Plesac, Civale Need To Pick It Up In Guardians’ Rotation

When the 2022 baseball season started, most people figured the iffy part of the Cleveland Guardians would be their hitting. If they could muster enough offense, maybe Terry Francona’s squad could hang around and contend for a playoff spot.

To date, just the opposite has been true. The hitting attack currently ranks second in the American League in runs scored, trailing only the New York Yankees, while the pitching staff is 14th, second last, in ERA.

The starting pitching has been a disappointment.

The shortened spring training has made it difficult to evaluate the performances of the rotation, but right now, we would say the most consistent starting pitchers have been Cal Quantrill and Triston McKenzie.

Quantrill has a 3.93 ERA in six starts, allowing more than three earned runs just once (his last start in Chicago), and has given Francona at least 4-2/3 innings in each of his half dozen appearance.

McKenzie has made five starts with a 2.76 ERA. He’s allowed just four earned runs just once (vs. the Angels) and his lowest inning total was four, in his first start. His last two outings have had him giving Cleveland at least six innings.

While there have been concerns about Shane Bieber’s velocity being down about 2 MPH, up until his last start vs. Toronto, he’s been just fine. In his first five starts, he gave his team at least 4-2/3 (that was the season opener) allowing no more than three runs.

He also has the longest outing by a Guards’ pitcher this season, firing seven innings against Oakland. And he’s still allowed less hits than innings pitched, while striking out 29 against just nine walks.

The problems have been Zach Plesac and Aaron Civale.

Plesac started strong, throwing 5-2/3 scoreless frames in his first start against the Royals, and in his first three appearances, he went 17.2 innings allowing just three earned runs. However, in his last three outings, he has thrown 15 innings, giving up 14 runs, an 8.40 ERA. In those games, he has fanned just 10 hitters and walked eight.

Civale has given Tito just one good outing all season in six starts, that against the Blue Jays, and even in that one, he allowed four earned runs, although Francona admitted he probably left him in a couple of batters too long.

Friday night, he gave up two homers in the first inning against the Twins.

He has pitched into the sixth inning just once this season and has allowed at least four runs every time he has taken the mound. His defense has hurt him at times, in his first start, two of the four runs he allowed were unearned. But he needs to pitch longer in games, and better yet, keep opponents off the scoreboard.

The Guardians could give him some extra time between starts with two off days coming up, but will they?

We understand the trend in the grand old game is for starters to get through the batting order twice, but the Guards don’t set up their staff that way. They want starters to go at least six if at all possible, and quite frankly, we still think that’s the right way to do it.

The Guardians need to get Plesac and Civale straightened out if they want to be a factor in the playoff hunt. Konnor Pilkington acquitted himself very well in his first big league start against the Blue Jays.

He could be getting another chance soon if the incumbents don’t start putting up some zeroes.

Kudos For Signing Jose, But It Looks Like 3rd For Guards in ’22

After a pretty dreary winter for baseball fans in northeast Ohio, the sun peaked out a little yesterday.

First, today is the beginning of the baseball season, another sign that warmer weather will be here soon, and the Guardians will be home next week after six games, four in Kansas City and two in Cincinnati.

Second was the news baseball fans wanted to hear for a long time. Jose Ramirez, one of the best players in the game, signed a five year extension, keeping with the franchise through the 2028 season.

Ramirez could be the first great player to finish his career in a Cleveland uniform while spending every day of it in that uniform since the 1950’s.

We aren’t going to go overboard in praise of the current ownership because they simply did what any owner interested in winning would do. It’s a shame they couldn’t do it with Francisco Lindor a year ago so we could watch the duo of Ramirez and Lindor reach their prime in Cleveland.

It’s a great step in the right direction, but the Guardians’ payroll is still among the lowest in the sport, and the owners continue to put large profits in their pocket. So, forgive us for not sharing a virtual hug with Paul Dolan.

With the games starting to count today, what does the 2022 season hold in store for the newly minted Guardians? We would love to be more optimistic, but we see a third place finish for Terry Francona’s squad, behind Chicago and Minnesota in the AL Central.

Besides Ramirez, the Guardians have one other big thing going for them, and that’s an excellent starting rotation, providing everyone stays healthy. Last year, that did not happen.

Because of the injuries the rotation is probably deeper with the emergence of Cal Quantrill and Triston McKenzie in the second half of 2021. The five starters, including Shane Bieber, Aaron Civale, and Zach Plesac, give the Guards a chance to win every night.

