On Perez and the Cavs Getting the First Pick

Just a couple of observations on the Cleveland sports scene—

Chris Perez and Twitter

The Indians’ closer had a tough series against Seattle, allowing two home runs on Saturday to turn a 4-2 lead into a tie game, which the Tribe won in the bottom of the ninth, and he allowed another bomb on Monday, which gave the Mariners a lead in a contest Cleveland also won.

Apparently, that gave the fans that follow Perez on Twitter to start blasting him. A little Internet muscle for those fans who wouldn’t say those things to his face.

This isn’t about Perez’ performance, which has generally been very good since assuming the closer role in 2010. Although, we will say that a closer who gives up home runs doesn’t last long and CP has given up four (five if we count the blown call vs. Oakland) in 16 innings, not a very good ratio.

To be fair, those are the only runs he has allowed this season.

We don’t follow any professional athletes for this reason. First, they are people just like us, and whatever comments they want to make on the social networking site aren’t more interesting because they are professional athletes.

And second, there is no temptation to make stupid comments to those players after watching a game and being upset with the outcome.

Again, these people wouldn’t say the things they tweet if they met Perez, and just because he’s an outspoken guy doesn’t mean he should be ripped to shreds or booed when he doesn’t succeed.

Actually, he speaks the truth much of the time. Fans should support this team better. They have blind loyalty to a mediocre football organization, but hold the Indians’ lack of success against them.

Whatever his performance on the field is, and regardless what he says about baseball in Cleveland, the things tweeted to Chris Perez were out of line.

Cavs Get the First Pick in the Draft

Wish we could be more excited about this news, but since there isn’t a franchise type player available this year, it’s the same feeling about having the third or fourth overall selection.

Obviously, it is better to have the first pick, because it has the most value. Perhaps another team thinks a player like Ben McLemore or Nerlens Noel is the greatest thing since sliced bread, and would be willing to deal to move up.

However, that’s probably not going to happen, but GM Chris Grant should keep his ears open to listen if anyone comes forward to trade.

The Cavs have publicly stated their intention to not be in the lottery next season, and to make that come true; they need more help than just that available in the draft.

Grant has a lot of draft picks at his disposal to help sweeten the pot. Besides their own picks, they also have first round picks from Miami and Sacramento (maybe) over the next few years.

Plus, they also have salary cap space, which with the new collective bargaining agreement is something precious to teams above the cap, who don’t want to pay a prohibitive salary cap penalty.

Having the first overall pick in a draft is valuable only if there is someone available that other teams covet.

Right now, the Cavs are like a guy trying to create a market for a $1000 bill in a room full of millionaires.

Stats Support Tribe Start

Many times in baseball, statistics do not support a team’s success or lack of it.

For example, last season, the Baltimore Orioles scored just seven more runs than they allowed, but went 93-69 in the standings. The sabermetric people would say the O’s overachieved. They did it by having an astounding 29-9 record in one run games.

This year’s Cleveland Indians are no surprise according to the numbers. Their 19-15 record is legitimate.

The Tribe’s position players are also younger than the league average at 28.4 years of age. The American League average is 29.1. And if you take grizzled veteran Jason Giambi out of the equation, Cleveland would have the fourth youngest position players in the AL, behind just Houston, Kansas City, and Baltimore.

That certainly bodes well for the future.

Even better is that the Tribe’s pitchers are the youngest in the league at 27.6 years old, compared to the AL average of 29 years of age.

The Indians average 5.06 runs per game, the second best average in the Junior Circuit, behind only division rival Detroit. They allow 4.24 runs per contest, a figure that ranks ninth, so there is still room for improvement.

We said prior to the season starting that the Wahoos needed to be in the top half of the league in both categories to be serious contenders. They are close right now, ranking 8th in ERA.

As for the other key offensive numbers, the Indians rank 4th in on base percentage, and lead the American League in slugging percentage and OPS. They are 3rd in batting average, but are fourth from the bottom in drawing walks. That is a number they will need to improve upon, as pitchers down the road may prey on their aggressiveness.

While many fans (including us) were worried about strikeouts, the Indians aren’t even in the top half of the league in striking out, ranking ninth. No Indians ranks in the ten of the league in whiffing.

