Time For Tribe Shake Up If They Want to Contend

The Cleveland Indians are starting a 10 game trip which could make or break their season.

Yes, they are still just six games out of the second wild card spot in the American League, but their record is 33-39 and an unsuccessful trip would put them with too many teams to pass to claim a playoff spot.

From May 14th through June 2nd, the Indians went 13-5 and it looked like perhaps they turned around their season.

Unfortunately, that 19 day span is the only consistent baseball they played all year, and outside of that stretch, the Tribe is 20-34, a truly mediocre record over a 54 game span, which is one-third of the season.

The Indians will tell you there isn’t much they can do about the current roster, but that’s a lie. Here is what we would do:

We hate to see anyone lose their jobs, but despite what the Indians front office will tell you, baseball is a results business. They seem to think it’s an entertainment business.

1). Get a new hitting coach. Ty Van Burkleo made not be the reason the Indians can’t hit with men on base, but sometimes a new voice is needed. In 2005, Eric Wedge replaced Eddie Murray with Derek Shelton and the offense took off.

Maybe it’s a reach, but it’s worth a shot. Rouglas Odor was just named the hitting coach for the AAA All-Star Game, so perhaps he should be promoted.

The offense has struggled for more than just this season, it was tough to score runs the second half of last year too. It’s time to try something different.

2). Eliminate the dead weight on the current roster. Think about how many players Terry Francona doesn’t want to play or pitch with the game on the line.

It’s quite obvious the organization has lost confidence in Michael Bourn, relegating him to a platoon role. It’s time to release him.

We know how much money he is making, but right now he is hurting the team. A better alternative is to pay him (you have to anyway) and not have him hurt the team. This roster would be better off with Tyler Holt or Tyler Naquin on the team instead of Bourn.

Besides, this is making Michael Brantley play more centerfield, which is not good for his back, which in turn is not good for his bat. Brantley needs to move back to left permanently, and perhaps he will start hitting better.

The same goes for the bullpen. Francona doesn’t have faith in Nick Hagadone and it seems his confidence in Zack McAllister is waning as well. Cleveland has organizational depth in relief pitchers, so why not use it.

They’ve been loathe to give Austin Adams a shot for most of the season, instead, going with Scott Atchison, and right now, C.C. Lee deserves an opportunity.

Why not see what you can get for Hagadone and McAllister and get some more prospects.

It’s not like these moves would be catastrophic. The Tribe is struggling mightily now. Why not try something else? It is doubtful that the replacements for these players or coaches could perform worse than they are right now.

The front office of the Indians has a history of patience and sitting on their hands. It’s time to get up and do something, and do it now. Otherwise, the attendance figures at Progressive Field are going to keep declining.

And instead of coming up with reasons for that…just look in the mirror.

Using WAR to Identify Tribe Veterans Not Helping Club

This seems to be an annual thing to write when it comes to the Cleveland Indians and their manager, Terry Francona.

It is about the difference between patience and stubbornness. Even Francona himself acknowledges that he can be stubborn at times because he trusts the players you have performed for him in the past.

Once again, it seems like Tito and general manager Chris Antonetti have some decisions to make if the Tribe is to remain in contention for the playoffs in 2015.

As the season nears the halfway point, it is becoming apparent that a few players aren’t contributing to the success of this team, and the question is should they be replaced?

Now, we aren’t total proponents of WAR (wins above replacement player) because our opinion is that it is tilted toward middle of the diamond players. One of the selling points on Michael Bourn when he signed in 2013 was that he had a 6.1 WAR in 2012.

We looked at the stats and said he was a terrible offensive player for most of his career. His WAR rating was high because he plays centerfield and he was a solid defensive player.

However, within a team, WAR does tell you who is contributing and who isn’t.

For example, the lowest WAR among position players on the Indians belongs to Nick Swisher at -0.6, meaning a player in AAA would be better than him.

The only other position player with significant playing time and a negative in this category is Jose Ramirez. Which kind of validates the statistic.

On the pitching staff, the hurlers who have a negative WAR on the season are Bruce Chen, who is now retired, T.J. House, who is currently injured, and two current members of the bullpen.

Those two would be veteran Scott Atchison and Nick Hagadone.

The former is now 39 years old and had an excellent season with the Indians in 2014. Unfortunately, that was last year.

