Things That Wouldn’t Surprise Us About The Tribe

The Cleveland Indians are hanging on by their fingernails at a possible post-season berth. They sit five games out of the second wild card berth, and our opinion is you have to be within five on Labor Day to be a real contender.

And in doing nothing at the trade deadline to add a significant piece to the current roster, it appears the front office is starting to look forward to the 2015 season, as the Indians are currently the second youngest active 25 man roster in the major leagues.

So, even though we haven’t officially given up on this season, we have started contemplating what will happen with the 2015 edition of the Cleveland Indians.

It wouldn’t surprise us if:

Jason Kipnis moved to third base. The Tribe brass has hinted they would like to see a keystone combination of Francisco Lindor and Jose Ramirez because of the defensive upgrade it would provide. If that happens, then Kipnis would have to find a new position.

Logically, Kipnis would move back to LF, his college position, but Cleveland’s best player, Michael Brantley, is in that spot. So, we wouldn’t be surprised if GM Chris Antonetti either traded Lonnie Chisenhall or moved him to another spot (RF?) and put Kipnis at the hot corner.

We understand about the defensive movement of players seeming to have an adverse effect on the ’14 Tribe, but if this is done early enough, the players involved could come to spring training playing their new positions and be ready for Opening Day.

Nick Swisher bounced back. It is no secret that the Indians’ big free agent acquisitions before the 2013 season haven’t worked out, but of the two players (Michael Bourn being the other), Swisher is a better bet for a comeback in our view.

First, it is likely Swisher will be a DH, keeping his ailing knees away for the pounding of defensive play.

Second, Swisher’s 2014 season is an anomaly. Although, he didn’t drive in a lot of run last year, he still banged out 22 HRs, on par with his career numbers.

On the other side, Bourn’s numbers seem to be in steady decline. He’s never been a great offensive player, but his stolen base numbers continue to drop and he’s not an effective leadoff man anyway because of his low on base percentage. If he can’t steal bases any more, then he should be hitting at the bottom of the order.

We aren’t saying Swisher is going to hit .280 with 30 homers, but he could hit in the .250 range with a lot of walks and 20+ dingers. That wouldn’t be bad.

Terry Francona decides he’s done. This is a long shot to be sure, but Tito’s had problems with his legs over the years, and there seems to be a little disconnect between himself and the front office, which is the reason he came here in the first place.

While it appears Francona has slipped into the veteran manager’s viewpoint of trusting only veterans, that seems to be in conflict with the front office’s desire to give opportunities to players like Tyler Holt and Ramirez.

Perhaps it is the other way around and it is Francona who would like to play the youngsters, but his continued play of Chris Dickerson says otherwise.

Again, we believe this is a long shot to happen, but we wouldn’t be surprised if it did.

In another week, when the rosters can expand to 40 players, we may start to get an idea of what the 2015 Cleveland Indians will look like. We could see Lindor arrive along with Jesus Aguilar and maybe 3B Giovanny Urshela and of course, a boatload of bullpen arms.

Here’s hoping the current players can put that off by getting on a hot streak over the next week.

Tribe’s Patience Reaches No Boundaries

We have decided that if we couldn’t perform well at our job, we would want Terry Francona and Chris Antonetti in our corner.

Their patience knows no bounds. If we performed well for a few months in our position, they would wait as long as possible before deciding we could no longer do the job any longer.

That can be the only explanation for the decisions made by this franchise over the last couple of weeks.

If you have experience, they are the employers for you.

Actually, it started just prior to the All-Star Game when Michael Bourn re-injured his hamstring and management opted to acquire journeyman OF Chris Dickerson from Pittsburgh rather than give an opportunity to Tyler Holt, who was hitting .311 at Columbus.

Dickerson is a career .259 hitter and batted .238 for the Orioles in 2013, and spent the entire ’14 season in AAA until the Indians traded for him in early July.

What we mean to say is, he’s nothing special.

Dickerson hit well upon his arrival and was partially responsible for a win over Detroit when he hit two home runs in one game off Cy Young Award winner Max Scherzer.

However, other than those two dingers, he’s had four hits since the midsummer classic.

