Tribe’s Woes Vs. The Big Boys

There is an old baseball axiom that say to be a contending team, you have to beat up the “bums” and split with the contenders. That would explain why the Cleveland Indians aren’t really in the playoff mix.

Outside of the White Sox, who the Tribe has the familiarity of playing 19 times because they are a division foe, Cleveland has had huge problems with the best teams in the American League.

If the season ended today (it does not, of course), the five teams that would advance to the post-season would be Tampa Bay, Houston, Chicago, New York, and Boston. Take out the splitting of the 14 games vs. the Pale Hose, and the Indians’ record against the other four teams would be 4-19. What is amazing is that eight of the losses have been by one run, and two more have been by two runs.

Two of the wins have also been by one run.

And if you add in Toronto and Oakland, teams very much in the wild card mix, the record is 8-28.

That means against everyone else, Cleveland is 59-38, which is really, really good.

They have been outscored in those contests, 125 to 79 against the Rays, Astros, Yankees, and Red Sox meaning they have been averaged less than four runs per game against those top tier teams. Overall, they average almost 4.5 per contest. It’s tough to win without putting runs on the scoreboard.

It’s not a stretch to say the Indians can dominate the lower class teams in the American League, but have been totally outclassed by the big boys. And that has to change is they want to be contenders next season.

Jose Ramirez and Franmil Reyes have been productive against the upper echelon teams of the AL. Ramirez has hit .322 (19 for 59) with four home runs and 13 runs knocked in. Reyes has hit .324 (23 for 71) with seven dingers (remember he had a great series vs. Tampa) with 19 ribbies.

On the other hand, Amed Rosario has struggled against these teams, hitting just .193 with 3 RBIs, and Harold Ramirez is 10 for 51 with four runs knocked in. Some of the younger Indians have struggled as well. Bradley Zimmer is just 9 for 52 (.173) and Bobby Bradley has gone 9 for 56 with a single home run.

All the losses by one run shows that for the most part, Cleveland has been competing with the good teams, mostly because their starting pitching keeps them in games early.

The Tribe is a very young team, so it might just be a part of the growth process, learning to win against the better teams. One good thing to take away from this is in each of the series, the Indians have won one game in the set, the last game. The early losses, some of them tough to take, haven’t bogged the team down.

Cleveland has gone 23-8 against the Royals and Tigers, but have struggled slightly against Minnesota, who is having a down season. They still have seven games left against the Twins to improve that mark.

Playing much better against the good teams has to be a goal for next year. We understand the mindset of Terry Francona is taking things one day at a time, but getting wins against good teams is needed to make the playoffs.

It’s been a struggle to do that for the 2021 Indians.

Tribe Slump A Result Of All Phases

On June 24th, the Cleveland Indians beat the Minnesota Twins 4-1 to bring their record to 41-31, and were just two games behind the White Sox in the American League Central Division.

Since that day, the Tribe has gone 7-17, including a nine game losing streak from June 30th, when they lost a doubleheader to Detroit to July 7th, when they lost a twin bill to Tampa.

And they’ve also lost 11 straight games to the Rays, spanning back to 2019.

The injuries to the starting pitching gets quite a bit of the blame for this bad streak, but in Cleveland’s last 29 games, a span that actually started earlier than the losing, the Indians have scored more than four runs just seven times.

Amazingly, they have lost three of those games.

Since the beginning of July, the Tribe has lost three games where they had the lead going into the 9th inning.

The point is this stretch has been brutal for Terry Francona’s squad, with each area of the roster contributing to the losing.

The team had to be happy when a starting pitcher gives them five quality innings, but recently, Zach Plesac has returned to give them some good outings, and Cal Quantrill has gone 2-0 with a 3.22 ERA in four starts.

Rookie Eli Morgan has been able to pitch five innings in each of his last five outings. His ERA has been 6.12 in those starts, but he has given the team a chance to win each time.

So, despite the injuries to their top three starters, the starting pitching hasn’t been awful. Triston McKenzie has been better since his most recent visit to Columbus either. Unfortunately, JC Mejia continues to show he’s not ready to pitch in the majors.

The bullpen has shown signs of wear and tear to the three late inning relievers, with Emmanuel Clase blowing two ninth inning leads and James Karinchak one, and Bryan Shaw has allowing 11 runs, nine earned in his last 17 appearances.

The offense has struggled along with their best weapon, Jose Ramirez. In his last seven games, Ramirez is just 2 for 18, with a homer. Over the last 14 days, he is hitting .160 (4 for 25). Even worse, over the last 28 days, he’s hitting .230 with four long balls. He still has an 846 OPS in that span.

