Does Tribe Still Need Pitching

Yesterday was a good day for the Indians’ organization because the ace of their staff, Corey Kluber, won the American League’s Cy Young Award. He is the fourth Tribe pitcher to win that award, joining Gaylord Perry, C.C. Sabathia, and Cliff Lee.

Kluber deserved the honor, leading the league in wins with 18 and finishing second in the AL in strikeouts and complete games.

We knew this last season, but Terry Francona has a legitimate top of the rotation starter going into next season. The question is, does GM Chris Antonetti still need to add another starter, or should he be satisfied with the performance of the starters over the last two months of the season.

The answer here is you can never have too much pitching, and although the rotation was fantastic in August and September, there really isn’t much of a track record for any of the starters, including Kluber.

Before anyone goes crazy, to us, a proven track record is two to three years at a certain performance level. And while Kluber has been solid in both 2013 and 2014, the fact remains he threw only 147 innings in the prior year because of injury, and this year he pitched 235 frames. How will his arm react to the additional workload?

The only starting pitcher who toiled in the major leagues prior to 2013 is Carlos Carrasco, who was tremendous after returning to the rotation last season, but outside of the first half of the 2011 season, before needing Tommy John surgery, has little track record of success in the big leagues.

This isn’t to denigrate Carrasco, who has tremendous stuff. We are only saying it is a big leap of faith to assume the right-hander will pitch the entire 2015 season the way he finished ’14.

Trevor Bauer has the next most starts in the majors with 34, the same number Kluber had this season. His career ERA in those appearance is 4.18, which is a solid figure, but not earth shattering.

We like Bauer, and for most of last season he was the second most consistent starter for Cleveland. But, he’s thrown less than 200 innings (186) at the big league level. You simply don’t know for certain what he is going to do in 2015.

Danny Salazar? He has 30 major league starts and 162 innings under his belt.

T. J. House made 18 starts and has just a little over 100 innings in the bigs.

Josh Tomlin and Zack McAllister have more of a track record than the three guys we just mentioned. Tomlin is 29-28 lifetime with an ERA approaching 5.00 (4.89) in 477 innings. If he could pitch like he did in 2011 (12-7, 4.12 ERA) that would be nice, but that’s the last time he was effective.

McAllister is 19-25 with a 4.38 ERA lifetime in 65 starts, a total of 363 innings. He was solid in 2013, but had a mediocre season in ’14. He showed promise working in relief at the end of the season, and could be taking the same career path as Carrasco.

We wouldn’t want to bank on those two as backups if one of the youngsters falter.

It may sound like doom and gloom, but these are the things Antonetti needs to think about when constructing the pitching staff. He has to assume things will go wrong.

Think about it, Bauer and House weren’t in the rotation that opened the 2014 season.

That’s why the Tribe still needs to add another starting pitcher, preferably someone who can come in and the management can be reasonably certain they can soak up innings and pitch effectively.

The old adage is still true…you can’t have enough pitching.

Will Tito Staying Lead to Bigger Emphasis on Winning?

During this past baseball season, we speculated that we wouldn’t be surprised if Tribe skipper Terry Francona decided to resign this off-season because of the inactivity of the front office at the trading deadline.

Yes, we knew that Tito took the gig because of his relationship with team president Mark Shapiro and GM Chris Antonetti, but we felt experiencing what we perceived as a lack of interest in going for it would show Francona that this wasn’t the job for him.

How wrong were we?

This morning, it was revealed that Francona signed a two-year contract extension to remain the manager of the Indians, meaning he is signed through the 2018 season.

Perhaps the only bad thing this means is the ownership will not be making any changes to the front office group through that same time period.

Antonetti’s comments today trumpeted the “stability” mantra, claiming it is a positive thing. And it would be if this was one of the most successful organizations in the sport over the last 15 years. However, it isn’t.

If keeping Francona means more of the last two seasons, both of which finished with an above .500 record and in 2013 ended with a spot hosting the wild card game, then we are all for that. There is no question that although people have had questions with the manager’s in-game strategy (including us), he gets the most out of the talent on the roster.