The Tribe power hasn’t just been home runs (they lead the AL), but they also rank fifth in doubles and third in triples. They’ve been hitting for extra bases a lot.

As for the pitching, it has joined the hitting in feast or famine mode, being tied for the league lead in shutouts with five (with Texas, Tampa Bay, and Seattle). It says a lot about the stuff of the Indians’ pitchers that they lead the AL in allowing the least hits per nine innings. They also rank fifth in the league in strikeouts.

However, there are a couple of areas of concern. Cleveland pitchers are walking more than the average team, ranking sixth in the league in walks allowed. They also are third from the bottom in innings pitched by starters so far this year, ahead of just Houston and Minnesota. Although Terry Francona has kept 13 pitchers on the roster for much of the season, there is a fear of burning out the relief corps, which is a huge strength for this team.

This team doesn’t have any weird anomalies or getting a great deal of luck involved in a pretty good start. Francona’s bunch are playing good solid baseball. They are 8-5 in games decided by one run, another good stat. Good teams win blowout games.

Right now, the Cleveland Indians are no fluke.

Even With 4 MVPs, James Doesn’t Compare With Jordan

We understand that currently, the state of sports is based on the present and the recent past.

Many football fans think the NFL started when the Super Bowl did in the mid 1960’s. A lot of basketball fans think the NBA started when Magic Johnson and Larry Bird came into the league.

Baseball may be the one sport that still embraces its past, but most records today are compared with those of post World War II.

At least that goes back 60 years.

That’s why it is amazing to me that many hoops fans want to anoint LeBron James as the greatest to ever play the game.

For the early time since we remember, Wilt Chamberlain was the greatest player ever. Just look at the raw numbers, the man averaged 50 points per game for a full season. Today, a 50 point game is looked at as extraordinary.

Yes, Bill Russell had more rings, but he also had a better supporting cast, players like Bob Cousy, Tom Heinsohn, Sam Jones, K.C. Jones, and John Havlicek.

Wilt the Stilt wound up with two rings, both with teams ranked amongst the NBA’s best ever, the 1966-67 76ers and the 1971-72 Lakers.

Then Michael Jordan came along.

Perhaps possessing the greatest will to win ever, Jordan won six NBA titles and the next best player on any of those teams was Scottie Pippen, who in our opinion is considered a great player because he played with Jordan.

There were solid players on those teams, but no other superstar talents.

Meanwhile, Jordan never played with anyone as good as Dwyane Wade, a legitimate superstar player who led the Heat to a title with Shaquille O’Neal. Wade was the best player on that team.

Yes, Jordan won only four MVPs, but the perception at the time was the writers were tired of voting for His Airness every year.

There was no doubt who the best player in the NBA was, and at that time there were players like Charles Barkley, Karl Malone, John Stockton, Patrick Ewing, and Hakeem Olajuwon in the league. All of those guys were superstar players.

James is recognized as the best player in the league now, universally. Does today’s talent compare to the guys who competed against Jordan?

Most basketball experts would agree that Kevin Durant is the next best talent, but who’s third? Or the next five best players?

James can’t control who is playing today, but the league doesn’t have the same amount of great players in the game, as there were when Jordan was in his heyday.

While the Heat are the favorites to win this year’s NBA title and make it two straight crowns, they haven’t won it yet. And even if they do, that would give LBJ two rings to MJ’s six.

You don’t need “The Diff” on the scoreboard at Quicken Loans Arena to know that James needs four more titles to tie Jordan as leaders in the “modern era” of the game.

Heck, Kobe Bryant has five rings, although he wasn’t the best player on all five of those Laker squads.

Note: You can’t hold guys who weren’t key players on their teams who have won a similar amount of rings, like Robert Horry or Steve Kerr.

When James gets to four, then start the conversation. Until then, shut up. Michael Jordan is the greatest basketball player ever.

That’s not a slight to James, but let’s slow down the temptation to put him on the top of the heap.

Good Start, But Tribe Needs Consistency

After Saturday’s 7-3 victory over the Minnesota Twins, the Cleveland Indians completed their 27^th game, hitting the 1/6^th pole on the season.

What have we learned about this baseball team?

We have learned that the offense is about what most people figured it would be, which is a lot of feast and famine. The Indians rank fifth in the American League in runs scored, but through 27 games, they scored three runs or less in more than half of the contests (14).