Another veteran who gets an enormous benefit of the doubt is Ryan Raburn who has also had just six hits since the All-Star Game was played in Minneapolis. As a point of reference, Tyler Holt, who was sent back to Columbus today to make room for Danny Salazar, had five hits…this week!

As a reward, he took the drive back to AAA.

As we have written previously, we understand the skipper writing Nick Swisher and Bourn’s name in the lineup everyday because they have track records of some success, and the franchise is paying each of them a king’s ransom. You almost have to play them. Almost.

But Dickerson isn’t making big money and although Raburn is signed through next season, his deal isn’t for big money. There is no compelling reason to keep him in the lineup, unless you believe he’s going catch fire the last six weeks of the campaign.

Perhaps Francona and Antonetti both believe that if we jump off the Terminal Tower, we will magically learn how to fly?

The same logic has gone into continually pitching right-hander Josh Tomlin, who has been hammered more often than not since the end of June when he pitched a one-hitter against Seattle.

Tomlin did pitch well against Arizona this week, but it was clear Francona didn’t have much confidence in him since he was pulled after 5-2/3 shutout innings and threw just 59 pitches.

To be fair, the patience did pay off with Carlos Carrasco, but he did a great job in the bullpen when moved there, and earned his spot back into the rotation. A word of caution, let’s not get carried away by two starts either.

So, when Carrasco was moved to the ‘pen, he was very effective. Tomlin hasn’t been getting people out for almost two months, yet he still has a spot on the roster, when the Tribe could move up Austin Adams, another hard-throwing reliever, who could help a tired relief corps.

The organization seems to fear giving chances to young players, even though in most cases, the new guys couldn’t possibly be worse than what the veterans are doing.

We believe players like Jesus Aguilar, Holt, Francisco Lindor and others would have more than six hits over the past month. But management simply won’t give them the chance.

We should all get the second, third, fourth, etc. chances non-producing Tribe players get. Unfortunately, that’s not how it works in the real world.

When Tribe Does Spend, Results Aren’t There.

One thing all baseball fans can agree on is that the Cleveland Indians are not a free spending organization.

For whatever the reason, the Tribe’s payroll is usually in the lower third of the American League, and much of that is due to the size of the television market.

The Indians can’t charge the same rights’ fees for local broadcasts, both TV and radio as teams located in New York, Los Angeles, Chicago, and Boston.

So, the Tribe needs to spend their limited funds wisely.

The big problem is they simply haven’t.

The Indians’ highest paid player right now is Nick Swisher, who is suffering through a terrible season, and even last season, didn’t produce at a high level.

Before Swisher, Cleveland highest paid baseball player was Travis Hafner, who had a series of injuries after his last 100 RBI season in 2007, making the reported $10-13 million he was being paid an albatross across the organization’s back.

If you aren’t or are unable to spend with the upper echelon of payrolls in the sport, it is a killer when the players you make a major commitment to don’t live up to expectations.

You can’t lay all of the blame on Swisher either. The Tribe’s second highest paid player is Michael Bourn, who has battled hamstring issues all season long, and to be truthful, hasn’t performed like an all-star either.

We have always said that it isn’t about spending money for the Dolan ownership; it is all about spending wisely. Going out and overspending isn’t good for any franchise; look at the Braves with B.J. Upton.

If they don’t work out, these signings cause a lot of questions for the management. If Swisher were making half of what he is currently earning, or if he were on the last year of his contract, do you really think Terry Francona would continuously write his name in the lineup day in and day out?

Upton is currently hitting .212 for Atlanta (608 OPS), yet he has appeared in 106 of the 114 games the Braves have played.

Swisher’s 615 OPS figure is the lowest of any everyday player on the Indians. Not exactly a big bang for the buck.

As for Bourn, we didn’t like the signing at the time, and to this point we are proven correct. He has never been an elite offensive player, posting an OPS of 704 before signing with the Tribe.

His best asset on offense was stealing bases, having led the NL in that category three times in his career, including 2011, just two years before he arrived in Cleveland.

Since putting on Chief Wahoo, Bourn has stolen just 30 bases, and has been caught 15 times in almost two full seasons.

If you want to blame ownership for not spending money, then you also have to put heat on GM Chris Antonetti and president Mark Shapiro for blowing it when the Dolan family hands them a bag of cash.