And maybe Shapiro and Antonetti understand their best chance at remaining the contender the Indians have been the last two seasons is to have Francona at the helm. Because before Tito arrived, this was a franchise that couldn’t put two consecutive good seasons together.

After two World Series titles with Boston, it is doubtful that Francona wants to wallow in mediocrity here over the next four to six seasons. So, does this contract extension mean the front office is going to make another push to bring in more talent this off-season?

Remember that before his first season as manager, the Indians brought in Nick Swisher and Michael Bourn as free agents and also traded for Trevor Bauer. Now, the club has a solid, younger nucleus in Michael Brantley, Jason Kipnis, and Yan Gomes among the position players, and a young starting rotation led by Cy Young Award candidate Corey Kluber that will be in place for the next few seasons.

So, it is incumbent on the general manager to add some pieces, some productive veteran pieces, to this young core to push them over the top. Did Francona get assurances that this would happen going forward?

Probably not, but his friends have to know how he feels.

We have maintained that this roster doesn’t need an overhaul, it just has to add one or two pieces, and those will likely come via the trade route. Both MLB Trade Rumors and Baseball Prospectus listed the top 50 free agents this winter and neither site had the Tribe signing anyone on the list.

The good news is the best manager the Indians have had in a long time is going to be here for at least the next four years. The bad news is the tie in with Shapiro and Antonetti, and Tito’s link to them probably insures they will be here for that period as well, which is fine if the Indians are regular participants in the playoffs.

If they aren’t, it will be almost 20 years since Shapiro took control of the organization without the success of his predecessor, John Hart. How long will fans accept it if Francona can’t continue to work the magic of the last two seasons.

Tribe Shouldn’t Trade Starting Pitching for a Bat.

A lot of discussion has gone on over the past few days about the direction the Cleveland Indians need to go in this winter. While no one questions whether or not the Tribe needs to get more hitting, the question remains, how to do it.

The Indians finished in the top half of the American League in both runs scored (7th) and in ERA (6th), but no one who watched the team play this season has any doubt the ballclub needs another proven hitter and better defense.

One of the ways suggested to get the hitting Terry Francona’s team needs is to trade one of their pitchers, based on the outstanding work of the starting rotation over the last two months.

However, we would suggest this is not the proper move.

First, it would be a repeat of the pattern the Tribe front office used throughout the 70’s and 80’s, when they would collect hitters and have no pitching. Then, they would trade those hitters to get pitchers, thus creating a team with solid pitching but could not hit.

And then they would repeat the cycle all over again.

Quite frankly, beyond the five pitchers Cleveland used in the rotation at the end of the year (Corey Kluber, Carlos Carrasco, Danny Salazar, Trevor Bauer, and T.J. House), there isn’t a lot of depth in the system.

And of those five starters, beyond Kluber, only Bauer demonstrated effectiveness over more than the last two months in 2014. This isn’t to say the others are flashes in the pan, it is only to show the lack of an established track record.

We have said this before and will repeat, the two areas where the Indians have some depth is in the bullpen and in the middle infield.

With youngsters on the horizon like C.C. Lee, Austin Adams, and guys coming up like Shawn Armstrong, Louis Head, and Tyler Sturdivant, and the emergence of Zack McAllister as another power arm to use in relief, it wouldn’t be surprising to see a Bryan Shaw included in a deal.

Shaw has been used hard by Francona and Mickey Callaway over the past two years, and it may be prudent to sell high on the right-hander before his performance drops from the excess use.

In the middle infield, the Indians have 2B Jason Kipnis, coming off a bad year, SS Jose Ramirez, just 22-years-old, and the team’s best prospect, SS Francisco Lindor. They also have Ronny Rodriguez and Erik Gonzales, who both finished the year at AA Akron.

Kipnis is established and if the front office wants to make room for Lindor, then Ramirez is a solid trade chip, a middle infielder who has great speed, and hit .262 playing regularly over August and September. There are many teams around the majors who are always looking for help in the middle of the diamond.

Another possible chip could be reserve catcher Roberto Perez, who hit .271 in 85 at bats backing up Yan Gomes after Carlos Santana was shifted to first base. Perez is just 26-years-old and probably too young to be in a back up role, so teams looking for catchers could be interested.

