If Healthy, Browns’ Offense Should Be Improved
August 9, 2011Terrelle Pryor is Not a Fit for Cleveland
August 9, 2011
In reading Jon’s 10 AM piece, I was struck by one statement he made in particular:
I also think that there is a possibility that we’ve seen Grady Sizemore play his last game as a Cleveland Indian.
Let us tackle this head-on because its a topic that is going to have to come up sooner rather than later with the Indians brass. The oft-injured former All-Star center fielder was once the cornerstone of the franchise. He looked to be a true five-tool player that the Indians would have locked up into his prime years.
Sizemore burst onto the scene at age 22 in 2005 where he became the every day leadoff man and centerfielder. He hit .289 with 22 homers, 81 RBIs, and 22 steals in his first full season (158 games). He started a consecutive games streak that would last into 2008 while his game got better and better. Check these numbers from age 22-25:
2005: .289 BA/22 HR/81 RBIs/22 steals/.348 OBP/.832 OPS
2006: .290 BA/28 HR/76 RBIs/22 steals/.375 OBP/.907 OPS
2007: .277 BA/24 HR/78 RBIs/33 steals/.390 OBP/.852 OPS
2008: .268 BA/30 HR/90 RBIs/38 steals/.374 OBP/.876 OBP
Unfortunately for the Tribe, that guy doesn’t seem to work here anymore. Injuries have ravaged him over the last two and a half years where he has missed 236 of a possible 436 games. The majority of the games he has played, he has tried to play through the pain, which is admirable.
That said, we are now looking at a 28 year old Grady Sizemore with the knees of a 40 year old. He has had microfracture surgery on one knee and missed six weeks this season after an issue in the other knee. You also cannot forget two surgeries he has had in in the past two years to correct sports hernia issues.
The way Sizemore plays when he is out there – all out hustle with no regard for his body – is what we love about him. The issue has become that his body has failed him. I know being out this much is killing him. The usually quiet, mild-mannered Grady came out and said as much after being place on the DL last month.
“It’s just frustrating. I don’t know how else to put it,” he said the day after he hurt himself rounding first in Baltimore. “It’s definitely frustrating dealing with this and being in a similar situation. The next step is to see what happens. See how it feels. Take a look at it. I hope it’s not the same thing as last year.”
Jon’s thought process that Grady may not play for the Indians again is not that off base at all. He is at the end of his contract with a club option for 2012 at $9 million. Why would the Indians possibly pick that up when you have no idea if Grady will ever be healthy again? Even when he was healthy this year, other than the hot April stretch, he hasn’t come close to the 05-08 form.
There are a few things working in Sizemore’s favor.
First and foremost, he is still a crowd favorite. In a town where the fan base needs a boost to show up at the park, letting a guy with Grady’s following go might not be a great PR move, despite being the smart baseball decision. The other aspect of keeping Grady is more of a necessity. The Indians are bereft of outfield depth at the top levels of the minors and with the big club, as we’ve seen all year. Unless of course you want another year of the Austin Kearns, Travis Buck, Shelley Duncan types.
Declining Grady’s option and then signing him to a one-year, incentive based contract is most likely the route the Indians would take if they indeed decline his option. Would that be enough to keep Sizemore in Cleveland? We will find out this winter.
I bring this up because Shin-Soo Choo is currently rehabbing down at Class A Lake County to get his timing back. He could be back by the weekend or early next week if things progress well. You haven’t heard a word about Sizemore’s rehab or when the Indians expect him to re-join them.
Curious, don’t you think?
32 Comments
Would it be possible to sit him down in a room, explain to him that we want him here, we want to win a championship with him here, we believe he can return to his old self, but it doesn’t make sense for us to pick up the option…so how about we restructure next year for $4.5 Million with games played/DL trip incentives that can increase it to around what he’s making this year…then we’ll just bump this $9 Million Option to 2013?
I dont see him coming back if we decline his option. He can get a 1 year deal anywhere. Somebody would take a chance on him.
Totes sad. Yet totes necesssary.
He’ll be back… this team is trying to contend and we have no one to replace him with. Outfield options are limited with his type of skill. Kubel may be the only legit option based on price. I think he’s back regardless.
“You haven’t heard a word about Sizemore’s rehab or when the Indians expect him to re-join them.
Curious, don’t you think?”
What would you expect to hear though? He had abdominal surgery not even 3 weeks ago. I’m guessing they won’t even let him pick up a bat until next week at the earliest.
Manny was asked about it a week ago, he said Grady was still resting/rehabbing and to check back with him in two weeks. I would imagine he’s not doing much now but trying to stretch & strenghthen the surgery site while also keeping as much off the right knee as possible.
Choo being in rehab games now and hearing nothing about Grady’s rehab isn’t exactly a good comparison. First off, Choo had THUMB surgery, affecting nothing but his hand. Grady had a sports hernia surgery, affecting walking, sitting, standing, hell… even breathing. Not to mention that Choo had his surgery over 3 weeks before Grady’s AND Choo himself said he is a quick healer.
