It’s Time To Move Lindor…Out Of The Leadoff Spot

The Cleveland Indians need to find a new home for Francisco Lindor.

No, we are not talking about trading the four time All-Star shortstop, who is one of the best players in the game. Rather, we are suggesting skipper Terry Francona find a new spot in the batting order for Lindor, a move that would help the Tribe score more runs.

Francona likes Lindor leading off because he “sets the tone” for the team, and we understand that line of thinking. But everyone knows the shortstop is the team’s leader, it’s unofficial captain, so why not bat him in a spot the benefits the club more?

First, the job of the leadoff man is to get on base. Lindor’s .335 on base percentage last season is nothing special. His lifetime figure is .347, good but not optimal for a guy hitting first.

Cesar Hernandez, recently signed by the Indians to play second base, has a career .352 OBP. Kenny Lofton, the great leadoff man for Cleveland in the 90’s, had a .375 mark during his time in northeast Ohio.

However, our biggest reason to drop Lindor in the order is his slugging percentage, which at .518 led the Indians. It is odd to us that the Tribe’s best on base guy, Carlos Santana, batted in the #3 or #4 hole all season, while the player with the best slugging percentage led off virtually every game.

Lindor’s walk rate of 7% was his lowest since his rookie season figure of 6.2%. In 2018, he had his best rate at 9.4%.

We understand in today’s game, the slugging percentage leader on a team doesn’t hit in the #4 hole, and we aren’t asking for the manager to hit Lindor there. You want him getting more plate appearances than most players.

Still, wouldn’t you want your best power hitter batting with men on base? With Lindor leading off, you are guaranteeing that once a game he comes up with no one on. That doesn’t seem optimal.

For us, if you went an two seasons (’18 and ’19) with Lindor hitting first, wouldn’t it be more prudent to have Carlos Santana there?

Santana got on base almost 40% of the time (.397 OBP) last season, and has a career on base percentage of .367. And his slugging percentage was virtually the same (.515) as Lindor’s .518 mark.

One of Cleveland biggest problems offensively was getting on base, they ranked 8th in the American League in on base average, dropping from 3rd in 2018.

That’s why getting Hernandez was a solid move, his lifetime mark in that category was 48 points more than the man he replaced in Jason Kipnis.

The Indians had only one player, Santana, among the regulars (Yasiel Puig isn’t counted because he played only two months here, but had a .377 OBP) that got on base more than 35% of the time.

By contrast, Houston, New York, and Boston all had five, and Minnesota had three. That’s a pretty telling statistic.

Jose Ramirez topped the .350 mark in 2016, 2017, and 2018, so if he’s very capable of getting on base at a high rate, but that’s why we’d be looking in that direction if the Indians are looking for another outfielder.

It’s also why we keep coming back to Puig.

We would move Lindor to the #2 or #3 position in the batting order, and would hit Ramirez or Santana (or both) ahead of him.

It might just be a good way to kick start the Indians’ attack.

Looking At Tribe OF Options

The Cleveland Indians’ infield looks to be settled with the signing of 2B Cesar Hernandez as a free agent.

Barring a deal involving SS Francisco Lindor, the Tribe will feature four switch-hitters in the infield with Carlos Santana at first, Hernandez and Lindor manning the keystone, and Jose Ramirez at third.

We also know Roberto Perez will be the primary catcher.

However, what about the outfield?

We know Oscar Mercado will go into spring training as the starting centerfielder, and Jordan Luplow will be somewhere out there vs. left-handed pitchers (at least).

And occasionally, Franmil Reyes will play right field.

There seems to be plenty of playing time available in the outfield and designated hitter spots.

Left-handed hitter Corey Dickerson, who had the highest slugging percentage on the market outside of Josh Donaldson, agreed to terms with the Marlins yesterday. We thought Dickerson would have been a good fit in Cleveland, at the very least forming a lethal platoon with Luplow.

The veteran has an 866 OPS vs. righties (.533 slugging) for his career. Last season, he had a 942 OPS against RHP.

A logical move would be to bring Yasiel Puig back as a free agent. The 29-year-old had an 800 OPS (.377 on base) after coming over from Cincinnati at the trade deadline, and overall has a career OPS of 823.

