Can Tribe Bullpen Hold Up?

Up until the beginning of last week, everyone thought (us included) thought one of the Cleveland Indians’ strengths was its bullpen.

Then came the last game of the homestand against Seattle, when Vinnie Pestano, Chris Perez, and Joe Smith all allowed solo home runs to tie a game in which the Tribe eventually won.

Later in the week, Pestano had a bad outing to cost the Indians a win against Boston. His velocity was down, and he turned a 4-3 lead into a 7-4 deficit, although Mike Carp’s double is only that in Fenway Park, and the last two runs scored on a wind-blown pop fly that fell in.

Still, because Pestano has been so reliable for so long, and he is just coming off a stint on the disabled list for a sore elbow, there is reason for concern.

Then yesterday, Perez turned a three run lead into a crushing loss to the Red Sox, and left the game with an apparent shoulder injury in the process.

There are warning signs for both hurlers. Pestano’s strikeout to walk ratio this season is just 12 to 7 in 12 innings pitched. For his career, the right-hander has struck out three times as many hitters as he has walked (180 to 60) and averages almost 11 punchouts per nine innings.

As for Perez, he normally fans 2.22 hitters for everyone he walks and averages a strikeout per inning. His whiffs are on pace (18 in 16-2/3 frames), but he’s walked 10 in his work thus far.

Loss of command and decreased velocity are warning signs of an injury.

So where does Terry Francona go from here?

He does have some options to close, and remember what former Tribe GM John Hart used to say, closers fall out of trees. The skipper can turn to young Cody Allen, who MLB Network’s Peter Gammons called the best young reliever in the AL. Allen already has one save on the year, and has allowed only 16 hits in 23-1/3 innings, striking out 30 and walking seven in the process.

He also has Smith, also with a save on the season. Smitty is a veteran, and has allowed 11 hits in 17 innings, walking five while striking out 18. Because he is a sidearmer, the tendency is to think of him as a specialist vs. right handers, but his velocity allows him to get left-handed hitters out too. He’s allowed lefty hitters a .251 batting average for his career, compared to .218 to right-handed batters.

Bryan Shaw is another intriguing alternative. Shaw, sort of a throw in coming along with Matt Albers in getting Trevor Bauer for Shin-Soo Choo, looks to have closer stuff. He’s allowed 20 hits in 24-1/3 innings, striking out 24 and walking eight. At the very least, he will probably start getting work in the seventh and eighth innings as opposed to the sixth now.

One other pitcher has been mentioned as well, veteran Brett Myers, now rehabbing an elbow problem. The veteran saved 19 games last year in Houston before getting traded to the White Sox, and with Cory Kluber pitching well, there doesn’t seem to be a spot in the starting rotation for him. It is difficult to think Francona will go to him in this role until he has proven to be healthy and effective at the big league level.

Of course, the best think for the bullpen will be more innings from the starting pitchers. The rotation has been a little better than expected, but there have been far too many starts of just five innings. In the last turn through the rotation, both Zack McAllister and Scott Kazmir had “five and fly” outings, and Ubaldo Jimenez made it through only four frames vs. Detroit.

That cannot continue to happen, or the weaknesses cropping up in the bullpen could cause it to implode.

It’s been a tough week for the Tribe relief corps, but only that. One week. The Indians still have some reliable power arms ready to use at the end of games.

Stats Support Tribe Start

Many times in baseball, statistics do not support a team’s success or lack of it.

For example, last season, the Baltimore Orioles scored just seven more runs than they allowed, but went 93-69 in the standings. The sabermetric people would say the O’s overachieved. They did it by having an astounding 29-9 record in one run games.

This year’s Cleveland Indians are no surprise according to the numbers. Their 19-15 record is legitimate.

The Tribe’s position players are also younger than the league average at 28.4 years of age. The American League average is 29.1. And if you take grizzled veteran Jason Giambi out of the equation, Cleveland would have the fourth youngest position players in the AL, behind just Houston, Kansas City, and Baltimore.

That certainly bodes well for the future.

Even better is that the Tribe’s pitchers are the youngest in the league at 27.6 years old, compared to the AL average of 29 years of age.