On the other hand, they scored eight or more runs eight times. That leaves only five games where they scored between four and seven tallies.

That’s very inconsistent, although to be fair, they have been missing Michael Bourn for the last two weeks.

We have also learned that it appears Carlos Santana is becoming the all around hitter we thought he would be when he was called up in 2010. The switch-hitting catcher is batting .379 with six homers thus far, with an OPS of 1.160.

While it would be crazy to suggest he will end the year with those numbers, it looks like Santana is on his way to an outstanding season.

Free agent signee Mark Reynolds has also had a tremendous start, and is on his way to topping 30 HRs barring injury. He will have a period where he struggles, based on his past, but he seems to be getting better as a hitter, giving in a little bit with two strikes.

He doesn’t even lead the Tribe in striking out so far.

Asdrubal Cabrera (.222, 2 HR, 13 RBI), Jason Kipnis (.218, 2 HR, 10 RBI), and Lonnie Chisenhall (.231, 3 HR, 11 RBI) are all off to relatively slow starts, and should produce better as the season goes on, and some of the hot hitters tail off a bit.

We have learned that the Indians have quality depth in INF Mike Aviles and OF Ryan Raburn, both of whom have been very productive when called upon. Yan Gomes and Jason Giambi have contributed as well.

The bullpen has been very good as Bryan Shaw and Cody Allen have allowed Terry Francona to have five solid hard throwing right-handers at his disposal. And Rich Hill has done a good job as the ‘pen’s LOOGY (left-handed one out guy).

The starting rotation, which figured to be the club’s biggest weakness, has been strong lately, but had a shaky start.

Ubaldo Jimenez continues to be the biggest question mark, pitching well in his first start and last start, however, the three in between were brutal. At this point, Francona can’t know what he is going to get on a start-by-start basis.

The other wild card is southpaw Scott Kazmir, who has got better in each of his three starts, and looks to be a very pleasant surprise.

Zack McAllister has continued to show that he is solid, capable of keeping his team in the game in every start.

Justin Masterson was tremendous in his first five starts, but the last two have been so-so. He needs to go out there and give Francona seven quality frames on most nights.

The key going forward for the Tribe is the number of quality innings their starters can give them. They need to get to the sixth or seventh most of the time. Doing that will keep the bullpen fresh throughout the season.

The first checkpoint for the season shows the Tribe has held ground. They’ve been up and down, but they haven’t played themselves out of the race.

If they can be more consistent, both on offense and in starting pitching, it may be an enjoyable summer of baseball at Progressive Field.

Great Move by Tribe to Upgrade Bench

Much of the excitement over the fine off-season the Cleveland Indians front office had been based on getting Terry Francona to manage the squad, and the signings of free agents Nick Swisher, Mark Reynolds, Michael Bourn, and Brett Myers.

They also remade the bench, and so far those guys have come up huge in the early going for the Tribe.

With the injuries to Bourn and Swisher, and remember Carlos Santana and Jason Kipnis missed some time as well, the bench guys have received playing time and have been productive.

Mike Aviles is tied for third in RBIs and Ryan Raburn in sixth on the club despite having played less than many of the players Francona writes in the batting order everyday.

And what may be even bigger, they understand their role.

Gone are the days of having to play Aaron Cunningham, Brett Lillibridge, and Vinny Rottino when a starter can’t go.

GM Chris Antonetti did an excellent job of getting veterans, who understand their job and their role, to come off the bench. These guys don’t need everyday at bats to stay sharp.

On the recent five game winning streak, Aviles had a five RBI game vs. Kansas City, and Raburn reincarnated Babe Ruth slugging a pair of homers in back to back games, and getting 12 hits in 14 at bats.

That’s getting help from the bench.

It helps that both Aviles and Raburn are 32 years old. They’ve been around the game for a while and they aren’t looking for a chance to play every day.

Aviles was the Red Sox’ starting shortstop last season, but his career shows he’s been much better when he doesn’t play everyday. He hit .250 in 2012, but is a career .276 hitter.

Raburn suffered through a terrible season in 2012, batting just .171 with only one home run. However, he averaged 15 dingers a year from 2009-11 with the Tigers and can play both corner outfield spots, as well as 2B and 3B.

