While We’re Waiting… OF Platoon, Carmona’s Mechanics and Hillis is Tough
June 27, 2011Save Me NFL – You’re My Only Hope
June 27, 2011Watching Manny Acta’s Cleveland Indians over the weekend was nothing like watching Manny Acta’s Cleveland Indians from April and May.
Gone is the solid defense, smart base-running, and timely hitting. It has been replaced by daily atrocities in the field, bone-headed plays on the base-paths, and a complete lack of hitting in the clutch.
They were once 30-15. Now they are 40-36. On May 23rd, the Indians the top team in the major with runners in scoring position. Since then, they are dead last. The base-running and defensive mistakes are happening at an alarming rate. Worst of all, the injuries have piled up.
The Indians are spiraling out of control and Manny Acta has tried everything he can within his power to stop it. But he can’t. It’s been said before but it bears repeating; the Tribe is not as good as they were when they ran out to an eight and a half game lead in the AL Central and they aren’t as bad as they look right now.
But they clearly are closer to what we see now that what we saw earlier. That is the scary part.
This weekend in San Francisco, the Indians literally handed the Giants the first two games thanks to shoddy defense and the complete lack of ability to drive in runners in scoring position. They even received a quality start from Fausto Carmona and couldn’t capitalize.
There are a few stats that tell the story:
1. The Indians pitchers allowed just eight runs in three games. Only four of them were earned. Carlos Carrasco and Justin Masterson COMBINED for one earned run and both received losses.
2. In three games, the Indians made six errors, all of which in one way or another came back to bite them. None was worse than Cord Phelps’s bad throwing error in Saturday’s 1-0 loss. I take that back, Carlos Santana’s two sixth inning errors during Friday night’s 4-3 loss single-handedly cost the Wahoos that game.
3. Offensively, the team looks pathetic to say the least. Sunday night’s 16 strikeout debacle against Madison Bumgarner and Jeremy Affeldt were the icing on the proverbial cake. Over the weekend, the Indians were 2-22 with runners in scoring position and scored four runs in three games.
Don’t forget the left-handed Bumgarner was coming off a start against the Twins in which he gave up nine hits in one-third of an inning. Against the Tribe, he looked like the second coming of Sandy Koufax.
Then again, the offense is making everyone look good these days. The injuries to Travis Hafner and Grady Sizemore earlier in the year started the offensive skid. Losing Matt LaPorta doesn’t help, but seeing Shin-Soo Choo break his thumb Friday night and knowing he will miss six to eight weeks is an absolute killer. Choo was finally starting to show signs of breaking out of his season-long slump. It couldn’t have come at a worse time for the offensively-challenged Tribe, who cant use Hafner as anything more than a pinch hitter for the next six games.
It’s easy to point the fingers in certain directions, but the time has come for some turnover. The position player roster is littered with fringe major leaguers. That is the truth.
It’s one thing to carry a Shelley Duncan or an Adam Everett or an Austin Kearns or a Travis Buck or a Jack Hannahan on your 25-man roster. It’s quite another to carry ALL OF THEM AT THE SAME TIME. That’s a fifth of the Indians roster. I’m not even mentioning the rookie Phelps who is still trying to figure out Major League pitching. Nor am I mentioning Orlando Cabrera who at this point in his career should be a utility man and is hitting .196 in June after his .230 month of May. Lou Marson is a perfect backup catcher, but he’s never been much of a hitter.
Too much pressure is being put on this crew of punch and judy hitters because the big boys aren’t doing their jobs. We’ve talked about the struggles of Choo and Santana before, but the guy who isn’t pulling his weight and MUST for the Indians to be successful is Grady Sizemore.
What has happened to him?
Watching his at-bats this weekend, all I could do was sit back and scratch my head. He continues to strike out at an alarming rate. After lighting the World on fire in April, he has sunk to new lows here in June. Since injuring his right knee, he has not been the same. Pitchers are busting him inside and he hasn’t adjusted. Grady’s head is clearly not right either. He hit .143 in May and is hitting .190 in June with seven RBIs. Three of them came on June 1st.
So to recap. You have no Choo, no Hafner, no LaPorta, a scuffling Sizemore, too much pressure on Asdrubal Cabrera and Michael Brantley to come through every single time, and pitchers who feel as though they can’t make a single mistake or else the team could lose.
Amazing that they are still a game out of first.
What I saw in San Francisco this weekend was awful. Instead of taking two of three at worst from the defending World Series champion, they kicked the ball around, made terrible base-running blunders, and couldn’t come up with a big hit to save their lives in a sweep.
