Developing Starters Is The Tribe’s Business

Over the past decade, the Cleveland Indians have been in the pitching development business.

When the Dolan family bought the team, they promised to make pitching a priority. After all, the slugging Tribe teams of the 90’s got to two World Series, but didn’t win.

That championship drought is currently at 71 years, but you can’t blame in on the pitching staffs Cleveland has put together.

In 2012, the last season in which Terry Francona was not managing the Indians, they finished 14th, second to last, in ERA.

That is also the last season the franchise has ranked in the bottom half of the American League in that statistic.

Since then, here are the rankings–

2013: 7th
2014: 5th
2015: 2nd
2016: 2nd
2017: 1st
2018: 4th
2019: 3rd

All the while playing half of their games in one of the better hitter’s parks in Major League Baseball.

It’s a tribute to the player development staff, because many of the cast and characters who have contributed to the success of the team did not arrive in Cleveland as “can’t miss” prospects.

Corey Kluber was a 4th round pick by San Diego, but wasn’t regarded as a top prospect when traded to Cleveland in 2010. Two Cy Young Awards and five consecutive 200 inning seasons, and his work ethic are testament to the pitcher he has become.

And he isn’t the only success story.

Carlos Carrasco was a highly regarded prospect when dealt to the Indians in 2009, but struggled to stay in the bigs until 2011, when he needed Tommy John surgery just as he looked to be turning a corner.

When he returned from that injury, he couldn’t find any consistency until the coaching staff put him in the bullpen to regain his confidence.

He has been one of the most reliable, if not unheralded, starting pitchers in baseball since, winning 35 games in 2017-18.

Mike Clevinger was another 4th round pick, in 2011 by the Los Angeles Angels. However, he pitched in just 14 games in his first three years of professional ball, another victim of elbow surgery.

When the Indians traded for him in 2014 (for Vinnie Pestano), he was struggling with a 5.37 ERA in the Class A California League, although he was striking out over a batter per inning.

He turned the corner the following year with a 2.73 ERA at Akron, and has a 3.33 career ERA now since his big league debut in 2016.

Shane Bieber was the Indians’ 4th round (common thread, eh?) pick in 2016, and quickly moved through the farm system, arriving last season, and this year has emerged as one of the AL’s best pitchers, and was the All Star Game MVP.

Certainly, the work put in by these guys played a huge role as well, and you can’t ignore the recently traded Trevor Bauer’s effort either.

This comes into play because the Indians will depend on two more products of the system to carry them until Kluber returns.

Aaron Civale was a 3rd round pick in ’16, and has made one big league start (six shutout innings vs. Detroit).

This year in 13 minor league starts at Akron (2.67 ERA) and Columbus (2.13 ERA) he has fanned 70 hitters in 72-2/3 innings, walking just 15, similar numbers to what Bieber did last year (77 strikeouts, 7 walks in 79-2/3 frames).

Adam Plutko made his first appearance in the bigs in ’17, and although he is prone to the home run ball (15 allowed in 59-1/3 innings), he has kept his team in the game for the most part.

As a starter, he is 4-2 with a 4.12 ERA this season.

The organization needs Civale and Plutko to jump in and have similar success as Bieber did a year ago to help get this group of Indians to the post-season.

The success of these two and Zach Plesac (12th round pick in 2016) will go along way toward where the 2019 Cleveland Indians will wind up.

Player development indeed.

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.

Tribe Is A Different Team, Are They Better?

The Cleveland Indians were involved in a blockbuster trade Tuesday night, trading starter Trevor Bauer to Cincinnati in the three team deal that netted the Tribe slugging outfielders Yasiel Puig, Franmil Reyes, left handed prospect Logan Allen, and two lower level prospects.

Certainly, president Chris Antonetti and GM Mike Chernoff addressed the club’s offensive issues, the Indians rank 10th in the AL in runs scored. It was needed to keep the team in the playoff race.

The question is did they damage the club’s biggest strength, the starting rotation.

During the winter, we advocated for trading a starting pitcher because of the rotation depth, but at that time, Corey Kluber and Carlos Carrasco were healthy, and you had five above average starters.

While we understand Bauer wasn’t having the same success he had a year ago, he still is one of the league’s better pitchers, and there was a certain comfort of knowing when he went to the mound, and the same can be said about Mike Clevinger and Shane Bieber, Cleveland has a pretty good chance of winning.

Now, instead of three nights out of five with that feeling, you are down to two.

