Looking At Tribe OF Options

The Cleveland Indians’ infield looks to be settled with the signing of 2B Cesar Hernandez as a free agent.

Barring a deal involving SS Francisco Lindor, the Tribe will feature four switch-hitters in the infield with Carlos Santana at first, Hernandez and Lindor manning the keystone, and Jose Ramirez at third.

We also know Roberto Perez will be the primary catcher.

However, what about the outfield?

We know Oscar Mercado will go into spring training as the starting centerfielder, and Jordan Luplow will be somewhere out there vs. left-handed pitchers (at least).

And occasionally, Franmil Reyes will play right field.

There seems to be plenty of playing time available in the outfield and designated hitter spots.

Left-handed hitter Corey Dickerson, who had the highest slugging percentage on the market outside of Josh Donaldson, agreed to terms with the Marlins yesterday. We thought Dickerson would have been a good fit in Cleveland, at the very least forming a lethal platoon with Luplow.

The veteran has an 866 OPS vs. righties (.533 slugging) for his career. Last season, he had a 942 OPS against RHP.

A logical move would be to bring Yasiel Puig back as a free agent. The 29-year-old had an 800 OPS (.377 on base) after coming over from Cincinnati at the trade deadline, and overall has a career OPS of 823.

Other options, probably more costly though, would be Nicholas Castellanos and Marcell Ozuna.

Both right-handed hitters, Castellanos will play at 28 years old next season, and has had OPS over 800 in each of the last four seasons. Defensively, his best spot is probably DH, he is not known for his defense.

Ozuna has declined defensively as well since his days in Miami, but he has a career OPS of 784, but he has had just two seasons with a season over 800, last year right at that figure, and his career season of 2017, when he hit .312 with 37 HR and 124 RBI.

We look outside the organization because quite frankly, the internal options aren’t very appealing.

Tyler Naquin would be a solid platoon piece in the OF, but he will likely miss half the season with a torn ACL.

That leaves a combination of Delino DeShields, Greg Allen, Jake Bauers, and Bradley Zimmer to cover what amounts to one and a half spots in the outfield.

Here are the career OPS for that group:

DeShields 668
Allen 644
Bauers 691
Zimmer 652

We would like to see Luplow get a chance at a full time job in ’20. His minor league splits don’t shout platoon player, and he was so good vs. lefties, he deserves a chance at regular playing time.

The Indians also have 24-year-old left-handed hitter Daniel Johnson, who hit .290 with 19 HR and 77 RBI (868 OPS) and Akron and Columbus last season. He also doesn’t have a large platoon split.

But as with the four players listed above, it would be a huge leap of faith for a contending team to give a starting job to someone who hasn’t spent a full season at the AAA level.

Remember, last April and May, when the Indians were experimenting at a few spots due to injury and struggled mightily? They can’t do that again.

They have money freed up from the Corey Kluber deal, and they need to get an established outfielder, which will lengthen their lineup.

That’s what a team that won 90+ games in 2019 should be doing. However, the market the Cleveland Indians are playing in may dry up quick.

The Reason To Keep Frankie

The Cleveland Indians were in the news this week, but not for anything the front office would be happy about.

Mostly, the news involved what to do with their star shortstop, Francisco Lindor.

Lindor isn’t eligible for free agency until after the 2021 season, meaning he can play with the Tribe for two more full seasons with Indians just having to pay what he gets in arbitration, likely around $16-17 million this year and depending what kind of season he has, over $20 million in ’21.

At that point, Lindor could walk away from the franchise, with the Indians just getting draft pick compensation.

Many feel the Indians should move now because a deal involving the star shortstop would allow a possible trading partner two full seasons on Lindor, thus they would be willing to give up more to the Tribe.

However, we believe the best course of action for the Indians is to keep Lindor for two more years and see how everything plays out.

