Success Of Lindor Deal Rests On The Young Wild Cards

When the rumors started about the possibility of the Cleveland Indians trading Francisco Lindor rather than sign him to a long term deal, some folks were giddy about the possibility of getting several top prospects from a team.

We didn’t think that would be the case. We always figured it would be a top prospect, a major league player who wouldn’t be close to the player the Indians were giving up, and some younger prospects.

Which is exactly what the Tribe received. The only problem was that was the haul for Lindor and Carlos Carrasco.

Our opinion is if you keep giving up $20 bills in exchange for a $10, a $5, and a couple of dollar bills, you will eventually wind up with out any money, definitely less than you started with.

Whether this deal turns out to be a plus or not really depends on how the two youngest players pan out, right handed pitcher Josh Wolf and left-handed hitting outfielder Isaiah Greene.

The problem is neither have any track record in professional baseball, Wolf is 20-years-old and has pitched just eight professional innings. While Greene was just drafted last season, and because of the pandemic, has yet to play in the minor leagues.

These two may wind up becoming top prospects in a few years, or they may never get to play for the Akron Rubber Ducks. That’s what a little track record the duo has.

They are pretty much draft picks, which by the way, Cleveland could have received had they kept their all-star shortstop in 2021, and given him a qualifying offer.

To us, Andres Gimenez is the best player to come from New York. A 22-year-old left-handed bat, Gimenez is very good defensively, and was a Top 100 prospect in both 2018 and 2019 from Baseball America. Unfornately, he fell out of that ranking prior to 2020.

He has a bit of an issue with strike zone judgment, walking just seven times vs. 28 strikeouts, and he has good speed, stealing eight bases in 49 games in ’20. The Mets moved him around, he played SS, 2B, and 3B, but he will probably open the season at short for the Tribe.

Gimenez’s strike zone control may not be great, but compared to Amed Rosario, he’s Ted Williams. Rosario last season walked just four times, against 34 punchouts. In his big league career, he’s played 403 games, and still hasn’t walked 100 times. In fact, he’s taken just 67 free passes.

He did hit .287 (755 OPS) in 2019 with 15 homers, but took a step back in the shortened season. Can he comeback? Of course, we will play 2021 at age 25, but projections for the 2021 have him not producing numbers better than Gimenez.

By contrast, at age 22, Lindor hit .301 with 15 homers (794 OPS) and won the Platinum Glove, and at age 25, which was 2019, he hit .284 with 32 bombs (854 OPS) and won his second Gold Glove.

And again, they added a starting pitcher who as little as two years ago won 17 games, and the year prior to that won 18.

So, the Indians really weakened themselves offensively, defensively, and in the pitching area as well. That neither Gimenez nor Rosario is Lindor isn’t their fault, but forgive Cleveland baseball fans if they aren’t saving their money for playoff tickets in 2021.

Team president Chris Antonetti said the team will reinvest some of the money saved in the deal, and if they didn’t they would have one of the lowest payrolls in the game.

The Tribe still has a big gaping hole in the outfield, so the possibility remains some of the middle infield prospects the team has, six of their top 15 are SS/2B, for some help in this area.

We also feel the Indians will move one of their catchers (Roberto Perez and/or Austin Hedges) before the season begins too.

It figures to be a season of transition for the Cleveland Indians, and let’s hope that time period is limited to just one season.

Another Heartbreak For Indians Fans

Just because something is expected to happen doesn’t mean it won’t upset you when it does. That’s how we felt when the Cleveland Indians traded all star SS Francisco Lindor and the longest tenured Indian, Carlos Carrasco to the Mets for infielders Andres Gimenez and Amed Rosario, RHP Josh Wolf, and OF Isaiah Greene.

There is so much that irritates us about this deal, beginning with our thought that nothing has changed since the 1960’s through the 1980’s when the Tribe developed several good players, guys like Graig Nettles, Chris Chambliss, Dennis Eckersley, Buddy Bell, and Julio Franco, only to see them move on to other teams, usually contenders.