This isn’t to denigrate Zach Plesac, who has made just 12 big league starts, and has pitched pretty well, but he doesn’t have the experience or the track record to garner that confidence.

As for the other two spots, right now they are being filled by Adam Plutko, who is a really a hit or miss proposition at this point, and Danny Salazar, who hasn’t pitched in a big league game since 2017.

And as for the return of Corey Kluber from his broken arm, remember, he wasn’t pitching well when he got hurt, and he will have missed three and a half months by the time he returns.

If anyone knows how he will perform when he gets back, please send us the winning numbers for the next Mega Millions drawing.

Yes, the Indians will score more runs, but the fear is instead of losing 2-0 against good teams, they will now lose 7-5.

Could the Tribe have updated the offense without giving up Bauer, possibly by getting a couple of rentals, which by the way, Puig is? We will never now.

Allen is a top 100 prospect in the game, but he has struggled in the majors with San Diego and at AAA this season, so it is doubtful he will help the big league club in 2019.

We are all for trading from a strength, but we didn’t feel the Indians had an excess of starting pitchers, not with the injury to Kluber and Carlos Carrasco’s illness.

Perhaps we’d feel differently if the Indians’ upgraded the bullpen, but they didn’t, so we don’t think Terry Francona can lean on his relievers to make up for the absence of Bauer.

Remember, Bauer’s ability to throw around 120 pitches per start helped protect the bullpen, and there is no one who will take over in the rotation who is capable of that.

Did this trade make the Indians a better team than they were on Monday? We can’t be certain.

The Tribe is better offensively, but their rotation isn’t as deep, and their bullpen isn’t any better, and that’s a big factor.

For the Indians to overtake Minnesota or win a wild card berth, the key will be how well the starting pitching is. If Plesac can continue his strong rookie season, if Salazar can show a glimpse of the pitcher he was in 2013-mid 2016, if Kluber can return to his Cy Young form.

As we well now, that word, “if” might be the biggest word there is.

An Eventful Sunday For Tribe

Sunday was an eventful day for the Cleveland Indians, although not all of it was positive.

First, their modest four game winning streak was ended by Kansas City, so the team returns for a nine game home stand after a 5-2 trip.

They come back for a series against the American League’s best team, the Houston Astros, trailing the Minnesota Twins by two games in the Central Division, and leading the wild card standings by three games over Oakland and 3-1/2 over Tampa.

Oh, and one of their starting pitchers threw a conniption fit on pitcher’s mound.

Was it the big deal it became on social media? No, but it wasn’t a good look for Trevor Bauer, who threw a baseball against the screen between the Royals’ dugout and home plate, and fired another one over the centerfield wall.

The right-hander showed remorse almost immediately, apologizing to Terry Francona as he reached the mound, and doing the same in the dugout and after the game issued a statement saying he had no excuse for his actions.

Still, is this any different than a pitcher punching a wall or knocking over the Gatorade cooler after a bad performance? We believe Bauer is being truthful that the frustration was directed at himself and the sport, not at any of his teammates.

We would think everyone in the clubhouse knows Bauer and gets that he cares about performing his best above everything, and he feels he let his team down.

Our guess is this: If you like the competitor in Bauer, you don’t have a huge problem with what he did, and if you dislike him for his off the field beliefs, you think he is the locker room cancer.

And it is doubtful this changed his trade value, other teams know about this personality trait, nor does it change our mind about dealing Bauer. We still wouldn’t unless you can get a legitimate starter in return or in another deal.

Besides the loss and the Bauer stuff, the Indians also made a minor deal, sending Class A OF Ruben Cardenas to Tampa Bay for relief pitcher Hunter Wood and infielder Christian Arroyo.

Wood, who will turn 26 in a couple of weeks, is a righty, and has a lifetime 3.20 ERA in a little over 70 innings pitched with the Rays, and strikeout close to a batter per inning. He will be sent to Columbus for now.

Arroyo is a former top 100 prospect as recently as 2016, while in the Giants organization, but has been plagued by injuries the past three years, playing 59, 68, and 49 games the past three seasons.

He has a 984 OPS in AAA this year, and never struck out more than 73 times in a minor league season.

We look at this move similarly to the move which brought Oscar Mercado here at the trade deadline this time last year.

If he can stay healthy, and he’s on the 60 day injured list right now, he could be in the mix for a big league job next season, particularly because it is doubtful Jason Kipnis will be back.

He just turned 24 years old, and is a right-handed hitter.

