How Long Of A Leash Will Some Tribe Players Get?

When you rank last in the league in runs scored, shouldn’t patience go out the window?

We have always said people in the front office have to be more patient than fans. Heck, many fans want to cut players because they go hitless in two straight games, or even worse, strikeout with the bases loaded in a one run game in the bottom of the ninth.

Baseball professional always talk about the numbers on a guy’s baseball card. What they mean is players who have reached a certain level will almost certainly return to those levels.

It’s why the Tribe brass isn’t panicking about Jose Ramirez’ slow start, even though it extended from the last six weeks of last season.

Last year, Paul Goldschmidt, a frequent MVP candidate, hit .144 (14 for 97) in May. He rebounded to hit .364 with 10 home runs in June.

That’s the way baseball is.

However, there should be a sense of urgency when you have played roughly a fifth of a baseball season, and your team in last in the AL in runs scored, which is the tale of the Cleveland Indians’ 2019 season right now.

Surely, it is easy to have patience with Jose Ramirez, who is 26 years old, and coming off a season in which he finished in the top three in the MVP voting. He may have been the best hitter in the league from the beginning of the 2018 season until the middle of August.

However, when a player gets past his 30th birthday, and he goes into a slump, it is natural to wonder if it is indeed a slump, or the beginning of a decline.

In the Indians’ case, if the offense was rolling, and everyone except for one player was producing, it would be easy to overlook the struggling player and give him time to work out whatever issue he is having at the plate.

But when they are only one or two hitters putting up decent numbers, there comes a time where the manager simply can’t wait anymore. And save your overly patient Tito comments for the time being.

Which leads us to ask, how long does the rope go for two non-performing veterans right now, Jason Kipnis and Carlos Gonzalez?

Since the end of the 2016 season, Kipnis has hit .227 with a 688 OPS. That’s below average production.

CarGo has just two extra base hits in 65 plate appearance this year, and last season had just 17 non-singles in 265 times at bat. Compare that to 35 in 239 times at the dish in Coors Field.

The question of whether or not the veteran outfielder was a product of the thin air in Colorado seems appropriate.

Keep in mind, Kipnis is 32 and Gonzalez is 33.

We get that it is not fair, but that’s the way it is in baseball today. Young players get the benefit of the doubt. Studies have shown ball players reach their peak between ages 27 to 29.

Once you reach 30 years old, there is additional pressure to maintain your production in order to keep a roster spot.

So, if the Tribe’s offensive struggles continue, at what point do they move on from the two veterans?

In Kipnis’ case, there really isn’t any alternative. The club’s best middle infield prospect in the high minors, Yu Chang, is hitting .151 at AAA. Does journeyman Mike Freeman start getting at bats in place of Kipnis? Not likely.

As for CarGo, the shadow of spring training sensation Oscar Mercado looms. If he starts hitting like he did earlier in the season, can the club afford to leave him in Columbus?

And if they bring him up, whose playing time decreases?

The point is the overall malaise of the offense doesn’t afford the opportunity to be patient for Terry Francona and the front office.

It’s not fair, but it’s reality.

How Have Tribe Outfield Issues Played Out?

One of the biggest questions heading into the 2019 season for the Cleveland Indians was their outfield.

After letting Michael Brantley walk away via free agency, the Tribe headed to spring training with their most proven player in the outfield being Leonys Martin, and he missed the last two months of ’18 with a life threatening illness.

Before spring training ended, they wound up giving a look see to veteran Matt Joyce, who was released, and signed three time All Star (the Indians keep reminding us of that) Carlos Gonzalez toward the end of the spring.

Gonzalez was activated to the big league roster on April 14th.

Again, we understand the season is just 21 games old, but the situation Terry Francona has to deal with on a nightly basis is still pretty clearly in flux.

Martin has been the one constant, starting all but one game in centerfield, but he still has big platoon split issues.

Against right handed pitching, Martin is batting .302 with a 932 OPS, belting three home runs. Versus southpaws? Not so good. He is 4 for 22 with three walks and nine strikeouts.

