Tribe Needs Encarnacion, Alonso To Be Productive In October

We have been talking about the Cleveland Indians’ offense for over a month now and how strange it is that the Tribe ranks 3rd in the AL in runs scored per game with really only three players having above average seasons.

We will point out again that Francisco Lindor and Jose Ramirez are having arguably two of the five best hitting seasons in baseball, because if they weren’t, the Cleveland offense would be in big trouble.

Can they win in the post-season with only three players carrying the load at the plate?

Terry Francona’s squad ranks 4th in the American League in on base percentage, despite having only those three hitters above the league average in that category (.317).

Yes, Erik Gonzalez and Lonnie Chisenhall are higher, but they have limited plate appearances. Edwin Encarnacion sits right at the league average, while Yonder Alonso is just below at .314.

Alonso has an OBP of .365 in 2017, and his career mark is .336, so he is well below both of those marks. Encarnacion was at .377 last season, his highest mark since 2012, mostly because he reached a career high with 102 walks.

This season, his walk rate is down, and so is his batting average, down to .229 currently after hitting .258 a walk ago.

Here are the other on base percentages for the players who get the most playing time for the Tribe:

Yan Gomes .300
Jason Kipnis .307
Brandon Guyer .284
Rajai Davis .296
Greg Allen .264
Roberto Perez .247

The Cleveland attack is inconsistent because of it.

Among the teams with the highest run scoring totals in the AL, it was surprising to see the Indians ranking only behind Boston and New York in terms of number of games scoring three runs or less. The Tribe has done this 43 times, compared to 30 for the Yankees and 34 for the Red Sox.

By contrast, Houston has scored less than four runs 47 times, Texas 50 times, and Oakland 51 times.

The Indians do rank behind only Boston in number of games with 10 or more runs, having done that 14 times (Red Sox 17).

The concern for us is how this will work in the playoffs. The other teams are going to go out of their way to not allow Lindor or Ramirez to beat them, so it is important that someone, anyone, steps up.

It won’t be unusual to see managers pass Lindor to get to Brantley, and/or skip Ramirez to get to Encarnacion. Really, who else is going to hurt them the way the lineup is currently constructed.

The point is someone else has to step up or the front office is going to have to get another bat.

Leonys Martin looked like he could help vs. right-handed pitching, but he looks like he may be out of the lineup for awhile with a non-baseball related issue.

Will Chisenhall be able to get back in the lineup, and even if he does, can he stay healthy for the post-season?

We would say at this point, neither Martin nor Chisenhall will be useful come playoff time.

So, can the offense be more consistent and efficient unless changes are made? We’d say the most likely scenarios would be Encarnacion or Alonso getting better because they were better a year ago.

Gomes is who he is, and Kipnis hasn’t been good at the plate since the World Series in 2016. That’s a long slump.

Until then, we are officially worried about the hitting come playoff time. That’s the problem relying on two players, no matter how good they are.

The Yandy Question.

One of the great conundrums of this baseball season is the Cleveland Indians’ offense. The Tribe ranks 3rd in the American League in runs scored, yet it seems like it could be even better.

Part of that feeling is well documented on this site, the offense is very top heavy. Jose Ramirez may just be putting together an MVP season, and no doubt Francisco Lindor will be in the top ten, and maybe top five as well.

Ramirez is threatening to put together the greatest season ever by a major league third baseman. Think about that for a second.

As great as that duo has been, and they have been supported by Michael Brantley, and to a lesser extent, Edwin Encarnacion and Yonder Alonso, the bottom of the order can have either three or four hitters who are struggling.

The need for another solid bat makes the handling of Yandy Diaz more curious.

In the minor leagues, Diaz has been an on base machine, a .454 figure last season at Columbus, followed up by a .414 figure this season.

Unfortunately, the Indians’ organization has pigeonholed him as a third baseman, and as we already mentioned, that spot is being manned in Cleveland by perhaps the AL most valuable player.

Diaz doesn’t fit the new hot thing in baseball today, which would be launch angle. Although he hits the ball as hard as many in the sports, but he doesn’t hit it in the air, and that results in very few extra base hits. His slugging percentage is at .392, down from last year’s .460.

