The Pro and Cons on Tito’s Managing

Ever since Terry Francona became the manager of the Cleveland Indians after the 2012 season, he has more or less been the face of the franchise, which is kind of unusual for the manager of the team.

He came to the team with the cache of winning two World Series titles in Boston, breaking the infamous “Curse of the Bambino”, the first world title in Beantown since 1918.

And in his first season with the Tribe, he took a team that finished with 68 wins in ’12, and led them to a spot in the Wild Card game, leading the Indians to 92 victories, a whopping 24 win turnaround.

Last season, Francona had his squad in contention until the final weekend of the regular season, finishing with 88 wins, the first consecutive winning seasons for Cleveland since 2000-01.

There is no question Tito is a player’s manager. He keeps everything in the clubhouse for the most part, and his players love that. And from reading the book about his years in Boston, he likes to have veterans around to police the locker room, feeling constructive criticism means more coming from one’s peers than always from the skipper.

So, there is no question here, that the atmosphere Francona has created in Cleveland has a great deal to do with changing the culture, and contributes to the team’s success.

Even this year, it would have been understandable if the Tribe would have folded its tent, especially when they fell 10 games below .500 in early August.

However, they have roared back into the fringe of contention and as we enter play tonight they are 4-1/2 games out of the second wild card, and only three games back in the loss column.

The point that this team never gives up is the strongest recommendation we can make for Francona’s managing style.

In terms of in-game tactics and lineup construction, well, that’s another story.

Last week, in a key game against Kansas City, trailing 2-0 in the ninth inning, the Indians got the first two runners on base. Francona then pinch hit Mike Aviles for Jerry Sands, and anyone watching the game knew a bunt was coming.

We could see the strategy if it were a tie game (a fly ball would win it), or even down one run (can score tying run with an out). However, down two runs, it is a horrible mistake.

You had three outs remaining, and you gave one up on purpose.

Aviles did bunt, and didn’t advance the runners. Soon, the game ended in a 2-0 defeat.

The Indians lead the American League in sacrifice bunts with 44, a statistic that drives sabermetric people crazy. We kind of agree. Giving up outs is crazy.

Francona no doubt has his favorites, and it usually a veteran player. He has somehow given Aviles almost 300 at bats, despite a 623 OPS, a mediocre figure by any standard.

And his lack of usage for newly acquired Chris Johnson, a career .300 hitter vs. left handers, seems odd too. If we were in charge, Johnson’s name would be in the lineup everyday right now, with Giovanny Urshela struggling.

We have addressed Francona’s stubbornness in the past, his patience has developed into that at times.

His recent bullpen strategy has developed into that lately, as set up men Zack McAllister and Bryan Shaw have struggled since the beginning of August, yet the skipper hasn’t tried any alternatives.

He’s also been tentative in bringing along young players save for Francisco Lindor and Urshela, but that’s because he had no alternatives.

If he does, the young guy, whether it be Tyler Holt, Jesus Aguilar, or even Zack Walters (not a fan) gets sporadic at bats, which usually results in no production.

We would agree that the clubhouse presence is more important to this team than the lack of strategic performance, at least for this organization.

That doesn’t mean it doesn’t drive us up the wall.

Does Tribe Need Tito To Be Tougher?

Cleveland Indians’ manager Terry Francona has a public persona that is all about being a player’s manager.

He seems to run a loose ship, letting the players play and very, very rarely takes one of his guys to task in the media. We assume that he does discuss mistakes with his squad privately, and we only say that because we are not in the locker room.

In reading the book about his tenure in Boston, Francona is very protective of his players, and depends on veterans to help police the locker room, something he doesn’t seem to have right now with the Indians.

Jason Giambi fulfilled that role in the clubhouse the last two seasons.

However, we have seen several things over the past few weeks that makes it appear Francona may need to get tougher with his troops at least privately. And some of these mistakes, most in fact, were done by veterans.

