Tag: brent lillibridge

Tribe Trade Is A Good First Step

The Cleveland Indians made their first move of the off-season on Saturday, dealing reliever Esmil Rogers to Toronto for infielder Mike Aviles and C/INF Yan Gomes.

Although Rogers was pretty effective for the Tribe since coming over from Colorado on waivers during the season, and may have been a closer option should the team trade Chris Perez in the off-season, it was a good move for GM Chris Antonetti, and an aggressive move at that.

If the Indians have any depth in their organization it is in the bullpen where they have several young arms ready to move up to the major leagues.

We have said the Tribe needs to get better with every move they make this off-season, and they did so with this move.

The 2012 edition of the Indians did not have a legitimate utility infielder to give SS Asdrubal Cabrera or 2B Jason Kipnis a day off.  This took its toll after the all-star break when both were running on fumes and were producing.

Aviles, who will be 32 at the beginning of next season, is a legitimate major leaguer with a .277 lifetime batting average.  However, last year was his first year with over 500 at bats and his hitting suffered, with his average dipping to .250.

So it appears he would be solid in a reverse role.  He can hit lefties, with a lifetime .295 batting average and 797 OPS.

If the plan is to trade Cabrera and use Aviles everyday at short as a stop-gap until Francisco Lindor is ready, then it is not a good plan.

Aviles is not regarding as a good defensive shortstop and has a lower range factor than Cabrera did in 2012.

Still, the veteran is a better stick than Jack Hannahan and Brent Lillibridge, so the Indians are better after the deal than they were before, and that’s exactly what the front office needs to do.

Gomes is another right-handed hitter, which means perhaps the organization has come off the all left-handed hitter theory they embraced last season.  He’s a corner infield guy who can also catch, meaning he’s a good bench player.  And he has some pop in his bat, hitting four home runs in 111 big league at bats.

He hit .328 at Las Vegas last season, but the Pacific Coast League is a notorious hitters circuit and Vegas is one of the chief reasons for that reputation.  From his minor league numbers, he looks like a free swinger.  So he will likely open the season at Columbus and provide organizational depth.

After a slow hot stove season last winter, the Indians took a step toward addressing one of their weaknesses very quickly after the 2012 season ended.  They should get kudos for doing that and for the move they made here.

Hopefully, this is the first move in a busy winter for Antonetti.  And we also hope he is working very closely with Terry Francona to assemble a roster that the manager wants.

It feels like in recent years that the manager and front office weren’t on the same page when it came to who should be on the roster and get playing time.

Building some roster depth was needed, but the Tribe still needs a 1B, LF, and a DH or a catcher if Carlos Santana is moved to fill one of those other needs, as well as a couple of starting pitchers.

It may be that Francona has brought the sense of urgency that has been lacking since the Ubaldo Jimenez trade in July 2011.

That might be the new skipper’s biggest impact of all.

KM

Tribe Missed An Opportunity

One of the best things one can say about the Mark Shapiro led Cleveland Indians is they didn’t waste downtime.

When the Tribe fell out of contention in a given season, Shapiro didn’t hold on to players who weren’t part of the future in Cleveland, mostly players who were not coming back the following season.

If the player’s contract expired at the end of the season, the then-GM made a move to try to get something for that player.

That’s how the Indians acquired several key players:  SS Asdrubal Cabrera came in exchange for Eduardo Perez.  Ben Broussard was traded for Shin-Soo Choo, and Mark De Rosa was sent away to get Chris Perez.  Carlos Santana was picked up for Casey Blake.

Unfortunately, the current GM, Chris Antonetti forgot the organizational roots.

After an 11 games losing streak and relative inactivity at the trading deadline (getting Brent Lillibridge doesn’t count as doing something), the time to start looking toward 2013 would have been August 1st.

For some reason, the Tribe front office still isn’t looking forward, and that is mind-boggling.

It is apparent that the players currently on the roster who will be free agents don’t have any value to other teams, and certainly aren’t going to bring back another team’s good to very good prospect, like a Choo or Cabrera.

Still, that doesn’t mean there aren’t moves that can be made.

People can pretty much be sure that players like Casey Kotchman, Jack Hannahan, and Shelley Duncan will not be wearing a Cleveland uniform when spring training starts next February.

Yet, they are still on the major league roster, and manager Manny Acta continues to give them at bats.

That’s crazy!

The organization will tell you there aren’t any prospects in Columbus, no one that can help the big league club.

The response to that is how can they be sure?  They are the same people who think the three players listed above could be contributors on this season’s team.

Matt LaPorta was just added to the roster last Friday, and right now he needs to play every day, not just against left-handers.  A decision must be made on him, and the only way it can be decided he’s not part of the future is by giving him regular and consistent playing time.

He’s probably not the answer, but why not find out for sure?

The same with Russ Canzler.  Obviously, Antonetti saw something in him last winter when he claimed the right-handed hitter off waivers from Tampa Bay.

He ranks in the top ten in most slugging categories in the International League, so why isn’t he getting some at bats in the majors to see if those numbers can translate?

We’ve said this before about Canzler…you cannot classify him as a AAAA hitter because he’s had a grand total of three at bats in the big leagues.

You can make the same argument about looking at Jared Goedart and Tim Fedroff.

The Indians had a tremendous opportunity to get at least a few of these players perhaps as many as 200 at bats to find out if any of these guys could help the ’13 version of the Tribe.

Why it hasn’t been done is just one more mystery for the Shapiro/Antonetti leadership, adding to several others that have caused fans to roll their collective eyes this season.

Although all of those guys could get a September look, baseball people understand that you have to look at stats compiled in this month with a jaundiced eye.

This is another reason to be critical of the current administration.  Another “could have” moment.

MW