Overlooked When He Arrived, Cliff Lee Wound Up An Ace

When GM Mark Shapiro decided to deal Bartolo Colon to the Montreal Expos in the middle of the 2002 season, he had a quick rebuild on his mind.

That’s why the top target in the deal was infielder Brandon Phillips, the Expos’ top prospect, who was also the #20 minor league prospect in all of professional baseball.

He also got Grady Sizemore, who was Montreal’s third best minor leaguer.

That’s a good start, right? But Shapiro also got a left-handed pitcher who wasn’t ranked in the Expos’ top ten, but was 7-2 with a 3.23 ERA at Class AA Harrisburg, who coincidentally played in the same league as the Tribe’s AA affiliate in Akron.

You can make a pretty good argument that the pitcher became the best player in the deal. That southpaw was Cliff Lee.

Lee made three starts with Akron, before the Tribe bumped him up to AAA Buffalo for eight starts (3-2, 3.77 ERA) at age 23, before making his major league debut against the Twins on September 15th in a 5-0 loss. Lee pitched 5-1/3 innings allowing one run on two hits.

The lefty started the following year in AAA, going 6-1 with a 3.27 ERA before getting called up for good (he made a spot start on June 30th) on August 16th. He made nine starts in total, finishing at 3-3 with a 3.61 ERA and 44 strikeouts in 52.1 innings.

Lee opened 2004 in the rotation, and started well, going 7-1 with a 3.86 ERA through June, and was 10-1 with a 3.81 ERA when he beat Seattle on July 16th. He ran out of gas at that point, going 4-7 with a whopping 8.90 ERA over the rest of the season.

He finished at 14-8 and a 5.43 ERA with 161 strikeouts in 179 frames.

He was one of the Indians’ anchors to a pitching staff that just missed the post-season in 2005, going 18-5 with a 3.79 ERA, becoming more of a pitch to contact guy, his strikeout rate dropped from 8.1 to 6.4, but his walk rate also fell from 4.1 to 2.3 (both per nine innings)

Lee took a step backwards in ’06, going 14-11 and his ERA rose to 4.40, but finished strong with a 4-1 September, cementing him as a fixture for the following season.

One of the great regrets of the 2007 Central Division winning season, is the failure of Cliff Lee to be Cliff Lee. Think about if Eric Wedge had the Lee of 2005 to add to the Cy Young Award winning C.C. Sabathia and Fausto Carmona (19-8, 3.06 ERA).

We might be talking about what a great parade fans experienced following that season.

The southpaw never got it going that year, going 5-8 with a 6.29 ERA and was left off the post-season roster. He didn’t make a start after July 26th, and was sent to AAA for the month of August.

Lee roared back in 2008, allowing just one run in his first four starts, and ended May at 8-1 with a 1.88 ERA, in route to winning his own Cy Young, with a 22-3, 2.84 ERA. He led the AL in wins, ERA, shutouts, ERA+, Fielding Independent Pitching, home runs/9 innings and walks per 9 innings.

The Indians got off to a slow start in ’09 after trading Sabathia the year before, and Lee entered the All Star break at 4-9, but with a 3.47 ERA. Unfortunately, the Indians were sitting in last place with a 35-54 record, and Shapiro pulled the trigger on moves involving cornerstones Victor Martinez, and Lee.

Both players were not eligible for free agency until after the 2010 season, meaning the GM punted on the following season.

Martinez brought Justin Masterson, Nick Hagadone, and Brian Price (only Masterson had any success in Cleveland), while Lee brought Jason Knapp, Lou Marson, Jason Donald, and a young right-hander named Carlos Carrasco from Philadelphia.

It took until 2014, five years later, before the Tribe saw a real return when Carrasco became one of the AL’s best pitchers after elbow surgery.

Lee pitched in the World Series later that year for the Phillies (they lost to New York), although he pitched well winning his two starts.

An impending free agent, Lee was dealt to Seattle over the winter, and was moved to Texas at the deadline, again pitching in the Fall Classic, but this time he went 0-2 as the Rangers lost to San Francisco.

He signed back with the Phillies as a free agent and had an excellent 2011 season (17-8, 2.40 ERA) and went 37-25 in his first three years with the Phils.

But the weight of eight 200 innings pitched years in a nine year span took their toll on his elbow and he finished his career in 2014 with a 4-5, 3.65 ERA in just 81 innings.

Cliff Lee’s career record in the bigs is 143-91, with 83 of those wins coming in a Cleveland Indians uniform.

