle of the order has been a vacuum, and we can anticipate opposing hurlers not giving Kipnis much to hit if either can’t pick it up.

The hitter that carried the team for the first month of the season, Mark Reynolds, is hit under .200 since the first of May and right now, you would have to be surprised if he made contact, let alone get a hit.

But the team is still just 1-1/2 out of first place.

National baseball writers continue to tell everyone how the Detroit Tigers, who are the defending American League Champions, and currently lead the AL Central, are a superior team, and really the Tribe should be playing for a wild card.

But Francona’s guys are just a game and a half out of first place.

Last season, the same national writers felt the Baltimore Orioles and Oakland A’s were surprising teams that wouldn’t be able to hold up and stay in the race coming down the stretch. Both teams made the playoffs though.

So, why can’t the Indians pull it off as well.

Lost in the angst about losing the first two contests after the break is that the Tigers also lost, keeping the Indians at the same deficit as they were going into the All-Star game.

The optimistic fans says no problem, they haven’t lost any ground. The pessimist bemoans the opportunity to overtake Detroit and has a “see, I told you so” attitude.

The only thing that matters is that the Indians stay close to the Tigers. Whether they are a great team or not, this ballclub is in contention.

Sit back and enjoy it.

What Needs to Happen for Tribe in Second Half

The Cleveland Indians have entered the all-star break a mere 1-1/2 games out of first place in the American League Central Division, a place we didn’t think they would be. After all, we picked the Tribe for 4th in the division after spring training.

Now, the question becomes, can they stay in the race for the rest of the season. Skipper Terry Francona said this is the fun time of the season, with every game meaning that much more for the Indians.

What needs to happen for the Tribe in order to stay close to the Tigers and compete for the division title?

First, they have to continue to get good performances from All-Star right-hander Justin Masterson (10-7, 3.72 ERA) who currently leads the AL in complete games and shutouts, and is among the league leaders in innings pitched, strikeouts, and wins.

They also need continued success from the staff’s biggest surprise, Corey Kluber, who is 7-5 with a 3.88 ERA, and Scott Kazmir, who in his last five starts has allowed just eight earned runs in 31 innings pitched (2.32 ERA).

They need Zack McAllister to get healthy and pitch like he did before his finger injury when he gave Francona six quality starts in his first eight times he took the hill.

They need another starting pitcher who can provide quality innings. It has created a major toll on the bullpen to have two starters every time through the rotation only going a little over five innings.

We believe this will assist in correcting the struggling bullpen. Some of those guys have had to carry too large of a load because the starters can’t go deep enough into games. Too many innings, and the injury to Chris Perez caused too much of a strain on the relief corps, and has led to the inconsistency of the ‘pen.

There are many who also feel that GM Chris Antonetti needs to add another bat as well, but really the Tribe needs a couple of guys with proven track records to start performing up to their capabilities: Nick Swisher and Asdrubal Cabrera.

Swisher, who has a lifetime OPS of 823, is currently sitting at 750, his lowest number since 2007 with the White Sox. He has battled shoulder issues since early in the season, but appears to be getting healthy now, batting .289 in July. In fact, it was only June that Swisher struggled, hitting .160 for the month.

He needs to get back to being the guy who hits 20+ home runs and drives in 80+ runs for the Tribe to stay in contention.

Cabrera, a two-time all-star, has struggled in the first half as well, and needs to get back to the guy who played for the Tribe in 2009 and 2011, when he was an extra base hit machine.

He’s never been a guy who walked a lot, but he’s currently hitting 21 points below his lifetime average of .276, and is off his pace in extra base hits too. He had 52 in ’09 and 60 in ’11, but only has 29 right now.

He would provide a spark if he got back to a .280 hitter with some pop.

If those guys can return to form and if Mark Reynolds can have another stretch at some point during the balance of the season like he did in April, the Tribe has enough hitting.