Francona has been publicly critical of Carlos Santana’s defense at first base recently, and when asked why Chris Johnson was getting most of the time at first instead of Santana, Tito replied that he told the player he needed to be the best defensive player at that position to be out there.

It is no secret that Santana has been subpar defensively all year.

We understand that the Tribe has had a disappointing season, and we are in the “dog days” of the season, but we have seen other mental errors by older players that should be addressed, particularly with young players like Francisco Lindor and Giovanny Urshela being on the roster.

It doesn’t seem like a good example is being set.

While many alluded to the horrible call on the double play ball in Saturday’s game, and it was a complete joke, no one is discussing the base running by Jason Kipnis.

Kipnis was on third after Lindor’s single moved him there with one out.

Why wasn’t Kipnis running on the ball Michael Brantley hit to first base in that situation? You have to at least get a run if the Yankees were going to turn two on the play.

Brantley beat the play at first, so there were still first and third with two out. It was a bad baserunning mistake.

Perhaps not as bad as the one the next day by Mike Aviles, who tagged up on a fly ball to left by Carlos Santana and didn’t slide to try to elude a tag on the throw to the plate. We aren’t sure Aviles would have been safe had he went to the ground on the play, but he certainly would have had a better chance.

With the Tribe struggling to score runs all year, these are glaring mistakes, and they are mental errors, not physical ones.

Then we have yesterday’s game in which apparently the Indians forgot that Cubs’ starter Jon Lester doesn’t like to throw to first with a runner on.

Cleveland didn’t have many base runners, they had just six hits and a walk on the day, but they didn’t attempt a stolen base until Lester left, and he was replaced by former Indian farmhand Hector Rondon.

Again, we don’t know what happened in the clubhouse, but we hope Francona addressed these blunders with his ballclub.

It’s one thing to have a poor record, it’s another to appear to be going through the motions.

Tribe Is In It, But They Are a Flawed Team

As the baseball season rapidly approaches the midway point, it is clear that the Cleveland Indians are a contender for a playoff spot due to the balance of the American League.

The Tribe currently sits at 37-39 on the season, but they are just five games out of first place in the AL Central, and are three games out of the second wild card spot in the AL.

However, it is also obvious that the Tribe is a flawed team, and it will be tough to make the post-season for a second straight year with the roster as currently constituted.

The Indians rank fifth in the AL in runs scored per game, but they have several holes in the lineup that have to be addressed. The league average OPS sits at 714 right now. The Tribe has three players getting regular at bats who sit way below this figure: Nick Swisher (595), Ryan Raburn (525) and Mike Aviles (631).

Since the Francona prefers 13 pitchers on the roster, that means 25% of the position players aren’t really producing at the plate.

Considering two of those players (Raburn and Aviles) get most of their playing time vs. left-handed pitching, you can see the Tribe is very susceptible against southpaws.

That forces the skipper to ride his regulars. Yan Gomes doesn’t get many days off and he’s playing a grueling position, as does Michael Bourn. David Murphy is probably being overexposed as well.

Also, Jason Kipnis isn’t hitting either (.247 batting average, 679 OPS), but he continues to hit in the middle of the lineup. And although Lonnie Chisenhall has been a pleasant surprise, even we would say it is doubtful he will continue to hit like he has thus far.

What happens when he cools off, which he has over the last two weeks.

Outside of Michael Brantley, who is having an all-star season, most of the players who are hitting are liabilities in the field. Chisenhall’s defense has been below average and SS Asdrubal Cabrera’s has been atrocious.

A logical move could be to move Cabrera to 3B, and let Chisenhall DH, and bring up prime prospect Francisco Lindor, but where does that leave the team’s highest paid player in Swisher?

As for the starting pitchers, Francona probably only feels comfortable when Corey Kluber takes the mound. The other four starters are inconsistent to say the least. Trevor Bauer shows the most promise, but no one knows what will happen when Justin Masterson and Josh Tomlin take the hill.

And there really isn’t any help to come from within either. The manager doesn’t have confidence in Jose Ramirez and Jesus Aguilar to use them on a consistent basis, and the only starting pitcher options are lefty T.J. House, who was okay when he was here, and Danny Salazar, who struggled earlier in the campaign.