Something has to change.
The scouts who see the AAA Columbus Clippers rave about the “stacked” team down I-71. If the Indians are going to salvage this season, it’s time for some reinforcements.
Enough with Adam Everett (.217) and Austin Kearns (.194). By all accounts, they are nice guys and solid teammates, but they are both automatic outs and guys with zero upside. Did you know that this “dynamic duo” have been on the roster since opening day and have COMBINED for just three RBIs in 153 at-bats? It’s time for both to go.
Wouldn’t this team be better served with Ezequial Carrera (young, speedy, and has been called the best defensive outfielder in the organization) on the roster than Kearns who entered Sunday hitting .218 (42-193) with nine RBIs since his trade to the Yankees last year?
As for Everett, why is he still here? You already have an all-defense, no hit guy on the roster in Hannahan. You also are carrying a right-handed middle infielder who has now made starts at third (Orlando Cabrera).
It’s time for both Everett and Kearns to go.
This team needs offense badly. While Hannahan’s glove is golden, he is just not hitting. That hot start he had was clearly a mirage. He is what he is; a career .222 guy. The real Jack Hannahan is the guy who hit .184 with three RBIs in May and .175 with three RBIs in June.
Buck and Duncan? Deep bench guys at best.
The Tribe is in dire need of a shock of new energy with the bats before they sink any deeper. This division is so winnable it’s scary. They have the pitching to do it. Now is the time for prospects Jason Kipnis and Lonnie Chisenhall to take their shot.
Chiz (.265/7 HR/44 RBI) has now finally started to heat up after a slow start and Kipnis (.289/8 HR/43 RBI) has been doing it all year. Veteran Nick Johnson shouldn’t be very far behind once he gets some more at-bats under his belt. He has the track record. (EDIT – do they trade Orlando Cabrera to a contender like the Giants and bring up Jason Donald in his spot?)
Panic moves you say? Sure. But it’s panic time. The 4A specials and washed up veterans they are currently employing have been given their shots. Now it’s time to see what the kids can do.
(AP Photo/Jeff Chiu)
25 Comments
Rather than rush Chisenhall, I’d like to see them try their plan from the spring and bring Donald and let him play third…
I keep forgetting about Donald…. thing about JD is, he is another utility guy. We need an impact bat.
If this team is going to throw away this year by refusing to make any trades or pay any money, I would at least hope that they did so playing their young talent that will contribute in future years instead of wasting time with the likes of Kearns, Everett, Cabrera and Duncan.
I really hope that the front office is proactive, either through call-ups from the minors or trades. I know that this wasn’t the year the Indians were “supposed” to content, but whenever you have the opportunity to go for the playoffs in baseball, you have to try to exploit it, especially if you’re a small market team. There’s just too many variables that can sink you in future years. The Indians have a shot this year, and they should go for it.
Throwing “shock” troops with zero MLB experience into a division race with the understanding that it’s up to them … that’s about as irrational as you can get. Would be playing higher percentages to hope Sizemore and the current gang, some of whom have some track record on this level, snap out of it.
Water usually finds it’s own level over a full season. Even before the injuries, we had few position players we could justifiably count on. The early season clutch hitting by the Hannahans, Bucks, Duncans wasn’t going to last. It is what it is.
@TD, I couldn’t agree more. I didn’t want to rock the boat when it was possible that the Indians were just having a bad month, but the truth is that they look completely lost as a team. I have never in my life seen such a drastic change in confidence. The players seemingly dread coming up to bat with runners in scoring position rather than relishing it. Shelly Duncan was completely owned by a left-handed pitcher last night… never came close to putting a good swing on the ball, and the rest of the team was almost as bad (with apologies to AsCab). The tribe needs a hitting makeover right now, and it’s time to bring up some of the young guys and Nick Johnson to play 1B if he looks good in the rehab starts. Something needs to happen to fire this team up and instill some confidence.
