Tribe Fans: Good Team or Not, This Team Is In It.

After the first two games after the All Star break, the Cleveland Indians lost two games in very similar ways. They didn’t score runs, their defense was shaky, and their bullpen couldn’t get big outs when needed.

That started the fair weather Tribe fans trembling with fear and apprehension. See, this team just isn’t good enough.

That’s silly. Sure, this team isn’t the same as the teams that slugged their way to division titles in the mid to late 1990’s, but they are just a 1-1/2 out of first place. If you are that close, anything can happen.

In 2006, just seven years ago, the St. Louis Cardinals won 83 games in the regular season and went on to win the World Series.

Nineteen years earlier, the Minnesota Twins won 85 games in the regular season and were outscored on the season by 20 runs, yet still won the World Series.

You know what they call both of those teams? Champions! It doesn’t matter how you get to the playoffs as long as you do, and once you are there everyone has a chance. This isn’t the NBA where teams that just get in to the post-season really have no chance.

Does the current edition of the team have warts? Of course. The starting pitchers, outside of Justin Masterson, have problems completing six innings, putting a large burden on the bullpen.

In turn, the relief corps has been buckling under the weight put on them by the starters, leading to some shaky times for fans when manager Terry Francona has to go to the ‘pen.

Save for Jason Kipnis, the lineup has been inconsistent, suffering through off years by SS Asdrubal Cabrera and 1B Nick Swisher. With both of them struggling, the middle of the order has been a vacuum, and we can anticipate opposing hurlers not giving Kipnis much to hit if either can’t pick it up.

The hitter that carried the team for the first month of the season, Mark Reynolds, is hit under .200 since the first of May and right now, you would have to be surprised if he made contact, let alone get a hit.

But the team is still just 1-1/2 out of first place.

National baseball writers continue to tell everyone how the Detroit Tigers, who are the defending American League Champions, and currently lead the AL Central, are a superior team, and really the Tribe should be playing for a wild card.

But Francona’s guys are just a game and a half out of first place.

Last season, the same national writers felt the Baltimore Orioles and Oakland A’s were surprising teams that wouldn’t be able to hold up and stay in the race coming down the stretch. Both teams made the playoffs though.

So, why can’t the Indians pull it off as well.

Lost in the angst about losing the first two contests after the break is that the Tigers also lost, keeping the Indians at the same deficit as they were going into the All-Star game.

The optimistic fans says no problem, they haven’t lost any ground. The pessimist bemoans the opportunity to overtake Detroit and has a “see, I told you so” attitude.

The only thing that matters is that the Indians stay close to the Tigers. Whether they are a great team or not, this ballclub is in contention.

Sit back and enjoy it.

Make or Break Time for Ubaldo

In the English language, it is a general rule the every “Q” is followed by the letter “u”.

That is certainly true for the Cleveland Indians. Their biggest question is Ubaldo Jimenez.

He was a concern for the team after last season ended, a year where Jimenez lost 17 games and had an ERA of 5.40. He was second in the American League in walks, and led the league in wild pitches.

New manager Terry Francona visited the big right-hander in the off-season and new pitching coach Mickey Calloway has worked hard to smooth out Jimenez’ bulky mechanics.

So far, the results are mixed.

He did pitch well in his first start against Toronto in the second game of the season, but his next two appearances were terrible, the home opener against the Yankees, and a start vs. Boston that he couldn’t make out of the second inning.

He was okay against Houston, allowing a two run homer in the first, but at one point retired 13 men in a row. Still, he was pulled after throwing just 65 pitches and received a no decision.

It seems that Francona and Calloway are trying to avoid putting Jimenez on the mound, pushing him back in the rotation in each of his last three starts. He was supposed to pitch on Saturday night, but with the rainout Friday in Kansas City, they decided to start him Monday, by passing both games in a doubleheader on Sunday.

The question now seems to be how much longer is the rope for the former Rockie?

He still cannot throw strikes consistently, with 11 in 17 innings of work this season. And he is pitching backwards, throwing 30% split finger fastballs on the first pitch this season, and that pitch is usually used to finish off hitters.

It seems like the Tribe doesn’t have confidence in Jimenez, and worse yet, the pitcher himself has no confidence.

And soon, the Indians will have a decision to make.

Corey Kluber gave his team a very good start Sunday night in Kansas City, going seven innings and allowing just two runs. He’s earned another start.

Justin Masterson has won four games thus far, and Zack McAllister has kept Cleveland in the game in each of his five starts.

Scott Kazmir showed promise in his second start after a rocky outing in his first effort. The lefty is a project, but he has maintained a 90+ MPH fastball that he had when he was a top-notch pitcher with the Rays.

So, right now, by performance and as a result of being moved around in the rotation as needed, Jimenez is the Indians’ fifth starter.

What happens if Trevor Bauer, who will make a spot start on Wednesday against Philadelphia because of Friday’s rainout, pitches well? Or if Carlos Carrasco, who took a line drive off his pitching elbow last week, continues to dominate at AAA?

If things continue, as they are, which of course, is no guarantee, what choice does the Tribe brass have with Jimenez?

He can refuse being sent to the minors, so that’s not really an option.

Others have mentioned the bullpen, but teams really don’t use long men any more and he can’t throw strikes, so that’s doesn’t seem to work either.

His contract ends after this season, so the Indians could look at releasing him without being hurt long-term.

Whatever happens, Ubaldo Jimenez is pitching for his career with the Indians over the next few starts. That’s just reality.

McAllister Looking Like Frontrunner So Far

By the end of last season, the Cleveland Indians best starting pitcher may very well have been rookie right-hander Zach McAllister.