This year, he’s allowed six home runs in just 18 innings of work, and Francona can’t be comfortable bringing him into a game. By all accounts, Atchison is a great guy, but he doesn’t appear to be able to be effective anymore.

Hagadone is one of those pitchers who has unbelievable stuff, and he’s left-handed to boot. Scouts and personnel people always love guys like that.

His problem though is that he can’t throw strikes consistently, and that leads to problems. He’s given up more hits than innings pitched and has walked ten in 23 innings. His career ERA is 4.79. And he will be 30 on New Year’s Day.

The point is this isn’t some 24-year-old flamethrower we are hoping will be able to corral his pitches. He’s another guy that Francona has to be hesitant to bring into the game.

You can’t tell us the relief corps wouldn’t be better off with Austin Adams (2.38 ERA in 7 games) and Kyle Crockett (five scoreless appearances) pitching in Cleveland rather than Columbus.

Here’s a list of players hovering around a zero WAR, meaning they are replacement players: Carlos Santana (0.3), Bourn (0.3) Mike Aviles (0.4), David Murphy and Brandon Moss (0.5).

And these pitchers: Cody Allen (0.1 although he’s been better since the end of April), Marc Rzepczynski (0.0), Ryan Webb and Bryan Shaw (0.4).

This shows there are a lot of Indians who aren’t getting it done, and they need to pick it up if this team is going to start winning.

Remember, once players get into their 30’s, they aren’t getting better. You can live with Giovanny Urshela and Francisco Lindor struggling a bit, because they will improve.

It’s not likely that Hagadone and Atchison will be better as the season goes on.

Stats Show Tribe Pitching Just As Responsible For Up and Down Year.

We all know the Cleveland Indians got off to a bad start this season, and then played much better in May.

However, they are back in a rut again, treading water in June, having won just six of their last 15 games.

They are trying. They’ve brought up heralded prospect Francisco Lindor to play shortstop and add Giovanny Urshela to play third base, and tomorrow will mark the debut of right-hander Cody Anderson, who will start against the Rays.

The hitting takes the bulk of the blame, but in reality, they are only half of the problem, because the team ERA ranks 12th in the American League, although they might rank higher if not for some questionable official scoring.

First, the hitting. Despite ranking 3rd in the AL in on base percentage, and 9th in slugging, the Tribe ranks 10th in the league in runs scored. This is mostly because they are terrible with men on base.

That’s mostly because they don’t have enough solid bats in the lineup.

Right now, they have Jason Kipnis, who is having an MVP quality season leading off, and Lindor is hitting second, with Michael Brantley third. Kipnis (.417 OBP) and Brantley (.381) get on base a lot.

After that, there aren’t a lot of guys doing anything.

David Murphy and Ryan Raburn are doing well platooning at DH, but Raburn has slowed after a hot start. Carlos Santana is batting .212, and his most consistent skill this year is walking. While that is better than making an out, it’s usually not resulting in runs being scored.

Yan Gomes has been pretty consistent, but was out six weeks with a knee injury, and is batting .211 on the season.

Brandon Moss has shown some flashes, but because he strikes out a lot, he is prone to those 0 for 15 slides that don’t help the team score runs. Michael Bourn is a blight on the offense with his .238 average and OPS under 600.

So, how would you expect Kipnis and Brantley to score based on who is hitting behind them?

We have always maintained you need to have at least seven solid hitters to have a formidable offensive team. How many do the Indians have?

Right now, three (Kipnis, Brantley, DH platoon) and we think Gomes, Moss, and Santana can be. That still leaves them one bat short. Lindor and Urshela are too young and inexperience to be counted on, although both haven’t been bad so far.

The pitching has been a disappointment too. They lead the AL in striking out hitters, but when teams hit the ball, it hasn’t been good.

Tribe pitchers have the 2nd highest batting average against on balls put in play and have allowed the third most home runs in the league. The first figure points out the Cleveland defense hasn’t been good most of the year.

None of the starters have an ERA under 3.00, and several parts of the bullpen have been crazy inconsistent as well. Cody Allen has righted himself after a bad start, and Bryan Shaw has been solid lately too, but Zack McAllister is up and down.

Why Ryan Webb and Austin Adams haven’t received a better chance is a mystery, and it may be time to cut bait on Nick Hagadone and Scott Atchison.