His production has dropped since he was hit in the foot by a pitch against Pittsburgh, which coincidentally is when the Cleveland offense hit this cold patch over the last 29 games. He has also been battling a sore elbow.

Ramirez is by far the best position player on the team, and because of that, if he is struggling, it is very difficult for this offense to get anything going. The only consistent hitters Francona has are Jose, Franmil Reyes, and Harold Ramirez, and for some reason, the latter gets left out of the lineup far too often.

Yes, some players have pitched in from time to time, such as Bobby Bradley who has belted 11 homers, but in July, he has batted .158 with 30 strikeouts in 72 plate appearances. He has taken some walks, but the swing and miss issues are still a major issue.

The defense also breaks down a lot. Cesar Hernandez’ work with the glove has taken a dramatic dip. Amed Rosario has range issues and problems turning the double play. Fly balls hit to anyone besides Bradley Zimmer and Oscar Mercado have become adventures.

That doesn’t help a young pitching staff either.

Among the everyday players, outside of the two Ramirez’s and Reyes, could the front office make a deal that would weaken any other position? We doubt it. Let’s say Hernandez is moved, it would give Owen Miller another shot. Amed? They could get another look at Andres Gimenez, who would at least provide better defense.

No, the Indians shouldn’t go into tank mode, but they should look to reshape the roster with an eye towards 2022. Getting Shane Bieber and Aaron Civale back should mean an improved offense put the Indians in contention next year.

But they should look to get stronger in all areas too. There is room for that in all phases of the game.

Evaluating Amed Rosario

According to Baseball-Reference.com, seven of the Cleveland Indians’ leaders in WAR (wins above replacement) are pitchers, including Shane Bieber, Aaron Civale, and Zach Plesac, all of whom have missed considerable time this year due to injury.

The only position players who rank among the top ten are Jose Ramirez, Franmil Reyes, and Harold Ramirez. Bradley Zimmer ranks 11th, and it is very telling that Oscar Mercado, who has appeared in 16 games for Cleveland (44 plate appearances) is 12th.

What does that say about the guys who have spent most of the year on the big league roster?

One Tribesman who has received positive reviews is SS/CF Amed Rosario, who came over to Cleveland from the New York Mets in the Francisco Lindor transaction.

Rosario has stabilized the #2 spot in the batting order and has very good speed, and plays hard. That’s the good stuff.

Offensively, he’s basically a platoon player. Against lefties, he has a .287 batting average and a 788 OPS, getting 11 extra base hits in 108 at bats. But right-handed pitchers have held him to a .260 batting average and a 641 OPS, with just 10 extra base hits in 208 at bats.

He also doesn’t walk. We were concerned when he was acquired that he walked just four times all season for the Mets in 2020. He’s only drawn 18 free passes for the Indians this year, which is 5.3% of his times at the dish.

For contrast, that’s just slightly better than Harold Ramirez, described by many as a free swinger. Ramirez walks in 4.6% of his at bats. Ramirez also has just one less extra base hit than Amed Rosario, despite having over 100 less plate appearances.

And defensively, let’s just say A. Rosario is not going to be a finalist for the Gold Glove in the American League once the season ends.

Rosario stands out because most of the other people Terry Francona writes on a lineup card each day is pretty mediocre. That’s not to say he’s terrible, he has very good speed and is a very good baserunner, and he likes to hit the ball where it is pitched, which is a lost art in baseball these days.

But players with a 691 OPS are not good hitters. Rosario has a poor strikeout to walk ratio (67:18) and doesn’t hit for power, and we don’t mean home runs, but extra base hits. That’s why people look at on base percentage and slugging percentage. They are important statistics.

We remember many years ago when Tribe fans and media alike fawned over Felix Fermin, who handled balls hit at him very well, but didn’t have much range. When Fermin was sent to Seattle in the deal that brought Cleveland Omar Vizquel, we told people they would soon see what a great defensive shortstop really looked like.

Their frame of reference was watching players who were basically average. When you are used to that, above average looks much better.

And that’s Amed Rosario at the plate. When compared to the rest of the Tribe lineup, he stands out. In a solid lineup, he’s batting 8th or 9th. There’s nothing wrong with that, just don’t be fooled.

Tribe Offense Could Use More Walking.

There has been a lot of discussion over the past few seasons about “launch angle” and the way baseball has gone with the approach of hitting over defensive shifts and strikeouts are no big deal.