He was kind of an afterthought when the Colon trade was made, but he might have been the best return.

The Turnover Of The Indians’ Roster.

When the Cleveland Indians ended the 2018 season being swept in the American League Division Series by Houston (no comments!), the front office knew there was a problem.

Outside of the resident superstars, Francisco Lindor (then 24) and Jose Ramirez (25), they were an older team with not a lot of upside. Check the ages of the players getting regular playing time that season–

1B Yonder Alonso (31)
2B Jason Kipnis (31)
LF Michael Brantley (31)
RF Melky Cabrera (33)
DH Edwin Encarnacion (35)
C Yan Gomes (30)

And in September, the front office brought in Josh Donaldson (32) to play third, moving Ramirez to second, and put Kipnis in the outfield.

The Indians also had Rajai Davis (37) and Brandon Guyer (32) on the bench.

The pitching staff wasn’t much better. The rotation has Corey Kluber (32) and Carlos Carrasco (31), and the bullpen included Dan Otero (33), Andrew Miller (33), Josh Tomlin (33), and Oliver Perez (36).

President Chris Antonetti and GM Mike Chernoff knew that group went as far as it could, understanding the peak years for a player are ages 27-29.

He undertook the process of getting younger following that season. The most painful departures were Brantley, who left via free agency, and trading Gomes, both of whom had been in Cleveland for many years.

By the time spring training started a couple of months ago in Goodyear, the only players in the over 30 crowd still remaining are Carrasco and Oliver Perez.

This isn’t to say the Tribe doesn’t have anyone over 30, of course they do, because a couple of guys under that threshold in ’18 have now crossed over: Roberto Perez is now 31, and they acquired Carlos Santana (35) in the deal that sent Encarnacion to Seattle.

Cleveland also signed Cesar Hernandez (31) to play second base, but he is on a one year deal, and Santana has a club option for next season, when he will be 36.

Backup catcher Sandy Leon is also 31.

Among the pitchers, only Carrasco, and relievers Nick Wittgren (30), Adam Cimber (30), James Hoyt (34) and of course, Oliver Perez (38) are over 30, and outside of Cookie, none of those hurlers are the core to the pitching staff.

In two years, the Tribe is much younger, and still very much a contending team. Besides Ramirez (27) and Lindor (26), the everyday core group of players consists of these guys–

OF/DH Franmil Reyes (25)
CF Oscar Mercado (25)
OF Jordan Luplow (26)

And two more spots, currently filled by Santana and Hernandez could be filled by others next season. Don’t forget Nolan Jones (22) and Tyler Freeman (21) could be knocking on the door for big league jobs in spring training a year from now.

Could those be the spots they will be taking?

The pitching staff is similarly built with young arms like Shane Bieber (25), Aaron Civale (25), Zach Plesac (25), and Mike Clevinger (29).

And the bullpen could be anchored by young arms like James Karinchak (25), and Emmanuel Clase (22).

Don’t forget, some other arms are coming like Scott Moss (25), Cam Hill (26), and Kyle Nelson (24).

The Tribe farm system is ranking higher these days, mostly because of an influx of players who will (hopefully) play at the Class A level.

The front office’s plan has worked in terms of the getting younger part. Whether the talent level of the young players stays the same is still up for debate.

And while we wish they had been more proactive in using the money saved from the changeover, the moves needed to be done.

Let’s hope we will get an opportunity to see that this summer.

Best Game We’ve Seen? ’97 ALDS Game 5

When anyone asks us what is the best sporting event we have attended in person, we have one answer. It was Game 5 of the 1997 American League Division Series against the New York Yankees.

Of course, the Tribe won the contest, dethroning the World Champion as part of a magical post-season run that would be thought of today the same way the Los Angeles Dodgers’ 1988 season, if not for a blown save in Game 7 of that year’s World Series.

Cleveland scored 5 runs in the first inning of Game 1 at Yankee Stadium, only to watch Eric Plunk implode in the bottom of the 6th. The Indians headed into the frame with a 6-3 lead, but Plunk served up back-to-back jacks to Tim Raines and Derek Jeter, and then Paul Assenmacher served up another to Paul O’Neill, and the Tribe lost 8-6.

New York took a 3-0 lead in the first off Jaret Wright in Game 2, but Cleveland countered with a five run 4th, highlighted by a 2-run double by Tony Fernandez, and Matt Williams belted a two-run homer in the 5th and the Indians hung on for a 7-5 win, despite solo tallies in the 8th and 9th by the Yanks.

