It’s Starting To Not Be So Early for Indians

If you were going to write a blueprint on how to contend for a division title in baseball, we would guess it wouldn’t say to start off 4-11 against your own division foes.

That’s what the Indians have done and in the process have dug a little hole for themselves.

They are now seven games out of first place and the calendar hasn’t even turned to May.

There is plenty of time for the Tribe, as they haven’t reached the 27 game point of the season, the one-sixth pole if you will, but it will come sometime next week, and right now, Terry Francona’s team looks moribund at best.

The culprit? The same as last year, an inconsistent offense that lacks hitters who provide professional at bats.

Last weekend’s series at Comerica Park was a perfect example of what we are talking about, as the Indians scored 13 runs in the first contest, and followed up the next day by tallying just one.

The team’s best hitter to this point has been a guy many people wanted to replace before the season opened, Ryan Raburn, who has hit .385 in 26 at bats and is tied for the club lead (with Brandon Moss) in extra base hits with seven.

Of course, three of Moss’ long hits game in the 13-1 rout of the Tigers we were speaking of earlier.

Granted, it is early, but the usual Indians’ line up features a lot of players batting anywhere from .240 to .150.

On the other hand, at what point is it no longer early?

When the same things are occurring to start the year as ended last season, there may not be time to wait.

We had discussions over the weekend about CF Michael Bourn, who was finally dropped out of the leadoff spot after starting off 2015 the same way he closed last year: Striking out a lot, not getting on base, and not stealing bases.

At this point, it would be a shock if Bourn caught fire and wound up the year with an average of over .250.

Jason Kipnis is looking like the ’14 version which was an injury plagued campaign.

Lonnie Chisenhall is looking like second half Lonnie, not the one who flirted with .400 in the first half of 2014.

The defense continues to struggle. Thank goodness Cleveland pitchers lead the American League in strikeouts, lest more balls be put in play to challenge the tin gloves the Indians’ fielders use.

GM Chris Antonetti has built this team on pitching, yet continues to put subpar defenders behind his collection of power arms in the front of his rotation.

We have been clamoring for Francisco Lindor to be called up since the trading deadline last season, but once again, today we heard a bunch of corporate speak about how he is not yet a finished product.

And we say that despite the fact we like Jose Ramirez. Ramirez will be a good player someday, but he’s a second baseman, not a shortstop. Lindor is a shortstop.

Roster problems weren’t taken care of either this winter. When Antonetti traded for Moss this winter, they didn’t move David Murphy, despite the plan to play the newcomer in RF.

Therefore, the Tribe doesn’t have a backup centerfielder on the roster. Wouldn’t Tyler Holt fill a role with this team?

Anyway, based on past experience, Antonetti will wait and wait before making any changes with the roster. By that time, it may be too late.

We picked the Indians to emerge as the division winner, but right now, this team doesn’t have the look of a playoff team, except for the starting pitching.

Hopefully, the season doesn’t get away from them by then.

Why Is Tribe So Bad at Selling Themselves?

Last weekend, the Cleveland Indians held their annual fanfest, bringing in former and current players, along with manager Terry Francona to meet and mingle with the fans.

Once again, it was a very crowded place to be, indicating once again that there is plenty of interest in the Tribe, but unfortunately it doesn’t translate into larger crowds filling Progressive Field.

Let’s face it, for all of success on the field the Indians have had over the last two seasons with Francona at the helm, they are a boring franchise in terms of making news.

With all of the wheeling and dealing that occurred within major league baseball this winter, the Indians made one trade, bringing Brandon Moss from Oakland for minor league infielder Joe Wendle.

And while watching MLB Network last week, they showed a list of least money spent on free agents during the off-season, and there were the Indians sitting in the top five, with only Gavin Floyd’s $4 million deal as of right now.

That really isn’t moving the fan base to dig into their pockets and buy tickets, which by the way, aren’t even for sale yet in terms of single game purchases.

So, even if there were a reason to buy tickets, you can’t unless you are interested in a season ticket program.

And the biggest thing the front office has been promoting this winter is the renovations to the ballpark, which will not seat approximately 10-15% fewer fans come April.

So we can add not very good at promoting itself to being boring in terms of making news.

We asked the people at the website, MLB Trade Rumors, if they even had someone monitoring the Indians since not only do they not make any moves, they also aren’t really involved in any rumors either.

By the way, they laughed at our question, and said in their opinion, Cleveland can look forward to a very good season.

We agree, that’s why it’s a shame more people can’t see that, and why the organization has such a hard time promoting itself.

