Offense Has Replaced Rotation As Guardians’ Chief Issue

All season long, we have worried about the starting pitching of the Cleveland Guardians. Is the rotation good enough? Is it providing enough innings to protect the bullpen? Will they be able to overcome the injury to Shane Bieber and the ineffectiveness of Logan Allen and Triston McKenzie?

At this point, the rotation is what it is, a group of pitchers who hopefully can give the team an effective six innings of work and turn it over to a dominant bullpen.

Since the All-Star break, the Guardians have turned into team streak, winning five in a row, losing seven straight, followed by another five-game winning streak, and now a three-game losing skein.

Unless Matthew Boyd and Alex Cobb start pitching like Sam McDowell and Corey Kluber, this is how the Guardians’ starting pitching will be going forward. And now, Cobb is going to miss time with a broken fingernail.

However, the offense is sputtering. In April, the Guardians were a surprise with the bats, averaging 5.24 runs per game. They were still going strong in May, scoring 5.04 runs. In June, that figure dropped to 4.56 and in July, it dipped further to 3.36.

This month, that figure has improved slightly to 4.23 runs per contest, but overall, since the All-Star break, they have scored 3.76 runs/game. The team batting average is .222 (compared to .243 prior) the on base percentage is .279 (.316 before), and the slugging percentage has dropped from .405 to .368.

The hitting has become too reliant on the home run, mostly because the batting average is subpar, and no one seems to be drawing walks either. Pitchers seemed to have learned the best way to attack the Cleveland lineup is to throw a lot of changeups, and there hasn’t seemed to be adjustments.

It seems you can count the number of hits going to the opposite field on one hand over the last week. For us, it seems like it is just at bat after at bat trying to pull pitches on the outside half on the plate, resulting in weak grounders to second base and/or shortstop.

Individually, the numbers are equally ugly. The only two players who have OPS over 750 are Jose Ramirez and Jhonkensy Noel, and the latter is still striking out in roughly one-third of his at bats.

Only Josh Naylor has an OPS above 700 at 746. Every other single Guardians’ player is below 700, and the league average is 704.

Coincidentally, that trio are also the only Cleveland players with on base percentages over .300. Cleveland ranks in the bottom five in batting average, walks, and OPS since the break, and is 22nd out of 30 teams in runs scored.

They’ve been shut out four times in that span.

Simply put, you have to score runs in the regular season, and the Guardians have scored two or fewer runs in 11 of the 29 games played since the All-Star Game. Amazingly, they’ve won three of those contests.

They put up three runs in an additional five games, meaning in over half the games played after the break, they have put up three runs or less. And again, that’s a tough way to win baseball games.

Earlier, when they were scoring more runs, the team seemed to work counts and draw more walks. This is reflected in the monthly OBP as a team, which are as follows in chronological order: .321, .312, .322, .285, .286.

Perhaps playing guys who will take a walk would help. We’ve already advocated to bring back Angel Martinez, whose .306 OBP (12 walks) would rank 5th on the team if he were called back up.

This is not a team that can sit back and wait for the home run. They have to get guys on base and move them. That’s been lacking for the past six weeks or so, and if they can’t start scoring runs, it will be tough to hold off Minnesota and Kansas City.

Trading Good Players, Claiming Not To Have Money Is Nothing New In Cleveland Baseball

We have often said how long we have been a fan of the Cleveland Guardians, we go back to the mid 1960s and the days of Sam McDowell, Max Alvis, Rocky Colavito, and Leon Wagner.

And much like today, those teams were built around pitching while scoring runs was definitely a struggle.

It also dawned on us that for most of the 58 years we have been a fan of Cleveland baseball teams, they haven’t been free with a dollar bill.

Early on in my fandom, it was a terrible park to watch baseball and mediocre teams that drove attendance down. The Indians didn’t draw one million fans from 1959, when they finished 2nd in the American League to 1974, when they were in contention into August.

Their best record in that span was in ’65 when they went 87-75.

Of course, the National Pastime as a sport wasn’t in the great position it is today. There was one national telecast of baseball each week, and as for local TV, maybe as many as 40 games were broadcast on a local station in a season.

The financial situation led to trading many good, young players such as Graig Nettles, Chris Chambliss, Buddy Bell, Dennis Eckersley, Len Barker and others, usually for prospects. Does this sound familiar to anyone?

This went on until the Jacobs Brothers, Richard and David, bought the team from the estate of Steve O’Neill in 1986. The new owners immediately saw the terrible lease situation the team was in with The Stadium Corporation, run by Browns’ owner Art Modell, and set out to get their own ballpark.