None of these things is out of the realm of possibility. However, the Tribe also can’t afford to have one of the guys who had good first halves, like Jason Kipnis or Carlos Santana to have dreadful second halves.

While everyone talks about the Tigers, and how talented they are, the Cleveland Indians are right there. They can remain there if some players just get to their normal level of production.

Why Asdrubal Should Stay

With the major league trading deadline coming in less than three weeks, the rumor mill has been very active, especially regarding the Cleveland Indians.

Most of the supposed deals have the Tribe getting pitching, since they rank 12th in the American League in ERA, and recently their bullpen has provided more ups and downs than the roller coasters at Cedar Point.

However, one that hit this week really shocked us. ESPN’s Buster Olney reported that Cleveland is talking to the St. Louis Cardinals about SS Asdrubal Cabrera, who is having a down year to this point in the season.

While the Cardinals have a lot of young pitching in their organization, this seems to be the kind of move that would be made if a team was out of the pennant race or in the off-season, not 2-1/2 games out as we approach the All-Star break.

This is true for several reasons. First, Cabrera isn’t hitting as well as he has in the past, meaning his market value is down. Here are the shortstop’s OPS over the last few years–

2009     799
2010     673
2011     792
2012     762
2013     722

His lifetime OPS is 752, so right now he is 30 points below his average season, and around 70 points behind his best seasons of ’09 and ’11. At 27 years old, he figures to still be capable of getting back to the 800 level.

Many people feel the Tribe can afford to deal the two-time all-star because of the availability of Mike Aviles, but that is poorly thought out for two reasons. Aviles is a much better hitter as a part-time player, hitting just .250 in his lone year as a regular in Boston last season. His career batting average is .275.

Also, who would replace Aviles on the bench? The Indians’ success this season has come in part because their bench is very strong, getting big production out of players like Aviles, Ryan Raburn, Jason Giambi, and Yan Gomes.

Who would take over Aviles’ role as the utility infielder? That’s a big question that GM Chris Antonetti has to think about.

A trade would make sense if the Tribe would be getting back a proven major league starting pitcher in return, but it doesn’t appear that would be the case. Most of the names involved are Shelby Miller, Trevor Rosenthal, Michael Wacha, and Carlos Martinez, all top 10 prospects for the Cardinals.

However, out of the four of them, Miller has the most experience, a total of 19 big league starts. As good as Miller is reported to be, there is no evidence that he will be a successful starter for a team in a race for the playoffs. Plus, his highest inning total in the minors is 151, meaning the Cleveland front office would want to limit his to around 175 for the season.

He has already thrown 104 on the season.

This trade would make a lot more sense in the winter. By then, prime prospect SS Francisco Lindor will have half a year at the AA level, meaning he could be promoted to the bigs sometime during the 2014 season.

The Indians could get away with a half-year of Aviles starting as short with Lindor taking over in the middle of the year. Don’t forget the Tribe has a plethora of middle infield players on the horizon, with SS Ronny Rodriguez playing at Akron now and maybe moving to Columbus soon.

Dealing a player like Cabrera for pitching help would make sense since the Tribe would be dealing from strength. Just not now with the team in contention.

That just doesn’t make sense.

Ease Up Tribe Fans, Still a Long Way to Go

Going into the weekend wrap around series against the Tigers, we heard many fans of the Cleveland Indians saying the worst the Tribe could do was split the series.

Apparently, anything less than that and these people thought the Indians would be out of the race.

Terry Francona’s bunch lost three out of four contests, yet they are just 3-1/2 games out of the top spot in the AL Central, with 73 games remaining. There is almost three months left in the season, so if the Tribe can make up one game a month, they would be right there for the division lead.

We understand that Cleveland fans panic where at all possible, but a quick check of the American League standing show the Orioles 4-1/2 games behind the Red Sox in the Eastern Division, and the Yankees five games back.

Do you think either of those teams think they are facing long odds to make the post-season? Of course not.