So, why the Joey Gallo’s of the world are thought to be good hitters, Yandy Diaz is not.

While Diaz doesn’t hit with power, what he doesn’t do is make outs. He gets on base over 40% of the time, and even last year with the Indians, he had an OBP of .352 in 2017. That figure would rank behind only Ramirez, Lindor, and Lonnie Chisenhall on this year’s roster.

Remember, when Cleveland had their 22 game winning streak in 2017, Diaz was basically the regular third baseman because Jason Kipnis was hurt, and Ramirez was moved to second.

The big question for us is with the issues the Tribe has had in the outfield this season, why didn’t they move Diaz to RF and work with him in spring training. He played 27 games there in 2016 and nine games in 2017.

Couldn’t he play the position at least as well as, let’s say, Melky Cabrera? No one expects him to be Roberto Clemente out there. What we’ve seen of him at the hot corner doesn’t suggest that he’s a butcher in the field.

It would seem to us that his bat could help the big club. He takes walks, makes contact, and when he was called up for four games right after the All Star Game, he went 7 for 14 with the Indians.

Diaz’ offensive prowess is being wasted because he will be 27 years old in a few days (August 8th to be exact), but for some reason, the organization doesn’t seem anxious to find a way to get his bat into the lineup.

A lineup that needs a boost. A lineup that is short on players who can get on base. A lineup that lost one of its best on base percentage guys last off-season in Carlos Santana.

What is the organization’s problem with Yandy Diaz? Instead of looking for a way to get his bat in there, there seem to be burying him.

The Kipnis Question

Certainly, one of the Cleveland Indians who has stirred up much debate this season is Jason Kipnis.

From the time he was called up in 2011 to the end of the 2016 World Series, Kipnis was a mainstay for the Tribe, one of their core players and one of their best offensive players.

However, since that time, Kipnis has battled injuries and a lack of production. And because his salary has jumped from a reported $9.17 million last season to $13.67 million in 2018, there are a lot of fans who want to move on, feeling that amount of cash could be spent elsewhere.

Last year, Kipnis batted .232 with a 705 OPS, this year, those numbers have declined further, with a .219 batting average and a 669 OPS.

His supporters will say he was turned the corner after a rough April and May, but since June 1st, he’s batted .252, with 7 HR and 20 RBIs. Over the last 28 days, he’s at .242 with an 800 OPS.

He hasn’t been able to maintain any success though. Over the past 14 days, his average is .207 with a respectable 757 OPS.

Defensively, he’s average at best, although my eyes tell me he doesn’t get to the balls he used to get four to five years ago, and he’s never been tremendous turning double plays. This isn’t to say he’s horrible with the glove, but we think having Jose Ramirez there (and we know he’s having a historic season at 3B), would improve the defense.

Kipnis’ struggles at the plate are magnified by the Indians’ problems in centerfield and rightfield. If they were getting decent production out of those spots, the scenario would be more like “if Kip would just get going, it would be great”.

As it is, when Roberto Perez is behind the plate, Terry Francona puts out a lineup where the 6th through 9 hitters in batting order are pretty weak. Besides Perez (459 OPS), he puts out Rajai Davis (606 OPS), Brandon Guyer (640 OPS), and Kipnis.

That isn’t good enough for a contending team.

We have seen people talk about how well Kipnis has hit since June 1st. In fact, several people have pointed out that he was hitting better than the recently traded Manny Machado since that point.

However, that’s the problem with picking an arbitrary date. As Hall of Fame manager Sparky Anderson used to point out, the season starts on a certain date. The games starting on Opening Day count just as much as the ones played today.

Besides, on June 1st, Kipnis was hitting .199 with a 586 OPS. He’s raised his average only 20 points in that time, and his OPS is up 83 points.

We reported what he has done since June 1st above. It’s not like he’s been at an all-star level since that date. He’s been a little better than average. So, he was terrible for the first 55 games, and above average since. It’s not as though he’s been torrid since then.

We didn’t advocate dealing Kipnis during the winter because coming off a bad year, they would be getting fifty cents on the dollar.