When then Jacobs Field opened in 1994, fans flocked toward the new building in record numbers. Of course, it helped when the Indians were good for the first time since the late 50’s, and the sellout streak and more network television cash allowed Cleveland to be a factor in free agency, signing players like Eddie Murray, Dennis Martinez, Orel Hershiser, Roberto Alomar, and Jack McDowell.

Most of them helped the team reach two World Series and qualify for the post-season in six out of seven seasons.

Cleveland baseball attendance figures reached the three million mark from 1995 to 2001 and hit 2.6 million in 2002 when the team dipped below the .500 plateau.

Ironically (or not perhaps), the Jacobs family sold the team to the Dolan family at the end of the 1999 season.

Outside of that stretch when Jacobs Field opened until the sale of the team to the current owners, the folks in charge of running the operation have told us they cannot compete financially.

However, Progressive Field is being renovated, updated if you will, but it is still a great place to watch a baseball game, certainly better than Municipal Stadium. And there isn’t a landlord siphoning concession revenue and the like from the Guardians like there was in the 70’s and 80’s.

And we understand the local television deals for the bigger markets have exploded giving teams in large metropolitan areas more cash to spend, but that shouldn’t affect how much the Guardians can spend.

Various remodeling projects at the ballpark don’t allow the Guardians to draw three million fans anymore. The most they can do if they sellout every game would be a little over 2.8 million.

The conditions are very different from when we grew up with the baseball team in Cleveland, but still, all we seem to discuss is keeping the payroll low. The franchise still has to trade its best players when the time comes for free agency. Only Jose Ramirez stayed, but he left money on the table to do so.

Like it or not, that’s the reputation the Guardians have nationally. It’s why every very good player that plays here is involved in rumors by the national media.

The more things change, the more it has stayed the same, we guess.

First Step To Help Guardians’ Attendance? Have Fun!

The Cleveland Guardians’ organization is very good in soliciting opinions. As a former season ticket holder (we guess), we are on their mailing list and we get surveys all the time regarding our feelings, usually about the experience at Progressive Field.

We have a confession too. We are probably not the demographic they really want to hear from. At the end of each questionnaire, we are asked for our age. Let’s just say, our favorite player growing up was Sudden Sam McDowell, so we bet our answers go into the “he’s get off my lawn” guy file.

We are often critical about the “game experience” at the corner of Carnegie and Ontario, mostly because (we know, this is silly) we go downtown to watch a baseball game.

Most of the surveys have to do with the different types of food or beverages at the ballpark, although recent ones have dealt with the renovations which will occur over the next few years at Progressive Field and the latest had to do with game experience and the franchise name change, a bit late on that one, no?

The attendance for Cleveland baseball spiked under two separate times: The late 90’s when the team was dominant and the Browns did not exist, and the late 1940’s when yes, the franchise won its last World Series (1948) and it was owned by Bill Veeck, who was in touch with things people liked and was willing to take risks.

Many times in sports, the answer is right in front of you.

For instance, the Browns were successful in the late 50’s through 1970 with a running attack led by the great Jim Brown and Leroy Kelly. The current edition of the team is following that path with Nick Chubb and Kareem Hunt (no, we didn’t forget D’Ernest Johnson).

The late 80’s Browns’ defense had two shutdown corners. The current organization is trying to do the same, although it’s a plus having Myles Garrett.

We doubt the Guardians’ front office can put together a lineup with potentially six Hall of Famers (Jim Thome and Eddie Murray are already there, and you can make very good cases for Albert Belle, Kenny Lofton, and Omar Vizquel, while Manny Ramirez would be there if not for PEDs), so why not go the Veeck route in an effort to boost attendance.

Veeck spoke to the fans, asked them what they liked and what they didn’t, and then put that into action. Instead of announcing giveaway days and special promotions, he just did them, so fans didn’t know when they showed up if someone special was going to happen or not.

We greeting fans when they arrived and spoke to them as they departed. He was like a host at a party who wanted to make sure everyone had a good time.

We understand Paul Dolan doesn’t seem to be comfortable doing this sort of thing, but he could hire people who can do it.

This is not to say all of the folks who work at Progressive Field are uncaring robots. Many enjoy the people who attend the games, but it has to be universal.

Once you create fun, then allow people to experience it, lower ticket prices, which are among the highest in the sport. Get rid of dynamic ticket prices. Have ticket deals for the times when the weather is less than ideal in Cleveland.