Other options, probably more costly though, would be Nicholas Castellanos and Marcell Ozuna.

Both right-handed hitters, Castellanos will play at 28 years old next season, and has had OPS over 800 in each of the last four seasons. Defensively, his best spot is probably DH, he is not known for his defense.

Ozuna has declined defensively as well since his days in Miami, but he has a career OPS of 784, but he has had just two seasons with a season over 800, last year right at that figure, and his career season of 2017, when he hit .312 with 37 HR and 124 RBI.

We look outside the organization because quite frankly, the internal options aren’t very appealing.

Tyler Naquin would be a solid platoon piece in the OF, but he will likely miss half the season with a torn ACL.

That leaves a combination of Delino DeShields, Greg Allen, Jake Bauers, and Bradley Zimmer to cover what amounts to one and a half spots in the outfield.

Here are the career OPS for that group:

DeShields 668
Allen 644
Bauers 691
Zimmer 652

We would like to see Luplow get a chance at a full time job in ’20. His minor league splits don’t shout platoon player, and he was so good vs. lefties, he deserves a chance at regular playing time.

The Indians also have 24-year-old left-handed hitter Daniel Johnson, who hit .290 with 19 HR and 77 RBI (868 OPS) and Akron and Columbus last season. He also doesn’t have a large platoon split.

But as with the four players listed above, it would be a huge leap of faith for a contending team to give a starting job to someone who hasn’t spent a full season at the AAA level.

Remember, last April and May, when the Indians were experimenting at a few spots due to injury and struggled mightily? They can’t do that again.

They have money freed up from the Corey Kluber deal, and they need to get an established outfielder, which will lengthen their lineup.

That’s what a team that won 90+ games in 2019 should be doing. However, the market the Cleveland Indians are playing in may dry up quick.

Some Targets For Tribe To Aim At.

The World Series has ended and the Hot Stove season has begun for baseball fans. Hopefully, the Cleveland Indians will have a more (or less, depending on perspective) newsworthy off-season than a year ago.

MLB Trade Rumors ranked the top 50 free agents this winter with their projections on where the players would sign. They had the Indians signing no one from this list, which isn’t surprising given the front office’s payroll cuts last off-season.

In looking at the current list of free agents, there could be more coming when the deadline for offering arbitration gets nearer, here is a list of people we would be interested in and wouldn’t cost a great deal of money.

The first player is someone who wore a Cleveland uniform for part of 2019, Yasiel Puig. The right-handed hitter will be 29 years old next season, and still has a career 823 OPS. We would think he would hit for more power than he did after coming over from Cincinnati last season, and his on base percentage (.377) was very good.

We wouldn’t spend huge money here or go more than two years, so maybe this is one of those signings that happens right before spring training starts.

Didi Gregorius is another intriguing player to fill the Indians need at either 2B or 3B. Gregorius is the rare Yankee hitter whose numbers are not inflated by their hitter friendly ballpark (766 OPS on the road vs. 718 at home). And he has a 941 OPS in 80 career plate appearances at Progressive Field.

He had Tommy John surgery last off-season, so he should be stronger coming into the 2020 season.

Gregorius would be a little pricey, but should provide good bang for the buck.

Mike Moustakas would be someone who can play the hot corner, and he’s a player who played in a small park in Milwaukee, and was better on the road. Plus he has plenty of playoff experience (161 career at bats).

He won’t turn 32 until September and maybe a guy who you could get on a 2-3 year deal at modest money, since he’s played on one year deals each of the last two seasons.

And he’s belted at least 28 home runs in each of the last three seasons. He’s also a left handed hitter (so is Gregorius) which is something Cleveland badly needs.

Starlin Castro would be another candidate to play second base. He will be 30 years old next season, and is a career .280 hitter (736 OPS). Castro should prosper getting out of the big part in Miami, and hit .286 with a 768 OPS on the road last season.

His drawback is he’s a free swinger, rarely walking, but he doesn’t whiff excessively either.

Corey Dickerson is someone who could provide some pop in the outfield, particularly if the Indians want to continue to platoon there with Jordan Luplow.

Dickerson, another left handed bat, has a lifetime .866 OPS vs. right-handed pitching and he has belted 5 homers in 44 at bats in Cleveland during his career.

