Another Uphill Fight For Tribe

Some team’s World Series victory drought will come to an end this year. Either the Chicago Cubs, who haven’t won since 1908, or the Cleveland Indians, whose lack of a title is a rather pedestrian 68 seasons, will put an end to their lack of baseball’s World Championship.

Make no mistake, the Cubs are very worthy of being here, having the best record in baseball with 103 wins.

They have the National League’s best offense that doesn’t play in hitting friendly Coors Field, and they have the league’s best ERA too.

They lead the NL in on base percentage and OPS, and rank 4th in the Senior Circuit in slugging. They do not run much, as they were 4th last in the NL in stolen bases.

And they actually hit better away from the “friendly confines” of Wrigley Field than they do at home. In fact, the park on the north side of the Windy City, actually played as a pitcher’s park this season.

Joe Maddon, one of the game’s best skippers (along with Terry Francona), has the likely NL MVP in Kris Bryant and Anthony Rizzo, both of whom have OPS over 900.

Leadoff hitter Dexter Fowler has a .393 on base percentage, while Ben Zobrist and Wilson Contreras both are very good offensive threats.

The Cubs do have some swing and miss bats in their order though, they were 5th in the NL in that category.

Pitching wise, Game 1 starter Jon Lester, Kyle Hendricks, and their closer, Aroldis Chapman all have ERAs under 2.00 at Wrigley Field.

Their other three starters (Jake Arrieta, John Lackey, and Jason Hammel) are all under 3.00, very formidable indeed.

However, on the road, both Lester and Arrieta, presumably the game two starter, are both over 3.00, and Lackey is over 4.00, although his start appears to be a home.

The former Angels and Red Sox hurler is 8-9 lifetime vs. Cleveland with an ERA approaching 4.

And then we have the American League’s best baserunning team, the Indians, vs. Lester, who has a known “phobia” about throwing to bases.

If the Tribe can get on against the southpaw, they need to run and run and run some more. Take advantage of every little thing possible against one of the game’s better pitchers.

And last, we will hear plenty about Francona and his relationship with Cubs’ president Theo Epstein, and how they ended the “Curse of the Bambino” in Boston and repeated with another title in 2007.

This series features two of the best managers in the sport, two outstanding young executives, one (Chris Antonetti) looking to win for the first time, and two teams with a sordid past, although with three AL pennants in the last 21 years, the Indians are the franchise with more recent success.

There is no question the Cubs are very good. Their run differential this year is the highest in the National League since 1906.

On the other hand, they played in the National League, the inferior league in our estimation. Outside of the Twins, you can argue that the five worst teams in baseball played in the NL (Reds, Braves, Diamondbacks, and Brewers).

Can the Indians pull it off? Of course, but the bats need to wake up. You can’t expect the pitching staff to continue to perform as they have thus far in the playoffs.

Tribe Goes To Series, Thankfully It Didn’t Take 41 Years Again.

For just the sixth time in franchise history, which spans 116 seasons, the Cleveland Indians are American League Champions!

For most of our life, at the beginning of baseball season, we would buy the Street and Smith’s Baseball Issue, and look at the composite World Series standings.

Every year, it would show Cleveland: 2 wins, 1 loss.

In those days, and we are talking the 1960’s, 70’s, and 80’s, we wondered what it would be like to get to the Fall Classic and change those numbers.

Then came the 90’s and Jacobs Field, and the Tribe got to two Series in three seasons, but they couldn’t get it done.

The composite standings changed to Cleveland: 2 wins, 3 losses, and will have stayed that way until the end of this year’s World Series.

It been 19 years since the heart breaking loss to the Florida Marlins in the seventh game. However, for fans of our generation, it is pretty damn cool that the Indians will be in their third Fall Classic in the last 21 years.

That may sound odd, but when you go 41 years between appearances in the Series, not having to go through another drought that long is great.

And although the players celebrated the six pennant in club history with gusto, to a man, and not surprisingly, they know they haven’t accomplished anything yet.

Terry Francona all but clinched a spot in the Hall of Fame as a manager, winning his third American League title, and doing it with two teams.

He did it losing two key pieces of his starting rotation, the strength of the team coming into the season, in September. He lost another starter to a drone injury just prior to the first game of the League Championship Series.