Alternative jerseys? Fans love them, Cleveland hasn’t done this. When was the last time the franchise celebrated a former player by putting them in the team’s Hall of Fame? Those are just simple things? Why doesn’t the organization do them?

We have said it many times over the past few years, there is interest in the major league baseball team here, the television rating show it. Why don’t folks come downtown? That’s what the ownership should be trying to find out?

It’s not rocket science, but it is about fun. Make it fun to attend a Guardians’ game.

Maybe the front office doesn’t know what fun is?

Memories Of One Last Indians’ Game

Saturday night, we made our final trek to Progressive Field to watch the Cleveland Indians. Yes, we know the team isn’t going anywhere, and there will major league baseball on the shores of Lake Erie in 2022, but as we headed down to the ballpark, there was a melancholy feeling here.

We thought about the games we attended as a kid, and joked about taking the rapid downtown from West Park before we were able to drive, something we would never let our kids do today. It was no big deal back then.

Our group talked about where we used to park when the new park first opened and attending World Series games in 1995 and 1997, and reminisced about how we couldn’t believe the Indians, who were mediocre as long as we remembered, finally made it to the Series, something that was just a TV show in October.

We were handed rally towels as we entered Progressive Field that said “Let’s Go Tribe”, curious indeed considering the upcoming name change.

We settled into our seats down the left field line, near the “Home Run Porch”, fine seats indeed. Our friends thanked us for the choice, but we didn’t want to sit in the upper deck for this one.

The ballpark wasn’t really enthusiastic when the game began, and there were many at the game from Chicago, doing the weekend thing of seeing the White Sox and the Bears in our town on the same weekend.

However, Jose Ramirez shot some energy into the crowd with a two run HR in the first, and the “Jose, Jose, Jose” chants were heard all around us. After that, it was more about taking in the atmosphere for our last Indians’ game.

A lot of jerseys were worn by fans, many of them bearing the name of “Lindor”, a symbol to us of an ownership that has never connected with the fans, despite putting a winning team on the field for most of the last eight years.

It was also discussed that the ownership trading the beloved “Chief Wahoo” mascot to get the All Star Game in 2019, and probably dealt the name “Indians” to get the state government to pony up some funds to renovate Progressive Field and extend the lease.

The best throwback jersey we saw was a 1970 pinstriped jersey with the shadow lettering and numerals with #48 on it, the number of our first favorite player, Sam McDowell.

We talked about the surveys the organization sends to fans talking about ticket plans, renovations to Progressive Field, etc. and how no one ever hears from the organization about responses. We laughed about the questions, asking essentially, why we go to the ballpark. Our answer: “to watch a baseball game”.

Sometimes it seems like the organization is looking for a secret answer as to why people don’t come down to the place formerly known as “The Jake”. Sometimes, it’s a simple as talking to fans, real baseball fans, to find out what’s missing. That’s what the great Bill Veeck would do.

As for the new name, we all agreed the ownership could’ve handled it better. They could have picked three or four names and had the fans vote on it, including them in the process. Another way the disconnect could have been narrowed.

It could be part of the problem with the new name is the fans feel it was forced upon them. They had no say.

We looked at the giant scoreboard in behind the left field bleachers with sadness, knowing “Indians” would either be gone or replaced with “Guardians” the next time we were at the park.

At the 7th inning stretch, the crowd seemed to increase the volume when the line “root, root, root for the INDIANS” was reached, seeming to say they weren’t happy with the change.

We walked around the ballpark one last time, knowing there will be big league baseball there in 2022, but also aware the park will look different, with the renovations starting this winter.

Again, we understand why the name was changed in our heads, but that doesn’t mean it hurts our hearts as fans. Memories will still be with the Indians, the Tribe, and the Chief. Heck, every spring, stations play Major League and Major League 2, which of course, feature the Cleveland INDIANS!

So, the name isn’t going to go away. Nor will it be ignored.

The elementary school and church we attended as a kid has changed its name too. But not for the people who attended it. We are sure that’s how it will be for Cleveland baseball fans in the future.

Our First Tribe Hero: Sudden Sam McDowell.

With Major League Baseball in limbo with the coronavirus, we decided to take a look into the past of the Cleveland Indians, looking at the players who got us started in loving the game of baseball.

As a left-handed kid growing up in the 1960’s, our first Tribe hero was the hard, throwing southpaw “Sudden” Sam McDowell.

McDowell made his Major League debut as an 18-year-old (he would be 19 in a few days) in 1962, throwing 6-1/3 scoreless innings against the Minnesota Twins, whose lineup included future Hall of Famer Harmon Killebrew (0 for 2, 3 walks) and future manager Billy Martin.

