Habitual Browns defense, bike kicks and Deftones: While We’re Waiting
July 24, 20152015 Browns Position Previews: Tight Ends/Fullbacks
July 24, 2015The Cleveland Indians spent Thursday afternoon mired in rampant speculation and rumor about many of their players being subject to trade talks. The Indians then spent their night watching their bitter rival Chicago White Sox dominate them by a final score of 8-1.
The players discussed ranged from current Triple-A Columbus Clippers Lonnie Chisenhall and Jose Ramirez to MLB hitters Brandon Moss, Ryan Raburn, David Murphy, Mike Aviles (whom the team has said will not be traded out of respect for his daughter, Adriana, fighting cancer at the Cleveland Clinic) , and even supposedly including discussions into the vaunted starting rotation (in particular, Carlos Carrasco).
Each of these rumored trades seemed to indicate that the Cleveland Indians would be in a seller position of moving potential 2015 assets to reload for the 2016 season and beyond. At 45-49, the Indians actually only sit 5.5 games back of the scuffling Minnesota Twins in the parity-driven race for the second American League wild card spot. In fact, the AL is so mediocre beyond the top few teams that the Indians’ 5-5 record in their last 10 games is actually tied for the best among the current wild card chasing teams. Therefore, the Indians do seem to have a chance at making a late run for that spot1 .
However, the selling position at the trade deadline appears to be the more intelligent move for GM Chris Antonetti and the Indians. 2015 just does not appear to be their year, and setting the team up to compete in the contention window of the years ahead would seem wise. Most of the young players are locked into their contracts for the foreseeable future, so obtaining one of these players should take a king’s ransom. But, the older veteran players on shorter contracts should be shopped, because you never know when today’s Esmil Rogers will turn into tomorrow’s Yan Gomes and Mike Aviles.
Keys of the Game
Bauer Trouble:
On the season, Trevor Bauer has struggled against right-handed batters. He actually has struck out right-handed batters at a higher rate, while walking them less often. However, in doing so, he also has allowed for a much higher slugging percentage as right-handed batters have hit nine home runs and 11 doubles (in 214 at bats), compared to just five home runs and eight doubles (in 194 at bats) for lefties.
In addition, Bauer has greatly increased his strikeout-to-walk ratio over his past four starts, with 22 strikeouts compared to just four walks. However, he has given up six home runs in that stretch, which is a big reason why he has also given up 13 runs (4.62 ERA).
On Thursday, Bauer actually cruised through the first three innings without a runner advancing past first base, though it did take a nice diving play in center field by Michael Bourn in the second inning. Then, trouble found Bauer in the fourth.
Melky Cabrera began the inning with a home run that seemed to shake the pitcher. Jose Abreu followed it up with a single and Avisail Garcia was able to sneak a single past a diving Mike Aviles at third base. It was a play that Giovanny Urshela likely would have made and perhaps it would have even been a double play to end the inning. However, Urshela had the night off, and Alexei Ramirez ripped a home run to left center to score three more runs in the next at-bat. Bauer closed out the inning by striking out Geovany Soto and Carlos Sanchez, but the damage was done.
Bauer would give up another leadoff home run (to Adam Eaton) to start the fifth inning. He sent the next six White Sox batters back to the dugout before walking Geovany Soto to start the seventh inning and being relieved by Kyle Crockett. But again, by then, the damage had already been done.
Hitting Woes:
There have been a bunch of games this season in which all or most of the lineup obtains hits and only a ridiculous lack of hitting with runners in scoring position prevents the Indians offense from breaking through. Thursday night was not that game, as Jeff Samardzija was in complete control the entire night and only allowed Francisco Lindor and Michael Bourn to reach base against him.
Now, like any game it took a couple odd bounces and good defensive plays to keep the the game rolling for Chicago. Adam LaRoche was fortunate to have just enough time to come up with a ball he was bobbling to get Jason Kipnis out in the third inning with Michael Bourn on second base. David Murphy was absolutely robbed of a hit up the middle in the fourth inning by a great defensive stab and flip from shortstop Alexei Ramirez.
The one run that the Indians did put up was done by Michael Bourn and Francisco Lindor simply taking pitches and smashing them into the ground as hard as possible. Bourn’s hit found its way into right field, while Lindor followed up with one to center after Kipnis had moved Bourn on a sacrifice2 .
Keys Scorecard:
Chicago White Sox: 2
Cleveland Indians: 0
Old Friends; Help or Haunt
Zach Putnam: Brantley reached base safely with a walk, but Putnam closed out the game well, not giving up a hit and recording two of the five strikeouts for White Sox pitchers on the night.
The Nine
Jason Kipnis: His July struggles continue, though he has continued to look good in the field.
Francisco Lindor: Good day at the plate. He did, however, have a rookie moment in the field in the eighth inning: He was deep in the hole when Avisail Garcia hit him a ground ball. Instead of charging or making a quick exchange, he double-pumped on the throw and it was a full step late to first. He made two nice plays in the ninth, though. The first was a quick backhanded stop and throw from deep in the hole. On the second, he avoided the runner on a charge play to get the ball and throw out Leury Garcia.
Michael Brantley: The swing looked good, but he just could not make good contact against Samardzija.