Wright threw five scoreless innings after that shaky first.

The series returned to Cleveland for the balance of games, and New York put themselves one win away from a clinch with a 6-1 victory, David Wells throwing a complete game and Charles Nagy taking the loss. The Tribe mustered just five hits.

The next night though, is talked about a lot because it was one of the few times Mariano Rivera failed in the post-season.

Orel Hershiser threw seven innings on three days rest, allowing just two runs, but Dwight Gooden and the NY bullpen held the Tribe bats at bay until Sandy Alomar Jr. tied it in the bottom of the eighth with a homer off Rivera.

Omar Vizquel’s single off reliever Ramiro Mendoza’s glove in the ninth won the game and forced a deciding game five the following night.

So, Mike Hargrove sent Wright to the mound on three days rest to take on Andy Pettitte in a rematch of Game 2 starters.

Wright escaped trouble in each of the first two innings, giving up a hit and a walk in the first and two singles in the second, but kept the Yanks off the scoreboard.

In the bottom of the third, the Indians struck. With one out, Marquis Grissom and Bip Roberts singled. Vizquel hit into a force, but then stole second. Manny Ramirez then doubled, to score two, and that was followed by a Williams’ single to make it 3-0 Tribe.

Cleveland added to its lead in the fourth when Alomar led off with a double, moved to third on get this…a Jim Thome sacrifice bunt, and scored on Fernandez’ sacrifice fly.

New York cut the lead in half in the top of the fifth. After Wright walked two hitters, with two outs, Bernie Williams singled and the second runner scored on an error by Ramirez.

The Yankees scored again in the top of the sixth, when Mike Stanley led off with a double and scored on a one out single by Wade Boggs, which ended Wright’s evening. Mike Jackson struck out Jorge Posada and got Raines on a ground ball. And the Tribe’s lead was just one after six innings.

Jackson gave up a leadoff hit to Jeter to start the 7th, but Assenmacher came on to get two ground balls off the bats of O’Neill and Bernie Williams, the second a double play to get out of it.

In the eighth, after Assenmacher got Tino Martinez to foul out to Alomar, Hargrove decided it was time to go to his closer, Jose Mesa.

Mesa fanned Stanley, and gave up back-to-back singles before getting Posada on a comebacker to end the threat.

The Indians tried to add to the lead in the bottom half, getting two on with two out, but Mike Stanton struck out David Justice.

Mesa got Raines and Jeter to start the ninth, but O’Neill, who wound up 9 for 11 in his career against the Cleveland closer, hit a bullet of the very top (and we mean the very top) of the wall in right center, just missing a game tying homer by a foot. He wound up at second.

Bernie Williams hit Mesa’s next pitch, a fly ball to medium deep left where Brian Giles caught it. On Fox, Joe Buck simply said “celebrate” and Mesa fell to his knees on the mound.

The Tribe was moving on to Baltimore and ultimately, Miami.

Still, the best game we’ve ever been at.

2005 Tribe: A Missed Opportunity

In the wild card era of Major League Baseball, the Cleveland Indians have certainly had a great deal of success.

They’ve won three American League pennants (’95, ’97, and 2016). They advanced to the AL Championship Series twice more, losing in 1998 and 2007.

And they’ve went to the post-season more than any other American League team, save for the big market behemoths New York and Boston.

Of the team’s that didn’t make the post-season, the one team that kind of gets overlooked is the 2005 edition of the Indians, managed by Eric Wedge.

The Tribe finished the ’04 campaign at 80-82, and their biggest move of the off-season going into ’05 was probably inking Kevin Millwood as a free agent, although the veteran right-hander was coming off an injury plagued season with the Phillies, throwing only 145 innings.

GM Mark Shapiro also traded OF Matt Lawton to Pittsburgh to fortify the bullpen, getting LHP Arthur Rhodes.

It was the fourth year of a rebuild that started following the 2001 season, when Shapiro dealt Roberto Alomar to New York. By this time, the last remnants of the great 90’s teams were gone via free agency, Jim Thome to Philadelphia following 2002, and Omar Vizquel over the winter.

So, there weren’t big expectations on the Tribe coming into the 2005 season.

And that was confirmed early in the year, and the Indians closed April at 9-14, while the Chicago White Sox started red hot, opening at 17-7.

On May 8th, Cleveland was sitting at 12-18, 11-1/2 games behind the front running White Sox, and the defending champion Central Division champions in Minnesota were also playing well at 19-11.