He had the best ERA and WHIP of any starting pitcher who made over 10 starts for the Tribe last season (4.24 ERA and 1.36 WHIP). He was better than Justin Masterson and Ubaldo Jimenez, the two veterans who appear to have the top two spots in this year’s rotation.

Yet, right now he is in a battle with Scott Kazmir, Carlos Carrasco, Daisuke Matsuzaka, Trevor Bauer, and Corey Kluber for the fourth and fifth starting spots behind the two veterans and newcomer Brett Myers.

McAllister made his fourth appearance of the spring yesterday against the Cubs, throwing four shutout innings. He’s been very good in three of his four outings thus far, and looks like he is on his way to opening the season with the major league team.

He should have been a guy who had to pitch his way off the team in Arizona anyway.

The big righty (6’6″ 240 pounds), who was stolen from the Yankees in 2010 for the ashes that remained in Austin Kearns’ career, had only one poor statistic on his resume last year. He allowed 19 unearned runs in his 22 starts.

When his teammates didn’t support him defensively, he had a problem closing out the inning.

His hits to innings pitched ratio was pretty good (allowing 133 hits in 125-1/3 frames) and his strikeout to walk ratio (110/38) was excellent. He also pitched at least six innings in 14 of his 22 starts.

His solid work means the other five guys are probably looking at the one remaining spot to open the year in Cleveland. That’s a good problem to have for manager Terry Francona.

Kluber has struggled this spring and was probably a long shot to make the team coming into camp. Matsuzaka is on a minor league invite, and although his ERA (2.57) is good this spring, he has allowed a lot of hits and has pitched out of trouble in his appearances.

It would be a surprise if either come north with the team in April.

That leaves Kazmir, Carrasco, and Bauer for the last spot.

The front office would like to have Bauer start the season in Columbus to give him more AAA experience, since he’s only made 14 starts at that level. However, if the youngster currently ranked among the top 15 prospects in the game by Baseball America continues to pitch well, he could force his way to Cleveland.

That means it comes down to Carrasco, who is coming off of Tommy John surgery, and Kazmir, a southpaw who is trying to return from baseball’s scrapheap.

The former is facing a six game suspension for a hitting a Royals hitter in one of his last starts in 2011, and coupled with the return from a major arm operation, Francona and GM Chris Antonetti may opt to start the young righty at Columbus to get his bearings at the minor league level rather than facing big league hitters.

That means Kazmir has a leg up if he continues to pitch well. Reportedly, his velocity is in the low 90 mph range at this point, and the Tribe may want to see if they can cash in on their low risk gamble early in the season, knowing they have Carrasco and Bauer just two hours away in reserve.

The key is how both Carrasco and Kazmir pitch from here on out in Arizona.

Carrasco goes today. At this point in spring training, every performance by either guy is huge. Ultimately, those two will make the decision for Francona.

The ball is in their hands, literally.

Here’s a Marketing Plan for Tribe: WIN!

A little over a week ago, the Cleveland Indians sent an email to various fans asking for input on a new seating plan. They are studying taking out several rows of seating in the lower bowl between first base and third base and replacing them with tables to create a patio type area.

They were just feeling people out on doing something like this, nothing has been decided as far as we know.

Last year, there were rumors the Indians were looking at putting a hotel beyond the right field stands removing a portion of the upper deck.

This is exactly the kind of thinking that typifies the organization in recent years. That is a defeatist attitude.

They seem to be searching for various ways to draw people to Progressive Field, kind of reminiscent of the Cavaliers organization after the Brad Daugherty-Mark Price-Larry Nance teams.

At that time, the Cavs changed uniforms several times, even going to the popular color at the time, a black jersey. They brought in a supposed superstar in Shawn Kemp. They tried all sorts of marketing gimmicks.

It didn’t work, because the only gimmick that draws fans to games in Cleveland, Ohio isn’t a gimmick at all. It’s called winning!

Instead of taking out seats, the Tribe front office should be looking at accumulating talent so they can win and draw fans to a beautiful ballpark that doesn’t need a facelift. They are taking the easy way out instead of listening to the true baseball fans on the North Coast.

Here’s hoping new manager Terry Francona slaps some sense into the people running the Indians.

Recently, Indians’ president Mark Shapiro was interviewed by Fox Sports Ohio’s Patrick McManamon, where he talked about the number of wins the teams’ research shows a free agent worth $9 million will bring. The numbers show one victory is gained, which supports the decision the Indians have made not to sign free agents.

Obviously, it’s not as simple as that, and you need to look no further than Alex Rodriguez to see what spending huge amounts of money on aging players can do for you. For the Yankees, it’s a bothersome contract, for a team like the Indians, it would be suicide.

Still, the question that comes from here is all of this statistical analysis is nice, but what if it is wrong? And here’s a stat for Shapiro…nine losing seasons in 11 years. Your model is not working.

After this season’s disaster, it was thought that perhaps the Indians’ front office gained some humility, but maybe getting a skipper that has won two World Series to take the job in Cleveland has empowered the Tribe.

They’ve talked about how they have spent more days in first place than any other team in the Central Division the last two years like that’s an important statistic. Instead, it just brings more ridicule for bringing up something so inane.

The reason the Indians are losing season ticket holders is the hardcore baseball fans in this city no longer have confidence in the front office and ownership.

That’s what Dolan, Shapiro, and Antonetti need to repair, not come up with plans that have little to do with baseball. Those things are nice, but without the fanatics, attendance is going to continue to decrease.

That should be the basis for any surveys. Just one question: If we can build a team that can make a sustained playoff push (three or four straight years), will you buy tickets?

The answer would be a resounding YES!

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.