Maybe the pendulum is starting to switch.

Everyone’s friends, the Houston Astros might be changing the narrative. The Astros lead the major leagues in runs scored, yet have struck out the fewest times of any team. Toronto, who has scored the third most runs, have whiffed the next fewest.

While it is true the other teams in the top five rank more toward the middle of the pack in striking out (Dodgers-19th, Red Sox-14th, White Sox-13th), of the teams that fan the most, only Tampa Bay, whose hitters have struck out more than anyone, score more than the sports average (4.48 runs/game).

The next best team is Atlanta, who have scored the 7th most runs.

Let’s compare the Astros and Blue Jays offenses to the hometown team, the Cleveland Indians.

The Astros have six hitters who get regular at bats with on base percentages of over .350, and four players have more than 35 walks. As we just saw when the swept the Tribe in a four game series here, when their hitters get to two strikes, they have a more old school approach, looking to put the ball in play.

They also have seven batters with slugging averages over .450.

Toronto isn’t a team that walks a lot, with only Vladimir Guerrero Jr. having an on base percentage over .350, although Bo Bichette and Marcus Simien are close. They do have five hitters with slugging percentages over .450.

As for the Tribe, they have only one hitter with an OBP over .350, and that’s Bradley Zimmer, which is quite shocking, but he only has slightly over 100 plate appearances. Among players with over 200 PA’s, there is no one. Jose Ramirez’ .347 figure leads the team, with Franmil Reyes (who actually has just 197 times at the dish) next at .325.

As for slugging percentage, the Indians have just three players over .450: Jose Ramirez (.518), Reyes (.597), and Harold Ramirez (.451).

We know we are stating the obvious, but the Indians simply need more good hitters. To have an offense like Houston or Toronto, they need really three good hitters. More to the point, they need guys who don’t make outs.

The next best offenses in the AL, the White Sox and Red Sox breakdown as follows–Chicago has four solid on base hitters (over .350 OBP), but only two sluggers, although Tim Anderson’s slugging percentage is .447.

Boston has just two on base guys, but five sluggers, including Christian Arroyo, who Cleveland let go last season.

Cesar Hernandez and Amed Rosario have been okay, although the latter seems to be getting a lot of love from the baseball media lately. Hernandez has a .300 on base percentage, and although Rosario has good speed, and does hit the ball the other way, his OBP is just .307 because he doesn’t walk, which was his problem with the Mets.

Hernandez has had good years of getting on base, and is tied for the team lead in walks with Ramirez at 35. As a team, the Indians rank 13th in taking walks, and that needs to improve greatly for the team to score more often.

We are a huge believer in strike zone judgment being a big factor as to whether or not hitters have a solid long range future. That doesn’t bode well for the Cleveland lineup going forward. It’s also one of the reasons we would like to see more of Jordan Luplow.

Despite being on the IL since the end of May, and having only 121 plate appearances, he still ranks third on the team in walks with 21. It’s a skill this team needs.

We aren’t saying it’s the only way to improve the offense, but it’s a start in the right direction. Walking is good, the Tribe should do more of it.

Some Areas Where Tribe Would Like To Get Answers.

Friday night, the Cleveland Indians will commence the second half of the baseball season with a three game series in Oakland, which over the past few seasons has been a house of horrors for the Tribe.

Eli Morgan, Cal Quantrill, and Zach Plesac take the hill against the A’s, which is a bit comforting in that the first two have at least given Terry Francona five solid innings for the most part, and Plesac is the only holdover from the opening day rotation.

Regardless of what happens during these critical first ten games after the break, the Tribe organization would like to get some questions answered for the rest of this season.

Centerfield. Francona has mixed and matched at this position all season long. Bradley Zimmer has played the most games in center (36), followed by Jordan Luplow (22), Harold Ramirez (20), and amazingly Amed Rosario (18).

But Zimmer has shown no offensive ability other than being hit by pitches and stealing bases. He is probably the best defender at the position though. Oscar Mercado was called up a couple of weeks ago, and so far, has done okay at the plate (843 OPS in 35 plate appearances). Is that sustainable?

When can Luplow return? Can he provide another option in the middle of the outfield?

It would be nice if someone could seize the job for the rest of the season. However, we don’t see that happening.

First Base. Certainly, Bobby Bradley is giving the Indians much better production than they received out of the Jake Bauers/Yu Chang platoon. But can the left-handed power hitter provide consistency?

