Will Braxton Miller and Terrelle Pryor succeed at receiver? – WFNY Podcast – 2015-07-28
July 29, 20152015 Browns Position Previews: Running Backs
July 29, 2015Good Guy David Murphy had some good times with the Cleveland Indians. He was not part of the 2013 playoff team, but he was an extremely useful platoon hitter in his 213 games with the team. He would complete his time with a .273/.327/.402 slash line and a 104 OPS+, which were all quite close to his 10-year MLB career averages. On Tuesday, he would hug his fellow teammates goodbye as the Indians traded him to the Los Angeles Angels1 . Knowing the Good Guy, he likely stuck around to watch his old mates battle in a great game they ultimately lost 2-1 to the Kansas City Royals.
David Murphy delivered some big hits with the Indians. This season, it seemed like anytime the Good Guy delivered, the Indians won. And, looking at his baseball-reference page, it was not far from the truth. David Murphy had 14 games with multiple RBIs (including three 4-RBI and a 5-RBI game). The Indians went 13-1 in those games. Murphy had eight home runs, the Indians were 8-0 in those games (three of which were solo shots and single RBI games). And, Murphy had multiple hits 22 times for the 2015 Tribe. The Indians went 15-7 in those games.
Through it all, Murphy earned his moniker. He was liked by teammates and fans alike. I definitely appreciated his time with the Cleveland Indians and wish him well with the Angels. Goodbye Good Guy.
In return, the Indians received Eric Stamets who is a slick-fielding shortstop in Double-A. Think of Didi Gregorius as a good MLB-comparison. He might end up being merely an asset for the front office to utilize in a future trade (as the Indians sort of have a pretty good defensive shortstop of their own), but Mr. Stamets is certainly doing well to endear himself to Indians fans already.
https://twitter.com/EZdoezit8/status/626241950304219136
Keys of the Game
Beautiful Bauer:
Thanks to a double play in the second inning, Trevor Bauer faced the minimum nine batters through the first three innings. He was cruising too as his pitches were finding the edges of the strike zone and the only well-hit ball was a line drive hit to right field that Brandon Moss made a great ranging play before crashing into the wall. And, holding onto it (more to come from Moss).
Of course, Bauer technically gave up a run in the fourth on another ball hit to Brandon Moss, but we’ll get to the play in the next section. Let’s just say for now that I do not blame Trevor Bauer for that one.
Bauer went right back to work after the blip in the fourth setting down 10 of the next 11 batters with the only man to reach base Kendrys Morales who was hit by a slipped pitch. Morales appeared upset with the pitch (not that any sane pitcher would hit someone in a 1-1 game in the 7th inning), but perhaps it was due to Bauer having such definitive control the entire night he just assumed it had to be on purpose.
Then, whether it was some fatigue setting in or just happenstance, the Royals started getting some better contact in the eighth inning. Omar Infante even tripled, while Jarrod Dyson drew a walk. But, the defense picked up the slack by turning a beautiful double play as Francisco Lindor avoided Dyson’s attempt to break it up and made a strong throw.
Even when the defense let him down (Mike Aviles made an error at second to allow Lorenzo Cain to reach first), the defense picked itself up. Lorenzo Cain attempted to turn the gifted single into a double by going for the steal, but Cain learned as Billy Hamilton learned before him that running on Roberto Perez is a no-no. He was out by three feet.
Unfortunately, on the very next pitch, Trevor Bauer made his one mistake on the night. And, Eric Hosmer (who had been the lone Royal hitting Bauer well on Tuesday) crushed that mistake over Moss’s head and over the right field wall. It would wind up being the deciding run.
Elliott Johnson is up in arms
Brandon Moss certainly had a night in the field. After his third inning tracking down of the Omar Infante line drive that required some wall crashing, he was at it again in the fourth. Lorenzo Cain hit a line drive over his head and he ranged with all his might to get to the ball. He caught the ball, then took a step and another and another before crashing into the wall as he was about to make his fourth step. The umpires, however, ruled it not a catch and awarded Lorenzo Cain a triple.
Jordan Bastian was kind enough to look up the rule for us:
On the Moss non-catch (Cain triple), here's MLB Rule 2.00: pic.twitter.com/rRCyocVojG
— Jordan Bastian (@MLBastian) July 29, 2015
Brandon Moss did not simultaneously or immediately crash into the wall. The ball was firmly in his glove until that crash happened. By the letter of the rules, it was a catch.