In today’s game, that’s a big thing.

However, beyond that, your guess is as good as ours.

The offense looks like it will struggle. Francona can really write in one great offensive player (Ramirez) and two decent ones (Myles Straw and Franmil Reyes) every day.

We are interested in seeing how Andres Gimenez does this year, but the organization seems hell bent on finding out for sure on players like Bradley Zimmer, Oscar Mercado, and Bobby Bradley.

We are pretty sure we know how that movie ends.

The quicker we see more of Josh Naylor and Steven Kwan among others, the better. And the hitting might get better too.

The bullpen is another area that is up in the air. Who will be the primary set up men for Emmanuel Clase? We are sure Bryan Shaw will start in the role, but who else? We like Nick Sandlin, but he was hurt at the end of the season, and has pitched in just 34 games in the majors.

Besides Anthony Gose, the relief corps right now is filled with pitchers who will be providing length rather than one inning stints.

We will see how that plays out.

Our guess is the Guardians will look a lot different in June and July than they will this afternoon, but did they have to? Last year, the team was very much in the race until Bieber, Plesac, and Civale went down.

If the rotation can avoid the injury bug, the Guardians could stay in the race, but more than likely the lack of offense will be the reason this will be another year outside of the post-season, even with an extra spot available.

Lots Of Young Players Need To Come Through For Guardians

The Cleveland Guardians have had a curious off-season to be sure. They finished the 2021 season below the .500 mark at 80-82 but didn’t really make any moves to improve the major league roster.

They signed two free agents, catcher Luke Maile, who figures to back up Austin Hedges when he gets healthy, and also inked Bryan Shaw, who was on the roster last season.

Cleveland was 41-31 on June 24th and just two games out of first place after a 4-1 victory at Target Field against the Twins. However, by that point in time they had lost three members of the starting rotation to injury: Shane Bieber, Aaron Civale, and Zach Plesac.

To that point in the season, Cleveland had 21 wins from that trio. They received eight victories the rest of the year, six of them by Plesac, and none from Bieber.

There should be some optimism from that. All three appear to be healthy heading into the season, and with the emergence of Cal Quantrill and the maturation of Triston McKenzie, the Guardians could have one of the best rotations in the sport.

The bullpen has a dominant closer in Emmanuel Clase, but very little other proven arms, save for Shaw.

In the regular season though, you have score runs to win, and therein lies the biggest question mark to the 2022 season. Can this team score enough runs to make a post-season push?

Cleveland ranked 9th in the American League in runs last season and 13th in the league in getting on base. They have a lot of players on the roster who make an awful lot of outs, and they did nothing this winter to address that.

So, the likely lineup that will start the season will feature players like Bradley Zimmer (career OBP of .310), Oscar Mercado (.296), Austin Hedges (.249), Amed Rosario (.307), and Bobby Bradley (.287).

There were players on the open market who could get on base, and young players like Steven Kwan and Richie Palacios have demonstrated the same ability in the minor leagues, but the organization decided to stand pat. Kwan did make the season opening roster, but we will see how much playing time he gets.

And by the way, talking about how close you came to making moves is meaningless. It’s the same as telling folks how close you came to winning the lottery. In the end, you didn’t get anything.

So, it doesn’t appear the Guardians have done anything to solve the problem other than hoping these guys get on base more often. That’s the Dusty Springfield (look her up) method: “Wishin’ and Hopin'”.

Once opposing pitchers get past the #3 hitter Jose Ramirez, and the clean up man, Franmil Reyes, there could be a lot of smooth sailing. Putting together a rally will be a stretch, there is a lot of feast or famine from #5 through #9.

Maybe Andres Gimenez will improve if he’s back to his regular position of shortstop. Maybe Yu Chang hits like he did the last two months (although his 69:11, K:BB ratio says otherwise). Maybe Owen Miller hits like his minor league numbers.

These aren’t things an organization should be basing their success on.

The Guardians are banking on several young players coming through this season. That sounds like a rebuilding team, not one interested in contending for a playoff spot.

Starting Pitching Hasn’t Been The Issue For Tribe

The Cleveland Indians lost the top three members of their starting rotation, so many people might think their 6-9 record after the All Star Game is due to the loss of Shane Bieber, Aaron Civale, and Zach Plesac, who has since returned to the rotation.