Back then, the team played in cavernous Municipal Stadium, which was by that time was to put it nicely an armpit. That it had over 70,000 seats made it difficult to sell season tickets.

It might have been easier to be a fan then. There were no expectations. We grew up knowing the Indians were a middle of the pack team, if they were over .500, we were happy.

But in 1994, Jacobs Field was built and Cleveland had its own baseball palace, and started an eight season (1994-2001) period where they were among the best teams in the sport. The place was packed and the owner spent money. We actually signed big name free agents like Jack McDowell and Roberto Alomar.

However, 26 years later, we have returned to those dreary days of our youth.

In the past few seasons, the front office have seen these players depart: Michael Brantley, two time Cy Young Award winner Corey Kluber, Trevor Bauer, Carlos Santana, Mike Clevinger, and now Lindor and Carrasco.

Tell us what has changed?

Does anyone really believe the Indians are going to make an effort to keep Jose Ramirez in a Cleveland uniform when his club options run out following the 2023 season? Or do you think Shane Bieber, the latest Cy Young Award winner produced by the organization will be here when he can hit the open market?

Since Terry Francona took over as manager before the 2013 season, the Indians have made made five post-season appearances, and played in the seventh game of the World Series in 2016. Cleveland doesn’t have an aging roster and a bloated payroll.

Their best two players (Ramirez and Lindor) were in their late 20’s. Overall, the team is younger that the major league average, and their projected payroll with Lindor and Carrasco was $69 million, at this point, that’s the lowest in the AL Central. Yes, lower than Kansas City and Detroit.

At that level, they could have paid Lindor a market value deal and still kept the payroll at a level where it wasn’t among the top tier in the sport.

Instead, the organization served the fans another crap burger.

Think about it, in addition to losing the players already listed, fans have had to endure the loss of the team’s mascot, Chief Wahoo, and the name of the team will be changed sooner than later.

Now, we understand the reason for those changes, but that doesn’t make it any easier to take.

Could this trade be the key to a quick trip back to contention? Sure, anything is possible, but it’s not hard to envision this deal being the beginning of another trip to baseball oblivion. The one thing we can cling to is having a very talented front office, something those teams of our youth didn’t have.

Usually this time of year has us looking forward to spring training and Opening Day. It will be tough to do that in 2021.

An Endangered Species? Tribe Players Making More Than A Mil

It’s not a secret that the Cleveland Indians are on a cost cutting mode. Everything they’ve done over the last three off-seasons have had that in mind.

Since the end of the 2018 season, the front office has said goodbye to Michael Brantley, Cody Allen, Andrew Miller via free agency and traded Yan Gomes, Edwin Encarnacion, Corey Kluber, and Trevor Bauer. All except Encarnacion were big time contributors to the American League champions of 2016.

All either were or had the potential to make big money, and in reality, the front office was correct on most of the players. While Brantley and Bauer have been very productive since leaving the Tribe, the rest have declined significantly since departing.

That’s not a bad percentage, although with the production of the offense the past two seasons, particularly in the outfield, the loss of Brantley stings big time.

Unfortunately, with all the money saved with these departures, very little has been reinvested in the team. Since the Indians won 93 games in the last complete season, and made the expanded playoffs in the coronavirus shortened 2020 campaign, you could make the argument that it hasn’t affected the operations of the team.

Looking ahead, as of right now, Cleveland has just six players making more than $1 million on the roster, meaning Brad Hand’s payout is the 7th highest paid Indian.

One of those half dozen players is Francisco Lindor, who by all accounts (and much to our chagrin) will be traded before the season starts. That leaves Carlos Carrasco, Jose Ramirez, Roberto Perez, Austin Hedges, and Nick Wittgren, who settled with the team yesterday on a contract as the lone millionaires on the roster.

And there are rumors that Carrasco, the longest tenured Indian, and a candidate to be someone who plays in the major leagues for more than ten years with all of them in a Cleveland uniform, could be moved this off-season as well.

