Biggest Factor For Tribe? Games Aren’t In The Bronx

Tomorrow night, the Indians start the new “Wild Card” round of the American League playoffs, necessitated this year (we hope only this year) by the shortened regular season.

Because of the regional schedule for the year, Tribe fans haven’t seen the Yankees this season, and vice versa. This we do know, New York had a 33-27 record this season, going 22-9 at Yankee Stadium and 11-18 on the road.

By the way, all three games of the series will be played in Cleveland at Progressive Field.

Because the Yankees get on national television more than most teams, certainly more than the Indians, baseball fans know the names: Giancarlo Stanton, Aaron Judge, Gleyber Torres, D.J. LeMahieu, and Gary Sanchez.

And they signed Garrit Cole, who won 20 games with the Astros last season, helping to pitch them to the AL pennant.

Their closer is Aroldis Chapman, who Tribe fans remember very well from the 2016 World Series.

However, in looking at the statistics for the Yankees this season, it has a Jekyll and Hyde feel to them.

You see, in the Bronx, the pinstripers have a team batting average of .273 with 67 home runs as a team, and a 907 OPS.

As a comparison, the Indians team statistics for the entire season has them with a .228 batting average, 59 home runs, and an OPS of 689. That’s for both home and road games.

LeMahieu, the AL batting champion, batted .448 at Yankee Stadium with eight home runs. Luke Voit, who led the Junior Circuit in long balls, swatted 16 at home. Four other Yanks hit six dingers in the Bronx, meanwhile the Tribe had four players who hit more that a half dozen for the entire season.

However, away from the famous short porch in right field, New York has at least according to the numbers been a far different team.

On the road, the Bronx Bombers have a .220 batting average with only 27 home runs, and a 668 OPS. They hit like Cleveland did all season long away from the House That Derek Jeter Built.

LeMahieu, who is a great hitter (we wanted the Indians to sign him when he was a free agent), batted .283 on the road, but had just two dingers. Voit, who had 22 homers for the season, hit just six away from the Bronx.

Stanton (14 for 49, 3 HR) and old friend Gio Urshela (21 for 65, 12 RBI) were the most productive New York bats away from home this season.

What is odd is the Yankee pitching splits at home and on the road. NY pitchers had a 3.87 ERA in the Big Apple, with Cole having a 2.09 mark, winning four games. Masahiro Tanaka, the game two starter won three at home, but with a 4.40 ERA.

The weird stat is they had a 4.88 ERA on the road. We understand their road games were at hitter friendly parks like Fenway Park, Oriole Park at Camden Yards, and Sahlens Field in Buffalo, where the Blue Jays played their home games, and it was very much a pitcher’s nightmare.

Tanaka pitched well on the road (2.33 ERA) which isn’t good news for Wednesday night’s contest.

As for the Tribe, they hit .233 at home (compared to .222 on the road), but hit 34 of their 59 home runs on the road.

Jose Ramirez (who else?) was the best hitter at Progressive Field, hitting .317 with 19 extra base hits. Cesar Hernandez hit .313 at his new home park, and Carlos Santana belted five of his eight homers in Cleveland.

The Indians’ pitchers had a 3.67 ERA at home vs. 2.90 away from Progressive Field. It didn’t matter for game one starter Shane Bieber, the likely AL Cy Young Award winner, who had 1.23 ERA and struck out 44 hitters in 22 innings at home.

Game 2 starter Carlos Carrasco had a 3.03 ERA, and Game 3 hurler Zach Plesac is at 2.08 along the shores of Lake Erie.

What does all of this mean? Not much, because it’s baseball, and a three game series doesn’t really determine a lot. However, ignore the names wearing the New York uniforms. They are television personalities because the networks want the Yankees.

The numbers show the Indians can compete and win the series if (and that’s a huge if) their beleaguered offense can cobble up some runs. That’s the biggest question of the week for the Tribe.

Jose, Jose, Jose, Jose…One Of The Game’s Best (Even If He Is Unknown Nationally)

New Indians’ pitcher Cal Quantrill said it after Jose Ramirez’ game winning three run homer to put the Tribe back in the post-season. He said if there is such a thing as an underrated top five player in the game, Ramirez is one.

