A Lot Of Success, But Guardians Have To Cash In (Sometime)

The Cleveland Guardians start their quest for their first World Championship since 1948 next Saturday, likely hosting the winner of the Wild Card Series matchup between the Astros and Tigers.

The first two games are at Progressive Field.

If you grew up in the sixties and seventies, when Cleveland baseball was largely a losing proposition, it might surprise you that the Indians/Guardians (and Blues, Naps, etc.) have the 7th highest winning percentage among the current Major League teams.

And if you limit this to current American League franchises, Cleveland is third, behind only the behemoths of the East, New York and Boston.

Among those top ten records, one thing sticks out, the number of world titles. Cleveland has the least with just two, ironically the only other team in this group with less than four titles is the club the Indians lost to in 2016, the Cubs have just three.

The franchise has won only six pennants, half of them coming in the last 30 years. Again, the regular season record is very good, but the A’s (15), Tigers (11) and the Orioles (7) have both won more American League championships, and remember, the Orioles were the lowly St. Louis Browns until 1955, and they only won once in 1944.

The White Sox and Twins have equaled the six pennants won by Cleveland, so they are actually tied for the least success achieved by the original members of the Junior Circuit.

This will be the 17th post-season appearance for the franchise, ranking behind New York (58), Oakland (29), Boston (25), Houston and Minnesota (each with 18, although it must be noted the Astros made the NL playoffs before coming over to the AL in 2013).

They have made the playoffs eight times in the AL, winning two World Series.

What is the point of rehashing a somewhat sad story?

It’s that it is time for the Guardians to cash in one.

We have heard about all the success in the wild card era, the Jacobs/Progressive Field era if you will. Fourteen post-season appearances in that span, 12 AL Central Division titles.

In that span, only the Yankees and Red Sox have made the playoffs more often, but they have each won multiple World Series.

Cleveland has dominated the division. Minnesota has won the second most division titles with nine, while the Tigers and White Sox have each won four and the Royals taking the crown just once.

But the White Sox and Royals each won the Series, Chicago winning in 2005 and Kansas City ten years later.

Minnesota has had trouble winning in the post-season recently, but most of their fans remember and celebrate their two World Series victories in 1987 and 1991.

It hasn’t been 76 years like it has for Cleveland baseball fans, but it has now been 40 years since the Tigers won their last Series in 1984.

The point is for all the success Cleveland has had since 1995; they need to cash in with a title. There was a discussion on social media about what franchise you would like to have as a fan over the last 50 years and Kansas City was an option.

Most fans selected the Royals because even though they have had some valleys, 17 seasons of 90 or more losses since 1992, they have the 1985 and 2015 World Series winners.

Yes, baseball is a sport that has a potentially volatile post-season, meaning any team that gets in the playoffs has a chance to win the world title. We’ve seen a few teams with less than 90 wins win it.

Heck, the 1997 Indians only won 86 games, and made it to game 7 of the Fall Classic.

So, we get the argument (and we’ve made it) to just get in and you have a shot. But what is missing from perhaps the best 30 year stretch of baseball in Cleveland?

1948 still rings in our ears.

So Close…The 2007 ALCS

The 2007 baseball season is one of the big “what ifs” of Cleveland sports history.

Mostly because we all assume if the Indians, who had a 3-1 lead in the American League Championship Series over the Boston Red Sox, had played in the World Series against Colorado, they would have steamrolled them much like Terry Francona’s team did in a four game sweep.

Instead, the series is viewed as another huge disappointment.

The series began in Fenway Park with the Tribe getting bludgeoned 10-3. After both teams scored single tallies in the first, the Sox scored four in the third, three in the fifth, and two in the sixth.

C.C. Sabathia gave up eight runs in 4-1/3 innings, and with the ace getting hammered, things didn’t look good.

Especially with Curt Schilling pitching Game 2 for Boston.

It looked more glum after the Red Sox scored three in the third to take a 3-1 lead. But Jhonny Peralta hit a three run HR off Schilling in the 4th, and made it 5-3 when Grady Sizemore homered in the 5th.

Back-to-back dingers in the bottom half (Manny Ramirez and Mike Lowell) gave Boston a 6-5 lead, but Cleveland tied it in the top of the 6th.