He doesn’t walk much, but doesn’t strikeout a ton either, and he won a Gold Glove in 2018 with the Pirates. His lifetime slugging percentage is .504.

Adding one of these players would help the Indians’ batting order a great deal, and it definitely needs to add some length.

We also think these players would be in the front office’s price range, meaning they will not likely command huge dollars to sign.

Getting back on top in the AL Central should be the goal entering this winter.

Tribe Key In Off-Season? Improve OBP.

The Cleveland Indians finished third in the American League in runs scored in 2018, and you can make a pretty good argument that dropping to seventh in this category this past season is the reason they were sitting at home.

The Tribe was third in on base percentage in ’18 and fourth in slugging percentage, the key components to offensive baseball these days. In 2019 though, the Indians dropped to 6th in slugging, and down to 8th in on base percentage.

The latter figure is something Cleveland needs to work on for the 2020 campaign, and a reason we wished the organization would have gone in a new direction with the hitting coach.

The list of Indians’ hitters with an OBP over .350 is very short: Carlos Santana, Yasiel Puig, Jordan Luplow, and Mike Freeman. Only Santana was in the lineup all year on an everyday basis.

By contrast, the Astros, whose offense is relentless, have these players over the .350 benchmark: Jose Altuve, Carlos Correa, Alex Bregman, Michael Brantley, Yordan Alvarez, George Springer, and two other players who are reserves.

Boston was second in on base average (behind Houston), and had these players over .350: Brock Holt, Xander Bogaerts, Rafael Devers, Mookie Betts, and J.D. Martinez.

If you think we are being picky with the .350 figure, please be advised that the Tribe didn’t have anyone else over .340 either. The next best OBP was Francisco Lindor at .335.

To be fair, had Jose Ramirez hit higher than .255 this season, he would have hit the .350 level, because his strikeout to walk ratio (74:52) was solid.

To us, this indicates the lack of strike zone awareness throughout the roster, and this leads to hitters getting themselves out by swinging at bad pitches.

Sometimes this improves through experience, which is why we aren’t concerned right now with Oscar Mercado walking just 28 times in 482 plate appearances. If this number stays there next season, it could indicate a problem.

We have already touched on Lindor, whose walk rate was the lowest since his rookie year, and he got himself out plenty in clutch situations last season, swinging at a lot of pitches out of the strike zone, sometimes when he was ahead in the count.

If we were Chris Antonetti and Mike Chernoff, we would be focused on getting some guys who can get on base to help the offense next season.

It might start by giving Luplow, who had a .372 OBP in his minor league career, a shot at an everyday spot in the lineup.

And Lindor is too good of a hitter not to learn from this season and make pitchers come to him instead of helping them out.

Besides, if you can get a solid hitter who can get on base, you can get the shortstop out of the leadoff spot, and hit him in the #2 hole or lower.

Together with Santana, who has always been an on base machine, and Ramirez returning to somewhere close to his norm (he has three straight seasons over .350 from 2016-18), it would give the Indians four players who can get on base.

We would also have someone work with Franmil Reyes on his strike zone judgment. If he could layoff bad pitches more, he would be an anchor in the middle of the lineup.

Against good teams and particularly good pitchers, you have to make them work, you can’t help them out by swinging at borderline strikes.

Remember the success the Indians had vs. Justin Verlander with the Tigers? They made him throw a lot of pitches early in games, and even if they didn’t have success against him, they got him out of the game.

On base percentage is the key stat for the Indians to improve on this off-season. Not saying it’s a cure all, but it will help the offense be more “relentless”, for sure.

Offense Failed Tribe Down The Stretch.

It’s all over.

The Cleveland Indians’ hope for a post-season spot came to a crashing halt Friday night in Washington.

Following the home finale a week ago, the Tribe was tied with Tampa Bay for the second spot with six games to play. But after an 11-0 win in the first game in Chicago, highlighted by Jose Ramirez’ return to the lineup with two home runs, the offense snoozed and the pitching showed wear and tear in two disappointing losses, 8-3 and 8-0.

Another game of giving up eight runs eliminated Terry Francona’s squad, this one 8-2 to the Nationals. So, coming into the week, we felt the Indians could only lose one game, and they lost three straight.

We have compared the Tribe season to a basketball team that was down 20 in the first half and had to fight back to came it a game, only to have nothing left to win the game.