We said before the season started he should be platooned and we stick by that thought.

Tyler Naquin has garnered the majority of the starts in rightfield (17), but outside of the Toronto series when he went 5 for 11 in three starts, he hasn’t performed well.

He’s hitting just .220 with a 568 OPS. Take out those three games vs. the Blue Jays, and that mark falls to .167. He’s struck out 20 times, walking just twice. That might be fine if you are hitting the ball with power, but the early 2016 sensation has just one dinger.

It’s hard to understand Francona’s fascination with him at this point.

Jake Bauers has been the semi-regular in left, starting 12 times, with Greg Allen getting seven starts.

We are more impressed by Bauers the more we see him. He’s hitting just .219 with a 684 OPS, but he’s walked 10 times (with 15 strikeouts), and has held his own against lefties, going 5 for 20.

He’s getting more time now at first (with Carlos Santana DHing) with Gonzalez settling in left. We like his bat in the lineup.

Allen appears to be a young player who is having problems with a part-time role, starting the season just 4 for 34, with half of those hits coming Sunday night. He has fanned 11 times with two walks.

We would like to see Allen get regular playing time in right before determining if he needs to go back to AAA. As we said, his struggles may be the result of getting sporadic at bats.

We had high hopes for Jordan Luplow based on his numbers at AAA, but he struggled in spring training, and didn’t do much after opening the year with the Tribe. He has struck out 10 times in 25 at bats in Columbus.

The darling of spring training, Oscar Mercado, has continued to rake with the Clippers. He has an 897 OPS to date, and has stolen seven bases. We are sure the front office doesn’t want to call him up unless he will receive plenty of playing time, but he looks like he is forcing the issue.

And so is the lack of production that still exists in the outfield. Even if Gonzalez regains some of his form from his Colorado days, you still have a problem in CF against lefties, and RF is still a gaping hole of suck.

How and when will the front office resolve that problem? It this is still how things are going after 20 more games, action will need to be taken.

Can CarGo And Kipnis Provide A Lift?

It would not be an understatement to say the Cleveland Indians’ hitting has been disappointing to date.

Granted, only 15 games have been played (so tonight will mean 10% of the schedule is through), but there aren’t many categories the Tribe doesn’t rank near the bottom.

They are 14th in runs scored per game. The Tribe ranks last in the AL in on base percentage, which many people thought would be a hallmark of this season’s edition of the Indians’ offense, the ability to take pitches and work counts.

They are second from the bottom in slugging percentage, meaning extra base hits aren’t coming either. And for those old school statistic people, Cleveland is the only American League team hitting under the Mendoza line, sitting at .194.

We have been told help is on the way, with Carlos Gonzalez and Jason Kipnis now activated, and hopefully the return of Francisco Lindor, maybe as early as next week. However, will that be enough?

It has been well documented that Gonzalez has struggled away from the thin air of Coors Field for several years. Will he make adjustments to his approach now that he is not playing 81 games per year at altitude? And if he does, will the adjustments work in a new home park and a new league?

No doubt, Kipnis will be an upgrade over what the Tribe has had at shortstop, but that’s not where he plays. He plays second base, where Brad Miller has given the team decent production.

On the other hand, the longtime Tribesman has had an OPS hovering around the 700 mark in each of the last two years. If that trend continues, how much extra production will he be providing?

That leaves Lindor, which will be a dramatic offensive boost over the historically bad combination of Eric Stamets and Max Moroff at the position. Those two (and we know Moroff has played second as well) have combined for a 4 for 64 mark (.063) and 35 strikeouts.

One player will not turn around the hitting. If you don’t believe that, then analyze why Mike Trout has only been to the playoffs once in his big league career.

An obvious help would be for Jose Ramirez to start hitting like he has for much of the last three seasons. The good news is Ramirez isn’t striking out excessively, just 10 times in 61 plate appearances.

His walks are down greatly, with just two in 2019, compared to 106 all of last season.

