Early Good, Bad, And Ugly For Tribe.

We realize that it is very early in the exhibition game schedule, they’ve been playing games for a week now, but it is never too early to examine some of the results to this point.

For proven veterans, spring training statistics shouldn’t really be examined. For example, if Francisco Lindor was hitting .182 in the middle of March, no one should be alarmed. He’s a known commodity, but for young players and guys who fighting for the last two or three spots on the 26 man roster, it’s worth taking a look at.

Remember that a good three hit day, or a hot week can change everything, and so can an 0 for 15 stretch with 10 strikeouts.

That said, here are the good, the bad, and the ugly after a week of games in the desert.

The Good. Any concerns about Franmil Reyes’ loss of weight should be going away. The big man has started 6 for 13, with two homers and just one strikeout. Lindor and Jose Ramirez are a combined 11 for 23 with four doubles and a home run.

Bobby Bradley, a longshot to make it, has done what he needs to do. The left-handed slugger is 5 for 11 and has struck out just once.

Oscar Mercado is 3 for 10 and has two walks, an area where he needs to improve if he wants to hit at the top of the order, and another longshot, Ka’ai Tom is 5 for 12, but has struck out three times.

James Karinchak has been filthy so far, fanning four in his first two innings, although he struggled with his control a bit yesterday.

The Bad. When you are battling for the 25th or 26th spot on the roster, you can’t afford to have a bad start, so Greg Allen starting off 1 for 10 isn’t helping his cause. As they say, you only have one chance to make a first impression.

Yu Chang is 5 for 15, but contact issues have been a problem, striking out six times already.

Dominic Leone, who has some big league experience with Seattle, Arizona, and St. Louis, has a chance to come north particularly after the injury to Emmanuel Clase. Unfortunately, he’s given up 11 hits, including a home run in three innings, struggling in all of his outings.

It may be tough to overcome that.

The Ugly. Losing Clase for perhaps 8-12 weeks with an upper back strain has been the toughest news from camp. He was the biggest acquisition in the Corey Kluber deal, and people will excited to see he and Karinchak in the bullpen. Now, it could be May or June before he is back.

And opens up another bullpen spot.

Losing Mike Clevinger doesn’t help either. Clevinger was in the mix as the Opening Day starter, but will probably miss the first three or four weeks of the season with a torn meniscus.

With this injury and minor setbacks for Carlos Carrasco and Aaron Civale, who knows who will start the first five games of the season for the Indians.

Again, it’s very early. But the injuries are a concern, and the players off to bad starts need to start turning it around if they want to be in uniform against the Tigers on March 26th.

Can The Tribe OF Produce Enough?

With spring training opening in two weeks, it appears the Cleveland Indians are going with the quantity over quality approach when it comes to their outfield and designated hitter spots.

We combine the two because if the Tribe is going to use Franmil Reyes as a regular right-fielder, then they need a regular DH. If Reyes is the DH on most days, then the Tribe should be looking to fill both corner outfield spots, or least one and a half outfield spots, because Jordan Luplow fills at least one spot vs. left-handed pitching.

Here is a look at the contenders to make the major league roster out of camp with their projected 2020 season stats (courtesy of BaseballReference.com)

Jake Bauers (.231/15 HR/ 53 RBI/733 OPS). The left-handed hitter is just 24 years old, and his big weakness was Progressive Field. Bauers hit .279 with an 812 OPS on the road a year ago, but was putrid at home (538 OPS). He was a very patient hitter in the minors, but it hasn’t translated to the big league level.

Greg Allen (.248/8 HR/37 RBI/696 OPS). The switch-hitter will be 27 entering the 2020 campaign, and has been kind of a fourth outfielder type the last three years. However, he can’t hold a job because he doesn’t hit enough. He should be a guy who gets on base a lot, but has walked just 27 times in almost 600 plate appearances. That’s not nearly good enough. And he’s another guy who can’t hit at home, a career 532 OPS in Cleveland.