After Cleveland took a half game lead in the AL Central on August 12th by beating Boston on a Carlos Santana homer, thus erasing the 11.5 game bulge Minnesota had on June 2nd, the Tribe went 21-21 over the next quarter of a season, and that was simply not good enough.

Injuries didn’t help, that for sure. But the Indians got back into the race without Corey Kluber and Carlos Carrasco, but losing Jose Ramirez at the end of August was a blow to the offense, one that added Franmil Reyes and Yasiel Puig at the end of July.

And it was the offense that failed Cleveland. The Indians finished ninth in the AL in runs scored after finishing third a year ago, while the pitching staff ranked third in ERA, one of only three teams in the Junior Circuit to have a team ERA under 4.00 (Tampa and Houston).

What happened to the offense? The simple view is the Indians probably only got better performances from the first base position (Carlos Santana vs. Yonder Alonso), catcher, and at centerfield.

Jose Ramirez didn’t produce in the first half, and Francisco Lindor had the lowest walk rate since his rookie year, and it showed in his numbers with men in scoring position. The all-star shortstop was very impatient in clutch situations, helping opposing pitchers by swinging at bad pitches.

The big deadline trade brought Reyes and Puig, but the former had an OPS about 60 points lower with Cleveland (785) than in San Diego (849), and the latter hit just two home runs with the Tribe, none of them at Progressive Field, at least as an Indian.

Puig did get on base a lot though, which is a good thing, just maybe not for your cleanup hitter. His slugging percentage was behind that of Oscar Mercado and Roberto Perez.

So, the offense still wasn’t up to that of the best teams in the AL. Again, you need to score runs to make the playoffs, and Houston, New York, Minnesota, and Oakland all finished in the top five in runs in the American League.

Depending on what happens today, the Indians could be sixth, just ahead of Tampa, but Cleveland doesn’t have the relentless lineups (read: no weak spots) that those other teams do.

The Tribe has just two hitters with an on base percentage over .350 and slugging percentage over .450. They are Carlos Santana and Jordan Luplow, who doesn’t play vs. right handers.

Houston has eight, the Yankees six. Those lineup make you work. The Indians need to get some of those guys if they want to get back in the mix in 2020.

The lack of consistent hitting hurt the Tribe. Averaging 5 runs per game is good, but not if it’s done by scoring 10 one night and getting shutout the next.

It’s On To The Wild Card For Tribe

It was a very disappointing day for the Cleveland Indians and their fans yesterday. After the Friday rainout, Tribe fans were giddy that the Minnesota Twins were using bullpen arms to start both games of a doubleheader.

Someone apparently forgot to tell the Cleveland hitters, because it seems like only Oscar Mercado showed up.

The Indians spent the first three innings of the first game trying to play home run derby against lefty Devin Smeltzer, and would up getting shutout, and then in the second game, with the Tribe going with a “bullpen day”, the relievers gave up three home runs, the biggest being a grand slam off Nick Goody, who is going through a rough stretch.

Cleveland now trails the Twins by 5-1/2 games with 13 to play, so they are all but out of it in terms of the division.

They still can play their way into the one game wild card spot, as they trail Tampa Bay by two games in the loss column (2-1/2 games overall). Again, though, Terry Francona and his staff are going to need some players who have been struggling to come through.

A few days ago, we pinpointed Yasiel Puig and Jason Kipnis as two guys who the Indians needed. Puig was 1 for 7 with a walk in the two games, and amazingly, has still not hit a home run for the Indians at Progressive Field.

Kipnis took a collar in game one, stretching his current slump to 0 for 12.

Here is a microcosm of the veteran’s season in the last three weeks. He went through an 8 for 60 streak, followed by going 7 for 10, and followed that (currently) by being 0 for his last 12.

That’s 15 for 82 (.183). And when people ask us why we would move on from him for 2020, that’s the reason. Baseball is a game of consistency, and Kipnis no longer has that, and hasn’t since 2016.

The bullpen has fallen on hard times as well. Goody giving up the bomb last night wasn’t shocking, he’s been ineffective for a month, giving up four homers and walking seven in his last 8-2/3 innings.