The fifth starter spot has been held by several guys, and perhaps the best of them, Shawn Marcum (who pitched well in four of six starts) was designated for assignment on Thursday.

Maybe Anderson can stabilize that spot.

Because the American League is so tightly packed, if Terry Francona’s club can get some consistency and can rattle off something like 14 wins in a 20 game span, they would be in the top half of the league record wise.

Unfortunately, outside of a three-week stretch in May, they haven’t been able to do that.

Tribe Last 27 Games, Much Better Than First 27.

When we evaluated the Cleveland Indians after the first sixth of the season, they were floundering at 10-17, on a pace to go 60-102 for the season.

The next 27 games proved to be much more successful, mostly due to the starting pitching and the bullpen settled into some redefined roles.

Terry Francona’s club went 16-11 in this group of games and hit the one-third point in the season at 26-28 and very much in the mix for a post-season berth.

The Royals have come back to the pack a bit and the Tigers have been in a major slump, so the surprising Minnesota Twins are currently the division leaders, with the Indians five games back. They sit just two and a half games out of a wild card spot.

The offense improved, thanks to a historic month by Jason Kipnis, who was moved to the leadoff spot, and currently sits 6th in the American League in runs scored per game. They are 4th in the league in OPS, mostly because they are 2nd in on base percentage, led by Carlos Santana, who leads the AL in walks.

Still, the offense is inconsistent. In the last 28 games, the Tribe scored three runs or less in 14 of them, exactly half of them. However, they scored seven or more runs in six games, which is what improved their ranking. Thanks to the pitching staff, they won four of the games they scored three runs or fewer.

The Twins rank just ahead of Cleveland in runs per game, and they had 10 games of three runs or less in that span, along with seven games scoring seven or more. It’s a slightly less volatile attack.

When they score four or more runs, the Indians are 21-9.

Without a more consistent offense, the pitching has to shoulder the entire burden for this team winning.

The Tribe pitching staff ranks 11th in the Junior Circuit in ERA, but the way the starters are going, they will continue to rise in that statistic. And they lead the AL in strikeouts by a wide margin, fanning 39 more hitters than Tampa Bay in two fewer games.

The “Big Four” of Corey Kluber, Trevor Bauer, Carlos Carrasco, and Danny Salazar all have allowed fewer hits than innings pitched and struck out twice as many hitters as they have walked. That is outstanding.

All of them have an ERA under 4.00 as well. Over the last month, since Kluber’s 18 strikeout performance against St. Louis, a span of 23 games, Tribe pitchers have allowed more than four runs in a game just four times, and in two of those games, they allowed just five runs.

That’s dominant pitching.

Shawn Marcum isn’t the fireballer the rest of the guys are, but he’s provided good outing in three of his four starts. Despite not being able to throw in the mid 90’s, he is striking out almost a hitter per inning.

As for the bullpen, Cody Allen has pitched well since the end of April, allowing just four earned runs in 16-1/3 innings, striking out 23. His return to form has stabilized the ‘pen, and the others have followed suit.

Bryan Shaw is looking more and more like the guy who pitched here in 2013 and 2014.

Zack McAllister and Nick Hagadone have been inconsistent, and Scott Atchison was not pitching well before he went on the DL with an ankle injury.

Things are looking up at Progressive Field.

The starters are throwing like we all expected entering the season, and if the bats can start showing some improvement, it could be a fun summer downtown.

What a difference the second sixth of the season was.

Our Experiences and Suggestions at Progressive Field

Last Monday was Memorial Day. The weather was gorgeous, sunny and warm, and the Cleveland Indians were playing the Texas Rangers with a 4:05 start time.

A perfect day to take in a ball game.

13,000 people showed up. And keep in mind, the Indians made the wild card game in 2013, and went to the last weekend of the season in 2014 before being eliminated.

Even in Tampa, a city which probably shouldn’t have a major league baseball team, and hasn’t ever warmed to the Rays, drew 15,000 folks.

In Miami, another city not known as a baseball hot spot, they had over 21,000 in attendance.

And it Pittsburgh, a blue-collar town very comparable to Cleveland, more than 39,000 poured into PNC Park to watch the Pirates.

