If Tito Retires, Who Should Be Next In Line?

Terry Francona is certainly leaving all the hints that this will be his last year as manager of the Cleveland Guardians. Of course, this has led to all kinds of speculation as to who would will be his successor.

First, no matter how frustrating Francona can be at times to fans, particular younger ones, he has been a tremendous leader. He has won a club record 906 games to date, winning 55% of the contests he has piloted.

Overall, he sits currently at 1935 victories, so he will not become the 13th skipper in big league history to get to that plateau. Every manager with more wins that Francona are in Cooperstown, except for Dusty Baker and Bruce Bochy, who are still active, and will be enshrined when they retire.

He has managed in three World Series, winning two in Boston and of course, losing in the 7th game with the Indians in 2016.

In the four years prior to his arrival, Cleveland won 68, 80, 69, and 65 games. Their lowest since? The 80 wins in 2021.

Francona has faults as a manager, all good managers do. We have always said he skirts a fine line between patience and stubbornness, and we are willing to admit that as much as much as we may want a particular player’s playing time reduced, usually Francona was right in staying with him.

That doesn’t mean we want a current coach to take over though. No matter how much DeMarlo Hale, Mike Sarbaugh, or Sandy Alomar Jr. (three people mentioned as successors) will carry on the foundation of what Francona has built in terms of culture, they aren’t Francona, and that will likely cause a conflict down the road.

We would like to keep Carl Willis, but he’s 63 years old and may not want to work with a new manager. But he’s a big reason for the organization’s “pitching factory” and if the new manager wants a chance to win, the knowledge of the young starters that Willis has will be crucial.

Let’s bring in someone new, perhaps even someone from outside the organization, but also a manager who can combine the analytics-based thinking with some “old school” thoughts as well.

For example, we don’t like the use of openers. We still believe the best way to win a baseball game is to have your starter go six or seven innings of effective work and turn it over to the bullpen.

Francona always said the problem with an opener is what happens if the pitcher you designate gives up three runs in the first. Then you are screwed.

But we don’t want someone who is a slave to the numbers. Someone once said that analytics often get used to justify a decision even if it doesn’t work. We agree with that thinking.

So, we would hire from outside the organization, and let the new manager pick his staff. Sometimes, having someone with a different “perspective” looking at the players is very much needed for an organization.

However, whoever the next skipper is, he won’t have the impact or the longevity of Terry Francona. Cleveland hasn’t had a revolving door in that position since Mike Hargrove was hired in 1991.

Hargrove was here 8-1/2 years, Eric Wedge seven, and Francona 11. Yes, Charlie Manuel and Manny Acta were mixed in, but the organization has been very stable. We would guess that’s something Chris Antonetti and Mike Chernoff will be looking for.

Why Not Take A Look At Gonzalez, Kwan Before Season Ends?

It is not a secret that the Cleveland Indians’ offense needs to score more runs, and unfortunately consistency is not in their arsenal.

In two of their last three games, the Tribe has scored double digits, getting a dozen against the Twins on Wednesday night and 11 yesterday vs. the Yankees. That’s the good news.

However, in the last 11 games, Cleveland has been shutout four times, including being no-hit for the third this season, the first time in MLB history a team has done that. Included in that span, besides the no-no, the Indians were one hit, three hit, and four hit.

That’s a whole lot of ineptitude.

On an every night basis, interim skipper DeMarlo Hale trots out a lineup with as many as five or six batters who would at best be called mediocre. Is that in the name of development? Because at this point, we think most people would say players like Oscar Mercado or Bradley Zimmer aren’t going to become players who hit well enough to be in there everyday.

Now, what if we told you the organization has two players at AAA who have OPS of over 875 this season in the minor leagues. Wouldn’t you think the organization would like to take a look at these guys as the regular season winds down?

Cleveland is 7th in the American League in home runs, but in 9th in runs scored, mostly because they rank 13th in the league in on base percentage and batting average.

And down at Columbus, the organization has a player who has compiled a .413 on base percentage in 66 games between the AA and AAA levels in 24-year-old Steven Kwan, a fifth round pick in 2018.

A left-handed hitter, in his minor league career he has reached base 38% of the time, but the only year he’s been under .400 was in 2019 at Lynchburg. He hit .337 at Akron this year (950 OPS) and .339 in 15 games with the Clippers.

He also has a little pop as well with 28 extra base hits in 287 plate appearances. The big club has only two players (Myles Straw and Jose Ramirez) who get on base more than 35% of the time, so they could use more hitters who avoid making outs.

They could certainly use an outfielder who hits with power and has a good batting average, and Oscar Gonzalez, who is just 23, certainly fits that bill.

A right-handed bat, Gonzalez has hit .300 with 28 homers and 76 RBIs (886 OPS) in 112 games, 63 of them at the AAA level. He has a .548 slugging percentage and has struck out just (relatively in today’s game) 97 times in 459 plate appearances this season.