That would leave just two players, Ramirez and Perez, making over $5 million this season, although that depends on who comes back in any deal for Lindor and Carrasco?

If you get beyond the gutting of the payroll, it’s quite an odd mix. Two of the highest paid Indians play the same position, catcher. It’s hard to imagine investing so much cash in a spot where only one of the men can play each day.

And quite frankly, it’s odd to have a middle inning reliever as one of the highest paid players as well. We aren’t saying Wittgren isn’t a good guy to have on the roster, he’s been pretty effective in his two years here, but if you want to cut payroll, why not start with a pitcher who doesn’t start and doesn’t usually pitch in the 8th or 9th innings?

We are sure several major league teams are looking enviously at Tampa Bay and their success over the past three seasons and think we can do that too. The Rays have actually have been over .500 in nine of the past 13 seasons.

But Tampa is a team with a roster that is always turning over. They make any move they can if they feel it improves the team, and that isn’t how the Tribe has operated over the years. They can be loyal to a fault.

Is the Rays’ way a blueprint other teams can follow? Right now, no one else spending so little has done it. We guess that doesn’t stop teams like the Indians from trying.

Signs Were There For Tribe Fans The Past Two Years

It started when Michael Brantley departed via free agency after the 2018 season. We made a compelling argument that the Indians organization was simply reallocating funds to add younger pieces with more upside.

After all, Brantley was 31 years old and missed a good chunk of 2017 and almost all of 2016 with various injuries. It would be a smart move to take the $15 million or so (he got $16 million from Houston) he would demand on the open market, and find younger players who wouldn’t be in the decline phases of their careers.

Except the front office didn’t use the money saved by letting Brantley go, they just lowered the payroll for 2019.

The following winter, the Tribe dealt two time Cy Young Award winner Corey Kluber to Texas for an outfielder that couldn’t hit and a promising young bullpen arm in Emmanuel Clase. It was a salary dump, but again, we felt you couldn’t judge the trade until you could see what the organization would do with the money saved by moving Kluber.

Except, for the most part, they put it in their pockets.

Keep in mind, both of these moves occurred before COVID-19. At that point, there wasn’t a season played without fans, or with a 60 game slate, instead of the normal 162.

The ownership was hacking away at the payroll, in the midst of a run where they were on of the best teams in the American League. They had some age on the roster, but after Jason Kipnis left via free agency and the trade of Kluber, the oldest key players on the roster were Carlos Santana (33), and Carlos Carrasco (32).

What we mean is this is not the traditional aging team that management decides should be overhauled before they bottom out. The pieces are in place. You have a pair of great players in the midst of their prime in Jose Ramirez and Francisco Lindor.

You have a young, controllable starting rotation starting with Cy Young Award winner Shane Bieber (26), Zach Plesac (26), Aaron Civale (26), Cal Quantrill (26), and Triston McKenzie (23) to go along with the veteran Carrasco.

It would seem having a pair of superstars with an excellent pitching staff would be a good foundation to build on, right?

Instead, the organization is going to deal one of the young stars before he enters his prime (age 27-29) because they are unwilling to pay him, and rumors are out there about Carrasco being on the block too.

Frankly, as much as we like and respect Carrasco, if you were moving him to free money to sign Lindor, it would make sense. But that doesn’t seem to be the case.

Instead, it appears the Indians are giving up on contending for awhile. The White Sox are on the rise, and being aggressive and the Twins are the two time defending Central Division champs. Instead of trying to beat them, compete with them, Cleveland has decided to regroup.

And the only motivation for doing this seems to be saving money. We get the revenues around the sport decreased in 2020 because of the unique season, but that’s true for every other major league team.

We have said many times that we understand the Indians cannot spend like the Yankees, Dodgers, Red Sox, other teams in huge markets. But the Tribe might be around or below $50 million in 2021, about half of where they should be.

We can only think about the Indians’ teams of the 1950’s, contenders in most years, but only got to one World Series in 1954. However, that run of big success was ended by a general manager making terrible trades involving future young stars.