Tito did it because he managed unconventionally, particularly with the use of his bullpen, although part of that is due to the unselfish nature of the LCS MVP Andrew Miller and the Tribe’s closer Cody Allen.

Both told the skipper to use them whenever he needed them, and that speaks to the ultimate trust the players have in their manager.

The Tribe doesn’t have the big names of the Red Sox and Blue Jays, the two teams they defeated to get to the Series, nor are they known nationally like many players on the Cubs and Dodgers, the two teams who are playing to face Cleveland next week.

It was fitting that Miller mentioned Francisco Lindor after game one, saying he deserves more notice nationally than he’s been getting. The young Tribe shortstop is one of the up and coming stars in the sport.

And speaking of Miller, the best deadline trade acquisition we can think of in recent years, we wonder if the man who used to run the Indians, current Blue Jays’ president Mark Shapiro, would have pulled the trigger on getting the big lefty.

Our guess is he wouldn’t have, because he never had made a move that big. Perhaps that’s due to the barren nature of the Cleveland farm system (which falls at Shapiro’s feet), but it doesn’t feel like Miller would be an Indian.

Which leads us to a tip of the hat to president Chris Antonetti and GM Mike Chernoff. Besides Miller, they went out and got Brandon Guyer (three hits in ALDS Game 2), and Coco Crisp, who has been all over the post-season, including homers in both clinch games and a great catch in game three of the LCS.

So, this team, which has overcome injuries to perhaps its best player coming into the year in Michael Brantley, their starting catcher in Yan Gomes, and the aforementioned two starters, needs to win four more games to break its own 68 year world title drought.

It will no doubt be difficult, but we wouldn’t bet again another title for the Cleveland area, just four months after the Cavs broke the 52 year span without one.

Tribe & Jays Pretty Even Matchup

The American League Championship Series, which starts Friday night at Progressive Field figures to be pretty evenly matched.

The Blue Jays led the AL in ERA with the Indians ranking 2nd. In runs scored, Cleveland was 2nd while Toronto was 5th.

And while Canada’s team did not hit for a high average, they led the league in walks, so they ranked 3rd in on base percentage, just ahead of the Tribe.

With Carlos Carrasco and Danny Salazar missing, the Jays seem to have the edge in the starting rotation, but the Indians look to have the superior bullpen coming into the series.

Based on run differential, both teams should have won 91 games this season. That’s how even these two teams appear to be.

The Indians won the season series, four games to three, but keep in mind the first series in Toronto was skewed by the 19 inning victory which extended the Tribe’s winning streak to a club record 14 games.

Carrasco won the series opener with a 14 strikeout performance, and we all remember Trevor Bauer’s five scoreless innings on short rest in the aforementioned extra inning affair.

Terry Francona used Zack McAllister, who was struggling big time, to start the third game against Blue Jays’ game one starter Marco Estrada, and Cleveland led before the bullpen faltered late.

Corey Kluber had a rare horrible outing in the last game and Toronto dominated.

Keep in mind, the Indians did not see Jose Bautista all season. He was hurt both times the two teams met.

The Blue Jays big bats (Josh Donaldson, Edwin Encarnacion, Bautista, and Troy Tulowitzki) all function much better at Rogers Centre, with the exception of Bautista.

Russell Martin and former Indian, Ezequiel Carrera are two hitters who benefit greatly from playing at home, where the ball seems to take off. Martin’s OPS is almost 100 points higher at home, while Carrera’s is over 200 points higher.

The series in Cleveland was highlighted by late inning home runs for the Tribe. They tied and won the Friday night game on dingers by Jose Ramirez and the inside the park walk off job by Tyler Naquin, while the finale was decided by a two run shot by Ramirez in the bottom of the eighth.

So, based on the regular season, the two teams are pretty evenly matched. Is there anything the Tribe can take advantage of in the LCS?

The Blue Jays’ hitters strike out a lot. They rank 4th in the AL in this category. Besides the Carrasco game mentioned earlier, Bauer also had a start where he fanned more than 10 Toronto hitters.

So, the Indians’ pitchers need to get ahead in the count and expand the strike zone. Toronto hitter will chase pitches out of the zone when behind in the count.