It is difficult to believe Ramirez is still underrated, perhaps it is the slump he suffered through at the beginning of the 2019 season, but we feel some fans, even those who follow the Indians, don’t remember that the switch-hitter has two top three American League MVP finishes (2017 and 2018).

Perhaps it is the presence of Francisco Lindor, who has become the face of the franchise, but even nationally, you don’t hear enough about Ramirez being one of the best players in the sport.

There is no doubt that he is though. Still, since he became a regular midway through the 2016 season, only Mike Trout, recognized by everyone as the best player in the sport, has more top three finishes in the most valuable player voting than the Tribe third baseman.

The other players who have two such placements are household names nationally: Jose Altuve, Mookie Betts, and Christian Yelich.

Perhaps part of it was he was never regarded as a great prospect. Heck, he didn’t even appear on the Tribe’s Top 10 Prospect list until 2014, after he made his big league debut.

Cleveland got their first glimpse of Ramirez in the drive for a wild card spot in 2013, when the organization promoted him, primarily as a pinch runner after he hit .272 (674 OPS) with 38 stolen bases at Akron, playing mostly second base.

His keystone combination partner in ’12 at Lake County was Lindor, and they made for quite a duo up the middle.

Ramirez started the following season in AAA, hitting .302 (801 OPS) in 60 games at Columbus before being called up to play shortstop during the second half of the 2014 season with the big club, batting .262 with 2 HR, 17 RBI and 14 extra base hits in 266 plate appearances.

He started the ’15 season at shortstop (keeping the spot warm for top prospect Lindor), but was hitting just .180 (487 OPS) before being demoted to AAA. Lindor came up a few days later.

Upon getting recalled, he batted .259 with a 775 OPS, mixing in 16 extra base hits in 182 times at the dish. He played all over the diamond when he came back, playing some third base and leftfield. At that point, Jason Kipnis was fully ensconced at second base for the Tribe.

The switch-hitter started the following season in the same role, but with Juan Uribe not hitting at the hot corner, Ramirez started getting regular playing time there and started to hit with even more power, batting .312, with 11 homers, 76 ribbies, 46 doubles, and an 825 OPS.

He probably would have won the MVP in 2017 if not for a terrible September (.174 average, 637 OPS) that some attributed to being home run happy. He entered the month with 38 dingers.

Even with the increase in power, Ramirez was still an excellent base runner, stealing 17, 34, and 24 bases in the last three full baseball seasons, and he is an great defensive third baseman too.

There has been speculation he will eventually move back to second base to make room for prospect Nolan Jones, but we believe he’s not moving, his body type now makes him more suited for the corner spot.

He has a engaging personality too. Fox Sports’ Andre Knott calls him the heartbeat of the team, and his comments about “home run pitches” have caught on throughout the fanbase, and so, of course, are the “Jose, Jose, Jose, Jose” chants that resonate at Progressive Field when he comes up with a big hit.

People around the game know how good Ramirez is. He’s one of the 10-15 best players in the game, a great combination of power and speed, and a very good batting eye. He really doesn’t have a weakness.

As for the lack of national recognition? Who cares! Fans in northeast Ohio know how good Jose Ramirez is. And he could be the AL MVP in 2020.

This Week Is About Tribe Getting Ready For Next Week

Within the next couple of days, maybe even today, the Cleveland Indians will clinch a spot in the expanded eight team American League playoff field.

So, Terry Francona, Sandy Alomar Jr., and Carl Willis are tasked with getting the Tribe ready for the wild card series, which begin either Monday, October 5th or Tuesday, October 6th.

The team changed its starters for the series against the White Sox, with Shane Bieber being moved back to Wednesday’s game so he will be ready to go in game one of the first series. Cal Quantrill will get the start in what is essentially a bullpen game.

Apparently, the brass already made the change with the batting order, and hoping the new configuration, with Francisco Lindor leading off, and Jose Ramirez moving to the #3 slot, will provide more runs.

It’s not the style of the Indians’ leadership to make another change at this late date unless there is an injury.

Who would start game two? If the Tribe is involved in a series that starts Monday, it would be difficult to see anyone but Zach Plesac getting the nod. If Cleveland starts on Tuesday, Carlos Carrasco could make his next start on Friday night, and still take the hill in the second game of the first round series.