It’s really not, though. Since the break, Tribe starters have allowed three runs or less nine times, and limited the opponents to four runs in 12 of the 15 contests.

So, the starters are doing their job in terms of keeping the Indians in the game each night.

Cal Quantrill has been the staff leader since the break, making four starts, allowing one run in each of them, totaling 23 innings. He is making a big claim to keep a spot in the rotation when everyone is healthy.

Plesac has built up his workload after coming back from his thumb fracture, and has made three starts, including the longest outing by a starter, 6-2/3 frames against Tampa on July 23rd. He’s pitched 17-2/3 innings in three starts, allowing eight runs.

Both Quantrill and Plesac are giving the team some length, which is easing the burden on an increasingly weary bullpen.

Eli Morgan has made three starts, and although he hasn’t been dominant, he kept Cleveland in games, allowing three runs or less in each and giving the manager at least five innings.

The down side for the rotation has been JC Mejia and Triston McKenzie. The latter had a great outing vs. the Rays (6 IP, 2 ER, 6 K’s), but in his other two outings, he allowed five and six runs in four inning stints. In his last start, Saturday night vs. the White Sox, the control issues that have plagued him all year raised up again, walking three in four frames.

In his previous three starts, McKenzie issued just one free pass.

Mejia continues to show he shouldn’t be starting big league games at this time. He’s made three post all star starts, allowing 13 runs in just under 15 innings. We don’t understand why, even if this experimental point in the season, management keeps running him out there.

It can’t be helping the kid’s confidence.

The problem continues to be the hitting. Outside of Saturday’s 12 run explosion in Chicago, the Tribe hitters have mustered more than four runs just three times. Dating back to June 19th, a span of 35 games, the Indians have scored five or more tallies just nine times, and three of those came in losses.

Keep in mind, the American League average for runs scored per game is 4.56, so five runs is just slightly above the norm. We aren’t asking for much.

It is amazing that even without the reigning AL Cy Young Award winner and the guy who was leading the AL in wins when he was injured, the starting pitchers have held up their end of the bargain.

The Indians might be the only team in the majors who could lose three starting pitchers for a lengthy period of time and still not have that area be the weakness of the team.

Keep in mind, the front office added two more starters at the AA level at the trade deadline as well.

It’s pretty clear what needs to be done over the winter. We also might find some solutions with the young players who will get ample playing time the rest of this season.

There is no question this team has struggled over the last six weeks, but since the break, starting pitching hasn’t been the issue.

Tribe Slump A Result Of All Phases

On June 24th, the Cleveland Indians beat the Minnesota Twins 4-1 to bring their record to 41-31, and were just two games behind the White Sox in the American League Central Division.

Since that day, the Tribe has gone 7-17, including a nine game losing streak from June 30th, when they lost a doubleheader to Detroit to July 7th, when they lost a twin bill to Tampa.

And they’ve also lost 11 straight games to the Rays, spanning back to 2019.

The injuries to the starting pitching gets quite a bit of the blame for this bad streak, but in Cleveland’s last 29 games, a span that actually started earlier than the losing, the Indians have scored more than four runs just seven times.

Amazingly, they have lost three of those games.

Since the beginning of July, the Tribe has lost three games where they had the lead going into the 9th inning.

The point is this stretch has been brutal for Terry Francona’s squad, with each area of the roster contributing to the losing.

The team had to be happy when a starting pitcher gives them five quality innings, but recently, Zach Plesac has returned to give them some good outings, and Cal Quantrill has gone 2-0 with a 3.22 ERA in four starts.

Rookie Eli Morgan has been able to pitch five innings in each of his last five outings. His ERA has been 6.12 in those starts, but he has given the team a chance to win each time.

So, despite the injuries to their top three starters, the starting pitching hasn’t been awful. Triston McKenzie has been better since his most recent visit to Columbus either. Unfortunately, JC Mejia continues to show he’s not ready to pitch in the majors.

The bullpen has shown signs of wear and tear to the three late inning relievers, with Emmanuel Clase blowing two ninth inning leads and James Karinchak one, and Bryan Shaw has allowing 11 runs, nine earned in his last 17 appearances.

The offense has struggled along with their best weapon, Jose Ramirez. In his last seven games, Ramirez is just 2 for 18, with a homer. Over the last 14 days, he is hitting .160 (4 for 25). Even worse, over the last 28 days, he’s hitting .230 with four long balls. He still has an 846 OPS in that span.

