In Pro Sports, Consistency Is The Key

In the social media era, opinions on players and teams can change on a daily basis, particularly in baseball and basketball, where games are held often, in baseball, pretty much every day for six months.

So, when a much maligned player has a good game, his supporters are very proud to point that out. Really, the opposite doesn’t happen much, because guys like LeBron James, Francisco Lindor, or Jose Ramirez are universally regarded as among the best players in their sport.

In professional sports though, consistency is the best talent you can bring to the table.

Think about it, if you are talking about a professional athlete, they have enough ability to get to the highest level of the sports in which they play. This means they are very capable of getting four hits in a baseball game, scoring 20 points in an NBA game, or catching eight passes in an NFL contest.

The problem is what happens the next night.

Back when Danny Ferry played for the Cavaliers, let’s just say we weren’t a fan. We discovered early he was a “tweener”, too small to play power forward, and not quick enough to play small forward. In spite of this, he became something of a crowd favorite.

A Ferry fan asked us why we were critical of the player the Cavs gave up Ron Harper AND two first round draft picks for (the worst trade in NBA history in our opinion). Our explanation was simply this–we would give the fan $5 every time Ferry played a good game, and he would do the same if he played a poor game.

Naturally, the fan turned down our request. Point made.

The sports landscape is filled with outstanding performances by average or below average players. This past NBA season, Trey Burke scored 42 for the Knicks, and Alan Crabbe had 41 for the Nets.

Burke averaged 12.8 points per game, and Crabbe 13.2 this season.

Look at the Browns. How many wide receivers have flashed by having a good game here or there? Then, defenses pay more attention, and they can’t get open any more.

Remember a Tigers’ hitter named Chris Shelton? He ended April 2006 with a .326 batting average, 10 home runs and 20 runs batted in. He did have a decent 2005 season too.

The rest of that season, he hit six homers and knocked in 27. The following year, he was back in the minors, and played just 50 more games in the big leagues afterwards.

That’s why you need to see sustained success before you should be excited. Take a guy like Jason Kipnis.

First of all, we don’t root against him. We would love it if he got hot and started to hit like he did in 2016. He got off to a horrible start in 2018. However, over the last 14 days, he’s hitting .243.

The last 28 days? If you said .243, you’d be correct.

He’s had one full month (June) where he hit above .237, although he is hitting well to start August. But, you have to maintain consistency.

These guys are professional athletes, and you don’t become that without talent. There is an old adage that it is tougher to stay in the big leagues than it is to get there.

When you are consistent, the coach or manager can rely on you. That’s why sometimes Terry Francona gives veterans who have performed for him the benefit of the doubt. They’ve earned it. (There is still a fine line between patience and stubbornness).

It’s what every professional athlete strives for. In the case of Lindor and Ramirez, it is consistent excellence. For others, it’s being a guy who can be trusted.

Tribe Needs Encarnacion, Alonso To Be Productive In October

We have been talking about the Cleveland Indians’ offense for over a month now and how strange it is that the Tribe ranks 3rd in the AL in runs scored per game with really only three players having above average seasons.

We will point out again that Francisco Lindor and Jose Ramirez are having arguably two of the five best hitting seasons in baseball, because if they weren’t, the Cleveland offense would be in big trouble.

Can they win in the post-season with only three players carrying the load at the plate?

Terry Francona’s squad ranks 4th in the American League in on base percentage, despite having only those three hitters above the league average in that category (.317).

Yes, Erik Gonzalez and Lonnie Chisenhall are higher, but they have limited plate appearances. Edwin Encarnacion sits right at the league average, while Yonder Alonso is just below at .314.

Alonso has an OBP of .365 in 2017, and his career mark is .336, so he is well below both of those marks. Encarnacion was at .377 last season, his highest mark since 2012, mostly because he reached a career high with 102 walks.

This season, his walk rate is down, and so is his batting average, down to .229 currently after hitting .258 a walk ago.

Here are the other on base percentages for the players who get the most playing time for the Tribe:

Yan Gomes .300
Jason Kipnis .307
Brandon Guyer .284
Rajai Davis .296
Greg Allen .264
Roberto Perez .247

The Cleveland attack is inconsistent because of it.