He didn’t come up to stay though until 1964, when he made 24 starts for the Indians, going 11-6 with a 2.77 ERA. He struck out 177 hitters in 173 innings, but also walked 100 at age 21.

His first big season, (and the first year we can recall) came the following season, in 1965. The lefty went 17-11 and led the AL in ERA at 2.18, and also led the league in strikeouts with 325 and in walks with 132.

For today’s stat conscious people, Sudden Sam also led the Junior Circuit in ERA+, FIP (Fielding Independent Pitching), hits per 9 innings, and home runs per 9 innings.

He made his first All Star team, the first of six he would make with the Indians.

You have to remember, at this point, the Indians were just six years from their last year of contention (1959) and 11 seasons from their last World Series appearance (1954) and 17 years from their last World Series title in 1948.

McDowell was the first star of what was supposed to be the next wave of great pitching put together by the Cleveland front office. Baseball folks have said the 1964 Portland Beavers’ pitching staff, the Tribe’s then AAA affiliate, might have been the greatest minor league staff of all time.

It featured McDowell (early in the season), Luis Tiant (229 MLB wins), Tommy John (288), Sonny Siebert (140), and another hard thrower in Steve Hargan, who stayed in the bigs until 1977.

1966 started the same for the big lefty, throwing back-to-back one hitters on April 25th (Kansas City A’s) and May 1st (White Sox), fanning 18 and walking 11 in the two wins. He was 4-0 with a 1.55 ERA after the second of the gems.

He developed some arm problems that plagued him through ’66 and ’67, but still led the league in strikeouts and made the All Star team in ’66. But his ERA rose to 3.85 in ’67.

He rebounded in 1968, the “Year of the Pitcher” when he combined with Tiant to lead the Indians to a 3rd place finish, the highest the franchise would have until 1994, when they moved into Jacobs Field.

Sudden Sam led the AL in strikeouts each season from ’68-’70, the latter year compiling his only 20 win season (20-12, 2.92 ERA). He also led the league in FIP in the latter two seasons, as well as in innings pitched in 1970, with 305.

At 27 years old, that was his last dominant year. After throwing 269, 285, and then 305 frames in a three year span, his numbers started to decline, except for walks.

He was dealt to San Francisco for Gaylord Perry after ’71, but never won more than 10 games or pitch more than 164 innings for the Giants. He wound up pitching for the Yankees and Pirates before hanging them up in ’75 at age 32.

Our first baseball hero was no longer an Indian. Our first education that players don’t stay forever.

Shoulder and back issues plagued him the rest of his career.

McDowell had problems with alcoholism throughout his career as well. He finally sought help in 1980 and became a counselor helping others with the disease.

Sudden Sam ranks 14th on the Indians all time list in WAR, ranking between Larry Doby and Early Wynn, and is 5th among pitchers behind Bob Feller, Stan Coveleski, Mel Harder, and Addie Joss. He was named to the team’s Hall of Fame in 2006.

All those pitchers on the ’64 Portland team? Siebert was moved early in ’69 in the Ken Harrelson deal, Tiant after the ’69 season, John, of course in ’65 for Rocky Colavito, and Hargan in ’72 after a series of arm troubles.

Even then, the Tribe couldn’t keep good players around for a long time.

Today’s Baseball From An “Old Guy” Perspective

We were discussing the Indians’ recent winning streak with a group of friends the other night, and the talk turned to the state of baseball in general and how different the game is now than when we were growing up.

Now, before you go further, without giving away our ages, we remember when the Tribe wore the vested uniforms with the red shirts underneath, and the strength of the team was the starting rotation of Sam McDowell, Sonny Siebert, and Luis Tiant.

True confession, we aren’t “get off my lawn” guys either. In fact, several of us knew about OPS and sabermetrics for over 30 years, and respect that view of the game.

The chat started with RBIs, which has been reduced in value as a statistic in today’s game along with batting average, and the lack of “RBI men” in today’s game.

We didn’t know who even led the league in ribbies right now, because no one talks about it. It’s all about OPS and slugging percentage, etc.

(The current leader is Pittsburgh’s Josh Bell with 98, followed by Freddie Freeman and Eduardo Escobar with 96. Rafael Devers, who tortured the Tribe this week, leads the AL with 94).

We know people think now that runs batted in is a product of getting more opportunities to do so, but we watched Manny Ramirez drive in 165, the most by anyone in the big leagues since 1938.

Yes, yes, Ramirez batted behind Kenny Lofton, Omar Vizquel, and Roberto Alomar, who got on base a ton.