In both cases, it wasn’t age that ended the run, it was management. Unfortunately, no one can fire an owner. We just have to wait until some billionaire wants to buy the club and wants to win. It’s apparent the current owners do not.

All Prospects Don’t Work Out In MLB.

The news has been expected for months, but it was still difficult to hear. On Thursday, USA Today’s Bob Nightengale reported that the Indians plan to trade star shortstop Francisco Lindor, a free agent following the 2021 season, before Opening Day of that campaign.

This got all fans of the Indians starting to speculate what such a deal would mean. We believe it’s the end of the contention window for this current group of Tribesmen, unless the return for Lindor borders on the incredible.

We think the return will be a player who can/will be in the starting lineup for Cleveland next year, although that player won’t be as good as the one being traded, and a high ranked prospect, albeit likely not the #1 prospect in the system of the team trading for the shortstop.

There are also folks who are optimistic about the Tribe’s chances in ’21, because they believe all minor league players turn out to be studs.

We decided to do a little research. In 2005, the Dodgers were judged to have baseball best farm system, so we looked at their top ten prospects.

The #1 guy was SS Joel Guzman, who played all of 24 games in the major leagues. Second was Defiance, Ohio’s own Chad Billingsley, who had several good seasons for LA, but arm problems had him out of the big leagues by 2016. He made one all star game appearance.

Three through ten were relief pitcher Jonathon Broxton, starter Edwin Jackson, 1B James Loney, pitcher Chuck Tiffany, pitcher Yhency Brazoban, INF Delwyn Young, and catchers Dioner Navarro and Russell Martin. Martin’s four all star game appearances are the best of this group.

So, out of these 10 players in the best system in the sport, how many became great players? We’d say none, although Billingsley, Jackson, Broxton, Loney, Navarro, and Martin played for a long time.

Perhaps the best player in the LA system was their 19th ranked prospect, Matt Kemp.

In 2010, the Texas Rangers were deemed to have the best farm system in baseball. Of their top 10 prospects, we find RP Neftali Feliz, 1B Justin Smoak, SP Martin Perez, 1B Mitch Moreland, and RP Robbie Ross. We don’t think you can find any Hall of Fame type players in this group.

Five years later, the Twins top the prospect rankings and of their top ten, several have made a big impact for a team that has been very good in 2019 and 2020. Names like Byron Buxton (#1), Miguel Sano (#2), Jose Berrios (#3), Jorge Polanco (#8), and Eddie Rosario (#10) have been the foundation for the Minnesota resurgence in the past two seasons.

What about the Tribe? In 2010, their top prospect was Carlos Santana, followed by Lonnie Chisenhall, Nick Hagadone, Alex White, Hector Rondon, Michael Brantley, Carlos Carrasco, Nick Weglarz, Jason Knapp, and T.J. House, which actually has been a productive group.

In ’15, Lindor was the top prospect, followed by Bradley Zimmer, Clint Frazier, Francisco Mejia, Bobby Bradley, Justus Sheffield, Gio Urshela, Tyler Naquin, Mitch Brown, and James Ramsey.

Out of those 20 names, how many became starting caliber players in the bigs? We’d say seven, and that is including Carrasco, who is a top of the rotation starter, for sure. If Frazier gets regular playing time, he could make it eight.

The point is not all of these players who make these “top prospect” lists all become stars. The late, great Pete Franklin used to say that until proven otherwise, all prospects should be considered suspects.

This isn’t to say you should never play young players. However, it’s tough to field a team full of rookies and expect success.

It also demonstrates why trading star players for prospects in a contending window isn’t usually a good idea. It also shows when you have a great player, you should probably do what you can to keep them.

Cold Reality Of Winter To Start For Tribe Fans Soon.

Ever since the Cleveland Indians lost their best of three series in the Wild Card round of the American League playoffs, the organization has been sending a depressing message surrounding the financial state of the franchise.

