Tribe Is In It, But They Are a Flawed Team

As the baseball season rapidly approaches the midway point, it is clear that the Cleveland Indians are a contender for a playoff spot due to the balance of the American League.

The Tribe currently sits at 37-39 on the season, but they are just five games out of first place in the AL Central, and are three games out of the second wild card spot in the AL.

However, it is also obvious that the Tribe is a flawed team, and it will be tough to make the post-season for a second straight year with the roster as currently constituted.

The Indians rank fifth in the AL in runs scored per game, but they have several holes in the lineup that have to be addressed. The league average OPS sits at 714 right now. The Tribe has three players getting regular at bats who sit way below this figure: Nick Swisher (595), Ryan Raburn (525) and Mike Aviles (631).

Since the Francona prefers 13 pitchers on the roster, that means 25% of the position players aren’t really producing at the plate.

Considering two of those players (Raburn and Aviles) get most of their playing time vs. left-handed pitching, you can see the Tribe is very susceptible against southpaws.

That forces the skipper to ride his regulars. Yan Gomes doesn’t get many days off and he’s playing a grueling position, as does Michael Bourn. David Murphy is probably being overexposed as well.

Also, Jason Kipnis isn’t hitting either (.247 batting average, 679 OPS), but he continues to hit in the middle of the lineup. And although Lonnie Chisenhall has been a pleasant surprise, even we would say it is doubtful he will continue to hit like he has thus far.

What happens when he cools off, which he has over the last two weeks.

Outside of Michael Brantley, who is having an all-star season, most of the players who are hitting are liabilities in the field. Chisenhall’s defense has been below average and SS Asdrubal Cabrera’s has been atrocious.

A logical move could be to move Cabrera to 3B, and let Chisenhall DH, and bring up prime prospect Francisco Lindor, but where does that leave the team’s highest paid player in Swisher?

As for the starting pitchers, Francona probably only feels comfortable when Corey Kluber takes the mound. The other four starters are inconsistent to say the least. Trevor Bauer shows the most promise, but no one knows what will happen when Justin Masterson and Josh Tomlin take the hill.

And there really isn’t any help to come from within either. The manager doesn’t have confidence in Jose Ramirez and Jesus Aguilar to use them on a consistent basis, and the only starting pitcher options are lefty T.J. House, who was okay when he was here, and Danny Salazar, who struggled earlier in the campaign.

That means GM Chris Antonetti has to make a deal, and based on the inactivity in the off-season, Tribe fans can’t feel optimistic about that. The Indians farm system is getting better, but the front office seems to fear being burned giving up a young prospect.

And they can’t and shouldn’t deal Lindor or last year’s first round pick Clint Frazier for a player who at best would play here for a year and a half.

The point is this, the Indians are probably good enough to hand around the playoff race, but they are flawed and they don’t seem to want to correct those flaws.

The manager still believes guys like Raburn and Swisher will start hitting, and the front office doesn’t seem anxious to go outside for help.

That’s very frustrating to say the least.

Lack of Defense for Tribe Means it’s Time for Lindor

There were a lot of people who thought June would be the beginning of the end of contention for the Cleveland Indians.

With Texas, Boston, Kansas City, the Angels and Tigers all on the slate, many thought that meat grinder would be too much for Terry Francona’s crew.

However, right now they stand at 11-6 for the month following today’s come from behind win on Nick Swisher’s grand slam and head into a three game series at home versus Detroit before heading out for another west coast jaunt.

The offense has become more consistent with Carlos Santana starting to hit, and Lonnie Chisenhall continues to hammer away at a .368 pace.

Michael Brantley has become one the American League’s best offensive players, ranking in the top ten in the circuit in batting average, on-base percentage and slugging percentage.

However, the defense, particularly in the infield continues to be atrocious, particularly on the left side of the diamond, most notably SS Asdrubal Cabrera.

It wasn’t too long ago that Cabrera was an all-star, making the team in both 2011 and 2012. He should be in the prime of his career at 28-years-old.

Instead, he is showing that last season wasn’t an off-year, it was the beginning of an offensive decline.

In 2009, the switch-hitter showed signs that Tribe fans had a player to watch when at age 23, he batted .308 with 6 HR and 68 RBI (799 OPS). After an injury plagued 2010, he started to show some power in ’11, belting 25 HR, knocking in 92 runs with a 792 OPS.