It’s not the big move people wanted (they still have time), but it’s the kind of under the radar move the Tribe front office has made in the past.

So, for the last day before the schedule starts to get tougher, it sure was eventful for the Cleveland Indians.

Other AL Contenders Have Dominated Vs. Bad Teams Too

The Cleveland Indians, thought by many to be out of the playoff competition in mid May, start today’s game against Kansas City 20 games over the .500 mark at 62-42, and have a four game lead over the second wild card spot ahead of Boston and Oakland.

Where they once trailed by 11-1/2 games in the division standings, they are today just one game behind Minnesota in the Central Division standings.

They have accomplished this by simply dominating the lower echelon teams in the American League. The Tribe has gone 37-11 against the five worst teams in the AL: Kansas City, Detroit, Baltimore, Toronto, and Seattle.

There are those who will say this is fool’s gold. The Indians aren’t really contenders, they are the product of a soft schedule and cannot compete with the best teams in the league.

This ignores their 10-9 record against Boston, Houston, Minnesota, and the New York Yankees, all of whom Cleveland will play in the next three weeks.

In the interest of fairness, the Tribe is 2-8 vs. Oakland and Tampa, two other contenders for the playoffs, but all of those games came before this resurgence started after a loss to Boston on Memorial Day.

Since then, Cleveland has gone 36-15 in a stretch that included two games with Boston, three with the Yankees, and six with the Twins.

Going 37-11 against any five teams is a challenge. Heck, it’s Major League Baseball. It isn’t supposed to be easy, no matter how bad the competition.

At the end of June, the Indians lost a series on the road to Baltimore, a team certain to lose more than 100 games this season.

We looked at the other playoff contenders to see how they fared against the five teams Terry Francona’s squad has dominated.

The Yankees have piled up a 10-2 record against the Orioles and overall is 25-8 against the lowly five. They lost two of three to Detroit, where the Indians have won 12 out of 13.

Houston has played the least number of games against this group, mainly because only one of them is in the Western Division. The Astros have fared similar to Cleveland, going 18-4, winning nine of ten vs. Seattle.

Minnesota has the same number of losses (11), with 27 wins. They won all six games against Baltimore, but are a combined 16-9 vs. KC, DET, and TOR, where the Indians are 28-7.

They have a lot of games coming up against the Royals and Tigers, playing them in a combined 20 more games.

Boston has played the second most games against the quintet, but they haven’t fared as well as Cleveland, going 30-16. They’ve lost six games against the Blue Jays and five more to the Orioles. Perhaps they have an issue against birds.

Tampa Bay is 20-10, going just 4-3 against the Royals and 8-4 vs. Baltimore. They have yet to play the Mariners, and have 18 games left vs. the Orioles and Blue Jays.

Oakland caught Seattle early in the year when they were hot, so they are 8-7 with four to play. Toronto has also been tough, taking all six from the A’s, leading to a 17-14 record.

So, outside of Oakland, all of the contenders have beaten the living daylights out of the also ran teams.

The difference for the Indians, is they only have nine games remaining against the Royals and Tigers, and are done with the other three squads.

The Indians shouldn’t be condemned for beating the “bums”, they simply are doing what they should.

If they can hold their own through the middle of August after playing Houston, Minnesota, Boston, and the Yankees, they should be just fine.

And that’s assuming everyone else can match Cleveland’s dominance against the lowly five.

The Only Way A Bauer Deal Makes Sense

The rumors keep swirling around Major League Baseball about the Indians trading Trevor Bauer, and quite frankly we don’t understand it.

Yes, we understand that Bauer is going to get a significant increase in pay for 2020 through the arbitration process, and is going to be a free agent following that season.

We hear the arguments about dealing Bauer and improving the team now, and if you can do that, we are all ears. We have said it many times before, we would trade anyone for the right price.

And maybe someone will pay that price for Trevor Bauer, we just don’t think anyone will.

That’s because the right price for Bauer would include getting a major league starting pitcher in return. That’s what the Indians need unless they decide to do the mind boggling task of giving up on a season in which they are on pace to win more than 90 games.

No one has been more critical of the Indians’ offense than us, and the series against the Twins showed the need to fill holes in the lineup, even with Jose Ramirez starting to resemble the guy who finished in the top three of the MVP voting the past two seasons.

However, trading Bauer for someone who can impact the lineup right now and not getting a MLB caliber starter as part of the package is just robbing Peter to pay Paul.