That isn’t to say the Indians’ front office should be feeling good about the ballclub either. The pitching staff needs bolstering, particularly needing an innings eater to give some rest to a bullpen that has been worked hard thus far.

Right now, Francona and pitching coach Mickey Calloway have two starting pitchers that have trouble completing six innings, and another spot in the rotation that is currently unoccupied, at least until Zack McAllister returns from his finger injury.

Ubaldo Jimenez is the ultimate “five and fly” guy these days. For the most part, he has been okay, keeping his team in the game most of the time, but when the fifth inning ends, he is usually around 100 pitches. And when he starts to get fatigued, he starts walking batters, so the manager has to get him out of there.

Francona and Calloway are also being careful with lefty Scott Kazmir, removing him from the game when he gets near 100 pitches. Since, Kazmir spent the last couple of years on baseball’s scrap heap, that’s probably not a bad idea.

GM Chris Antonetti is looking for a good starter, according to reports, looking at the Cubs’ Matt Garza and supposedly the Brewers’ Yovani Gallardo.

The latter is having an off-year in 2013 (7-8. 4.85 ERA), but won 13, 14, 17 and 16 games in the four years prior with ERAs under 4.00 in a hitter’s park.

Garza has gone 5-1 in ’13 with an ERA of 3.22, but has a plus fastball. He’s had some arm problems, and is only 62-62 for his career, despite outstanding stuff.

Another guy to look at is the Cubs’ Jeff Samardzija, who is 5-8 with a 3.54 ERA. To us, he could be a guy like Doug Fister is for the Tigers. He blossomed once he left a losing organization.

The former Notre Dame wide receiver (he was Brady Quinn’s favorite target) throws in the high 90 MPH range and averages a strikeout per inning on the season. Away from Wrigley Field, he has a 2.71 ERA.

The price tag for Samardzija might be a little higher than it would be for Garza, who will be a free agent at the end of the year, but he’s only 28 years old and can’t be a free agent until 2016.

He would be #1 on our wish list if the Cubs make him available.

Another starter is needed pretty quick to aid this beleaguered staff. Hopefully, Antonetti doesn’t have to wait until the deadline to make a move.

Until then, relax Tribe fans. There’s a lot of baseball left to be played.

Tribe Needs to Add Starter to Rest Bullpen

While we all wish the nation a happy birthday today, the other thing that make July 4th significant to a baseball fan is that is less than four weeks away from the trading deadline in the sport.

And with the Cleveland Indians sitting just a half game out of first place in the AL Central Division, GM Chris Antonetti is very much a buyer, trying to improve his club for the stretch run.

There is debate as to what Antonetti should persue. Should he get another solid bat, some help for the bullpen or another starting pitcher?

We go with the latter, although another southpaw of the bullpen would be nice as well.

The reason we feel this way has been made evident in the last week of games, of which the Indians have won five of six contests.

Checking out the innings pitched by the starters in each of those games–

Bauer             1/3 IP
Carrasco 5-1/3 IP
Jimenez            5 IP
Masterson       9 IP
Kluber     5-1/3 IP
Kazmir             5 IP

Outside of Masterson’s complete game last Sunday, the Tribe’s starters are putting a tremendous strain on the bullpen, which could explain some of the struggles the relief corps have experienced this season.

Of contending teams, only Toronto’s starters (5.42) and Baltimore’s starters (5.67) have thrown less innings per game than Cleveland’s (5.72). And the Orioles recognized that need and traded for Scott Feldman, who threw six innings in his first start.

By contrast, Oakland and Boston led the league, both averaging over six innings per start.

Masterson has given Terry Francona almost seven innings per start this season, showing that he indeed is a workhorse, and for the most part has kept the Tribe in the game in each of his starts. However, his innings per start is by far the best on the roster.

Ubaldo Jimenez has been improved this year, there is no questioning that. Still, he is only averaging 5.22 innings per start, mostly because he is around 100 pitches at that point in the game. Yes, there have been some early exits for the righty because he’s been hit, but for the most part, he’s kept the Tribe in the game, but only for about five frames.