We think Ramirez needs to go back to basics. He is overanxious right now, leading to not walking and a lot of pop ups.

He needs to get back to an all fields approach and we think he will be fine.

So, basically the Indians are in a spot where Gonzalez and Kipnis have to be above average hitters so the Tribe can start to generate some runs. If they aren’t, the front office is going to have to get to work quickly.

Leonys Martin has been very good after a slow start, and Carlos Santana has gotten off to a quick start, thankfully, because that is not his norm.

We have always said, a good big league lineup has six to seven solid bats.

Right now, you would have to say the front office’s plan this off-season hasn’t worked, but there is still time.

Let’s hope the faith they have in some players isn’t misguided.

Tribe’s Winter Inactivity Coming Back To Haunt?

All throughout the off-season, media and fans alike were questioning what the Cleveland Indians were doing offensively, particularly in the outfield.

It appears that these people were correct in asking these questions, and now it seems the front office has joined them.

Since spring training began, the Indians inked Hanley Ramirez, who was released by the Boston Red Sox in May last season to a minor league deal, and over the weekend, the club signed Carlos Gonzalez, late of the Colorado Rockies, to the same type of contract.

Whether either will help is up for debate.

As we said, Ramirez was released relatively early last season and no one signed him, and Gonzalez’ numbers away from hitter friendly Coors Field don’t scream “solution!”

The 33-year-old Gonzalez hit .276, with 16 homers and 64 knocked in last season (796 OPS) with look good until you see he batted .241 with 4 dingers and a 719 OPS away from the thin air in Colorado.

In fact, here are his numbers on the road for the last three seasons–

2018: .241/4 HR/17 RBI/719 OPS
2017: .203/6 HR/15 RBI/606 OPS
2016: .276/7 HR/36 RBI/744 OPS

Compare those numbers to another late signee, Adam Jones, who inked a deal with Arizona put up away for Camden Yards last season. Jones batted .276 with a 714 OPS in 2018 on the road.

It appears the Tribe braintrust is watching Jordan Luplow, Jake Bauers, and Tyler Naquin and isn’t liking what they see.

Luplow is 4 for 31 with 12 strikeouts, Naquin is 8 for 36 with 10 punch outs. Bauers is just 8 for 34. Let’s just say none of them have been overwhelming.

Our fear is Hanley Ramirez and Gonzalez won’t be either.

Which comes back to the organization not having a fallback plan after deciding not to pursue Michael Brantley during the off-season.

We said time and again (and we weren’t the only ones) the Cleveland lineup was very top heavy a year ago, and they lost maybe their most consistent bat in Brantley, and seemingly didn’t do much to replace him.

They traded Edwin Encarnacion too, but received Carlos Santana in return to cover that spot in the lineup.

While we understood getting younger players with a bigger upside in the organization in place of players like Melky Cabrera, Encarnacion, and yes, even Yan Gomes, they didn’t have a contingency plan in place.

Sure, they signed Matt Joyce just before camp started, but really, he’s in the same place in his career as Hanley Ramirez and Gonzalez. Those are low risk, high reward moves, but for a team with an excellent chance of making the post-season, they aren’t good enough.

It appears Terry Francona and the front office have realized the season opener is less than two weeks away, and they are worried about how they are going to generate any offense.

And yesterday, MLB Network’s Ken Rosenthal said the trade talks between the Indians and the Padres involving Corey Kluber or Trevor Bauer are still going on. San Diego has a surplus of outfielders.

As it is, the two best hitters during spring training have been Greg Allen, who came into camp as part of a platoon in centerfield, but may now be in there everyday, and Oscar Mercado, whose next major league at bat, will be his first.

Add in the possibility of Francisco Lindor’s absence for the first week or so of the regular season, and Jason Kipnis’ nagging injuries, and Tito can’t help but be concerned.

Unfortunately, with a little forethought, this situation could have been rectified during the off-season, but for some reason, it wasn’t.

Now, they are grasping at straws. It didn’t have to be that way.