Tag: prince fielder

Tribe Needs Five Players to Come Through in 2014

The Cleveland Indians will open their season less than a week from today and they are pretty much the same team that lost the wild card game against Tampa, 4-0.

The question is will that be enough again this season?

A lot probably depends on the other teams in the Central Division.

The Tigers seems to not be as strong as they were last season, losing Prince Fielder, Jhonny Peralta, and Doug Fister, plus they have suffered a rash of injuries in spring training.

However, they still have Justin Verlander, Max Sherzer, and Anibal Sanchez at the top of their rotation, perhaps the best 1-2-3 combination in the major leagues.

The Royals stayed in the race until the middle of September and their young core of talent is starting to mature. They’ve also added 2B Omar Infante, leadoff hitter Nori Aoki from Milwaukee, and starting pitcher Jason Vargas.

If ever Kansas City is going to make the leap into the playoffs, this looks to be the season.

While the Royals were adding to the roster, the Indians lost two starting pitchers from last year’s squad, Ubaldo Jimenez and Scott Kazmir, who the Tribe is trying to replace from within.

We don’t think the Indians will win 92 games again this season, but we also see them in contention because we don’t believe any team in the Central will win more than 90 games.

It will be a three team race with the White Sox hanging around the fringe, with the Tigers, Indians, and Royals all winning between 84 and 88 games.

For the Tribe, their success depends on better seasons from their two big free agent signings a year ago, Nick Swisher and Michael Bourn, and a free agent to be at the end of this season in Asdrubal Cabrera.

All three had down years in ’13, and an adjustment to their career averages would certainly help the offense that finished 4th in the league in runs scored. They will need the extra production because it is doubtful that Ryan Raburn will duplicate what he did last year.

Last year, the Indians jumped into contention because of their pitching which finished the year 7th in team ERA as new pitching coach Mickey Calloway performed magic with his young starters and also salvaged Jimenez’ career.

The front office is asking Calloway to do it again, putting more pressure on him to duplicate the success Corey Kluber had last season, and to bring along fireballing phenom Danny Salazar, and making him a successful starter for an entire season.

Because if the Tribe wants to get back to the post-season this fall, the starting pitching needs to be better than it was last summer. And that means Kluber and Salazar have to perform at a high level.

Justin Masterson will give Terry Francona 200 innings as usual. Carlos Carrasco, if he indeed starts the year in the rotation, is the wild card, capable of winning 10 or more games, but he could also be in the bullpen by May.

The Indians need Kluber and Salazar to be consistent; giving the ballclub quality starts throughout the season. If they can, Cleveland will contend.

If they can’t the organization will be scrambling for replacements. Josh Tomlin looks like the 2011 version of himself, but is Trevor Bauer ready to take a regular turn in the rotation?

They would be the next pitchers up.

The key to whether or not this will be a fun summer at Progressive Field depends the how the Tribe’s young starters will perform. In what should be a competitive division, that could make all the difference.

KM

Tribe Still Control Post-Season Fate

It’s been a tough week so far for the Cleveland Indians.

They lost four games to the division leading Detroit Tigers, two of them in excruciating fashion, losing a 2-0 lead in the ninth inning of the series opener on Monday night, and then losing in 13 frames on Wednesday on a Prince Fielder double, 6-5.

Oh, and they also lost Corey Kluber, who pitched 7-1/3 shutout innings on Monday and was having an excellent season to date, for four to six weeks with a sprained middle finger.

They also designated Mark Reynolds for assignment yesterday.  Reynolds hit .301 with 8 HR and 22 RBI in April, and since has batted just .187 with 7 HR and 26 batted in.   It has been clear for the past month that skipper Terry Francona lost confidence in the former Oriole and Diamondback, so it wasn’t a totally unexpected move.

Many fans, mostly the fair weather football minded ones, are writing off the rest of the baseball season.

To be sure, if the team doesn’t put this week behind them, the Indians will fall out of the race soon and the rest of the summer will be about the Browns and football season.

However, this isn’t the 2011 and 2012 version of the Tribe and Francona is now the manager, so it is doubtful that will happen.

Why?  Because the Indians have a lot to play for, namely a berth in the post-season tournament.

Even after the debacle at Progressive Field the past four days, the Tribe is just three games out of a wild card spot, trailing the incumbent Texas Rangers and Baltimore, with the Royals right on their heels.

Keep in mind there are still 47 games left on the schedule, plenty of time to pass both teams.

The upcoming schedule will be tough to be sure.  After this weekend series vs. the Angels, Francona’s crew plays 18 of the next 21 games on the road, playing possible playoff teams like Oakland, Atlanta, and Detroit (ugh!) once again.  They also visit Minnesota and Los Angeles too, with the Twins visiting for the only three home games in this stretch.

If the Tribe can pull together and play like they had been playing prior to these four games, and there really isn’t reason they can’t, they will have a good shot at a wild card appearance.

Here are some things that could happen in the next couple of weeks–

First, the Reynolds’ assignment could be a precursor to the addition of a bat to bolster the offense.  GM Chris Antonetti is said to be looking for another bat, and could make a move soon.  Remember, anybody than can bring more production than Reynolds gave the team over the last three months will help the club.

Zack McAllister has not pitched as well since returning to the rotation after his finger injury as he had before he went on the disabled list, and if that continues, don’t be surprised to see Daisuke Matsuzaka get a shot for a few starts.

The former Red Sox pitcher has done very well in the last month at Columbus, and the front office may want to see what he can offer the big club.

There is no question the Tigers’ series was a huge disappointment, but the Tribe can’t and won’t let it linger.  They still have a legitimate chance at the post-season.

Now, it’s just a matter of putting up as many wins as they can.

KM