The same for left-hander Scott Kazmir, averaging 5.28 innings per start. Francona is being careful with him for sure, since he was pitching in an independent league last season, but he hasn’t been able to pitch deep into games.

Corey Kluber has been a pleasant surprise for the staff, but he is also throwing less than six innings in an average start. And his last two outings, he has not seen the seventh inning.

The Tribe misses Zack McAllister, who was able to complete six innings in over half of his 11 starts. He’s been replaced by Carlos Carrasco, who is averaging five innings per outing, and that includes a seven inning start vs. the Royals.

A pitching staff can endure one or maybe two pitchers who can’t go deep into games, but right now, the Tribe has an entire rotation of these guys, with the exclusion of Masterson. That’s the reason Francona loves to have as many relief pitchers as he can on the roster.

Antonetti would love to have another starter who can soak up innings on his staff. That will keep guys like Cody Allen, Bryan Shaw, and the three guys at the end of the game (Joe Smith, Vinnie Pestano, and Chris Perez) fresh for August and September, when playoff berths can be decided.

The bullpen shouldn’t have to pitch four innings every night.

Tribe Hits Halfway Point in First

The calendar hit the month of July and the baseball season hit the halfway point just days apart.

And the Cleveland Indians are sitting in first place, a half game ahead of the Detroit Tigers in the AL Central.

It speaks to the balance of the American League, something we said would occur before the season started, that the Boston Red Sox have the league’s best record, but their mark is just five games ahead of the Tribe.

The Indians have the fifth best record in the AL, so please, no complaints about the weak Central Division. Terry Francona’s bunch have better records that the Rays, Blue Jays, Angels, and is just 2-1/2 behind the Orioles.

They have been streaky, without a doubt, and there may be another losing streak to come at some point, but the Indians are contenders as things stand today, and really, that’s all you can ask for.

Thanks to Friday night’s doubleheader sweep in which Cleveland scored 29 runs, they rank 4th in the AL in runs per game, scoring 4.83 runs per game. The numbers back up that ranking, as the Tribe ranks 4th in on base percentage, slugging percentage, and OPS.

Yes, the Indians do strike out, ranking 3rd in the league, but they are just behind Boston, who has the best record in the AL. But they also have more athleticism than last year, as they are tied for the lead in stolen bases with the Red Sox.

It seems that Francona’s old team is statistically the same as his new team.

On the pitching side, the Indians are a conundrum. They are 12th in the league in team ERA, but have 10 shutouts as a team, which leads the AL. They have the league leader in shutouts in Justin Masterson, who is pitching more like the 2011 version than 2012.

There is no doubt the biggest surprise in the rotation is Corey Kluber, who has gone from not making the team out of spring training to have six wins and a 4.16 ERA.

Scott Kazmir’s last two starts have been outstanding, allowing just one earned run in 14 innings. He does have a 4.83 ERA which means there have been a few outings where he has been rocked.

Zack McAllister was consistent before he hurt his finger, and Ubaldo Jimenez has been okay, but he has had issues completing six innings per start, which puts a lot of strain on the bullpen.

Speaking of the relief corps, they have been up and down as well, but now that Chris Perez and Vinnie Pestano are healthy, maybe this group can regain the form of the past couple of years. They certainly have the arms, with Joe Smith, Cody Allen, Bryan Shaw, and Matt Albers all capable of getting big outs.

The left-handers have been questionable, although Rich Hill has been better lately now that he finally regained his arm slot.

GM Chris Antonetti will have to improve the team at the end of the month when the trade deadline comes, and getting another solid southpaw for the ‘pen could be his most important move.

The other may just be getting another solid starter to provide depth, preferably someone who can soak up quality innings.

After all the complaining (including here) about the Indians’ organization the past few years, this team is right in the thick of it. It’s too bad the fan base haven’t noticed yet.