Be it from the year end press conference with team president Chris Antonetti or the weekly messages sent through the media about the off-season, the front office is making it very well known another reduction in the payroll is coming for the Tribe.

We understand that Major League Baseball teams all lost revenue due to the shortened season and without ticket sales. That is indisputable. What we don’t know is how many teams have been pounding this message to their fan base.

Ticket sales were lost as well as concessions and parking dollars, but keep in mind the Indians paid approximately $70 million less in salaries, and with the schedule kept within the Central Divisions of both leagues, travel expenses were also reduced greatly.

We have said this before, but we wonder how much spending will be down around the sport this winter. It could be tough for some average players, and there could be more players non-tendered rather than offering them arbitration, but our guess is there will be teams trying to make a splash in the free agent and trade market.

None of those teams, by the way, have a World Series title drought equal to the now 73 years without a title that Cleveland has.

What is particularly distressing about this talk by the organization is the success the franchise has enjoyed since Terry Francona became manager in 2013, and the record the Tribe has put together since 2016.

After making the World Series that season, Cleveland has won at least 91 games in every full season, and has made the post-season in four of the last five campaigns. The year they missed out? They won 93 ballgames.

You might think that since the Indians have been in contention for a long period of time, this is a club starting to show some age. However, of the top ten players in WAR on the 2020 Indians, only four are over 30 years old, and three of those players, Cesar Hernandez, Brad Hand, and Carlos Santana, are either free agents and/or have a club option for 2021.

The fourth player is pitcher Carlos Carrasco, who recently has been mentioned in trade rumors.

We should also mention that of this quartet, only Santana will play the 2021 season at over 35 years old. Hernandez and Hand will be just 31.

The other players who are in the top ten in WAR for 2020 (ages in parenthesis)? Shane Bieber (26), Jose Ramirez (28), Zach Plesac (26), Francisco Lindor (27), Tristan McKenzie (23), and James Karinchak (25).

It would seem this group could be the basis of a contending team for quite a few more years. Instead of adding to the group and bolstering the team to get into the playoffs, we hear about payroll reduction and the probable trade of one its best position players (Lindor) and a long time veteran starting pitcher who is still among the game’s best (Carrasco).

Somehow, Indians’ fans are very accepting of this, and we don’t know why. Perhaps young fans have more patience with the process, because, frankly, they can wait 10 years for a title.

With Tampa Bay in the World Series, we have heard fans justifying the cut in spending on players, but who knows when the Rays will get back. Tribe fans thought the Indians would be back soon after 2016, but we are still waiting.

Meanwhile, the Dodgers have been in three of the last four Fall Classics. The Red Sox have won four World Series since the turn of the century. The tried and true way of winning in baseball is accumulating very good players and hold on to them, which Cleveland organization can do, if they so desire.

It may be a cold, angry, and depressing winter for fans of the Cleveland Indians if the payroll will be slashed again. That’s nothing to look forward to.

Biggest Factor For Tribe? Games Aren’t In The Bronx

Tomorrow night, the Indians start the new “Wild Card” round of the American League playoffs, necessitated this year (we hope only this year) by the shortened regular season.

Because of the regional schedule for the year, Tribe fans haven’t seen the Yankees this season, and vice versa. This we do know, New York had a 33-27 record this season, going 22-9 at Yankee Stadium and 11-18 on the road.

By the way, all three games of the series will be played in Cleveland at Progressive Field.

Because the Yankees get on national television more than most teams, certainly more than the Indians, baseball fans know the names: Giancarlo Stanton, Aaron Judge, Gleyber Torres, D.J. LeMahieu, and Gary Sanchez.

And they signed Garrit Cole, who won 20 games with the Astros last season, helping to pitch them to the AL pennant.

Their closer is Aroldis Chapman, who Tribe fans remember very well from the 2016 World Series.

However, in looking at the statistics for the Yankees this season, it has a Jekyll and Hyde feel to them.

You see, in the Bronx, the pinstripers have a team batting average of .273 with 67 home runs as a team, and a 907 OPS.