Here are our reasons:

Winning. Cleveland’s win totals over the last four seasons are 93, 91, 102, and 94. They are most definitely a threat to reach the post-season in 2020 and 2021. Why give away that chance, which leads us to…

2. Return From A Trade. Most likely, a deal for Lindor will bring back an established major leaguer who won’t be as good as Lindor along with some top prospects, who probably won’t be very good players (if they ever become very good) for a few years. Trading your best player weakens the team in the short run.

3. Youth Is Still On Tribe’s Side. The Indians are a reletively young team. In their current projected starting lineup, only catcher Roberto Perez and 1B/DH Carlos Santana are over 30 years old, and Lindor (26) and Jose Ramirez (27) are entering the prime of their careers, meaning their best years should be coming very soon.

4. Pitching. The Tribe still has plenty of it. Even with the trade of Corey Kluber, the rotation is still headed by Mike Clevinger (29), Shane Bieber (25), Carlos Carrasco (33), and a pair of 25-year-olds in Aaron Civale and Zach Plesac to round it out. The bullpen could be very tough in late innings with Brad Hand, and newcomer Emmanuel Clase and rookie James Karinchak. No reason to waste it.

With the Kluber deal, the Indians can still pay Lindor what he gets in arbitration this season, and improve the offense with the money saved in the Kluber trade, and still be at a comfort level in terms of payroll.

Plus, a lot of things can change in two years.

First, the basic agreement expires after 2021, and who knows, maybe the owners get a “franchise tag” in the next round of collective bargaining. Also, with the news that came out about John Sherman when we bought the Royals, it appears the Dolan family is at least thinking about selling the franchise.

And don’t forget the Indians local television deal ends after 2022, so another influx of cash could present itself to ownership.

Our point is simply this, don’t force yourself into a false deadline. Sometimes the best course of action is to let things play out.

All sorts of things can happen in two years. Heck, the Indians might even win a World Series. And that has a better chance of happening with Francisco Lindor wearing a Cleveland uniform.

Tribe Needs They Should Be Looking To Fill.

With baseball’s Winter Meetings now concluded, and Francisco Lindor still on the Cleveland Indians’ roster, we can now focus on the holes the Tribe still has on its roster right now.

The Indians’ offense was slightly below league average at 4.75 runs per game (the AL norm was 4.88), so that’s a good place to start. Especially when you consider the pitching staff was third in ERA and one of only four American League teams under 4.00 (Tampa, Houston, and Oakland).

The offense needs to get better. Right now, Terry Francona has three solid hitters in his lineup: Lindor, Jose Ramirez, and Carlos Santana. Franmil Reyes should be able to provide power (and lots of it), but he also strikes out a ton and needs to get on base a little more.

Oscar Mercado showed signs of being a good player (761 OPS), but he’s another young player who needs (and should develop) more patience at the plate.

And Jordan Luplow was a terror vs. southpaws in 2019 (1181 OPS), but his minor league numbers don’t indicate he should be strictly a platoon player in the big leagues. We would like to see him get an opportunity to play everyday.

However, the latter two players are somewhat gambles, and a team that figures to be in contention in 2020 has to minimize the “ifs” on the roster.

What has to be addressed before spring training?:

2B/3B: Jason Kipnis is a free agent, and let’s face it, hasn’t been the same since 2016, and Ramirez has told the front office he will play either spot, he just wants to stay put. So, president Chris Antonetti and GM Mike Chernoff have to fill this spot, and the internal options aren’t very promising.

They could give the spot to Yu Chang, who had a 560 OPS in a limited role late in the season, but his minor league numbers aren’t exciting either, .251 career batting average, 762 OPS.

They also have Christian Arroyo, a former top 100 prospect who was acquired from Tampa at the deadline last season, but he has been injured much of the last three seasons, and has a 622 OPS in 70 big league games.

We would be looking for another alternative.

OF: We mentioned Mercado and Luplow earlier, and the plan is to use Reyes some in rightfield, but no doubt, he will be more of a DH, so there are a lot of at bats to fill in LF and RF.

With Yasiel Puig a free agent, the candidates include Greg Allen (644 career OPS), Jake Bauers (691), Bradley Zimmer (652), and Daniel Johnson, who batted .290 with an 868 OPS at Columbus and Akron a year ago.

