While We’re Waiting… Pat Shurmur Evaluates, Tribe Trade Debate and Kent Staters Doin Good
July 22, 201192.3 FM Switching to Sports in Cleveland?
July 22, 2011Has a first place team ever gone through so much roster upheaval without making a trade for outside help?
I hope we remember the 2011 Cleveland Indians campaign as one where the team persevered, battled through slumps, injuries, and mass changes to win the most unlikely of division championships. Despite the fact that they are a half game behind the Detroit Tigers, they are a team in flux. You seriously don’t know what you are going to get from game to game and series to series. There is good reason for that. Things seem to change on a weekly basis in the Wahoo Nation.
In April and May, they jumped out to a 30-15 record with a starting rotation and a bullpen that were absolutely stellar. In June, the offense was colder than my ex-sister in law Lisa. Then July came around and things began to pick up again. Each month, a major injury struck. The only consistent group from April to today has been The Bullpen Mafia.
In April Grady Sizemore started the season on the DL. He was replaced by Michael Brantley in CF and by Travis Buck on the roster. This was a temporary move as it was expected that Grady would just get some extended spring training in and come back to his spot in the middle of the month. That happened and things worked out just fine. The Tribe started hot, the lineup was enhanced by Grady’s sizzling return, Brantley moved back to left field, and all was well until Sizemore hit the DL again in May for two weeks and the cycle repeated itself.
Unfortunately, upon his second return from the DL, Grady wasn’t the same guy he was in April. We watched as he struggled for two months at the plate, battling the strikeout bug, and hoping for a return to glory. Instead, we got a return to the DL for a third time on Monday after re-injuring his knee. To make matters worse, the Indians announced yesterday that Sizemore would miss 4-6 weeks after sports hernia surgery, an unrelated injury. He admitted that its been a problem since May.
In late May and into June, the Wahoos lost their hottest hitter, Travis Hafner, to the DL with a strained oblique muscle. The timing couldn’t have been worse as Sizemore was already there and Hafner was in the midst of his best season in four years. His replacements were various artists including Shelley Duncan and Buck. Needless to say there was a major dropoff in production and a gaping hole in the middle of the lineup. Its not a coincidence that Hafner was DL’d May 18th and the team went into the tank about a week later, blowing an eight game division lead.
While the offense was sinking to new lows in June, GM Chris Antonetti and Manager Manny Acta dipped into their prospect pool for second baseman Cord Phelps, who earned a look with his solid season in Columbus. The Tribe needed a jolt, and the hope was that Phelps would provide it. It also sent 36- year old Orlando Cabrera to the bench in a utility role. While Phelps was getting run at 2B, third baseman Jack Hannahan’s bat was getting colder by the day. In a constant search for offense, Acta began giving OC playing time at third base. Neither of these moves worked. Other than a walkoff homer against Pittsburgh on Father’s Day, Phelps was overwhelmed at the plate and below average in the field. He made five errors in 12 starts at second before being returned to Columbus. Meanwhile, Orlando was unhappy with the way he was being used, then began to take at-bats way from the struggling Phelps, reclaiming his second base job. Phelps’s spot was replaced by Luis Valbuena.
Then you have the hot corner situation. Hannahan was the regular third baseman until his bat became too much of a liability with the offensively challenged Indians. He was replaced as the starter by top prospect Lonnie Chisenhall, who took the roster spot of journeyman infielder Adam Everett, who lasted a lot longer on this roster than any of us thought he would. Hannahan has since become something of a defensive specialist (where he excels) in late game situations.
So at that point in time, you had a new third basemen, a new/old second baseman, a new utility man, and Matt LaPorta back at first base after a three week DL stint. Only Asdrubal Cabrera had been in his infield spot from the beginning without interruption.
I didn’t even mention the mess that has become of the rest of the outfield. In San Francisco in late June, Shin-Soo Choo, who struggled at the plate all year and was finally starting to come around, gets hit by a Jonathan Sanchez pitch and breaks his hand. He is lost for 6-8 weeks. Choo goes to the DL and is replaced by Buck, who literally never made it out of town from his last minor league demotion when Hafner was activated because LaPorta had to be placed on the DL. Sizemore goes to the DL on Monday and is essentially replaced by Ezequiel Carrera. Zeke becomes the everyday center fielder with Buck and Austin Kearns essentially platooning in right and Brantley, the only regular outfielder who hasn’t missed any time, back in left. Except Brantley suffered from heat exhaustion after Monday’s doubleheader. He was unable to play both Tuesday night and Wednesday afternoon. And if it got even worse when Buck was drilled in the head and was taken out Tuesday and Wednesday as well. Acta had no other option than to play Kearns in right, Carrera in center, and Sweet Luis in left.