The Tribe hurlers must get the Justin Smoaks, Kevin Pillars, Melvin Uptons of the team out, so if the big boppers do something the damage will be minimized.

Also, the Jays don’t do a good job controlling the running game, and the Indians lead the AL in stolen bases. It would not be a surprise to see Rajai Davis, Ramirez, Francisco Lindor, and Jason Kipnis trying to steal every time they get on base.

The Tribe has been aggressive on the basepaths all year, and now is not the time to change that.

Can the Indians win their sixth pennant in club history? Of course. But, as usual, it will not be easy. It is funny that this is the first time Cleveland has had the home field advantage in the five ALCS they have been involved with.

It would help the cause if Francona continued his hot streak in the manager’s chair.

Tribe, Tito Exact Revenge

It was a tough series for sure, and last night’s game was a nail biter, but the Cleveland Indians swept the Boston Red Sox in the American League Division Series with a 4-3 victory and advanced to the AL Championship Series starting Friday night.

The Red Sox came into the series with all the hype and the whole David Ortiz is retiring thing, but it was the largely unknown Tribe that won the series.

That three of the principal heroes in the clincher were Josh Tomlin, Tyler Naquin, and Coco Crisp tells you a lot about this group of Indians, led by their manager Terry Francona.

Certainly, Cleveland got incredible pitching mostly from Corey Kluber in game two, and Andrew Miller and Cody Allen (despite last night’s nervous performance) out of the bullpen, as they held down the highest scoring team in the American League to just seven runs in the three games.

But you can’t overlook the performances of Trevor Bauer and Tomlin, who put the bullpen in a situation to win the first and last games.

But look at the offensive heroes in each of the games. Roberto Perez, the back up catcher going into the season, and a guy who missed two and a half months with a thumb injury was a star in the first game.

In game two, Lonnie Chisenhall, who normally wouldn’t have played against Red Sox lefty David Price because of the platoon advantage, had the game’s biggest hit, a three run homer in the second.

And don’t forget Brandon Guyer, acquired from Tampa Bay at the trade deadline because of his ability to hit southpaws, chipped in with three hits in the middle game.

Last night, it was Naquin, who has struggled since September 1st, putting Cleveland in front with a two run single, and Crisp, picked up at the end of August, belting a two run homer over the Green Monster.

Jason Kipnis and Jose Ramirez made major impacts, but the Tribe overcame pedestrian performances from Carlos Santana, Frankie Lindor, and Mike Napoli to advance.

We hate to talk about perfection, because there were subtle things that could have been changed, but Francona pushed seemingly all of the right buttons in the series. When his team got the lead, he managed as if it were the seventh game of the series.

And that’s the way it should be in the post-season.

Francona has to be secretly be smiling today, and that grin would be directed at the Red Sox’ ownership who dumped him in 2011 after a late season collapse.

If you listened to the press conferences for the ALDS, when Tito was asked about the good, young Boston players like Mookie Betts and Xander Bogaerts, he mentioned it was a tribute to former Sox GM Ben Cherington, also fired by the ownership.

That was Francona getting a little dig in.

The skipper showed he can still motivate a team and push the correct buttons in a post-season series.

We also found it funny that the Boston media questioned the Cleveland manager at times like he was still managing the team that plays at Fenway Park.

So, in a day or two, there will be four teams remaining in Major League Baseball, and the Cleveland Indians are one of them.

To paraphrase Tom Hamilton, Cleveland’s “October to Remember” will continue.

Tribe Facing A Much More Famous Foe

Tonight’s the night!

Post-season baseball returns to Cleveland for the first time since the 2013 wild card game against Tampa Bay, and the Indians are in the American League Division Series for the first time since 2007.

Even though the Tribe has home field advantage as a result of having a better record during the regular season than their opponents, the Boston Red Sox, they are a decided underdog, particularly on a national basis.

Part of that is the loss of 2/5ths of Terry Francona’s starting rotation, with Carlos Carrasco down with a broken hand and Danny Salazar has a strain in his forearm. Neither will pitch in this series, and the hope is Salazar may be able to participate before the month ends.