We would think the brass would like another proven bat to patrol the outfield.

Bullpen: Last season, Francona and pitching coach Carl Willis patched through the season with Brad Hand and some twine and rubber bands to put together a solid relief corps.

Fans also got a look at strikeout artist, rookie James Karinchak, who whiffed everyone in the minors, and then eight big league hitters in 5-1/3 innings.

No doubt, the Indians need more power arms at the back of their bullpen, to bridge the gap from an outstanding starting rotation to Hand, and also to not overuse their closer, which is what happened a year ago.

The Indians have some starting pitching depth to fill some of these holes. And while a few of the young players are promising, a contending team has to have fall back options.

That’s what Antonetti, Chernoff, and his crew should be working on between now and when the 2020 Tribe gets together in Goodyear, Arizona.

Improve Offense? Tribe Should Deal From Strength

The Cleveland Indians still have too many holes in their lineup for our liking. As the roster currently stands, they have three “for sure” very good offensive players.

Francisco Lindor and Jose Ramirez are the studs. Lindor has finished in the top 15 in the American League MVP voting each of the last four seasons, and has had an OPS over 800 in four of the five years he has worn a Cleveland uniform.

Ramirez is working on a streak of four straight seasons with an OPS over 800, although many doubted he could get there in 2019 after his extremely slow start.

The other is Carlos Santana, who even if his average drops from the career high .281 last season, still has pop and can get on base so much as anybody in the game. He has a career .367 on base percentage.

There are some players who we expect will be solid, most notably Franmil Reyes, who will be just 24 next season, and should hit a ton of home runs, but can he draw more walks and cut down on strikeouts.

We would also hope for progression from Oscar Mercado, who will be 25 and should still be getting better.

There are a lot of ifs offensively with this group, and there will probably be a regression for Roberto Perez at the dish. Perez hit a career high 24 homers in 2019.

So, how do the Indians improve themselves offensively? Luckily they have depth in a category most of the major league teams are looking for, and that would be starting pitching.

With the return to good health for Corey Kluber and Carlos Carrasco, the Cleveland front office has depth in this area.

Shane Bieber made the All Star team (won the game’s MVP) and finished 4th in the American League Cy Young Award voting. And Mike Clevinger went 13-4 with a 2.71 ERA in 21 starts after missing two months early in the season.

So, when Kluber and Carrasco are back, they really are the 3rd and 4th starters coming into 2020 with Clevinger and Bieber being the aces.

You can’t forget Aaron Civale, who had a 2.34 ERA in 10 starts late in the season, and had people reminded of a younger Kluber.

Of course, you need depth in the rotation to get through a 162 game season, especially when two of the starters are over 30 years old, and the Tribe has that too.

Zach Plesac (25 next year) made 21 starts and had a 3.81 ERA, allowing less hits than innings pitched and striking out twice as many batters as he walked. And Adam Plutko emerged as a serviceable fifth starter, making 20 starts.

And don’t forget Jefry Rodriguez, who made eight starts for the Indians a year ago, and southpaw Logan Allen, who came over in the three way trade at the deadline and was ranked as a top 100 prospect.

Triston McKenzie, another top 100 arm, is also now on the 40 man roster, although he missed all of last year with an injury.

So, the Indians can afford to move a starting pitcher to get some offense, and still have depth to sustain an injury or a performance not up to the expectations the organization would have.

And that might be a more palatable way to improve the hitting rather than spending big money on a free agent.

The best trades in baseball are always made from organizational depth. The Indians have what other teams want. It’s time to reap something they need for it.

You Trade For Prospects When You Are Rebuilding. The Indians Aren’t.

In recent years, the sports talk shows in Cleveland spent a lot of time talking about the NFL Draft. It seems like folks like to talk about the possibility of getting players more than the players that actually play in northeast Ohio.

When it comes to the Cleveland Indians, it comes down to trading for prospects. Apparently, it’s better to deal for young players rather than sign the great players who are already here.