Another solid season followed in ’12 (.270, 16 HR, 68 RBI, 762 OPS), but his average dropped to .242 last season and so did his home runs and ribbies.

Offensively, he’s doing a little better this season (.255, 7 HR, 26 RBI, 732 OPS), but he’s made 13 errors already this season.

If Cabrera were hitting like he did in 2011, you could overlook his shaky defense. Furthermore, whereas the shortstop used to make highlight defensive plays on occasion, those plays are rare, and the majority of his miscues are on routine plays.

In the past couple of weeks, he dropped a simple relay throw killing a double play chance, and on Tuesday night, couldn’t come up with a roller to second, instead trying to tag a baserunner and then toss to first for a twin-killing. Instead, he got nobody out and the Angels scored three runs in the inning.

With several baseball people saying SS Francisco Lindor is ready to play in the big leagues, how much longer can the front office ignore the defensive suck fest that goes on at SS and 3B?

Lindor would add a better glove and some much-needed speed (19 stolen bases at Akron) to the Cleveland offense. He’s hitting .280 with 5 HR and 38 RBI at the AA level, so it’s not as though major league pitchers would knock the bat out of his hands.

Of course, the front office would have to move Cabrera to make this happen and because he’s a free agent at the end of the season, they probably won’t get much in return. Perhaps it would make the ballclub better if the future started right now.

We understand that the Tribe is in a post-season race right now and it would seem crazy to bring up a 20-year-old to play short in that type of situation, but the scouting reports on Lindor say he has an incredible make up and if any rookie could handle it, it would be him.

In Francona’s first season in Boston, the Red Sox decided to improve the defense by trading icon Nomar Garciaparra and getting Orlando Cabrera, a much better defender in a separate deal.

Does history repeat for Francona? It’s getting to the point where they may not have a choice.

Francona Has Success, But He Does Make Mistakes Too.

When Terry Francona arrived here in the fall of 2012 to take the managerial job of the Cleveland Indians, it was considered shocking to many baseball fans, including ones right here on the North Coast.

This is a guy who broke the “Curse of the Bambino”, leading the Boston Red Sox to the world championship in 2004, their first since 1917, and then followed it up with another in 2007.

He took the job because of the relationship he had forged with Tribe president Mark Shapiro and GM Chris Antonetti when he worked in the Cleveland front office in between piloting the Phillies and Red Sox.

The shock turned to adulation when Francona took the Tribe to the playoffs in 2013, winning 92 games and losing in the Wild Card game to Tampa.

There is no doubt the Francona has earned his reputation as a good manager, and his style is forging a trusting relationship with his players. He never rips them in the media, and he treats them like men, which is how anyone would want to be treated.

He recently pointed out that his patience had turned to stubbornness when he finally removed slumping hitters Nick Swisher and Carlos Santana from the #2 and #4 spots in the lineup.

There is certainly no question Francona has more patience than most fans would ever have, and really, he has to. Most fans would take players out of the lineup after two bad games.

Still, Tito is a baseball manager and not everything he does turns to gold, nor does it mean that the person who makes the criticism wants the Tribe to have a new skipper.

This was brought to light during the first game in Boston, when with two outs and first base open in a game the Indians were trailing 1-0, Francona let right-hander Josh Tomlin face lefty swinging slugger David Ortiz.

Yes, we know Ortiz was 0-for-10 lifetime against Tomlin, but he also said prior to throwing one pitch, that the right move was to put the big slugger on.

Two pitches later, Ortiz hit a two-run homer and a 1-0 deficit was now 3-0. And the way Boston starter Jon Lester was pitching, it seemed the game was over.

The next night, Francona brought Cody Allen, who everyone agrees has been a tad overworked this season into a game with Cleveland trailing 9-3. The thought obviously was to get the closer some work since he hadn’t pitched since the previous Sunday.

Allen gave up a dinger to the first batter he faced and wound up throwing 21 pitches in a game he didn’t need to throw in.

The point is this, even though Tito has enjoyed tremendous success, he’s still a baseball manager, and that means he is not perfect.

This season, he has overused his bullpen at times. We have no qualms in trying to win any game you have a chance, but there are games the Tribe is losing where he will use Bryan Shaw and even Allen to keep the Indians within one of two runs. The way his relief corps in set up, he doesn’t have that luxury.