The Indians average 5.06 runs per game, the second best average in the Junior Circuit, behind only division rival Detroit. They allow 4.24 runs per contest, a figure that ranks ninth, so there is still room for improvement.

We said prior to the season starting that the Wahoos needed to be in the top half of the league in both categories to be serious contenders. They are close right now, ranking 8th in ERA.

As for the other key offensive numbers, the Indians rank 4th in on base percentage, and lead the American League in slugging percentage and OPS. They are 3rd in batting average, but are fourth from the bottom in drawing walks. That is a number they will need to improve upon, as pitchers down the road may prey on their aggressiveness.

While many fans (including us) were worried about strikeouts, the Indians aren’t even in the top half of the league in striking out, ranking ninth. No Indians ranks in the ten of the league in whiffing.

The Tribe power hasn’t just been home runs (they lead the AL), but they also rank fifth in doubles and third in triples. They’ve been hitting for extra bases a lot.

As for the pitching, it has joined the hitting in feast or famine mode, being tied for the league lead in shutouts with five (with Texas, Tampa Bay, and Seattle). It says a lot about the stuff of the Indians’ pitchers that they lead the AL in allowing the least hits per nine innings. They also rank fifth in the league in strikeouts.

However, there are a couple of areas of concern. Cleveland pitchers are walking more than the average team, ranking sixth in the league in walks allowed. They also are third from the bottom in innings pitched by starters so far this year, ahead of just Houston and Minnesota. Although Terry Francona has kept 13 pitchers on the roster for much of the season, there is a fear of burning out the relief corps, which is a huge strength for this team.

This team doesn’t have any weird anomalies or getting a great deal of luck involved in a pretty good start. Francona’s bunch are playing good solid baseball. They are 8-5 in games decided by one run, another good stat. Good teams win blowout games.

Right now, the Cleveland Indians are no fluke.

Make or Break Time for Ubaldo

In the English language, it is a general rule the every “Q” is followed by the letter “u”.

That is certainly true for the Cleveland Indians. Their biggest question is Ubaldo Jimenez.

He was a concern for the team after last season ended, a year where Jimenez lost 17 games and had an ERA of 5.40. He was second in the American League in walks, and led the league in wild pitches.

New manager Terry Francona visited the big right-hander in the off-season and new pitching coach Mickey Calloway has worked hard to smooth out Jimenez’ bulky mechanics.

So far, the results are mixed.

He did pitch well in his first start against Toronto in the second game of the season, but his next two appearances were terrible, the home opener against the Yankees, and a start vs. Boston that he couldn’t make out of the second inning.

He was okay against Houston, allowing a two run homer in the first, but at one point retired 13 men in a row. Still, he was pulled after throwing just 65 pitches and received a no decision.

It seems that Francona and Calloway are trying to avoid putting Jimenez on the mound, pushing him back in the rotation in each of his last three starts. He was supposed to pitch on Saturday night, but with the rainout Friday in Kansas City, they decided to start him Monday, by passing both games in a doubleheader on Sunday.

The question now seems to be how much longer is the rope for the former Rockie?

He still cannot throw strikes consistently, with 11 in 17 innings of work this season. And he is pitching backwards, throwing 30% split finger fastballs on the first pitch this season, and that pitch is usually used to finish off hitters.

It seems like the Tribe doesn’t have confidence in Jimenez, and worse yet, the pitcher himself has no confidence.

And soon, the Indians will have a decision to make.

Corey Kluber gave his team a very good start Sunday night in Kansas City, going seven innings and allowing just two runs. He’s earned another start.

Justin Masterson has won four games thus far, and Zack McAllister has kept Cleveland in the game in each of his five starts.

Scott Kazmir showed promise in his second start after a rocky outing in his first effort. The lefty is a project, but he has maintained a 90+ MPH fastball that he had when he was a top-notch pitcher with the Rays.

So, right now, by performance and as a result of being moved around in the rotation as needed, Jimenez is the Indians’ fifth starter.

What happens if Trevor Bauer, who will make a spot start on Wednesday against Philadelphia because of Friday’s rainout, pitches well? Or if Carlos Carrasco, who took a line drive off his pitching elbow last week, continues to dominate at AAA?