We understand the fans don’t trust the ownership and front office of the Indians, and although local television rating are high, no one ventures to Progressive Field.

We have attended three Tribe games downtown this month and here are our impressions.

Although we mocked the new bar in right field, it is very nice. Our objection was to taking seats out of the park instead of giving fans a reason to buy tickets for the seats the organization removed.

And there are certainly many, many different foods and beverages to consume. It is very different from when we attended games as a kid and people looked at you weird if you wanted a hamburger instead of a hot dog.

We don’t like how the upper deck in right field looks. Your eyes are drawn to it because it is kind of a monstrosity, out of place with the rest of the park.

We did attend Corey Kluber’s 18 strikeout masterpiece against St. Louis.

What was strange about the game is we really didn’t know how many strikeouts Kluber was racking up. It wasn’t publicized to our knowledge, and we look at the various scoreboards a lot.

We finally went on our phone to keep track of Kluber’s accomplishment.

And when the right-hander fanned his 18th hitter in the top of the eighth, once again, we did not detect any mention that Kluber had tied Bob Feller’s club record for strikeouts in a game.

Very, very strange.

We also bought tickets at Progressive Field the day of a game, which is a ridiculous experience. We paid almost double what the tickets are listed at on-line. This is mind-boggling. It is almost that the front office is trying to discourage fans who may be downtown at the casino or a restaurant from going to the game.

With attendance the way it is, they should be embracing anyone who wants to enter the gates.

We understand the Indians want people to buy seats in advance, but at the very least, they should be the same price as what you could buy them at the day before. You are being penalized for making a last second decision.

Gone are the days you could decide at 6PM to go see the Tribe, we guess.

And if you want to buy tickets from a human being, good luck, they want you to buy from their ticket kiosks electronically. There aren’t many ticket windows open.

The Indians need to do something to get people inside Progressive Field. A good start would be to end this practice.

Progressive Field is still a great place to watch a baseball game. It has excellent sight lines, and great food/beverage choices. Yes, it is a little expensive, but you are a captive audience.

Start having different promotions. Embrace their inner Bill Veeck.

Someone on Twitter suggested a “Support Chief Wahoo Night”, something the politically correct front office would never go for, but would draw fans in our opinion.

We know they have bobble head nights, fireworks nights, and dollar dog games. Those are fine. But, they need to start thinking out of the box. Make it fun to go to the ballpark.

In our opinion, that’s lacking right now.

Kluber’s Resurgence Sparks Tribe

When Corey Kluber took the mound on May 13th against the St. Louis Cardinals, he had an ERA over 5.00, and hadn’t won a game.

He showed his Cy Young Award winning form that night, striking out 18 hitters in eight scoreless innings, and allowed one hit in a 2-0 victory.

The Indians’ pitching staff seemed to rediscover itself on that night.

In the last 11 games, including that night, the Tribe pitchers have allowed just 30 runs, an average of less than three runs per night. You will win a lot of games when you hold the opponents like that.

And Cleveland has, they have won eight of those contests.

It seems that getting Kluber straightened out has sparked the club, and the other starters have followed the ace’s lead, starting with Trevor Bauer, who the next day, pitched a gem of his own, striking out 10 Cardinals in 7-1/3 innings, before Marc Rzcepczynski gave up a two-run HR to Matt Carpenter.

Yes, the offense is performing a little better, particularly since Terry Francona moved Jason Kipnis to the leadoff spot, but in this recent run, the Tribe is only averaging four tallies per game, scoring three runs or less in six of the 11 ballgames.

Everyone thought the starting pitching was the reason Cleveland would be a contender in 2015, and right now they are living up to those expectations.

When your starters perform like the Indians’ hurlers have over the last 10 days, you have a chance to win every single night.

And it helps that veteran Shawn Marcum gave his team a strong outing in his first start, beating the White Sox, giving up only two solo home runs in 6-2/3 innings of work last Wednesday.

Up to that point, the fifth starter spot had been a black hole for Cleveland since the first turn through the rotation.

Francona also made some changes in the bullpen too, as Nick Hagadone and Scott Atchison have taken a backseat after a few shaky outings.

Cody Allen seems to have better control and as a result is looking more and more like the pitcher we saw in 2014. He picked up his 9th save today, and has fanned 25 in 17-1/3 frames, although the 12 walks is still a scary statistic.