Among the teams with the highest run scoring totals in the AL, it was surprising to see the Indians ranking only behind Boston and New York in terms of number of games scoring three runs or less. The Tribe has done this 43 times, compared to 30 for the Yankees and 34 for the Red Sox.

By contrast, Houston has scored less than four runs 47 times, Texas 50 times, and Oakland 51 times.

The Indians do rank behind only Boston in number of games with 10 or more runs, having done that 14 times (Red Sox 17).

The concern for us is how this will work in the playoffs. The other teams are going to go out of their way to not allow Lindor or Ramirez to beat them, so it is important that someone, anyone, steps up.

It won’t be unusual to see managers pass Lindor to get to Brantley, and/or skip Ramirez to get to Encarnacion. Really, who else is going to hurt them the way the lineup is currently constructed.

The point is someone else has to step up or the front office is going to have to get another bat.

Leonys Martin looked like he could help vs. right-handed pitching, but he looks like he may be out of the lineup for awhile with a non-baseball related issue.

Will Chisenhall be able to get back in the lineup, and even if he does, can he stay healthy for the post-season?

We would say at this point, neither Martin nor Chisenhall will be useful come playoff time.

So, can the offense be more consistent and efficient unless changes are made? We’d say the most likely scenarios would be Encarnacion or Alonso getting better because they were better a year ago.

Gomes is who he is, and Kipnis hasn’t been good at the plate since the World Series in 2016. That’s a long slump.

Until then, we are officially worried about the hitting come playoff time. That’s the problem relying on two players, no matter how good they are.

The OPS Debate

Right before the Major League Baseball trade deadline, the was a lot of talk about the relative value of players, and of course, statistics were brought up.

At this point, we would like to point out that we regularly purchased and read Bill James’ Baseball Abstract and found it fascinating, a different way of looking at the game and the players on the field.

So, we understand many of the sport’s new statistics, like OPS, and we usually list a player’s OPS when discussing his offensive prowess. We also look at WAR (Wins Above Replacement) in terms of a player’s profile, but our opinion is it is biased toward middle of the diamond players, Jose Ramirez’ current season notwithstanding.

By the way, that’s our opinion, so save the anger. But when Matt Chapman, third baseman from Oakland (we know not a middle infielder) measures to have the fifth highest WAR this season, it raises an eyebrow.

This isn’t to say Chapman isn’t a good player. He has an 830 OPS and is a great defensive player. He isn’t the 5th best player in the sport this season, and for that matter, Milwaukee’s Lorenzo Cain isn’t 6th either.

Let’s get back to OPS though. James’ original premise was a batter who had an on base percentage of over .350 and a slugging percentage over .450, therefore displaying an ability to get on base and drive the ball, is a very good offensive player.

Today, there seems to be a group of people who value players who have high OPS due to dominance in the slugging area, leading to players who have low batting averages/on base percentages getting a lot of playing time.

The players who has the highest OPS with out being over the .350/.450 threshold in each category are as follows:

Javier Baez 914 OPS (.333 OBP/581 slugging)
Khris Davis 863 OPS (.326/.536)
Gregory Polanco 862 OPS (.344/.517)
Xander Bogaerts 855 OPS (.342/.513)
Joey Votto 852 OPS (.425/.427)

Out of those players, which one would you like to have?

For us, it would be Votto, who by the way, also has the most distinguished career out of the group, although to be fair, he’s also the guy who has been around the longest.

One thing we would like to point out about the on base percentage and slugging percentage.

A player with a 1.000 on base percentage never makes an out, while a player with a 1.000 slugging percentage can arrive at that figure by going 1 for 4 with a home run.

And we would also add is making outs is the only way “time” is measured in a baseball game. A team only gets 27 of them, and players who make them frequently shouldn’t be as valuable.

Look at the strikeout to walk ratios of the first four players–

Baez 101 K/17 walks
Davis    116 K/38 walks
Polanco    91 K/48 walks
Bogaerts    72 K/31 walks

In watching these guys hit, our feeling in watching them against the Indians is that in a tight situation, you can strike Baez and Davis out. They swing at a lot of pitches out of the strike zone, and if we can see that, we are sure major league pitchers know it too.

We noticed in this summer’s amateur draft, the Indians went for players with good contact rates, that is to say, they didn’t strike out much.

This could be due to the success of Francisco Lindor and Jose Ramirez, players who are good hitter, and can develop power later.