If things continue, as they are, which of course, is no guarantee, what choice does the Tribe brass have with Jimenez?

He can refuse being sent to the minors, so that’s not really an option.

Others have mentioned the bullpen, but teams really don’t use long men any more and he can’t throw strikes, so that’s doesn’t seem to work either.

His contract ends after this season, so the Indians could look at releasing him without being hurt long-term.

Whatever happens, Ubaldo Jimenez is pitching for his career with the Indians over the next few starts. That’s just reality.

Tribe Strengths, Weaknesses Show in First Week

Week one of the new baseball season has come and gone, and it is always funny to hear fans go crazy about one week of a 26 week season.

If the same results happened in late June, no one would think anything of it. This would apply to being shutout on back-to-back nights, which happened to the Cleveland Indians this week.

Because of the extremely small sample size, results in the first week are greatly magnified. No one really thinks (at least we hope not) that Jason Kipnis and Asdrubal Cabrera will hit .100 for the season, yet there they are, struggling at the onset of the new campaign.

On the other hand, let us get supporters ready for the reality that Justin Masterson will not win every one of his starts in 2013.

Still, one thing that could be a trend for the Tribe is the streaky nature of their offense, mostly because of the contact issues of many of the hitters in their everyday lineup. It wouldn’t be a surprise if the hitting had a few instances where they have problems scoring, just like they did in the first two games of the Tampa Bay series.

And the reason for that is they have a lot of all or nothing hitters. The trade-off to this is they will have streaks where they probably bludgeon their opponents as well, just like they did on Sunday afternoon in a 13-0 win.

It’s still better than last year, when the Indians had one of the worst offenses in baseball and had several hitters in their lineup where the opposing pitcher could relax during a game.

The other weakness that raised its ugly head was the starting pitching, which provided three or four (depending on how you feel about Zack McAllister’s outing on Friday night) good starts and three bad ones, most notably Brett Myers start in game three and Ubaldo Jimenez’ start in yesterday’s home opener.

That the worrisome thing about this year’s Indians, can the starters give them a chance to win on a night in, night out basis. That didn’t happen in Myers start, and it didn’t happen against New York.

Many fans and media members are concerned about Myers, who didn’t have a good spring and then pitched home run derby, Canadian style. But Myers has been better than Jimenez in the time period that has occurred since the latter was traded here in 2011.

Jimenez looked very good in his first start, but that’s exactly the thing that ticks people off most. In his second start, he was back to the Ubaldo we saw last season: unable to throw strikes consistently, his velocity down, and a lack of concentration that resulted in a stolen base by Chris Stewart, the Yankee catcher who had such a big jump he went in standing.

McAllister gave manager Terry Francona a good start, but he again gave up runs after his defense let him down, allowing two insurance runs in what was a 2-0 game after an error by 3B Mike Aviles. Francona said the big right-hander tries too hard to pick up his defense when miscues happen and that could be the cause of his problems allowing unearned runs.

Trevor Bauer had trouble locating his fastball in his start, walking seven in five innings, but he showed his stuff was good, allowing just three runs. If he can throw strikes with the heater, he could help before the year is out.

No overreactions here, just observations. However, nothing that happened in the first week should change any preconceived notions about the Cleveland Indians.

Sorry, Starting Pitching Ifs Spell 4th Place for Tribe

There is no question the Cleveland Indians are an improved baseball team in 2013.

There is no question the front office and ownership breathed new life into what has been a stagnant franchise over the last three or four years.

There is also no question that the American League is filled with good to very good teams, and that it looks like only the Twins and Astros have no realistic chance to contend for a playoff spot in 2013.

That’s why it is difficult to make the next statement. The Cleveland Indians will finish fourth once again this season.

It won’t be the same kind of fourth place team as last season, one in which the Tribe lost over 90 games.

The Indians will stay in contention most of the season and should finish over the .500 mark. They may finish 4^th and still be within 10 games of first place at the end of the season.

But as the team stands right now, they don’t seem to be better than the Tigers, Royals, and White Sox.

Why?

Starting pitching.

The Indians simply don’t have enough to win based on the guys who are opening the season.