Bradley Zimmer (.239/6 HR/24 RBI/695 OPS). When we last saw Zimmer he couldn’t hit water if he fell out of a boat, striking out 44 times in 114 plate appearances. It has been reported he changed his swing, but he fanned seven times in 13 at bats at the end of last year. With his speed, he needs to put the ball in play and get on base. We don’t know if he can make that adjustment.

Delino DeShields (.247/7 HR/34 RBI/685 OPS). DeShields came over in the Corey Kluber trade, and is another player who makes too many outs. He has the biggest track record, but in over 1900 plate appearances, has a .326 on base percentage. He simply hasn’t shown any ability to hit.

Bobby Bradley (.249/8 HR/27 RBI/764 OPS). If Reyes plays a lot in right, then there is an opening at DH, and Bradley could figure in at that spot. Bradley has immense power, but has had major issues making contact. He fanned 20 times in 49 plate appearances in the big leagues a year ago. He struck out in 28% of his at bats in the minors.

We didn’t include Tyler Naquin as he will be out early in the season, and we are anxious to see rookie Daniel Johnson, who had a solid year in the minors, and should get a long look in Arizona.

However, the four guys we listed here don’t seem make anyone very confident playing for a contending ballclub. Especially when CF Oscar Mercado doesn’t have a proven track record, and you have to figure some regression from Carlos Santana, who had a career year in ’19, and Roberto Perez.

That’s why many people felt the front office should have added another proven hitter for the outfield.

The best bet might be to hope Bauers can draw more walks and learn to hit at Progressive Field. Because if Reyes is the DH, the Cleveland outfield might be the least productive in the game.

In the regular season, you need to score runs. Can the Indians do that with the outfield they currently have?

Patience Should Still Be Short For Tribe.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Halfway Through, Tribe Still In A Race.

After finishing the first third of the season right at the .500 mark, the Cleveland Indians went 17-10 in their next 27 games to sit at 44-37 at the halfway point of the season, an 88 win pace for the entire campaign.

Here is how the season has gone in groups of 27 games (1/6th of the schedule):

First 27: 15-12
Next 27: 12-15
Third 27: 17-10

After 81 games, the Indians sit just a game and a half behind Texas for a wild card spot, tied with Oakland, and are a half game ahead of Boston.

So, the Tribe is still in the midst of a playoff hunt, but the bigger question is how hard will the organization go after it.

The Indians have dropped to 4th in the American League in ERA after back-to-back shellackings at the hands of the lowly Baltimore Orioles, but have moved up to 10th in the league in runs scored despite being shutout in consecutive games by a pitching staff with the worst ERA in the league.

And playing in a major hitter’s yard.

Jason Kipnis has had a rebirth in the last couple of weeks, but is it sustainable? Jose Ramirez has a 918 OPS and a .306 batting average in the last 14 days. Is this yet another sign that the two time top three MVP finisher has turned the corner?

What we are trying to say is if they want to make a run at the playoffs, the front office still needs to improve the offense.

Right now, Cleveland’s third or fourth best hitter on most nights is Roberto Perez, who is having his best offensive season (14 home runs, 825 OPS), but how long will that keep up, especially considering Perez plays a position where the schedule takes its toll on your body.

Are young players the answer? Well, Oscar Mercado has been a revelation to date, helping lengthen the lineup with a .307 and 812 OPS, but should that mean a wholesale influx of people from Columbus.

To date, and we know it is very early, Bobby Bradley has not. After going 2 for 6 in his first two games with a couple of key RBIs, he has been the all or nothing hitter we feared, going 1 for 14 with six strikeouts.

Again, it’s an extremely small sample size, but what the Tribe needs is not more swing and miss hitters that occasionally run into one, but more guys who get on base, and hit doubles and triples with an occasional long ball.

Cleveland is 11th in slugging, and 12th in doubles, and tenth in triples and home runs.

Again, using Mercado as an example, he has nine doubles and four homers, to go with his .352 on base percentage.