(pause, deep breath…that last paragraph took a lot of me me just to re-read)
Well we all know how that turned out.
Now the Tribe has fallen out of first place and are desperate for a right-handed bat and any sort of offensive spark. They still don’t have Choo for another month or Sizemore for another six weeks. Neither of them was red-hot when they went down, but they are certainly more of a threat than their replacements.
So the Tribe has turned to another one of their top prospects for help – Jason Kipnis – who was called up yesterday and will most likely become the everyday second baseman. Like with Chisenhall, you don’t bring up your best AAA prospect to be a bench player. He is here to play. Orlando Cabrera is going to have to take a utility role and pick his spots, most likely against tough left-handed pitchers, replacing the left-handed hitting Kipnis.
The Kipnis move can’t be the last one the Indians make if they are going to make a run at the playoffs. They must get themselves another right-handed hitting outfielder, an impact one at that. This next few weeks is going to be brutal. You’ve got the Chicago White Sox coming in this weekend, a team that has owned the Tribe this season (winning four of five). Then the Angels arrive for three games, two of which will be started by aces Jered Weaver and Dan Haren. After the Royals finish the homestand, the Wahoos set out on a week long trip for four games in Boston followed by three in Texas before coming home for a monster series with Detroit.
If they can somehow manage to stay afloat after this brutal stretch, they will give themselves a great shot to take home their first AL Central crown since 2007.
(AP Photo/Jeff Chiu)
24 Comments
So apparently the FO has their eyes on Fukudome?
http://espn.go.com/blog/chicago/cubs/post/_/id/5596/fukudome-could-be-fit-with-indians
I’m not sure about that. If you could flip McAllister and a lower level guy for him maybe.
I really hope we don’t give up much in a trade.
Not to be a Debbie Downer – but this was a VERY flawed team to start the year. If we were healthy I could see us trying to add a piece and make a run.
But look at what you’ve outlined above. We are a flawed team that now lost Grady and Choo – plus a promising pitcher in Alex White.
We aren’t one piece away from being a solid team anymore. We are one piece away from being able to play a team that isn’t mistaken for a AAA roster.
This is a great year to get some experience – let Chiz and Kipnis get some playing time and see what our rotation can offer going into next year. It is not a year to sell the farm trying to win it all.
@stin4u – notice that it’s a Cubs writer trying to pump up Fukudome as if he’s the answer to our troubles. I wouldn’t give up McAllister for him.
@Narm – I’m with you on that. BUT, I am very much in favor of trading for someone like Hunter Pence. The outfield is remarkably thin and we don’t exactly have anyone waiting in the wings. We do have a glut of reasonably good pitching and some position players. If they can make a deal without disturbing the Drew Pomeranz and Alex Whites of the world I think you have to go ahead and do it.
This team has to face the fact that Sizemore is done. And with that being the case we’re going to have lots of problems not only this year but going into next year if we have to continue throwing guys like Buck and Kearns out there. Other than that though I would hang on to all these prospects.
@mgbode – Yeah I was sort of getting that feeling as well. I would hate to give up a top tier guy. He’d work for this season but going forward he isn’t worth much as a DH since we have one and he’s 34 years old.
Unfortunately I think if the Indians do make a trade, it will be somebody like Fukudome. I think best case scenario we’re looking at a Jeff Francouer type player, but realistically its probably going to be a utility guy who wont require much in a trade.
@stin4u – if they can acquire a high-quality player without giving up any of Pom / White / Chiz / Kipnis I could support it.
I’d happily give up Carmona for someone under club control for 2+ years.
But short of that, I don’t want to see us give up any value.
One good note is that it sounds like ownership has given the go-ahead to spend money – so we may be able to get a salary dump type player to help this year and not give up anything for the future.
“Each month, a major injury struck. The only consistent group from April to today has been The Bullpen Mafia.”
Seriously, TD? When Vinnie Pestano tears his ACL springing in from the bullpen tonight, I’m coming after you.
Fukudome? Left handed bat with 3 HRs this year and a $14M contract? That doesn’t make any sense to me.
Even if the Cubs were covering a large part of that fourteen million, I’d rather go with a more affordable (I imagine) player like Jeff Francouer.