His production has dropped since he was hit in the foot by a pitch against Pittsburgh, which coincidentally is when the Cleveland offense hit this cold patch over the last 29 games. He has also been battling a sore elbow.

Ramirez is by far the best position player on the team, and because of that, if he is struggling, it is very difficult for this offense to get anything going. The only consistent hitters Francona has are Jose, Franmil Reyes, and Harold Ramirez, and for some reason, the latter gets left out of the lineup far too often.

Yes, some players have pitched in from time to time, such as Bobby Bradley who has belted 11 homers, but in July, he has batted .158 with 30 strikeouts in 72 plate appearances. He has taken some walks, but the swing and miss issues are still a major issue.

The defense also breaks down a lot. Cesar Hernandez’ work with the glove has taken a dramatic dip. Amed Rosario has range issues and problems turning the double play. Fly balls hit to anyone besides Bradley Zimmer and Oscar Mercado have become adventures.

That doesn’t help a young pitching staff either.

Among the everyday players, outside of the two Ramirez’s and Reyes, could the front office make a deal that would weaken any other position? We doubt it. Let’s say Hernandez is moved, it would give Owen Miller another shot. Amed? They could get another look at Andres Gimenez, who would at least provide better defense.

No, the Indians shouldn’t go into tank mode, but they should look to reshape the roster with an eye towards 2022. Getting Shane Bieber and Aaron Civale back should mean an improved offense put the Indians in contention next year.

But they should look to get stronger in all areas too. There is room for that in all phases of the game.

Evaluating Amed Rosario

According to Baseball-Reference.com, seven of the Cleveland Indians’ leaders in WAR (wins above replacement) are pitchers, including Shane Bieber, Aaron Civale, and Zach Plesac, all of whom have missed considerable time this year due to injury.

The only position players who rank among the top ten are Jose Ramirez, Franmil Reyes, and Harold Ramirez. Bradley Zimmer ranks 11th, and it is very telling that Oscar Mercado, who has appeared in 16 games for Cleveland (44 plate appearances) is 12th.

What does that say about the guys who have spent most of the year on the big league roster?

One Tribesman who has received positive reviews is SS/CF Amed Rosario, who came over to Cleveland from the New York Mets in the Francisco Lindor transaction.

Rosario has stabilized the #2 spot in the batting order and has very good speed, and plays hard. That’s the good stuff.

Offensively, he’s basically a platoon player. Against lefties, he has a .287 batting average and a 788 OPS, getting 11 extra base hits in 108 at bats. But right-handed pitchers have held him to a .260 batting average and a 641 OPS, with just 10 extra base hits in 208 at bats.

He also doesn’t walk. We were concerned when he was acquired that he walked just four times all season for the Mets in 2020. He’s only drawn 18 free passes for the Indians this year, which is 5.3% of his times at the dish.

For contrast, that’s just slightly better than Harold Ramirez, described by many as a free swinger. Ramirez walks in 4.6% of his at bats. Ramirez also has just one less extra base hit than Amed Rosario, despite having over 100 less plate appearances.

And defensively, let’s just say A. Rosario is not going to be a finalist for the Gold Glove in the American League once the season ends.

Rosario stands out because most of the other people Terry Francona writes on a lineup card each day is pretty mediocre. That’s not to say he’s terrible, he has very good speed and is a very good baserunner, and he likes to hit the ball where it is pitched, which is a lost art in baseball these days.

But players with a 691 OPS are not good hitters. Rosario has a poor strikeout to walk ratio (67:18) and doesn’t hit for power, and we don’t mean home runs, but extra base hits. That’s why people look at on base percentage and slugging percentage. They are important statistics.

We remember many years ago when Tribe fans and media alike fawned over Felix Fermin, who handled balls hit at him very well, but didn’t have much range. When Fermin was sent to Seattle in the deal that brought Cleveland Omar Vizquel, we told people they would soon see what a great defensive shortstop really looked like.

Their frame of reference was watching players who were basically average. When you are used to that, above average looks much better.

And that’s Amed Rosario at the plate. When compared to the rest of the Tribe lineup, he stands out. In a solid lineup, he’s batting 8th or 9th. There’s nothing wrong with that, just don’t be fooled.

Some Areas Where Tribe Would Like To Get Answers.

Friday night, the Cleveland Indians will commence the second half of the baseball season with a three game series in Oakland, which over the past few seasons has been a house of horrors for the Tribe.