If you deal Bauer, you have a shortage of starting pitching in our opinion.

One of the reasons the Indians are in possession of a playoff spot right now is their pitching, which ranks second in the American League in ERA, and the strength of that staff recently is the ability to trot Bauer, Mike Clevinger, and Shane Bieber out there every three of five games.

Moving Bauer creates a void in that strength. Without him, your rotation is Clevinger, Bieber, Adam Plutko, rookie Zach Plesac, and who? Another rookie in Aaron Civale?

Can you win enough games to make the playoffs with this rotation?

And spare us the “we’ll get Corey Kluber and maybe Carlos Carrasco back soon” talk.

If you can tell us how Kluber will pitch when he comes back, then please supply us with the next numbers for the MegaMillions drawing. Kluber was up and down before he was injured, and he is basically starting his season over.

Could Kluber be the pitcher he has been for the last five years? Sure. Is it worth gambling a playoff spot on that chance? Of course not.

We understand the offense is still below par, so go out and get a rental bat, even though we know the front office doesn’t like to do that. Let’s say you can get a Nicholas Castellanos for a prospect not currently in the Cleveland top ten?

That way you boost the offense without touching the rotation.

Or you can get a young starter with some big league experience in exchange for Bauer. We don’t think a team will do that with Bauer eligible for a big payday in ’20 and free agency in ’21.

Maybe you make two deals, one for a starter, say Marcus Stroman, and then move Bauer somewhere else.

That would be more prudent so you can continue to compete this season.

The Minnesota Twins are a good team, but they no longer have a 10 game lead in the division, it’s now three. You can’t weaken the strength of this team, which is starting pitching.

If you make the team better, then make the deal. But if you are going to weaken part of the team to fix something else, that doesn’t make sense.

Tribe’s Remaining Schedule Could Get Easier After Trade Deadline

For the last couple of months, we have focused on the soft schedule the Cleveland Indians were facing starting on June 11th, and the opportunity it gave them to get back in the post-season chase.

It doesn’t necessarily mean the Tribe will be facing a brutal schedule once the Houston Astros come to town next Tuesday night to begin a three game series, though.

We understand that between then and August 18th, Cleveland will play three against the Astros, four games at Target Field against the Twins, three home games vs. Boston, and four more at the bandbox called Yankee Stadium.

In between the Houston set and the trip to Minneapolis, there are six home games against the Angels and Rangers.

Of course, those games will be played after the July 31st trade deadline, so what will those teams look like when they arrive at Progressive Field?

Both teams are on the edge of the race right now, 5-1/2 (LA) and 6-1/2 (Texas) games behind Oakland for the second wild card spot.

It’s quite conceivable that one, if not both, organizations will be sellers before the calendar turns to August, meaning their rosters could be weakened by the team the Indians play them.

That’s the state of the American League the past couple of seasons, there are the have’s and have not’s.

The National League has 14 of the 15 teams within 7 games of the second wild card spot, the AL has nine.

What does this have to do with the Indians?

It means that after the Yankee series is done on August 18th, Terry Francona’s crew could go another month where the only contending teams they play are Tampa (August 30th-September 1st) and Minnesota (September 6th-8th in Minneapolis, and September 13th-15th in Cleveland) until the last nine games of the season.

While the Indians have done a remarkable job against the also-rans on the schedule, going 24-7 against the Reds, Rangers, Tigers, Royals, Blue Jays, and Orioles, and they still have six vs. Toronto and Kansas City before Houston arrives, it’s not easy.

Just last week, we witnessed the Twins losing two games to the New York Mets, and heck, the Indians themselves lost a series to the lowly Baltimore squad.

You just can’t take for granted that you will consistently beat the bad teams, so you have to give the Tribe credit for seizing the opportunity to right the ship and put themselves in position to make the post-season.

We don’t care who you are playing, but 29-11 in a 40 game span is very impressive.

Remember the last week of the 2005 season, when the Indians won just one game against a bad Tampa team and a White Sox squad that had the division wrapped up.

It is true the Tribe struggled against the A’s (1-5) and the Rays (1-3 to date) in 2019, but they did split with Houston on the road, and took a three game series against the Red Sox on the road and did the same in Cleveland against New York.

The old saying about beating up the bums, and splitting with the contenders very much applies to the Indians.

It is weird that people are complaining that the Tribe is beating the bad teams. Would they rather they lose to them?

Plus, if it was easy, wouldn’t every good team go on 10-12 game winning streaks all the time?