But Ramirez put the ball in play a lot of times to knock in runs with ground balls, fly balls, and base hits. He did hit for a .333 average that season.

We recently read that five worst home run to RBI ratios all time are held by active players. That comes from the notion now that strikeouts are fine, and putting the ball in play with a runner on third with less than two out is passe.

We still consider guys who hit for a high batting average very good hitters. Heck, we had one with the Indians for the past few years, and Michael Brantley ranks 5th in MLB in that stat at .328. But, those guys get overlooked because they don’t walk enough.

A similar case can be made for the Mets’ Jeff McNeil, who didn’t get to the bigs until he was 26 despite a .311 batting average in the minors, because he didn’t walk or drive the ball.

We commented that the Red Sox lineup is relentless because they have put together a lineup where everyone, save for CF Jackie Bradley Jr., hits .280 or better.

By contrast, the Tribe’s lineup has improved, but Terry Francona can only put three such players in his batting order: Frankie Lindor, Carlos Santana, and Tyler Naquin.

The Indians have put a premium on contact in the past few drafts, looking for players who are hitters first, and figuring they can teach driving the ball, much like Lindor and Jose Ramirez.

The problem in our eyes is the number of hitters who swing for the fences that probably shouldn’t be. A player like Rougned Odor with Texas comes to mind.

Odor has belted 69 homers since the beginning of the 2017 season, but has hit .204 in ’17 and currently this season. Wouldn’t he be a better player for the Rangers hitting less home runs and getting on base more often? He has a lifetime .292 on base percentage.

The game has changed for sure, but we aren’t sure it’s for the better. Striking out used to be embarrassing. Maybe it should be again.

Best Tribe Era Ever: 1994–???

The first baseball year we can remember is 1965. As a lifelong Clevelander, our dad was a fan of the Indians, and we have never changed allegiances.

It wasn’t easy to stay loyal.

In that ’65 season, the Tribe finished 81-81 in fifth place in the ten team American League. Little did we know that was kind of the norm for the first 29 years we followed the Cleveland Indians.

1968 was the year of the pitcher, and it was also the best finish by Cleveland between the time we started being aware of the team and when they moved into Jacobs Field in 1994.

The Tribe went 86-75 in the last season of the true pennant race, when you won your league and went to the World Series, or you went home.

Even then, Cleveland finished 16-1/2 games behind the Tigers, so they weren’t really in contention.

The closest to being in the race we experienced was 1974, when the Indians were in first place as late as July 12th, and were just two games out on August 6th.

However, they went 20-35 the rest of the way and finished 4th, 14 games out of first.

The Indians had good players, guys like Sam McDowell, Luis Tiant, Buddy Bell, Ray Fosse, Bert Blyleven, Graig Nettles, and Chris Chambliss, but of the franchise’s top 20 players of all time in WAR, only McDowell played in Cleveland between 1965 and 1990.

Remember, the franchise played in three World Series in its history from 1901 through 1994.

Since the move out of old Municipal Stadium, everything has changed. First, the Tribe has appeared in three World Series in the last 22 seasons.

We’ve seen great players, such as Jim Thome, who likely will be the first Cleveland player who spent the majority of his career as an Indian to be elected to the Hall of Fame since Lou Boudreau in 1971.

Other great talents wearing a Tribe uniform in that time frame are Manny Ramirez, Albert Belle, Omar Vizquel, and Kenny Lofton, and it continues today to Francisco Lindor, Jose Ramirez, Michael Brantley, and Corey Kluber.

We have already said if Lindor plays the majority of his career in Cleveland, he will be regarded as the best player ever to where an Indians uniform, and Kluber may rank behind just Hall of Famers Bob Feller and Bob Lemon as the best starting pitchers in the Tribe history.

There were no players of that caliber when we watched the Indians growing up.

Since 1995, we have seen ten teams (including this year) that will advance to the playoffs. We understand baseball is different now, they split to two divisions after expansion in 1969, and to three divisions in ’94.

And while just two teams made the post-season before ’69, now ten teams in the majors advance. However, outside of the major market behemoths in Boston and New York, the Cleveland Indians have made the post-season more often than any other American League team since 1994.

That’s a tribute to the organization and it’s really incredible considering that from 2002 to 2012, a period of 11 years, they made the playoffs just once.

So, to older fans, these are the glory days for the Cleveland Indians. Great players, very good teams, excellent organization.

There is only one thing missing…eliminating the shadow of 1948, currently the longest World Championship drought in the game.