Certainly, Aviles and Raburn have been the key contributors, but you can’t overlook the play of reserve catcher Yan Gomes and DH Jason Giambi.

Gomes, who came in the same deal with Toronto as did Aviles, is slowly but surely replacing Lou Marson as the back up catcher, showing more offense in his limited at bats as Marson ever did. The Brazilian native has four extra base hits in 31 at bats, compared to 10 all last year from Marson.

Giambi has two doubles, two homers, and three walks in limited playing time. He’s also well-respected in the clubhouse, a great role model for the young players like Jason Kipnis and Lonnie Chisenhall.

And Francona has experience in using a veteran bench too. He tries to put all of these guys in positions where they can succeed.

The production from the bench will also keep the regulars fresh over the long haul of baseball’s regular season. Last year, it was evident that Asdrubal Cabrera and Kipnis wore down from playing every day as the Tribe didn’t have a quality reserve that the manager, Manny Acta, could trust.

No one should expect Raburn to continue channel Hank Aaron for the rest of the season, and there will certainly be days and weeks where the reserve players won’t produce.

Still, the Indians filled some holes on the bench which are just as important as the ones they filled in the starting lineup.

Those moves have helped the Indians tread water during the first month of the season.

Why Pan Browns’ Draft Now?

Nothing brings out so called experts like the NFL Draft. Everyone has their “individual draft boards”, which is usually based on what people in the media tell them.

For the most part, these fans haven’t ever seen the players they are rating highly, and even if they have seen them play, they don’t know if the skill set they saw during a college game will translate to the professional level.

In Cleveland, there is an affinity for the famous player or anyone from Ohio State. Either one of these guys will no doubt become a superstar.

You also have the people who will go back and criticize a team for not taking a player in a later round who wound up being a potential Hall of Famer. To be sure, if every team would have known Tom Brady would become one of the all time greats, they would have taken them in the first round, including New England and Bill Belichick.

Sometimes you don’t have a good book on a player until you get the opportunity to work with them on an everyday basis.

Remember, all of these people giving the Browns bad grades are not working in the personnel departments of any NFL teams. Mostly, they are media people with an opinion. And if you don’t agree with their ranking of players, then that team receives a bad grade.

This isn’t to say that Joe Banner and Michael Lombardi had the best draft since the Steelers in 1974 (they drafted Jack Lambert, John Stallworth, Lynn Swann, and Mike Webster) either. We are simply saying it is way too early to tell.

And trading the picks wasn’t a bad idea either. Apparently, the Browns didn’t see anyone there who could make an immediate impact with this year’s team, so they dealt them for a better choice in next year’s selection meeting. Why would that be a problem?

Also, ludicrous is the bashing Banner and Lombardi are taking for dealing with the Steelers, especially those saying you can’t deal in your division. If Pittsburgh wanted to deal Ben Roethlisberger, you’d have to be an idiot to turn them down because you don’t want to trade with a team in your division.

Look, we get that Banner and Lombardi aren’t likeable guys, at least in their public persona’s, and it is easy to take issue with their moves. But they have earned a chance, and they should get to fail a couple of times before they are written off as morons.

They are also getting heat for not trading down in the first round and picking up another second round selection. Yet, many of those people saying the Browns should have done just that, still complain about trading down in 2011 and giving up the right to pick Julio Jones.

Will we really hear from any of those people in Barkevious Mingo turns out to be the next defensive impact player in the NFL? Of course not.

The point is, the front office liked Mingo and they took him. He appears to be a superior athlete, but that doesn’t make him a great player, it simply gives him the ability to be one if he has the drive to succeed.

It is sure that the Browns’ executives interviewed the former LSU standout and talked to his coaches about those factors. It is part of the due diligence that organizations have to go through.

We won’t know how the Browns did until at least halfway through the 2013 season. Until then, you can’t condemn anyone for this rookie class. It’s simply way too soon.

Make or Break Time for Ubaldo

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

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

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

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

So far, the results are mixed.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Browns Need to Fill Holes, Not Draft a QB

Tonight is the event that comes as close to a Super Bowl type event for Cleveland Browns’ fans, since they’ve never actually been in the championship game since 1965.

Look it up, the Browns played for the NFL title against the Green Bay Packers that season.

It’s NFL draft time, and the Browns have the sixth overall selection this year.