And it’s why we’d like to see Mark Mathias (.358 OBP, .459 slugging) or even Daniel Johnson (.350 OBP, .518 slugging) get a shot with the big club.

We touched on some of the power arms for the bullpen in the organization earlier this week, and that is another area we would like to see improved in the second half.

We feel guys like Tyler Olson and Adam Cimber can’t be trusted to get big outs in important games and that puts a bigger load on Brad Hand and Nick Wittgren, who probably should be a 7th inning guy, not an 8th inning one.

But it comes down to the front office and a commitment from ownership to go after a post-season spot.

And to those who say the Indians can’t beat New York or Houston? They may have a slim chance of that, but they have no chance if they don’t qualify for the playoffs.

A Tribe Selling Spree Now Seems Silly

A few weeks ago, when the Cleveland Indians were really struggling and lost three out of four to Tampa Bay, there was a good amount of people who were giving up on the season, AT THE END OF MAY!

Granted, for some teams, like Baltimore, Detroit, etc., that is a reasonable expectation, but no for a team who was supposed to win the Central Division title in 2019.

Even at that point (May 26th), the Tribe was playing .500 baseball at 26-26, and was just a game and a half out of the second wild card spot.

To start a selling off of assets would have been ridiculous at best.

At that point we examined the future schedule, and after a tough stretch of 13 games which included series vs. Boston, Minnesota, and New York, Cleveland’s slate of game until the trade deadline didn’t have a lot of meat to it.

The Indians are really just beginning that stretch now, and as of today, they are tied with the Red Sox for the second wild card spot, and are just 2-1/2 behind Tampa for a chance to host the game.

Yet, there are still fans and media alike who want to torch the rest of the season and start building for 2020.

Again, this is crazy thinking.

However, do we think the ownership and front office will go wild and make deals to insure a one game playoff run? The past tells us this is doubtful, but the Indians shouldn’t stand pat either.

Once again, the older veterans management counted on didn’t come through, so the young players will be expected to give the roster a needed shot in the arm.

Today, Bobby Bradley will make his major league debut, after swatting 24 home runs in AAA. We have doubts about his long term success because of contact issues, but he’s earned a look at the big league level, and maybe gives the lineup a bit of a jolt.

Leonys Martin was designated for assignment yesterday, another move long over due. Martin overcame a serious illness last season, but was hitting just .199, striking out way too much, and his defense had slipped a little.

It was time to let Oscar Mercado, who has played well to date, play on an everyday basis.

With the starting rotation riddled with injuries, the organization gave a fast call up to Zach Plesac, who has been a wonder in his five starts.

Suddenly, assuming Mike Clevinger’s ankle sprain is minor, the Indians have a very good rotation again, only the names are different and pretty much unknown.

Instead of Kluber, Carrasco, Bauer, Clevinger, and Bieber, the names are Bauer, Clevinger, Bieber, Plesac, and Adam Plutko, who has done a solid job as the fifth starter, even picking up a win over the Yankees.

Could the front office gamble and trade a starter or even say, Brad Hand for some offensive help right now? It certainly could happen.

The Tribe is still 3rd in the American League in ERA despite all the injuries to the rotation, and still are 10th in runs per game.

Cleveland is still getting below average play from several positions: 2B, 3B, LF, CF, and DH.

The Indians have addressed center by going to Mercado, and maybe Bradley takes the bull by the horns at DH.

Can Jason Kipnis and Jose Ramirez regain their old form or at least a facsimile of it which would help both spots. We still say, despite Kipnis’ solid week, we are more optimistic about Ramirez.

Jake Bauers does a lot of things we like, hits lefties well, works the count too, but he still have a 685 OPS and a .224 batting average. Maybe it’s time to give Greg Allen an everyday job there, which would also help the defense.

If the Indians continue to beat up on the lesser teams in the AL, they will be right in the thick of things for a post-season spot. If they are, selling becomes a moot point.

Is Lack Of Tribe Moves Based On Patience, Stubbornness, Or Fear?