Justin Masterson has a good arm, but tends to lose his release point and when that happens, we struggles to get it back. He is prone to big innings because of that trait. If he can throw strikes he can be a quality pitcher.

Still, he’s had three years as a starter in the majors and in only one of them has his ERA been under 4.00.

Ubaldo Jimenez has looked much better this spring than he did last year, and he is throwing strikes. However, his ERA since coming to the Tribe is over 5.00 and he’s made over 40 starts with Cleveland.

Brett Myers is a workman like guy who provides solid innings and lots of them. He’s not an ace of the staff guy though.

Zack McAllister showed promise after being called up in the middle of last season, but he doesn’t have a full year of major league experience, so it is tough to depend on him.

Scott Kazmir was pitching in an independent league last season, and although he has a great comeback story, you wouldn’t want to bet your house on him giving Francona 25 quality starts this season.

Last year, the Indians staff ERA was 4.78 while the league average was 4.08. That means new pitching coach Mickey Calloway needs to shave more than a half run per game to be just average.

The pitchers would have to do even better to rank in the top half of the league in this category.

The two hopes are Carlos Carrasco and Trevor Bauer, who will be in Columbus’ rotation to start the year. Perhaps they can provide a boost should the rotation struggle.

Offensively, the Tribe lineup is much deeper replacing the Jack Hannahans and Casey Kotchmans of the world with players like Michael Bourn, Nick Swisher, and Lonnie Chisenhall.

They also have alternatives if something doesn’t work out. For example, if Drew Stubbs hits like he did last year (.213 with 610 OPS), Francona can move Swisher back to RF, put Mark Reynolds at 1B, and use Mike Aviles and Jason Giambi at DH.

Last year’s squad had little power and little speed, meaning they needed three hits in an inning to score. In the off-season, GM Chris Antonetti added two players who hit more than 20 HRs last year (Swisher and Reynolds), and two more who stole 30 bases or more (Bourn and Stubbs).

Add in the continued development of Jason Kipnis, Michael Brantley, and Chisenhall, and throw in the steady Asdrubal Cabrera, and this team should be able to put runs on the board.

However, it all comes down to stopping the other team from scoring and there are too many question marks in the rotation.

If Jimenez and Masterson can get their ERAs under 4.00, this team has a chance to make the post-season and possibly win the division.

This is a talented team and it will play exciting baseball. But right now, fourth place is where they will end up.

Tribe Front Office Can’t Rest Yet

Compared to the recent past off-seasons, the Cleveland Indians have been extremely busy this winter, but they can’t stop there.

There are still a couple of holes to fill if the Tribe wants to contend for an AL Central Division title in 2013.

They still need one more bat and one more starting pitcher.

The hitter is needed because although the lineup is improved from last year by signing Mark Reynolds to replace Casey Kotchman, and getting Drew Stubbs to take the place of the hodge-podge of people who played in leftfield a year ago.

Still, both of those guys aren’t the most stable options in the world and would only be viewed as an upgrade in Cleveland. Also, keep in mind the Indians need a DH as well.

Reynolds has averaged 33 home runs a year in his five full seasons in the major leagues, but his total dropped off by 14 last year (37 to 23), although he played in 20 last games.

Add in the fact that he strikes out excessively and he’s hit over .250 only twice in six big league seasons, and the front office should recognize that there is a possibility that Reynolds could hit .220 with 20 HRs this season.

While that would be better than Kotchman, it would still rank near the bottom in terms of production among all AL first basemen.

As for Stubbs, had GM Chris Antonetti acquired him after the 2010 season, it would be viewed much more favorably. That year, Stubbs hit .255 with 22 HR, 77 RBI and a 773 OPS. At age 25, the hope was he would be improving on those numbers as he approached his prime.

However, the outfielder’s number have declined since then, dropping to a .213 average with 14 HR, 40 RBI, and a 610 OPS.

The question has to be whether or not Stubbs can reverse his career in Cleveland, although he will do so in a less favorable hitters’ park than the one in Cincinnati.

So Antonetti should be working on some contingency plans at both spots as well as finding a DH. It doesn’t make anyone warm and fuzzy than the possibilities is replacing Reynolds with Lou Marson, moving Carlos Santana to first base, or moving Nick Swisher to first and playing someone like Tim Fedroff in RF.