These last seven games will also be a trial for the bullpen, as Willis and his crew try to firm up the pecking order. We know Brad Hand is the closer, and James Karinchak will be the guy the Tribe uses in the 8th or in the “Andrew Miller” role, the highest leverage situations.

But who would pitch the 7th inning if a reliever is needed in a close contest? We would bet the staff will take a long look at newcomer Quantrill, particularly because he could go more than one inning if needed. He and Nick Wittgren would seem to be the arms that take care of the 6th and 7th innings.

Where does that leave veteran Oliver Perez? He would come on for a tough lefty bat, or maybe for a full inning if two left-handed hitters are scheduled. We believe the coaching staff has high confidence in the southpaw.

And Phil Maton could be used in a similar role vs. right-handed bats.

With the Wild Card Series being a best of three series, it means there is seemingly no role for Aaron Civale and/or Tristan McKenzie. We don’t know how Civale’s stuff plays out of the bullpen, unless it is in a long relief role, but we could see a rested McKenzie coming in for an inning or two if the starter can’t get through five innings.

That would seem to mean Cam Hill and Plutko would be used in mop up roles.

We also believe Delino DeShields will be the primary centerfielder in the playoffs. We wish Oscar Mercado would have received the bulk of the playing time after he was recalled, but he hasn’t, and he hasn’t exactly torn the cover off the ball when he has played (5 for 31).

Will Mercado platoon with Josh Naylor in LF or Tyler Naquin in RF though? We know Jordan Luplow will be in the lineup when a lefty opposes the Tribe, but does the skipper, whether it be Francona or Alomar, platoon in both corner outfield spots.

Another question is will the Indians carry 13 pitchers for the post-season? With no off days, it may be necessary, but if they decide to go with 12, who among the extra players at Lake County gets the call?

The Tribe hasn’t made a lot of moves during the shortened season, but would bringing up a left-handed bat off the bench make sense, particularly if whoever would get the call hasn’t faced big league pitching in awhile.

We understand a spot hasn’t been clinched as of yet, but the Mariners aren’t playing well, so it may be over as early as tonight.

But the Indians still have plenty to play for, including passing Minnesota to hop into the 4th or 5th seeding spot. We are anxious to see how the team approaches these last seven games.

Tribe Couldn’t Afford A Poor Season From Santana.

When you are second to last in a league in runs scored, there is clearly no one person to blame. It’s clearly a team effort.

We have pointed out in previous pieces that the Cleveland Indians have four positions (catcher and all three outfield spots) that rank in the bottom three in the American League in WAR. The front office took a “wishin’ and hopin'” approach to the outfield during the off-season, and has paid the price for it.

Because of that, there is an enormous amount of pressure on the top five hitters in the batting order to produce. Francisco Lindor, who has an OPS of 786, which is third on the team (behind Jose Ramirez and Franmil Reyes) has certainly heard his share of criticism because of his batting average with runners in scoring position. He is 9 for 51 with 13 RBI’s this year.

However, among those players being heavily counted upon by the Tribe this season, perhaps the most disappointing is 1B Carlos Santana.

The switch-hitter was coming off a career season, so maybe we shouldn’t be surprised by a drop off. And we don’t want to say Santana has no offensive value, because he leads the league in walks and still has a .355 on base percentage.

But his slugging percentage, a career high .515 in ’19 has dropped more than 200 points to .296 in this COVID shortened 2020 season.

We didn’t feel there would be a huge regression for Santana because he clearly changed his approach at the plate last season, going from a full out pull hitter to a player who used the middle of the field more and had more success.

And for all of Santana’s struggles, what does it say about the Indians’ management that they continue to hit him in the cleanup spot in the batting order, a position where power is most definitely needed.

This isn’t to denigrate Santana, who has been a very good player for the Cleveland franchise for ten years. He is starting to appear on the club’s all time top ten in several categories, including 8th in home runs (213, one behind Andre Thornton), 2nd in walks behind Jim Thome, and 10th in times getting on base.

However, it does point out two things.

First, the extreme amount of pressure the organization put on the top five in the batting order to produce. The Indians couldn’t afford any of them to have off years, and Santana has had one.