And while we are all very happy Carlos Carrasco is back on the mound, and hopefully regain complete health, he has not been the cure all for the bullpen either. He’s pitched to a 9.39 ERA in six appearances, and allowed four dingers in 7-2/3 innings in relief.

We felt the bullpen needed an upgrade at the trade deadline or at least bring up some of the power arms in the minors to help. The front office did neither and the relief corps has floundered.

They finally did bring up James Karinchak from Columbus before this series, and he did strikeout three of the five batters he faced last night. Maybe if he were called up a few weeks ago, he could’ve been trusted in a key situation.

Regardless, last night is over and the Indians need to win and win a lot in their last 13 games if they want to have a one game shot at getting to a post-season series.

After today, the Rays next eight games are against the Dodgers, Red Sox, and Yankees, although just the Los Angeles series is on the road. They have been better away from the dome this season.

So, an opportunity is there, but we figure the Tribe will have to win 10 or 11 of the last 13, and even then, it may not be enough.

It’s an uphill climb from here, but not impossible yet.

Here Are Tribe’s Needs For The Stretch Run

The Major League Baseball, referred to by most people as a marathon, not a sprint, has reached the closing kick stage, as the Cleveland Indians have just 15 games remaining.

In fact, when the first place Minnesota Twins come to town Friday night for a big three game series, it will be the beginning of the final home stand of 2019.

Nine more at Progressive Field, and a six game, two city trip to Chicago and Washington, and see if Terry Francona’s squad gets a berth in the post-season tournament.

The Tribe has struggled against both the White Sox and good pitching all season long, so that last week will be a gauntlet to be sure. One thing to hope for is the Nationals might have their playoff spot (they currently hold the top spot in the NL by 2-1/2 games) solidified by the last weekend, putting them in rest/set up their pitching mode for the wild card game.

It would also help if Cleveland can avoid Lucas Giolito for the White Sox series.

As it has been all season, the key for the Indians will be generating enough offense to support the pitching they have had, ranking 2nd in the AL in ERA, just behind Tampa Bay.

We have railed on Jason Kipnis all season long, but no one can doubt the Indians need a strong finish from him, particularly with Jose Ramirez’ injury. The problem is the second baseman has had a 564 OPS vs. teams over .500 compared to 824 against good teams.

Nine of the final 15 games are against the former. They need Kipnis to get hot and stay hot in the final three weeks.

The other player who the Tribe needs to get going is Yasiel Puig. Puig was slugging .475 for Cincinnati (yes, we know about Great American Ballpark) and had an OPS of 777 with the Reds.

He only hit 9 of his 22 National League homers in Cincy.

His OPS for the Indians isn’t far off of that at 759, but instead of driving the ball, he’s been more of an on base guy, at .355 vs. .302 in southern Ohio.

The Indians could use Puig getting hot with the long ball in these last three weeks to help them push runs across the plate.

Puig has 16 RBI in 136 at bats with Cleveland. By contrast, Franmil Reyes, who started slow, has 28 ribbies in 131 at bats. If Puig could start matching Reyes’ production, that would help the lineup immensely.

The other concern is how much gas the bullpen has left.

Brad Hand needs to find the arm slot on his slider, and the sooner, the better. Hitters aren’t swinging at the back foot breaking ball he throws right now, probably because they know it will be a ball.

Hopefully, a few days off will help his tired arm.

Carlos Carrasco was supposed to help and still could, but he’s allowed three HR’s in his five relief appearances since returning to the mound.

The most reliable guys Francona has right now are the two oldest relievers, Tyler Clippard and Oliver Perez.

Clippard, 34, has a 2.25 ERA in the second half, striking out 36 hitters in 32 innings since the All Star Game.

Perez, who just turned 38 recently, has pitched to a 2.57 ERA in 16 innings post All Star break.

The ‘pen needs someone else to be reliable, perhaps Nick Wittgren, a couple of good outings recently, or Nick Goody to get back to where he was in July through mid August.

Or have Carrasco avoid the long ball.

Those are the keys as baseball heads into the stretch run. The Indians are still in the thick of the race, but right now are on the outside looking in.

With a tougher schedule in the last two and a half weeks, Francona needs a few guys to step it up.

Tribe Leaking Oil, Particularly Hitting and Bullpen

Even when the Cleveland Indians were 11-1/2 games behind the Minnesota Twins, we did not give up hope.