A look at the bottom ten teams in MLB in on base percentage shows nine teams not in the post season picture (Arizona is the lone contender). As for slugging percentage, there are three teams above .500 (Giants, Phillies, and Rays) in the bottom ten.

What does it all mean? We believe many people look at the statistics first in making judgments about players, and they value the total OPS. We believe you have to see how the stat is compiled to determine the value of the player.

Just something we wanted to get off our chest.

The Yandy Question.

One of the great conundrums of this baseball season is the Cleveland Indians’ offense. The Tribe ranks 3rd in the American League in runs scored, yet it seems like it could be even better.

Part of that feeling is well documented on this site, the offense is very top heavy. Jose Ramirez may just be putting together an MVP season, and no doubt Francisco Lindor will be in the top ten, and maybe top five as well.

Ramirez is threatening to put together the greatest season ever by a major league third baseman. Think about that for a second.

As great as that duo has been, and they have been supported by Michael Brantley, and to a lesser extent, Edwin Encarnacion and Yonder Alonso, the bottom of the order can have either three or four hitters who are struggling.

The need for another solid bat makes the handling of Yandy Diaz more curious.

In the minor leagues, Diaz has been an on base machine, a .454 figure last season at Columbus, followed up by a .414 figure this season.

Unfortunately, the Indians’ organization has pigeonholed him as a third baseman, and as we already mentioned, that spot is being manned in Cleveland by perhaps the AL most valuable player.

Diaz doesn’t fit the new hot thing in baseball today, which would be launch angle. Although he hits the ball as hard as many in the sports, but he doesn’t hit it in the air, and that results in very few extra base hits. His slugging percentage is at .392, down from last year’s .460.

So, why the Joey Gallo’s of the world are thought to be good hitters, Yandy Diaz is not.

While Diaz doesn’t hit with power, what he doesn’t do is make outs. He gets on base over 40% of the time, and even last year with the Indians, he had an OBP of .352 in 2017. That figure would rank behind only Ramirez, Lindor, and Lonnie Chisenhall on this year’s roster.

Remember, when Cleveland had their 22 game winning streak in 2017, Diaz was basically the regular third baseman because Jason Kipnis was hurt, and Ramirez was moved to second.

The big question for us is with the issues the Tribe has had in the outfield this season, why didn’t they move Diaz to RF and work with him in spring training. He played 27 games there in 2016 and nine games in 2017.

Couldn’t he play the position at least as well as, let’s say, Melky Cabrera? No one expects him to be Roberto Clemente out there. What we’ve seen of him at the hot corner doesn’t suggest that he’s a butcher in the field.

It would seem to us that his bat could help the big club. He takes walks, makes contact, and when he was called up for four games right after the All Star Game, he went 7 for 14 with the Indians.

Diaz’ offensive prowess is being wasted because he will be 27 years old in a few days (August 8th to be exact), but for some reason, the organization doesn’t seem anxious to find a way to get his bat into the lineup.

A lineup that needs a boost. A lineup that is short on players who can get on base. A lineup that lost one of its best on base percentage guys last off-season in Carlos Santana.

What is the organization’s problem with Yandy Diaz? Instead of looking for a way to get his bat in there, there seem to be burying him.

The Tribe Outfield Dilemma: Need Offense and Defense

The Major League Baseball trading deadline is just hours away and the Cleveland Indians still some holes they need to fix if they want to compete the “big three” of the American League: The Astros, Red Sox, and Yankees.

As has been documented before, the Cleveland lineup is very top heavy. Once you get past the first five hitters in Terry Francona’s batting order, it is a virtual desert.

In our opinion, to have a good offense you need to have seven solid bats in the lineup. That leaves the Tribe two good hitters short.

It is a testament to how great Francisco Lindor, Michael Brantley, Jose Ramirez, Edwin Encarnacion, and Yonder Alonso have been that the Indians rank 2nd in the American League in runs scored.

The balance of the order, particularly the outfielders, aren’t getting it done. Yes, Brandon Guyer has started hammering lefties lately, but the centerfield platoon of Tyler Naquin and Rajai Davis isn’t getting it done, and Melky Cabrera has a 626 OPS as well.

It’s particularly tough for the offense when Roberto Perez, hitting .144, is catching.