Besides, with Gomes getting the bulk of the time behind the plate, the Indians don’t need to look too hard to find someone to play 30-40 games in a season.

There is no question the Indians need to get a bat or two, but dealing a starting pitcher isn’t the way to do it.

The Tribe Front Office Didn’t Believe in This Year’s Team.

Last night, the Cleveland Indians played the biggest game of the season and Terry Francona had to fill out a lineup card that included veteran Chris Gimenez at 1B and rookie Tyler Holt in right field.

We don’t think that was plan back in April.

Look, while Francona can be criticized for some in-game decisions, the reality of the situation is he has kept a flawed baseball team in the race for a post-season spot until the final week of the season. You also have to credit his pitching coach, Mickey Callaway, for putting together a starting rotation that has been dominant throughout August and September.

It is apparent that at the end of July, when the trading deadline takes place, the front office didn’t see the dominant pitching coming. The Indians were 53-56 and sat six games behind the second wild card team, the Toronto Blue Jays, and GM Chris Antonetti decided to deal free agents to be Asdrubal Cabrera and Justin Masterson, and basically get prospects in return.

To be fair, neither Cabrera nor Masterson were having good seasons, but in dealing those two, Antonetti didn’t address the Tribe’s weaknesses, mainly a right-handed bat and pitching help.

The inability to address the former led to Gimenez and Holt being thrust into a race for a playoff spot.

Antonetti and his boss, team president Mark Shapiro, can say anything he wants, but it is clear he didn’t have any faith that his ballclub would arrive at the last week of the regular season with a chance to make the playoffs.

We wonder what Francona thinks about the lack of confidence in his players.

When the Tribe made an August surge, going 18-9 for the month, the front office brought in some reinforcements to help out when players suffered injuries. Gimenez was brought in when Yan Gomes suffered a concussion, J. B. Shuck was eventually added in September after David Murphy and Nick Swisher went out of the lineup.

Those two have combined to go 1 for 30 while wearing a Cleveland uniform.

Meanwhile, players like Josh Willingham (Kansas City), Adam Dunn (Oakland), and John Mayberry Jr, (Toronto) were all moved during August, and while none of them have been difference makers down the stretch, they aren’t 1 for 30 either.

The point is even on July 31st, six games out isn’t enough to toss in the proverbial white towel. Maybe Antonetti didn’t see Corey Kluber becoming arguably the American League’s best pitcher, nor did he see Carlos Carrasco turning into a right-handed version of Sandy Koufax, but you don’t know if you will ever get that type of dominant starting pitching in 2015.

That’s why you have to go for a post-season spot whenever you have the opportunity. And that’s why the front office failed the players, the manager, and the fan base, who want to be convinced the organization wants to win.

While the rotation looks good for the future, we all know pitching isn’t the most stable commodity. It is doubtful that Kluber will pitch this well next year, and who knows about the rest of the rotation, who really don’t have a track record in the major leagues.

And whatever you want to say about Terry Francona, there is no question that he knows how to get the most out of his players. His belief and trust of his players offset any weaknesses he has in the in-game strategy department, and he squeezes the most out of his guys.

It’s too bad the front office didn’t understand this. As close as they came this season, any help that would have come in could have put the Tribe back in the playoffs this fall.

Yes, Tribe Has Good Young Core, but Can’t Sit Out the Winter

Well, the Cleveland Indians kept it interesting for a little while.

They hung in the race for a post-season spot until the middle of September, but last weekend’s sweep at the hands of the Detroit Tigers means there will not be consecutive post-season spots for the first time since 1999, and it is time to look forward to the 2015 season.

We understand that Terry Francona and the players will not make any changes to the lineup or the starting rotation until the Tribe is officially eliminated from playoff consideration, which probably won’t happen until the weekend, but we can still speculate on what needs to occur prior to spring training in February.

The Indians do have a good young core of players. They can build on several solid position players in Michael Brantley (who will turn 28 next May), Carlos Santana (29), Yan Gomes (28), Lonnie Chisenhall (26), and we believe Jason Kipnis (28) will rebound next year based on his track record and the fact he was battling injuries this year.