The other part of this, is let’s face it, the Red Sox are jammed down the nation’s throat because it seems every matchup they have against the Yankees is televised across the universe.

Are you aware that David Ortiz is going to retire? If you aren’t, you could possibly be the most sheltered person on earth. Thank goodness, if the Indians can eliminate the Sox, we won’t have to hear about this anymore.

Of course, we are sure that one of the network’s covering post-season baseball will hire him as a “guest” analyst for the rest of the playoffs and World Series.

Even MLB Network has Pedro Martinez and Kevin Millar working for them. And it doesn’t take much for them to start reminiscing about 2004 and breaking “The Curse of the Bambino”.

That team was managed by the same guy who is in the home dugout tonight at Progressive Field. His name is Francona.

For most people around the country, Terry Francona is the most recognizable name among the Cleveland Indians. He’s put up four consecutive winning seasons and has made the playoffs twice with the Tribe, but his players don’t have the same “name” factor as the skipper.

We are sure much of the hype in the series will be about Tito coming back to Boston and that Mike Napoli will be playing against the same team he won a World Series with in 2013.

But this will be the network viewing audience’s first look at Francisco Lindor, Jose Ramirez, Jason Kipnis, and for that matter, Corey Kluber, who won the AL Cy Young Award in 2014.

Most of the nation’s baseball fans probably couldn’t pick these guys out of a lineup.

Besides Ortiz, Boston has former MVP Dustin Pedroia, and a bunch of young players who have been covered since arriving in the bigs: Mookie Betts, Jackie Bradley Jr. (JBJ for those not in the know), and Xander Bogaerts.

No wonder, most experts don’t give the Tribe much of a chance, although they cover this with the caveat that you can’t possibly pick Cleveland without Carrasco and Salazar.

We are happy that most national guys are seeing how good Andrew Miller is, with several baseball media people calling him, not the Orioles’ Zack Britton, the best reliever in the game. Of course, Miller pitched in both New York and Boston, so he’s got that going for him.

Would we be shocked if the Tribe didn’t advance? No, as we wrote the other day, they are facing an uphill climb.

But this is baseball. Hopefully, the Cleveland Indians will give the national media some new baseball players to talk about…guys like “Frankie”, “Kip”, “Josey”, and the “Klubot”.

A Very Tough Match Up For Tribe

Without a doubt, it will not be easy. That’s what happens when the strength of your team going into the season is ravaged by injuries.

That’s what the Cleveland Indians face in the American League Division Series against the Boston Red Sox starting on Thursday night.

This is because despite having the third best record in the AL, you can make a very strong case that the Red Sox are the best team in the Junior Circuit.

They lead the AL in run differential, scoring 1.1 more runs per game than their opponents. As a result, they have the best expected record in the league at 98-64, compared to the Tribe’s figures of +0.6 runs/game and an expected record of 91-71.

The one area in which the Carmine didn’t excel this season was in one run games, with a 20-24 record, compared to Cleveland’s 28-21 mark.

Boston led the AL in runs scored, the Indians were second. The Tribe had the league’s best ERA, the Red Sox were 3rd.

With all due respect to the Texas Rangers, who had the league’s best record (by a half game over the Tribe), these are probably the two best teams in the American League.

When Andrew Benintendi is playing LF, the Sox have eight players in their batting order with OPS over 800. The Indians have five.

However, on the road, Boston has just three hitters with OPS over 800 away from Fenway Park: David Ortiz, Mookie Betts, and catcher Sandy Leon, who may not play over concerns their management has over the Indians running wild on him.

Just another reason having the home field advantage is important.

On the other hand, the Indians have seven hitters with OPS over 800 at Progressive Field, while on the road, only Carlos Santana can make that claim.

So, this series may very well come down to which team can buck the trend of hitting well on the road.

Another problem with playing the Red Sox is the success their two best starting pitchers have had against the Tribe. Opening game starter Rick Porcello is 10-4 against Cleveland lifetime and game two hurler David Price is 10-2 vs. the Tribe.

Porcello has an impressive 2.84 ERA at Progressive Field over 12 starts, while Price is 5-0 with a 2.27 ERA in seven starts on the corner of Carnegie and Ontario.

On the other hand, Price has an ERA over 5.00 in the post-season.