Suffice it to say, the Tribe could use another bat or two to protect itself for when the top five is having a rare day where they aren’t hitting.

But here is where the rub is, the other problem for the Indians is their defense in the outfield. Davis has been okay defensively, but Naquin is a corner outfielder at his core, and struggles in center.

In rightfield, Cabrera is below average with the glove, and Michael Brantley is at this point in his career probably should be a designated hitter.

When your starting pitchers are as good as Cleveland’s, shouldn’t you support them with solid defense?

Right now, no one is giving up centerfielders who can go get balls in the gap and can also be a factor with a bat in his hand. So, it seems Chris Antonetti and Mike Chernoff have a decision to make. Do they just punt on the defense and go for the bat, or get a solid glove man and try to manufacture runs some other way.

One move the team could make is the same one they made late last season, moving Jason Kipnis to center. That would allow Francona to move Ramirez to second base, and have Yandy Diaz, an on base machine to man the hot corner.

It would seem that Diaz in the lineup over Naquin and his .295 on base percentage (651 OPS) would help the offense.

Getting a better platoon partner for Guyer in RF would also help, and we would suggest getting former St. Ignatius High standout Derek Dietrich from the Marlins if possible.

Dietrich has a .348 on base percentage and a .824 OPS vs. right-handed pitching this season, which would be a perfect match for Guyer.

We are definitely not a fan of Joey Gallo, also mentioned in rumors. He has a 751 OPS vs. righties and his numbers away from Texas (.167 batting average, 656 OPS) aren’t ideal.

That’s the dilemma for the Cleveland front office. They need an offensive boost, mostly in the outfield, but they need an upgrade defensively out there as well. It doesn’t appear there is a player available out there that fixes both problems.

So, it may be that two moves are needed.

There is some pressure on Antonetti and Chernoff, unless they want to move Kipnis, but we don’t know if that move fixes either issue.

The Kipnis Question

Certainly, one of the Cleveland Indians who has stirred up much debate this season is Jason Kipnis.

From the time he was called up in 2011 to the end of the 2016 World Series, Kipnis was a mainstay for the Tribe, one of their core players and one of their best offensive players.

However, since that time, Kipnis has battled injuries and a lack of production. And because his salary has jumped from a reported $9.17 million last season to $13.67 million in 2018, there are a lot of fans who want to move on, feeling that amount of cash could be spent elsewhere.

Last year, Kipnis batted .232 with a 705 OPS, this year, those numbers have declined further, with a .219 batting average and a 669 OPS.

His supporters will say he was turned the corner after a rough April and May, but since June 1st, he’s batted .252, with 7 HR and 20 RBIs. Over the last 28 days, he’s at .242 with an 800 OPS.

He hasn’t been able to maintain any success though. Over the past 14 days, his average is .207 with a respectable 757 OPS.

Defensively, he’s average at best, although my eyes tell me he doesn’t get to the balls he used to get four to five years ago, and he’s never been tremendous turning double plays. This isn’t to say he’s horrible with the glove, but we think having Jose Ramirez there (and we know he’s having a historic season at 3B), would improve the defense.

Kipnis’ struggles at the plate are magnified by the Indians’ problems in centerfield and rightfield. If they were getting decent production out of those spots, the scenario would be more like “if Kip would just get going, it would be great”.

As it is, when Roberto Perez is behind the plate, Terry Francona puts out a lineup where the 6th through 9 hitters in batting order are pretty weak. Besides Perez (459 OPS), he puts out Rajai Davis (606 OPS), Brandon Guyer (640 OPS), and Kipnis.

That isn’t good enough for a contending team.

We have seen people talk about how well Kipnis has hit since June 1st. In fact, several people have pointed out that he was hitting better than the recently traded Manny Machado since that point.

However, that’s the problem with picking an arbitrary date. As Hall of Fame manager Sparky Anderson used to point out, the season starts on a certain date. The games starting on Opening Day count just as much as the ones played today.

Besides, on June 1st, Kipnis was hitting .199 with a 586 OPS. He’s raised his average only 20 points in that time, and his OPS is up 83 points.

We reported what he has done since June 1st above. It’s not like he’s been at an all-star level since that date. He’s been a little better than average. So, he was terrible for the first 55 games, and above average since. It’s not as though he’s been torrid since then.

We didn’t advocate dealing Kipnis during the winter because coming off a bad year, they would be getting fifty cents on the dollar.