We looked at the schedule in June and July and thought there was a very good chance the Tribe would right itself and be able to win some games. In early June, we advised fans to forget about Minnesota and focus on winning, win enough games to get a Wild Card spot.

The Indians did that, and right now have a half game lead over Oakland and Tampa Bay for the top Wild Card spot.

However, right now the last month of the season doesn’t have us feeling quite as confident.

One reason is injuries. Cleveland suffered a huge blow when Jose Ramirez, who was one of the sport’s hottest hitters went down with a broken hamate bone, and is likely lost for the season.

Then Tyler Naquin, hitting well in a platoon role in left, tore his ACL in Tampa Friday night, and he is gone for the remainder of the campaign.

As a whole, the offense was sputtering a bit in August, averaging 4.8 runs per game compared to 5.9 in July, and even down a tad from 4.9 in June, and losing Ramirez doesn’t help that.

Roberto Perez needs some time off, but his glove and handling of pitchers is so valuable, particularly with the young starting pitchers, that you want him in there. But his offense, such a key in the June/July resurgence, has disappeared. He’s hit just .139 (503 OPS) in August.

Yasiel Puig, who started off hot after joining the Tribe, is in a 5 for 45 skid (.111), knocking in just two runs in that timeframe. He hasn’t homered since August 16th in New York.

Jason Kipnis, another big key in the hot streak for the team, is also in a funk, going 8 for his last 48 (.167), although four of those hits have been home runs.

So, the lineup, which seemed lengthened with the acquisitions of Puig and Franmil Reyes, no longer is relentless.

Right now, after Carlos Santana in the #3 hole, the only hitter presenting much of a threat is Reyes, who has started to drive the ball, and is striking out a little bit less.

There is no question fatigue is a factor, particularly in Perez’ case, but if the Indians want to make the post-season, that trio, and Greg Allen too, as he replaced Naquin, have to pick up the slack offensively.

The bullpen has also been struggling lately, not being able to hold teams close twice in the last week (last Sunday vs. KC, last night vs. Tampa). We thought the loss of inning eater Trevor Bauer might cause a ripple effect, and perhaps it has.

However, the bullpen doesn’t have anyone beside Brad Hand that has “ungodly” stuff, and perhaps being a overused a bit causes the pinpoint control to be off a bit, and giving up hits is the result.

Maybe, and we stress maybe, Carlos Carrasco can help in this area.

The front office opted to bring up veterans in the initial call up today, bringing up terrible offensive utility man Ryan Flaherty and James Hoyt, who allowed more hits than innings pitched at AAA this season, along with Carrasco, and journeyman Dan Otero, and catcher Eric Haase.

If the Indians want to get to the playoffs, though, the offense simply has to pick it up. The way the game is played in 2019, having great pitching is not enough.

Tribe Slump Needs To End Quick

When you are in a pennant race, and the Cleveland Indians are in one, if you have a slump, it cannot last very long.

That’s why the Indians need to stem the tide right away. They’ve now lost seven of their last nine games, and where they led the AL Central Division by a half game after a win over the Red Sox on August 13th, they are now three and a half games behind the Twins.

After that win, they had a two and a half game edge on Tampa Bay and a four and a half game bulge on Oakland, who would have been the first team out of the playoffs.

Today, they are on the outside looking in, a half game behind the Rays and A’s. That’s what happens when you have a bad week in a race for a playoff spot. What was once a comfortable lead, is now down to nail biting levels.

Now, Tampa Bay and Oakland are capable of having bad weeks too, but that’s their problem. The Indians have to pull them out of this themselves.

There are several issues at play here.

First, the offense was supposed to be bolstered with the acquisitions of Yasiel Puig and Franmil Reyes at the trade deadline, but the runs scored has dropped from 5.91 runs per game in July to 4.8 in August, and the latter figure includes the 19 run outburst in the first game at Yankee Stadium, otherwise they are scoring just 4.1 runs per game.

Roberto Perez has slumped at the plate, but his defense and handling of the staff is so valuable, he has to be in the lineup.

No doubt the Tribe misses Jordan Luplow vs. lefties, and the offense has become home run or bust recently. To us, it seems the patience at the plate has been lost, especially with runners in scoring position.