As for Stubbs, you would be looking at someone such as Ezequiel Carrera replacing him in the batting order.

On the mound, we would all feel more comfortable if the starting rotation still wasn’t relying on Ubaldo Jimenez.

Right now, Jimenez is slotting in the #2 or #3 spot along with Justin Masterson and Brett Myers, with Carlos Carrasco, Zack McAllister, and Trevor Bauer among others competing for the last two spots to open the season.

The way Jimenez pitched since coming to Cleveland, it would be better if Antonetti picked up another reliable starting pitcher, sliding the inconsistent right-hander to the fourth or fifth spot in the rotation.

Perhaps new pitching coach Mickey Calloway and Terry Francona can straighten out Jimenez’ seemingly horrible mechanics and get him to be more consistent. Until proof of that exists, you have to assume that the righty will continue to be up and down more than an elevator.

The Indians have to have better than that from a top of the rotation starter if they want to contend. If Ubaldo is in the #4 or #5 slot and he doesn’t pitch effectively, it’s not a huge problem. Right now the Tribe is too dependent on Jimenez for their success.

It is doubtful that Antonetti is sitting on what he has done this off-season, still it would be nice to do something before spring training convenes in a month, rather than during the exhibition season when the price could be higher.

Tribe’s Message to Fans: We Don’t Care about Winning

Perception is reality. This is something the front office of the Cleveland Indians doesn’t understand, or else the fans are exactly correct about the management of the team.

They don’t care about winning.

They can bring out their spreadsheets and flow charts and mission statements all they want, but the perception of the people who buy tickets is that the only folks involved with the Indians who want to win are the players.

That’s their perception, and perception is reality.

The Indians finished below the .500 mark last season, but they were in contention until the beginning of September. The team that won the division, the Detroit Tigers, added a premier free agent, Prince Fielder, to their roster.

The Tribe basically did nothing.

On May 24th, the Tribe beat Detroit to run their record to 26-18 and had a 3-1/2 game lead in the AL Central Division. They still had weaknesses, getting no offense out of 1B, 3B, and LF. The front office didn’t feel the need to add to the roster.

A month later, on June 24th, the Indians record was 37-34, meaning they went 11-16 in the last 30 days. They dropped out of first place, but were just a half game out of first.

The same weaknesses remained and Derek Lowe’s season started to go south. The Indians needed to get some starting pitching along with help to cover up some of the other flaws, but the front office still did nothing to help out a group of players trying to keep their heads above water.

On July 24th, the Indians beat the Tigers to improve their record to 49-48, meaning they went 12-14 over the last 30 days. The dropped to third place, but were just three games of the pace.

The weaknesses remained, but the front office did nothing outside of replacing the 25th man on the roster, replacing Aaron Cunningham with Brett Lillibridge.

It the meantime, the White Sox traded for Kevin Youkilis and Brett Myers, and the Tigers got Anibal Sanchez and Omar Infante.

The Indians’ front office claimed it was a slow trade market.

What they are really telling you is that they don’t care about winning.

Whether it’s the ownership holding the purse strings tight, and not allowing president Mark Shapiro and GM Chris Antonetti to add to the current roster, or it’s the executives not feeling this team needs help, the end result is they don’t want to win.

The disinterest has even seeped down to the dugout where Manny Acta seems void of emotion.

Three more blown calls which hurt the Indians were made in the series against the Twins with the skipper glued to his seat.

The one that occurred yesterday was protested vehemently by SS Asdrubal Cabrera, who seemed to be close to an ejection. Acta sat there like a statue while one of his best players argued.

Acta has done a good job keeping a team with more holes than swiss cheese around the .500 mark, but you have to wonder if he’s losing his team because he doesn’t seem to have their backs.

The perception, there’s that word again, is that Acta isn’t fighting to win, he isn’t defending his team.

Look, a manager can’t get kicked out of every game, but every once in a while, he needs to go out and show his team and the umpires that the Cleveland Indians aren’t going to be pushed around.

The entire organization seems slow to react to problems, slow to argue calls, slow to bring in more talent.

Then they wonder why fans are slow to show up to games.

