Some Targets for the Tribe

Even though the World Series hasn’t even started, the hot stove league is already underway with a couple of deals, including one for Toronto manager John Farrell.

This impacts the Indians because the Blue Jays will likely hire Sandy Alomar Jr. to take over for Farrell.

Regardless, it is not too soon to start looking at the off-season news and rumors involving the Indians.

One of the early players said to be coming to the North Coast is 3B/1B Kevin Youkilis, who would be reunited with his skipper in Boston, Terry Francona.

Youkilis will be 34 next season, and has been in decline since his best years with the Red Sox (2008-10). He hit just .235 in 2012 with 19 HR and 60 RBIs.

He would be a fit in Cleveland because he can give Lonnie Chisenhall some time off against tough southpaws, and can play 1B or DH. And although his batting average has slipped, he still draws walks accounting for a better than league average 745 OPS.

That would still be an improvement over Casey Kotchman at first base, and the Indians need to get better wherever they can.

If they can sign Youk to a two or three-year deal at decent money, the Tribe front office should make the move. He’s still a .283 lifetime hitter.

GM Chris Antonetti also needs to upgrade the starting rotation, which ended the season full of question marks. Justin Masterson will probably be back, as Francona spoke well of him at his introductory press conference, and Zack McAllister and Carlos Carrasco, coming off Tommy John surgery will be starters as well.

That means the Indians should be looking at guys like Shawn Marcum, Joe Blanton, and Ryan Dempster to fill spots.

Marcum would be the best option, having pitched in the American League with Toronto from 2006-10. The soon to be 31-year-old righty has a lifetime record of 57-36 with a 3.76 ERA. For his career, he’s allowed fewer hits than innings pitched, and struck out more than twice as many as he’s walked.

Blanton, who will be 32 next season, has also pitched effectively in the American League with Oakland from 2005-08. He’s an innings eater, throwing at least 170 innings every year except one from 2005 through this season.

He also averages almost 8 strikeouts per nine innings pitched, although he gives up a lot of hits. He would be a middle of the rotation guy with a career ERA of 4.37, but his numbers are better than Ubaldo Jimenez’ since the latter joined the Indians.

Dempster is the oldest at 36 years old, and has only pitched in the AL this past season with the Rangers, compiling an ERA of over 5.00.

He’s a lifetime .500 pitcher at 124-124 with a 4.33 ERA. He would probably want to stay in the NL at this stage of his career, but would benefit pitching at Progressive Field, a good park for hurlers.

Neither of these pitchers would break the bank for the Indians, and they definitely need to add at least one solid starter before spring training starts, because it all starts with good pitching.

With the free agent market this year being what it is, and with the history of this franchise, Cleveland is not signing a high ticket player.

However, they can improve the roster incrementally with every move. The people mentioned here would help in this regard.

That would be a good start to the off-season.

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.

Tribe’s Message to Fans: We Don’t Care about Winning

Perception is reality. This is something the front office of the Cleveland Indians doesn’t understand, or else the fans are exactly correct about the management of the team.

They don’t care about winning.

They can bring out their spreadsheets and flow charts and mission statements all they want, but the perception of the people who buy tickets is that the only folks involved with the Indians who want to win are the players.

That’s their perception, and perception is reality.

The Indians finished below the .500 mark last season, but they were in contention until the beginning of September. The team that won the division, the Detroit Tigers, added a premier free agent, Prince Fielder, to their roster.

The Tribe basically did nothing.

On May 24th, the Tribe beat Detroit to run their record to 26-18 and had a 3-1/2 game lead in the AL Central Division. They still had weaknesses, getting no offense out of 1B, 3B, and LF. The front office didn’t feel the need to add to the roster.

A month later, on June 24th, the Indians record was 37-34, meaning they went 11-16 in the last 30 days. They dropped out of first place, but were just a half game out of first.

The same weaknesses remained and Derek Lowe’s season started to go south. The Indians needed to get some starting pitching along with help to cover up some of the other flaws, but the front office still did nothing to help out a group of players trying to keep their heads above water.

On July 24th, the Indians beat the Tigers to improve their record to 49-48, meaning they went 12-14 over the last 30 days. The dropped to third place, but were just three games of the pace.

The weaknesses remained, but the front office did nothing outside of replacing the 25th man on the roster, replacing Aaron Cunningham with Brett Lillibridge.

It the meantime, the White Sox traded for Kevin Youkilis and Brett Myers, and the Tigers got Anibal Sanchez and Omar Infante.

The Indians’ front office claimed it was a slow trade market.

What they are really telling you is that they don’t care about winning.

Whether it’s the ownership holding the purse strings tight, and not allowing president Mark Shapiro and GM Chris Antonetti to add to the current roster, or it’s the executives not feeling this team needs help, the end result is they don’t want to win.

The disinterest has even seeped down to the dugout where Manny Acta seems void of emotion.

Three more blown calls which hurt the Indians were made in the series against the Twins with the skipper glued to his seat.

The one that occurred yesterday was protested vehemently by SS Asdrubal Cabrera, who seemed to be close to an ejection. Acta sat there like a statue while one of his best players argued.

Acta has done a good job keeping a team with more holes than swiss cheese around the .500 mark, but you have to wonder if he’s losing his team because he doesn’t seem to have their backs.

The perception, there’s that word again, is that Acta isn’t fighting to win, he isn’t defending his team.

Look, a manager can’t get kicked out of every game, but every once in a while, he needs to go out and show his team and the umpires that the Cleveland Indians aren’t going to be pushed around.

The entire organization seems slow to react to problems, slow to argue calls, slow to bring in more talent.

Then they wonder why fans are slow to show up to games.

It’s because the message they send is the Cleveland Indians do not care about winning.