Yes, we are talking through a thin veil here about Francisco Lindor. There are many in the area who think the Indians are better off rebuilding a team that won 93 games last season, rather than trying to get over the hump and get back into the post-season.

Look, if the Tribe was 75-87 this past season and had a roster loaded with a bunch of 30 year olds, we might think the same thing.

But here is a list of the Indians’ leaders in WAR for 2019–

Shane Bieber (24 years old)
Lindor (25)
Carlos Santana (33)
Mike Clevinger (28)
Roberto Perez (30)
Jose Ramirez (26)

Does this look like a team on its last legs and ready to be rebuilt?

We also subscribe to the theory that until proven otherwise, prospects are suspects until proven otherwise. Now, that doesn’t mean we don’t appreciate top minor league talent, because we do.

In 2013, there were those in the media saying the Indians should deal Lindor to get help for Terry Francona’s first year here, and we gave the opinion that was ridiculous.

Still, dealing a player like Lindor is now, and he’s one of the best ten players in the sport, for prospects is dicey at best.

For example, here is a list of the Top Ten prospects in baseball in 2016, according to Baseball America:

Corey Seager
Byron Buxton
Yoan Moncada
Jose Urias
Lucas Giolito
JP Crawford
Alex Reyes
Orlando Arcia
Trea Turner
Joey Gallo

Of those ten, Seager and Turner are very good players, and Moncada looks to be on his way. Giolito had a great year in ’19, but struggled before that.

Reyes has been hurt a lot, and Gallo has always had immense power, and looked to be improving his game this past season before he was injured.

The other have been disappointments, and getting one of them back for a player like Lindor would be a swing and a miss.

The following year’s (2017) list contained Dansby Swanson, Reyes, Nick Senzel, Willy Adames, and Amed Rosario.

That year also featured Andrew Benintendi, Moncado, Gleyber Torres, Austin Meadows, and Cody Bellinger, any of which would be a solid return for a star player.

That’s still a 50/50 proposition.

And trading a great player for three above average players isn’t a good deal either, because if you have the former, you can likely find average guys to fill in those spots.

(Think Julio Franco for Pete O’Brien, Jerry Browne, and Oddibe McDowell for you older fans).

We are sure we will hear about how the Washington Nationals went to the World Series after Bryce Harper walked away in free agency. But the Nats had Juan Soto on the horizon to basically replace Harper.

Back in 2000, the Seattle Mariners lost Alex Rodriguez to free agency and won a Major League record 116 games the following year. Just like the Nationals without Harper.

Except the Mariners haven’t been back to the playoffs again.

Look, the Indians are going to do what they are going to do. However, we think it’s better to keep great players, which Frankie Lindor is.

And he’s here for two more years, and it would be a surprise if the Indians were not contenders in either of those years.

It’s not time for a rebuild, nor it is time to trade Francisco Lindor. And people shouldn’t assume the return will be three blue chip players.

Tribe Should Be Active In Hot Stove

Let’s make this very clear, the Cleveland Indians have never asked us for advise on running the team.

However, that doesn’t stop us from making suggestions on what they should be thinking about this winter.

Here is what we would do starting the day after the World Series ends so the Indians can return to the American League playoffs in 2020 as Central Division champions.

We agree with the decisions they’ve said they will make already. That means we would pick up the option on Corey Kluber and decline the options on Jason Kipnis and Dan Otero.

Yes, we know Kluber struggled in his seven starts in 2019, but as we just said, it’s seven starts. And there will be less burden on the two time Cy Young Award winner, with the emergence of Mike Clevinger and Shane Bieber. If Kluber can provide 200 innings in ’20, he is well worth the $17.5 million the Tribe will pay him.

We would also decline to offer Danny Salazar and Cody Anderson arbitration and we would add one more name to that list in Kevin Plawecki. If we were Chris Antonetti and Mike Chernoff, we would look for an upgrade to back up Roberto Perez.

To replace Kipnis, we would look for a third baseman, either on the trade market or in free agency (most likely the former) and move Jose Ramirez to second base.