The Cleveland Indians have started to play better baseball now that the schedule has lightened up a bit.

They have won four of their last five, and six of their last eight. They are currently 9-4 in June, and won series against the Twins and Yankees, two of the American League’s better teams.

The offense has been better lately, moving up to 11th in the AL in runs scored and OPS, but the Tribe is still 13th in slugging percentage, ahead of just Toronto and Detroit.

And Terry Francona still writes three hitters in nightly lineup with OPS of under 650: Jason Kipnis, Leonys Martin, and Jose Ramirez.

Despite hitting for the cycle on Friday night, Jake Bauers (.223/.306/.379) isn’t striking fear into the hearts of opposing pitchers.

These guys haven’t hit for awhile and yet, no changes have been made. Ramirez is different because he was one of the best players in baseball in 2017 and 2018, so he has earned and should get the benefit of the doubt.

Although, whether or not he should be hitting fifth is up for debate.

Fans and media alike have asked about the unreal amount of patience given to Kipnis, Martin, and Bauers. However, is it patience or fear?

The Indians sometimes operate as if they are afraid to give young players a chance for a variety of reasons. They worry about how a young player handles failure. They worry about a player they let go going somewhere else and having success.

We operate by a different theory. It’s called the “can’t do any worse” theory.

That takes the fear factor out of the equation.

Take Martin, for example. He’s hitting .204 with a 637 OPS to date this season. His strength was how he hit right-handed pitching, he’s never been a factor against southpaws. But he batting .220 with a 700 OPS vs. RHP thus far.

He’s batting .189 overall since May 1st.

Now, ask this question…could Greg Allen be worse than those numbers? We aren’t saying Allen is the next coming of Willie Mays or Mike Trout, but you have to think he could be better than what Martin has given you over the last six weeks.

Martin is also striking out at a career high rate, so it’s not as though he’s hitting in tough luck. Why not bring up Allen and give him regular playing time?

As for Jason Kipnis, we have heard him finding something in his swing before, so let’s say we are skeptical as to his success for the rest of the season. It’s pretty clear he’s not the same guy he was in 2016, and after two and a half years, that ship has sailed.

So, why not try Mark Mathias, who is hitting .294 with an 827 OPS at Columbus? Yes, we understand those numbers are much better than how he has performed at AA Akron the past two years, but maybe he found something in his swing.

You can also replace Bauers with Bobby Bradley, who is crushing the ball at Columbus.

We wouldn’t give up on Bauers, we think he can still be a productive major league hitter, but right now, he can’t put together any consistency. And that’s the name of the game in baseball.

Would switching out a third of your lineup turn the Tribe’s offensive fortunes around? What we do know is it couldn’t hurt.

It may be just getting over fear of the unknown to make it happen.

The Bobby Bradley Question.

With the Cleveland Indians’ offensive woes, there has been a lot of speculation among impatient fans about bringing up certain players from the farm, most notably, slugging first baseman Bobby Bradley.

We aren’t sure that will help the Tribe, though.

First, if you read this blog enough or follow on Twitter, you know our least favorite kind of hitter, the high strikeout, low walk, low batting average guys. The pre-2019 Joey Gallo would be the poster boy for that kind of offensive player.

That said, we aren’t anti-strikeout either. Big boppers like Hall of Famer Jim Thome, and the most recent vintage left-handed hitting slugger, Travis Hafner are great offensive players.

They strikeout a lot and walk a ton, leading to both great on base percentages and slugging percentages.

Bradley is not that. This year, he has fanned 67 times at Columbus, while walking just 18 times. To us, this doesn’t show a great knowledge of the strike zone. It also shows that he is a mistake hitter.

And in the big leagues, pitchers don’t make as many mistakes.

This isn’t unusual for Bradley. A year ago, he struck out 148 times and walked just 56.

He broke out as a prospect in 2016 at Lynchburg, when he hit 29 homers and knocked in 102 runs, hitting .235. He fanned 170 times, walking 75 times.