They also have Jose Ramirez (23), who has impressed this year since playing everyday after the Asdrubal Cabrera trade, and of course, Francisco Lindor, one of the game’s best prospects.

The organization will likely do the service time game with Lindor, which would be a mistake if he shows in spring training that he is ready to play everyday at the big league level. Too often, the Tribe gets off to slow starts because they don’t keep the correct players on the Opening Day roster.

The starting rotation is also very young with a lot of room to get better. Staff ace Corey Kluber will be just 29 years old in 2015, and he is joined by Carlos Carrasco (28), Danny Salazar (25), T. J. House (25) and Trevor Bauer (24) to form a rotation with a lot of upside.

However, Francona has said in the past that when you think you have enough pitching, you go out and get some more. Therefore, the front office cannot stand pat with the rotation and should look to bring in some reinforcements during the winter. You have to think at least one of those guys will not perform up to this year’s standards next season.

The one area that will need to be addressed in the off-season is the bench, which was a key component of last year’s squad, but had a huge drop off in ’14. We know Jason Giambi won’t likely be back, but GM Chris Antonetti should also look to replace Ryan Raburn and Mike Aviles, both of whom haven’t produced offensively.

Raburn is under contract for 2015, so that may be a challenge, but whenever Francona has wanted to rest a regular or an injury keeps a starter out of the lineup for an extended period of time, there has been a drop off in the offense.

Perhaps David Murphy can fit in as the fourth outfielder if Antonetti comes up with another alternative in right field.

And you really can’t use young players in bench roles because they don’t know how to handle it. It is better to find veterans who used to play everyday that can accept not doing that anymore or guys who have made a living playing in a reserve role.

It is difficult to be productive playing sporadically, and it is a challenge to find guys who can hit while getting 200-300 at bats in a season.

Yes, the Indians future does look bright, or at least it isn’t dismal. However, Chris Antonetti can’t afford to stand pat like he did last winter. They have to improve this club in order to avoid the wild card race and win the American League Central Division.

The bigger question is whether or not they will do just that.

Lack of Home Runs Killing Tribe Attack

In yesterday’s 12-3 loss to the Los Angeles Angels, four visiting batters (Kole Calhoun, David Freese, Albert Pujols, and Howie Kendrick) all hit home runs.

In the home dugout, Terry Francona had to be jealous.

Why?

Because that kind of power hasn’t been seen for the Indians in a month. In fact, no Tribe player besides Carlos Santana and Lonnie Chisenhall have went deep since Zach Walters’ two run shot in the 10th inning on August 26th at Chicago.

And former Oriole manager Earl Weaver would cringe at this statistic: No Indians’ player has hit a three run homer since Santana went deep off of former Tribe pitcher Ubaldo Jimenez on August 16th.

No wonder Francona’s team has trouble scoring runs.

Without power, offenses are dependent on scoring by getting multiple base hits in an inning or a mixture of walks and hits. That may work if you have a lot of hitters batting in the .270 range.

Once again, the Indians do not.

Among the regulars, only Michael Brantley, Chisenhall, and Yan Gomes have batting averages over .280. So, even if you get a couple of men on base, you are likely dependent on someone hitting around .250, meaning they get a hit one out of every four times up, to come up with a big hit.

The lack of offense puts a lot of pressure on a pitching staff.

Somehow, Cleveland remains in the top half of the American League in runs scored, currently ranking 7th in the junior circuit. This is despite the team scoring more than four runs just once since the calendar turned to September.

Someone has to step up and soon if the Indians are to stay relevant in the wild card race, and their presence in that situation is a day-to-day proposition to be sure. All it would take is consecutive losses to a team like the Indians are facing tonight, Minnesota, and any chance of making the playoffs will be doused.

And they need to have the ability to score without piecing together several hits and/or walks, and to score with one swing of the bat.

The Tribe has played eight games this month and have received no homers from Brantley (last one: August 16th vs. Baltimore), Gomes (last HR: August 18th), and Jason Kipnis (last HR: July 31st) in that period.

Note that these guys are usually hitting in the middle of the Cleveland batting order, anywhere from 3rd to 6th. And this isn’t to denigrate the years that Brantley and Gomes are having, as both are among the most productive hitters in the game at their position.