As a comparison, the Indians team statistics for the entire season has them with a .228 batting average, 59 home runs, and an OPS of 689. That’s for both home and road games.

LeMahieu, the AL batting champion, batted .448 at Yankee Stadium with eight home runs. Luke Voit, who led the Junior Circuit in long balls, swatted 16 at home. Four other Yanks hit six dingers in the Bronx, meanwhile the Tribe had four players who hit more that a half dozen for the entire season.

However, away from the famous short porch in right field, New York has at least according to the numbers been a far different team.

On the road, the Bronx Bombers have a .220 batting average with only 27 home runs, and a 668 OPS. They hit like Cleveland did all season long away from the House That Derek Jeter Built.

LeMahieu, who is a great hitter (we wanted the Indians to sign him when he was a free agent), batted .283 on the road, but had just two dingers. Voit, who had 22 homers for the season, hit just six away from the Bronx.

Stanton (14 for 49, 3 HR) and old friend Gio Urshela (21 for 65, 12 RBI) were the most productive New York bats away from home this season.

What is odd is the Yankee pitching splits at home and on the road. NY pitchers had a 3.87 ERA in the Big Apple, with Cole having a 2.09 mark, winning four games. Masahiro Tanaka, the game two starter won three at home, but with a 4.40 ERA.

The weird stat is they had a 4.88 ERA on the road. We understand their road games were at hitter friendly parks like Fenway Park, Oriole Park at Camden Yards, and Sahlens Field in Buffalo, where the Blue Jays played their home games, and it was very much a pitcher’s nightmare.

Tanaka pitched well on the road (2.33 ERA) which isn’t good news for Wednesday night’s contest.

As for the Tribe, they hit .233 at home (compared to .222 on the road), but hit 34 of their 59 home runs on the road.

Jose Ramirez (who else?) was the best hitter at Progressive Field, hitting .317 with 19 extra base hits. Cesar Hernandez hit .313 at his new home park, and Carlos Santana belted five of his eight homers in Cleveland.

The Indians’ pitchers had a 3.67 ERA at home vs. 2.90 away from Progressive Field. It didn’t matter for game one starter Shane Bieber, the likely AL Cy Young Award winner, who had 1.23 ERA and struck out 44 hitters in 22 innings at home.

Game 2 starter Carlos Carrasco had a 3.03 ERA, and Game 3 hurler Zach Plesac is at 2.08 along the shores of Lake Erie.

What does all of this mean? Not much, because it’s baseball, and a three game series doesn’t really determine a lot. However, ignore the names wearing the New York uniforms. They are television personalities because the networks want the Yankees.

The numbers show the Indians can compete and win the series if (and that’s a huge if) their beleaguered offense can cobble up some runs. That’s the biggest question of the week for the Tribe.

Who’s Tribe’s #2? Might Just Be Plesac.

Prior to the Major League Baseball trade deadline, there seemed to be a clear pecking order to the Cleveland Indians’ starting rotation.

Shane Bieber, who is the favorite for the American League Cy Young Award in this COVID shortened season is the clear ace, and would start Game 1 of the first round of the playoffs if and when Cleveland qualifies, unless he was needed to start a game so the Tribe could qualify for the post-season.

Right now, by our calculations, the magic number is 15 to clinch a berth in the eight team field.

Before the megadeal with San Diego, it would have figured that Mike Clevinger would pitch game two.

After all, Clevinger was 26-12 over the past two full seasons, and a 2.90 ERA and 376 strikeouts in 326 innings. And in his lone playoff start, he pitched five innings in Game 3 vs. Houston in the 2018 Division Series, allowing just one run, striking out nine.

So, although we don’t want to put the cart ahead of the horse, who takes the ball in the second game, and perhaps most pivotal game of the first round best of three series, a game in which the Tribe could advance or have to win to force a deciding game.

A couple of weeks ago, Aaron Civale would have been the odds on favorite, but since his complete game win against Pittsburgh, he hasn’t pitched as well.