When you have limited opportunities, you have to take advantage of them. The Indians’ organization has dropped the ball in that respect.

What can they do going forward? They may have to deal one of the two and pay some salary to improve at their respective positions.

Whether or not the ownership would sign off on that is debatable.

Unfortunately, these mistakes probably mean there will be less big spending in the future. Instead of getting it right, they will just avoid making the commitment.

Just another reason that it’s great to be an Indians’ fan.

Tribe Off-Season “Plan” A Dud So Far

As spring training approached, we discussed how apparently the Cleveland Indians’ plan to improve the team that won 92 games a year ago, was to hope for a return to form by several veteran players.

The Tribe finished fourth in the American League in runs scored in 2013, but you had to figure on regressions by players like Ryan Raburn, Mike Aviles, and even Jason Giambi.

To account for that, the front office needed bounce back seasons by Michael Bourn, Nick Swisher, and Asdrubal Cabrera.

So far, that formula is a big, fat dud.

Bourn has missed more than half of the Tribe’s games this season, but he has actually been the best of the three, hitting .266. However, he has a poor .299 on base percentage for a leadoff hitter, continuing a downward trend from his .348 mark in ’12. It was just .312 last season.

Swisher has hit just two home runs thus far, and his batting average is also below the Mendoza line at .197 and his OPS has dipped to a terrible 597. A figure like that for a full season would get a player released.

Cabrera has his batting average at .211, but he has just eight extra base hits on the season and his OPS is also ridiculously low at 604. It is getting to the point where you have to think Francisco Lindor could hit just as well (at least) and provide better defense to boot.

Add in the horrific start to Carlos Santana’s season and you have one of the worst batting teams in the American League this season.

The Indians have scored three runs or less in 19 of the 32 games played thus far, a whopping 59% of the contests.

You aren’t going to win many games with that kind of attack.

Is there a solution for manager Terry Francona?

Tito exhibits a great deal of patience to be sure, as does the entire organization, but with so many players not hitting what can be done.

At this point, the Indians only have a handful of players with an OPS of 700, which is slightly below average. They are Lonnie Chisenhall (911), Michael Brantley (776), David Murphy (744) and Yan Gomes (724). In addition, Nyjer Morgan is at 791, but has played only 11 games.

Outside of Gomes, all are left-handed hitters, which makes it difficult to balance the lineup on a nightly basis.

One solution would be to group all of these guys together, particularly when a right-hander starts for the opposition and hope you can generate some offense that way.

However, that makes you susceptible to a lefty coming out of the bullpen late in games to match up with all of these guys.

The other problem that Francona has is that the only bench guy hitting is Mike Aviles, currently at .271, but with just two extra base hits. So, if he replaces one of the regulars, he doesn’t exactly have a better alternative.

Right now, it appears the Indians’ plan has backfired, and once again, they failed to seize an opportunity to build on a playoff team by doing relatively nothing in the off-season.
Perhaps tonight, the Tribe bats will turn it around. If they don’t do it soon, then it is just one more reason for fans to feel disenchantment with the management group.

Tribe Play, Moves Puzzling

There is no question the six game losing streak on the west coast trek for the Cleveland Indians turned a so-so month of April into a disappointing one. The Tribe left Cleveland at 11-11, a .500 record, and they returned home 11-17, and in last place.

More concerning to the media and the fans is the sloppy play of Terry Francona’s bunch. Using two of the major defensive statistics available, the Indians rank last in the American League in defense. They’ve made the most errors and they have the worst defensive efficiency.

Thank goodness Cleveland pitchers rank third in the league in strikeouts. The less balls put into play, the better.

Sometimes, the errors don’t allow runs to score, but they make pitchers have to throw more pitches. This was never more evident than Friday night, when Elliott Johnson’s error in the fourth inning made Danny Salazar throw at least 15 more tosses to home plate. Otherwise, Francona could’ve squeezed another inning out of the starter.

Along with the poor play, the front office has made some curious moves thus far, and we aren’t talking about having Carlos Carrasco start the season in the rotation, we could understand the reasoning for that.