Wedge’s squad started to play better at this point, going 35-23 to the All Star break, to sit at 47-41, still 11 games behind Chicago, who went through the first half on a torrid pace (57-29), but the Indians were clearly in the wild card race, just two games behind Minnesota.

At the point, Baltimore, Texas, New York, and the young Wahoos, who only had two players over 30 getting substantial playing time (Aaron Boone and Casey Blake), were very much in the race.

Cleveland was paced by their pitching, they wound up leading the AL in ERA, mostly a five man rotation that made all but four starts all season.

Millwood led the league in ERA at 2.86, but he, Jake Westbrook (15-15, 4.49 ERA), C.C. Sabathia (15-10, 4.03), Cliff Lee (18-5, 3.79), and Scott Elarton (11-9, 4.61) took the mound every fifth day.

The bullpen was strong too, led by closer Bob Wickman (45 saves) and set up men Bob Howry (2.47 ERA), Rafael Betancourt (2.79 ERA), David Riske (3.10 ERA).

The offense ranked 4th in runs scored, with big years from Travis Hafner (.305, 33 HR, 108 RBI, 1003 OPS), Jhonny Peralta (.292, 24, 78 885 OPS), Victor Martinez (.305, 20, 80, 853 OPS), and Grady Sizemore (.289, 22, 81, 832 OPS).

All of those guys were under 28, and Peralta was 23, while Sizemore was 22.

Cleveland struggled out of the break and finished July at 55-51, 14.5 behind the Pale Hose, and now four behind Oakland, who got hot and seized the wild card lead.

Then, it was the Tribe’s turn to get hot, going 19-8 in August, while the Sox came back to the pack. The lead was seven games heading into September, and the wild card deficit was down to 1.5 behind the Yankees, who were also scolding hot.

The Indians started September 18-4, and after games on 9/24, the Tribe was just a game and a half behind Chicago, and held a game and a half lead in the wild card standings. They had the second best record in the AL at 92-63.

Unfortunately, they would win just one more game the rest of the year.

On the 25th, with the score tied in the bottom of the ninth, and Kansas City had a runner on second with one out, when Paul Phillips hit a fly ball that Grady Sizemore lost in the sun, and the Royals won 5-4.

Chicago and Boston won, so Cleveland trailed Chicago by 2.5 and led the wild card by just a half game, with a three game set at home vs. lowly Tampa coming up.

The Tribe dropped the opener to Scott Kazmir, who was staked to an early 5-0 lead, before the Indians clawed back at trailed 5-4 in the bottom of the ninth with runners on 1st and 3rd with just one out. Ronnie Belliard hit into a double play.

Cleveland was shutout the next night by Seth McClung, 1-0, wasting a great pitching performance by Lee, before Sabathia and Betancourt blanked the Rays, 6-0.

Heading into the final weekend at home vs. Chicago, the Tribe was 3 behind the Sox, and tied with Boston for the wild card.

The Indians mustered just 6 runs against the Sox in the three games, losing by counts of 3-2 (in 13 innings), 4-3, and 3-1. The Tribe tied the first game in the bottom of the ninth, but another double play ball, this one off the bat of Boone, killed the rally.

Cleveland wound up missing the wild card by two games. The White Sox won the pennant and ultimately the World Series.

Another frustrating chapter of baseball in our city.

Simulated Tribe Off To Good Starts

These are different times we live in, particularly without the sport which symbolizes the beginning of spring and summer, baseball.

With no real games going on, we are curious each and every day to see what is going on in a couple of sites running simulated seasons. We understand it is not real, so readers should have no concern about our sanity.

The two simulated games we are following are at Baseball Reference.com, which uses Out of the Park Baseball 21, and the game we grew up with, Strat O Matic, which shows results online daily.

Both simulations have the Cleveland Indians off to good starts, perhaps because the early schedule would’ve had a lot of games with the Detroit Tigers and Chicago White Sox, although the latter is supposed to be much improved this season.

Baseball Reference. This site has the Indians getting off to a 5-4 start through April 4th, a game and a half game behind the White Sox, who did sweep the Tribe in a three game set at Progressive Field earlier in the week.

The Indians have taken all five games from the Tigers thus far.

Franmil Reyes is off to a great start, going 11 for 30 with five home runs and eight runs batted in. Newcomer Cesar Hernandez is also doing well, tied for second on the team in RBIs with seven.

This game surprisingly has Greg Allen getting the bulk of the time in the outfield, going 8 for 28. Carlos Santana is 13 for 31, and Francisco Lindor is 12 for 38 with 4 HR.