Now, the front office will be in a position where if they want to move him, they will likely have to pick up some of his $14.6 million salary for next year.

Perhaps Kipnis will get blazing hot from now until the end of the year. After almost a year and a half of mediocrity, that doesn’t seem likely. It is something the Tribe will have to face up to before July 31st.

Star Studded Tribe Goes To Washington.

For the second consecutive season, the Cleveland Indians are sending five players to the All Star Game, the Midsummer Classic for all you seamheads out there.

Corey Kluber, Francisco Lindor, and Michael Brantley are all making their third appearance on the roster, and Jose Ramirez is making his second straight start at third base. Trevor Bauer will be the lone rookie among the Cleveland contingent.

For Lindor, it should be noted that the only Indians’ shortstop who have made more appearances on the team is Lou Boudreau. That’s it. The former American League MVP was named seven times, and that was when there were only eight teams in each league.

This is only his third complete big league season, and already he has made the All Star team each year, and has finished in the top ten in the MVP voting twice, and he will likely do the same this season.

He leads the AL in runs scored this season and is the only player in the top ten of both offensive and defensive WAR in the league.

We have said it before (after the 2016 season), if Lindor plays for the Indians for ten or more years, he will be universally recognized as the greatest position player in Indians’ history.

Only four starting pitchers in Tribe history have made more All Star rosters than Kluber, who should be in the mix for a third Cy Young Award this year. That quartet would be Bob Feller, Bob Lemon (both in the Hall of Fame), Sam McDowell, and Mel Harder.

Since the beginning of 2016, Kluber has a record of 48-17 and has struck out 615 batters in 545 innings. Right now in major league baseball, there are four elite starting pitchers–Max Scherzer, Clayton Kershaw, Chris Sale, and Corey Kluber.

That’s how good he has been over the past two and a half seasons.

Ramirez’ election reminds everyone that he’s on the map as one of the sports’ elite players. He will join Lindor in the top ten in the MVP voting this season, and last year finished third.

Many thought he had a career year in ’17 (which would be weird since he was just 24), but he is on pace to do even better this season. This season, he has become someone opposing teams want no part of, being intentionally walked eight times already this year. He received that treatment five times all of 2017.

Brantley’s selection is a reminder that the front office made the correct decision in picking up his option for this year when many (us included) thought they shouldn’t.

He is simply one of the most consistently great hitters in the game over the past seven years, never hitting below .284 in that span, and hasn’t had an OPS under 800 over the last four years.

He may never get back to the 2014 season where he had 67 extra base hits, but he is a perfect guy to hit between Lindor and Ramirez at the top of Terry Francona’s batting order.

We are thrilled for Bauer’s selection because he has taken a lot of crap over the years, simply because he’s different from most major league baseball players.

The Indians got him in a trade with the Diamondbacks because Arizona thought he was difficult. He struggled with control issues with Cleveland, leading the AL in walks in 2015, a year in which his ERA was 4.55.

But last year in the second half, he put it together and went 10-2 with a 3.01 ERA. He has continued that performance thus far with a 2.45 ERA to date.

He is a true student of pitching, which he shares with the rest of the Tribe starters.

Congrats to the Tribe’s five all-stars! Here’s hoping they will have another national stage to perform in this fall.

Tribe Needs To Get Less “Top Heavy”

In modern baseball, OPS is getting to be the key offensive statistic. In our view, this is just a continuation of our belief that having an on base percentage of over .350 and a slugging average of more than .450 means you are a very good hitter.

The Cleveland Indians are fourth in the American League in runs scored despite having just three players who have played more than half the team’s games that have OPS over 800: Jose Ramirez (991), Francisco Lindor (950), and Michael Brantley (852).

By contrast, the Boston Red Sox lead the AL in runs scored and have five regulars over 800. Houston is second in scoring, and they have four players over that figure, five if you count Max Stassi.

The Yankees are just ahead of the Indians in plating runs, and they also have five players with OPS over 800.

Why do we bring this up? Because of our fear that the Tribe’s offensive showing may be unsustainable unless they start getting help from others.

Certainly, Edwin Encarnacion has been a contributor as well, leading Cleveland in RBIs, and his OPS is getting closer to the coveted 800 mark at 781.