Two of these strange moves were made yesterday. The Indians announced Josh Tomlin would start on Tuesday against Minnesota. While Tomlin deserves to be back with the big club (2-1, 2.06 ERA), he’s not the Columbus starter with the best statistics.

That would be Trevor Bauer, who owns a 3-0 record with a 1.10 ERA and 31 strikeouts in 32-2/3 innings.

Why not reward Bauer for his outstanding pitching, plus his presence in the rotation would send some excitement to both a fan base and perhaps a clubhouse that appears to need a jolt.

Look, this is not to say make the move for the fans. Bauer’s performance merits a promotion. He’s pitching well, his confidence should be at an all time high, and he’s got the look of a potential ace.

With all due respect to Tomlin, we know what he is. He’s no better than a third starter, a guy who won’t be spectacular, but will keep you in games. And we’ve advocated bringing up the right-hander when he was the only starter having success in AAA when he came up in 2010.

The other puzzling move was bringing up reliever Nick Hagadone to provide an extra arm in the bullpen until Tomlin gets the call on Tuesday. (Hagadone was sent back today to make room for Nyjer Morgan, needed because of Michael Bourn’s hamstring problems).

Really, there wasn’t anyone on the 40-man roster they could’ve brought up other than a hard throwing lefty, who can’t find home plate?

Wouldn’t you rather give a guy like Austin Adams a shot? Or bring Vinnie Pestano up for a few days?

Hagadone has an electric arm, but he’s never demonstrated an ability to throw strikes consistently. Why does the front office continually reward him with major league time? That said, it’s a moot point now, and again, he would’ve been sent out on Tuesday anyway.

With Bourn day-to-day, the Indians have another problem. With Francona’s preference for carrying 13 pitchers, the Tribe can’t have a roster spot for a player who may be out several days. They almost have to put that player on the disabled list. That’s why it wouldn’t be a surprise if Bourn has to go back on the DL when Tomlin comes up in a few days.

For now, what the Indians need most is to tighten up their defense and win some ball games. The season is more than 1/6th through. You can’t use the “it’s early” excuse much longer.

Tribe Starters Need Length, Decisions to be Made

First of all, let’s all calm down Tribe fans. The season is only one week old and the Cleveland Indians emerged at the break even mark at 3-3 even though the performance of the starting pitchers wasn’t good.

It is too early to panic because outside of Justin Masterson, each of the starters made just one appearance. Let’s give each of the starters three or four starts before jumping to any conclusions.

However from a team standpoint, Terry Francona can’t be happy about having to use his bullpen this much this early. Already, the Indians’ starters have gone less than five innings in exactly half of the games, and the club has had five straight starts where the starter hasn’t gone six complete frames.

So, it will be interesting to see the games tonight and tomorrow when Corey Kluber (3-2/3 IP) and Zack McAllister (4 IP in his first start) take the hill against the San Diego Padres. If both can pitch up to the level they achieved last season, then any concern will be eased for both fans and the skipper and Mickey Callaway.

Fortunately, the bullpen has done the job so far, allowing just seven earned runs in the six contests, and five of the eight members of the relief corps haven’t allowed an earned run as of yet.

But it’s the amount of innings they have pitched so far (24-2/3, an average of 4 per game), that has to concern Francona and Callaway

We could be sitting here a week from today after five consecutive solid outings by the starters and be concerned about the relief pitchers getting enough work. That’s why you can’t make bold statements regarding a baseball team after one week.

The Tribe front office will have some decisions to make in the next week or so regarding the make up of the roster when Michael Bourn and Jason Giambi are ready to be activated from the disabled list.

OF Nyjer Morgan has gotten on base (.500 OBP) so far, and it is easy to say he stays over Elliot Johnson (0 for 5 thus far) when Bourn is ready, but it is more complicated than that because Morgan swings from the left side, and the Tribe is overloaded with left-handed hitters.

If Morgan was right-handed it would be a no-brainer, and it is difficult to see Francona and GM Chris Antonetti going with six left-handed batters (with three more switch-hitters) among their 12 position players.

The fact that Johnson can hit from the right side may be (along with his versatility) his biggest edge. With the opponents throwing southpaws in five of the next six games, Johnson will get a chance to prove he should stay.