On the negative side, Jose Ramirez is off to a slow start (4 for 35), as are Oscar Mercado (3 for 24) and Roberto Perez (5 for 29 with 14 strikeouts).

Pitching wise, Zach Plesac is 2-0 with 4.50 ERA, while Shane Bieber has a 3.00 ERA and 18 strikeouts in 15 innings.

The simulation does not include Mike Clevinger or Carlos Carrasco, instead rookie Scott Moss made the big club to open the season.

Also, Sandy Leon is not on the big league roster, and weirdly, John Axford is, apparently acquired in a trade with Toronto.

Strat O Matic Their simulation has the Indians off to a 8-1 start, a game ahead of the Royals, who started off 6-1. FYI, the Twins have started at 3-6 to date.

They have Jefry Rodriguez in the rotation, and the righty has been very good, going 2-0 with a 1.35 ERA in two starts. Zach Plesac is also 2-0 with a 3.00 ERA and 18 strikeouts.

Reyes has started hot in this simulation too, belting six dingers and knocking in 13 in the first eight games of the season.

Domingo Santana is batting .417 and Carlos Santana is at .375 with 7 doubles on the season.

They have Jose Ramirez at .303 through eight games, while Lindor is off to a slow start, batting just .211.

Brad Hand blew two saves in the Chicago series, but the Indians rallied to win both contests, one on a Reyes walk off shot in the bottom of the ninth.

They have used a platoon of Jake Bauers and Jordan Luplow in RF, with Delino DeShields getting a couple of starts in center.

This game also does not have Clevinger or Carrasco available, and Cam Hill made the Opening Day roster. In fact, they already had Terry Francona using a bullpen day in game #5, using Hunter Wood as the starter.

Without actual games, this is making the best of the situation. And happily, the Indians are off to a good start in both simulations.

Let’s hope we see some baseball on the field for real soon.

Stay safe and stay healthy.

Tribe Baseball In The 80’s–Juuuulllliiiiioooo

In the strike season of 1981, the Cleveland Indians had one of the game’s top prospects in 3B Von Hayes. At Class A in 1980, Hayes hit .329 with 15 homers and drove in 90 (905 OPS).

The following season, Hayes batted .314 with 10 HR and 73 ribbies at AAA, and was called up, batting .257 in 43 games, walking more than he struck out.

In his first full season in the bigs, 1982, Hayes, a left-handed hitter, batted .250 with 14 homers and 82 RBI, while stealing 32 bases with a 699 OPS. He finished 7th in the Rookie of the Year voting, and looked to be one of the bright stars of the game at 23 years old.

Apparently, the Philadelphia Phillies thought the same thing, and traded five players to the Indians for Hayes. Among the haul for Cleveland was All Star second baseman Manny Trillo, top pitching prospect Jay Baller, and a young shortstop, Julio Franco.

Franco did get into 23 games with the Phils the previous year, getting eight hits in 29 at bats.

In his first year as a regular, Franco hit .273 with 8 HR and 80 RBI (.693 OPS). Those numbers climbed with age, until he had his best year as an Indian in 1987, with a .319 batting average, eight dingers and 52 RBI in 128 games (818 OPS).

Franco’s defense at short was erratic at best and in 1985, the front office, led by GM Joe Klein, tried to move Franco to second base, replacing with the light-hitting Johnnie LeMaster, acquired from San Francisco.

LeMaster went 3 for 20 in his brief tenure with the Tribe and was quickly dealt to Pittsburgh for Scott Bailes, in what turned about to be a great deal for Cleveland. Franco went back to SS.

The following season, the Tribe led the American League in runs scored (they were second last in ERA) with tremendous seasons by Franco and his keystone partner, Tony Bernazard.

After the ’88 season, Franco moved to second full time, and hit .303, his third straight season over that mark, he was dealt to Texas in a deal much like the one that brought him to Cleveland, quantity for quality. The Indians got 1B Pete O’Brien, OF Oddibe McDowell, and 2B Jerry Browne in return.

The Tribe made many deals from 1970-90 in a similar vein. Get a good player, and when it is time to have to pay them, trade said player for prospects.

NOTE: This wasn’t a successful business plan. Please take note for the future.

In Texas, Franco blossomed, making the All Star team three straight years, including winning the game’s MVP in 1990. He won the batting title in 1991, batting .341, with 15 HR and an 882 OPS.

After an injury plagued 1992, he became a full time DH with the Rangers in 1993 (.289, 14 HR, 84 RBI, .798 OPS), he became a free agent and signed with the White Sox, where he batted .319 with a career high 20 homers.