He should use guys like John Axford, Carlos Carrasco, and others in those situations and if they can’t get the job done, they should be replaced.

Francona has also fallen into the veteran skippers’ plight, that is, not being confident in young players. When Jesus Aguilar was sent back to Columbus this latest time, Tito said thought the rookie never got comfortable here. Perhaps that’s because he was playing once every five days.

He could’ve played him everyday in place of slumping hitters like Jason Giambi and Ryan Raburn, neither of whom hammered the ball when they were in the lineup, but he felt more comfortable with the vets.

He needs to realize that, yes he won 92 games with these guys last year, but this is a new season, and the way this team is put together, they need production from every player on the roster.

There is no question that Terry Francona is the best manager the Tribe has had in a long time. However, he’s human. Not every move he makes is golden. That’s just baseball.

We hate the second guess, but there are moves that deserve questioning.

When Swish and Santana Get Back? Play ‘Em

The Cleveland Indians have won six in a row and have climbed back to the .500 mark for the season. Of course, since they are going on a 10 game trek and they have one of the worst road records in the game, that record may be short-lived.

But for the time being, things are looking good in Tribe Town, and naturally casual baseball fans are quick to infer that the team’s hot streak coincided with Carlos Santana and Nick Swisher going on the disabled list.

That leads, of course, to the conclusion that when both players are healthy, Terry Francona should keep them on the bench and leave the status quo.

Upon further review, that’s a dumb argument.

First, because Lonnie Chisenhall is hitting .361 and is currently tied for fifth on the team in RBIs and is hitting left-handers, he’s staying in the lineup everyday even when the two switch-hitters return to the active roster.

The two players who have gained time because of the injuries are Jason Giambi and Ryan Raburn who are sharing the DH spot, and Mike Aviles, who has been filling in at third base with Chisenhall playing 1B.

Neither Giambi nor Raburn have been particularly productive at DH, with Giambi just 5 for 35 on the season, albeit with 2 HR, and Raburn is still in a season long funk at .207 with just 1 HR.

While Santana is hitting only .159 on the season, he does have a .327 on base percentage, compared to Giambi (.250) and Raburn (.262). That means Santana is making outs 6-7% less times than do the men currently replacing them.

Giambi can be productive if his starts can be limited to once or twice per week. His production seems to ebb when he is playing every other day, which has been the case over the past week.

Raburn hasn’t been productive at all to this point in the season.

On the other hand, Aviles has been very productive in 2014, ranking third on the Indians in runs batted in right now, and he’s batting .274 on the year, although he doesn’t walk much, and doesn’t have much power. His OPS is just 673.

That’s only 42 points behind Swisher, who by most accounts is off to a terrible start, hitting just .211. Still, his on base percentage is at .311 meaning he also makes less outs than Aviles, who sits at .297.

Francona will find time periodically for the veteran who can play 2B, SS, 3B, and LF, and most of that time will come against southpaws because the Indians lack right-handed hitting.

While the Indians have been hitting well and winning with two regulars on the shelf, there is no question they would be much better off with a productive Santana and Swisher, and you can make a very good case that even with tough starts for the pair, they have been slightly better on offense than the players who have replaced them.

Now, no one is saying Francona should put either player back into the middle of the batting order, it wouldn’t hurt if he put them in the lower half of the order until they get going again, and for Santana, he could stop the experiment at the hot corner and use him at 1B when he’s not catching, with Chisenhall going back to third.

Don’t confuse the winning as meaning Carlos Santana and Nick Swisher aren’t important to the success of the Cleveland Indians. The Tribe has been winning with solid starting pitching, excellent relief by the overworked Bryan Shaw and Cody Allen, and some timely hitting from Michael Bourn.

Getting two switch-hitters with the track record of Santana and Swisher back will only help the Tribe attack.

While Season Has Been Shaky, Tribe Finds Chisenhall Has Value

While the Cleveland Indians have been an up and down team so far this season, there have been some things that have worked out for them so far.

Many people (including us) seem to focus on the negative when it comes to this year’s Tribe, but there have been some positives to discuss as well.

First, would be the emerge of Lonnie Chisenhall as a major league player. The team’s former first round draft pick, Chisenhall hadn’t demonstrated the consistency needed to be a regular at the big league level. To be fair, he hadn’t really received a full chance.