If all of this seems vaguely familiar, then perhaps you are remembering April 9, 2014 when Elliott Johnson made a catch, took two steps, then lost the ball in the transfer and it was ruled not a catch. Of course, MLB admitted error that time (not that it helped in the game), but cannot go and change the results of the game. No word on if that will happen this time, but it is frustrating when it always seems to go against our team.
Aggressiveness:
Salvador Perez is considered a good defensive catcher and has one of the better arms for a catcher not employed by the Cleveland Indians (hat-tip to both Roberto Perez and Yan Gomes as we are incredibly spoiled here). However, a runner is stealing the base on the pitcher as much as the catcher and Chris Young has an awkward funky release that is begging runners to test out the basepaths. So, the Indians did.
In the first inning, Perez looked to put a lock on the door as he easily threw out Jason Kipnis at second base. Given that Kipnis had been caught at home the night before, it seemed just normal over-aggressiveness by the Indians leader desperate to get anything started. But, then Michael Brantley stole second base later in the inning. And, Brantley and Carlos Santana executed a double steal2 .
Then, Michael Bourn stole second base in the second inning. And, he did so relatively easily as he had a great jump. Things went quiet on the stolen base front until Bourn reached first again in the fifth inning. With Jason Kipnis batting and one out in the inning, Bourn stole second base. Then, he stole third base. And, Mike Moustakas misplayed the throw by Perez allowing the ball to dribble into left field and Michael Bourn to walk across home plate. So, Michael Bourn manufactured the only run the Indians scored on the night all by himself. It was the kind of performance that many fans expected to see from him often as it is the player he was in Atlanta.
Opportunity Lost:
All of those extra bases gained via stolen bases, yet only one run scored. In an all-too-familiar setting, Brandon Moss struck out in the first inning after that double steal. Kipnis lined out to right field with Bourn and Mike Aviles on the bases in the second. With the bases loaded in the fifth, Brandon Moss fouled out. Jason Kipnis reached second base with one out in the seventh before Francisco Lindor and Michael Brantley left him stranded.
Once the Royals got to Wade Davis and Greg Holland in the eighth and ninth inning, it was too late for the Indians to score another run.
Key Scorecard:
Kansas City Royals: 1
Cleveland Indians: 2
The Numbers
The 2015 Cleveland Indians keep finding new and exciting ways to lose ballgames. It is nearly unfathomable that the Indians could put together the numbers below and come out on the losing end of a baseball game, yet that is exactly what happened. Taken individually perhaps a team could lose such a game, but all of these items were “wins” in the ledger for the Indians. Of course, they did not win the “run scored” column, which is what matters.
6-for-8 versus 0-for-1 Stolen Bases. Covered above, but it is absolutely ridiculous for a team to steal six bases and only score one run. And, though Urshela technically doesn’t count as a caught stealing, he was caught stealing in my book.
In fact, July 27, 2015 versus the Kansas City Royals was the first time in Cleveland Indians history that the team stole at least six bases in a game and scored one run or fewer. The least runs scored with that many stolen bases before Tuesday night was April 12, 1992 in a 2-1 win over the Boston Red Sox.
And, with a major hat-tip to WFNY’s Jacob Rosen, the six stolen bases with one run or less has been accomplished eight times since 1914 by any team in MLB (including Tuesday). The last to to “accomplish” the feat was the Miami Marlins back in 2012. Strangely, the Kansas City Royals and Cleveland Indians appear twice on the list. However, in 2002, it was the Royals with six stolen bases, one run, and a loss (3-1 Indians win).
Some Other Stolen Base Indians Notes
The last time the Indians stole six bases in a game was August 3, 2014 in a win over the Miami Marlins.
The six stolen bases were the most in a game by the Indians since September 14, 1996 when they had seven in a 9-8 win over the Oakland Athletics.
The Cleveland Indians record for stolen bases in a game is eight that was set on August 27, 1917 in a 9-11 loss versus the Washington Senators.
The most stolen bases the Indians have ever had scoring 1 or fewer runs was five, which they accomplished on June 12, 2011 against the New York Yankees in a 1-9 loss.
The most individual stolen bases for the Indians in a game is five. Alex Cole stole five bases for Indians twice (Aug 1, 1990 and May 3 1992), while Kenny Lofton did once (Sept 3, 2000).