That means GM Chris Antonetti has to make a deal, and based on the inactivity in the off-season, Tribe fans can’t feel optimistic about that. The Indians farm system is getting better, but the front office seems to fear being burned giving up a young prospect.

And they can’t and shouldn’t deal Lindor or last year’s first round pick Clint Frazier for a player who at best would play here for a year and a half.

The point is this, the Indians are probably good enough to hand around the playoff race, but they are flawed and they don’t seem to want to correct those flaws.

The manager still believes guys like Raburn and Swisher will start hitting, and the front office doesn’t seem anxious to go outside for help.

That’s very frustrating to say the least.

Tito’s Bullpen Usage is Troublesome

Indians’ manager Terry Francona likes to have a lot of options in his bullpen.

Because of the versatility of players like Mike Aviles, Ryan Raburn, and now, Lonnie Chisenhall, Francona likes to carry 13 pitchers on the roster, including eight relievers.

That’s fine, because the skipper would rather bring in a fresh arm at the end of games, than use a starter who is running out of gas after throwing around 100 pitches.

But there is a growing problem in the relief corps, because it is fairly obvious that Tito doesn’t trust three members of his bullpen crew, and that lack of trust is causing fatigue and possible ineffectiveness down the road for the guys he does trust.

Since we are just a little over 1/3 through the long baseball schedule, this has the potential for disaster.

Currently, there are four Cleveland relievers in the top four of the American League leaders in games pitched: lefty Mark Rzepczynski and Bryan Shaw are tied for the league lead, while Cody Allen is tied for third in the AL.

Recently deposed closer John Axford had been in the top ten for most of the season, but has recently dropped out, mostly because he is one of the pitchers who has left Francona’s “circle of trust”.

As a matter of comparison, Kansas City, Detroit, and Boston all have two pitchers in the top ten in appearances.

Rzepczynski isn’t a real big deal, because he’s a LOOGY (left-handed one out guy) and many of his appearances are to face one or two batters, like last night when he came in to get David Ortiz out.

However, the heavy use of Shaw and Allen will come with a price. Francona admitted after last night’s win over the Red Sox that he shouldn’t have used Shaw, who was in his third consecutive game, and has thrown close to 100 pitches over the last seven days.

To be fair, none of the three are averaging over an inning per appearance, but you have to figure in warming up as well. All of that takes a toll on a reliever’s arm.

The only other bullpen guys Francona seems to feel confident with are veteran right-hander Scott Atchison and another LOOGY, Josh Outman.

The former started the year as a kind of mop up man, but his effectiveness in that role has earned himself opportunities with the game on the line.

That leaves Axford, who has had difficulty throwing strikes (17 walks in 21-2/3 innings), Carlos Carrasco, sent to the ‘pen after struggling as a starter, and the revolving door guy (Mark Lowe, Nick Hagadone) sitting around collecting dust if the Indians are winning.

Granted many managers deploy the relief personnel the same way, using certain guys with a lead, the rest get used when losing, but Francona has used Allen and Shaw in close games with the Tribe losing, trying to keep them in the game.

Also, the length the starters are giving the skipper is not helping the situation. It would be one thing if the starting pitcher went into the seventh, so Tito could use Shaw one day and Allen the next, but many times he has to use both to put the contest in the victory column.

That’s why GM Chris Antonetti needs to get the manager more arms he can trust, or another starter who can pitch deep into games.

If it doesn’t happen soon, the bullpen, which has been a mainstay for the Indians over the past few years, will simply run out of gas, and the house of cards which is the Tribe pitching staff will completely implode.

Not Many Solutions for Tribe Problems

The Cleveland Indians are struggling.

Optimistic people will tell you they are only 3-1/2 games out of a wild card spot, thanks to the bunched up American League standings, but watching them play tells you it doesn’t look like they can put together any kind of winning streak soon.