With the strike extending from the end of the ’94 season into ’95, Julio went to play in Japan, hitting .306. At this point, he was regarded as a professional hitter.

“Juice” returned to the Indians for the 1996 season, and the familiar “Juuuuullllliiiiioooo” chant was back at Jacobs Field. Franco hit .322 with 14 dingers (877 OPS) as a first baseman and designated hitter for the AL Central Champs.

The next season, GM John Hart tried to put Franco back at 2B at the age of 38, and he hit .284 with just 3 homers, before being released in August. He finished that year with the Brewers.

He played until age 48 with the Braves as a right-handed platoon bat, hitting .309 with an 818 OPS in 2004 at age 45.

In 2007 with the Mets, he homered off Randy Johnson, becoming the oldest man to hit a home run in the big leagues.

Overall with the Indians, the team he played the most games with at 1088, Franco hit .297 with a 752 OPS.

Unorthodox batting stance, pure hitter. Perhaps he should be put in the Indians’ Hall of Fame.

Favorite Player Of The 70’s…Eck

If you were a fan of the Cleveland Indians in the 1970’s, you watched an organization that had a lot of very good players that wore a Tribe uniform.

Some, like Ray Fosse, Buddy Bell, and Chris Chambliss were originally signed by the Indians, and made their Major League debuts with Cleveland. Others, like Graig Nettles, Gaylord Perry, and George Hendrick came over in deals, spent some productive years in town, and then were shipped away.

Some were post-season regulars, which made fans in northeast Ohio wince in pain during the playoffs every year, thinking about what might have been.

Sometimes things never change.

That brings us to our favorite Tribe player of the 1970’s, Dennis Eckersley.

Eckersley was another star young player who came up through the Cleveland farm system and was ultimately traded away to a bigger market, in his case, Boston.

Eck was drafted in the 3rd round of the 1972 draft and spent two years in Class A Reno before moving to the Texas League (AA) with San Antonio, going 14-3 with a 3.40 ERA, striking out pretty much a batter per inning.

There were no Top 10 Prospect lists at the time, so Eckersley was under the radar as spring training started in 1975 under new manager, Frank Robinson. The 20-year-old side arming right-hander made the team out of camp and pitched out of the bullpen.

He made 10 scoreless relief outings, totaling 14-1/3 innings, and followed that by throwing a shutout in his first big league start against the World Champion Oakland A’s.

He finished that rookie season with a 13-7 record, a 2.60 ERA, and allowing just 147 hits in 186 innings. He did walk an uncharacteristic 90 batters.

And his cockiness was appreciated by the younger fans, and opposing hitters didn’t like it so much.

His second year in Cleveland, he went 13-12 with a 3.43 ERA in 199 innings, striking out 200 hitters. He was struggling mid-season, his ERA was 4.93 at the All Star break, and made some relief appearance in July, but in the second half Eckersley went 9-4 with a 2.41 ERA and 138 punch outs in 119 frames.

In 1977, Eck threw a then career high 247.1 innings, and led the AL in strikeout to walk ratio at 3.54. He also authored his only career no-hitter beating the Angels 1-0.

What is forgotten is that in his previous start, Eckersley went 12 innings against the Mariners, and didn’t allow a hit after the fifth inning, so he had thrown 16-2/3 hitless innings.

The start after the no-no came on June 3rd, again vs. Seattle at the old Kingdome. The Mariners didn’t get a hit in that contest until two outs in the 6th, meaning the righty fired 22-1/3 hitless innings. That’s very close to the major league record of 24, set by Cy Young.

And he did it as a starting pitcher.

Unfortunately, the Indians dealt Eckersley to Boston following the season for four players, notably the hot prospect, Ted Cox. The best player the Indians ultimately received was catcher Bo Diaz. Eck won 20 games in his first year with the Red Sox.

GM Phil Seghi felt Eckersley’s sidearm motion wouldn’t hold up long term. And there was the other matter of teammate Rick Manning falling in love with the pitcher’s wife.

Seghi made the wrong choice on which player to move along, and Eckersley wound up pitching until he was 43, becoming a dominant closer. He was elected into the Hall of Fame in 2004 after winning 197 games and saving 390 more.

His stay with the Indians was brief, but we were always a fan. It would’ve been nice to have him with the Tribe a little longer.

Our First Tribe Hero: Sudden Sam McDowell.