And then no one scored. For awhile, as the game headed to extra innings.

In the bottom of the 10th, the Sox had David Ortiz, Ramirez, and Lowell to face rookie Tom Mastny, after Eric Wedge had used his most reliable relievers, Rafael Perez, Rafael Betancourt, and Jensen Lewis.

Talk about a feeling of dread…except Mastny retired them in order.

Cleveland scored seven in the top of the 11th, capped by Franklin Gutierrez’ grand slam homer (after run scoring hits by former Boston player Trot Nixon and Ryan Garko) and the Tribe went home even in the series.

Returning to Jacobs Field, the Indians won game three 4-2 with Jake Westbrook beating Boston, and Kenny Lofton hitting a two run homer, and took a commanding 3-1 series lead scoring seven runs in the 5th to win 7-3 behind Paul Byrd, who went five, and the bullpen.

Casey Blake and Peralta belted homers, and the Tribe was one win away from the pennant.

But Beckett spoiled the party, going eight innings in a 7-1 win. It was a 1-1 tie heading into the 7th, but Sabathia had given up 8 hits in his six innings, and was over 100 pitches.

Wedge sent him back out there, and he gave up back-to-back extra base hits to Dustin Pedroia and Kevin Youkilis, and the game spun out of control, sending the series back to Boston.

Game 6 was over before it started as Fausto Carmona (as he was known then) didn’t have it, giving up four in the first and six more in the third. Meanwhile, Schilling rebounded from his poor Game 2 start to throw seven innings, allowing just two runs to set up a one game playoff for the American League pennant.

Westbrook got the start for Cleveland, while Daisuke Matsuzaka got the nod from Francona. Before the game, it was revealed that Paul Byrd took HGH. Byrd said it was prescribed by his doctor.

It created a stir in the Indians’ organization and locker room though.

Westbrook allowed seven hits in the first three innings, but limited Boston to just single tallies in each frame, so he kept his team in it.

The Indians crept back into the contest with runs in the fourth (doubles by Travis Hafner and Ryan Garko) and a sacrifice fly by Sizemore in the fifth, following three straight singles. It could have been a bigger inning, but for Lofton getting thrown out trying to stretch the first hit into a double.

Westbrook held the Sox off the board through the sixth, so it was still a very close game heading to the seventh, with the Tribe trailing 3-2.

With one out, Lofton reached second on an error by Boston SS Julio Lugo. The next batter, Gutierrez, singled and third base coach Joel Skinner held Lofton at third, putting runners on the corners with one out, and a golden chance to tie the game.

The hit was down the third base line and caromed off the wall at Fenway into short left field. It looked as though Lofton hit third well before Ramirez picked up the ball in left, meaning it would have taken a great throw to get Lofton, who still had good speed.

Blake followed by swinging at the first pitch, banging into a 5-4-3 double play. Threat ended. And when Pedroia homered off Betancourt with a man on (ironically due to an error by Blake), the game was virtually over.

In retrospect, should Wedge have removed Sabathia earlier in game five to keep the game close? Would the bullpen have held Game 7 if Skinner had not held Lofton? Could the Indians have scored more had Lofton tied the game?

Those are the “what ifs”. Another case of so close, but yet so far…

Tribe Key In Off-Season? Improve OBP.

The Cleveland Indians finished third in the American League in runs scored in 2018, and you can make a pretty good argument that dropping to seventh in this category this past season is the reason they were sitting at home.

The Tribe was third in on base percentage in ’18 and fourth in slugging percentage, the key components to offensive baseball these days. In 2019 though, the Indians dropped to 6th in slugging, and down to 8th in on base percentage.

The latter figure is something Cleveland needs to work on for the 2020 campaign, and a reason we wished the organization would have gone in a new direction with the hitting coach.

The list of Indians’ hitters with an OBP over .350 is very short: Carlos Santana, Yasiel Puig, Jordan Luplow, and Mike Freeman. Only Santana was in the lineup all year on an everyday basis.

By contrast, the Astros, whose offense is relentless, have these players over the .350 benchmark: Jose Altuve, Carlos Correa, Alex Bregman, Michael Brantley, Yordan Alvarez, George Springer, and two other players who are reserves.