The Indians have the highest Wins Above Average in the majors at two positions, third base, manned by Ramirez, and at shortstop with Lindor.

Conversely, the Tribe ranks in the bottom five at second base and in right field, although had Lonnie Chisenhall stayed healthy, they would rank higher there, but as we know, Chisenhall has had all kinds of calf issues.

Terry Francona’s squad also ranks in the bottom ten in baseball in centerfield, where it seems no matter who Tito puts out there simply cannot hit.

A good offense can have a couple of holes, but having three guys who can’t hit, puts a strain on it, and remember, right now when Roberto Perez is catching, he’s not contributing at the plate either.

Jason Kipnis has started swinging the bat better, so that will help greatly if he continues in that direction. But Chisenhall’s injury leaves a big gap in the attack, particularly since Tyler Naquin hasn’t hit since coming off the disabled list.

The right-handed hitting part of the platoon out there, Brandon Guyer, has not returned to his 2016 form against southpaws, and he is virtually unplayable against righties, being 2 for 41 on the season vs. RHP.

Yonder Alonso has been alright hitting behind Encarnacion in the lineup, but do you think opposing pitchers think twice about pitching around the veteran slugger in a crucial situation with Alonso there, especially if you can bring in a lefty.

Alonso is batting .206 vs. southpaws, and has a .322 on base percentage overall. It’s pretty clear that despite all of the complaints over the years about Carlos Santana, the team misses his ability to work the count and draw walks.

The need to lengthen the lineup is the reason why the national media speculate about Cleveland dealing for Manny Machado. They understand the need to have the lineup be strong beyond the lethal top three in the batting order.

When Kipnis is productive, and he hasn’t been for much of the season, that helps. A healthy Chisenhall, which has become rare the past season, also is a factor, although we doubt many would think that.

There is no question that Ramirez and Lindor are having MVP caliber seasons, and Brantley has been very good too. But they need help, and that’s one of the needs president Chris Antonetti and GM Mike Chernoff need to address.

Tribe Cruising In Division Race, Trailing In Expectation At Halfway Mark

The Cleveland Indians hit the halfway point in the season a very puzzling team to be sure. They finished the first half of the season 44-37, on a pace to win 88 games, far below what was projected coming into the campaign.

Their offense, although somewhat top heavy with Francisco Lindor, Michael Brantley, and Jose Ramirez, is still productive enough to rank 4th in the American League in runs scored (2nd last year), and the pitching staff has overcome a bad bullpen to still be 6th in the AL in ERA.

We will say this, the Indians under Terry Francona have been a second half team more often than not, and hopefully that trend will continue.

To date, here are the 27 game splits record wise in 2018:

Games 1-27: 15-12
Games 28-54: 14-13
Games 55-81: 15-12

They haven’t put together streaks where they played exceptional, nor have they been dreadful. The last week or so of play illustrates the point.

Cleveland finished a nine game homestand on a seven game winning streak. They followed that up by losing four of five on the subsequent road trip.

The great play within the division is both good and alarming. On one hand, you have to play well within the division to win it, and the Tribe has done that, going 20-12 vs. the other Central Division teams, and that includes a lackluster 3-6 vs. Minnesota.

However, that means the Tribe is a pedestrian 24-25 vs. everyone else. Keep in mind, the AL Central is the worst in baseball. So, when the Indians venture out of the division, they are a below .500 baseball team.

Part of the problem is the bullpen, which has been without Andrew Miller most of the year, and recently has been buoyed a bit by the emergence of Neil Ramirez (2.25 ERA and 16 strikeouts in 16 innings) and veteran lefty Oliver Perez (allowed one run and has 11 Ks in 10 frames).

Outside of this duo, and Cody Allen, the relief corps has been dreadful. The Indians still rank 14th (just ahead of Kansas City) in bullpen ERA, and is 5th in the AL in allowing home runs out of the ‘pen.

Zack McAllister and Dan Otero have each allowed seven dingers this year, while Cody Allen has allowed five, and Nick Goody and Josh Tomlin (in 15 relief innings) has allowed four.

Many times, as we saw the last two days in Oakland, the bullpen eliminate any opportunity for a comeback win by the offense, by giving up the long ball.

As for the bats, we have always said we try to be more patient than most, but the front office’s faith in Jason Kipnis has born fruit. Kipnis has his average up to .217 after hitting .266 in June. But, should he stay at 2B?