So, it doesn’t look good for the Tribe, does it?

That’s why they play the games, and they don’t award the series on statistics or paper.

The one thing we know about the 2016 edition of the Cleveland Indians is they will not go easy. We also know they have an edge in the bullpen, where Terry Francona can go to Dan Otero, Bryan Shaw, Andrew Miller, and Cody Allen to cover four or even five innings in the post-season.

Remember, in 2007 the Tribe was 0-6 in the regular season vs. the Yankees, and then beat them 3-1 in the ALDS.

All of this stuff is rendered meaningless once the first pitch is thrown Thursday night.

The Indians also have an edge on the basepaths, with AL stolen base leader Rajai Davis, Jose Ramirez, Francisco Lindor, and Jason Kipnis all capable of stealing a bag or taking an extra base.

Can the Indians win this series? Of course, that’s the nature of baseball.

We are just pointing out that it will not be easy. That would just keep it in line with the rest of this season for the Cleveland Indians.

Tribe Earned This Title In Many Ways

The Cleveland Indians are the 2016 American League Central Division Champions!

No one game wild card nonsense this season, the Tribe will start the AL Division Series next Thursday somewhere, hopefully at Progressive Field.

Although the Indians have been in first place since June, it hasn’t been an easy trip to the division title despite the margin being eight games as of this morning.

Terry Francona has been without arguably the team’s best player, OF Michael Brantley, for the entire season. He has played just 11 games, getting 39 at bats for the year.

The starting catcher, Yan Gomes was mired in a batting slump the entire season, and then separated his shoulder in July and has missed the remainder of the season.

And in the past few weeks, the team has lost two starting pitchers, the strength of the team coming into the season, as Carlos Carrasco and Danny Salazar were ruled out for the rest of the regular season.

Look, all teams have injuries and they overcome them as well, but we are simply pointing out that this hasn’t been one of those magical seasons where everything fell into place for the Indians.

The Tribe earned this division title by dominating within the division. They have a 46-24 record against Central Division teams, and have a winning record against the other members of the division.

They earned this title by going on a 14 game winning streak in June, a franchise record. And for those who belittle the accomplishment and point to the team’s record without the streak, we would say that every major league had the opportunity to win 14 in a row.

To date, only the Cleveland Indians have done it.

They earned this title by ranking first in the American League in staff ERA, and scoring the second most runs in the league. If you do that, chances are you will have a very good record.

They earned this title by dominating at Progressive Field, going 53-28 at the corner of Carnegie and Ontario. They’ve gone .500 on the road too, so it’s not as though they are horrible outside of Cleveland.

They earned this title because they had young players from their farm system step up in the wake of the injuries that occurred, and guys like Jose Ramirez, Tyler Naquin, and Mike Clevinger have been major contributors to the cause.

They earned this title because two veterans signed in the off-season became major contributors. Mike Napoli had career highs in home runs and RBIs, and Rajai Davis is going to lead the league in stolen bases at age 35.

Both have also become leaders in the clubhouse and taken the younger guys under their wing.

They earned this title because the front office went out at the trade deadline and acquired perhaps the best relief pitcher in baseball in southpaw Andrew Miller, whose addition has made the Tribe relief corps maybe the best in the game.

They earned this title because they have one of the game’s most dynamic young players in SS Francisco Lindor and his partner at the keystone, Jason Kipnis.

They earned this title because Carlos Santana rebounded from a couple of lackluster seasons in the power department to bash a career high 34 dingers, a club record for a switch hitter.

Lastly, they earned this title because they have one of the game’s best skippers in Francona. We have questioned his in-game strategy from time to time, but you can’t doubt the respect he has from his players.

The hugs he gave his key guys as they left the field last night spoke volumes as to the relationship he has with the players.

Now, it’s time for some rest, but the Indians also need to win some games to secure home field for at least the first round.

But it was a sweet scene last night in Detroit. And if they couldn’t clinch at home, that’s the next best place to do so.

Are Tribe’s Post-Season Chances Done?

After Carlos Carrasco left Saturday’s game with the Detroit Tigers with a broken bone in his hand, The Plain Dealer’s Paul Hoynes wrote that the Cleveland Indians’ playoff chances ended before the post-season even began.

