Don’t Panic About Tribe’s Inactivity Thus Far

This week the hot stove season in baseball went crazy early. Heck, the winter meetings, usually the hub of off-season activity doesn’t start until tomorrow.

Tuesday saw a large number of trades, mostly involving the Oakland A’s, and the high-profile signing of OF Jacoby Ellsbury by the Yankees.

Yesterday, Robinson Cano inked a ten-year pact with the Mariners, and the Yankees feeling a need to keep paying players ridiculous amounts of cash, signed OF Carlos Beltran.

Of course, Indians’ fans are filled with angst because so far, GM Chris Antonetti has really only made one move, getting free agent OF David Murphy from Texas to platoon in the outfield.

In that time, Cleveland has lost two starting pitchers in Ubaldo Jimenez and Scott Kazmir, and several bullpen pieces, most notably Joe Smith and Chris Perez.

We are telling fans to relax, take a deep breath. The Tribe will make some moves to improve this club soon.

You see, most baseball experts will tell you that the players who have already signed are being overpaid. Hasn’t Seattle learned from the Alex Rodriguez and Albert Pujols deals that paying huge amounts of money to a 41-year old player isn’t a good idea?

Kazmir received two years at $11 million per season. With his recent past of pitching in the independent league, would you feel comfortable paying him that kind of money?

As for Smith, we’ve heard several people on MLB Network saying there are many relievers on the same level as the former Tribesman that will be paid far less in 2014.

There are still some quality starting pitchers on the market and our guess is the Tribe is interested in them. The two most interesting names are former Indian Bartolo Colon, who will turn 41 next season, but he won 18 games for Oakland in ’13 and threw 190 innings. His arm is still good because he throws mostly fastballs.

Another veteran arm Cleveland could have interest in is Bronson Arroyo, who pitched for Terry Francona in Boston. Arroyo will turn 37 in a few months, but has thrown 199 innings or more for nine consecutive seasons, and has a career ERA of 4.19. He did very well in Cincinnati despite pitching in a home stadium known for offense.

Antonetti could also work the trade market. Since last winter, SS Asdrubal Cabrera’s name has been bandied about as bait, and it may be time to pull the trigger with top prospect Francisco Lindor nearing ready status.

Stephan Drew is still available and could be intriguing as a one year bridge to Lindor if Cabrera is indeed dealt.

As for the bullpen, Antonetti could sign a veteran arm, but he has several options on the roster to look at as well. The Tribe kept Blake Wood, who they signed last year after Tommy John surgery, and the former Royal was throwing in the high 90’s in his September call up. They also will have Frank Herrmann back too.

And they have youngsters like C.C. Lee, who got some big league time in 2013, and another hard thrower in Austin Adams, who had elbow surgery in 2012.

Just because the Indians didn’t spend money like crazy so far doesn’t mean they won’t improve this ballclub. Hopefully, Antonetti remembers 2007 when the Tribe made the post-season, and followed it up by doing nothing in the off-season.

Tribe Needs Some “Average” Hitters.

The new wave baseball people will not want to hear this.

Although we agree with many of the tenets of the statistic oriented baseball experts who opine on the sport on a regular basis, the devaluing of the batting average stats is one we aren’t sure about.

There is no question that OPS is a credible stat, and we use it to judge the offensive ability of a player on a regular basis.

And while on base percentage is very important because it measures a hitters’ ability to NOT make an out, getting hits is important too.

In trying to analyze the offense of the Cleveland Indians, that is the one stat that separates the top three offenses in the American League from Terry Francona’s club.

Take for example, the Red Sox, who lead the American League in runs scored with 616, an average of 4.97 per game.

They have hit one less home run that the Tribe, yet score a third of a run per game more than the Indians.

One of the reasons is their team batting average is 20 points higher than Cleveland’s, which in turn makes their on base percentage .022 higher.

You might blame the Indians propensity to strikeout, but the Red Sox have fanned pretty much the same number of times as the Tribe.

The Indians rank 8th in the AL in batting average, 26 points behind the Tigers, who rank 2nd in the AL in runs scored, and they are 11 points behind Baltimore, who are third.

Now, we understand that batting average can be an empty statistic, as guys can hit .290 and be singles hitters who never walk, and therefore are not good offensive players. Those guys don’t add much to an attack.