We wrote an article a few weeks ago that gave nine things about the team that the front office should be pointing out, instead of saying how the team has limited money to spend, and talking about market size.

That lack of self-promotion is probably the biggest problem with the Cleveland Indians.

Because there is interest in this team. We know that because the local ratings for the games is very high. If you are on Twitter during a game, there is plenty of comments, both pro and con during the contest, the same as there is for a Browns’ or Cavaliers’ game.

And some of the players, particularly the young core of talent, are starting to be recognized by the fan base. You can see allegiances being formed with Michael Brantley, Corey Kluber, and Yan Gomes.

Many people are looking forward to this season so they can finally see one of the sports’ top prospects in SS Francisco Lindor.

We don’t know why the Indians are so bad about this aspect of the game, and along with the appraisals they do in regards to the men who are playing, they should examine why they cannot connect with the people who buy tickets.

They are like the terrible sales person who has a great product to sell, but because their spiel is so poor, they can’t get folks to try it.

That makes it a priority for the team to get off to a fast start so people will sit up and take notice. It will be especially difficult this spring because it is likely the Cavaliers will be in the midst of a playoff run, and that will consume the fan’s interest.

Here’s hoping the message can be received some how, because it appears the Cleveland Indians will be in the middle of a playoff race again in 2015.

The K in Kipnis Should Be For Key

The Cleveland Indians’ offense was inconsistent at best last season. They finished in the top half of the American League in runs scored (7th), but they scored three runs or less in exactly half of their games, going 25-56 when that occurred.

This means when they reached four runs, their record was 60-21, an outstanding mark. So, if the Tribe can cut back on some of those games where they score under four runs, their record should improve.

As a comparison, the Indians’ main rivals in the Central Division, the Detroit Tigers, scored three runs or less in 63 games, 18 less than Cleveland. The AL West champs, the Angels had this occur 65 times.

Kansas City, who most think have a mediocre offense, couldn’t get to the four run mark 79 times.

How do the Indians improve the scoring? Well, we are sure they are hoping for Brandon Moss, acquired from Oakland this winter, will help by providing more pop, having hit 25 home runs in ’14 and 30 dingers in ’13.

However, the key to the Tribe scoring more runs in 2015 is Jason Kipnis.

In 2013, Kipnis made his first all-star game appearance, hitting .284 with 17 homers and an 818 OPS. Last year, he got off to a slow start and battled injuries, his numbers dropped to just .240 with six home runs, none after the end of July.

In fact, in the season’s last two months, Kipnis batted a paltry .235 with only five runs batted in. Despite that, Terry Francona showed a lot of confidence in him by continuing to put him in the middle of the lineup.

Obviously, the Indians need the soon to be 28-year-old to be more like the guy who played in 2013 if the offense is to improve. And at that age, he should be in the prime of his career, plus his new six-year, $52 million contract kicks in this season, so Cleveland owes him a lot of cash over the next five seasons.

To make it simple, if Kipnis isn’t an above average offensive player over the next three to four seasons, the Indians will be in a lot of trouble.

He got paid off of the ’13 season, but his second season in the big leagues (2012) wasn’t outstanding either, as his OPS was just 714. His average was .257 and although he did bang 14 long balls, he only had 40 extra base hits. He accumulated 57 in 2013.

So, there should be some concern that last year wasn’t a total fluke.

Kipnis walked 76 times in ’13, but just 50 times last season, and the injuries shouldn’t be an excuse there, unless something was wrong with his eyes. He swung at a lot of pitches out of the strike zone and struggled with men on base, hitting just .221 with runners on. He hit .300 in this situation the prior year.

He also struggled at Progressive Field, batting just .218 there last season, compared to .288 in ’13.

Many fans talk about Nick Swisher and Michael Bourn as players the Indians need to be productive to make a run in 2015, but the simpler answer is a return by Kipnis to something close to his 2013 numbers.

If he can, Francona’s lineup should be much more productive. If he can’t, the Tribe will need to do something about a guy they owe a lot of cash to in the coming years.

Improving the Park is Fine for Tribe, Improving Team Would be Better

If you were looking for someone to write a handbook on how to anger your customers, may we suggest the people who run the Cleveland Indians.

Just one week after not doing one damn thing to help a ballclub who, flawed or not, were in the middle of a race for a post-season spot, the team announced they would undertake a major renovation of Progressive Field.

That’s fine. The stadium is now 20 years old and the Tribe brass doesn’t want it to ignore things so it gets to be rundown like Municipal Stadium, which was basically a dump when the Indians moved out after the 1993 season.