Now, the front office will be in a position where if they want to move him, they will likely have to pick up some of his $14.6 million salary for next year.

Perhaps Kipnis will get blazing hot from now until the end of the year. After almost a year and a half of mediocrity, that doesn’t seem likely. It is something the Tribe will have to face up to before July 31st.

Time For Tribe Front Office To Recover From “Slump”

Perhaps the executive branches of professional sports teams have hot streaks and cold spells just like players. If you agree with that premise, then the front office and management of the Cleveland Indians is in a bit of a slump.

It started in the off season, when the team predictably lost two relievers, Bryan Shaw and Joe Smith in free agency. However, president Chris Antonetti and GM Mike Chernoff didn’t really address the losses in the winter.

Sure, they brought in a collection of guys on minor league contracts, but no one with a proven track record. Because of Andrew Miller’s injury, this has resulted in having the statistically worst bullpen in baseball.

Miller being out has caused Terry Francona to have no bridge to Cody Allen for much of the season. Only in the last month have Neil Ramirez and Oliver Perez, released by the Yankee organization, stepped up to give the Tribe some relief in the 7th and 8th innings.

Worse, the bullpen situation, or lack of it, have caused Francona to extend his starters, and Corey Kluber is already having some knee issues. Hopefully, that’s the extent of the effect as the season continues.

Austin Jackson was also a free agent not pursued by the Indians after a season where he hit .318 overall, and torched left-handers to the tune of a .352 batting average and 1.013 OPS.

Look, we agree that Jackson was unlikely to produce the same way in 2018, but the issue was the front office wound up picking up Rajai Davis to take his spot with the team. Unfortunately, Davis has never been outstanding vs. lefties, a career 759 OPS against southpaws, and this year that figure has dropped to 523.

Spring training also caused some curious decisions, most notably not making Yandy Diaz more versatile. Diaz played 21 games in LF and nine games in RF last season in Columbus, but in the spring, they focused him at third base, a position he was never going to play in Cleveland with Jose Ramirez there.

Diaz has little to prove at the AAA level after hitting .350 there last season, and this season has a .415 on base percentage in Columbus. The Tribe could use some outfield help, and they could also use someone at the bottom of the order who doesn’t make outs.

It doesn’t seem like the organization has any plans for Diaz, despite hitting .263 last year and getting a lot of time down the stretch last season.

These aren’t second guesses, either. Most fans of the team wondering aloud during the winter and throughout spring training just what was the front office doing. Most felt because of the weak AL Central, the brass had until the end of July to fix things.

Well, that date is drawing near, and the fear is there are too many holes on this roster to fix them all within two weeks.

But the front office has a chance to redeem itself after the slump that has continued since the end of last season. The time to strike is now.

The bullpen is the glaring need and we do not believe it will be fixed simply with Andrew Miller’s return. Hopefully, Ramirez and Perez keep pitching well, but holdovers Zach McAllister, Dan Otero, and Tyler Olson aren’t inspiring any confidence.

The offense could be solved by simply bringing up Francisco Mejia (who was recalled yesterday) and perhaps Diaz as well and putting them into the lineup. On the other hand, neither are proven at the big league level, and the Indians need to correct the current top heaviness in the batting order.

If the front office pulls off a couple of solid moves that work within the next two weeks, no one will remember the past eight months. However, they can’t just ignore the issues this team has despite a big division lead.

The Tribe And Their Winning Streaks

The Cleveland Indians have been “Team Streak” over the past two major league baseball seasons, and they have already had two winning skeins this year of over five games.

Last night’s 4-0 loss to St. Louis ended a seven game streak.

In 2016, the Tribe broke a club record by being victorious in 14 consecutive games from June 17th through July 1st. The last win in that span was an epic 19 inning game in Toronto, a 2-1 decision over the Blue Jays.

Last season, Terry Francona’s squad had a record 22 game streak, starting on August 24th with a 13-6 victory over Boston and ending on September 15th with a 4-3 loss to the Kansas City Royals.

You can say the streaks have some luck involved and anytime you have one of let’s say ten games or more, there is obvious some good fortune involved.

However, when you have starting pitching like the Indians do, it’s easy to see why these streaks have occurred in each of the past two seasons.