Currently, the Indians have just one player with over 200 at bats and a batting average over .290: Jason Kipnis. Yan Gomes is hitting over .300, but doesn’t qualify at this time, although he is getting more playing time.

Kipnis has 47 extra base hits, which leads the Tribe.

By contrast, Boston has four such players: Dustin Pedroia, Jacoby Ellsbury, David Ortiz, and Daniel Nava, with the latter’s 28 extra base hits the least of the quartet. Detroit also has four players who qualify: Miguel Cabrera, Omar Infante, Jhonny Peralta, and Torii Hunter, with Victor Martinez probably joining them soon, as hot as he has been. Infante’s 26 extra base hits are the least among those Tigers.

Baltimore has three batters who qualify: Chris Davis, Manny Machado, and Adam Jones and every one of that trio has over 50 extra base hits.

The Tribe’s next best hitter for average is Michael Brantley, who certainly has been special in clutch situations this season, but still has only 30 extra base hits, less than Asdrubal Cabrera, who has had a sub-par year at the dish, and only three more than Drew Stubbs.

The lack of hitters with the ability to get hits hampers the offense because they can only score with home runs or by using situational hitting, and that isn’t always a constant.

They don’t have a great ability to string three or four hits together, mixed with a walk here and there to put together a big inning. That’s because they don’t have high average hitters.

That’s something that needs to be looked at in the off-season, because if they can add a couple of .280-.300 hitters into the lineup, they could be a run scoring machine.

Francona Figures to Give Youngsters a Shot

The big hullabaloo about the out clause in new Indians’ manager Terry Francona’s contract if team president Mark Shapiro and/or GM Chris Antonetti are no longer with the organization is another case of people making more out of something than there actually is.

The fact is if Shapiro were to be let go and another president was named, the new guy would want to hire his own GM, and that GM would want to hire his own skipper.

The thing no one brings up is that they may hire someone Francona is very comfortable working with and he would stay on anyway.

That all said, you have to love the aggressiveness of Shapiro and Antonetti, even those who have been highly critical of the Tribe front office.

Francona has instant credibility, with two World Series championships to his credit. And for those who point out the Red Sox’ high payroll in those years, there are plenty of large market teams paying players huge dollars who aren’t winning World Series.

Shapiro is said to be very respected within the game, and that respect and friendship with the former Boston manager led to his hire.

The Indians organization desperately needs the opinion of an outsider, particularly one connected with a winning franchise. Terry Francona provides just that.

Another plus is the new managers success in breaking young players into the major leagues. Much has been made of “Tito” giving breaks to players such as Dustin Pedroia, Kevin Youkilis, Jacoby Ellsbury, and Jon Lester, but even in Philadelphia, he made everyday players out of Scott Rolen, Mike Lieberthal, Bobby Abreu, and Pat Burrell.

Contrast that to previous managers who had to be dragged kicking and screaming to play young players, preferring marginal veterans instead.

While it is true those players were highly regarded in the minor leagues, save for Youkilis, only Rolen, Ellsbury, and Burrell were ranked in the top 20 prospects in the game.

You have to believe that Lonnie Chisenhall has to feel good about being the everyday third baseman for the 2013 Indians.

With his resume, you have to believe Francona will not hesitate to challenge the front office’s opinions on certain players. He knows and understands what it takes to win in the major leagues and will make sure everyone wearing a uniform understands that winning is important.

His career winning percentage, including when he was in Philadelphia is .519. Compare that to Manny Acta’s record of .418. Remember, managers get paid to win ballgames.

He likely will bring in a new coaching staff as well, although Sandy Alomar Jr. may return as bench coach, and that’s because Francona and Alomar are former teammates and the new skipper wants him.

That means a new hitting coach with a different perspective, a new pitching coach that will no doubt emphasize throwing strikes, and an entirely new way of looking at the game in total. A winning way of looking at it.

Last year, when the Arizona Diamondbacks surprised and won the NL West title, a look at their manager and coaches showed Kirk Gibson, Alan Trammell, Matt Williams, and Charles Nagy, all players who spent most of their career on winning team.

That rubs off on young players, and it wouldn’t be a shock if Francona did something similar and bring in proven winners to teach his new club.

The guess here is we’ve heard the last excuse made by the Indians’ field manager in a very long time.