As a comparison, Bobby Bradley has fanned over 148 times in four different minor league seasons.

What is Gonzalez’ problem offensively? He simply doesn’t walk. He’s drawn just 21 free passes this season, and that’s a career high! However, he continues to hit for a solid batting average, .276 in Columbus this season, and a lifetime minor league .282 mark.

Although we are a big believer in strikeout/walk ratio as a measure of success in the big leagues, there are guys in the majors who succeed despite not walking. Tim Anderson of the White Sox comes to mind.

Anderson averages 166 strikeouts and 24 walks per season, yet has a career .284 batting average, and won a batting title in 2019, hitting .335. Another weird stat about Anderson is that the year he set a career high in walks (2018 with 30), he had his lowest batting average at .240.

Why didn’t (or won’t) the Indians take a look at these two players, who might have helped the offense because their skill set in the minor leagues seems to be the very thing the parent club could use.

Quite frankly, wouldn’t it make the last two weeks of the season more exciting if we could watch this duo get some big league time instead of seeing players who have been decidedly mediocre for two or three years running.

This organization lives in fear at times, and this is one of those times. Kwan and Gonzalez deserve a shot these last two weeks. It would be good for them and the organization moving forward.

An Intriguing Week For The Tribe, To Be Sure.

With the Major League Baseball trade deadline at the end of July, Tribe fans had to know it would be an eventful week, and it lived up to the billing.

Yes, team president Chris Antonetti and GM Mike Chernoff made some deals, but the big news was the announcement that Terry Francona was leaving the team for health reasons, and would not be back this season.

Francona’s health has now caused him to miss parts of the last two seasons, and we hope that he gets the medical attention he needs and will be back in the dugout for Opening Day 2022. And if he chooses to retire, his next stop will be Cooperstown.

Many Indians’ fans have decried the trades as throwing in the towel on the season or as ownership cutting more payroll.

Let’s face it, the Tribe has an uphill battle to make the post-season, but that doesn’t mean they won’t keep battling for interim skipper DeMarlo Hale, and although Cesar Hernandez and Eddie Rosario were among the highest paid players on the team, it’s not exactly like they were having all-star caliber seasons.

Hernandez did have a career high in home runs, but his on base percentage was down almost 50 points from a year ago and almost 40 points from his career mark. And his defense noticeably dipped as well. So, the team will get a look at youngsters Owen Miller and/or Andres Gimenez, although when the latter comes up it should be to play shortstop.

Would we be shocked if either provided more offensively than Hernandez? We would answer only slightly.

As for Rosario, everyone was excited by his signing because of the way he hit against Cleveland as a member of the Minnesota Twins. That Eddie Rosario didn’t show up this season, certainly in terms of power. His slugging percentage is almost 100 points less than his days in the Twin Cities.

He was second on the team in RBIs when he was injured, so he did contribute there.

Still, the team’s production at both positions was below league average, and in the case of Rosario, he was unlikely to be back in 2022.

Both of those moves were predictable, but the other two deals weren’t to us. We figured a reliever might be moved, but most thought it would be Bryan Shaw. However, it was underutilized (at least to us) Phil Maton that went to Houston for a very intriguing piece in CF Myles Straw.

Straw was the Astros primary centerfielder, hitting .262 with a 665 OPS. He’s got speed, currently 4th in the American League in steals. Oddly, Straw didn’t like hitting in Minute Maid Park, compiling a .297 batting average and 739 OPS on the road. Hopefully, that’s the guy the Indians will see.

What does Straw means for the future of Bradley Zimmer, Oscar Mercado, and even Daniel Johnson in a Cleveland uniform? We would certainly like to see more of Johnson, who after starting the season 0 for 9, actually has gone 9 for 35. Not great, but an Indians who gets a hit in every four at bats isn’t exactly common.

Trading Jordan Luplow thins out the crowded (not production wise) outfield, and that was the biggest surprise. Luplow had tremendous number vs. southpaws and we would have liked to seen him get a full time chance because his minor league numbers showed he could hit righties.

The pitcher Cleveland received from Tampa for Luplow, Peyton Battenfield, has 95 strikeouts in 67-1/3 innings this season in the minors, so it could be the Tribe really wanted the arm. This year showed they needed some pitching depth in the high levels of the minor leagues.

Are the Indians a better team than they were on Wednesday? It remains to be seen, but they didn’t exactly break up an offensive juggernaut. Maybe Straw provides better hitting than what Tribe centerfielders have contributed so far. Maybe Owen Miller starts to show the stroke he had in the minors.

While not truly giving up on the season (see, Chicago Cubs and Washington Nationals), the front office is looking toward 2022. And based on the last month, which saw a nine game losing streak, why not?