In 2016, Cleveland hurlers allowed just 27 runs in the 14 wins, with three shutouts. The most runs allowed in one game was in a 7-5 triumph over Detroit, and the Tigers scored two of those runs in the bottom of the ninth.

In fact, they allowed three runs or less in 12 of the 14 victories. It doesn’t take a lot of offense to win when you are getting that kind of performance from your pitchers.

But Cleveland scored 82 runs in the run, outscoring their opponents by 55 runs.

Last season, it was much the same. Tribe pitchers gave up only 37 runs in the 22 wins, with an incredible seven shutouts in that three week span. The most runs allowed came in the first game of the streak.

Opponents were held to three runs or less in 19 of the 22 contests. And with the second best hitting attack in the American League a year ago, the Indians put up 142 tallies in the streak, so they outscored teams by a whopping 105 runs in that period.

It seems simplistic to say this, but when the pitching staff isn’t allowing any runs and the hitting is clicking, it’s tough to lose games.

This season, the six game string in late May/early June was a little different because the Tribe won a lot of high scoring games, allowing 33 runs in the half dozen games. The bats were red hot though, getting seven runs or more in every game.

The streak that ended yesterday is much like the ones in each of the last two years. The pitching staff gave up just nine runs in the seven games, with two shutouts. Opposing hitters have not crossed home plate more than three times in any of the games.

Meanwhile, the Indians have scored 54 runs, six times more than the other team. Once again, it’s hard to lose when that happens.

The point is when all of the Indians’ starters get on a roll, you can expect a long period of winning baseball. As we’ve seen, they can go through periods where the opposition averages just around two runs per game.

That would seem to guarantee you a substantial winning streak.

Will this year’s Tribe run off another 10+ game without a loss? That’s not probable, but there is no question the Indians are very capable of putting together a period where they win 20 out of 25 contests.

And that will probably get them back in the race for the best record in the American League again.

Tribe’s Stars Are Offset By Some Horrific Performances

So far, the 2018 baseball season has been filled with question marks for the Cleveland Indians. They have been solid offensively, ranking 4th in the American League in runs scored.

Four-fifths of the starting rotation has been very good, with Corey Kluber and Trevor Bauer having all star first halves of the season, yet the pitching staff’s ERA ranks 8th in the AL, mainly because the bullpen has been dreadful for a good portion of the season.

Yet, the Tribe is just 36-33 on the season. They lead the AL Central Division by 2-1/2 games, but that is mostly because the division is probably the worst in the majors.

They have struggled mightily against the other teams in the AL with winning records, going 6-14 vs. Houston, New York, Los Angeles, and Seattle. And that can be expanded to 8-20 if you include the Indians struggles against the Twins.

On the other hand, they did take six of eight against the two leaders in the NL Central, the Brewers and Cubs.

So, they have dominated the bums, which good teams are supposed to do, with a record of 22-11 against everyone else on the schedule.

Offensively, the top three hitters in the batting order, Francisco Lindor, Michael Brantley, and Jose Ramirez, are having fabulous seasons. On the other hand, the positions of second base and centerfield are black holes in terms of hitting.

At what point do the Indians reconsider there loyalty to Jason Kipnis? We attributed last season’s struggles to injuries, but this season, Kipnis has had 250+ plate appearances and is batting just .198 with a 580 OPS.

It might be time to start mixing in Erik Gonzalez at second, or maybe bring up Yandy Diaz to play some at the hot corner with Jose Ramirez moving to the keystone.

Centerfield is another matter. Bradley Zimmer started the year, but he had extreme contact problems, fanning 44 times in 114 plate appearance. He was sent to the minors after recovering from an injury and because Greg Allen was hitting, but as soon as Zimmer left, Allen went into a deep slump.

So Terry Francona has returned to his 2016 platoon of Tyler Naquin and Rajai Davis. Naquin has hit very well thus far, but Davis is showing his lone offensive skill right now is stealing bases.

What is being demonstrated right now, is the Indians have a number of dead spots on their 25 man roster, and no matter how great the performances of Lindor, Brantley, Ramirez, Kluber, Bauer, and Mike Clevinger have been, they have kind of been balanced by mediocre jobs by the bottom of the roster.

