While We’re Waiting… In which I promise not to link to a single mock draft
April 26, 2012Mortenson: The end of the NFL Pro Bowl could be near
April 26, 2012
The Royals have finally ended their 12-game losing streak. This was long overdue for this lineup of talented young bats. You know what else helps? Facing Ubaldo Jimenez.
When the Indians made their big deal to bring over the former All-Star right-hander last summer, I was all for it. GM Chris Antonetti was “going for it.” The Indians are always the ones dealing their stars for prospects. Now it was the other way around. I was thrilled. That was until I saw Ubaldo pitch.
Last night was just another in a string of average at best starts from Jimenez, who continues to pitch like an inconsistent back of the rotation guy. Right off the bat, he had trouble with his command. He walked the first batter, Chris Getz, and then fell behind Alex Gordon 3-1 before Gordon popped out. Billy Butler followed with a two-run homer to put the Royals ahead. Eric Hosmer and Jeff Francouer then hit back to back singles. Yes, he got out of the inning without any more damage being done, but again Ubaldo was all over the place.
He managed to work six innings but needed 113 pitches (64 strikes) to do so. With two outs in the fourth, he should have been out of the inning, but a Gordon dribbler fell between shortstop Asdrubal Cabrera and second baseman Jason Kipnis in a “you got, no you got it” situation. Two batters later Hosmer took Jimenez deep and it was 4-0 Royals.
You can go ahead and blame Kipnis or Asdrubal all you want (said Acta: “What we preach around here is you collide going after the ball. You don’t look at each other We’ve been saying that for three years. … Don’t look at each other and let a ball drop. That cost us.”), but the pitcher still has to bear down and get that extra out. Jimenez gave up a two-run homer.
Ubaldo is extremely maddening to me. We’ve seen this movie before – it is titled “Fausto Carmona.” I’ve been waiting now for three plus months (of baseball season time) to see the guy who was so dominant during the first half of the 2010 season. As I wrote back in March, I worry that this is the real Ubaldo Jimenez, not that guy who started the All-Star game two years ago. Like Carmona, he has had one great year (2010), a couple of solid years (2008-09), then becoming an enigma.
The guy the Indians traded for was supposed to have a high-90’s fastball; a strikeout machine. We haven’t seen that at all here. We were also told that he is “finally healthy” this season. While that may be true, Jimenez still has a ton of command issues. Even in his best start of the young season when Ubaldo went seven innings allowing just one hit and two-earned runs, he struck out just three and walked three. He’s made four starts and has more walks (14) than strikeouts (13). “Right now, he’s not missing enough bats,” said Acta.
Per a tweet from the great Tony Lastoria of Indians Prospect Insider:
Jimenez averaged 96.1 MPH w/ fastball in 2009 & 2010. Last yr 93.5 MPH. This yr 92.5 MPH. Siginificant decline makes u wonder about his health.
That sounds more to me like a back of the rotation guy than someone who you trade your top two pitching prospects for.
“I’ve been throwing too many pitches, but tonight I think I was better than my last two games. … I’ve been trying to get better in every start. That’s the only thing I can take away from this game. Hopefully, I can get better the next time out, but I’m not there yet,” Jimenez said.
I think the problem with Ubaldo is that we all have these high expectations of him. We all expect him to be an ace, because that is how he was billed as he came over. But in reality, that isn’t what he is.
Despite Ubaldo’s shaky outing, the Indians battled back to within two runs thanks to an RBI groundout by Travis Hafner and an RBI single from Aaron Cunningham, who started in right in place of the injured Shin-Soo Choo. But again, they could never bust the door down. Cunningham’s hit put two on with one out in the seventh, but Michael Brantley struck out and Asdrubal Cabrera hit a line shot to left field that was caught by Gordon.
The Royals then put the nail in the coffin in the ninth by hitting back to back homers off of Jairo Ascencio. Gordon crushed a three-run bomb which preceded Butler’s second of the night.
Acta was not thrilled with his team’s execution both defensively and on the base paths (Carlos Santana’s baserunning blunder in the first cost the Indians a run).
“We’re not going to be hitting people around every night,” Acta said. “In order for you to win some of those games like tonight, you’re going to have to take care of your 27 outs better. You just can’t be giving outs away, because we don’t have five or six guys hot right now in our lineup.”
The offense was 1-7 with runners in scoring position, a night after going 2-12. There are also guys who are in the midst of some deep slumps. Casey Kotchman is 0 for his last 20 and 1 for his last 25. Shelley Duncan is 3 for his last 21. Now you are also without Shin-Soo Choo.
The Indians were due for a clunker. Its a marathon season, not a sprint. I hope Ubaldo Jimenez proves me wrong, but I am not optimistic. This afternoon, they get a chance at redemption and another series win when Josh Tomlin (1-1, 4.86 ERA) takes the mound coming off of his masterpiece in Seattle. The Royals counter with Luis Mendoza (0-2, 6.92 ERA).
The lineups have already been posted:
Indians: Brantley CF Cabrera SS Santana CA Hafner DH Duncan LF Hannahan 3B Lopez 1B Kipnis 2B Cunningham RF Tomlin P
Royals: Betancourt 2B Gordon LF Butler DH Hosmer 1B Francoeur RF Moustakas 3B Pena CA Maier CF Escobar SS Mendoza P
23 Comments
“he has had one great year, while being an enigma during the rest of his career.”
TD, you have a knack of finding something that isn’t true, and you keep repeating it until, I assume, you finally believe it yourself. He didn’t have one great year, he had one otherworldly year, with 2 other great ones, and a solid half season before joining the tribe.