However, I do agree very much with this statement:
“Declining Grady’s option and then signing him to a one-year, incentive based contract is most likely the route the Indians would take if they indeed decline his option. “
I would be shocked if he is here next year. Picking up his 9 mil option looks like a really dumb move. It’s not worth the risk. We could use that 9 million to pickup a mid level free agent RH bat.
Once we decline he is basically a free agent. And the Indians aren’t outbidding anyone in any type of FA situation.
Even if its a smart deal like 1 Million base with incentives up to the whole 9 million other teams that normally spend money can come along and give him 2 million up to 10 million, etc.
The only chance I see him being an Indian is if they pickup he option and that is a high risk move. They do seem to be taking more high risk moves lately.
He puts butts in seats and we have zero other options. He’ll be here next year unfortunately.
Two things give me hope about Grady:
He was mashing the ball early in the year and it was the hernia that had an impact on his performance.
Beltran seems to be coming back after microfracture surgery.
But I understand that long-term you can’t count on his defense in CF.
I do hope, however, that he can string together 2 months of healthy baseball for the stretch-run this year. If he came back and was producing like he did to start the year, we’re suddenly a much better team.
I’m not sure why someone would try and discount a thumb injury. As someone who broke a thumb while playing high school ball, it is an incredibly tough injury to fight through. I broke the thumb on my left hand (I’m a righty) and I couldn’t swing a bat with any confidence for about 2 months.
Break one of your thumbs and see how you get through day to day life, let alone trying to deal with the shock of hitting a baseball hurtling towards you at 90+ mph.
“The majority of the games he has played, he has tried to play through the pain, which is admirable.”
I don’t want to take the truth of this statement for granted. Is it admirable to knowingly try to play through the pain if you know you’re less effective than you should be and therefore could be (or are) playing to your team’s detriment? That sound more selfish than admirable, at least on the face of it. I don’t put this all on Grady, as we have seen the front office remain too quiet about injuries in the past (e.g., Travis Hafner), and I suspect that Grady was not shelved when he should have been, on many occasions. Just another side of this that should be considered in more detail. Maybe the new-look front office/management team is being more honest about injuries and reassessing what would be for the team’s best interest, in which case it may very well be more likely than not that we won’t see any more of Grady.
“There are a few things working in Sizemore’s favor. First and foremost, he is still a crowd favorite.”
Yep, those sentimental Dolans sure don’t mind taking a risk for a fan favorite. There’s, um, well … Recent FO history tells us he woudn’t have been here through his club option if he were performing. They haven’t let a contributing guy walk into free agency since Thome. That’s why it’s funny to hear people sanguine that Ubaldo is “ours” through 2013. Only if he’s pitching way worse than they hoped. If he’s pitching like an ace he’ll be traded next year or the following off-season. That’s not “Dolanz is Cheep” hate. That’s their track record. Sizemore would have been here for the season if healthy and contributing, but would have been gone soon, injuries or not.
A worry: the f.o. hasn’t seemed exactly forthcoming on the nature of some of Sizemore’s injuries this year. It’s his knee, it’s his abdomen, he hurt it running, he hurt it sliding. I forget all the particulars, but I remember more than a few chin-scratching explanations. Not sure what that means. Can’t be good imo.
This offseason is going to be very interesting. We only have $13M in contract obligations (Haf). Most predictions that I see have our payroll at $50Mish keeping the team pretty much together. If Dolan was willing to let us expand to $70-$80M… and the $16M we might avoid with letting Sizemore and Fausto walk… Imagine this team healthy and with $30-$40M invested in established 1B and LF talent.
I know that sounds like a pipe dream based on the club’s past track record. But consider- nobody thought they’d deal two of their top pitching prospects this year either.
I don’t know. Maybe ownership has finally realized you have to spend some money on acquiring bona fide talent to appease the fan base? Especially during the years where you’re supposed to be competing.
The Indians have to let him walk at the end of the year. $9 mil is too much for the Tribe to throw away. The best possible PR move would be for the Indians to announce this at the same time that they announce the signing of a free agent of note like a Michael Cuddyer.
@NJ – are you saying we are going to go and sign Albert Pujols?
(joking)
@Harv – our FO has never traded guys away unless we were completely out of the race. even if we were completely out of the race next July, I don’t think we could trade Ubaldo unless we got more than we gave up for him (which is not happening). I’ll roll with Ubaldo/Masterson as our 1/2 punch and take our chances in the AL Central.
i also agree that we shouldn’t take Grady back at $9mil per year. if he’ll take less, then sure re-sign him.
(or he’ll end up on the White Sox like seemingly every other former Indian great)
I say we roll with Brantley, Carrera and Choo from here on out.
@14- I’ve convinced myself that we’ll get Prince Fielder and/or Matt Kemp.
ok, we can sign Prince, but we’re putting in a ‘donut’ clause.
I once played football for a few weeks in college with TWO broken thumbs. I was a WR. Not a very good one.
@NJ – It’s not the front office giving different explanations. They never changed their story on what happened to him. I’ve paid very close attention. He jammed the right knee while sliding on May 10th (Tribe also told the beat writers at that time that he jammed the right hip as well, which led to the sports hernia), then he aggravated it whilst running on July 17th. They’ve said what it is with his knee all along.
