While We’re Waiting… Cavs Free Agency, Ravens’ Mason Retires, and Rich Rod’s Future with UM
July 14, 2009MLB Trade Rumors: Victor Martinez Wants to Retire as a Cleveland Indian
July 14, 2009Next to the job status of everyone’s favorite Grinder, Eric Wedge, you’d have to say the bad, bad, Cleveland Indians bullpen is the favorite topic of Tribe fans all over this great land of ours. For those of you who still are interested, the 2009 Indians bullpen is reaching legendary status in terms of its futility.
From Vinnie “the regrettable” Chulk to Winston Abreu, its been a combination revolving door/rollercoaster ride. Round and round and up and down these players have gone, without one single player not named Kerry Wood staying on the roster from opening day through the break. I had written about this last week and essentially in every recap the day after bullpen implosions throughout the first half. To borrow a phrase from the legendary Boston Celtics radio man Johnny Most, the Tribe bullpen can been summed up as “a typical disgusting display” of relief pitching.
The facts: Like their starterting counterparts, Indians relievers carry the worst ERA in the AL at 5.18. They have walked more batters (152) than any other AL team. Only the Toronto Blue Jays (15) have less saves (16). Only the Yankees and their band-box new ballpark (47) have allowed more home runs (44). Only Baltimore (303.2) and Oakland (295) have more relief innings pitched (286.2). Shall I keep going?
They have tried 20 different guys and as a unit, they have been putrid. I’ve been so negative that I feel it is my duty as someone who bleeds Red, White, and Blue, I should start with the good:
In his one outing as a reliever, Jeremy Sowers gave his team five shutout innings during the crazy 10 run comeback win over Tampa Bay in May.
In his one appearance with the big club, lefty Rich Rundles pitched a scoreless inning.
That’s it.
Sure, you can say that rookie left-hander Tony Sipp has come up and done a decent job, leading all Tribe relievers with a 2.77 ERA in 15 appearances. But in his 13 innings of work, he has walked 13 batters. Rafael Betancourt (3.45 ERA/28.1 IP/24 hits/31 K’s) has to be called the most effective reliever the Indians have, but he spent close to a month on the DL thanks to a groin strain. Now that he is back, he has become the subject of trade talks, especially with his $5 million option for next year that a team in rebuilding mode probably doesn’t want to pay for a set-up man.
I will be the first to admit that in March, I thought the bullpen was going to be the strongest part of the team. I loved the mix they had, particularly with the late inning bridge to new closer Kerry Wood. But how could we all, Mark Shapiro included, have been so far off on this in projecting this group’s success? Lets talk about the problems:
Rafael Perez and Jensen Lewis – If you want to point your fingers at why the pen has become such a calamity, Raffy Left and Jenny are your men. Here was your eighth inning duo. Two lights-out guys down the stretch last year (when the pressure was off) who were going to build off of the success. Instead, Lewis became a gopher-ball machine (5 HR’s allowed in his first 12.1 IP as the set-up man) with a straight, non-moving fastball. Meanwhile, Perez’s out pitch – his slider – completely disappeared.
Lewis’ inconsistency may have been more expected – he did have a brutal start to his 2008 season before rebounding as the closer in August and September (again, when the pressure was off). Perez is the real head-scratcher. Here was a kid who was hailed by many as the best left-handed reliever in the game. His slider was untouchable and showed pinpoint control over the past two and a half seasons. His complete fall-off-the-table 2009 (8.88 ERA/25.1 IP/37 hits/18 Walks) has been stunning.
Both guys are currently now toiling in Columbus.
Kerry Wood’s lack of opportunities – It’s easy to see why the Indians signed the fire-balling ex-Cub this winter. They haven’t had a hard-throwing closer since the days of Jose Mesa. Wood was thought to be the final piece to the puzzle in a bullpen built from the back forward.
Instead, the lack of bridge in front of him never allowed Woody to get into a consistent groove. In fact, for the month of June, he had just three saves. Three! That’s really what you want from a guy you are paying $10 million to in this market.