Second, the lack of depth on the roster, which doesn’t allow them to give the veteran switch-hitter to have a day off to refocus. Let’s say, the manager decides to play Josh Naylor at first base, who takes Naylor’s spot in the outfield? Or can you imagine the outrage on social media if they decided to play Mike Freeman at first?

Santana’s lack of production power wise does make it curious as to when the Indians decided to shuffle the lineup a bit, they left him in the #4 hole. Why not move him up in the order? After all, he does get on base, even this season. As we said, he leads the league in walks.

We would have put him, not Francisco Lindor, in the leadoff spot, and shuffled from there. That would put an emphasis on what the hitter is doing well this season.

It also calls into question what the organization will do with the option on the first baseman’s contract for 2021 at $17.5 million. We always figured the front office would try to restructure it, since Santana likes it in Cleveland, but now, even that should be up in the air.

We know Santana is a team player, and his struggles bother him to be sure. But quite frankly the Indians weren’t set up for an important player to have an off year.

And that’s troublesome in itself.

Blaming Lindor? It’s Because We Will Miss Him If He Leaves.

We have lived in the Cleveland area for a long time, longer than we care to remember. And we have seen how people in northeast Ohio deal with their sports grief, and in many cases, preparing themselves for the sadness.

Right now, supporters of the Cleveland Indians are doing this with their all star shortstop, Francisco Lindor.

If you are a regular reader of this writer, we have made it abundantly clear how we feel about the Tribe shortstop. We believe if he plays the majority of his career with the Tribe, he will be recognized as the best position player ever to wear an Indians uniform.

The prevailing thought is with 14 games remaining in this shortened regular season, the days of seeing Frankie Lindor’s smile are coming to an end. It has been speculated by national baseball writers that the four time all star will be traded this off-season.

We are very much against such a trade and would pay the man the market value for someone who if he isn’t one of the ten best players in baseball, is certainly one of the top 15 players.

Keep in mind, Lindor will not turn 27 until after this season ends, and has hit 30 or more home runs three times, 40 or more doubles three times, scored 100 runs twice (he led the AL in 2018), and has won two Gold Gloves.

While there is no question Lindor hasn’t played up to his normal levels this season, he isn’t the only superstar you can say that about in the 2020 season (see Christian Yelich’s or Javy Baez’ statistics), blaming him for the Indians’ anemic offense is simply not right.

And yes, we know Lindor has struggled this season and last season in hitting with runners in scoring position. You know who is aware and probably putting too much pressure on himself to come through? Yes, Lindor himself.

We get it though, fans are cushioning the blow of Lindor leaving after the season. So, he is becoming the poster child for Cleveland’s offensive problems. We hear fans saying he’s checked out on the Tribe because he knows he’s out of here after the season, and point out his 6 for 45 performance with runners in scoring position as the example.

Actually, we think it is just the opposite, and we believe Lindor and his longtime teammate and the Tribe’s other megastar, Jose Ramirez have themselves believing if we don’t do it, no one else will either.

Tribe television analyst Andre Knott has said many times, Lindor is the Indians’ leader, but Ramirez is the team’s heartbeat.

Look the reason the Indians’ offense is struggling is they are getting pretty much no production out of four positions: All three outfield spots and catcher. If they were getting hitting out of those spots, Lindor’s struggles wouldn’t stand out as much.

And when the top of the order has games where they don’t hit, you get games like Thursday night, when rookie Brady Singer of the Royals gave up one hit in eight innings.

Lindor ranks third on the team in OPS (784) behind just Franmil Reyes and Ramirez. He’s in the top five on the Indians in both on base percentage and slugging percentage.

He ain’t the problem, folks.

Is Lindor having an MVP type season? No, he’s struggled early, but hit .282 in August and has actually improved that mark in September so far, at .293, and he’s cut down on the strikeouts as well, just five in 11 games this month.

Lindor is taking a larger portion of the heat for the poor performance of the offense because he likely won’t be with the team much longer, because ownership doesn’t want to pay for great players, and it’s easier to say goodbye.

The fans are pushing his away, they don’t want to admit the Indians are better with him. We understand that’s how it works in our town. However, it doesn’t mean the blame is being properly placed.

If Tribe Can Get A Bat, What Kind Should They Get?