The defense is atrocious, the hitting is mostly weak, and right now, three of their starting pitchers have an ERA of over 5.00.

That isn’t exactly a recipe for success.

The past weekend series against Oakland can be set aside in this discussion because it could just be a matter of playing a team when they are red-hot, which the A’s are. Still, the Indians’ difficulties have been going on all season long.

Are their any solutions for GM Chris Antonetti and manager Terry Francona?

The simple answer is not really. The Tribe needs the veteran players with track records to start playing to those career numbers. Because there is no immediate help in the farm system and Antonetti isn’t the type of GM to make rash deals.

This lineup isn’t scoring runs and it probably isn’t going to as long as Carlos Santana bats .150 and Nick Swisher bats .200. Those two players have to get it going.

As for the people who want the latter out of here, Swisher has no trade value right now with the way he is hitting and playing defense, and his expensive contract.

One move Francona can make is to start moving Swisher off of first base where his defense has been terrible to be nice. Put Santana back at first, a position he is more familiar with, because perhaps learning a new position has affected the switch-hitter’s batting.

Getting Jason Kipnis back from the disabled list will no doubt help the hitting, although Mike Aviles has done a fine job at 2B in his absence. With Kipnis back, Aviles can go back to the part-time role he excels at.

After a hot start, he has slumped a bit, which is the norm for the veteran. He hits best in a limited role.

The Indians consider Jesus Aguilar a marginal prospect, but his right-handed bat is needed by the big club, which is overloaded in terms of guys who swing from the left side.

As for the pitching staff, Trevor Bauer is getting the start tonight, replacing Danny Salazar. However, Zack McAllister and Justin Masterson need to start pitching better as well.

The struggles of the starting rotation are definitely affecting the bullpen, which is starting to show signs of wear and tear.

If something happens to one of the starters, and Masterson is looking like a guy with a sore arm (loss of velocity and command), right now, Salazar is the only option, and he did not pitch well in his first AAA start.

Losing Scott Kazmir and Ubaldo Jimenez without replacing either one in the off-season has robbed the organization of its depth at starting pitcher.

So, there aren’t many alternatives except to play better. No one wants to hear that among the fans, but we can’t see any blockbuster deals on the horizon, mostly because the Tribe doesn’t have anyone with huge market value.

Asdrubal Cabrera is an above average major league shortstop and Francisco Lindor is Cleveland’s best prospect, but the former is a free agent at the end of this season, so you won’t get much in return.

If you deal anyone else, there isn’t a player to replace him.

That’s what happens when you don’t draft well for a decade.

So, Tribe fans have to hope the veterans get back to their usual levels or it will be a long summer.

Either way, it’s not the best scenario if you are a baseball fan in Cleveland.

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 Versatility Important to Team Success

When Eric Wedge managed the Indians, many fans thought his ideal team would consist of players who could all play every position on the field. He loved versatility.

His most noted experiment involved trying to make Ryan Garko, a college catcher, who quite frankly had no speed whatsoever into an outfielder, playing him in both LF and RF.

He used Casey Blake, a third baseman by trade, at 1B and in the outfield.

He loved guys like Chris Gimenez, who could catch and play other positions, and when then-GM Mark Shapiro traded for Mark DeRosa, he had to be ecstatic.

The problem for Wedge was he tried to make young players, who were playing everyday (Garko) play other spots, and the guys like Gimenez are marginal major league players at best.

We say this because if you look at the current Indians’ roster, they have a bunch of players who can play multiple positions.

The difference is Terry Francona’s team is littered with guys who have performed in that role for most of their major league careers, and in most cases, have flourished moving around the field and not being in the lineup everyday.

The main players on Francona’s bench are veterans Ryan Raburn and Mike Aviles. Raburn can play the corner outfield spots as well as both infield corner spots and even 2B in a pinch.

Aviles can play all of the infield spots and even played a few games in LF last season.

And although neither of them will get 500 at bats in a season, when they get around 300 plate appearances in a season, they are solid big league hitters.