The fact that Kearns and his $1 million dollar salary are still on the roster has told me all I need to know about the Indians’ view on how they’re going to handle the rest of this season. They also argued that they’re keeping Everett to play SS in case Astrubal gets hurt. Couldn’t O-Cab do that with Phelps/Kipnis playing 2B? If Everett does get released, I’m sure he’ll be available if he was needed. Teams aren’t going to be tripping over themselves for a guy with 1 RBI all year.
one thing to keep in mind: take out choo, sizemore, carmona, hafner and this is a 20$MM payroll. you want to cut kearns, fine. you think everett’s a weak link, ok. pointing to laporta’s injury as a reason, kind of a reach no? the personnel is the personnel. that wont be changed substantially.
it’s how they’re playing. last nite was fairly typical: two errors and a runner pegged out at third base with less than two out. the indians in april didn’t do this. the current indians are dumb and i don’t know why this is.
they lost their edge back in may after a whitesox/rays roadtrip. i’ve seen a lack of urgency on the part of the manager. when sloppy play gets pointed, the reply is often ‘we’re still in first place.’ well not any more.
if we’re not going to forget the Twins game for Bumgarner, let’s also not forget the rest of the season for him either (he’s been really, really good this year).
that said, 16Ks is ridiculous, this whole weekend series was wretched (when they actually get me to turn off a game on Sunday night when we are still technically ‘in it’ that’s bad).
I’d love to see this team bring up Ez. I’m not sure I can take seeing Kearns/Buck in the outfield on a regular basis. Can Valbuena play third? If so bring his 4A butt up and see if he can hit mlb pitching this year, he’s probably earned a promotion at this point. I think this weekend can be considered “rock bottom” for these guys.
“Bluto’s right. Psychotic… but absolutely right. We gotta take these bastards. Now we could do it with conventional weapons, but that could take years and cost millions of lives. No, I think we have to go all out. I think that this situation absolutely requires a really futile and stupid gesture be done on somebody’s part!”
i think i buried my point. the team is built around those four guys. two of them are out, the other two are playing like suck.
as long as those guys are not contributing, there is no margin for error. as long as those four guys arent contributing, other personnel changes are rearranging deck chairs.
@9, seems like Carrera couldn’t possible hit worse than Kearns/Buck/Duncan, so I agree… bring him up and we’d have the best defensive outfield in the majors (or close to it)… I mean, that’s something. I thought it was telling last night to bring in Travis Hafner to face the lefty Bumgarner when we had RH Austin Kearns and SH Cord Phelps on the bench. Acta has no confidence in either player to come up with a key hit.
@ mcbode
I actually turned the game off too last night for one of the first times all year. The score was only 3-0 but this team is so frustrating to watch right now. A 3-0 deficit feels like there is no chance of a comeback right now. If they keep sending out this same team without making any changes I might be done watching for awhile
“who cant use Hafner as anything more than a pinch hitter for the next six games.”
Is he really uncapable of playing first? I know he isnt an everyday 1B by any means, but having his bat in the lineup would be a huge help. After Santana’s errors friday night, why not put Hafner out there and let Carlos catch?
@14, i had the same question. it’s because of the risk of injury to his oblique that he does not play the field.
16 of the 27 outs by K…PUT THE BALL IN PLAY. Something good might happen. Can I be the hitting coach now?
I’m not sure the current Indians could beat their AAA team; maybe not even their AA team.
Great pitching is fun to watch…ok, maybe not.
I just can’t bare Kearns/Buck/Duncan/Everett anymore.
If your hitting under .230 and your name ins’t Sizemore or Santana, you need to go.
“uncapable”
me fail english? that’s unpossible. – Ralph Wiggum
(sorry, not really a dig at you, it just reminded me of one of my favorite Simpson’s quotes)
@adam – yep, that is exactly how i felt. craig is right, we need the NFL to agree to things so we can divert some time to NFL FA lists.
(i’ll still watch though cuz i’m a glutton for punishment)
@ Harv21 These young guys have no clue what you’re talking about. 0.00 Fat, drunk & stupid is no wat to go through life.
Let’s just say that last night’s game made it very easy for me to watch UFC on VS when it started at 9 PM. I honestly haven’t felt that way about this team this year. I won’t feel badly if they fail and they leave it all on the line. I won’t feel that way unless they try a few more young guys in place of some of the hacking veterans.
And with that, it is worth mentioning that Everett has been DFA’d and The Chiz Kid has been called up.
I really don’t think the answer to this is sitting in AAA waiting to come and save our team. In my opinion we need to make a trade for some offense and part with a prospect to do it. My biggest worry is that Dolan will use this slump to argue that we aren’t an actual contender, and not make any moves at the deadline to help us win this year.
[…] Changes Needed: Actaball Looks Dead Monday, June 27, 2011 […]
Low expectations! Waiting for some AAA rookies to save the team? Very low expectations!!!! Now, what amazes me in all this is the SUDDEN stop in hitting! Now i have seen it before, like with the mets several years ago. Than again, we were told from the beginning to have LOW expectations!