The problem is team president Mark Shapiro said the renovations would be paid for by the Indians. They want to make sure they improve the “fan experience” at Progressive Field.

We are pretty sure that the “fan experience” would be much better in the team won. In fact, if the Tribe ever won the World Series and played at the city dump, baseball fans in Cleveland would be pretty happy.

For a franchise that has a history of tossing around nickels like manhole covers, telling your supporters you are going to spend cash on renovating the ballpark instead of getting better players is tantamount to kicking them in the face.

At the risk of having the Indians tell us it is a different situation because football has a salary cap, the Browns told us the same thing last winter. They were going to make major renovations to First Energy Stadium over the next two years, and supporters of the brown and orange were irritated as well.

Hell with the facility, get us a winning team.

Since then, the Browns have filled a lot of holes through the draft and free agency, and they brought in the most talked about player in college football over the past two seasons in Johnny Manziel.

Suddenly, no one talks about wasting money on the stadium.

It is doubtful the Indians will do the same thing this winter.

The whole removing seats concept also tells you everything you need to know about the Tribe front office.

There is no secret that attendance has been a problem basically since the Dolan family took ownership of the franchise. We believe it is due to the lack of sustained success (can’t put two consecutive over .500 seasons together), and the perception of baseball fans of distrust in ownership/front office.

Instead of building a team that will fill the seats (and there is interested in the team judging by the local television ratings, which ranks in the top five in major league baseball), the solution from Dolan and Shapiro is to remove seats that they cannot sell.

The Indians need to realize that yes, they are competing for your entertainment dollar, but they are also in the baseball business, one that measures success by wins and losses. That should be the most important goal for the franchise…winning!

The Tribe prides itself on treating players well, but does that help them attract players to the north coast? No.

Shapiro does a lot of things the right way, he treats his employees well, he is part of the community, if you go to Progressive Field, it is a great atmosphere for the family.

However, the primary objective for a major league baseball team is to win and win consistently. This is where the Tribe comes up short.

The Indians’ organization would be better served spending money on putting better players on the field and giving a facelift to a iconic ballpark.

If they could do both, fine. But once again, the priority for the Tribe seems to be off the field things rather than where they should be.

When Tribe Does Spend, Results Aren’t There.

One thing all baseball fans can agree on is that the Cleveland Indians are not a free spending organization.

For whatever the reason, the Tribe’s payroll is usually in the lower third of the American League, and much of that is due to the size of the television market.

The Indians can’t charge the same rights’ fees for local broadcasts, both TV and radio as teams located in New York, Los Angeles, Chicago, and Boston.

So, the Tribe needs to spend their limited funds wisely.

The big problem is they simply haven’t.

The Indians’ highest paid player right now is Nick Swisher, who is suffering through a terrible season, and even last season, didn’t produce at a high level.

Before Swisher, Cleveland highest paid baseball player was Travis Hafner, who had a series of injuries after his last 100 RBI season in 2007, making the reported $10-13 million he was being paid an albatross across the organization’s back.

If you aren’t or are unable to spend with the upper echelon of payrolls in the sport, it is a killer when the players you make a major commitment to don’t live up to expectations.

You can’t lay all of the blame on Swisher either. The Tribe’s second highest paid player is Michael Bourn, who has battled hamstring issues all season long, and to be truthful, hasn’t performed like an all-star either.

We have always said that it isn’t about spending money for the Dolan ownership; it is all about spending wisely. Going out and overspending isn’t good for any franchise; look at the Braves with B.J. Upton.

If they don’t work out, these signings cause a lot of questions for the management. If Swisher were making half of what he is currently earning, or if he were on the last year of his contract, do you really think Terry Francona would continuously write his name in the lineup day in and day out?

Upton is currently hitting .212 for Atlanta (608 OPS), yet he has appeared in 106 of the 114 games the Braves have played.

Swisher’s 615 OPS figure is the lowest of any everyday player on the Indians. Not exactly a big bang for the buck.

As for Bourn, we didn’t like the signing at the time, and to this point we are proven correct. He has never been an elite offensive player, posting an OPS of 704 before signing with the Tribe.

His best asset on offense was stealing bases, having led the NL in that category three times in his career, including 2011, just two years before he arrived in Cleveland.

Since putting on Chief Wahoo, Bourn has stolen just 30 bases, and has been caught 15 times in almost two full seasons.

If you want to blame ownership for not spending money, then you also have to put heat on GM Chris Antonetti and president Mark Shapiro for blowing it when the Dolan family hands them a bag of cash.

When you have limited opportunities, you have to take advantage of them. The Indians’ organization has dropped the ball in that respect.

