While We’re Waiting… Cavaliers picking fourth, Chisenhall staying and LaPorta struggling

While We’re Waiting serves as the early morning gathering of WFNY-esque information for your viewing pleasure. Have something you think we should see? Send it to our tips email at tips@waitingfornextyear.com.

It didn’t take long for some to jump off the Cavs’ train– “Personally, I’m crushed. After the fourth pick announcement came down, I felt my limbs get heavy, and I was subsumed by a despondent sensation. I couldn’t hear what Adam Silver was saying anymore. I think this pick is a death sentence… Things can change from now until the night of the draft, the consensus 1-2-3 in most scouts’ and experts’ mock drafts is Davis-MKG-Beal (with the latter two in some order). I think there’s a significant drop-off after those three players are off the board. I’m not going to delineate the abilities of each player here (you can consult Kevin’s excellent draft profiles for that), but each of them, I think, have potential to be special in their own way. And at the very least, they’re going to be solid NBA starters. If another team becomes enamored of Andre Drummond or Thomas Robinson, the Cavs could still draft Beal or Kidd-Gilchrist, but, at present, it’s not a likely scenario.” [McGowan/Cavs the Blog]

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“As for the other injury that looks to be lingering (as Asdrubal is already back and Santana could be back soon), though it came as a surprise that Jack Hannahan’s CALF is what took him to the DL, he finds himself shelved and – after some nice spot duty by Jose Lopez – the Lonnie Baseball Era may be upon us at the Hot Corner in Cleveland. The Chiz, who was the youngest regular in Columbus by TWO years, has arrived and it certainly looks like he has arrived for good. Certainly, he has to perform to stay at 3B for the long-term, but after years and years (and years and…yes, years) or hearing about Lonnie Chisenhall as he worked his way up through the Indians’ system, it seems as if the Indians are ready to place him in the everyday lineup for the duration of the season.

To say that this is an exciting development is an understatement, with The Chiz’s first at-bat HR only stoking the fires of that excitement as the Indians “infield of the future” moves a little closer to the “infield of the present”. While I’m not going to pretend to know who is going to be at 1B in that “infield of the future” (nor will I waste much time thinking about it right now), Lonnie’s arrival doesn’t make it hard to envision Kipnis, Santana, Cabrera, and now Chisenhall making up the middle of this order – perhaps in the near future – with Choo and maybe Brantley around them and a (hopefully) Hafner chipping in where he can…if healthy.” [Cousineau/The DiaTribe]

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“A lot of Indians fans have taken to Twitter and my inbox crying for LaPorta to be called up already. After all, he is hitting .304 with 13 homers and 30 RBIs through 44 games. He’s also hit .321 against left-handed pitching. Might he be on the way? It’s possible, sure. Acta said the team would go over in-house options on Thursday’s off-day. Keep something in mind, though. LaPorta has always hit Minor League pitching well. It’s the jump to the big leagues that has typically presented the issue. It’s also fair to point out that LaPorta’s season stats are heavily influenced by a strong April showing at home.

Consider that LaPorta was hitting .228 (18-for-79) with a .794 OPS in May and .236 (17-for-72) with a .665 OPS on the road, entering Wednesday.” [Bastian/MLB]

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“We are all Michael Brantley, searching for our true selves and trying to actualize our potential. And we are all seeing something different in this 25-year-old outfielder. He has become a player who allows us to see what we’d like to see. I’ve spent some time trying to make sense of his young career. It has driven me close to mad, but I feel I’ve come closer to understanding who he is, and who he might be. There are some reasons to look to Asdrubal Cabrera as a potential comparison for Michael Brantley. The biggest obstacle to a smooth comparison in this case is the fact that Cabrera hit his minor league levels slightly younger than Brantley did.” [Let’s Go Tribe]

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Finally, Cliff Lee is a sneaky man. [MLB.com]

Bonus clip- Choo’s overthrow. [Getting Blanked]