Zack McAllister seems to be the primary set up man, with a 1.64 ERA out of the ‘pen and 27 whiffs in 22 innings as a reliever. Rzcepczynski is the situational lefty of choice used by the skipper right now.

It was telling that the other night when Danny Salazar could only give the team six innings, that Francona went with newcomer Ryan Webb, who has allowed just five hits and three walks in 12-2/3 innings. Webb seems to be getting a more prominent role in the bullpen right now.

Bryan Shaw has been prone to giving up the longball, allowing three bombs in 13-2/3 innings to this point in the season. It appears he has lost the eighth inning spot he had in 2014.

But it starts with the starters giving Francona and Mickey Callaway six solid innings on most nights. That means the relief corps does not get overexposed and keeps them fresh.

That needs to continue.

If it does, the Indians may just be able to climb over the .500 mark and stamp themselves as the team everyone thought they would be at the beginning of the season.

It would be nice if they would hit a little better and catch the ball better too.

However, this is a team built on starting pitching and the ace of the staff seems to be back on the beam. That’s what got the Indians pointed in the right direction.

Lack of Consistency Killing Tribe

It has been well documented that the Cleveland Indians have had issues stringing together wins. When they emerged victorious both Friday and Saturday in Texas, it marked the first time the Tribe has won two in a row since the first week of the season.

The biggest problem? Consistency.

Terry Francona’s club simply can’t put anything together on a day-to-day basis.

For example, in their last seven games, the Indians have had games where they are tallied eight runs twice, and another where they scored ten times. In the other four games? Cleveland scored one run twice, two runs once, and three runs once.

Since it is difficult to win games where you score three runs or less (although the Tribe did win 2-0 on Corey Kluber’s gem on Wednesday night), this team can’t put together any kind of streak.

The pitching isn’t any better. In the same seven games, Cleveland hurlers had contests where they had a shutout, allowed two runs twice, and three runs once. That’s good, right?

Except that in the other three games, the pitching staff allowed eight runs twice and five runs on another occasion.

Even individual players have had the same ups and downs. Now, we realize that not everybody can be like Michael Brantley, but some of the Indians players have been woefully inconsistent.

While the starting pitching looked to be a strength coming into the year, the main starters have yet to reach a point where they are good most times they take the hill.

Kluber has had four of eight starts where he has thrown six or more frames allowing two runs of less. The other four appearances? 23 innings pitched allowing 19 earned runs.

Carlos Carrasco has been about the same. In four of his eight starts (we threw out the game he was hit by the line drive), he has pitched 24-1/3 innings and allowed eight runs, for an ERA of under 3.00. In his other starts, he has pitched 19 innings, allowing 14 earned runs.

To be fair, Trevor Bauer has been good in five of his seven starts and Danny Salazar in five of his six opportunities.

The fifth spot has been an out-and-out disaster, with southpaws T.J. House and Bruce Chen combining to allow 38 hits in 19 innings of work.

The bullpen has been most up and down as well, with only Zack McAllister and lately Bryan Shaw showing solid efforts on most nights. Long man Ryan Webb has done his job well also.

That’s not good enough if you want to put together a winning streak.

The hitters aren’t immune either. Brandon Moss was counted on to be a power presence in the middle of the order, and he does lead the club in home runs (5) and RBI’s (23). That’s great until you see three of those dingers and 13 of the runs he has knocked in have come in THREE GAMES!

In the other 32 games, he’s hit 2 homers and knocked in 10, which is about what David Murphy has done in part-time duty.

We will leave Jason Kipnis out of this because he’s been torrid for about a two-week stretch, it hasn’t been a select few games.

We know Nick Swisher is battling back from surgery on both knees. He came into today at 9 for 35 on the year. He was 7 for 8 in two games, and in the other eight games he appeared in, he was 2 for 27.

Until the Tribe starts getting good performances on an almost nightly basis from their hitters and pitchers, they are going to keep scuffling.

What makes players good is consistency. Many guys can have a good night every once in a while, and right now, that’s what’s happening here.

It has to change soon, because the other teams in the AL Central are all playing pretty well.

Tribe Pitchers Need to Throw Strikes, Get Better Defense

There is certainly no question the Cleveland Indians have gotten off to a slow start. They have one of the worst records in the American League to date.