Eli Morgan, Cal Quantrill, and Zach Plesac take the hill against the A’s, which is a bit comforting in that the first two have at least given Terry Francona five solid innings for the most part, and Plesac is the only holdover from the opening day rotation.

Regardless of what happens during these critical first ten games after the break, the Tribe organization would like to get some questions answered for the rest of this season.

Centerfield. Francona has mixed and matched at this position all season long. Bradley Zimmer has played the most games in center (36), followed by Jordan Luplow (22), Harold Ramirez (20), and amazingly Amed Rosario (18).

But Zimmer has shown no offensive ability other than being hit by pitches and stealing bases. He is probably the best defender at the position though. Oscar Mercado was called up a couple of weeks ago, and so far, has done okay at the plate (843 OPS in 35 plate appearances). Is that sustainable?

When can Luplow return? Can he provide another option in the middle of the outfield?

It would be nice if someone could seize the job for the rest of the season. However, we don’t see that happening.

First Base. Certainly, Bobby Bradley is giving the Indians much better production than they received out of the Jake Bauers/Yu Chang platoon. But can the left-handed power hitter provide consistency?

Bradley started out like a house afire, going 12 for his first 32 (.375) with four home runs and 11 RBIs. Then, he went through a stretch where he went 2 for 28, striking out 10 times. In his last 44 at bats, he has 11 hits, four of them dingers.

Hopefully, Bradley can keep the cold streaks to a minimum and even when he’s not hitting balls over the walls, he can contribute offensively by mixing in some base hits and walks. That’s been a problem for him in his career.

Triston McKenzie. If Cleveland is to weather the storm until Shane Bieber and/or Aaron Civale get back, they need McKenzie to step up. The soon to be 24-year-old has had trouble throwing strikes all year long, walking 7.3 hitters per nine innings.

However, he has also struck out 12.4 batters per nine. He returned from AAA last Friday night and threw seven one-hit innings, fanning nine Kansas City hitters. He also set a team record earlier in the season, whiffing eight straight White Sox batters.

The stuff is obviously there. If the young right-hander can repeat his delivery and throw strikes consistently, he can take a huge stride toward being a legitimate starting pitcher in the majors.

And he doesn’t have to throw seven innings allowing just one hit to do that.

Defense. To be kind, the Tribe’s defense to date has been atrocious, and that of course, doesn’t help the pitching staff. Some of the reason for that was putting players in spots they really can’t handle defensively in order to get their bats in the lineup (see Harold Ramirez CF).

But Cesar Hernandez has had a tough go this season, and Amed Rosario still makes people nervous every time a ground ball is hit his way.

Hopefully, this area improves as the season goes on.

No games until Friday is a tough thing for a baseball fan. Hopefully, when play resumes this weekend, the Indians’ can start getting some clarity on these questions.

When It Comes To WAR, Tribe Every Day Players Rank Low

Since we are halfway through the Major League Baseball season, we thought it would be a good time to evaluate the performance of the roster of the local nine, the Cleveland Indians.

And if look at WAR (Wins Above Replacement), at least according to BaseballReference.com, it doesn’t paint a pretty picture.

According to their version of the formula, the Indians rank third from the bottom for non-pitchers, ahead of only the Orioles and Tigers. Even with all the injuries to the pitching staff, Cleveland pitchers rank 4th, behind only the Yankees, White Sox, and Blue Jays.

To break it down further for the guys who stand on the mound, Tribe starters rank 8th, which could have been expected considering the injuries to Shane Bieber, Zach Plesac, and Aaron Civale, and the performance of the hurlers who replaced them.

However, the Indians’ bullpen ranks second in the AL, trailing just Boston.

As for the position players, it’s not a pretty picture. Since there are 15 American League teams, we will consider the top eight to be in the top half of the league. Using that standing, the Tribe has only two positions ranking in the top half, third base, of course manned by Jose Ramirez, the team’s best player and an All Star for the third time, and DH.

Franmil Reyes is the usual designated hitter, and his OPS (914) leads the team. And while Reyes was out, Terry Francona used a number of players at the spot to give them rest, one of whom was Ramirez.

The next highest ranking by position is rightfield, manned most often by the now injured Josh Naylor, followed by Harold Ramirez, who has an OPS of just under 800 (785).