We aren’t including Kipnis in this group right now, but certainly Davis, and relief pitchers Josh Tomlin and Tyler Olson have basically unusable right now.

No one is asking these guys to produce like all stars, but they can’t be this bad either. It’s like Francona goes into each game with 22 players, with the other team having a full compliment of 25.

The way Tito likes to have specific roles for everyone, it puts the Indians at a disadvantage.

Of course, some of this is because of Francona’s famed loyalty. Davis has an OPS of 573 and isn’t a great defensive player, particularly in CF, anymore.

And having a pitcher on the roster who has allowed 18 home runs in 39 innings, and is a guy you are afraid to bring into a game where you have the lead, is ridiculous.

Until this is corrected, we are afraid the Cleveland Indians are just going to tread water, which they have done all season. Everyone has to be pulling in the same direction.

One Third Of The Way In, Tribe Kind Of Treading Water

On the eve of Game 1 of the NBA Finals, the Cleveland completed the first third of their schedule with a 9-1 win over the White Sox, a game in which Corey Kluber earned his 8th win of the season.

That win made the Tribe 29-25 after 54 games, and in the last 27 games, Terry Francona’s squad went 14-13, slightly less than the 15-12 in the first 27 contests.

The offense is back on track, jumping up to third in the American League in runs scored per game. They are sixth in on base percentage and third in slugging as a team.

Unfortunately, they are ninth in the league in staff ERA, and that’s despite having three starting pitchers with ERAs under 3.14 (Kluber, Trevor Bauer, and Mike Clevinger).

The offense has been led, or maybe a more apt phrase is carried, by Jose Ramirez, Francisco Lindor, and Michael Brantley, who have formed a lethal top of the order.

Ramirez and Lindor both rank in the top five in the AL in extra base hits, the former is tied for second in the league in home runs, and the latter is tied for third in doubles.

And all three are in the top ten in OPS, with Ramirez ranking 4th, Lindor 7th, and Brantley 8th.

Edwin Encarnacion has gotten hot with the weather, now ranking in the top ten in the league in home runs with 14.

With Lonnie Chisenhall, Brandon Guyer, and Tyler Naquin getting ready to come back from injury, Francona and the staff will have difficult decisions to make in terms of the roster.

Rookie Greg Allen is making it very tough for the decision makers. Not counted on to be a big contributor this season, the switch-hitter has hit .286 thus far, and has cut down on strikeouts over the last 11 games.

When the injured return, you have to think it will be difficult for Rajai Davis to keep a roster spot.

The problem for the pitching staff continues to be the bullpen, as 43% of the runs the Indians have allowed this season have come in the 7th inning or later. In addition, the relievers have coughed up more than a third of the dingers allowed by the pitching staff (28 of the 82) so far in 2018.

We thought Zach McAllister was prone to the gopher ball last season, allowing eight in 62 innings. To date this year, he has allowed six in 21-2/3 frames.

Although he hasn’t been primarily a reliever, Josh Tomlin has allowed a whopping 18 round trippers in 36 innings. He’s pitched in 12 games, and only NOT allowed a homer in four of them.

He leads the league in that category despite pitching 26 innings less than anyone else in the top five.

We understand the front office is aware of the problem, and brought in veteran Oliver Perez yesterday, and it may be the trade deadline before a permanent solution is sought, but until it’s fixed, it will be a very nervous time for Tribe fans in the late innings.

Yes, it’s true the Indians are 2.5 games ahead in the AL Central. It’s also a fact that the second place team, Detroit, is in rebuilding mode and isn’t even over .500 for the young season.

Cleveland was supposed to be one of the four best teams in the American League heading into the season, so from that standpoint they’ve underachieved.

On the other hand, if the Tribe fixes its bullpen, there is no reason they can’t make a deep run in the post-season with their starting rotation and hitting.

Perhaps in the next 27 games, we will start to see answers for the relief corps.

Tribe Sequel: Bullpen From Hell, Part Deux

Many baseball people believe you really can’t evaluate a baseball team until 40 games have been played, a quarter of the baseball season.