The best case scenario for team CEO Joe Banner, GM Mike Lombardi, and head coach Rob Chudzinski would be the trade down and try to recoup the second round pick they used in the supplemental draft last summer, selecting WR Josh Gordon, who certainly was worth the choice.

Cleveland’s biggest needs going into the draft is on defense, more specifically the secondary, where CB Joe Haden is a very good player and S T.J. Ward is solid, but they need two starters and some depth as well.

They could also use a pass rusher to go along with LB Paul Kruger and LB Jabaal Sheard, who is being moved to the position.

Alabama CB Dee Milliner would seem to be a great fit with the pick, assuming he last’s that long. The mock drafts we have reviewed have him being picked anywhere from 3rd to 10th overall. Milliner would provide with the Browns best set of cornerbacks since the 80’s when they had Hanford Dixon and Frank Minnifield.

We all remember how those teams did.

If Milliner isn’t there at six, that’s where the trade down talk comes in. The top of the draft is loaded with offensive tackles, a position where the Browns are solid with Joe Thomas and Mitchell Schwartz. A team with that need may be very interested in jumping up to Cleveland’s spot in the first round.

If they can trade down, a good pick may be another Alabama product, G Chance Warmack. Warmack is very highly regarded, and some have said he’s the best guard prospect since Hall of Famer John Hannah.

Although the Browns have a solid offensive line, they could use a guard, and if Warmack is even close to being as good as advertised, he could make a very good line into a dominant unit. The chance to make one area of the team into an elite unit would be very tempting for the front office.

If Milliner isn’t there and the Cleveland moves down, another player to look at would be CB Xavier Rhodes of Florida State. A former receiver who has great cover skills, he could also give new defensive coordinator Ray Horton two solid cover corners, which would enable Horton to dial-up more blitzes to confuse and punish opposing quarterbacks.

Speaking of passers, here’s hoping Banner and Lombardi do not waste the first round choice on a QB. The Browns need their first round pick to play immediately in September, and this year’s crop doesn’t have anyone who can step in right away.

That’s not to say the Browns shouldn’t take one in the later rounds. There is always room for someone to develop.

The only offensive areas, unless they can get an elite player like Warmack, the Browns should target would be another wide receiver and a tight end. After losing Benjamin Watson and Alex Smith in free agency, new offensive coordinator Norv Turner could use a big target at the position. Jordan Cameron has potential, but still hasn’t been as productive as he may become.

This isn’t a bad draft, it’s just one without big time star power. That’s why the Browns need more picks. It’s another opportunity to gain some depth for a young football team that needs it. They started to build some last year, and it would be nice to add more.

Here’s Hoping It’s An Improved Brown for Cavs

The Cleveland Cavaliers were horrible on defense this season, allowing a league high 47.6% shooting percentage by their opponents. That followed the 4th worst figure in the NBA the previous year, allowing foes to shoot at a 46.7% clip.

The easiest way for the wine and gold to improve in 2013-14 is to get tougher on defense, and have them rank closer to the league average in points per game allowed (98.1) than the worst mark in the NBA (Sacramento at 105.1). Cleveland allowed an average of 101.2 tallies per night.

So, GM Chris Grant and owner Dan Gilbert hired a great defensive mind as Byron Scott’s successor in former Cavs’ coach Mike Brown.

We say the franchise needed to move in a different direction.

It would have been great to get a coach who understands the entire game of basketball, and the organization didn’t need to worry about how former players feel about the hire. They needed to get someone who understood both defense and offense.

And someone who can get the most out of the team’s best player, Kyrie Irving.

Brown certainly is a great defensive mind, but in watching his team play with the ball during his tenure here, it was surprising that he made it to the NBA level of coaching without having a clue as to what to do on offense.

And that isn’t criticizing the give the ball to LeBron James and everyone else get out-of-the-way theory that Brown seemed to espouse. Heck, Scott used the same theory at the end of games with Kyrie Irving, and probably had more success because Irving converted some shots.

The wine and gold offense was very stagnant under Brown’s guidance, and that means a lot of standing around and very little motion within the offense. While most of the NBA depends greatly on the pick-and-roll, you still need some movement by the players to force opponents to be honest on the defensive end.