Boston was second in on base average (behind Houston), and had these players over .350: Brock Holt, Xander Bogaerts, Rafael Devers, Mookie Betts, and J.D. Martinez.

If you think we are being picky with the .350 figure, please be advised that the Tribe didn’t have anyone else over .340 either. The next best OBP was Francisco Lindor at .335.

To be fair, had Jose Ramirez hit higher than .255 this season, he would have hit the .350 level, because his strikeout to walk ratio (74:52) was solid.

To us, this indicates the lack of strike zone awareness throughout the roster, and this leads to hitters getting themselves out by swinging at bad pitches.

Sometimes this improves through experience, which is why we aren’t concerned right now with Oscar Mercado walking just 28 times in 482 plate appearances. If this number stays there next season, it could indicate a problem.

We have already touched on Lindor, whose walk rate was the lowest since his rookie year, and he got himself out plenty in clutch situations last season, swinging at a lot of pitches out of the strike zone, sometimes when he was ahead in the count.

If we were Chris Antonetti and Mike Chernoff, we would be focused on getting some guys who can get on base to help the offense next season.

It might start by giving Luplow, who had a .372 OBP in his minor league career, a shot at an everyday spot in the lineup.

And Lindor is too good of a hitter not to learn from this season and make pitchers come to him instead of helping them out.

Besides, if you can get a solid hitter who can get on base, you can get the shortstop out of the leadoff spot, and hit him in the #2 hole or lower.

Together with Santana, who has always been an on base machine, and Ramirez returning to somewhere close to his norm (he has three straight seasons over .350 from 2016-18), it would give the Indians four players who can get on base.

We would also have someone work with Franmil Reyes on his strike zone judgment. If he could layoff bad pitches more, he would be an anchor in the middle of the lineup.

Against good teams and particularly good pitchers, you have to make them work, you can’t help them out by swinging at borderline strikes.

Remember the success the Indians had vs. Justin Verlander with the Tigers? They made him throw a lot of pitches early in games, and even if they didn’t have success against him, they got him out of the game.

On base percentage is the key stat for the Indians to improve on this off-season. Not saying it’s a cure all, but it will help the offense be more “relentless”, for sure.

Other AL Contenders Have Dominated Vs. Bad Teams Too

The Cleveland Indians, thought by many to be out of the playoff competition in mid May, start today’s game against Kansas City 20 games over the .500 mark at 62-42, and have a four game lead over the second wild card spot ahead of Boston and Oakland.

Where they once trailed by 11-1/2 games in the division standings, they are today just one game behind Minnesota in the Central Division standings.

They have accomplished this by simply dominating the lower echelon teams in the American League. The Tribe has gone 37-11 against the five worst teams in the AL: Kansas City, Detroit, Baltimore, Toronto, and Seattle.

There are those who will say this is fool’s gold. The Indians aren’t really contenders, they are the product of a soft schedule and cannot compete with the best teams in the league.

This ignores their 10-9 record against Boston, Houston, Minnesota, and the New York Yankees, all of whom Cleveland will play in the next three weeks.

In the interest of fairness, the Tribe is 2-8 vs. Oakland and Tampa, two other contenders for the playoffs, but all of those games came before this resurgence started after a loss to Boston on Memorial Day.

Since then, Cleveland has gone 36-15 in a stretch that included two games with Boston, three with the Yankees, and six with the Twins.

Going 37-11 against any five teams is a challenge. Heck, it’s Major League Baseball. It isn’t supposed to be easy, no matter how bad the competition.

At the end of June, the Indians lost a series on the road to Baltimore, a team certain to lose more than 100 games this season.

We looked at the other playoff contenders to see how they fared against the five teams Terry Francona’s squad has dominated.

The Yankees have piled up a 10-2 record against the Orioles and overall is 25-8 against the lowly five. They lost two of three to Detroit, where the Indians have won 12 out of 13.

Houston has played the least number of games against this group, mainly because only one of them is in the Western Division. The Astros have fared similar to Cleveland, going 18-4, winning nine of ten vs. Seattle.

Minnesota has the same number of losses (11), with 27 wins. They won all six games against Baltimore, but are a combined 16-9 vs. KC, DET, and TOR, where the Indians are 28-7.

They have a lot of games coming up against the Royals and Tigers, playing them in a combined 20 more games.