Cleveland ranks in the bottom three at two positions, catcher and second base. We know the team values defense first and foremost at the catcher position, but having Roberto Perez out for two months didn’t help. And that said, we felt Austin Hedges did a marvelous job handling the pitchers, many of whom are getting their first big league experience.

Despite the good defense, Perez and Hedges have combined to hit .146 with 7 HR and 22 RBI. Those numbers are slightly better than having the pitcher hitting.

At second, Cesar Hernandez has put up surprising power numbers, he is one off his career high in HR, but his on base percentage is not what the brass is looking for and his defense hasn’t been what it was a year ago.

They are one spot above that at first base and leftfield. Bobby Bradley has helped the numbers at first, but that was after watching two months of a Jake Bauers/Yu Chang platoon at the position. The left-handed hitter has belted 8 homers and drawn 10 walks to date.

Eddie Rosario has been the primary guy in left, and although he’s been hitting better in the past month, his OPS is still under 700 (685). And let’s just say, he’s not going to win a Gold Glove anytime soon.

That would leave SS and surprisingly CF as the next best positions. Amed Rosario has stabilized short, but despite being hot over the last six weeks, he still has a 690 OPS, which is below average. The Tribe is still looking for someone to take charge in center.

It just shows there is still a lot of progress needed in the everyday lineup, and how the organization has worked around this to still have a winning record.

We don’t think WAR is the end all, be all statistic in baseball. But using it to compare the production of your team vs. others seems legitimate

Tribe Should Have Heeded Tito’s Adage

Terry Francona has always said when you think you have enough pitching, you go out and get some more. It’s too bad his bosses didn’t heed his advise.

We know the Indians have traded away a lot of pitching over the last two and a half years, moving former Cy Young Award winner Corey Kluber, and then Trevor Bauer and Mike Clevinger in deadline deals in 2019 and 2020 respectively.

The organization has done a tremendous job developing young pitchers. The current (if healthy) top of the rotation features three pitchers drafted in 2016: Shane Bieber, Zach Plesac, and Aaron Civale. Going into spring training, the fourth and fifth spots appeared to belong to Cal Quantrill and Triston McKenzie.

We wrote at the time that outside of Bieber, none of those guys had more than 300 big league innings under their belt, and it would be wise to trade for or sign at least one experience arm.

Pitchers like Tijuan Walker (6-3, 2.38 ERA with the Mets), Jake Odorizzi (2-3, 4.08 ERA with Houston), and Tyler Anderson (3-8, 4.75 ERA with Pittsburgh) among others all were available shortly before spring training started. And none of them signed for huge amounts of money, always a consideration for the frugal Cleveland franchise.

Perhaps the organization got too caught up in the success of Bieber, Plesac, and Civale, all of whom seemed to have very little growing pains coming up to the bigs. Or more realistically, the ownership would not allow for the signing of a veteran hurler to add another proven arm.

Quantrill had command issues in spring training (he’s still going through them), so he went back to the bullpen, because of that and the fact that Logan Allen pitched extremely well in Arizona.

When the regular season started, Allen couldn’t keep the ball in the yard, and McKenzie, who opened as the 5th starter, couldn’t throw strikes.

They tried 24-year-old Sam Hentges, 24-year-old JC Mejia, and 25-year-old Eli Morgan, none of whom had any major league experience, and none were experiencing any great success in the minors.

When Bieber got the call in 2018, he was 6-1 with a 1.47 ERA in 13 starts at AAA and AA. Plesac came up in 2019 out of necessity due to injuries, but he was 4-2 with a 1.70 ERA in 10 starts in the high minors. Civale was 7-1, 2.43 in 13 starts in ’19 when he got the call.

By contrast, Hentges didn’t even pitch in the minors this year, nor last season due to the pandemic. His last minor league season was spent in Akron in ’19, where he went 2-11 with a 5.13 ERA.

Mejia had made two career starts above Class A in his life, both this year, before getting called up. He was 3-1 with an ERA just over four in Hi-A ball, in 2019, pitching just 33 innings.

Morgan made four starts this year at Columbus (4.67 ERA) and made 19 starts in AAA two years ago, with a 3.79 ERA.

We understand the organization didn’t think the latter trio was ready for the big league rotation now, but they left themselves no room for error.

And when Plesac went down on May23rd, the Tribe could’ve signed a free agent not currently in anyone’s organization and they would be ready now to help the team over this hurdle.