The point is that no one has stepped up and helped out, most notably Kipnis, who is suffering through a horrible season.

Walters filled the void for awhile, hitting six bombs, but recently has shown his true Russell Branyan tendencies by striking out at an incredible rate (28 times in 76 at bats).

Chisenhall has mixed in a couple of home runs, but Michael Bourn and Jose Ramirez aren’t known for power, and David Murphy is just coming off an oblique strain.

The other players getting playing time from Francona aren’t long ball threats either, guys like Tyler Holt and newly acquired J.B. Shuck.

This might be the most convincing argument to giving minor league slugger Jesus Aguilar an extended shot in the lineup. He’s a threat to hit one out.

There is no question the Cleveland Indians need to start scoring if they want to remain in the race. However, without the threat of the home run, it will be a very difficult task, indeed.

Tribe’s Patience Reaches No Boundaries

We have decided that if we couldn’t perform well at our job, we would want Terry Francona and Chris Antonetti in our corner.

Their patience knows no bounds. If we performed well for a few months in our position, they would wait as long as possible before deciding we could no longer do the job any longer.

That can be the only explanation for the decisions made by this franchise over the last couple of weeks.

If you have experience, they are the employers for you.

Actually, it started just prior to the All-Star Game when Michael Bourn re-injured his hamstring and management opted to acquire journeyman OF Chris Dickerson from Pittsburgh rather than give an opportunity to Tyler Holt, who was hitting .311 at Columbus.

Dickerson is a career .259 hitter and batted .238 for the Orioles in 2013, and spent the entire ’14 season in AAA until the Indians traded for him in early July.

What we mean to say is, he’s nothing special.

Dickerson hit well upon his arrival and was partially responsible for a win over Detroit when he hit two home runs in one game off Cy Young Award winner Max Scherzer.

However, other than those two dingers, he’s had four hits since the midsummer classic.

Another veteran who gets an enormous benefit of the doubt is Ryan Raburn who has also had just six hits since the All-Star Game was played in Minneapolis. As a point of reference, Tyler Holt, who was sent back to Columbus today to make room for Danny Salazar, had five hits…this week!

As a reward, he took the drive back to AAA.

As we have written previously, we understand the skipper writing Nick Swisher and Bourn’s name in the lineup everyday because they have track records of some success, and the franchise is paying each of them a king’s ransom. You almost have to play them. Almost.

But Dickerson isn’t making big money and although Raburn is signed through next season, his deal isn’t for big money. There is no compelling reason to keep him in the lineup, unless you believe he’s going catch fire the last six weeks of the campaign.

Perhaps Francona and Antonetti both believe that if we jump off the Terminal Tower, we will magically learn how to fly?

The same logic has gone into continually pitching right-hander Josh Tomlin, who has been hammered more often than not since the end of June when he pitched a one-hitter against Seattle.

Tomlin did pitch well against Arizona this week, but it was clear Francona didn’t have much confidence in him since he was pulled after 5-2/3 shutout innings and threw just 59 pitches.

To be fair, the patience did pay off with Carlos Carrasco, but he did a great job in the bullpen when moved there, and earned his spot back into the rotation. A word of caution, let’s not get carried away by two starts either.

So, when Carrasco was moved to the ‘pen, he was very effective. Tomlin hasn’t been getting people out for almost two months, yet he still has a spot on the roster, when the Tribe could move up Austin Adams, another hard-throwing reliever, who could help a tired relief corps.

The organization seems to fear giving chances to young players, even though in most cases, the new guys couldn’t possibly be worse than what the veterans are doing.

We believe players like Jesus Aguilar, Holt, Francisco Lindor and others would have more than six hits over the past month. But management simply won’t give them the chance.

We should all get the second, third, fourth, etc. chances non-producing Tribe players get. Unfortunately, that’s not how it works in the real world.

This Year, the Bench is Killing the Tribe

One of Terry Francona’s best attributes as a manager is his patience. We have always said that fans are quick to dispose of players, but GMs and managers can’t pull the trigger on someone after two bad weeks, particularly in baseball, where the season is a six month grind.