From 2008-2011, including his time with the Indians, Jimenez ranked between 8th and 15th in baseball by both measures of WAR, ERA+, IP, and SO/9. This is a guy who has been a top of the league pitcher for an extended time, far from a one year wonder.
The thing that concerns me most about Ubaldo is that the 95-97 fastball is gone. That velocity can mask some control issues. If he’s throwing 91-93 guys can key in on those pitches. I don’t understand why, if he is healthy now, he doesn’t have the velocity he used to.
fixed Steve….
p.s. that is besides the point. the guy looks like Carmona now. The dominator seems to be gone. That is the main point of all of this. Very frustrating to watch.
I think his clunky mechanics have a lot to do with it. But thats just a guess on my part, his velocity is down from last year and he has no command of his pitches. I didnt see him pitch in Colorado but last season with the Tribe he was consistently between 94-96 and occasionally higher. Something fishy is going on, hope its not an injury.
I’m not bailing on Brantley, but until he comes around, why not switch him and Kipnis in the lineup? Kipper seems more comfortable at the top of the lineup, and it might take some of the pressure off Brantley. I suppose two reasons would be because it might actually harm Brantley’s confidence, and if/when he does come around it might be hard to switch them back. Maybe I just don’t like Kipper in the bottom of the lineup…
Brantley is killing us, they need to try someone else at the top of the order. Im not opposed to Kipnis hitting leadoff, even though hes not exactly setting the world on fire either.
“I think the problem with Ubaldo is that we all have these high expectations of him. We all expect him to be an ace, because that is how he was billed as he came over. But in reality, that isn’t what he is.”
Nah, our expectations ain’t Ubaldo’s problem. The problem is that he wasn’t pitching well when Antonetti gave up his top two prospects for a shorter-term return, and he’s still not pitching well. Bad risk by a rookie GM, and I’m also annoyed that Shapiro didn’t step in and nix it.
Still downplaying his performance quite a bit. And again, that is not like Carmona.
I get the frustration, you’ll notice I didn’t disagree with that. But we have to portray this in the correct light. This is a guy who was, no question about it, an ace for 3.5 years, and still put up the same peripherals after getting traded here last year. Something seems to be up now, but don’t pooh-pooh the rest of his career as if to say we should have expected this.
i wouldn’t even bother putting Kipnis up there. just move everybody up a spot and drop Brantley.
agree that it is frustrating. part of this will be corrected IMO.
even last year when he was frustrating he had 67SOs to 27BBs for us.
looking at his SO/BB totals the past few seasons:
08 172/103
09 198/85
10 214/92
11 180/78
12 13/14
I’m going to claim sample size on ’12 and expect at least that portion of his game to correct itself. Unless there is an injury that he or the team is hiding.
I don’t think he was. I think he was saying that we have seen guys who were supposed to be aces fall off a cliff before J.Wright, Carmona, etc. He’s worried Ubaldo is headed down that road.
As you note, however, Ubaldo had a much longer track record than our other ‘almost-ace’ guys. And, he put up those numbers while pitching in Colorado which should earn him a gold star.
Agreed… Kipnis is hitting great since moving to the 2 spot. I’d actually like to see him stay there and maybe move Asdrubal up to leadoff since he can get on base, but can’t seem to hit anyone home.
“From 2008-2011, including his time with the Indians, Jimenez ranked between 8th and 15th in baseball by both measures of WAR, ERA+, IP, and SO/9.”
Your missing the point that during this three year span he has only dropped off from 8th to 15th. He is not sustaining his top of the league domination he showed in 09/10.
The point of the trade was to aquire a pitcher who was at the top of his game and would be staying at the top for the next 2 year window; not someone who dominated a season and has only been in decline since.
Maybe I am overreading it, but when he comes out swinging twice now about how its a Carmonaesque one year, it’s hard to give him the benefit of the doubt.
Also, how much bitching is there if Kipnis or Cabrera make that play? It’s still not a pretty performance, but I don’t think we’d get too many compaints from the peanut gallery about a 6 IP 2 run performance
Four seasons, which included the end of this last one. And those aren’t year by year stats dropping from 8 to 15. Those are cumulative stats over the 4 years compared to the rest of MLB.
And I don’t think the Indians expected 2010 to happen again. No one should have. He’s not maybe the best pitcher in the game, but he still was a legit front of the rotation workhorse. I think they, and reasonably so, expected 2008-2009 Jimenez, the guy who put up a 126 ERA+ in 208 innings with 8 k/9.
I was very worried about this series before it began. The royals were due for some wins and were playing much better than their record would indicate. They mashed our pitching pretty good last time as well. If the Tribe is to win the rubber match we need to hit much better with risp.
Let me make this more simple then….
Has Ubaldo Jimenez’s performance declined since his 2010 season? Yes.
TD’s reference point in the article is that Tribe fans have watched there ace pitchers (Sabathia and Lee) shipped off and not decline, making them wonder what might have been.
This was to be the trade that finally netted the Indians the reversal of roles and it has not happened.
Hence, being frustrated.
I’ve already demonstrated I understand the over-arching bitching. I’m saying that you don’t get to rewrite history in the same process.
Got ya, I just don’t think TD is rewriting any history in his article.
The sentence you pulled from the post stated “he had one great year and while being an enigma the rest of his career”.
His performance is just that…one great year with a drop off since. The enigma being why has he lost velocity and control at the same time.
I came to say the same thing. He’s been the same pitcher- year in, year out for the last three years. I also say this and everyone seems to ignore.
Also, he went from the NL to the AL so expect him to get hit harder.
All that said, Jimenez has not had a good opening month.
He had 3 great years. Why is this such a hard concept to understand? Even his half a year before coming to Cleveland was fine considering the environment.