David Murphy: He certainly did not help his trade value in going 0-for-4, taking his batting average under .300 for the first time since mid-May. He’ll be happy when the calendar flips to August, as he’s batting just .186 in July.
Carlos Santana: The Indians only struck out five times, but two of them belonged to Santana.
Yan Gomes: He has not had back-to-back games with multiple hits since June 9 and 10. Coming off a 2-for-3 performance in Milwaukee, Gomes went 0-for-3.
Brandon Moss: Made a fantastic diving and rolling catch in the seventh inning; were it not for that, the final score might have been even worse. I agree with Mark Shapiro that Moss has been a bit of a pleasant surprise in the field (his range isn’t great, but he has a plus arm and seems to take good routes to the ball).
Mike Aviles: He is what a team needs from a utility guy, but there is a drop-off especially in the field and, unfortunately, it might have cost the Indians a couple early runs on Thursday.
Michael Bourn: He certainly needed this game, and he is now 6-for-17 (.353 batting average) over his last three starts. And, that diving catch had an extra layer of difficulty as he was in the shadows and the ball was coming from the sunlit portion of the ballpark.
The Arms
Trevor Bauer: Even more frustrating is that Bauer had dominated the White Sox in previous outings this season.
Before Thursday: 20.1 IP, 3 ER, 12 H, 0 HR, 9 BB, 22 K
Thursday: 6.0 IP, 6 ER, 6 H, 3 HR, 2 BB, 9 K
Kyle Crockett: He gave up two runs including Melky Cabrera’s second home run on the night, but it could have been worse if Moss didn’t save his hide with a diving play.
Jeff Manship / Marc Rzepczynski: By the time they entered, the game had long since ended, but they did their job and only gave up a hit each over two innings.
14 Comments
My big concern: as good as the rotation is, I think a few of these guys were pitching over their heads in the first half. Basically, I don’t see the rotation setting strike out records over every half season. Which means the offense has to step up, which seems plausible yet is completely impossible.
As for trades, personally it seems like we have a lot of pieces-parts that we could move without seriously damaging our chances this year and beyond. Because of this, I know deep down in my liver that the front office won’t do anything.
Oh, and since I don’t think it was mentioned here: Hagadone had season ending elbow surgery. And just months before he’ll reach his 1st year of arbitration. This is why I don’t complain when players cash in when the time comes.
Bauer has been leaking oil his last few starts another reason why I would not touch the four starting pitchers. This team isn’t making the playoffs sure they aren’t that far back in the wildcard standings but this team has yet to demonstrate any ability as of July 23 to put it all together to even go on a multiple game win streak. The worst part is after this weekend the front office will most likely have an excuse to remain silent as usual.
I didn’t hear about Hagadone but honestly I’ve never been impressed with the guy.
Hagadone’s injury sounded a bit gruesome too. A shame as he was doing really, really well this season for the team.
2014 Indians pitchers struck out 1450 batters including 946 from their starters
2015 Indians pitchers have struck out 856 batters including 583 from their starters
2015 Indians pitchers on pace to strike out 1475 batters including 1004 from their starters
It is a slight uptick and led MLB both years, but it is not a crazy increase by any stretch. And, this is including having Carrasco and Salazar for the full season as starters.
My main concern with the pitching staff moving forward is that we have had great health, and we might not be so fortunate in a year when the hitting comes around.
My main concern with the pitching staff moving forward is that we have had great health, and we might not be so fortunate in a year when the hitting comes around
JINX JINX JINX! But seriously count on it. As soon as the hitting becomes more professional the pitching will decline.
The part of the game I listened to it seemed like Bauer who interspersing strikeouts with smoked line drives, and little in between. This team … when they go down 4-0 you know it’s just over, even in the early innings. So little fight.
Re David Murphy, doesn’t he keep doing this, starting the season well and then melting like the Wicked Witch after the all star break? Maybe he’s too old for the grind. Or maybe he’s the first cold-weather player to come out of Texas.
2014 1st half David Murphy: .243/.305/.366
2014 2nd half David Murphy: .306/.353/.427
Also, on Wednesday, the team fell down 4-1, then came back strong for the win.
oh, is this how we’re playing, with facts? This is my opinion. Hmmmph.
http://www.houstonpress.com/arts/no-it-s-not-your-opinion-you-re-just-wrong-7611752
also, I believe he had a smoking April and then fell flat. Look it up, stat boy.
also also, how often has the tribe rallied this year from 3+ down?
I am not Stat-Boy, I am Stat-Man!
http://cartoonimpact.com/wp-content/gallery/statman_retail/retail_cover.jpg
(great April, good May, horrific June, decent July, amazing August, decent September)
It’s all relative, but I wouldn’t call a 6% increase over the course of a whole baseball season a slight uptick. If the Indians had a slight uptick in wins from 2014 to 2015, it’d mean finishing with around 95 wins. Plus, 992 is the all-time record for Ks by a rotation.
I like Bauer, but I have my doubts about him and Anderson.
I’d be looking to move Anderson while his “potential” was so high although his last start might be the decline. I’ve never been sold on Bauer completely either for a guy with his stuff he still strikes me as being more mental then anything.
I always pictured you dressing like that, ironic!
Yeah, it just depends on health (which we’ve had) and what you expected the increase in SO due to adding Carrasco for more than half a season and Salazar is already near the 20 starts he put in too.