Boston has played the second most games against the quintet, but they haven’t fared as well as Cleveland, going 30-16. They’ve lost six games against the Blue Jays and five more to the Orioles. Perhaps they have an issue against birds.

Tampa Bay is 20-10, going just 4-3 against the Royals and 8-4 vs. Baltimore. They have yet to play the Mariners, and have 18 games left vs. the Orioles and Blue Jays.

Oakland caught Seattle early in the year when they were hot, so they are 8-7 with four to play. Toronto has also been tough, taking all six from the A’s, leading to a 17-14 record.

So, outside of Oakland, all of the contenders have beaten the living daylights out of the also ran teams.

The difference for the Indians, is they only have nine games remaining against the Royals and Tigers, and are done with the other three squads.

The Indians shouldn’t be condemned for beating the “bums”, they simply are doing what they should.

If they can hold their own through the middle of August after playing Houston, Minnesota, Boston, and the Yankees, they should be just fine.

And that’s assuming everyone else can match Cleveland’s dominance against the lowly five.

Tribe Facing A Much More Famous Foe

Tonight’s the night!

Post-season baseball returns to Cleveland for the first time since the 2013 wild card game against Tampa Bay, and the Indians are in the American League Division Series for the first time since 2007.

Even though the Tribe has home field advantage as a result of having a better record during the regular season than their opponents, the Boston Red Sox, they are a decided underdog, particularly on a national basis.

Part of that is the loss of 2/5ths of Terry Francona’s starting rotation, with Carlos Carrasco down with a broken hand and Danny Salazar has a strain in his forearm. Neither will pitch in this series, and the hope is Salazar may be able to participate before the month ends.

The other part of this, is let’s face it, the Red Sox are jammed down the nation’s throat because it seems every matchup they have against the Yankees is televised across the universe.

Are you aware that David Ortiz is going to retire? If you aren’t, you could possibly be the most sheltered person on earth. Thank goodness, if the Indians can eliminate the Sox, we won’t have to hear about this anymore.

Of course, we are sure that one of the network’s covering post-season baseball will hire him as a “guest” analyst for the rest of the playoffs and World Series.

Even MLB Network has Pedro Martinez and Kevin Millar working for them. And it doesn’t take much for them to start reminiscing about 2004 and breaking “The Curse of the Bambino”.

That team was managed by the same guy who is in the home dugout tonight at Progressive Field. His name is Francona.

For most people around the country, Terry Francona is the most recognizable name among the Cleveland Indians. He’s put up four consecutive winning seasons and has made the playoffs twice with the Tribe, but his players don’t have the same “name” factor as the skipper.

We are sure much of the hype in the series will be about Tito coming back to Boston and that Mike Napoli will be playing against the same team he won a World Series with in 2013.

But this will be the network viewing audience’s first look at Francisco Lindor, Jose Ramirez, Jason Kipnis, and for that matter, Corey Kluber, who won the AL Cy Young Award in 2014.

Most of the nation’s baseball fans probably couldn’t pick these guys out of a lineup.

Besides Ortiz, Boston has former MVP Dustin Pedroia, and a bunch of young players who have been covered since arriving in the bigs: Mookie Betts, Jackie Bradley Jr. (JBJ for those not in the know), and Xander Bogaerts.

No wonder, most experts don’t give the Tribe much of a chance, although they cover this with the caveat that you can’t possibly pick Cleveland without Carrasco and Salazar.

We are happy that most national guys are seeing how good Andrew Miller is, with several baseball media people calling him, not the Orioles’ Zack Britton, the best reliever in the game. Of course, Miller pitched in both New York and Boston, so he’s got that going for him.

Would we be shocked if the Tribe didn’t advance? No, as we wrote the other day, they are facing an uphill climb.

But this is baseball. Hopefully, the Cleveland Indians will give the national media some new baseball players to talk about…guys like “Frankie”, “Kip”, “Josey”, and the “Klubot”.

A Very Tough Match Up For Tribe

Without a doubt, it will not be easy. That’s what happens when the strength of your team going into the season is ravaged by injuries.

That’s what the Cleveland Indians face in the American League Division Series against the Boston Red Sox starting on Thursday night.

This is because despite having the third best record in the AL, you can make a very strong case that the Red Sox are the best team in the Junior Circuit.