Wow I didnt realize Fukudome was making that kind of cash. However if the Cubs are willing to pay most if not all of his remaining salary, this might be the type of player we go after simply because it wouldnt require much in a trade. The Cubs would probably take 1 or 2 lower level prospects in return. Just to get something for a guy they spent all that cash on.
http://espn.go.com/blog/sweetspot/post/_/id/14017/do-future-stars-get-dealt-at-deadline
I love this article. Pretty much says that unless you cheer for the Indians (or to a lesser extent Rangers), then you can just throw away all the prospects you get in July.
And that’s not just from the big names traded either.
another important point from that article is that the best prospects very rarely get traded. even for the big name players. so, it’s doubtful that we would trade one of ours.
Nice article. Kind of heart-warming. 🙂
i’ll do the counter point: this is the WORST time to go after a long-term fix in the OF. eg, hunter pence. they’re selling high right now. this is absolutely the time to do a short term patch to stay in the pennant race.
if you want trade for someone who is going to be around for a few years do it in the winter. dont do it when five other teams are competing for the same guy.
as for the patch (beltran)… i still say we go after him. obviously we do not sacrifice the ‘core’ of young talent. (but define core. to me, it’s: pom, chiz, droobs, santana, masterson, white. i’ll add tomlin and carrasco because we can’t get to the playoffs this year if we break up the rotation. if we cant get him with phelps + mcallister/hagadone/gomez then he can’t be got.) i say he gets us in the playoffs and once youre in the playoffs, anything can happen.
My only take away from this article is that Lisa is going to be pissed.
That being said…let us all hope that Kipnis is the spark that Asdrubal was in 07 and brings the division home for us.
Well, stringing that injury report looks dramatic on paper until you realize that, except for the big loss of Hafner, almost none of the injured guys were contributing much. Choo, Grady, LaPorta … we’re still hanging around exactly because their meager replacements haven’t represented a significant production drop-off.
Not saying we can win the division by just continually sprinkling in rookie hitters and expecting one will stabilize the lineup. Usually you want to lessen the pressure on the new kid. But this team is built on pitching, and only requires timely hitting to win. If other teams aren’t dealing good veteran sticks because they hope they’re still in their own races, do you want Antonetti to overpay for a so-so guy in a bidding war just because we don’t know when the Tigers, Twins and Sox will again have simultaneous off-years and we must take a gamble? I’m not sure. Doing so would indicate Shapiro/Antonetti believe that their carefully constructed “window to compete” is much smaller than they claim publicly.
If they send a good prospect for a stick I hope that stick is familiar with American League pitchers and comfortable in the AL. Because if he needs an adjustment period that starts in August then it certaionly lessens his value.
@11- Funny stuff. Looks like we should be trying to sell some stiffs in return for young talent.
Harv – I disagree that Choo and Sizemore weren’t contributing much. Yes, they were contributing less than we wanted or expected, but they were helping this team much, much more than their replacements have. The numbers bear it out too. (I won’t bore you with a bunch of stats though.) Even subjectively, who thinks Duncan/Kearns equate to a slumping Choo?
NJ: sorry, disagree. And Choo and Sizemore were also both playing iffy defense. Not saying replacements were equal, saying not greatly different. That’s all I’ll say – more will sound like I’m a Duncan/Kearns fan.
It has been the outstanding pitching, starters and bullpen, that have kept this team in the race. Improved infield defense with Hanahan has also been key. I would look at improving the pitching even more; that is where games are won and lost.
I dont understand the desire for more starting pitching. Thats our strength in the organization. we have about 5 guys who could be solid starters, and we have 3 (Carlos, Justin and Drew) with potential to be dominant CY Young starters. But when you look at OF theres not much in the cupboard. And we are in need of it now.
@bobby – I agree. Now, if the starting pitchers being offered were better, then sure why not dip in that pool. But, Kuroda, Lilly, Harang, and the lot being discussed there is no reason to not just continue with what we have (w/ Shields and Ubaldo not being serious IMO).
OF, unfortunately, seems like we don’t have a choice but to at least get something of MLB-quality for August (and possibly longer because do we really trust Sizemore to come back healthy at this point?)
oh, as I am probably the biggest betemit-detractor (I think the Tigers did us a favor in trading for him), enjoy:
http://sports.yahoo.com/mlb/blog/big_league_stew/post/Third-to-none-Betemit-makes-hilariously-ugly-th;_ylt=At_mAZc2_R73lp_cqyBJGH8RvLYF?urn=mlb-wp13520
http://espn.go.com/mlb/story/_/page/rumblings110722/mlb-how-available-ubaldo-jimenez-colorado-rockies-hunter-pence-houston-astros-james-shields-tampa-bay-rays-really-rumblings-grumblings
So.. Pence doesnt look too hot forbeing traded.
too bad, but not surprising.