The Major League Baseball trading deadline is less than a week away, and we all know the Cleveland Indians have gaping holes in the lineup.

They are tied for 13th in the American League in runs scored per game, and they remain last in the league in slugging percentage and second to the bottom in OPS. The one statistic they are doing well in is drawing walks, they are 4th in the AL.

Although it seems like they strikeout a lot, they are only 8th in the league, but in thinking about some of the rallies that have died recently, it seems as if when they need a big hit, instead they get a strikeout.

Obviously, when your starting outfield is batting under .200 collectively, any batter doing anything offensively would be an improvement. However, to us, what the Tribe needs is more of a professional hitter than a big time slugger for this offense.

The Tribe has five hitters in their lineup right now than have belted 30 home runs or more in the their careers: Jose Ramirez, Francisco Lindor, Carlos Santana, Franmil Reyes, and Domingo Santana.

However, how much would getting another all or nothing slugger like Reyes (35 strikeouts, 8 walks) or D. Santana, who surprisingly has walked 12 times this season against 24 whiffs, help this offense greatly.

We confess we do not like hitters with poor strikeout to walk ratios. While there are exceptions, we find those players ultimately have a shorter span of usefulness because eventually pitchers do not have to throw them strikes to get them out.

Case in point, it is why we had doubts about Oscar Mercado coming into this season. He fanned three times as much as he walked last season. This year, he struck out 14 times, walking just three.

Players with high strikeout totals and high walk totals, are usually very good offensive players. Jim Thome and Travis Hafner come to mind.

Think about Carlos Santana. The switch-hitting first baseman is batting just .212 this season with only three homers. You know what he’s not doing for the most part? Getting himself out. He leads the AL in taking walks by a large margin.

One guy we would love to have is (and we aren’t saying he’s available) would be a player like Whit Merrifield of the Royals. He’s a .296 lifetime hitter (791 OPS), and although his strikeout rate has gone up a bit in recent years, he puts the bat on the ball. And he’s versatile, capable of playing 2B and the outfield.

If Arizona decides to sell, Starling Marte would be of interest too. He has a career 794 OPS, and although he doesn’t walk a great deal (career high 35 in 2018), his strikeout totals have steadily declined since he came into the league.

One thing is for certain, the Tribe certainly needs to lengthen its batting order. Although Tyler Naquin has been on a little hot streak recently, most nights once Reyes bats, it would be a good time to refill whatever snacks you are eating while watching the Indians. Not much is going to happen.

Don’t complain about the catchers hitting either. Understand, the Cleveland organization values defense and handling pitchers first and foremost from their backstops. If they get any offense, like they did a year ago from Perez, that’s a bonus. They don’t care if they hit .150 as long as they do their primary job.

We feel confident the front office will do something before Monday’s deadline. The pitching is at World Series winner level. The offense is at expansion team level. Improving the latter could lead to a long post-season run.

The Ugly Offensive Numbers For The Tribe

The Kansas City Royals have 63 extra base hits on the season, an average of more than three per game. And they rank only ninth in the American League in runs scored per game.

The top three teams in scoring in the AL are as follows–

Houston      5.18 runs          59 XBH
New York    5.18 runs          51 XBH
Detroit         5.13 runs          48 XBH

On the other end of the spectrum are the Cleveland Indians, who rank 14th in the league (second to last) in runs at 3.33, and have just 30 hits that weren’t singles.

We are now 18 games into the season, and only four Indians have more than two extra base hits on the season. They are–

Jose Ramirez 7
Francisco Lindor 6
Cesar Hernandez 5
Franmil Reyes 5

What is even worse is there are only two other players (Carlos Santana and Domingo Santana) who have two.

Cleveland ranks dead last in the AL in slugging percentage at .294. To give you an idea of how low that is, last season the Tigers had the least powerful offense in the Junior Circuit. They slugged .388.

Thankfully, the Tribe ranks 3rd in the league in walks, led by Carlos Santana who has taken a free pass 24 times, seven more than anyone else in the AL.

The downside to that is the Indians are below the dreaded “Mendoza line” as a team, with a batting average of .195. So, even with all the walks, the Tribe has an on base percentage of .303, 11th in the circuit.

You might think with all the walks, maybe Terry Francona’s squad is playing “small ball”, making up for a lack of pop by moving runners, stealing bases, etc.