It isn’t easy, and give the Indians credit for dominating these teams. However, the rest of the schedule isn’t daunting once you get past the middle of August.

If you wanted to experience a pennant race, you will have that opportunity.

Sell Mode For The Tribe? Ridiculous!

It is funny to us that we hear many people, both fans and media, talk about whether or not the management of the Cleveland Indians wants to chase a playoff spot if it happens to be a wild card.

Why try to make moves to get you in a one game playoff? Well, if you win that game you advance to the Division Series, which is a best of five series.

Secondly, if you make the wild card game, you have a chance to win the World Series. Heck, in 2014, the Royals beat the A’s in the one game winner take all event, and actually were trailing late in that game, and they went to the seventh game of the World Series before losing to the San Francisco Giants.

If you don’t make the playoffs, even a wild card game berth, you have no chance to win.

To a sporting person, it is crazy not to take a shot at getting in, even if it is for just one game.

This isn’t the NBA, were probably at most five of the 16 teams to make the playoffs have a legitimate chance to win the title, so if you finish 6th or 7th in the conference standings say, three years in a row, you would likely be better off to miss the post-season festivities.

But the nature of baseball is if you can play in October, you have a chance to win.

Did anyone really think the Indians would beat the Red Sox in the 2016 Division Series once Carlos Carrasco went down? Remember, the Tribe started Josh Tomlin in Game 3 at Fenway Park.

Then, they beat Toronto in five games using Ryan Merritt to start one game, Tomlin started another, and a third game was a essentially a bullpen game because of Trevor Bauer’s bloody finger.

If you get into a series, anything can happen.

We understand the Indians lost to New York in ’17 after being up two games to none, but folks forget the third game was a 1-0 loss. That’s how close the Tribe came to a sweep.

As for last year’s sweep at the hands of the Astros, here were the scores of the games going into the 7th inning–

Game 1: Houston 4, Cleveland 2
Game 2: Houston 2, Cleveland 1
Game 3: Cleveland 2, Houston 1

Not playing coulda, shoulda, woulda, but it wasn’t like the Astros dominated right from the word go.

The point is the Indians had a chance to win each game late. They didn’t, but with a better bullpen and a tad more hitting, people might have a different viewpoint.

Besides, we have a hard time giving up on a season, particularly when you are 11 games over .500, which the Indians are right now.

We lived through the drought from 1959-1994, when hitting the .500 mark was considered a good season. When you have a good team, and you have a chance to make the post-season, you have to take a shot.

Now, we wouldn’t mortgage the future for a one game playoff, but the Indians do have some depth in the farm system and we wouldn’t be opposed to moving a middle of the road prospect for someone who can improve the roster now.

Baseball is a different sport. Using the same strategy and thought process used in football and basketball is ridiculous.

Getting to the post-season gives you a reasonable chance to win. The Indians should take advantage of that chance in 2019.

Tribe Still In Race, But Identify Problem Areas

After last night’s loss to the Minnesota Twins, the doomsayers were out in full force concerning the Cleveland Indians.

They dropped to 7.5 games behind the Twins. They dropped out of the second wild card spot. It’s time to start trading off assets because they should look toward 2020.

But going into the series, we felt getting one win was all that was needed. Certainly, it would have been better to win the series or sweep it for that matter, but the reality is the Tribe only lost one game in the standings, so they are still very much in it.

This series should send a clear message to the front office as to what needs to be addressed between now and the end of the year if you want to make the playoffs and once you get there, make a run.

The Twins have the second best ERA (3.92) in the American League, much better than the teams the Indians have played over the last month: Baltimore (15th-5.70), Kansas City (12th-5.03), Detroit (11th=5.00), and Texas (8th-4.80).

Cleveland scored just nine runs in the three games, so really, they were kind of fortunate to win one.

That’s because they simply don’t have enough solid bats in the lineup. Against good pitching, guys like Jake Bauers (although he had a key double today) and Jason Kipnis struggle.

Bauers was 1 for 10 in the series, Kipnis was 2 for 11 with both hits being squibbers to the left side of the infield. The only multi-hit games in the set by Indians’ players were Jose Ramirez’ two hit game on Friday and Tyler Naquin had two hits today.

Ramirez was an offensive bright spot with four hits, including a double and a home run.

And while everyone loved Bobby Bradley’s long home run on Saturday, the truth is he went 1 for 9 in the three games.