9-to-4.2 Innings pitched by starter. Now, usually, when a starting pitcher is chased in the fifth inning as Chris Young was on Tuesday, it is a good sign for the opposing offense. And, especially in 2015, a starting pitcher does not complete a nine inning game without pitching well.
Trevor Bauer completed nine innings of great work (as detailed above) and did so on an efficient 112 pitches (78 strikes). It took five Royal pitchers 136 pitches (82 strikes) to navigate through the Indians lineup.
8-5 and 4-1 Hits and Walks. In all, it meant that the Indians were granted an on-base advantage of 12 to six. Then, add in the advancement on the bases of those six steals. Another reason the solitary run scored is near unfathomable.
2-1 Double plays. In addition to the on-base advantage and the baserunning advantage, the Cleveland Indians defense also helped more here by helping Trevor Bauer out of the few jams he got himself into with double plays. So, despite having more men running on the bases, the Royals were able to double them up less often.
10 Comments
Browns training camp starts tomorrow.
https://omitlimitation.files.wordpress.com/2014/01/bvb104-gif-drew-relief.gif
That’s got to be demoralizing as a pitcher, having no confidence your team can put up runs. Must take another level of concentration for someone like Baeur to pitch as well as he did.
Now once again, how about trading some of our bums? I don’t want to look at their stupid faces any longer.
I read somewhere that Stamets was slashing .284/.306/.360 on the season. That means his OPS is .666. For the…Angels organization. No wonder they dealt him. Not the best “Omen” for where the Tribe season is headed.
On a serious note, maybe this means the Tribe will be dealing Jose Ramirez and/or Erik Gonzalez in the offseason? Interesting to see what either of those guys would fetch in terms of MLB or near-MLB ready talent.
When the sum of the individual parts ends up greater than those parts as a whole, yes some trades are in order.
I would not trade any of the Core-4 starters or the locked-up youth position players (unless blown away with an offer), but Raburn should be shopped hard (and, if anyone wants to give us something of value for Chisenhall or Ramirez or a bullpen arm, then yes/yes/yes).
Bourn and Swisher are more likely to be “put on waivers” with the hopes someone takes them in August (and that is doubtful).
Here’s a good video to watch that might cheer you up on Stamets.
http://m.mlb.com/video/topic/8878992/v37025397/pleskoff-breaks-down-angels-prospect-eric-stamets
I thought the same about Ramirez. Reading the tea leaves, I also wonder what this means for right field in 2016. If the plan was to continue platooning, there definitely it would have made some sense to keep Murphy and pay his option. Granted, $7M would have been a lot for a guy with meh defense, but he was hitting.
So yeah, I’m hoping this move is an indicator of some larger, more meaningful move.
From Shapiro and Antonetti, it seems they are quite happy with Moss especially defensively being better than expected (and likely fear what would happen losing his power as it’s sadly been the best on the team).
But, yeah, I would be shopping him and Raburn and trying to see if we could get something more significant. It’s strange though that teams seem content to sit on their guys this year (judging solely by rumor mill).
True. I thought Murphy was playing right field more regularly for some reason.
The trade market has been weird the last few years. Two reasons for it in my mind.
The oft mentioned added wild card that keeps everyone in it.
More and more, teams seem to understand the value of all their minor league talent. Not just premier names, but also the guys on the periphery. Seven years of a price controlled Ramirez or Stamets, even as a bench player, most likely makes more fiscal sense than which ever guy you’re getting back.
Using the Gregorius comp for those guys – would you rather pay one of them ~$7M for 6 WAR over five or six season as a bench player OR would you rather pay David Murphy $7M for 1 WAR over one season?
I wish Paul Dolan would snap out of whatever spell this front office has over him because if they wasted my money like they have with this kind of product there would be hell to pay. I’m just amazed that they had so many of the so called experts fooled starting with Sports Illustrated. But this proves, again, just how much these people are not experts but more like us and just sports lovers who can throw things out randomly.
I agree Rayburn and Moss should be moved for just about anything but I want Santana on the block. He’s really the only position player who might be able to fetch something other then a AA prospect in return.
Agreed. While this is extremely depressing in the short term, I am actually optimistic in the long term. We seem to have a good young pitching staff, and some young, talented position players. They remind me of the Royals of a few years ago. Guys such as Moustakas were good field and no hit for their first few years, but the Royals patience has paid off. We just need to make it to 2017 when Swisher and Bourn come off the books.