Nope, Cleveland has stolen just two bases on the season and have actually been caught three times. They have one sacrifice bunt (we know, that makes people happy) and they also have just one sacrifice fly, ahead of only Boston, who have none.

Basically, when it comes to offense, the Indians aren’t doing much right.

They’ve scored 62 runs on the season, and 22 of those came in two games, the third game of the season vs. KC (9) and the last game of the Cincinnati set at Progressive Field when they exploded for 13 tallies.

In the other 17 games this season, the Tribe has crossed the plate just 40 times, for a 2.4 per game average.

Looking at that number, it’s really a miracle they a game above .500 at 10-9.

(By the way, that miracle is the work of their pitching staff)

Their catchers are a combined 4 for 61 (.066) with no homers and just one run batted in (a bases loaded walk to Beau Taylor), with seven walks and 23 strikeouts.

That’s pretty bad, but the outfielders (and we aren’t counting Reyes here because he’s mostly DH’d) are hitting just .135 with 3 HR and 12 RBI. They’ve mixed in 21 walks, but have 58 strikeouts in 170 at bats, which for the mathematically challenged is more than once every three times at the dish.

Those numbers don’t include Mike Freeman’s two hits on Sunday night against the White Sox, so if you wonder why he may start receiving more playing time, look at the previous paragraph.

Tyler Naquin was activated prior to the Cubs series, and while he isn’t exactly Babe Ruth, he may seem that way compared to those ugly numbers.

It is getting to the point that the organization has to find someone who can hit. We are getting to the point where we are close to the 1/6th pole in a normal major league schedule.

Unfortunately, the only real alternative that hasn’t been used within the organization that hasn’t been used is Jake Bauers. Could he be the next man up?

Tribe Needs Consistency From Top Of The Order.

There is one word missing when describing the offense of the Cleveland Indians so far this season.

No, the word isn’t runs, although we could have used that. The real word we are talking about is consistency.

Just looking at the last three days, you can see what we are talking about. Thursday night, they lambasted the Reds, 13-0. That was followed by Cleveland being shutout by the White Sox, 2-0, and yesterday, they put seven up on the board in win over the Pale Hose.

Because baseball is a sport played pretty much on a daily basis, it is a sport where consistency is a must.

The Indians just haven’t gotten that, particularly from the top five men in the order, the players who figured to carry the burden of the offense this season, save for new 2B, Cesar Hernandez.

While Jose Ramirez has been the Tribe’s best hitter, Hernandez has been the most consistent.

The former Phillie has had a hit in all but three games in this young season, and in the games he hasn’t had a hit, he reached base via the walk. Quite frankly, he has done everything Terry Francona hoped for when he decided to lead him off.

In nine of the 15 games he’s played, he’s reached twice. So, he has certainly set the table for Ramirez, Francisco Lindor, Carlos Santana, and Franmil Reyes.

Ramirez leads the club in hits, home runs, RBIs, and OPS, but 10 of his 17 hits have come in three games, his homers have come in two games, and eight of his 11 ribbies have occurred in the same two games.

He recently went through an 0 for 15 on the last trip to Minnesota and Cincinnati.

Lindor had a two hit game in the 7-1 victory over Chicago, but it was only his third two hit game of the season. He’s walked just three times this season (once intentionally), and has only been on base more than once in a contest five times.

After striking out nine times in the first seven games, he has fanned just four times in the last nine. Hopefully, that a good sign for things to come.

Carlos Santana had two hits in each game of the doubleheader sweep at home against Chicago on July 28th, but has had just four hits since, and none have been home runs.

The good sign for him? Is there is such a thing as a walk tear, Santana is on one. He’s taken a free ride nine times in the last three games, and 13 times in the last seven games. He isn’t getting good pitches to hit, so he’s being very patient, which is way better than chasing and making outs.

Not a surprise, he leads the AL in walks this season with 20.

Reyes has perhaps struggled the most. Until his game winning HR Tuesday night in Cincinnati, he had just one extra base hit, and that was a groundball that eluded two Minnesota defenders and he hustled into second on what should have been a 6-3 or 4-3 putout.