Former manager Manny Acta was infatuated with marginal major leaguer Jack Hannahan’s glove, so the youngster, then 23 years old, didn’t get a full opportunity, despite hitting .268 with five home runs in just 43 games in 2012.

After two years as a semi-regular in Cleveland, Hannahan was a utility man for the Reds last season and is no longer playing professionally in the United States.

Last season, Terry Francona give him a share of the job in spring training, platooning him with Mike Aviles early, but when he didn’t hit in April and May, he found himself back in the minor leagues by the end of May.

While no one is saying that Chisenhall will end the season hitting at the .369 clip he’s currently at, he’s showed that the promise showed in the minors can translate to the bigs.

He’s made tremendous progress vs. lefties too, going 9 for 16 in a small sample size thus far, but his new approach at the plate has him spraying line drives all over the field. He’s not trying to pull everything anymore.

This is a surprise for many who wanted to deal Chisenhall last season, or were critical of his earning a spot on the Opening Day roster this season. By the way, even though right-hander Sonny Gray started the season lidlifter for Oakland, Chisenhall was not in the starting lineup, with Francona opting for Ryan Raburn as the DH.

We remember a radio interview conducted last season with former Tribe skipper Mike Hargrove, who was asked what players on the Indians’ roster had the potential to be perennial all-stars, like the ones he piloted in the 90’s. Hargrove mentioned Chisenhall as one of those players. That confirmed our belief that the left-handed hitter with the sweet swing could be a very good player.

So far this season, he’s demonstrating just that.

Now just 25 years old, he leads the Indians in doubles with 15, and has an on base percentage of .424 and a slugging average of .554, leading to a .977 OPS, an outstanding figure.

Yes, his average on balls put in play is extraordinarily high and it will come down, he still has all the look of a very good major league hitter, and a mainstay, along with Jason Kipnis, Michael Brantley, and Yan Gomes, with the Indians for many years to come.

His emergence may also lead to Carlos Santana moving to a 1B/DH role for the balance of the season. While Chisenhall isn’t Brooks Robinson or Mike Schmidt defensively, we feel that playing every day, he will provide a better glove than the converted catcher.

For a team with a recently struggling farm system, discovering a 25-year-old regular that they drafted is a great thing. With Francisco Lindor on the horizon, the Indians may have found the left side of their infield for many years.

Through hard work and determination, the emergence of Lonnie Chisenhall is one reason the struggles of the first third of the season have been a little easier to take.

Current Tribe Roster Won’t Get it Done

Yesterday, we heard a radio personality talking about the players on the Cleveland Indians having to show management whether or not they should be buyers or sellers at the trading deadline that occurs on July 31st.

That kind of talk is way too premature to be sure.

While there is no doubt Terry Francona’s ballclub is struggling with consistency, the fact of the matter is the Indians are sitting just four games out of the second wild card spot, despite their 24-28 record to date.

We have said this a few times before, but the American League is a jumbled mess right now and it is likely to stay that way through July, meaning teams should be trying to improve themselves.

Houston doesn’t look like a contender and the next two months should drop a couple of other teams into the also ran class, but it appears there could be as many as 10 teams in the AL vying for the five playoff spots.

Still, the radio guy has it all wrong. It’s up to the front office to make a move to make it a moot point. They need to do something to insure the Tribe is in the mix after the all-star break.

They don’t have to do anything right now. There is still a little time for the players currently on the roster to show some improvement.

But the starting rotation is springing leaks like a sun-baked hose, and the bullpen is starting to show some wear and tear because the rotation has struggled.

Offensively, the Indians are very inconsistent; scoring three runs or less in half of the team’s games in 2014. That’s not going to lead to a lot of victories, nor does it enable the Tribe to get on the winning streak it needs.

If GM Chris Antonetti would be forced into being a seller at the deadline, what does he have to attract talent?

Asdrubal Cabrera, a good trade candidate because of the presence in the organization of SS Francisco Lindor, is a free agent at the end of the year, lessening his market value.

Justin Masterson is also a free agent when the season ends, but he is not pitching well at this point. It is doubtful you could get a top prospect in return.

The players who are performing well, Michael Brantley, Yan Gomes, and Jason Kipnis (assuming he plays to his usual standards) were just signed to long-term deals. The Indians’ management wants them in a Cleveland uniform for a long time.