Francona gives his players the benefit of the doubt, particularly when their track record shows a level of production. For example, when Carlos Santana was hitting .140 at the end of May, the skipper stuck with him.

Over the last two plus months, the switch-hitter has rewarded Francona’s faith in him by hitting almost .300 and hitting 15 home runs.

This year, it could be that the very thing that endears Tito to his players is costing him ball games.

Francona likes to keep 13 pitchers on his roster because he likes to use his bullpen and he doesn’t want to tax anyone’s arm, so as to not let them become ineffective by overuse.

Last year’s “Goon Squad” has gone from an integral part of the team to a gaping hole on the roster. And that is a huge problem considering on most nights the Indians only have three position players on the bench.

Ryan Raburn has received a lot of criticism for a drastic fall off in performance and is one of the chief reasons for the Tribe’s struggles vs. left-handed pitching. Raburn hit .308 with 7 homers against southpaws a year ago. This season, he’s hitting .188 with all three of his dingers against lefties.

Overall, he had a 901 OPS in 2013, and has a 528 OPS in 2014.

Raburn hasn’t hit all season long, and his manager has kept thinking he would come around, but the reality is, the season has around six weeks remaining and every at-bat Raburn seems to be a waste.

Aviles wasn’t as effective as Raburn in 2013, but he was a valuable reserve, hitting .252 with 24 extra base hits in 361 at bats.

This year, the jack of all trades defensively (he has played 2B, 3B, SS, and all three outfield spots), has dropped to just 14 extra base hits in 262 plate appearances. His OPS has dipped from 650 last year to 595 in ’14. If you are under 600, you are a dreadful offensive player.

Yan Gomes was part of that group last year, but he earned his way into the starting lineup. With Santana now at first base, the backup catcher role has been taken by first George Kotteras, who contributed offensively with three home runs, but wasn’t good defensively, and now by Roberto Perez, a rookie who done okay with 9 hits in his first 31 at bats.

What has made the lack of bench production worse has been the poor hitting of a few regulars, most notably Nick Swisher, Jason Kipnis, and Michael Bourn. Even if Francona wanted to ease them out of the lineup, there isn’t anyone earning additional playing time like Gomes did last season.

Help could be on the way though.

Jose Ramirez has shown improvement since the trade of Asdrubal Cabrera, but he is pretty much playing everyday now.

Tyler Holt and Zach Walters both contributed in yesterday’s doubleheader, and should get more playing time based on their success against Arizona.

In any event, while many people fixate on the poor seasons by Swisher, Bourn, and Justin Masterson as the reason for the Indians’ inconsistency in 2014, don’t forget to include the reserve players. They haven’t come close to matching what they did in ’13.

That hasn’t made Francona’s job any easier.

Tribe Doesn’t Need Big Splash, Just Need to Address Holes.

The Cleveland Indians are not a good baseball team. That is implied by their 51-53 record as of this morning.

It is easy to say the Tribe shouldn’t do anything before the trade deadline because they aren’t consistent and are hovering around the .500 mark.

However, if you look at the American League as a whole, the Tribe is just 3-1/2 games out of a playoff spot and they are pretty much in the same boat as the Yankees, Blue Jays, Mariners, and Royals.

Those teams are around the break even mark too, and they certainly are not phoning in the rest of the season.

Neither should the Indians.

Last year at around this time, the Tribe was five games out of the second wild card spot and they wound up winning 92 games and won a post-season berth.

Now we acknowledge it would be darn near impossible for Terry Francona’s crew to go 21-6 in September again to make the playoffs, but it is incumbent on the front office to shore up the problems that have beset this baseball team since April.

And that would be finding consistency in hitting, and reliable starting pitching.

Reading other sites and listening to fans talk about the deadline, you hear people discussing pitchers like Jon Lester and David Price, two guys likely with higher price tags than the Indians are willing to look at.

However, the reality of the matter is GM Chris Antonetti just has to replace the guys who aren’t performing with players who are better than them, they don’t have to be all-star caliber players.

What we mean is that Antonetti merely has to get a starting pitcher better than Justin Masterson, Zack McAllister, Josh Tomlin, T.J. House, or Danny Salazar. He doesn’t need to get Lester or Price.

That’s how you improve your team.