He’s put together three straight two hit games, the first Indian that can say that this season. It would be nice if he could take a few more walks, but the Tribe needs Reyes to provide some pop, and two dingers this week were a sight for sore eyes.

When Cleveland gets something from the 6-9 spots in the order, they can score, but you can probably say that for most teams.

Tribe catchers are 3 for 51 on the season with no extra base hits and just one RBI.

Yesterday, Domingo Santana and Jordan Luplow joined Bradley Zimmer as the only outfielders to hit a home run.

While it would be nice for those spots in the order to get going, more consistent production is needed from the top five in the batting order. Hernandez has gotten the job done, now the next four hitters have to do the same.

Shortened Draft, Less Minor League Teams Plays Into Helping Big Markets

The Major League Amateur Draft started in 1965. Coincidentally, the New York Yankees’ dominance of the American League ended the same year.

We say coincidentally because the Bronx Bombers of that era were showing some age. Stars like Mickey Mantle and Whitey Ford were showing some age, as was former MVP Elston Howard. Yogi Berra recently retired and managed the team in ’64.

From 1936-1964, New York won 22 AL pennants, and the only time they went consecutive seasons without a berth in the World Series was during World War II (1944-46).

When baseball had its only era without any free agency of any sort, from 1965 to the McNally/Messersmith decision at the end of 1975, the Yankees won no pennants. Their best finish was a pair of 2nd place finishes in 1970 and 1974.

To be fair, not being able to outspend everyone was not the only reason for the Yanks lack of titles, but it is interesting they weren’t successful. The Yanks didn’t make the post-season from 1982-1995 and they could spend freely in those years.

But the reason we bring this up is baseball’s willingness to eliminate farm teams and shorten the amateur draft.

Developing players is the equalizer for smaller market teams that cannot afford to pay big bucks for star players. The Indians have stayed competitive over the past seven years because of their success in developing players such as Jose Ramirez, Roberto Perez, and a cadre of pitchers, particularly starters like Shane Bieber, Mike Clevinger, and others.

We didn’t count Frankie Lindor here because he was a first round pick, but none of the others we mentioned were.

If we were a mid market franchise, we would invest heavily in the farm system, bringing in as many players as we could. The more you work with, the better chance one of them becomes a big leaguer.

Remember how the St. Louis Cardinals became a power in the 1930’s. Branch Rickey’s extensive farm system produced players that kept the franchise contending during the 30’s and 40’s.

We heard former Marlins’ executive David Samson say he had a problem with investing money in the player development system knowing only a few could make an impact at the big league level.

That’s horrible thinking in our opinion. We look at it differently.

What value would you put on Ramirez’ production with the Tribe? He’s had two top three MVP finishes as an international free agent. Those two seasons alone would at worst be valued at $60 million on the open market.

Cleveland paid next to nothing.

We also feel the shortened draft plays into the hands of the teams with a more national fan base.

According to Baseball America’s Top 500 Prospects coming into this year’s draft, of the players not drafted, the teams signing the most players in this ranking were the Yankees, Phillies, Cubs, as well as the Padres and Royals.

Overall, the Red Sox and Reds signed the most players regarding of ranking.

The Royals got a lot of good press in saying they would pay their minor leaguers for the remainder of the season. For the record, the Indians signed one, C Joe Donovan.

There was a cap on the bonus amount for these players this year, but what happens when there isn’t? Do you think the big market teams aren’t going the volume route and will sign as many of these free agents as they can?

Besides the talent acquisition aspect, eliminating minor league teams hurts the sport at the grass roots level. Why would you want to expose less people to your sport? Isn’t that the antithesis to growing the game of baseball?

What’s one positive thing about these two moves from the commissioner’s office? Frankly, we can’t think of one. Seems like the people who run the game wanted to do something for the sake of doing something, and only thought about one thing–saving money.

Here’s hoping logic prevails, but based on the last couple of months, we doubt that’s possible.

A Look At The Tribe At 60 Games Under Tito

It is looking more and more like the 2020 Major League Baseball season will be limited to 60 games, so it will be a sprint rather than a marathon, at least this year.

Although we believe five teams in each league is a good number for the sport to make the post-season, especially after playing 162 regular season games, we agree that this season, there is no problem with having eight teams in both the American and National Leagues making the playoffs.