You see, centerfield for Cleveland has been a vortex of suck all season.

Bradley Zimmer had a 611 OPS, Greg Allen won the job while Zimmer was on the DL, and promptly went 1 for 33 after Zimmer was sent to the minor leagues.

Tyler Naquin inherited the gig from Allen, and hit .162 with four RBI in June.

Perhaps the Indians should go back to their playoff lineup from last season, and put Kipnis back in center, with Jose Ramirez shifting back to 2B, and call up Yandy Diaz to play third?

Just a thought.

And then we have Brandon Guyer. Guyer is still a solid hitter vs. southpaws, hitting .246 with an 832 OPS. However, when Guyer came over at the deadline in 2016, he hit .216 vs. right handers (628 OPS). Not great, but passable.

Last year, though injury plagued to be fair, those numbers dropped to a .204 batting average and a 577 OPS.

This year, he is 1 for 39 against righties. Keep in mind, rookie PITCHER Shane Bieber is 1 for 3 vs. right-handers.

There has to be another alternative.

The second half of the season starts in Oakland today, and here’s hoping Francona and the front office find solutions to the problems. Again, the Central Division isn’t really in jeopardy. It would be a shock if the Tribe didn’t win the division.

But they are playing against their own expectations, so they need to get better.

Why Tribe Shouldn’t Move Top Prospects

The Cleveland Indians seem to have a firm hold on the American League Central Division, leading by 7-1/2 games mainly because no one else in the division can play .500 baseball.

Coming into this season, winning the Central was kind of a foregone conclusion, and no doubt the organization feels like it has bigger fish to fry. This makes the July 31st trade deadline very important.

What kind of splash can president Chris Antonetti and GM Mike Chernoff make by that date?

While many fans feel the window of opportunity is closing on the Indians, we do not feel that way. As long as you have Francisco Lindor, Jose Ramirez, Corey Kluber, Carlos Carrasco, Trevor Bauer, etc, you will have a chance to compete for a championship.

We all know the Tribe cannot spend money like the Yankees, Red Sox, Cubs, or Dodgers. That doesn’t mean they can’t compete for free agents, but it does mean they aren’t going to have a $200 million payroll anytime soon.

If you want to keep players like Lindor and/or Ramirez, who the organization drafted or signed as a free agent, develop them, and watched them turn into among the best players in the sport, and still be competitive, you must have a productive farm system.

That’s why we would be very careful about trading valuable prospects for players who could leave after two months.

It’s also why we would not want to move Francisco Mejia, who we believe will be an outstanding big league hitter, perhaps on the level of Lindor, Ramirez, or Michael Brantley.

To have a player like that, under club control for six years before free agency, helps you spend the money you will need to come up in a few years to keep Frankie Lindor an Indian for the majority of his career.

That’s why prospects are perhaps more important to the Indians than they are to many teams also looking to add pieces at the deadline.

This does not mean Cleveland will not make a deal. Two years ago, they moved one of their top prospects, OF Clint Frazier, to New York for Andrew Miller, who was not eligible for free agency for 2-1/2 years.

That’s why relief pitchers like San Diego’s Brad Hand (signed with a club option through 2021) or Baltimore’s Mychael Givens (not a free agent until 2022) make sense for the Tribe.

They would be willing to move a good prospect for either, but we still wouldn’t include Mejia or starter Triston McKenzie because they have the potential to be elite performers.

The Indians still have some good prospects that would make sense for them to deal, most notably three guys whose primary position is shortstop: Erik Gonzalez, Yu Chang (22 years old–715 OPS at Columbus), and Willi Castro (21 years old–670 OPS at Akron).

This trio isn’t playing in Cleveland any time soon with Lindor on the roster.

Yandy Diaz, an on base machine, is another potential trade chip, although we would prefer that the Tribe find a place for him on the big league roster.

One of the trio of Shane Bieber, Adam Plutko, and Shao-Ching Chiang could be moved, so could slugging 1B Bobby Bradley.

The point is the Indians have prospects to offer without giving up their two best guys.

As we said before, the front office might be willing to move one of these top prospects, but it should be for a player they will be able to have on the roster for more than the last two months of the season.

In our opinion, the Tribe need to hold on to players like Mejia to control the future payrolls.