When Giambi comes back, it could be at Lonnie Chisenhall’s expense, or the Tribe could decide to go with one less relief pitchers. This would assume the starting pitching gets straightened out.

If that’s the case, the two candidates to sent back to Columbus would be Vinnie Pestano and Blake Wood. Wood had a leg up until yesterday when he took to loss by walking two, hitting a batter, and then allowing a three-run double to give Minnesota the lead.

Pestano has allowed runs in both of his outings in the young season.

The battle(?) between these two is something else to keep an eye on this week.

Even though spring training is over, the front office and the skipper still have roster decisions to be made. That’s something to watch this week.

How Did We Do–Tribe Will Fall Just Short of Playoffs in ’14

This was orginally posted in April

For every baseball fan, today is a day filled with anticipation. Opening Day will be here tomorrow, and despite the weather from yesterday, baseball will be played at Progressive Field by the end of this week.

Can the Indians repeat their unexpected run to the playoffs (and yes, Kenny Lofton, they did make the playoffs) in 2014? That is the question on all Tribe fans minds this spring.

We believe the AL Central Division race will be highly contested this summer with the defending champion Tigers, Indians, and the Royals all in contention, and we also feel that less than 90 wins will take the title.

All three teams will win between 83-89 games, so Terry Francona’s squad will be in the mix all season long. And because the division will be so close, things like injuries and deadline trades will have a huge factor on how things will turn out.

That said, we believe the Tribe will finish second in the division once again, but this time will fall just short of a post-season spot.

Why? Because the front office just didn’t do enough to offset the losses from this winter, mainly the departure of two starting pitchers, Ubaldo Jimenez and Scott Kazmir.

We agreed with letting both pitchers depart because the contracts they signed were more than we would have paid either hurler based on their past performance, but we believed GM Chris Antonetti would have acquired at least one innings eater to replace the 340 innings that left via free agency.

As we wrote last week, if Danny Salazar and Corey Kluber reach the performance expected of them this season, the loss of two starting pitchers will become a moot point, but that’s a tough leap of faith considering they have combined for less than 300 innings in their career.

The Indians’ offense also sputtered at times last year even though Cleveland finished fourth in the AL in runs scored. Francona could have used another established bat in the lineup and instead Antonetti signed David Murphy, who has a good track record (.275 lifetime batting average, 778 OPS), but hit just .220 last season for the Rangers.

The Tribe needs comeback seasons from Nick Swisher, bothered by a shoulder problem in 2013, Michael Bourn, and Asdrubal Cabrera, who will be a free agent following the season, in order to have a more consistent attack.

They will also need continued improvement from two hitters entering their age 27 (entering prime) seasons in 2B Jason Kipnis and Michael Brantley. Everyone praised Brantley’s ’13 season, but actually his OPS and batting average were down from 2012 (728 OPS/.284 in ’13 compared to 750/.288 in ’12).

He has the talent to be a premier offensive player (.350 OBP, .450 slugging percentage) and needs to reach those levels in 2014.

Kipnis needs to be more consistent. He hit .301 (897 OPS) before the All-Star break, and just .261 (714 OPS) after the Midsummer Classic. As the #3 hitter in the lineup, he needs to stay away from weeks where he is producing like a bottom of the order hitter.

We also have doubts about the experiment of playing Carlos Santana will work out. Santana hit .268 with 20 HR last season, and you would think his production will increase without the burden of catching more than 100 games a season, but will the switch in positions affect him at the plate?

And, of course, will his defense be solid enough to play at the hot corner on a daily basis.

The division will be close and the Tribe will be playing meaningful games in September. However, there are enough questions to think they will fall just short.

However, if some of the scenarios outlined above reach reality, the Indians could win the division and make the playoffs in back-to-back years for the first time since the late 90’s.

Tribe Off-Season Strategy is Bounce Back Seasons by Veterans

Although it doesn’t look like it outside your window if you live in the Cleveland area, baseball is just around the corner. Pitchers and catchers report to Goodyear, AZ on Tuesday.

The Indians are coming off a surprising season, going from 69 victories in 2012 to 92 wins and a berth in the wild card game at the end of the season.

The question is simply this: Can the Tribe do it again and remain the one beacon of hope in the darkness that is professional sports in our city?