However, if the season ended today, and we still have about 5/6ths of it remaining, the second wild card would be the Baltimore Orioles, who currently sit at 12-11.

For you math majors, that means the Indians are just 3-1/2 games out of the playoffs with a whole lot of season to go.

That doesn’t mean that the Tribe’s roster isn’t flawed and is in need of improvement, of course, we said that all winter.

The recent offensive resurgence has put the Wahoos 9th in the AL in runs scored per game, but the pitching staff, considered to be the reason Cleveland was supposed to contend this season, has gotten off to a woeful start, ranking 13th in the junior circuit in ERA, ahead of only Boston and Toronto.

Surprisingly, they’ve done that despite ranking second in the league in striking out hitters.

If not for Danny Salazar, who didn’t even make the team out of spring training, the rotation would be going through a two and a half week stretch with very few good performances.

We aren’t concerned about Corey Kluber as of yet, and Trevor Bauer and Carlos Carrasco have really been more good than bad to this point, so the starters have done okay. Not spectacular, like they were in August and September 2014, but they’ve kept the team in games.

Unfortunately, the bullpen, which has been tremendous over the past two seasons, is leaking oil, and the team’s defense has not improved from a year ago, even though the errors are down.

The Tribe pitching staff ranks 14th in the league in walks and the relief corps has contributed greatly to that statistic.

The wildness plagued Nick Hagadone has walked five in nine innings. Marc Rzepczynski has issued four free passes in 6-2/3 innings. Bryan Shaw’s walk rate is up as well.

And although Terry Francona has supported closer Cody Allen, he has to be getting nervous. Allen has allowed a whopping 15 hits and seven walks in nine innings of work. He pitched on Sunday and gave up a bomb to Russell Martin. If you come into a game and starting walking people, you are going to get yourself in trouble.

The question is how long with the skipper be confident in the guys who have served him well for so long?

The Indians have enough problems getting leads to cough them up once they have them.

And the defense hasn’t helped the pitching staff either. Yesterday, the Blue Jay scored six runs in the fourth, an inning where Cleveland did not make an error, but gave Toronto five or six outs.

Jose Ramirez didn’t get to a ball good shortstops would have fielded. Lonnie Chisenhall didn’t get an out on a high chopper. Carlos Santana caught a runner straying too far from third base, but didn’t record an out.

Trevor Bauer fielded a chopper, looked home, realized he had no play, and didn’t retire the batter.

So, instead of no runs or maybe one, the Jays put up a six spot.

It should be a concern because it was a huge problem last season and it hasn’t improved much.

How can it be fixed? It probably can’t at this point without a drastic move. As far as the bullpen goes, it looks like the usage of the past may have caught up with these guys.

Several people suggested moving a couple of the current crew in the off-season, to bring in fresher arms, but the front office wasn’t proactive.

The Indians aren’t buried in the standings, but they do need to start playing better. Improvement in throwing strikes and in the defense would be two areas to help the Tribe improve.

Tribe Roster in Flux Already, No Need to Panic

The major league baseball season is a week old, and already the roster of the Cleveland Indians is in flux.

Even though the Tribe were swept in their first home series of the year by the Detroit Tigers, the biggest loss was that of Yan Gomes, who suffered sprained knee ligaments in a home plate collision on Saturday and will be out 6-8 weeks.

GM Chris Antonetti was forced to do some roster shuffling because of Gomes’ injury, as well as a back problem for Michael Brantley that has kept him out of the lineup for all but two games.

If he isn’t ready to play Tuesday night against Chicago, after three days off, he may join Gomes on the DL.

Brantley’s problem along with other teams throwing southpaws at the Tribe, forced the team to bring up OF/1B Jerry Sands, a right-handed bat to help in this regard.

Then after the home opener and Saturday’s debacle for the relief corps, Antonetti and skipper Terry Francona were forced to bring back Austin Adams, set back to active Sands, and also to bring up Shawn Marcum to provide innings in case T.J. House couldn’t provide innings on Sunday, which he couldn’t.

It just goes to show that major league teams really don’t have a 25 man roster, it is more like 30 guys, with all of the player movement between the big club and their AAA affiliate.

However, it’s still way to early to panic and worry, after there are still 156 games remaining.