In Brown’s years in Cleveland, the Cavs ranked 15th, 19th, 24th, 13th, and 9th in points scored per game. The dramatic jump came when Brown hired John Kuester to handle the offense. In his lone full year in Los Angeles, the Lakers finished 15th in scoring, despite having Kobe Bryant, Pau Gasol, and Andrew Bynum on the roster.

The offensive weakness really showed in the playoffs, when teams would double and triple team James, daring the Cavs to have someone else to step up. Brown never developed an attack that would have helped the other players succeed on offense.

And don’t buy the “no help for LeBron” crap, either? The Cavs’ best chance, with the team that lost to Orlando in the Eastern Conference finals, had Mo Williams, Delonte West, Zydrunas Ilgauskas, Ben Wallace, and proven veteran scorers in Joe Smith and Wally Szczerbiak.

If you were drafting one team out of the Cavs and Magic, James and Dwight Howard would have been the top picks. When would the next Orlando player have been picked?

Brown will demand Kyrie Irving and Dion Waiters play defense, and that’s a good thing. However, can and will he utilize two players who can be good offensive players and in Irving’s case, one who can be an elite point guard in the NBA.

It appears that Gilbert and Grant overreacted to the wine and gold’s lack of defense to hire a coach who will take care of that, but little else. They had a chance to get someone who could impact both sides of the court, but they missed the mark like a Dwight Howard free throw.

Stubbs’ Struggles are Worrisome

Before the season started, most baseball experts felt the biggest weakness for the Cleveland Indians would be starting pitching.

It has been, with only Justin Masterson and Zack McAllister showing any consistency thus far. The other three spots in the rotation seem to be wish, hope, and pray to this point in the season.

However, the offense has struggled as well, despite last night’s 19-6 beat down in Houston, and we don’t expect that to continue for much longer. Two time all-star SS Asdrubal Cabrera is hitting just .150 with only four extra base hits. As skipper Terry Francona said the other day, Cabrera’s next 50 at bats could be as hot as he is cold right now.

And 2B Jason Kipnis will start to hit too, as will young 3B Lonnie Chisenhall, who is hitting just .224 with only one walk compared to 15 strikeouts to this point.

Also, CF Michael Bourn will return in another week, and he was off to a great start, hitting .333 through the first ten games.

There is one guy to be concerned about however, and that would be OF Drew Stubbs, because his start seems to be a continuation of the downward spiral his career has been taking.

The eighth overall pick in 2006, the outfielder burst on the scene in 2009, hitting .267 with eight home runs in 42 games that season. That promise showed through even more in 2010, when the big right-handed hitter batted .255 with 22 dingers in his first year as a regular.

It’s been downhill from there as Stubbs’ production has waned while his strikeouts have started to pile up. His power numbers dropped in ’11 to 15 home runs and 14 last year, while striking out 205 times in 2011 and 166 times (in 140 fewer plate appearances) last year.

This season, Stubbs has fanned 19 times in 57 times at the plate, while having just three extra base hits, all doubles. He leads the Indians in whiffing, amazing since the Tribe has notorious swing and miss Mark Reynolds on the roster.

Reynolds, though, has been productive when making contact, leading Cleveland with 6 HR and 17 RBI. Stubbs hasn’t hit one out yet this season, and he hadn’t scored a run this season until last night. While that is not totally his fault, it is a telling stat.

With his 3 for 4 evening yesterday, Stubbs is hitting .255 on the season with a 647 OPS. That’s the nature of early season statistics, they can fluctuate greatly with one good game. His batting average was .213 before last night.

To be sure, GM Chris Antonetti and Francona were hoping Stubbs would regain his pop with a different approach and that may still be the case. As we said, it is very early. However, his early difficulties continue the trend from the past three seasons.

It is much like saying it’s only two starts for Ubaldo Jimenez in 2013. You have to remember that this is a continuation of the right-handers struggles since he came to Cleveland in July 2011.

It’s a trend, and when things are going on a downhill plane, the player needs to show improvement right away.

Stubbs needs to produce soon, because when Bourn is back, he may lose playing time by moving Nick Swisher to RF, Reynolds to 1B, and using a combination of Jason Giambi, Mike Aviles, and Carlos Santana at DH.

The Tribe brass was hoping Drew Stubbs could regain the production of his early career when they dealt for him this winter. Right now, they have to be a little concerned that he won’t.