They lead the AL in run differential, scoring 1.1 more runs per game than their opponents. As a result, they have the best expected record in the league at 98-64, compared to the Tribe’s figures of +0.6 runs/game and an expected record of 91-71.

The one area in which the Carmine didn’t excel this season was in one run games, with a 20-24 record, compared to Cleveland’s 28-21 mark.

Boston led the AL in runs scored, the Indians were second. The Tribe had the league’s best ERA, the Red Sox were 3rd.

With all due respect to the Texas Rangers, who had the league’s best record (by a half game over the Tribe), these are probably the two best teams in the American League.

When Andrew Benintendi is playing LF, the Sox have eight players in their batting order with OPS over 800. The Indians have five.

However, on the road, Boston has just three hitters with OPS over 800 away from Fenway Park: David Ortiz, Mookie Betts, and catcher Sandy Leon, who may not play over concerns their management has over the Indians running wild on him.

Just another reason having the home field advantage is important.

On the other hand, the Indians have seven hitters with OPS over 800 at Progressive Field, while on the road, only Carlos Santana can make that claim.

So, this series may very well come down to which team can buck the trend of hitting well on the road.

Another problem with playing the Red Sox is the success their two best starting pitchers have had against the Tribe. Opening game starter Rick Porcello is 10-4 against Cleveland lifetime and game two hurler David Price is 10-2 vs. the Tribe.

Porcello has an impressive 2.84 ERA at Progressive Field over 12 starts, while Price is 5-0 with a 2.27 ERA in seven starts on the corner of Carnegie and Ontario.

On the other hand, Price has an ERA over 5.00 in the post-season.

So, it doesn’t look good for the Tribe, does it?

That’s why they play the games, and they don’t award the series on statistics or paper.

The one thing we know about the 2016 edition of the Cleveland Indians is they will not go easy. We also know they have an edge in the bullpen, where Terry Francona can go to Dan Otero, Bryan Shaw, Andrew Miller, and Cody Allen to cover four or even five innings in the post-season.

Remember, in 2007 the Tribe was 0-6 in the regular season vs. the Yankees, and then beat them 3-1 in the ALDS.

All of this stuff is rendered meaningless once the first pitch is thrown Thursday night.

The Indians also have an edge on the basepaths, with AL stolen base leader Rajai Davis, Jose Ramirez, Francisco Lindor, and Jason Kipnis all capable of stealing a bag or taking an extra base.

Can the Indians win this series? Of course, that’s the nature of baseball.

We are just pointing out that it will not be easy. That would just keep it in line with the rest of this season for the Cleveland Indians.

Francona Has Success, But He Does Make Mistakes Too.

When Terry Francona arrived here in the fall of 2012 to take the managerial job of the Cleveland Indians, it was considered shocking to many baseball fans, including ones right here on the North Coast.

This is a guy who broke the “Curse of the Bambino”, leading the Boston Red Sox to the world championship in 2004, their first since 1917, and then followed it up with another in 2007.

He took the job because of the relationship he had forged with Tribe president Mark Shapiro and GM Chris Antonetti when he worked in the Cleveland front office in between piloting the Phillies and Red Sox.

The shock turned to adulation when Francona took the Tribe to the playoffs in 2013, winning 92 games and losing in the Wild Card game to Tampa.

There is no doubt the Francona has earned his reputation as a good manager, and his style is forging a trusting relationship with his players. He never rips them in the media, and he treats them like men, which is how anyone would want to be treated.

He recently pointed out that his patience had turned to stubbornness when he finally removed slumping hitters Nick Swisher and Carlos Santana from the #2 and #4 spots in the lineup.

There is certainly no question Francona has more patience than most fans would ever have, and really, he has to. Most fans would take players out of the lineup after two bad games.

Still, Tito is a baseball manager and not everything he does turns to gold, nor does it mean that the person who makes the criticism wants the Tribe to have a new skipper.

This was brought to light during the first game in Boston, when with two outs and first base open in a game the Indians were trailing 1-0, Francona let right-hander Josh Tomlin face lefty swinging slugger David Ortiz.

Yes, we know Ortiz was 0-for-10 lifetime against Tomlin, but he also said prior to throwing one pitch, that the right move was to put the big slugger on.