What can they do going forward? They may have to deal one of the two and pay some salary to improve at their respective positions.

Whether or not the ownership would sign off on that is debatable.

Unfortunately, these mistakes probably mean there will be less big spending in the future. Instead of getting it right, they will just avoid making the commitment.

Just another reason that it’s great to be an Indians’ fan.

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”.

Shapiro’s Comments On Spending Are Concerning

Over the weekend, Cleveland Indians team president Mark Shapiro had an interview with MLB radio in which he talked about the future of his team.

Among the things he said was that the Indians did their spending last season when they inked Nick Swisher and Michael Bourn.

This is troubling because if ever there were time to go the extra mile in spending, it would be this winter.

The Indians made the playoffs last season and won 92 games. With the Browns ending another terrible season and the Cavs still below .500, a solid winter would get fans excited about the 2014 baseball season.

Nothing like throwing a wet blanket on the fan base.

Look, we understand the Indians cannot have a $100 million payroll, but Baseball Reference.com estimates they will spend $81.1 million on players next season.

Why can’t they get closer to $90 million?

Last year, the organization said they were able to sign Swisher and later Bourn because of the sale of Sportstime Ohio to Fox. That’s great!

However, this year teams are reaping the benefits of the new national television contracts, which put an additional $25 million in each team’s pockets. Even though the Swisher and Bourn deals get heavier in this, their second year, ownership should be able to spend a little more because of this windfall.

The problem is management, mostly Shapiro, continue to talk about financial constraints. They think they are being honest and forthright, but to fans’ ears they sound like excuses.

We believe most Tribe fans get that the team can’t spend like the Yankees, Red Sox, and Dodgers. Still, supporters of the team would like them to be aggressive and build on the positive momentum created in September.

Not hear the team president talk about the financial constraints of major league baseball.

We haven’t been upset with the signings the Indians have made this off-season. We’ve talked about how we liked David Murphy, and inking John Axford to a one-year deal to be a contender to replace Chris Perez as closer makes a lot of sense.

But the Tribe still needs to find two starting pitchers to make up for the loss of Scott Kazmir and the likely loss of Ubaldo Jimenez. And now, getting Shaun Marcum doesn’t make up for one spot, although he’s another low risk, high reward deal for the Tribe.

Are the Indians willing to spend a significant chunk of money to get a proven major league starting pitcher? They should be, because they have to be thinking about getting back to the post-season, and this time as a division winner.

Most of the free agent signings in baseball this winter have been players to ridiculous contracts, and we are glad the Indians aren’t involved.

The beef here (and always has been) the constant bringing up the availability of money with the Cleveland organization. Other teams in small markets put out competitive teams every year, like Tampa Bay and Oakland.

Those organizations are bold and creative.

The Indians need to adopt those teams’ philosophies of maximizing the performance of their highly paid players. If you are paying big money to a player, he simply has to produce.

Really, it comes down to this. Stop talking, and just improve the ballclub. And maybe, just maybe, the Tribe will be the popular team in Cleveland once again.

Lincecum’s Deal Means Bye Bye to Ubaldo

It was reported that the Indians are pondering whether or not to make a qualifying offer of approximately $14.1 million to potential free agent right-hander Ubaldo Jimenez.

Here’s hoping that GM Chris Antonetti decides to make the offer.

We don’t have any illusions of keeping Jimenez for the 2014 season. The Giants monstrous deal for Tim Lincecum made it likely that some team will give the American League’s pitcher of the month for September a very rich man.

Still, the Tribe should make the qualifying offer because if Jimenez refuses, which is a most likely scenario, then Cleveland will get an additional first round pick in next year’s amateur draft.

And even if Ubaldo accepts, it’s a one-year contract and there is no such thing as a bad one-year deal. Why? Because the franchise isn’t hamstrung by an agreement that keeps going on and on (see Hafner, Travis).

The Indians and Jimenez have a mutual option for 2014, which the Tribe will most definitely pick up and Jimenez most certainly will turn down seeing the cash that Lincecum received considering he hasn’t been a dominant hurler since 2011.

The two-time Cy Young Award winner went 10-14 with a 4.37 ERA with San Francisco in 2013, and that was the better of last two years. He had an ERA over 5.00 in 2012 (5.18).

Yet he received $35 million for the next two years.

You have to believe that Jimenez’ agent will use that contract as a starting point in any negotiation, and the Indians won’t pay that, nor should they give that much cash to a pitcher who pitched well a half season for a team he played two and a half years for.

Still, it’s a win-win situation to offer the righty the qualifying offer. If he accepts, the Tribe gets a guy who looks like he may have figured out his problems in the last two months of ’13.

