Joe Lull on sports radio and Mark Shapiro’s exit – WFNY Podcast – 2015-09-02
September 2, 2015Lonnie Chisenhall named ESPN Sweet Spot’s DPOM for August
September 2, 2015One might find themselves wondering how the Cleveland Indians have been able to charge back into contention for the American League postseason. How did a team that started the year 7-14 in April become a team that could sweep a fellow Wild Card contender in the Los Angeles Angels and then give the American League favorite Toronto Blue Jays all that they could handle? One might think that this Indians team is a whole new team. Well, in a lot of ways, they are.
The current version of the Cleveland Indians only vaguely resembles the team that started the year with a series against the surprising Houston Astros. That initial team featured starters Michael Bourn and Brandon Moss. David Murphy, Nick Swisher, and Ryan Raburn were expected to split time at the designated hitter spot. Yes, the Opening Day roster of the Cleveland Indians had three players that really should only DH. Of those players, only Ryan Raburn remains.
Heck, the Indians broke out of Spring Training expecting Lonnie Chisenhall to go through the season as their everyday third baseman and gave Jose Ramirez an opportunity at shortstop to prove that his fantastic 2014 was not a fluke. Those players are now the Indians starting right fielder (against right-handed pitchers) and utility infielder1 .
The pitching staff is similarly been altered. TJ House was given too many opportunities to prove himself as a fifth starter, but he has since been replaced by many pitchers before the team finally settled on Cody Anderson. Danny Salazar has replaced Zach McAllister in the starting rotation, and he has proven it to be a wise decision. McAllister, himself, has moved into the bullpen and found that to be a comfortable home. In addition, with Carrasco nursing a sore shoulder, Josh Tomlin is currently taking turns in the rotation as well.
The bullpen has bid adieu to Nick Hagadone, Scott Atchison, Anthony Swarzak, and Marc Rzepczynski. In their place, came Jeff Manship, Ryan Webb, and, recently, Shawn Armstrong and Gavin Floyd.
Of course, Francisco Lindor and Giovanny Urshela were June call ups from the minor leagues. Since that time, both players have solidified their positions on the team, and Lindor has taken a place of leadership. Jerry Sands has also come up from the Triple-A Columbus Clippers to fill-in for players traded.
Ah, the trades. Michael Bourn and Nick Swisher made way for Chris Johnson to join the team. He was hitting well before a spider bite temporarily halted his season. And, Scrabble, who has since been designated for assignment by the San Diego Padres, was given up to obtain the present starting center fielder Abraham Almonte. Almonte’s energy and enthusiasm have only been topped by Lindor’s since his acquisition by the team.
In all, the Cleveland Indians have 12 new players compared to their Opening Day roster. And, three of the existing players have completely changed their role with the team. So, really, 15 of the 27 on the active roster2 are different, which is more than half of the players.
Therefore, if you feel that this just doesn’t feel like the same team when watching the Indians battle the Blue Jays, Detroit Tigers, or any other team left on the schedule, take solace in knowing that it truly is not. And, thankfully, thus far the changes have been for the betterment of the team and our viewing pleasure.
14 Comments
Hey now, we are still under .500 on the season. Not 10 games under .500 anymore, and a helluva lot more fun to watch, but still let’s not go putting any horses behind carts 🙂
Completely agree. Just saying we are playing a completely different style of baseball and the new names are the main reason the team dynamic is so different.
If I still had cable, I think I would enjoy watching the rest of the season even though I am expecting to miss the playoffs (yeah yeah, I know). Certainly gives me hope and excitement for next season. My offseason priority list is going to look something like this:
-Continuing working with Lonnie Baseball so we can keep him in RF (love how he’s taken to it so far, glad he might still be useful to us)
-Figure out how to get Carlos to play a full season – if he could hit in the first half like he does in the second, I might not hate on him so much
-Who’s manning CF next season?
-Who’s our 5th starter?
Honestly, other than that, I feel pretty good about the rest of the team. Any other offseason additions (cue Shammy telling me it won’t happen) would just be bonus.
expecting to miss the playoffs
Honestly, yeah, that should be the expected outcome. Hope for more, but realistically, it’s a tall hill to climb. For now, enjoying the ride.
Yeah, I’m sure we’ll go in depth on the offseason, but CF, RF, and 3B are all up for grabs though Gio will get first crack. Feeling lots of platoon situations.
I think we have a ton of potential 5th starters. It’s a question of if any of them can step up. Also, having the rotational health we enjoyed this year cannot be relied upon.
If we gave Lonnie a baker’s dozen of chances at 3rd, I’m more than ok giving Gio at least one more.
As for SP, agreed – we have plenty of decent options for #5, even if we have to rotate through them all like we did this year. Some depth if/when the injury bug bites would definitely be nice.
CF/RF will be interesting, because there are so many internal candidates for those positions. I don’t know if there are any guys the Indians are ready to give up on, but right now it looks like:
CF:
Almonte
Holt
Naquin
Ramsey
RF:
Chisenhall
Moncrief
Sands
Choice
Almonte
Holt
Naquin
Ramsey
Some of them are more promising than others, (Obviously it’s Almonte/Chisenhall right now and they’re playing well) and we could see a trade of somebody with some value because there are guys with higher ceilings coming along in a couple of years.
agreement all around, but, at CF, the phrase “keeping the seat warm” comes to mind too.
For sure. That’s why I wonder if they might consider trading a prospect for somebody who we can only control for a year or two. I don’t know how much value Naquin has around the league, but Almonte is certainly pumping his value at present. Still, they could just let whoever from that group rise to the top and then flip them later when the blue chips arrive. It would be nice if they could turn some of these guys into additional pitching depth rather than let them waste away in Columbus forever.
Yeah, I wonder how much value these guys actually have across the league though. Lots of replacement level talent perhaps? Agree that it should be considered.
And, regardless of what happens from here, we won the Scrabble trade. Almonte gives us big defensive moments and has been hitting well. Scrabble was DFA’d. Amazing that the trade can already be called.
It won’t happen!
But seriously I’m sure the new Shapiroless Indians will make some moves but of course they’ll be minor. I’m envisioning bullpen and possibly another veteran starter a la what they tried to do with Floyd and Marcum. If for nothing more then depth purposes as right now it looks like Kluber, Carrasco, Salazar, Bauer and Anderson could very well be your starting rotation in 2016. Personally I’d love to see a left handed starter in the mix but I’ve gotten so accustomed to not having one that it doesn’t make much difference.
As for positional player additions, I don’t see it.
Yeah, we’re looking at about a $75M payroll just keeping everyone around. Unless the front office gets bitten by the trade bug, don’t expect a very exciting off-season.
That $75M and the bad taste from Swisher and Bourn should probably means it will be a long time before any kind of significant free agent is signed. That makes DRAFTING and DEVELOPMENT even more important. I keep hoping Michael Garfunkel Bode or someone else associated with WFNY will write something on the prospects like Frazier, Zimmer, Aiken, the lefty starter the Indians got from St. Louis or this guy http://www.letsgotribe.com/2015/8/18/9166175/bobby-bradley-news-home-runs-top-cleveland-indians-prospects .
Don’t worry, we’ll write about the future once the present isn’t so interesting. The Indians have just decided to allow us to focus on the present a bit longer.
At 19 Bobby Bradley has more HRs then anyone on the ML roster! That’s newsworthy.