We think there will be some bargains available in free agency at one of those positions. A one year deal would be ideal because top prospect Nolan Jones is on the horizon, if he can cut down on his strikeouts.

We would also strongly suggest to Terry Francona to get Francisco Lindor out of the leadoff spot. Besides Jordan Luplow, Lindor had the highest slugging percentage on the team, clubbing 74 extra base hits, nine more than Carlos Santana.

Wouldn’t it be nice if some of those extra base knocks came with men on base? The shortstop bats at least once every game with no one on by leading off.

We know Francona likes Lindor to set a tone in that spot, but when the offense has fallen off like it did in ’19, it might be more efficient to put someone who gets on base consistently in the leadoff spot (Carlos Santana?) and move Lindor to the #2 or #3 spot.

Speaking of Lindor, the biggest thing the Indians front office should do is take care of his contract situation, and by that we mean open up the purse strings and sign him long term.

And as we have said before, we don’t buy for a minute the notion that the ownership can’t keep Lindor in a Cleveland uniform long term, nor do we think the Tribe can’t be competitive and pay the shortstop a boatload of money.

Somehow, they have to shore up leftfield, which was a sinkhole for much of 2019. We would recommend seeing if Jordan Luplow can man the spot. Luplow was lethal vs. southpaws (.439 OBP, .742 slugging), but in the minors, he handled right handers well.

He would get the first shot at the job, but we also would take a long look at Daniel Johnson in spring training.

The bullpen needs work too. In today’s game, you need more power arms, something the Indians lacked last season. James Karinchak is a start, but more are on the way, guys like Kyle Nelson and Cam Hill.

In terms of trade pieces, the rotation depth the Indians developed in ’19 could be key.

The projected starters right now would be Clevinger, Bieber, Kluber, Carlos Carrasco, and for the sake of argument, let’s say Aaron Civale.

That leaves Zach Plesac, Adam Plutko, Jeffry Rodriguez, Logan Allen, and don’t forget Triston McKenzie as possible pieces to get some bats.

If you trade one of them, you still have a lot of depth.

Hopefully, the front office feels it is imperative to get back to the top of the heap in the AL Central. They need to get better against good teams and good pitchers.

Let’s see what happens in the hot stove season.

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.

Tribe Report Cards: Everyday Players

The Cleveland Indians reign as American League Central Division champions ended after three straight seasons.

Yes, they won 93 games, and that’s very good, they did not make the post-season, so we cannot be happy about the year, and it definitely wasn’t a success, no matter how many injuries the club and Terry Francona had to endure.

We decided to put together a report card for the squad (not that they asked!). We didn’t grade the bit players, the guys who were called up in September (FYI–don’t think anyone would have received higher than a D), but we wanted to give our appraisal of the 2019 edition of the Cleveland Indians–

Players Who Gets A’s:

Carlos Santana: After missing a year signing with the Phillies as a free agent, the switch-hitter had a career year in ’19. He tied his career best in home runs, and had his highest RBI total and OPS.

He will be 34 next year, and normally, we would say he’s a candidate to be dealt, as his value with never be higher. But, Santana’s numbers improved because he changed his approach at the plate, using more of the field.

He may not hit 34 HR’s, but his ability to draw walks make him a good offensive player if he hits around .260 with 25 dingers.

Roberto Perez: Despite all the complaints about dealing Yan Gomes (see the comments about Santana), Perez took his first opportunity as a regular and ran with it, belting 24 homers with a 7754 OPS.

He should win a Gold Glove for his defensive prowess and his ability to handle what turned out to be a very young pitching staff cannot be overlooked.

Players With A “B” Grade:

Francisco Lindor: Lindor is a superstar, but his season was below the tremendous standards he has set for himself. He missed the first month of the year with calf and ankle issues, but his walk rate was the lowest since his rookie year and his struggles in the clutch seemed to be from being overanxious.

At 25 years old, we feel safe in thinking it’s a blip on the radar.

Oscar Mercado: The rookie was a spring training sensation and probably should have made the club to open the season. He had a 761 OPS, which should improve because he’s only 24 years old, and his walk rate should get better as he gains experience.