Right now, most fans we speak to feel the same way, that the Tribe isn’t as good right now as they were at the end of the 4-0 loss to Tampa Bay on October 2nd.

Now, to be fair, there still is time to improve the ballclub, remember that Michael Bourn wasn’t signed until shortly after the Tribe was already in camp, but it appears the Indians will lose two starting pitchers (Ubaldo Jimenez and Scott Kazmir) to free agency, and haven’t done anything to replace either.

Wouldn’t it be nice if just once, the Indians’ management said they were going to go the extra mile and add let’s say $15 million to the payroll and go for it? Using that money to bring in another proven top of the rotation starter or a proven bat to put in the middle of the lineup would be a refreshing change.

As of right now, Baseball-Reference.com lists Cleveland as having the second lowest payroll in the division, ahead of only Minnesota, and only slightly ahead of them.

Instead, they went with the usual low risk, high reward signings. Players who have good career track records, but are coming off poor seasons and/or injuries. After all, it worked last season with Ryan Raburn and Kazmir, so why not try the same thing with Shawn Marcum and Jeff Francouer?

This year’s strategy appears to be hoping that players who have performed well at the big league level, but had off seasons in 2013 will rebound to their normal levels. The players in this category would be Nick Swisher, Bourn, Asdrubal Cabrera, and newcomer David Murphy.

Swisher, who will be 33 this season, hit .246 with 22 HR and 63 RBI (763 OPS) last season while battling a shoulder injury. His career norms are .255 with 28 HR and 88 RBI (820 OPS), playing half of his time in the bigs in hitter’s parks (Chicago and New York). He figures to be slightly better because of the shoulder and perhaps pressing a tad with the new contract.

Bourn is 31 and hit .263 with 6 HR and 50 RBI (676 OPS) in 130 games a year ago, stealing 23 bases. His average season numbers are .271, 5 HR and 43 RBI (700 OPS) and 48 steals.

We have said this before. Unless Bourn changes his game to more of a contact approach (he struck out 132 times in ’13), it is doubtful he will improve. His career best OPS is 739, which is about the average major league regular.

Cabrera might be the best chance for a rebound since he is 28 years old and is eligible for free agency. However, he is two years removed from his best year in 2011. He hit .242 in 2013 with 14 dingers and 64 RBIs (700 OPS), compared to his norms of .273, 14 homers and 73 RBI (748 OPS). With a higher batting average should come more runs driven home.

Murphy will be 32 this season and hit just .220 with 14 home runs and 45 RBI (656 OPS) compared to usual numbers of .275, 16 HR and 69 RBI (778 OPS). However, he is moving from a great hitters park in Texas to a pitcher’s park in Cleveland. In fairness, he doesn’t have the extreme splits other Rangers’ hitters have at their home park.

It will be interesting to see which, if any, of these hitters can bounce back in 2013 because it seems the Indians’ off-season strategy for success is based on them being better.

Again, wouldn’t it be nice if they actually just spent a little more cash one year?

Shapiro’s Comments On Spending Are Concerning

Over the weekend, Cleveland Indians team president Mark Shapiro had an interview with MLB radio in which he talked about the future of his team.

Among the things he said was that the Indians did their spending last season when they inked Nick Swisher and Michael Bourn.

This is troubling because if ever there were time to go the extra mile in spending, it would be this winter.

The Indians made the playoffs last season and won 92 games. With the Browns ending another terrible season and the Cavs still below .500, a solid winter would get fans excited about the 2014 baseball season.

Nothing like throwing a wet blanket on the fan base.

Look, we understand the Indians cannot have a $100 million payroll, but Baseball Reference.com estimates they will spend $81.1 million on players next season.

Why can’t they get closer to $90 million?

Last year, the organization said they were able to sign Swisher and later Bourn because of the sale of Sportstime Ohio to Fox. That’s great!

However, this year teams are reaping the benefits of the new national television contracts, which put an additional $25 million in each team’s pockets. Even though the Swisher and Bourn deals get heavier in this, their second year, ownership should be able to spend a little more because of this windfall.

The problem is management, mostly Shapiro, continue to talk about financial constraints. They think they are being honest and forthright, but to fans’ ears they sound like excuses.