If that is true of the Indians’ front office, they would see a team that has a lot of potholes that need to be filled and the quicker, the better.

Chief among the holes is the bullpen, which according to ERA, is the worst in baseball. It says something about the volatility of relief pitching that just two years ago, in 2016, the Tribe bully carried the team to the World Series.

To date, of the 185 runs given up by Cleveland pitching this season, 76 have scored in the 7th inning or later. In Tuesday night’s debacle against the Tigers, five more were added to the total, all scoring in a disastrous seventh inning.

Really, no one is pitching well in relief, other than Cody Allen, and even he melted down in New York less than two weeks ago.

Andrew Miller just returned from the disabled list and still isn’t sharp, giving up the lead in two of this last three appearances.

Miller’s injury caused a major upheaval in the ‘pen, and it appears because of it, Terry Francona started handling his relievers like it was the post-season.

He started extending the starters, with several throwing more pitches than the normally threw in a game.

For example, last season, Carlos Carrasco threw more than 110 pitches in a game just three times. In 2018, he has already done it four times. It’s only May.

Mike Clevinger never reached the 110 pitch threshold in 2017, but to date this season, he’s done it three times.

How will this affect the starting pitchers as the season goes on? It’s definitely something to keep an eye on.

The front office didn’t fill the holes created by the departures of Bryan Shaw and Joe Smith in the off-season, and that has caused a tremendous void.

The skipper tried Zach McAllister in Shaw’s seventh inning role to start the season, but the veteran has put up a 7.47 ERA and has allowed five home runs in just 15-2/3 innings. Somehow, he remains on the roster despite never being trusted to pitch in high leverage situations.

Dan Otero, a reliable reliever over the last two seasons (ERAs of 1.53 and 2.85), has the same ERA as McAllister in the same number of innings.

Another holdover from a year ago, Nick Goody, is on the disabled list, but before he went out, he allowed four dingers in 11-2/3 innings, and had a 6.94 ERA.

Right now, the most recent good outings by relievers not named Allen, were by Oliver Drake, who just came over from Milwaukee in a trade, and Neil Ramirez, a veteran signed in the off-season on a minor league free agent, and just brought up from Columbus.

It is such a dire situation, that we would call on either of them if the Indians have a lead this weekend in Houston. Guys like Otero, McAllister, and southpaw Tyler Olson would have regain trust by having a series of good outings.

The good news is bullpen arms should be plentiful at the trade deadline. Unfortunately, the Tribe will have to give up assets that could have been used elsewhere to acquire them.

Right now, it’s a wet blanket on the entire squad.

Tribe Offense Needs A Boost Too.

With a recent surge last week, the Cleveland Indians moved up greatly in the offensive statistics for the American League.

After scoring more than 10 runs in three consecutive contests last week, they moved from near the bottom of the AL in scoring per game to 7th, where they are right now.

Still, it seems like the offense has sputtered more often than not. The Tribe has scored three runs or less in 13 of their 34 games, which is slightly over 38% of the time.

When the Indians do score, they tally more frequently in the 8th inning (12 games) and next would be the 1st and the 4th innings (11 times), when the top of the order would most frequently hit.

One of the problems with the Tribe offense is right now it is filled with players who aren’t near the league average in OPS.

We consider above offensive players in baseball to be able to have an on base percentage of over .350 and a slugging percentage of over .450, which would be an OPS of 800 or more.

Outside of seldom used Erik Gonzalez (983 OPS in just 29 at bats), Terry Francona can only write three names in his lineup that meet that criteria: Jose Ramirez (376/562/937), Michael Brantley (350/521/871), and Francisco Lindor (350/517/867).

The only other Cleveland player with significant at bats and an on base average over .350 is Tyler Naquin at .356, and that is more the result of a .316 batting average. He has only walked three times in 73 plate appearances.

As for slugging over .450? The only Tribesman doing that other than the previously mentioned trio is Yan Gomes at .451.

Those five players are the only Indians having OPS better than the league average of 732.

This means most rallies usually end because guys having below average offensive seasons thus far come up and make outs.