Jose Ramirez: The switch-hitter struggled badly in the first half and was red hot after the All Star break. Still, even when he wasn’t hitting, he drew enough walks, and wound up with an 806 OPS. He even came back early from a hamate bone injury and hit a pair of homers in his first game back.

Yasiel Puig: Puig was expected to give the club a power burst, but instead was an on-base machine with an OBP of .377. All in all, not what the front office expected, but still helped the attack.

Franmil Reyes: The big man struggled mightily after coming over from San Diego, but also fell short of expectations, hitting just .237 albeit with 10 HRs. He needs to figure out the strike zone to fully blossom.

Jordan Luplow: Acquired from the Pirates, he was a tremendous asset vs. lefties. We would like to see him get an opportunity to get an everyday job next spring.

The “C” Group:

Tyler Naquin: Maybe he’s a bit too low here, but has problems staying healthy. Good arm, and if you hit him at the bottom of the order, he’s an asset.

Mike Freeman: Did a solid job as the primary infield back up, but when he had to play more, wasn’t as effective.

Greg Allen: A disappointment to us. Thought he earned a regular job in spring training, but doesn’t walk, and didn’t hit enough.

Kevin Plawecki: Did a serviceable job, but we don’t think he did enough for Francona and his staff to have confidence in him. That’s why Perez carried such a heavy load and got tired in August.

We’ll give Jason Kipnis and Jake Bauers a C-. Kipnis is way too inconsistent at the plate, prone to lengthy “0 for” streaks.

We liked Bauers’ approach early, patient, hit lefties well, but as the year went on, he struck out way too much. Doesn’t walk enough, not enough power.

We will grade the pitchers next week.

Many Seasons Within A Season For The Tribe.

It is difficult to believe the major league baseball season is 2/3rds over, but it is.

And for the Cleveland Indians, it has kind of been several seasons wrapped into one, and the last third of the 2019 season will probably look like a different one as well.

Here is how the Tribe has stacked up breaking down the campaign so far into 27 game (1/6th of the season) segments:

First 27 games: 15-12
Games 28-54: 12-15
Games 55-81: 17-10
Games 82-108: 19-8

It is clear that Terry Francona’s club has gotten better as the season has progressed, and there is no doubt the roster is very much different than it was on Opening Day in Minnesota.

The beginning of the year had Francona playing Eric Stamets, who was recently designated for assignment, at shortstop with Francisco Lindor injured. Mike Clevinger made two starts and pulled a muscle in his shoulder/back. Leonys Martin was in centerfield, and by the end of that stretch, Carlos Gonzalez was getting everyday playing time.

Thankfully, Carlos Santana started strong and provided pretty much the only hot hitting the Indians had.

On May 1st, Corey Kluber, a 20 game winner last season, suffered a broken arm when hit with a line drive.

The 54th game of the season (May 28th) was the beginning of the turn around. Trailing 5-2 in the ninth at Boston, facing a fourth straight loss, and their eighth loss in nine games, the Indians rallied for five runs in the ninth. A Greg Allen two run homer tied it, and Jordan Luplow’s double provided the difference in the contest.

Since then, the Indians are 36-18.

Jose Ramirez had two hits that night and started showing signs of emerging from his slump, which started in mid August 2018.

Oscar Mercado was called up earlier in May, and was working his way into the everyday starting lineup. Roberto Perez hit his 7th homer to lead off the ninth. He has belted 12 more since that day.

Still, Cleveland lost three of four in Chicago after leaving Boston. Then, Carlos Carrasco couldn’t make a start in the second game of a series at home against the front-running Twins because of illness.

The Indians unified behind the pitcher and started winning ballgames. And a lot of them.

Yes, the schedule was soft, many games against the lower echelon teams in the American League (Tigers, Royals, Orioles, and Blue Jays), but the Tribe did win the series against Minnesota and followed that with the same against the Yankees.

They also won three of four against Cincinnati.