And if he reverts back to the guy who pitched for Cleveland in 2012, the Indians can let him walk away afterwards.

If he declines the offer, then Antonetti gets another first round pick in the draft to help stock up the farm system.

The worse that may happen is you either blow the pick or Jimenez stays in a Tribe uniform for 2014 and pitches like he has most of his time here.

And really, with Lincecum’s outrageous deal, why would Ubaldo’s agent take the qualifying offer?

In the Indians’ shoes, they can’t sign players over 30 years old or pitchers to long-term pricey contracts. While Lincecum’s deal is only for two years, the guess here is Jimenez will be seeking and will probably get a four or five year agreement.

What this means is Antonetti will have to get creative to find the starting pitcher he would like to get to complete the rotation.

They will make a legitimate offer to Scott Kazmir, but we wouldn’t go over two years because of the southpaw’s history.

So, it may lead to a trade for an established pitcher already under contract. There have been rumors the Tribe is interested in Tampa’s David Price, which would be an ideal pick up.

Remember, Justin Masterson is a free agent after the 2014 season, while Price cannot be one until after the following season.

Could Antonetti be thinking of a one season pairing of Masterson and Price with Danny Salazar as the ace in waiting?

That’s how mid market teams have to operate, but they need a strong farm system to do it.

Getting a draft pick out of the Ubaldo Jimenez situation helps in that regard too.

What Should Tribe Do With Starters in ’14?

Baseball had a slight rebirth in Cleveland over the past two weeks.

Jason Giambi’s home run, which turned a defeat into a win on September 25th, awoke interest in a team fighting for a playoff spot, and for the next week, sports fans on the North Coast were wondering what was going on with the Indians.

The loss on Wednesday night that eliminated the Tribe has fans talking about next year, even in the midst of a Browns’ three game winning streak.

So, ownership, looking for a spark in fan interest the past few years, can’t blow it this off-season. They have to keep that interest alive over the winter and have people looking forward to spring training in late February/early March.

It should start with getting single game tickets on sale on Black Friday, the first huge shopping day of the Christmas season. We understand the push is to sell season tickets, not you have to give people the opportunity to get tickets while the 2013 season is fresh in their minds.

And, the front office needs to continue to improve the ballclub.

We understand (and we have said this before) that the Indians cannot have a $100 million payroll. They probably need to be around the mid $80 million range.

Still, that is possible. Heck, the Tribe did it this year, and teams like Tampa and Oakland do it on a more frequent basis that the Tribe has.

The biggest decision for GM Chris Antonetti is what to do about the pitching staff, with Ubaldo Jimenez and Scott Kazmir eligible to free agency. Jimenez and the Tribe have a mutual option at $8 million for next season, which the right-hander will certainly turndown.

We’ve gone back and forth on what Antonetti should do, and is both parties would agree to pick up the option that would be fine. However, in reality, Jimenez could draw three and four-year offers at more than $10 million per season. If that’s the case, the Indians need to look elsewhere.

There is just too much of a risk. Cleveland is not the type of franchise that can handle a long-term deal where the player is not producing at a high level.

The fact is this: Jimenez spent 14 months in an Indian uniform and had an ERA under 4.00 in less than half of those months (6). With the complexity of his mechanics, what if Ubaldo goes back to the type of pitcher he was for most of his career with the Tribe?

That’s too big of a risk for this franchise.

Now, if he wants to discuss a two-year deal, that is something that could be done without hampering the long-term future of the organization.

Remember, Justin Masterson is a free agent at the end of the ’14 campaign and he should be a higher priority than Jimenez.

Kazmir will be looking for a big payday too, as well he should since he was on the baseball scrapheap last year. Still, he should come at a lower cost and fewer years than Jimenez.

And since the Indians rescued him from the independent league, perhaps he will have some loyalty toward Francona and Mickey Calloway. Maybe a three-year deal at $6-7 million could get it done.

Remember, Danny Salazar should be in the rotation from day one in 2014, and the Tribe still has Corey Kluber and Zach McAllister as starters. If Trevor Bauer can get straightened out, he could be in the mix as well.

And you could get another low risk, high reward type signing on a one year deal for a pitcher trying to re-establish his career. Although Brett Myers didn’t help like he was supposed to, the signing was a good one. It was for one year, and when he didn’t work out, the Tribe just said goodbye.

It wouldn’t hurt to do that again with a different pitcher.

There is an old saying in baseball that you can’t have too much pitching. The Indians can’t get caught short, but they can’t put the future in jeopardy either.