We believe most Tribe fans get that the team can’t spend like the Yankees, Red Sox, and Dodgers. Still, supporters of the team would like them to be aggressive and build on the positive momentum created in September.

Not hear the team president talk about the financial constraints of major league baseball.

We haven’t been upset with the signings the Indians have made this off-season. We’ve talked about how we liked David Murphy, and inking John Axford to a one-year deal to be a contender to replace Chris Perez as closer makes a lot of sense.

But the Tribe still needs to find two starting pitchers to make up for the loss of Scott Kazmir and the likely loss of Ubaldo Jimenez. And now, getting Shaun Marcum doesn’t make up for one spot, although he’s another low risk, high reward deal for the Tribe.

Are the Indians willing to spend a significant chunk of money to get a proven major league starting pitcher? They should be, because they have to be thinking about getting back to the post-season, and this time as a division winner.

Most of the free agent signings in baseball this winter have been players to ridiculous contracts, and we are glad the Indians aren’t involved.

The beef here (and always has been) the constant bringing up the availability of money with the Cleveland organization. Other teams in small markets put out competitive teams every year, like Tampa Bay and Oakland.

Those organizations are bold and creative.

The Indians need to adopt those teams’ philosophies of maximizing the performance of their highly paid players. If you are paying big money to a player, he simply has to produce.

Really, it comes down to this. Stop talking, and just improve the ballclub. And maybe, just maybe, the Tribe will be the popular team in Cleveland once again.

Signing Murphy Another Solid Move

The Cleveland Indians made a wise decision to sign former Texas Rangers OF David Murphy to a two year contract the other day.

Yes, Murphy is coming off a bad season in which he hit .220 with 13 HR and 45 RBI with a 646 OPS in 2013, but if he hit like he has for the rest of his career, his asking price would have been much higher.

Prior to last season, his lowest OPS in any season in which he played 100 or more games was 729. This happened in 2011, when he still hit .275 with 11 home runs.

For his career, he’s a .275 hitter with an OPS of 778. Now, since he played in Texas, an extreme hitter’s ballpark, his numbers could have been inflated, but he hit .284 in Arlington and .266 on the road, not a drastic difference.

To be fair, he did show more power in the Texas ballpark.

We know that Terry Francona likes to platoon if he has two players where it works and he seems to have that with Ryan Raburn and Murphy in right field.

Against right-handers, Murphy is a .280 hitter with a .347 on base percentage and a .469 slugging percentage. That makes him an outstanding offensive player against those pitchers.

Another thing we like about Murphy is that he puts the bat on the ball, striking out around 70-80 times per season every year since 2009. And as an added bonus, in 21 career games at Progressive Field, he hit .365 with 3 homers.

What this move means going forward is that Drew Stubbs will likely not be on the roster after December 2^nd, when teams have to offer players arbitration for next season.

Stubbs, acquired last season in the Shin-Soo Choo three-way deal, gave the Tribe plus defense and speed, but struggled at the plate.

It is doubtful the front office will want to pay him the $3-4 million he would likely get next season to be a part-time player/defensive replacement.

The Indians could also move Stubbs to centerfield and see what interest there is in Michael Bourn on the trade market. While this is unlikely, if GM Chris Antonetti wants to make a big splash in a trade or on a free agent, he would probably have to move a big contract.

Bourn was bothered by injuries, but he also didn’t have a good season, hitting just .263 on the season with an on-base percentage of .316, poor for a leadoff hitter. His OPS also dropped to 676, meaning he was a below average offensive player.

He’ll play next season at age 31, and his game is predicated on his speed, management may take a chance on moving him before his value decreases more.

Again, if Bourn is dealt it means the Tribe is freeing up money for a big time move. Otherwise, look for the veteran to be back in Cleveland in 2014 and leading off hoping to rebound from an off-season.

The next move for Antonetti will likely involve the pitching staff because the Indians have holes to fill in both the starting rotation and the bullpen. You have to believe Terry Francona wants a couple of veterans in those areas to replace guys like Ubaldo Jimenez and Joe Smith.

This isn’t going to be like last winter, when the Tribe signed Nick Swisher and Bourn. But if they keep making solid moves like the Murphy signing, it will be a good hot stove season on the North Coast.