On the offensive side, he just needs to upgrade over Ryan Raburn or Nick Swisher. You don’t need to get Giancarlo Stanton, not that Miami is going to trade him.

Based on the sabermetric statistic WARP (wins over replacement player), there are three Indian players received significant playing time that are not as good as the average player at their spot–David Murphy, Raburn, and Swisher.

There is no question that Swisher isn’t going anywhere because of his contract, but if you can find hitters better than Raburn and/or Murphy, then you’ve made your team better. And isn’t that the job of management?

Last night, the Tribe handed McAllister a 5-0 lead in a game that needed desperately. He didn’t do the job, which is pretty much something he’s done since his first four starts of the year.

And the game winning HR was given up by Nick Hagadone, a guy who is very familiar with the route between Cleveland and Columbus, and a guy most known for not having a good grasp on throwing strikes.

The night before, the game winning blast was allowed by John Axford, whose performance has ebbed and flowed all year-long.

These are the guys Francona has to turn to when he needs victories? To me, it says the front office isn’t being diligent in improving this baseball team.

If the Indians do nothing in the remainder of the month, they deserve all of the ire and vitriol their fan base will heap upon them. We’ve all seen the warts on the 2014 edition of the Tribe.

Doing nothing just re-emphasizes their lack of trust in the current administration and ownership.

Tribe Needs A Bat, Need A Starter More

The major league baseball trading deadline will be here a week from today, and most of the American League playoff contenders have made moves.

Oakland, Los Angeles, Detroit, and New York have all tried to strengthen their clubs heading into the stretch run. The Indians have not made a move yet, even though it appears they desperately need to do so.

Does the Tribe need a quality hitter, a starting pitcher, or some more help in the bullpen?

Certainly, the offense is inconsistent to be sure, but Cleveland still ranks 5th in the league in runs scored, so even though it can be maddening to watch the Indians’ hitters being baffled by the likes of Minnesota’s Anthony Swarzak, they do have games where they put up enough runs to win.

To us, the biggest problem Terry Francona has is getting enough innings out of his starting pitchers on a night to night basis, particularly when that night’s starter is not named Corey Kluber or Trevor Bauer. Since the all-star break, here are the number of innings Tribe starters have pitched:

Bauer vs. DET                       6 IP
Kluber vs. DET             8-2/3 IP
McAllister vs. DET       5-1/3 IP
Tomlin vs. DET            4-1/3 IP
House vs. MIN                     5 IP
Salazar vs. MIN                   5 IP
Bauer vs. MIN                     6 IP

The lack of length provided by the starters means Francona has to go to an already overworked bullpen and lean on them heavily every night. Eventually, you have to think that will come back to bite the Indians.

This isn’t something new, either. It has pretty much been this way since the beginning of the season, and it is a tribute to the skipper and Mickey Callaway that they have managed to keep the relief corps performing at a high level all season.

It would be another thing if the McAllisters, Salazars, Houses, and Tomlins were providing these short outings allowing either zero or one run, but they aren’t.

Tomlin has now been mediocre in seven or his last eight starts, the exception being his one-hit masterpiece against the Mariners at the end of June. Every other start is basically around five innings, allowing around four runs, with of course, an obligatory long ball allowing in the mix.

House is also below average at this point in his career, he can give you five or six frames, pitching in and out of trouble usually, but allows around three or four tallies.

Salazar needs to show better than in his last start, where the Tribe gave him a 3-0 lead early, only to watch him load the bases with walks right after getting the lead. He did escape unscathed, but the number of pitches made in that inning forced him out after five innings.

Yes, this group is capable of going out there and throwing seven quality innings every once in a while.

That’s the point, once in a while isn’t good enough. If GM Chris Antonetti can’t find someone who can be closer to Kluber and Bauer, and can be counted on to get deeper into the game soon, it doesn’t look like the Indians can stay in the race for the long haul.

And spare us the “what if Justin Masterson comes back” scenario as well. That’s a hope, but the front office simply cannot count on that happening.

The competition in the American League standings are making moves to shore up weaknesses. Here’s hoping the Tribe doesn’t provide its fans with another case of “we tried, but we couldn’t get anything done”.