Prior to that start, Civale pitched 25 innings to a 3.60 ERA, allowing 25 hits. Four of the ten earned runs he allowed came in a game against the Tigers, where he gave up three runs early before settling down.

In his last three starts, he’s allowed 10 runs in 18 frames, a 5.00 ERA. His usual impeccable control has been reduced as well. Before the Pirates start, the right-handers had struck out 26 hitters, walking just three.

The last three starts have yielded 17 whiffs against six walks, and 20 hits allowed. There has been a lot of traffic on the basepaths.

Terry Francona could also pick veteran Carlos Carrasco, who has rebounded from a tough three start stretch by allowing just a single run in his last two starts, spanning 12 innings, with 13 strikeouts and five walks.

Carrasco has made two very good post-season starts, the first in game three of the ’17 Division Series vs. the Yankees (5-2/3 scoreless innings, seven whiffs), and the other in game two of the ’18 ALDS against Houston (5-1/3 innings, two runs) where he left the game with the lead.

However, the guy we would consider is Zach Plesac, who stuffwise might rank right behind Bieber. The second year right-hander, who missed time because of his ill advised night on the town in Chicago, has a 3-1 record and a 1.32 ERA.

He’s allowed just 23 hits in 34 innings, striking out 34 hitters, while walking just two. He’s faced the White Sox, one of the league’s best hitting attacks twice, pitching 14 scoreless innings, fanning 18 batters, while walking just one.

He is scheduled to start in Minneapolis this weekend, so we may have a clearer picture of what he can do after that start. If he can control the Twins bats, he could emerge as the game two starter once the post-season starts.

That’s amazing because when the season started, Plesac was the #5 guy in the rotation. But starting with his first start against the White Sox, an eight scoreless inning performance with 11 strikeouts, he’s shown a great improvement from his rookie year.

Obviously, there will be 3-4 starts remaining for the rotation depending on how Francona, Sandy Alomar Jr., and Carl Willis want to line it up for the playoffs. However, Plesac has thrown his hat into the ring for the second spot in the rotation.

Just another surprise in this crazy 2020 season.

Tribe’s Vaunted Rotation Is No Longer…Right Now

Just two weeks ago, the Cleveland Indians had a starting rotation that was remarkable. All five members were capable of dominating the opponents’ hitters.

Led by Cy Young Award candidate Shane Bieber, the Tribe pitchers blew through the first 17 games of the regular season without giving up more than four runs.

Then came the night of August 8th, when Zach Plesac and Mike Clevinger decided to go out onto the mean streets of the Windy City, and had to be quarantined when they violated the protocol Major League Baseball and the Indians put forth in handling the coronavirus pandemic.

In the 11 games since the trip to Chicago, the Cleveland pitching staff has allowed more than four runs six times.

Carlos Carrasco hasn’t pitched well in his last three starts. Adam Plutko has been hit hard in his last two. So, right now, the dominance in the starting staff depends on Bieber, Aaron Civale, and a youngster who has one major league start in Triston McKenzie.

Can Carrasco return to form? Of course, Sandy Alomar Jr. discussed how the veteran is trying to make some adjustments and Alomar alluded to how Cookie is not moving the ball up and down in the strike zone.

Still, in his last 12 innings, over those three starts, Carrasco has allowed 10 earned runs (7.50 ERA) and has walked nine hitters, and given up three gopher balls.

Plutko, who to be fair, entered the season as the sixth starter/long reliever, has had issues getting through the batting order a second time in his three starts, pitching 10 innings and allowing 11 runs (9.90 ERA) and has just four strikeouts.

Does the front office really want to depend on the 23-year-old rookie in McKenzie, a guy who hadn’t pitched in a competitive game since 2018 before dominating the Tigers last Saturday night? That’s one helluva gamble.

And with the Cleveland offense struggling on a nightly basis to score runs, anything less than outstanding pitching seems to spell defeat for the Indians. That puts a heck of a lot of pressure on the two holdovers from the beginning of the season, Bieber and Civale.