This series against the Tigers reminded us of a weekend at home against Oakland last May, when the Tribe lost three games by scores of 11-2, 6-2, and 13-3. Everything the A’s hit that weekend either hit a hole or sailed over a fence, much like the Tigers this weekend.

How did the Indians respond last year? They won 5 of their next 6, including a three game sweep of? You guessed it, the Detroit Tigers.

And as for folks saying this year is the same as last, and Cleveland can’t beat the Motor City Kitties, let us remind you that the Tribe beat the Tigers in four of the first five games they played a year ago, and wound up the season at 8-11 against them.

Again, there is a long, long way to go.

Detroit is hitting .364 as a team, and we are fairly confident that won’t continue for the balance of the year. Also, if you want to have success against them, you have to get their first two hitter and the bottom of their order out.

Right now, Anthony Gose has a .450 OBP, Ian Kinsler’s is .480, and Jose Iglesias’ is .625. Lifetime, their figures are .306 (Gose), .344 (Kinsler), and .335 (Iglesias).

To summarize…the Tigers are red-hot and the Indians caught them at the right time.

Also, the Tigers only saw one of the Indians’ top three pitchers, Corey Kluber, and Saturday’s game featured a meltdown by the bullpen, which isn’t normal for Francona’s team.

Many baseball people say you can’t judge a team until the 40 game mark, but we disagree slightly, saying that at the 1/6th point of the season, 27 games, you can start to get a feel for what is going on.

So, relax. This week the Indians have two with the White Sox and three in Minnesota with the Twins.

Just think, a week from now, the optimism felt by everyone going into the season could very well be back.

Tribe May Have Some Extra Roster Spots Open

The first week of exhibition play has come and gone, and there haven’t been many surprises for the Cleveland Indians.

As we said coming into spring training, it didn’t appear the Tribe had many open spots on the Opening Day roster, although it looks like two openings have been created since the beginning of camp.

Nick Swisher, recovering from an operation on both knees late last season, hasn’t played in an exhibition game as of yet, and it would seem he is doubtful to be with the team in Houston on April 6th.

That would seem to put Brandon Moss, recovering from hip surgery, in the DH role to start the season, with David Murphy getting the bulk of the time in RF.

And since the Tribe doesn’t need a fifth starter for the first two weeks of the season, meaning Terry Francona can still have eight relief pitchers on a 12 man pitching staff, that would leave an extra spot for a position player, because Tito can carry four bench players.

Three of those spots will be taken by reserve catcher Roberto Perez, Mike Aviles, who can play virtually everywhere, and Ryan Raburn, who is off to a good start in Arizona.

The early favorites for that spot would seem to be two right-handed bats, important because the Indians are a left-handed dominant batting order.

Those two players would be OF Tyler Holt and 1B/DH Jesus Aguilar.

Holt can play all three outfield spots, and play them well, and spent the last six weeks of the season on the big club in 2014, hitting .268 in 71 at bats. He has gone 5 for 11 with three walks to date.

Aguilar struggled in camp last spring after a dominant winter league season, but this year is off to a good start, going 5 for 10 with only one strikeout thus far.

Another candidate would be switch-hitter Zach Walters, but he is off to a slow start, striking out four times in 10 at bats with just two hits. Contact was a huge problem last season for Walters after he came over from Washington in the Asdrubal Cabrera deal.

Pitching wise, a spot opened when Gavin Floyd re-injured his right elbow.

Francona has three starters etched in stone with Corey Kluber, Carlos Carrasco, and Trevor Bauer. That leaves the fourth spot to be fought for among Danny Salazar, T. J. House, Josh Tomlin, Bruce Chen, and Shawn Marcum.

We leave Zach McAllister out of this conversation because we feel he will take one of the bullpen spots that are available, based on his performance in that role late last season.

Salazar would seem to be the favorite, but he has struggled in his first two starts, allowing five hits and three walks in 3-2/3 innings.

House would appear to be next man up based on how he pitched last season, but keep an eye on Marcum, who has won 58 games in the majors, and won 13 games in both 2010 and 2011.

If Salazar continues to struggle with his command, we wouldn’t be shocked if he didn’t travel north with the major league team.

We realize that there is still plenty of time for more players to impress the management. However, if you don’t have a proven track record, a couple of bad weeks in spring training can cost a player a big league roster spot.