The following year, his strikeouts went down to 122, which is good, but he still only hit .251.

His OPS in both years hovered around 800, which is good at the big league level, but this was A ball and AA ball.

This year has been his best year yet. Although Columbus is a big time hitter’s park, Bradley has a 908 OPS on the road and has belted 7 of his 16 homers away from the Clippers’ home yard.

All in all, Bradley’s career minor league numbers show a .253 batting average and an 843 OPS.

For sake of comparison, Thome had a .317 batting average and a 920 OPS in the minors. Hafner was a .298 hitter in the minors with a 918 OPS.

Another comparison would be a player currently on the Indians’ big league roster. This player had a minor league batting average of .276 and an OPS of 775.

Fans are complaining that Jake Bauers isn’t hitting in the majors and his numbers aren’t all that different.

We are firm believers in the “can’t be worse” theory in sports, and we get the argument that Bradley might be better than what Terry Francona writes in the lineup on a daily basis.

We just don’t think Bradley should be viewed as a cure all for Cleveland’s offensive problems.

The other issue is defensively. Bradley is clearly a 1B/DH. He’s never played anywhere else, and he probably can’t.

If you bring Bradley up, where does he play? If he replaces Bauers, you lose some defensive flexibility, and that was a problem when Hanley Ramirez was here.

That’s not a huge deal, but it is a factor.

We are sure the Indians want Bradley to show more control of the strike zone that he has shown, and we are also positive they have told him that.

When he does, the front office will want to take a look at him.

And the first time he comes up in a clutch situation and flails at a pitch out of the strike zone, fans will want to send him back.

It’s a conundrum to be sure. But, right now, we question whether or not Bobby Bradley will ever be a big time hitter at the big league level.

Could Be A Busy Winter For Tribe

The hot stove league has officially started in Major League Baseball with the GM Meetings this week, and the Winter Meetings taking place in a few weeks.

After the past few years when the 25 man roster was pretty much set in stone, the next few weeks could be filled with several moves for the Cleveland Indians.

It was not surprise that the Tribe offered free agent Carlos Santana the qualifying offer, nor was it a shock when he turned it down.

Many experts expect Santana to return to the Indians after seeing what offers are out there, but president Chris Antonetti and GM Mike Chernoff have plenty of questions to answer before the team reconvenes in Goodyear in February.

Santana is the key to Cleveland’s off-season in our opinion.

The team would probably be interested in a reunion with Jay Bruce if the market comes back down much like it did with Edwin Encarnacion a year ago. But they probably won’t go more than two or three years for the veteran outfielder.

And what to do with Jason Kipnis? If Santana returns, there doesn’t seem to be a fit for him, as Michael Brantley would play LF in that scenario. However, if Santana departs, Brantley would likely go to 1B, with Kipnis playing left field.

The Indians do have some trade assets, although we believe they aren’t interested in trading their top prospect C/3B Francisco Mejia, one of the top 10 prospects in all of the minor leagues, nor would they be anxious to move Triston McKenzie, one of the premier pitching prospects in baseball.

We would think the organization would want to keep Mejia and OF Greg Allen in AAA to start the season and get them more experience.

However, we could see players such as Erik Gonzalez, Yu-Cheng Chang, and Willi Castro, all shortstops by trade who would seem to be blocked here by the presence of Francisco Lindor.

We also don’t know how the organization feels about the future of 1B Bobby Bradley, whose power is unquestioned, but he has a lot of swing and miss in his style. Does the front office think he can be a viable big league hitter?

With reliever Bryan Shaw also likely to be elsewhere in ’18, who fills his role in the bullpen. It has been rumored that perhaps Danny Salazar moves to the bullpen with his electric stuff as a bridge between the starter and Andrew Miller and Cody Allen.

If not, no doubt the brass will be looking for another bullpen arm.

The rotation shouldn’t see changes, but if Salazar does go to the ‘pen, it wouldn’t be a shock to see the Tribe look for a starter on the free agent market, probably toward spring training when the prices come down.