One player who could draw some interest is Carlos Santana, but first he needs to get his hitting back to normal levels.

As a catcher, he was an elite type hitter. As a corner infielder, hitting 25 HR and knocking in 80 runs with a lot of walks isn’t really special.

He’s tried to convert to the hot corner, but with Lonnie Chisenhall’s emergence, he is forcing his way into the lineup at that spot.

At first base, the Indians have high priced Nick Swisher and the one right-handed power hitter they have in the minor leagues, Jesus Aguilar, also plays the position.

You would think Santana could fetch a right-handed hitter or a middle of the rotation starting pitcher in return, and perhaps the Tribe would be a better club.

If the front office wants to improve the current version of the Cleveland Indians, they need to be proactive, and not sit back and wait.

It’s the position change, not his start of the season slump, which has rendered Santana tradeable. The Indians should be looking if dealing the switch-hitter can get them what they need to make the post-season once again.

Indians Have Rotation Woes

There is an old saying in baseball that when you think you have enough starting pitching, you go out and get more.

The Cleveland Indians didn’t heed that advice this off-season.

After last season, when the Tribe’s starting pitching was more than solid, Cleveland lost two starters to free agency: Ubaldo Jimenez and Scott Kazmir. They really didn’t replace either last winter.

When the 2013 season started, GM Chris Antonetti had several alternatives for manager Terry Francona after signing Brett Myers as a free agent and getting Trevor Bauer in the Shin-Soo Choo deal.

The rotation to start the year was Justin Masterson, Jimenez, Myers, Zack McAllister and Kazmir. When the latter had a set back to start the season, they had Corey Kluber and Bauer in reserve at Columbus.

By the end of April, both had made starts in the majors as Myers injured his arm.

Later that season, Danny Salazar emerged as a factor based on his recovery from Tommy John surgery, and started the wild card game for the Indians.

This season, that depth hasn’t been there.

Salazar and Carlos Carrasco replaced the two free agents in the rotation, and the organization had Bauer and Josh Tomlin, also coming back from elbow surgery, in reserve.

Unfortunately, the two replacements (Salazar and Carrasco), both with little experience, haven’t done the job, and with Masterson and McAllister struggling, the rotation is in a state of chaos.

Thankfully, Tomlin has provided his usual performances, he’ll give you five or six good innings, and Bauer has done well in each of his two big league starts.

Salazar is back at AAA and was roughed up in his first start there, and Carrasco seems anchored to the bullpen as a long reliever/mop up man, so there aren’t any more alternatives for Francona unless some sort of trade is made.

Friday night, lefty T. J. House made his first major league start in an 8-4 loss to the Orioles. House did the best he could, but nobody in the organization had him making a start in the big leagues this season, we would bet.

It looks like the southpaw is in the rotation for the unforeseen future, as Cleveland has him listed as the starter Wednesday in Chicago. We would give that start to Carrasco, as crazy as we thought that seemed a couple of weeks ago.

Until Salazar can throw strikes consistently and keep the ball down in the zone (he’s allowed eight in 40 innings pitched this year), Francona and pitching coach Mickey Callaway don’t have a lot of alternatives. No one is going to trade you a proven starting pitcher.

If the Indians did have to get another starter from Columbus, it would likely be RHP Travis Banwart, a minor league free agent who was in the Oakland system in 2013. He’s 3-1 with a 3.55 ERA in AAA, allowing 40 walks in 50+ innings, striking out 38 hitters and walking 18.

The other starters at Columbus are RHP Tyler Cloyd, who has allowed 65 hits in 47-1/3 frames (yikes!), and major league washout Kyle Davies.

So, the only real alternative for the Tribe is to get Masterson and McAllister straightened out and get them pitching like they did in 2013. And Masterson’s drop in velocity is no doubt alarming for the front office.

If they improve, the Indians will have some starting depth back. Until then, Francona and Callaway are scrambling to find starters who can give them solid outings.

Not exactly a recipe for success if you want to make the post-season.

Not Many Solutions for Tribe Problems

The Cleveland Indians are struggling.

Optimistic people will tell you they are only 3-1/2 games out of a wild card spot, thanks to the bunched up American League standings, but watching them play tells you it doesn’t look like they can put together any kind of winning streak soon.