Tyler Naquin and Jordan Luplow have formed a solid platoon in the outfield, Jason Kipnis showed life at the plate and Ramirez got hot, giving the Indians a passable offense.

Clevinger returned, Shane Bieber emerged and made the All Star Game (where he was MVP) and they teamed with Trevor Bauer to make a solid “Big Three”.

At the trading deadline, the Indians transformed from a pitching based team to a formidable offense when they traded Bauer in a three team deal and received Yasiel Puig and Franmil Reyes.

Suddenly, the Tribe has a solid batting order.

The last third of the season will provide the answer to several questions:

Will the production of the lineup match the potential?

Will the Indians have enough starting pitching with the trade of Bauer?

Can Ramirez’ recent revival at the plate continue?

Will the bullpen hold up, and will reinforcements from the farm system be coming soon?

If these questions are answered positively, a fourth consecutive division title can be achieved. And the rare rebuild while contending may just have been pulled off.

Talking Tribe Lineup Change

Former Indians’ manager Mike Hargrove used to say that two things everybody thinks they can do better than you are cook a steak and manage a baseball team.

Those Tribe squads that Hargrove managed were so loaded offensively, it probably didn’t matter what order the skipper put them in, they were going to score a lot of runs.

This season’s edition of the Cleveland baseball team cannot make the same claim. They are 13th in the American League in runs scored, so lineup construction is very important, or at least it should be.

Terry Francona’s batting order is curious to say the least.

For example, the Tribe has one hitter with an on base percentage over .400 and one hitter with a slugging percentage over .500.

Logic would tell you it makes sense to have the man who gets on base batting before the player with extra base power, but that’s not how the Indians do it.

Francisco Lindor has a slugging percentage of .513 but he leads off on a daily basis. Carlos Santana gets on base 40.9% of the time (he also has a .488 slugging percentage) and he bats third right now, and hit 4th for much of the year.

Lindor also led off last season when he had the third best OBP on the team (behind Jose Ramirez and Michael Brantley).

We understand Francona wants to A). get Lindor as many at bats as possible and B). likes the shortstop to set a tone in each game, but he is the team’s best hitter, and the new age baseball people will tell you the best hitter should bat 2nd.

The manager has used Santana in the leadoff spot before, but for much of this season, the switch-hitter has been the only source of offense.

Jose Ramirez has been hitting in the #3 or #5 hole all season long, even though he has a 600 OPS. The struggling third baseman is second on the team in walks, so we thought perhaps a switch to the top of the order would have him concentrating more on getting on base, rather than driving the ball.

The Indians have informed us that Jason Kipnis has reached base in 17 straight games, going 17 for 67 (.259) with nine walks. This is a big improvement, but he’s hardly tearing the cover off the ball.

Again, Francona’s logic in hitting the second baseman there is that he’s comfortable. We understand the feelings of the players should be taken into consideration, but the Indians need to make the most of their run scoring opportunities.

What would we do? Here is the lineup we would put out there vs. a right-handed pitcher:

Ramirez 3B
Santana 1B
Lindor SS
Bauers DH
Luplow RF
Kipnis 2B
Perez C
Martin CF
Mercado LF

We know Francona has a problem with hitting all the switch-hitters together, but again, dire circumstances. The rest of the lineup features an alternating left and right.

If Mercado keeps performing, he can be moved higher in the order, but having him right before Ramirez, Santana, and Lindor should help the offense.

We hesitated with Bauers at the #4 spot because he has struggled as of late, but he has done well working the count, and can hit left-handed pitching.

Something has to change to get this out of the funk, and patience has to be thrown out of the window.

Mostly though, this change was designed to get Lindor at the plate with runners on base, instead of coming up at least once a game with no one on. And Santana gets on all the time, so it makes sense.

The Ramirez change is done hopefully to shock him back into being Jose Ramirez. Again, let him focus in getting on base, so maybe it stops him from chasing.

There have been too many games where the quantity of hits and walks isn’t producing runs. Mainly because there are guys not producing mixed in with those who are.

Maybe next week, we’ll tell you about a good way to cook a steak.