Bradley started out like a house afire, going 12 for his first 32 (.375) with four home runs and 11 RBIs. Then, he went through a stretch where he went 2 for 28, striking out 10 times. In his last 44 at bats, he has 11 hits, four of them dingers.

Hopefully, Bradley can keep the cold streaks to a minimum and even when he’s not hitting balls over the walls, he can contribute offensively by mixing in some base hits and walks. That’s been a problem for him in his career.

Triston McKenzie. If Cleveland is to weather the storm until Shane Bieber and/or Aaron Civale get back, they need McKenzie to step up. The soon to be 24-year-old has had trouble throwing strikes all year long, walking 7.3 hitters per nine innings.

However, he has also struck out 12.4 batters per nine. He returned from AAA last Friday night and threw seven one-hit innings, fanning nine Kansas City hitters. He also set a team record earlier in the season, whiffing eight straight White Sox batters.

The stuff is obviously there. If the young right-hander can repeat his delivery and throw strikes consistently, he can take a huge stride toward being a legitimate starting pitcher in the majors.

And he doesn’t have to throw seven innings allowing just one hit to do that.

Defense. To be kind, the Tribe’s defense to date has been atrocious, and that of course, doesn’t help the pitching staff. Some of the reason for that was putting players in spots they really can’t handle defensively in order to get their bats in the lineup (see Harold Ramirez CF).

But Cesar Hernandez has had a tough go this season, and Amed Rosario still makes people nervous every time a ground ball is hit his way.

Hopefully, this area improves as the season goes on.

No games until Friday is a tough thing for a baseball fan. Hopefully, when play resumes this weekend, the Indians’ can start getting some clarity on these questions.

When It Comes To WAR, Tribe Every Day Players Rank Low

Since we are halfway through the Major League Baseball season, we thought it would be a good time to evaluate the performance of the roster of the local nine, the Cleveland Indians.

And if look at WAR (Wins Above Replacement), at least according to BaseballReference.com, it doesn’t paint a pretty picture.

According to their version of the formula, the Indians rank third from the bottom for non-pitchers, ahead of only the Orioles and Tigers. Even with all the injuries to the pitching staff, Cleveland pitchers rank 4th, behind only the Yankees, White Sox, and Blue Jays.

To break it down further for the guys who stand on the mound, Tribe starters rank 8th, which could have been expected considering the injuries to Shane Bieber, Zach Plesac, and Aaron Civale, and the performance of the hurlers who replaced them.

However, the Indians’ bullpen ranks second in the AL, trailing just Boston.

As for the position players, it’s not a pretty picture. Since there are 15 American League teams, we will consider the top eight to be in the top half of the league. Using that standing, the Tribe has only two positions ranking in the top half, third base, of course manned by Jose Ramirez, the team’s best player and an All Star for the third time, and DH.

Franmil Reyes is the usual designated hitter, and his OPS (914) leads the team. And while Reyes was out, Terry Francona used a number of players at the spot to give them rest, one of whom was Ramirez.

The next highest ranking by position is rightfield, manned most often by the now injured Josh Naylor, followed by Harold Ramirez, who has an OPS of just under 800 (785).

Cleveland ranks in the bottom three at two positions, catcher and second base. We know the team values defense first and foremost at the catcher position, but having Roberto Perez out for two months didn’t help. And that said, we felt Austin Hedges did a marvelous job handling the pitchers, many of whom are getting their first big league experience.

Despite the good defense, Perez and Hedges have combined to hit .146 with 7 HR and 22 RBI. Those numbers are slightly better than having the pitcher hitting.

At second, Cesar Hernandez has put up surprising power numbers, he is one off his career high in HR, but his on base percentage is not what the brass is looking for and his defense hasn’t been what it was a year ago.

They are one spot above that at first base and leftfield. Bobby Bradley has helped the numbers at first, but that was after watching two months of a Jake Bauers/Yu Chang platoon at the position. The left-handed hitter has belted 8 homers and drawn 10 walks to date.

Eddie Rosario has been the primary guy in left, and although he’s been hitting better in the past month, his OPS is still under 700 (685). And let’s just say, he’s not going to win a Gold Glove anytime soon.

That would leave SS and surprisingly CF as the next best positions. Amed Rosario has stabilized short, but despite being hot over the last six weeks, he still has a 690 OPS, which is below average. The Tribe is still looking for someone to take charge in center.

It just shows there is still a lot of progress needed in the everyday lineup, and how the organization has worked around this to still have a winning record.

We don’t think WAR is the end all, be all statistic in baseball. But using it to compare the production of your team vs. others seems legitimate

Is Zimmer’s Rope Getting Shorter?