The defense is atrocious, the hitting is mostly weak, and right now, three of their starting pitchers have an ERA of over 5.00.

That isn’t exactly a recipe for success.

The past weekend series against Oakland can be set aside in this discussion because it could just be a matter of playing a team when they are red-hot, which the A’s are. Still, the Indians’ difficulties have been going on all season long.

Are their any solutions for GM Chris Antonetti and manager Terry Francona?

The simple answer is not really. The Tribe needs the veteran players with track records to start playing to those career numbers. Because there is no immediate help in the farm system and Antonetti isn’t the type of GM to make rash deals.

This lineup isn’t scoring runs and it probably isn’t going to as long as Carlos Santana bats .150 and Nick Swisher bats .200. Those two players have to get it going.

As for the people who want the latter out of here, Swisher has no trade value right now with the way he is hitting and playing defense, and his expensive contract.

One move Francona can make is to start moving Swisher off of first base where his defense has been terrible to be nice. Put Santana back at first, a position he is more familiar with, because perhaps learning a new position has affected the switch-hitter’s batting.

Getting Jason Kipnis back from the disabled list will no doubt help the hitting, although Mike Aviles has done a fine job at 2B in his absence. With Kipnis back, Aviles can go back to the part-time role he excels at.

After a hot start, he has slumped a bit, which is the norm for the veteran. He hits best in a limited role.

The Indians consider Jesus Aguilar a marginal prospect, but his right-handed bat is needed by the big club, which is overloaded in terms of guys who swing from the left side.

As for the pitching staff, Trevor Bauer is getting the start tonight, replacing Danny Salazar. However, Zack McAllister and Justin Masterson need to start pitching better as well.

The struggles of the starting rotation are definitely affecting the bullpen, which is starting to show signs of wear and tear.

If something happens to one of the starters, and Masterson is looking like a guy with a sore arm (loss of velocity and command), right now, Salazar is the only option, and he did not pitch well in his first AAA start.

Losing Scott Kazmir and Ubaldo Jimenez without replacing either one in the off-season has robbed the organization of its depth at starting pitcher.

So, there aren’t many alternatives except to play better. No one wants to hear that among the fans, but we can’t see any blockbuster deals on the horizon, mostly because the Tribe doesn’t have anyone with huge market value.

Asdrubal Cabrera is an above average major league shortstop and Francisco Lindor is Cleveland’s best prospect, but the former is a free agent at the end of this season, so you won’t get much in return.

If you deal anyone else, there isn’t a player to replace him.

That’s what happens when you don’t draft well for a decade.

So, Tribe fans have to hope the veterans get back to their usual levels or it will be a long summer.

Either way, it’s not the best scenario if you are a baseball fan in Cleveland.

Tribe Still Surviving at the Quarter Pole

Tonight, the Cleveland Indians will play their 40th game of the season, which obviously means the campaign is one-quarter over.

Suddenly, it’s not early anymore, but there is still plenty of season remaining.

The Tribe sits at 18-21 on the season, and with the jumbled American League, they are still in the thick of it for a post-season spot, although the Tigers seem to be running away (again!) with the Central Division.

Eleven of the 15 teams in the AL sit within three games of the .500 mark, an incredible number considering the number of games played so far. Only Oakland and Detroit are more than three games over the break-even mark.

Cleveland’s pitching is holding its own, ranking in the top half of the league (7th) in ERA, despite the struggles of their #1 starter, Justin Masterson, and having to sit down the closer that started the season, John Axford.

Masterson hasn’t pitched poorly (2-2, 4.31 ERA), but he certainly hasn’t pitched as well as he did last season. He’s had several outings thus far where he has been dominating early, only to lose it completely.

Yesterday was one of those games, with the big right-hander retiring the first nine Blue Jays, but then giving up five runs in the next 2-1/3 innings.

Axford has struck out 16 hitters in 15-2/3 innings, but he’s walked 13 and allowed three home runs. Putting hitters on via walk and giving up bombs isn’t a way for a closer to stay a closer for long.

The bigger issue for Terry Francona’s club is the offense, which sits at 12th in the league in runs scored, 13th in batting average, and 12th in OPS. All of those ranks are in the bottom third of the AL.

While no one outside of Michael Brantley has been consistently good so far, the biggest culprits for the offensive ineptitude would be Carlos Santana, Nick Swisher, and Ryan Raburn.