Edwin Encarnacion has a strikeout to walk ratio of 4:1 (40 Ks/10 BB). Yonder Alonso has a career walk rate of 9.5%, this season, he is at 7.7%, meaning he is making outs more frequently.

The former should improve those numbers as the weather gets warmer, and the latter should correct itself as the season goes as well.

A growing problem is continuing to use Jason Kipnis in the #2 hole, breaking up the team’s three hottest hitters at leadoff (Lindor), #3 (Ramirez), and in the cleanup spot (Brantley).

Kipnis has hit is some tough luck, but he has an on base percentage of .252 and has just a .272 slugging percentage.

The other problem spot is CF. Bradley Zimmer has played very good defense, but his OPS is just 645, and since he’s only getting on base at a 29.4% rate, he can’t use his great speed.

Neither can the other option, Rajai Davis, who has an OBP (.262), greater than his slugging percentage of .250.

It is going to difficult to continue to justify Davis’ roster spot with that kind of production. And remember, Melky Cabrera could be up here soon.

And we said earlier this year that we would not be surprised if Zimmer was sent back to AAA to get more seasoning at some point.

If the offense is going to get going, they are going to need more than three to five players contributing to the attack.

However, until then, a change in the batting order is needed. Why not try Ramirez at the top, followed by Brantley and Lindor, then Encarnacion and Alonso?

Drop Kipnis down until he gets it going.

Really though, players just have to start hitting. It may be just that simple.

Tribe Isn’t Walking, And They Aren’t Scoring

The Cleveland Indians had one of baseball’s best offenses a year ago, finishing third in the American League in runs scored.

They were second in the AL in on base percentage, slugging percentage, and walks taken, and ranked eighth in the Junior Circuit in home runs.

Although it is very early this season, the Tribe is 12th in the American League in runs scored. While certainly the cold weather has been a factor, Detroit and Minnesota have both scored more runs per game than Terry Francona’s club, and they have played in pretty much the same climate.

One area in which the Indians have slipped greatly so far this year is in patience at the plate, as they are currently second last in the AL in walks taken.

While some people may point at the absence of walk-master Carlos Santana in the batting order for the drop off, we would point out than Santana’s replacement, Yonder Alonso, is third on the team in walks, behind Jose Ramirez and Jason Kipnis.

The lack of walks is a big reason the Cleveland offense has been largely dependent on the long ball for scoring. If you can convert three or four outs into walks during a game, particularly after a base hit, you have a rally going. And the more rallies a team has, the better chance of getting that hit which scores a run and keeps pressure on the opposing pitcher.

Look at Francisco Lindor, for example. Last year, he walked 60 times, striking out in 93 at bats. This year, he has fanned 21 times, second on the squad, and walked just six times.

Edwin Encarnacion is another case in point. Yes, the slugger struck out 133 times a year ago, but he balanced that by taking 104 bases on balls. This season, he has walked just six times while striking out a team leading 24 times.

Platoon outfielder Austin Jackson joined the patience at the plate club last year for the Indians, drawing 33 walks in 318 plate appearances, one for every 9.6 at bats. His replacement, Rajai Davis, has walked just twice in 35 times at the dish.

And while Michael Brantley doesn’t strikeout a lot, he did draw a walk every 12.1 plate appearances a year ago, compared to just one walk in 48 times up this year.

Add in the two youngsters on the Tribe, OFs Bradley Zimmer, who has fanned 19 times vs. just two walks, and Tyler Naquin, who has drawn just two bases on balls against 11 whiffs, and that isn’t helping the offense keep the line moving.

Conversely, the Indians’ leader in walks is Jose Ramirez with 13 (6 strikeouts), and the switch-hitting All Star is hot after a slow start, and is looking like the Ramirez from 2017.

That Cleveland is 5-6 when they score three runs or less is a tribute to the tremendous job the pitching staff, led by the starters, have done.

No doubt it is early, and a few weeks from now, the lack of walks could very well have corrected itself. We are sure that hitting coach Ty Van Burkleo is stressing patience at the plate, and it will come to fruition soon.

Instead of being aggressive at the plate, maybe the Indians need to be more selective. Drawing walks will start extending innings and will lead to putting crooked numbers on the scoreboard.