The Indians have a strong core with Lindor, Jose Ramirez, Corey Kluber, Carlos Carrasco, Trevor Bauer, Miller, and Allen. Unless he fails with the bat, Bradley Zimmer probably has a lock on centerfield.

The rest of the spots are fluid and the front office has some choices that are currently on the roster, young players on the uptick, and perhaps adding more pieces in deals.

There could be plenty of new faces in spring training for the Indians, and many of those spots hinge on Santana’s decision.

Tribe Has More in Minors Than Zimmer, Frazier

With the Indians in first place and a 7-1/2 game lead in the American League Central Division, most baseball fans in the area are thinking about how the front office will fortify the ballclub for the home stretch.

The trade deadline (without having to clear waivers) is at the end of the month, and we feel one of the lazier topics on sports talk radio is talking about should the Tribe move one of their top two prospects, OF Bradley Zimmer and/or OF Clint Frazier, both first round draft picks, to upgrade the major league roster.

The reality is the Cleveland farm system isn’t what it was two or three years ago when it was kind of Francisco Lindor and a bunch of guys. The Indians’ farm system is quite deep these days, thank you.

There are prospects that should be appealing at every level of the minor league system, and it is quite possible, probable in fact, that it will be one of these guys who will be moved if the front office makes a splash by the end of the month.

At Columbus, there is RHP starter Mike Clevinger (9-1, 2.82 ERA, 88 strikeouts in 82 IP), who we have already seen at the big league level. The right-hander is 25 years old, and really is ready for the big leagues now.

In addition to Clevinger on the hill, there is also a pair of lefties, Ryan Merritt (5-7, 4.44 ERA) and Shawn Morimando (11-4 at AAA/AA). Both have made cameos with the big club this season.

And you can’t forget 3B/OF Yandy Diaz, a native of Cuba, who is currently raking at AAA (.326, 4 HR, 22 RBI, 873 OPS). Diaz played in the Futures Game, and is a guy who puts the bat on the ball, something rare in this era where strikeouts don’t matter.

Besides Zimmer and Frazier at Akron, you have 1B Nellie Rodriguez, who has belted 18 HR, but strikes out a ton (132 whiffs in 348 at bats), and a pair of pitchers, lefty Rob Kaminsky (4-6, 3.84 ERA), and righty Julian Merryweather, who is 2-2 with the RubberDucks after going 8-2 with a 1.03 ERA at Class A Lynchburg.

Merryweather’s former teammates include 20-year-old slugger Bobby Bradley (.265, 17 HR, 70 RBI after hammering 27 bombs at Lake County a year ago), and catcher Francisco Mejia, who has hit over .330 at two levels this season. Those two get the most ink.

However, you can’t forget 20-year-old switch hitting OF Anthony Santander (.285, 14 HR, 69 RBI, 838 OPS) and 23-year-old Greg Allen (.298, 3 HR, 27 RBI, 37 steals), another who hits from both sides of the plate.

At Lake County, you will find OF Connor Marabell (.308, 6 HR, 47 RBI, 835 OPS) and Nathan Lukes (.305, 5 HR, 28 RBI, 833 OPS. And you can mix in RHP Matt Esparza (8-6, 3.19 ERA, and 107 strikeouts in 96 innings).

Mahoning Valley has two high school hurlers picked early in last year’s draft, RHP Triston McKenzie (3-2, 0.48 ERA in 37 IP) and southpaw Juan Hillman (2-0, 0.89 ERA in 30 frames).

And at the rookie level, you have the comeback story (from Tommy John surgery) of last year’s top selection Brady Aiken, once the top overall pick in the draft.

We haven’t even mentioned the bullpen depth in the system either. Other teams covets arms like Ben Heller, David Speer, and Billy Strode.

If GM Mike Chernoff does make a move, and we believe he will, it is more likely one of the players we’ve talked about here will go in return, not Zimmer or Frazier.

While the system is deeper than in the past, you can’t move players like those two, with the potential to be special.