The hernia… I can’t you really blame him/them for not really talking about that. They don’t have an obligation to tell the fans everything physically wrong with a player. That’s their personal medical business. I wouldn’t want to talk publicly about my groin area. Not only that, the doctors told them he’d be okay playing through it and having surgery in the offseason. You wouldn’t want to alert the opposition to something that would tell them even more that one of your players wasn’t at the top of their game.
@216 – They could swing it if they discuss it with he and his agent before declining it. He’s not going to get much on the FA market with his health right now. I’d see him taking it just to ensure he actually had a job next year, as I’m not sure how many teams would really give him much more than we’d offer on a re-sign. Not having to worry where he’d have to move/where he’d sign while trying to get healthy in the offseason would help also.
If the Tribe could get a player like Grady is when he’s healthy for less than the already relatively cheap $9 million, why not? Make the contract incentive-laden that way you don’t risk much. To me it’s not much different than taking a flyer on some of the very questionable Free Agents out there. If things go well you keep a popular, still-very-talented long-time Indian who will undoubtedly help the team if healthy. If not, you don’t have to give up much $$ because the incentives weren’t reached and can cut him loose then. Not much different than hoping someone like Cuddyer or Ludwick are anything but “meh.”
@Narm – Beltran never had microfracture surgery. Dr. Steadman felt he needed it but Beltran/Boras and the Mets would not allow it. So all they did was clean out the loose bodies in his knee.
@ChrisM – Not trying to discount a thumb injury at all. I tore a ligament in my left thumb in college. I know it’s no joke. All I was saying is that it’s a little easier to keep the rest of the body up to shape when it’s your thumb that is hurt. As opposed to your lower abdomen/groin area. Therefore you can probably come back a bit quicker.
Fist, I heard Prince was a vegan, then I heard just a vegetarian. Not sure if either is still current/true. Point being: maybe a soy or okra clause would be more appropriate.
@20- Fair enough. I stand corrected. I wasn’t paying close enough attention at the time. That said, the variety and severity of his injuries worry me. It would have been an easier decision if he didn’t mash it those few weeks when he was back.
looked it up, Fielder is only a veggie. he has not gone full-vegan. therefore, he is still allowed his donut-ration 🙂
also, he apparently has never liked cheese. but, we might want to limit his falafel supply as well (quite possibly the most delicious non-dessert veggie dish and there are tons of great places in Cleveland to get it).
i had a broken right thumb and im right handed. it was hard enough to wipe my a$$ once it healed, let alone swing a baseball bat.
Microfracture surgery takes a long time to come back from. Most every player in any sport recovering from microfracture on their knee comes back to play but isn’t capable of their previous explosiveness for at least a full season. How many times did we talk about Amare Stoudemire being washed up that first year back? His knee is hardly ever mentioned now. Grady will be back to playing at a level closer to what we hope for next year, at least as far as his knee is concerned. Something else will break on the guy, of course.
no meat, no cheese? at that point why not go vegen? maybe he just loves whole milk.
if the guy were to post a .300/.400/.500 for us, i’d let him eat all the falafael and baba ganush and hummus and taboli he wanted.
and now i’m hungry for aladdin’s.
Amir’s is better than Aladdin’s 🙂
I think he doesn’t go vegan because that pretty much means no desserts too. And he’s kept that weight on somehow these past 4 years.
I also cannnot comprehend going to Amir’s and feasting and not ordering the Shwarma (meat on pita) to dip in the hummus.
I’d have no problem giving Grady a 2 yr deal with a mutual 3rd option. Base somewhere in the 3-4 M/yr range, with incentives that get him to 8-9M. Seriously, do we all not think he’s worth $9M if healthy? (I’ll remind you the White Sox are paying Dunn like $45M over the next 3 years, and Rijos something like $32M next 3 yrs).
He’s gotta take some financial risk on his health in the next deal–the Tribe took all of it the last contract. And I doubt he gets much pull in the FA market, although even THIS year his WAR is worth about $5.5M, if you believe in such concepts. And it’s time he goes to LF, and let Brantley and Carrera play center.
Hopefully, that’s the 4 OFs next year: Grady, Choo, Brantley, and Carrera. And around $12-15M in cost.
Re: Prince, my bet is he doesn’t go vegan because a lot of supplements (and stuff like Protein Shakes) contain animal ingredients, meaning he’d essentially have few to no options to effectively bulk up/stay bulked up year-round. Either that, or he just loves eggs…
After what we’ve seen out of Hafner, I’m not sure how anyone is completely writing off Sizemore. Sure, the odds of him becoming a great player again are slim, but the guy was still above average both in the field and at the plate when he could play this year. He needs more time to heal.
Hes not moving to left field anytime soon because remember what the trainers said that centerfield is less hard on his knees cause in the corners you have to make sharper turns which are harder on the knees. I personally think why they dont try hafner at first and pick up another dh like big papi since hes shown that he can stay healthy
Yeah thumb injuries are no joke. My 5 year old daughter broke her thumb playing coach pitch softball and since she has come back from surgery she has absolutely no confidence at the plate. The girl is killing are chances in a very tough 7 and under league.