Rick Porcello, Cole Hamels, and Anibal Sanchez are just three pitchers still unattached, and another Homer Bailey, just signed with Oakland. Could any of those guys have helped? There is no way of knowing, but at the very least, they could have bought time for the youngsters.

They could’ve made a trade as well, although we would like to think Chris Antonetti and Mike Chernoff tried. It is well documented the organization has a ton of middle infielders regarded as good prospects. Move one of them for a starter who can soak up innings without taking the team out of a game early.

Perhaps the Indians can whether the current storm and stay in the race for the playoffs, and if they do and come up just short, they could point to these games pitched by men who weren’t ready to handle the job.

The point is the front office (including ownership) should have listened to their skipper. Heading into spring training, the pitching staff was very inexperienced. They pretended it wasn’t an issue.

Tribe Needs Starting Pitching…And Quickly

The news came like a gut punch to Tribe fans all over the nation. Shane Bieber was placed on the IL with the shoulder strain.

The Indians are currently sitting with a 34-28 record and are in second place in the American League Central Division, 5-1/2 games behind the White Sox. They are also just 1-1/2 games behind Houston (although tied in the loss column) for the second wild card spot.

That seems good, doesn’t it.

Until you think about the state of the starting pitching for the Tribe, at least currently. Right now, the rotation consists of Aaron Civale, one of the better starting pitchers in the majors right now. It also included Shane Bieber, but he won’t pick up a baseball for at least two weeks.

Civale currently leads the AL in wins with nine, tied for the Major League lead with the Dodgers’ Julio Urias.

Hopefully, Zach Plesac will return sooner than later, perhaps after the All Star break, and he will give Terry Francona a third starter who should be able to give him at least six solid innings.

As for the rest of the pitchers who have started games recently, the numbers aren’t exactly pretty. The once plentiful supply of good arms in the farm system has appeared to have dried up.

Remember what Francona has always said, when you think you have enough pitching, you go out and get some more.

Triston McKenzie has made 10 starts, totally 38-2/3 innings. He has a 6.75 ERA in those frame. The good news? He has struck out 54 hitters. The bad news? He has walked 35.

By the way, that comes to less than 4 innings per start, which is not good.

Left-hander Sam Hentges has made four starts, with a 8.56 ERA in 13-2/3 innings. That’s an average of 3-1/3 frames per start.

Another youngster (McKenzie is just 23, Hentges just 24), 24-year-old JC Mejia, has made three starts. His first was pretty good, going three scoreless innings at Baltimore as the Indians were getting him stretched out. In his second, he didn’t make it out of the first inning in St. Louis, giving up four runs. Last night, he went four innings.

Cal Quantrill has a similar experience. His first start was pretty good, going 3-2/3 and allowing just one run vs. the White Sox, but in his second start, he lasted just an inning and a third, allowing seven runs, five of them earned.

If we include Logan Allen’s five starts at the beginning of the year, which totaled 15-2/3 innings, an average of just over three innings per start, the starting pitchers not named Bieber, Civale, and Plesac are creating a big burden on the bullpen.

Added up, that comes to 24 starts made by other pitchers than the top three in the rotation, and the average number of innings pitched in those starts is 3-1/3.

And we are not counting the opener start made by Phil Maton or the start made by Eli Morgan, which by the way would lower that average, since he worked just 2-2/3 innings.

We understand that average is skewed somewhat by trying to get Quantrill and Mejia stretched out so they can give the team at least five innings. So, their starts this week against the Orioles are huge in figuring out what will happen over the next two weeks.

With Bieber now out, it’s clear the organization needs to do something about the starting pitching if they want to remain in contention for a playoff spot.

There are teams that have fallen out of the post-season race, like the Rangers, Pirates, Diamondbacks, Rockies, and Orioles. However, the reason a few of them have dropped out is because their starting pitching stinks.

Still, you might be able to pry lefty Tyler Anderson (3-6, 4.52 ERA) or right-hander JT Brubaker (4-5, 3.90 ERA) out of Pittsburgh, or might Texas give up Kyle Gibson (4-0, 2.13 ERA, but making almost $18 million over the next two years) for the right price.

Remember, the Indians farm system is deep at the lower levels, particularly in the middle infield, so there could be a fit.

We know the Cleveland organization is known for their patience, but if they are too patient, they could start to see the lack of starting pitching take its toll. Considering how hard they have fought to be in the race, that would be a shame.