It’s nothing we haven’t said all year. The lineup needs to add some solid bats. Perhaps one can come from the farm (Daniel Johnson, Yu Chang?) and the other through a deal.

With Ramirez showing signs of good things to come and the right field being a solid platoon these days (Naquin and Jordan Luplow are doing well), the targets should be 2B, LF, and DH.

Another weakness that showed was the lack of bullpen depth.

Cleveland was the better team through six innings, but outside of Brad Hand and Adam Cimber, the rest of the relievers struggled.

Nick Goody, AJ Cole, Oliver Perez, and Tyler Clippard all allowed runs in the late innings to either give Minnesota a lead or let them extend a lead.

The Tribe needs another power arm to pitch in the 7th or 8th inning. Again, maybe some help comes from Columbus (James Karinchak, Cam Hill) and you can get another in trade.

One other thing that came from the series is maybe the Tribe discovered another ace in Shane Bieber. In kind of a must win game, Bieber was sensational today until some odd calls by replay umpires kind of did him in.

Bieber needed to keep the Twins off the scoreboard and he delivered six shutout frames, and maybe could’ve given them seven if not for the hit by pitch fiasco.

He made the All Star team, and could be the new 1-2 punch going forward with Mike Clevinger who also was very good in the series’ opener, and also has ace stuff.

So, the Tribe is still in the Central race, just 6.5 out and very much in the mix for a wild card. Keep in mind, they are also 11 games over .500.

It’s not like they are hovering around .500. Their starters can stop good offenses, the ones they will see in the post-season.

Now, it’s up to the front office to get Terry Francona what he needs. This could still be a fun late summer baseball-wise in Cleveland.

Tribe Front Office Shouldn’t Be Satisfied With Recent Winning.

The Cleveland Indians resume play on Friday night, and they go right into the fire with a three game series against the division leading Minnesota Twins.

The Tribe is 5-1/2 games behind the Twins at the All Star break, and while it is a big series to start the second half of the season, unless they get swept, it shouldn’t change what their plans are going into the trading deadline.

Even if Minnesota takes two out of three, the Indians will be 6.5 games out, and will still be very much in the wild card race, and with the following schedule filled with games against Detroit, Kansas City, and Toronto, Terry Francona’s squad should still be in the think of it when the calendar turns to August.

Last season, the top five scoring teams in the AL made the playoffs. Looking at the runs scored in the league right now, the top four teams are squarely in the race, with Seattle being an also ran, ranking fifth.

Tampa Bay and Cleveland rank 9th and 10th, respectively, meaning if history holds true, the Tribe front office should still be looking to improve the hitting.

In our opinion, although the Tribe’s offense has been much better the last 30 days, the front office cannot be complacent or satisfied.

Jason Kipnis had a very good stretch in the middle of the month, but has gone just 4 for his last 23, and is a liability against southpaws right now. He also struggles against power pitchers, hitting just .176 against them.

Jose Ramirez has slashed .353/.514/866 over the last 28 days, but can anyone be convinced he has returned to the guy who finished in the top three of the MVP voting in each of the last two years?

And then you have the young guys, can they hold up after opposing pitchers make adjustements?

Oscar Mercado has been a big boost to the lineup, but he had a rough week going into the break. Is that the beginning of hitting a rookie wall? We can say the same about Jake Bauers, who despite some early patience at the plate, now has a 80:28 strikeout to walk ratio.

That doesn’t bode well down the stretch.

If Mercado slumps, does the lineup have enough length to continue to put up the runs required to win in the AL?

That’s why we would still look to add at least one bat at the deadline. A veteran hitter would be nice, so that if Mercado continues to hit, and Bauers keeps providing some pop, then the added bat can be much needed depth.

We are also worried about the back end of the bullpen, especially with Brad Hand’s struggles (yes, we know he was damned near perfect up to this point) recently.

Nick Wittgren has done a fine job, but over the last month has allowed six runs in nine innings, serving up three of the five home runs he’s allowed this season.

And we still are worried about Tyler Olson’s effectiveness.

Nick Goody has looked good recently, but in today’s game, where the power arm out of the bullpen is king, the Indians don’t really have one. They could use a guy who can pitch the 8th (moving Wittgren to the 7th) who can blow away hitters.

What will the Indians do? We don’t know, but Frankie Lindor did kind of put pressure on the front office to add to the roster.

The point is, the organization shouldn’t and can’t be satisfied. They shouldn’t make a bad move, but they do have some depth at the farm to be able to help the big league club.