Those two have been tremendous. As stated before, Bieber is a candidate for the Cy Young Award, going 5-0 with a 1.11 ERA in his six starts, striking out an ungodly 65 hitters in 40-2/3 innings.

Civale has been very good too, with a 3-2 record and a 2.91 ERA in 34 innings. He threw a complete game against Pittsburgh in his last start.

So, why we understand the move the organization made in putting Clevinger and Plesac on the restricted list first, and then sending them basically to the minor leagues, the fact is, the performance of the staff has suffered without them.

Therefore, it seems like time to smooth things over with the rest of the roster and get at least one of the two back with the big club right away.

Plutko is scheduled to make his next start against the first place Minnesota Twins on Wednesday night, and based on his last three outings, it would be a stretch to find a fan looking forward to that matchup.

What seemed like a historically great starting rotation has sprung leaks, and it is not due to injury. If the Indians want to make another deep post-season run, they should understand having one or both of these pitchers back is a necessity.

Well, At Least The Pitching Has Been Great

The Cleveland Indians have played 11 baseball games. The league earned run average coming into play on Monday was 4.57, meaning the average American League team gives up about four and a half runs per game.

If the Tribe offense had done what the average AL team could do every game, Cleveland’s record would be 11-0. That’s right, the Indians’ pitching staff has not allowed more than four runs in any game this season.

Quite frankly, that’s remarkable.

Friday night, Mike Clevinger didn’t have it. He allowed four runs to the Twins in the first two innings. After the game, fans were saying it was bound to happen, the great pitching couldn’t continue.

Minnesota won the game 4-1, so again an average offensive night would have resulted in a win.

This is not another piece designed to bury the currently anemic Tribe hitting attack, but rather to praise the remarkable job the pitching staff has done.

Cleveland pitchers lead the league in ERA at 2.35, strikeouts (113), and least walks allowed (15). Yes, it does mean that Tribe pitchers are collectively walking less than two batters per game.

Imagine how good the staff would be if they could face the Tribe hitters?

We know that comes off as snarky, but the Minnesota staff leads the AL in hits per nine innings, in part because they held Indians’ hitters to just two hits in back to back contests over the weekend.

The Tribe’s hurlers have a strikeout to walk ratio of 7.53. The next best rate in the AL? That would be Baltimore and New York at 3.29, so the Indians’ ratio is almost double the second best rate.

About the only negative thing you can save about the pitching is it has allowed the long ball at a league average rate, giving up 11 gopher balls. Minnesota scored all its runs by homers on Saturday vs. Carlos Carrasco, and last night, the Reds scored all three of their tallies on dingers.

The starters are getting the bulk of the credit, and rightly so. Shane Bieber has been unreal in his two starts, and Clevinger’s second outing was the only one where the first pitcher on the hill for the Tribe didn’t see the sixth inning.

However the bullpen, figured to be a weakness, has pitched admirably too. Only two of the eight members of the ‘pen have allowed opponents to score earned runs (Brad Hand, Dominic Leone), while the other six guys have pitched 23-2/3 frames without allowing an earned run.

Two rookies, James Karinchak and Cam Hill, have already earned saves, each the first of their respective careers. And to date, the former has lived up to expectations by allowing just an unearned run (due to the new extra inning rule) and striking out eight in five innings.

That means in 10-1/3 big league innings, he has struck out 16 batters.

The whole staff specializes in the strikeout. Adam Cimber has just one in 3-2/3 innings, Adam Plutko fanned just four in six innings in his lone start, and Nick Wittgren has whiffed three in four frames.

Otherwise, every other man who has pitched for Cleveland this season has at least as many strikeouts as innings pitched.

What’s scary is how long can this continue? When the offense starts to perk up, will the pitching staff show signs of being mortal? You would think both parts of the team will regress to the mean eventually.

That doesn’t take away from the remarkable job by this staff. Appreciate what you are seeing. It’s unbelievable.