And quite frankly, to this point, Reyes hasn’t helped, hitting .154 with 26 strikeouts in 71 plate appearances.

The pitching has held up pretty well, even after the trade of Trevor Bauer. Cleveland allowed 4.27 runs in June, when they started playing well, 3.13 runs in July, and 3.81 runs in August, despite playing the high powered offenses of the Twins, Red Sox, and Yankees.

The team looks a little tired too. Coming from 11.5 games out to hold the lead in the division (at least for a day), took a toll, and with Terry Francona wanting an eight man bullpen, it doesn’t allow a rest for the non-platoon players, like Francisco Lindor, Jose Ramirez, and Carlos Santana.

We feel the weariness is part of the reason for the sloppy play defensively over the past week.

Yes, the Indians have a home stand against the Royals this weekend and then go to the Detroit for another troika of games, but Tampa Bay follows that, and then a home set with the White Sox, who have been tough on the Indians.

It’s was inevitable that the Tribe cooled off after being so hot in June and July. If they would have played .500 ball over a 20 game stretch, that would have been fine, but if you are going to lose seven of nine, you have to respond with a winning streak.

That’s the new challenge for the 2019 edition of the Cleveland Indians.

Tribe Is A Different Team, Are They Better?

The Cleveland Indians were involved in a blockbuster trade Tuesday night, trading starter Trevor Bauer to Cincinnati in the three team deal that netted the Tribe slugging outfielders Yasiel Puig, Franmil Reyes, left handed prospect Logan Allen, and two lower level prospects.

Certainly, president Chris Antonetti and GM Mike Chernoff addressed the club’s offensive issues, the Indians rank 10th in the AL in runs scored. It was needed to keep the team in the playoff race.

The question is did they damage the club’s biggest strength, the starting rotation.

During the winter, we advocated for trading a starting pitcher because of the rotation depth, but at that time, Corey Kluber and Carlos Carrasco were healthy, and you had five above average starters.

While we understand Bauer wasn’t having the same success he had a year ago, he still is one of the league’s better pitchers, and there was a certain comfort of knowing when he went to the mound, and the same can be said about Mike Clevinger and Shane Bieber, Cleveland has a pretty good chance of winning.

Now, instead of three nights out of five with that feeling, you are down to two.

This isn’t to denigrate Zach Plesac, who has made just 12 big league starts, and has pitched pretty well, but he doesn’t have the experience or the track record to garner that confidence.

As for the other two spots, right now they are being filled by Adam Plutko, who is a really a hit or miss proposition at this point, and Danny Salazar, who hasn’t pitched in a big league game since 2017.

And as for the return of Corey Kluber from his broken arm, remember, he wasn’t pitching well when he got hurt, and he will have missed three and a half months by the time he returns.

If anyone knows how he will perform when he gets back, please send us the winning numbers for the next Mega Millions drawing.

Yes, the Indians will score more runs, but the fear is instead of losing 2-0 against good teams, they will now lose 7-5.

Could the Tribe have updated the offense without giving up Bauer, possibly by getting a couple of rentals, which by the way, Puig is? We will never now.

Allen is a top 100 prospect in the game, but he has struggled in the majors with San Diego and at AAA this season, so it is doubtful he will help the big league club in 2019.

We are all for trading from a strength, but we didn’t feel the Indians had an excess of starting pitchers, not with the injury to Kluber and Carlos Carrasco’s illness.

Perhaps we’d feel differently if the Indians’ upgraded the bullpen, but they didn’t, so we don’t think Terry Francona can lean on his relievers to make up for the absence of Bauer.

Remember, Bauer’s ability to throw around 120 pitches per start helped protect the bullpen, and there is no one who will take over in the rotation who is capable of that.

Did this trade make the Indians a better team than they were on Monday? We can’t be certain.

The Tribe is better offensively, but their rotation isn’t as deep, and their bullpen isn’t any better, and that’s a big factor.

For the Indians to overtake Minnesota or win a wild card berth, the key will be how well the starting pitching is. If Plesac can continue his strong rookie season, if Salazar can show a glimpse of the pitcher he was in 2013-mid 2016, if Kluber can return to his Cy Young form.

As we well now, that word, “if” might be the biggest word there is.