We aren’t going to get into whether or not the column was appropriate, nor are we going to discuss the reactions to the piece in the Tribe clubhouse.

We did want to analyze whether or not the Indians’ really do not have a chance once the post-season begins the first week in October.

Perhaps as little as five years ago, losing two starting pitchers from a team that leads the American League in ERA could have been a death blow to that squad’s World Series hopes.

But baseball has changed over the past few seasons, and in the playoffs, the bullpen is becoming more and more important as managers bring in one flamethrower after another to work one inning in October.

Certainly, the Tribe will need its ace, Corey Kluber, to give them a lot of innings in the games he starts, much like Madison Bumgarner does for the Giants. Terry Francona will need Kluber to go deep in games, because he will lean on his bullpen heavily in the games he doesn’t start.

From there on out, Francona will be happy with at least five innings from his starting pitchers and then he will turn the game over to his bullpen where he can pull a page out of Joe Torre’s book and ask his three best relief pitchers, Bryan Shaw, Cody Allen, and Andrew Miller, to give him four outs each instead of the three he usually asks for in the regular season.

Trevor Bauer would probably be the game two starter, and if he is throwing strikes, could be another guy who can soak up some innings. For all of Bauer’s inconsistency, especially after the all star break, when he is on, he can be dominant.

Our guess is if the other two starters, Josh Tomlin and Mike Clevinger, can give Tito four solid innings, the skipper will be satisfied.

That’s because the post-season roster will have either eight or nine bullpen options, depending on what Francona feels comfortable with.

It’s also why Tito has been conducting some tryouts over the last month to see who will be part of his playoff relief corps.

Obviously, Dan Otero will be one of those members, as will Zack McAllister, who has been much more effective over the last six weeks.

We also believe Kyle Crockett will give the Indians an extra left-hander in the ‘pen in the post-season.

The last two spots are up for grabs, and the frontrunners are probably veteran Jeff Manship and rookie Perci Garner, who the manager has gone to in some very high leverage situations lately.

His strikeout of Victor Martinez on Saturday, with a man on third in a scoreless game, may have clinched the spot for him.

Without a doubt, it would be easier for the Indians with four starters who can give the team at least six innings throughout the post-season, but that ship has sailed.

However, we can definitely see a scenario where the pitching burden is put more on the bullpen in October, and that gives the Cleveland Indians just as good of a chance for success as they would have if the starting rotation was intact.

Sign Lindor Long Term, He’ll Be Best Ever For Tribe

It should be fairly obvious by now that the Cleveland Indians have a very special player in shortstop Francisco Lindor.

He’s already the best player on a team that will likely make the post-season, and he’s just 22-years-old, not turning 23 until well after the season is over.

Since getting called up on June 14th a year ago, the switch-hitter has batted .316 with a 825 OPS, and this year, he has an outside shot at a 200 hit season.

We have been advocating since last year (yes, we know that sounds crazy), to sign Lindor to a long term deal to make sure he stays in a Cleveland uniform for a long, long time.

And we mean not just a deal to cover his arbitration seasons and maybe delay his free agency by a year or two. No, we would sign him to a ten year deal, keeping with the franchise through the prime of his career and beyond.

That’s how good we believe this kid is.

Throughout his minor league career, we thought that Lindor could be to the Indians what Derek Jeter was to the New York Yankees, and we’ve seen nothing that has made us change our mind.

Besides his playing ability, and remember, a baseball player’s prime is usually between ages 27 to 29, so he is five years away from that, Lindor’s joy for the game is always evident. His smile and zest for baseball should be marketed not only in Cleveland, but by Major League Baseball.

We also believe that if Lindor would stay for ten more years, he would become the best position player in the history of the Cleveland Indians.

We understand the names that came before, Hall of Fame players who spent the majority of their careers with the Tribe. Names like Nap Lajoie, Tris Speaker, Lou Boudreau, Earl Averill, and those players of recent ilk like Jim Thome, who will be inducted into Cooperstown soon.

Look at the Tribe’s list of all time leaders, and tell me Lindor wouldn’t top all of these lists if he remained healthy and played a total of 12 years here–

Games played: Terry Turner 1619. Lindor played in 241 after last night, and if he played 140 per season, which is probably conservative, he would be at 1641.