Now I’m not going to sit here and let him off the hook on performance. When he has actually gotten save opportunities, he has been a 98 MPH version of Bob Wickman and Joe Borowski. Two prime examples:
– Saturday night, Wood entered the game with a 5-2 lead. Despite notching the save, he gave up a two-run homer to Miguel Cabrera before recording the last two outs.
– On June 23rd in Pittsburgh, Wood was summoned with one out, a man on, and a three run lead. He gave up a double, a single, and a walk loading the bases and putting the winning run on second base. He ended up enducing a Adam Laroche fly out to close out a one run win, but it got real dicey.
Worst of all, in arguably the two most important games of his regular season career, he completely wet himself – back to back days in his return to Wrigley Field in June. Wood’s numbers: 2-3/5.28 ERA/12 Saves/33K’s. Tough to swallow for $10 million on a last place team.
The Scrub-Dog Brigade – What was your favorite moment of the Matt Herges/Luis Vizcaino/Greg Aquino era? That was probably my favorite portion of the season. Nothing better than when Wedge was using this trio in the seventh and eighth innings with a lead.
Surprisingly, Herges found the fountain of youth for like three weeks. Vizcaino bookened his stint with the Tribe by giving up a walk-off homer to Tampa Bay’s B.J. Upton in his first outing and blowing a two run lead in extra innings in a loss to the Cubs. Aquino had his moments too, but his control was never there. All three were designated for assignment in June.
They are gone, but not forgotten.
I don’t even need to get into the Masa Kobayashi experience. Every Tribe follower knew that he wasn’t a major league pitcher in March, yet he broke camp with the Tribe and washed out after 10 appearances and an 8.38 ERA. Vincenzo Chulk was a disaster as well. Things have gotten so bad that we are forced to watch guys like Jose Veras, Mike Gosling, and Winston Abreu. Strangely, the Indians organization started to move some of their pitchers around in the minors to turn them into relievers (i.e Frank Herrmann, Zach Putnam, and a failed move of Hector Rondon) in May. It shows you how desperate the organization is to develop quality pen options.
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Now what? Essentially, its become a chance for all of these current guys to pitch themselves into roles. Wedge has said more times than I can count that he is begging for someone to step forward. The real question is does the organization actually have guys who can do so?
Trading Mark DeRosa for Chris Perez is a move in the right direction, assuming he is the guy who was highly regarding in St. Louis rather than the gas can we’ve seen thus far in Cleveland. I think Sipp is a keeper as well. He is coming off of Tommy John surgery and next year he’ll be back at full strength. Maybe they catch lightning in a bottle with Veras, a Yankee cast-off. Maybe they finally figure out that Sowers belongs in the pen.
Betancourt and Wood have both been mentioned as trade candidates. Joe Smith has shown me nothing. Who knows what will happen with Raffy Perez and Lewis down in Columbus.
There really is only one word you can say to describe the current state of the Indians: uncertain.
6 Comments
Can Doug Jones still pitch?
Temporary un-shun.
Tribe ’09 Rebuild Tip #1: Trade Kerry Wood now, save $15M on contract remainder. Use $1.4M to induce Wickie out of retirement. His arm must feel better by now, he can tell everyone he’s in shape and no one would be the wiser, and his wife will probably kick in $100K because she’s already sick of cleaning up his tobacco spit and aluminums.
Throw the remaining $13.5M at Vic the Stick as a signing bonus and beg for ye olde home town discount on an extension. He’s probably the only Cleveland athlete who will consider it. Worry about the rest of his money later.
Don’t thank me, Shappy. But a small mention in your end of the season “we’ve righted the ship” speech would be nice.
Re-shun.
1.) Thanks Shapetti.
2.) Jensen Lewis: product of last year’s out of contention second half-those
stats should not have been glorified, rather his straight midling 80’s
fastball should have been. You said it…….just like last year’s 1st half.
3.) The Masa Kobayashi Experience: Great name for rock band!
(oh……thanks again Shapetti).
No worries………Shapetti is already working on reformulating the pen.
Harv21……I like Kerry Wood…..but,
who in the heck do you think would pick up that contract?
Isiah Thomas
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