With Major League Baseball in limbo with the coronavirus, we decided to take a look into the past of the Cleveland Indians, looking at the players who got us started in loving the game of baseball.

As a left-handed kid growing up in the 1960’s, our first Tribe hero was the hard, throwing southpaw “Sudden” Sam McDowell.

McDowell made his Major League debut as an 18-year-old (he would be 19 in a few days) in 1962, throwing 6-1/3 scoreless innings against the Minnesota Twins, whose lineup included future Hall of Famer Harmon Killebrew (0 for 2, 3 walks) and future manager Billy Martin.

He didn’t come up to stay though until 1964, when he made 24 starts for the Indians, going 11-6 with a 2.77 ERA. He struck out 177 hitters in 173 innings, but also walked 100 at age 21.

His first big season, (and the first year we can recall) came the following season, in 1965. The lefty went 17-11 and led the AL in ERA at 2.18, and also led the league in strikeouts with 325 and in walks with 132.

For today’s stat conscious people, Sudden Sam also led the Junior Circuit in ERA+, FIP (Fielding Independent Pitching), hits per 9 innings, and home runs per 9 innings.

He made his first All Star team, the first of six he would make with the Indians.

You have to remember, at this point, the Indians were just six years from their last year of contention (1959) and 11 seasons from their last World Series appearance (1954) and 17 years from their last World Series title in 1948.

McDowell was the first star of what was supposed to be the next wave of great pitching put together by the Cleveland front office. Baseball folks have said the 1964 Portland Beavers’ pitching staff, the Tribe’s then AAA affiliate, might have been the greatest minor league staff of all time.

It featured McDowell (early in the season), Luis Tiant (229 MLB wins), Tommy John (288), Sonny Siebert (140), and another hard thrower in Steve Hargan, who stayed in the bigs until 1977.

1966 started the same for the big lefty, throwing back-to-back one hitters on April 25th (Kansas City A’s) and May 1st (White Sox), fanning 18 and walking 11 in the two wins. He was 4-0 with a 1.55 ERA after the second of the gems.

He developed some arm problems that plagued him through ’66 and ’67, but still led the league in strikeouts and made the All Star team in ’66. But his ERA rose to 3.85 in ’67.

He rebounded in 1968, the “Year of the Pitcher” when he combined with Tiant to lead the Indians to a 3rd place finish, the highest the franchise would have until 1994, when they moved into Jacobs Field.

Sudden Sam led the AL in strikeouts each season from ’68-’70, the latter year compiling his only 20 win season (20-12, 2.92 ERA). He also led the league in FIP in the latter two seasons, as well as in innings pitched in 1970, with 305.

At 27 years old, that was his last dominant year. After throwing 269, 285, and then 305 frames in a three year span, his numbers started to decline, except for walks.

He was dealt to San Francisco for Gaylord Perry after ’71, but never won more than 10 games or pitch more than 164 innings for the Giants. He wound up pitching for the Yankees and Pirates before hanging them up in ’75 at age 32.

Our first baseball hero was no longer an Indian. Our first education that players don’t stay forever.

Shoulder and back issues plagued him the rest of his career.

McDowell had problems with alcoholism throughout his career as well. He finally sought help in 1980 and became a counselor helping others with the disease.

Sudden Sam ranks 14th on the Indians all time list in WAR, ranking between Larry Doby and Early Wynn, and is 5th among pitchers behind Bob Feller, Stan Coveleski, Mel Harder, and Addie Joss. He was named to the team’s Hall of Fame in 2006.

All those pitchers on the ’64 Portland team? Siebert was moved early in ’69 in the Ken Harrelson deal, Tiant after the ’69 season, John, of course in ’65 for Rocky Colavito, and Hargan in ’72 after a series of arm troubles.

Even then, the Tribe couldn’t keep good players around for a long time.

Living Without Sports Isn’t Easy

There is no question the world is in a crisis mode right now as the number of people being tested positive for the Coronavirus rises every day.

What makes it more difficult is dealing with this situation without sports.

There is no question most of us use sports as a distraction, a way to escape from the problems of everyday life. And we could use something to take our minds off the real world problems now more than ever.

We understand the reason that professional and college sports has shutdown. Everything needs to be done and should be done to slow and stop the spread of this virus.

There is no question sports is a big part of many of our lives, both men and women. And what’s weird is even though our team aggravate us to no end (most of the time), it’s relaxing.

But that doesn’t mean it isn’t tough missing it.

At first, we thought the NFL was using their usual “money before everything else” mentality in going on with their legal tampering and free agent period this week, but it certainly served as a distraction from dealing with a rapidly spreading illness.