Runs: Averill 1154. Lindor has 142 to date with 92 this season.

Hits: Lajoie 2052. Frankie’s next hit is #300, with 170 hits per season, again conservative, the shortstop will be at 2000.

Doubles: Speaker 486. Lindor has 49 right now, and as he gets older and stronger, we can see 40 per year as a norm. Besides, it’s no disgrace to be behind “The Gray Eagle”, who is the all time leader in this category.

RBI’s: Averill 1084. Lindor has 121 for his career, and again as he gets stronger, should be able to start knocking in 80-90 per season.

By the time he would have completed that decade with the Tribe, the only major stats he would likely not be on top of would be home runs (although he would be in the top ten), and stolen bases, because that aspect of the game has been de-emphasized.

We don’t go crazy with superlatives either. Part of the reason Lindor could be the best Tribe player ever would be that the franchise has never really been able to keep great players for an extended period.

Even throughout the golden age of the 1990’s, none of the great players who played at Jacobs Field ever played their entire career in Cleveland.

The front office needs to make a long term deal with Lindor this winter. He is simply worth it, and it would show fans that this ownership is anxious to keep a player like this here for the long haul.

We are seeing the beginning of greatness with Francisco Lindor. Let’s hope we continue to watch for a long time.

Tribe Stuff: 5th Starter, Bullpen, and Tyler Naquin

Last night, Terry Francona used what he called a “bullpen game” thus bypassing struggling Josh Tomlin in the starting rotation.

The Tribe lost the game, but that wasn’t the reason. The Indians went into the seventh inning down just 3-2 before some subpar defense allowed the Astros to score three runs to basically ice the game.

This spot in the rotation will come up again this Saturday in Minnesota and we don’t want to see another “bullpen game”. It’s time to make a decision on what the team is going to do with their fifth starter.

Tomlin did come on and pitch a clean inning last night, but hopefully Francona and pitching coach Mickey Callaway don’t think the right-hander’s problems are cured and put him back out there to start.

Either bring up Ryan Merritt or Shawn Morimando to start, or start stretching Mike Clevinger out again and try to get four inning out of him this weekend.

We know that the fifth starter is not going to be used in that role once the post-season starts, but since Cleveland is in a pennant race, they shouldn’t be basing any games on a bunch of guys Tito wouldn’t use in a game he was winning either.

The Indians haven’t clinched anything yet, so they need to keep winning and can’t have a starter pitch less than two innings.

Bullpen. We know that when the Tribe has a lead late, Francona is going to use a combination of Bryan Shaw, Andrew Miller, and Cody Allen to finish games. And all in all, he’s done a great job of using the trio in the best situations.

Beyond those three, Dan Otero has been incredible this year with a 1.37 ERA and the ability to get ground balls at any time. Zack McAllister seems to have recovered from his slump in the middle of the year, and since August 5th has pitched 11-2/3 innings and allowed just one run.

Jeff Manship is struggling again, so we would like to see more of Perci Garner heading into the playoffs. The Dover, Ohio native throws hard and has good sink on his pitches. Garner could be of more help in October than a guy like Manship, who has given up seven homers in 36 innings.

Tyler Naquin. A lot has been made on social media about Naquin’s freakish lack of success against fastballs this season. The numbers don’t lie, but we can’t believe a player can reach the big leagues without being able to hit gas.

We’ve been studying the rookie’s at bats, and we believe the problem comes from chasing fastballs out of the strike zone. Last night, he swung at a 1-0 pitch that was outside, so instead of a great hitter’s count, it was back to even.

That has happened a lot lately.

We also think that Naquin has gotten a little home run happy after his June and July where he belted 12 home runs after not hitting one to that point in the season.

He needs to get back to his line drive approach he had early in the season, and the home runs will come. Remember, his first big league dinger was on a pitch he took over the leftfield wall at Progressive Field. It wasn’t pulled.

The Tribe has a little over a week to put a clamp on the division because starting a week from Friday, they have a steady diet of the Tigers and Royals, their closest pursuers. If they play well until then, the magic number should be in single digits by then.