Besides trying to win baseball games, it feels like the Cleveland Indians’ organization has another objective during the 2021 season. That would be making final decisions on some players.

The Tribe decided to keep Jake Bauers on the Opening Day roster, despite Bobby Bradley having a better spring (not that spring training statistics should be meaningful), because Bauers was out of option and couldn’t be sent to the minors without being put on waivers.

Bauers didn’t take advantage of the opportunity, hitting just .190 (557 OPS) in 113 plate appearances, with just two home runs, before being traded to Seattle. (We do have to point out, he is hitting .315 with a homer in 54 at bats with Seattle).

Yu Chang is getting his first extended look on the roster, and he is struggling too, batting just .167 (488 OPS) in 102 at bats. Chang is 25 years old, and our guess is his roster spot is currently on a day-to-day basis.

Right now, it feels like Bradley Zimmer, a former first round pick in 2014, is in the same situation. Zimmer, who is a tremendous athlete, can run like a deer, and is clearly the best defensive outfielder on the roster.

Unfortunately, he also has to put a bat in his hands every once in awhile.

When Zimmer got the call to the big leagues in 2017, he hit the ground running, batting 285 in his first 151 at bats, with five home runs and a 790 OPS. However, since the All Star break that season, the 21st pick in 2014, has 370 at bats, and has hit .200 in that period, with just six dingers and 151 strikeouts.

That latter total is astounding, considering the lack of pop and the lack of walks. The only two things that stand out to us offensively is he has been hit by 10 pitches in 2020-21, in just 128 plate appearances, and he has stolen six bases.

Terry Francona loves his defense in the middle of the outfield for sure, who wouldn’t? Cleveland has gone through Ben Gamel, Amed Rosario, Jordan Luplow, and Harold Ramirez in center, and by far Zimmer is the best at going out the catching the ball.

However, we always maintain the as great as Ozzie Smith and Omar Vizquel were defensively, if they could not hit respectably, they would have found themselves on a bench more often than not. You have to be able to hit to play.

The best role for Zimmer right now might be as a defensive replacement late in close games where the Indians have the lead. Start Ramirez in center, and if you have the lead after six, move him to another spot and let Zimmer patrol center.

The question is will the organization give him more rope, and if they move on, who gets the next shot? Oscar Mercado is hitting just .220 at Columbus, but his walk rate has improved, and that has been a big problem in the past. We have seen opposing pitchers seemingly try to walk Mercado, only to see him keep swinging.

Daniel Johnson is batting just .223, but has banged out 20 extra base hits, leading to a .458 slugging percentage. And perhaps he has the same problem Bobby Bradley had when he was sent out after spring training. That is a feeling he should be in the bigs.

Or could Andres Gimenez be brought back to play SS, with Amed Rosario going back to centerfield. Gimenez has an 834 OPS at Columbus, but has a poor 35:8 strikeout to walk ratio.

Is Bradley Zimmer getting his last shot with Cleveland? He still can be sent to the minor leagues or he can be useful as a 26th man. Either way, if he can’t improve his hitting, he likely won’t get another shot with the Tribe.

To Get Some Hitting, Tribe Is Compromising The Defense

We have talked about this many times throughout the baseball season, so excuse us for being redundant. The Cleveland Indians aren’t a good offensive baseball team.

They continue to rank 11th in the American League in runs scored per game at 4.05, almost a half run behind the league average of 4.42. We understand that batting average isn’t en vogue as a key statistic anymore in the game, but the team average of .221 ranks second to last (Seattle) in the AL.

They are 14th in the league in on base percentage too, and the team OPS of 679 is ahead of just Texas, Detroit, and Seattle.

To try to generate even this much offense, Terry Francona and his staff have had to sacrifice things, which is scary when you think about it.

What they have seemingly decided to ignore was on full display over the weekend in Baltimore, where the woeful Orioles took two of three from the Tribe.

It seems to get to a point where they can average a paltry four runs per contest, the Indians have given up a lot on the defensive side of the game, which is kind of weird, considering the backbone of the squad is the pitching staff.

Our guess is the theory is if you can strikeout enough hitters, defense doesn’t mean as much as it used to, because the ball isn’t in play. And currently, Cleveland pitchers rank 6th in the AL in striking out hitters. They led the league in the shortened 2020 season and were fifth in 2019.

And the defense has been lacking at key positions too.