It’s because the message they send is the Cleveland Indians do not care about winning.

Tribe Management Gun Shy?

With last night’s win over the Detroit Tigers, the sixth in seven meeting against the Motor City Kitties this year, the Cleveland Indians are now just three games out of first place in the AL Central.

This means even if they were to drop the last two games of the three game set, they will be only five games out of first place as we hit the last weekend of July. Where we come from, that’s being in the race.

And don’t pay attention to folks who point out all the teams ahead of the Tribe in the wild card race. That might be a factor if this were the beginning of September, but the schedule still has over 60 games remaining, so there is plenty of time to pass all of those teams.

So, why isn’t GM Chris Antonetti making any moves to help a team this close to first place?

It may just be the sins of the past catching up with the organization.

Last year, Antonetti was aggressive going out and getting Ubaldo Jimenez from the Rockies for a slew of top ten prospects in the organization. Although Jimenez pitched well in the series opener last night, that trade hasn’t worked out as well as the GM probably anticipated.

To be sure, the Indians thought Jimenez was a top of the rotation starting pitcher with swing and miss stuff. He would be classified as the #2 starter for Cleveland right now, but he would be lower on most American League teams.

He currently leads the league in walks allowed and is tied for 10th in giving up home runs, never a good combination.

His lack of success may have the front office a little gun-shy go out and obtain another big name guy.

And of course, because of that deal, the Cleveland farm system is not as deep as it was in 2011. Several publications have the Indians ranked in the bottom 10 in all of the major leagues.

Still, there are some positions in the organization where there is some depth, most notably middle infielders (particularly at the lower levels), catchers, and relief pitchers.

Another factor that makes the organization hesitant to trade young players is the success of Brandon Phillips. We are all familiar with then manager Eric Wedge’s non-favorable opinion of the second baseman, which led to his trade, and ultimately a few all-star appearances in Cincinnati.

Cord Phelps is a good example of what happens now. The third round pick in ’08 reached the AAA level in 2010 hitting a combined (with Akron) .308 and an 825 OPS.

Last season, he didn’t hit in a cup of coffee in the majors (he was used sporadically), but put up a .294 batting average and 868 OPS in his time at Columbus. It would seem someone looking for a 2B might be interested, especially since the emergence of Jason Kipnis has made him an expendable commodity.

This year, his numbers have dropped at AAA to a .263 average and a 781 OPS, thus lessening whatever trade value he may have. His career has grown stale.

Maybe the Indians tried to deal Phelps over the winter, but there was no market for him because of his struggles (.155 in 71 at bats in Cleveland last season), but that seems unlikely. There was usually teams looking for middle infielders with a little pop.

Phelps might be able to play, but you never hear his name in the trade rumors which swirl at this time of year.

The Indians can’t afford to be this conservative. They need to trust their talent evaluators and go out and get some players who can help a team very much in the post-season race.

Come to think, maybe that’s the problem. They don’t trust themselves to get the right players. And if that’s true, that’s a bigger problem for the Indians’ front office.

Will Tribe Do Something?

The more and more the front office of the Cleveland Indians talk about the July 31st trading deadline, the more and more it appears they are setting up their fan base for inactivity.

Team president Mark Shapiro tweeted yesterday about how difficult the trade market is in 2012 with the inclusion of an extra wild card in this year’s playoffs.

The other night they informed us that 11 teams in the American League were over .500 for the first time in league history, showing us how many teams feel they are still in contention.

It seems the mantra of the front office is “when in doubt, make excuses, and oh, throw in that we are losing money too”.

If the Tribe wants to see attendance figures decline even more, then it would be a good idea not to improve the roster before the end of the month.

This team is currently just four games out of first place, and just a half game out of the second wild card spot.

It’s pretty clear they cannot reach the playoffs with the roster currently in place, no matter how optimistically the powers that be look at it.

However, this is the same front office that needed a right-handed power bat after the end of last season, and did nothing to address that problem.

In fact, 90 games into the 2012 season, that is still a need for the Indians.

The rumors are out there already that the White Sox and Tigers are trying to add to their teams before the deadline. As for the Tribe…nothing.