Two pitches later, Ortiz hit a two-run homer and a 1-0 deficit was now 3-0. And the way Boston starter Jon Lester was pitching, it seemed the game was over.

The next night, Francona brought Cody Allen, who everyone agrees has been a tad overworked this season into a game with Cleveland trailing 9-3. The thought obviously was to get the closer some work since he hadn’t pitched since the previous Sunday.

Allen gave up a dinger to the first batter he faced and wound up throwing 21 pitches in a game he didn’t need to throw in.

The point is this, even though Tito has enjoyed tremendous success, he’s still a baseball manager, and that means he is not perfect.

This season, he has overused his bullpen at times. We have no qualms in trying to win any game you have a chance, but there are games the Tribe is losing where he will use Bryan Shaw and even Allen to keep the Indians within one of two runs. The way his relief corps in set up, he doesn’t have that luxury.

He should use guys like John Axford, Carlos Carrasco, and others in those situations and if they can’t get the job done, they should be replaced.

Francona has also fallen into the veteran skippers’ plight, that is, not being confident in young players. When Jesus Aguilar was sent back to Columbus this latest time, Tito said thought the rookie never got comfortable here. Perhaps that’s because he was playing once every five days.

He could’ve played him everyday in place of slumping hitters like Jason Giambi and Ryan Raburn, neither of whom hammered the ball when they were in the lineup, but he felt more comfortable with the vets.

He needs to realize that, yes he won 92 games with these guys last year, but this is a new season, and the way this team is put together, they need production from every player on the roster.

There is no question that Terry Francona is the best manager the Tribe has had in a long time. However, he’s human. Not every move he makes is golden. That’s just baseball.

We hate the second guess, but there are moves that deserve questioning.

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.

Aggressiveness Continues for Tribe Front Office

For the past several years, the management of the Cleveland Indians has seemed to be in a state of inertia.

Of course, this winter the front office went out and did something, getting Terry Francona to manage and inking several free agents, most notably Nick Swisher, Michael Bourn, and Mark Reynolds.

They’ve received a lot of credit for making those moves.

However, the maneuvers continue for the management into the regular season, something that hasn’t been the case the past few years.

Who is responsible for both styles of roster management? Was GM Chris Antonetti shown religion by Francona, who seems to insist on having a representative roster for every game, or did former skipper Manny Acta make the same requests, but was not heard by the GM?

Since day one of this season, the Indians have been very active in sending players up and down from Columbus in order to give the manager lineup flexibility.

A couple of moves in the last two weeks illustrate what we are talking about.

While Bourn was out with his finger injury, the Indians were short an outfielder, but were able to get by using Swisher and Ryan Raburn in right, moving Drew Stubbs to centerfield. However, Francona felt these guys needed some rest, so when Ezequiel Carrera was designated for assignment by Philadelphia, the Tribe picked him up.

Carrera was used as a pinch-runner in his first game and started the next night, getting two hits. The next day, the Tribe DFA’d him again, and he went through waivers and is now at Columbus, still in the organization.

This is something the front office wouldn’t have done in the past. But you know who does do stuff like that? The Boston Red Sox used to bring guys in and out all the time, and perhaps it’s not a coincidence that the Indians are doing it now, if you know what we mean.

Today, the Tribe sent struggling third baseman Lonnie Chisenhall back to AAA, but the move was probably made as insurance for Chris Perez’ tender shoulder. The Indians wanted an extra arm out of the bullpen with a doubleheader against the Yankees, and the only position player who could or deserved be moved was Chisenhall.

The guess here is Chiz will be back in ten days to two weeks, which will allow him to get his swing and confidence back. In the meantime, Raburn, Mike Aviles, and a little Reynolds will hold down the hot corner.

With the bullpen not over-exposed in the twin bill and an extra player needed in Philadelphia, where the pitcher will have to hit, look for a relief pitcher (probably Nick Hagadone, who has struggled to throw strikes in his last two outings) to be sent back to Columbus in favor of another position player, possibly Cord Phelps.

Again, it is just the Tribe getting the most of their organization, and putting the major league team in the best position to win on a night in, night out basis.

It’s what all the big teams do. And this season, it looks like the Cleveland Indians are joining the big boys, not only in the standings, but in attitude.