Thank goodness, Santana has continued to draw walks (he’s second in the AL with 32), because otherwise he would be a total disaster. He’s hitting just .152 for the season with 4 HR and 11 RBI. His OPS is under 600 (597) for the season.

Francona is a very patient manager, but it will be tough to keep the switch-hitter in the clean up spot much longer.

As bad as Santana’s OPS is with his batting average at .152, Swisher’s isn’t much better at 618.

The Tribe’s big free agent acquisition a year ago, the first baseman is languishing at .204, 2 HR, and 15 RBI. That’s a pace to hit less than 10 dingers and knock in about 60 runs for the season.

The weird stat though, is that those RBIs ranked third on the team, behind Brantley and David Murphy. That’s how much everyone else as struggled as well.

Swisher has been terrible vs. lefties, hitting just .156 against southpaws. The Tribe has struggled against left-handed starters all season, and this is just one reason.

Another reason is the production of Raburn, hitting just .176 with a 433 OPS. He did a great job of hitting southpaws last season, one of the reasons for the team’s success vs. lefties. He batted .308 and slugged over .600 in 2013.
This year, Raburn’s just 7 for 40 against those pitchers and has just two extra base hits on the season. It’s reminiscent of his horrible 2012 season, which led to his release by the Tigers.

He’s pretty much only been used against left-handers this season, whereas last year, he got more at-bats against righties. Maybe he just needs some more playing time to get going.

Despite all that has gone wrong with the offense, including the injury to all-star Jason Kipnis, it really is remarkable the Indians aren’t buried in terms of contention.

Still, the bats have to pick up over the long haul or the burden on the starting pitching and bullpen will be too much for the staff to handle over the last 75% of the season.

Tribe Off-Season “Plan” A Dud So Far

As spring training approached, we discussed how apparently the Cleveland Indians’ plan to improve the team that won 92 games a year ago, was to hope for a return to form by several veteran players.

The Tribe finished fourth in the American League in runs scored in 2013, but you had to figure on regressions by players like Ryan Raburn, Mike Aviles, and even Jason Giambi.

To account for that, the front office needed bounce back seasons by Michael Bourn, Nick Swisher, and Asdrubal Cabrera.

So far, that formula is a big, fat dud.

Bourn has missed more than half of the Tribe’s games this season, but he has actually been the best of the three, hitting .266. However, he has a poor .299 on base percentage for a leadoff hitter, continuing a downward trend from his .348 mark in ’12. It was just .312 last season.

Swisher has hit just two home runs thus far, and his batting average is also below the Mendoza line at .197 and his OPS has dipped to a terrible 597. A figure like that for a full season would get a player released.

Cabrera has his batting average at .211, but he has just eight extra base hits on the season and his OPS is also ridiculously low at 604. It is getting to the point where you have to think Francisco Lindor could hit just as well (at least) and provide better defense to boot.

Add in the horrific start to Carlos Santana’s season and you have one of the worst batting teams in the American League this season.

The Indians have scored three runs or less in 19 of the 32 games played thus far, a whopping 59% of the contests.

You aren’t going to win many games with that kind of attack.

Is there a solution for manager Terry Francona?

Tito exhibits a great deal of patience to be sure, as does the entire organization, but with so many players not hitting what can be done.

At this point, the Indians only have a handful of players with an OPS of 700, which is slightly below average. They are Lonnie Chisenhall (911), Michael Brantley (776), David Murphy (744) and Yan Gomes (724). In addition, Nyjer Morgan is at 791, but has played only 11 games.

Outside of Gomes, all are left-handed hitters, which makes it difficult to balance the lineup on a nightly basis.

One solution would be to group all of these guys together, particularly when a right-hander starts for the opposition and hope you can generate some offense that way.

However, that makes you susceptible to a lefty coming out of the bullpen late in games to match up with all of these guys.

The other problem that Francona has is that the only bench guy hitting is Mike Aviles, currently at .271, but with just two extra base hits. So, if he replaces one of the regulars, he doesn’t exactly have a better alternative.

Right now, it appears the Indians’ plan has backfired, and once again, they failed to seize an opportunity to build on a playoff team by doing relatively nothing in the off-season.
Perhaps tonight, the Tribe bats will turn it around. If they don’t do it soon, then it is just one more reason for fans to feel disenchantment with the management group.