Bradley Zimmer returned to the roster last week, and hopefully he can provide something offensively, because his defense is badly needed in CF. Harold Ramirez has been getting time out there, and he has helped with the bat in his hand (791 OPS, .278, 3 HR, 13 RBI), but he’s not acceptable defensively.

In Sunday’s loss to Baltimore, a pop fly that was in the air for a long time fell in for a hit, and there have been several other fly balls that have landed in the outfield that should have been turned into outs.

Who would have thought where Cleveland missed Francisco Lindor the most was defensively? The Tribe started Andres Gimenez at the spot to open the season, and our guess was watching Amed Rosario out there in spring training games didn’t exactly make the brass feel all warm and fuzzy.

Rosario has made several misplays, some not scored as errors, but giving the opposing teams extra outs. And he can stop trying to make superfluous throws to first when he has not realistic chance to get runners any time now.

The former Met has been okay offensively (he still has an OPS under 700), he stands out because as a whole, the Tribe doesn’t have many better than average bats, but hopefully, Gimenez can hit better because he’s the better defender, and Francona can figure out a way to get Rosario in there.

We should also mention he has plus speed.

We haven’t talked about Josh Naylor either. Naylor has spent most of the season in RF, but his best position defensively is 1B right now. Naylor works hard, and plays with joy and enthusiasm, but it doesn’t help the pitching staff when only Eddie Rosario in LF has been solid defensively.

Add in that Cesar Hernandez hasn’t been as strong in the field as he was a year ago, and you can see the traditional baseball adage of being strong defensively up the middle does not apply to the 2021 edition of the Cleveland Indians.

You want to maximize your strengths and minimize your weaknesses. Unfortunately, with the current roster of players, the Tribe has had to minimize their strength (pitching) to put some runs on the board.

Hopefully, they can overcome this and stay in the AL Central race like they have to this point in the season.

Tribe Seems To Need Right-Handed Bats

When you get a week or two into Spring Training, people start to speculate on what players will make the Opening Day roster. Who will be in Detroit on April 1st when the regular season starts.

Most of the debate centers around players like Bobby Bradley, Jake Bauers, Daniel Johnson, and Bradley Zimmer. However, those four players have one commonality–they are all left-handed hitters.

We know Terry Francona like to use the platoon advantage. And right now, his biggest platoon weapon against southpaws is OF Jordan Luplow, and right now he has not played because of a foot issue. If he isn’t ready for the opening of the season, then what alternatives does the skipper have?

The starting outfield may be set with Eddie Rosario in left, Oscar Mercado in center, and Josh Naylor in right. If Francona wants to sit either Rosario or Naylor against a tough lefty, what is his alternative?

Could this be where Amad Rosario finds his niche, as a platoon piece vs. left-handed pitching? Against righties, the former Met Rosario is a .257 hitter with a .378 slugging percentage (667 OPS). But against lefties, he’s a beast, with a .300 batting average, slugging .473 and an 812 OPS.

The Mets had plans to play Amad in the outfield, but to date, he has played only shortstop where he is competing with the man he came to Cleveland with, Andres Gimenez. Gimenez is the better defender, and has hit well so far, leading some to believe he is the frontrunner to be the starter there on April 1st.

Another candidate for the outfield is newcomer Harold Ramirez, who also hits right-handed. It will be interesting to see how his at bats get ramped up (or not) as the games progress.

Now, let’s look at first base. As we said before, both Bradley and Bauers swing from the left side, as does Naylor, who can also play there. It would seem that there is not room on the roster for both players (Naylor is a for sure), and it is also doubtful that Francona would want to have four left-handed hitters (E. Rosario, Naylor, Gimenez, and either Bradley or Bauers) in the batting order against a lefty.

So, can a Yu Chang make the squad as someone who can play 1B as a platoon piece? Remember, the other candidate for the utility infield spot, Mike Freeman, also hits from the left side. However, we haven’t seen Chang at first in a spring training game as of yet.

The number of left-handed bats would seem to make it very difficult for Johnson, who has had a good spring so far to make the team unless he becomes a platoon piece in centerfield with Mercado. The same holds true for Zimmer.

And if Luplow gets back out there soon and does get enough at bats to be ready by the end of camp, that reduces one spot on the roster.

It will be interesting to watch how Francona handles things defensively as the exhibition schedule continues. If you see players like Amed Rosario and Chang move around playing different (for them) positions, it shows they are candidates to come north as part of the 26 man roster.

Francona likes to keep extra guys in the bullpen, so versatility is needed among the extra position players. But if you can hit right-handed, you might have an edge to make the squad.