They did have a chance to add Kevin Youkilis a few weeks ago, and many fans and media people talked about how it was a bad idea. We said if the cost wasn’t particularly high (it wasn’t), he would at least be an upgrade over the Jack Hannahans, Shelley Duncans, and Johnny Damons on the roster, and there is no harm in getting him.

He’s reborn with the White Sox, which is a knife to the back of the Indians.

Heck, the Tribe doesn’t even try to help its roster by getting players from Columbus.

(Note to Indian lackeys: Don’t sell Russ Canzler as nothing more than a “AAAA” player. He’s had three big league at bats, he’s done nothing to show he can’t hit in the majors).

It boggles the mind that the front office doesn’t tinker with the current roster. Why do they seem to have so much loyalty to guys like Duncan, Damon, and Casey Kotchman?

It seems like they are afraid to cut them loose and/or bench them for not hitting.

Are they trying to be nice? If so, the handling of the Nick Hagadone situation contradicts that theory.

Look, it would not be in the Tribe’s best interest to deal the best prospects in an already thin farm system, but there will be players who could be available a lower cost who can help this team.

Getting players who are even marginally better than the non-producing players helps the Indians.

Why the front office can’t see this, who knows?

Instead, they seem to be grasping at straws, taking a good two-week stretch by one of the struggling players as proof they can do the job. However, 20 good at bats followed by 40 poor at bats doesn’t make you a good hitter.

If GM Chris Antonetti does nothing in the next two weeks, look for more disgust and disdain from the Indians’ fan base. It will be just another example of trying to do everything needed to put a winning team on the field.

Below the Radar Needs for Tribe

Our nation’s birthday arrived on the same date as the halfway point of the baseball season for the Cleveland Indians and the Tribe finished up the first half at 42-39, putting them on pace to win 84 games this season.

Based on the relative strength of the American League Central Division, finishing with that record could put them in the race all the way to the end of the season, because it’s doubtful the winner will be able to garner 90 wins for the campaign.

The main weaknesses of the Indians are pretty well-known, and we have touched on them several times in the past month. They need a right-handed hitter and another starting pitcher.

Fans know it, the front office knows it.

However, there are some other subtle moves the front office needs to make for the Indians to stay in contention.

The first is to have a legitimate utility infielder on the roster, meaning a guy who can play shortstop reasonably well.

Whether that means Jason Donald stays, who knows, but Manny Acta can’t continue to go through the rest of the season using Jack Hannahan, who has appeared in three major league games at the position (one this year), as his reserve for Asdrubal Cabrera.

And he needs a better defensive option at second base too. Jose Lopez made an all-star team at 2B in Seattle, but at the point in his career, he’s more suited to be a corner infielder.

The reason for a legitimate middle infield reserve is to give some rest to Cabrera and Jason Kipnis during the dog days after the all-star break, so they can be productive for a possible stretch run.

It is understandable that Acta doesn’t want to take either out of the lineup, but they can be used at the DH spot so they can hit and not be out on the field.

Keeping two of the most productive bats fresh is a must do for the skipper, and he can’t do it without having someone who can play solid defense at 2B and SS. On that basis, Donald needs to stay on the roster.

The other need is to strengthen the bullpen so that Acta doesn’t have to use the trio of Joe Smith, Vinnie Pestano, and Chris Perez in every game the Tribe has a chance to win.

These three are a major key to the Indians’ success, and keeping them fresh into September and perhaps October is very important.

Perhaps one piece is already in place in Esmil Rogers. Rogers arrived in Cleveland after compiling a 8.06 ERA in Colorado, but in nine games with the Tribe, he’s allowed just two earned runs in 11-1/3 innings, striking out 15 hitters and walking just one.

More help could come from veteran left-hander Rafael Perez, assuming he can return from the disabled list. Perez could give Acta someone he is comfortable with against the tough left-handed batters which populate the American League.

Right now with Tony Sipp and Nick Hagadone struggling, the manager would rather use one of his righties in that role, and sometimes that’s not fair to those pitchers.

These smaller scale moves are just as important as getting the right-handed stick and starting pitchers because it keeps the players who constitute the strengths of this team fresh, and at top performance.

They may not be the flashy, high impact moves, but taking care of these problems definitely help the ballclub.