Everyone points out that Raburn will likely not be as productive as he was last season (901 OPS in 243 at bats), but his career average is .258 with 10 HRs per year and a respectable 762 OPS.

Aviles is a career .273 hitter and gets around 8 homers per year.

Francona was a master last year of putting players like Aviles and Raburn in situations where they would be productive, and there is no reason to think the same won’t be true in 2014.

Now, the Tribe is trying to improve the versatility of the Tribe by giving Carlos Santana some playing time at third base. While no one really believe the plan is for Santana to play full-time at the hot corner, he gives the skipper an option against a tough lefty to put Santana there instead of Lonnie Chisenhall.

The difference in the Santana conversion and those of the Wedge era is that the player went to Francona and the front office and wanted to make the move instead of being a full-time DH.

This way, the former and current back up catcher can play a day or two at first base, allowing Nick Swisher a day off or a day at DH, maybe a day at third, and catch one game to give Yan Gomes a day off.

If a young player isn’t on board with the move, then it doesn’t have as good a chance of succeeding. Besides, Santana was a third baseman in the minor leagues, so he’s played the position before.

It’s a tribute to the locker room that Francona and the front office have crafted that Santana wanted to make this move.

Watching this move from his view as an ESPN analyst, Eric Wedge is surely envious.

Tribe Bats Need to Pick It Up

The Cleveland Indians are entering a key part of their schedule starting tonight when the Twins come in for a three game series at Progressive Field.

Those are the only home games the Tribe will play until Labor Day, when the Orioles come in, and in between, the Indians visit Atlanta and Detroit for three game series, the teams with the best record in the National League and second best mark in the AL, respectively.

When the Orioles depart Cleveland on September 4^th, we should have a pretty good idea whether or not all 162 games on the schedule will be meaningful for Terry Francona’s squad.

To get through these dozen games, the Tribe will need to start scoring runs.

While the Wahoo’s have a 10-10 record for the month, they have done so scoring just 71 runs in that span, an average of 3.5 per night.

Teams that score that way on an everyday basis just don’t have a lot of success.

The White Sox are last in the American League in scoring, crossing the plate an average of 3.74 times per contest. They have the second worst record in the junior circuit at 52-74, and over the last 20 games, Cleveland isn’t even scoring at that level.

At some point, the bats have to wake up and starting tonight would be very nice.

Since the Tribe still ranks fourth in the league in runs scored at 4.60 per night, the law of averages says there should be a bushel of runs coming soon.

It would be very odd to score almost five times a game for the first 117 games and then only get 3.5 for the balance of the season.

Odd, but not impossible.

There are some encouraging signs, like Nick Swisher’s sudden power burst, hitting four bombs this month, his second best calendar month of 2013. He hit five in May.

Still, during August only three players are hitting over .250: Yan Gomes, Mike Aviles, and Ryan Raburn.

While Gomes has been getting more playing time as of late because he is hitting, you would have to say that none of this trio are regulars, meaning the guys who are playing on a day in, day out basis simply have to pick it up.

Some of the numbers are straight out ugly—

Lonnie Chisenhall: 6 for 44 (.136), 1 HR, 3 RBI
Asdrubal Cabrera: 12 for 66 (.182), 1 HR, 6 RBI and he had a decent trip
Carlos Santana: 14 for 71 (.197), 3 HR, 6 RBI
Michael Bourn: 18 for 82 (.220), 1 HR, 5 RBI, 5 SB with a whopping 25 strikeouts

And they aren’t taking walks like they did earlier in the season, either. Outside of Jason Kipnis (10), Swisher (9), and Santana (9), no one else on the roster has walked more than five times this month.

Even the usually reliable Michael Brantley is in a bit of a funk, hitting just .230 in August. He is easily the most consistent of the Tribe bats and he is struggling.

The Indians’ starting pitching has exceeded expectations for the most part, and although they have had some hiccups, it has been solid.

And even if that continues, the offense has to start producing more runs if the Tribe wants to stay in the race through Game 162.

It’s time for the bats to pick up their share of the load.