With this 60 game plan, we decided to take a look at how the Tribe has done in the first 60 contests in the Terry Francona era.

2019: The Indians 5-2 victory over Minnesota raised their record to 30-30, but they trailed the Twins by 10.5 games, as the northerners were setting a blistering pace at 40-19.

Shane Bieber won his 5th game and Brad Hand saved his 17th, as Francona leaned on him early in the season as the offense struggled.

Remember the Tribe played the first month of the season without Francisco Lindor, and Jose Ramirez was hitting just .202 with a 610 OPS. Lindor did have 10 HR and 23 RBI despite missing the time, and Carlos Santana had a 907 OPS at this point.

Leonys Martin was getting the bulk of the playing time in centerfield, and was batting .214 with 646 OPS.

2018: Cleveland’s 3-1 win over Milwaukee gave them a 32-28 mark and they led the AL Central by 4.5 over the Tigers and 5 over Minnesota.

Carlos Carrasco won his 7th (7-4) with Cody Allen picking up his 11th save.

The triumvirate of Ramirez, who was slugging at a .632 clip with 43 ribbies and a 1.028 OPS, Michael Brantley (.325, 916 OPS), and Lindor (917 OPS) were pacing the offense, but Jason Kipnis was hitting just .205 (591 OPS) and Lonnie Chisenhall was struggling as well at a 571 OPS.

Rajai Davis was the centerfielder vs. southpaws, and not really hitting at .232. He was being platooned with Greg Allen, but the lack of production led to the trade for Martin, who fell ill shortly after arriving in Cleveland.

2017: A 4-2 win over the White Sox gave the Tribe a 31-29 record, good for second place, a game and a half behind the surprising Twins.

Carrasco raised his record to 6-3, with the bullpen trio of Andrew Miller, Bryan Shaw, and Allen getting the last 11 outs.

Daniel Robertson started in RF that night, while Bradley Zimmer and Austin Jackson were platooning in center.

Santana was struggling at .218 (712 OPS), but Lindor, Ramirez, and Edwin Encarnacion all had OPS over 800 after 60 games.

2016: The future AL Champs won 6-2 over the Angels, making them 34-26 and they had a 3.5 game lead on Chicago, and four over Detroit and Kansas City.

Corey Kluber’s complete game gave him a 6-6 record for the season.

Ramirez played LF that night, as his 811 OPS made Tito look for ways to get him in the lineup. Jose Uribe (593 OPS) played the hot corner.

And in a portent of things to come, the starting rightfielder that night? Michael Martinez.

2015: The Indians dropped to 28-32 with a 4-0 loss to Detroit, and sat in last place in the Central, seven games behind Kansas City.

Danny Salazar took the loss dropping his record to 6-2.

Kipnis was having a very good year, hitting .332 (914 OPS), and the lineup featured Brantley in CF, Mike Aviles at SS, Brandon Moss in RF, Ryan Raburn in LF, and Gio Urshela at third.

Santana was hitting just .221 and the DH that night was Nick Swisher, batting .198 with an OPS under 600.

2014: Cleveland was at the break even mark, at 30-30 after a 7-4 extra inning win over Boston. Kluber was the starter, but Carrasco got the win with two frames of scoreless relief, striking out four.

Asdrubal Cabrera was the SS and won the game with a homer off former Indian, Eduard Mujica.

Brantley was hitting .308, and Chisenhall was sizzling at .361, playing first base in the game, while Michael Bourn was the leadoff hitter, batting .295.

David Murphy was in RF and Aviles was at third.

2013: Francona’s first Indians team was in the midst of an 8 game losing streak, dropping a 7-5 decision to the Tigers, dropping 3.5 behind Detroit.

Justin Verlander defeated Ubaldo Jimenez, who went just three innings allowing five runs. Of course, Jimenez was arguably the best pitcher in the game down the stretch for the Tribe, who rode a red hot September (21-6) to a wild card spot.

It is interesting that Rich Hill pitched in relief during that game, and Mark Reynolds played third base for Cleveland.

This research reminds us that the Indians are very much a second half team under Francona, but they will not have the luxury if indeed, there is a 60 game slate in 2020.

However, if there are extra post-season teams this year, the Indians should be able to qualify even if it takes them awhile to find their way.