With the other professional sports, we are reduced to viewing old games on their networks. That’ll be cool for awhile. We were watching the famous “Pine Tar Game” on MLB Network yesterday. It brought back memories, seeing former Indian Bud Black on the mound for Kansas City, and Hall of Famers George Brett, Dave Winfield, and Rich Gossage playing.

NBA TV is doing the same thing, there aren’t too many Cavaliers highlights from their 50 year history, but we figure eventually they will have their Cavs’ Day, where they will show some big victories, including Game 7 of the 1975-76 Eastern Conference semi-finals vs. Washington and culminate in Game 7 of the 2016 NBA Finals, when the wine and gold won their only title.

When baseball and basketball have had work stoppages over the past 40 some years, there were other forms of the sports. For the former, minor leaguers received more focus, and fans of the Indians could keep an eye on prospects to get their fix.

As for roundball, there was always the college game, and at this time of year, the NCAA Tournament. That’s not the case right now.

There are only so many movies, shows on Netflix, and crossword puzzles a person can do to fill the free time of our lives.

Let’s hope when things are back to normal that we appreciate our sports teams more, especially the Indians and Cavaliers, who get ignored in favor of the Browns by many of the media outlets in town.

The Tribe will likely be the first team to get back in action, and we would bet whenever Opening Day occurs, it will now be sold out, because we will get to see sports again.

We know not everyone is a sports fan, but if you are, it’s going to be a rough few weeks. Let’s hope that’s all it is.

What Lindor Could Be If Tribe Kept Him

While much has been written about Francisco Lindor and the willingness or feasibility of the Cleveland Indians signing him to a long term contract, we would like to look at the historical aspect of the Tribe’s shortstop in terms of statistics.

Our thought is if Lindor would play in Cleveland for 10 years, he would be considered the greatest position player in franchise history.

Let’s examine in terms of the numbers, saying the Indians and Lindor can come to an agreement to keep him here for five more years, although that seems to be a long shot.

Lindor has played with the Indians for five seasons already, although his first season consisted of only 99 games.

If he played an average of 150 games over the next five seasons, that would put him at 1467 games, just short of 10th place all time (Omar Vizquel played in 1478).

Doubling his current hit total of 835 (giving him 1670), would rank him 7th of the Tribe’s all-time list just behind Lou Boudreau’s 1706.

If we do the same thing with his other numbers, which probably isn’t fair to Lindor considering he is just 26 and entering the prime of his career, here is where he falls on Cleveland’s all time record list.

He would have 356 doubles, which would rank 6th in club history, again behind Boudreau’s 367. He would have 2866 total bases, 3rd all time behind Earl Averill and Tris Speaker.

His 260 home runs would rank #2 in team history, just behind Jim Thome’s 337, and his 768 RBI would put him 9th all time between Larry Doby and Albert Belle.

We probably aren’t being fair with the RBI stat because Lindor has spent much of the last two seasons hitting leadoff, and he may wind up hitting lower in the order, perhaps as early as this season.

He would have 956 runs scored, putting him 4th, in between Kenny Lofton and Charlie Jamieson, behind only Lofton, probably the greatest leadoff hitter in Indians’ history, and Hall of Famers Averill and Speaker.

Lindor’s stolen base total would be 7th, although if he hits lower in the order, our guess is he would be running less often.

From the advanced metrics standpoint, Lindor has accumulated a 28.6 WAR in his first five seasons, so doubling that would be 57.2, ranking him 4th behind a trio of Hall of Fame players in Nap Lajoie, Speaker, and Boudreau.

That total includes last year’s 4.7 WAR, the lowest since his rookie season. In 2018, the shortstop put up a 7.9 WAR. So, although he probably can’t catch Lajoie and Speaker, passing Boudreau is doable.

Again, we are probably figuring on the low side for Lindor based on the reduced games played in his rookie year, and that he still hasn’t reached his prime years.

However, at even this pace, we are talking about a Hall of Fame talent, provided he stays healthy, and if not the best Cleveland player ever, he’s in the top five.

So, when people say the management can’t or shouldn’t sign the shortstop long term, you are going to miss years of one of the greatest players ever to wear a uniform here.

Wouldn’t it have been nice to watch Kenny Lofton or Jim Thome here for his whole career. To us, it’s galling we have to share Thome’s legacy with Philadelphia or Chicago.

The Cleveland front office should take that sort of thing into consideration, and so should the fan base.