Travis Hafner Fatigued, Shutdown Imminent?
Written By: Scott | Category: Cleveland Indians | Comments: 10
Travis Hafner is posting a surprisingly good line thus far in 2009. Aside from the fact that he’s still playing – something that many felt would not be the case at this point in the season – he is hitting .278/.353/.492 (.845 OPS). These numbers are a dramatic improvement off of last season, where he had an OPS figure of .628.
The only hang-up, however, is the fact that the Indians have only been able to get this production from the slugger roughly every other game. He only has 252 at-bats on the season, more than 200 fewer ABs than Shin-Soo Choo. And that problem does not appear to be coming to an end any time soon.
Sheldon Ocker of the ABJ reports that Hafner is experiencing some fatigue in his surgically repaired shoulder; something that is only cured by rest. Eric Wedge had the following to say:
“I don’t think he’s hurt, but there have been lasting affects from the surgery and the rehab. I think he needs some down time to be 100 percent. He should give his shoulder a couple of months rest over the winter then start swinging a bat.”
But will it last until the winter? Hafner and teammate Grady Sizemore both have issues with their upper extremities, but both continue to play during a point in the year where there is very little to gain from their additional swings. Sure, winning eight of the last 11 series or having the best divisional record post All-Star break is nice, but is it worth it?
I’ll be very surprised if Hafner makes it for the duration of the season. If Jordan Brown has major league at-bats in his not-so-distant future, it may make sense to have those come at the expense of Hafner who can begin resting his shoulder a month or so earlier than anticipated.
And then we just have to hope that we do not go through the same thing over and over again until 2013 at more than $11 million per year…
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Smith Finally on a Run [Akron Beacon Journal]
Author: Scott
Scott is a co-founder/editor of Waiting For Next Year who resides in Cleveland, Ohio. Feel free to follow him on Twitter or email him at scott@waitingfornextyear.com.Scott has written 2013 articles for Waiting for Next Year.
Hafner’s shoulder is probably sore from taking his overstuffed wallet out of his pocket.
I wrote Hafner off a long time ago… If he’s there he’s there but when his contract is over I couldn’t careless what happens to him. As far as I’m concerned he pretty much stole 40million from Cleveland.
This is where I get confused… Granted they’re two different sports and one has a salary cap… but Josh Cribbs is wanting more money for going above and beyond his contract and I think we should pay him… yet at the same time Hafner couldn’t have been any more disappointing yet he’s getting mad money every year.
Oh well… I’m sure Shapiro knows what he’s doing…
Jon – agreed, especially since detractors will say Cribbs is “only a special teams guy.” Hafner is “only a DH” and at least the rest of the NFL can use a special teams stud. Hafner has only the AL that could even remotely value him…
I’ve been saying the exact same thing about Hafner for a while, in fact I think you plagiarized a comment I made on the castrovince blog a few weeks ago … since it makes too much sense for them to shut down Hafner (and before Crowe was hurt, Sizemore), there is about zero chance that it will happen. Whenever Indians management is faced with a win-win situation, they somehow still choose lose … I should also be elected president of the Jordan Brown fan club by now, do you want to be VP? As our first official action, we can mount a mailing campaign, and have fans send Mark Shapiro bags of dog crap (or really any foul-smelling brown substance, so as not to limit the campaign to dog owners) until he calls up Brown
Let me remind everyone that when Travis Hafner was signed as well as Jake Westbrook, most of us were extremely happy that we had signed 2 out of 3 free agents a few years back. I’m not saying that i am happy with the overall value or lack there of what we are getting from Travis Hafner but most of us thought that signing this guy was a good move.
I think the better argument would be wheather or not Mark Shapiro is overrating his own guys. Just food for thought.
SCM the problem is that Shapiro could have combined the Westbrook and Hafner money and signed CC two years ago. There are very few Cleveland fans who would have said no I want the older, non-Indian farm system Westbrook and Hafner. The reason Shaos didnt do this is because paying $20 million for one pitcher in the Cleveland market was way too risky from an injury stand point. Ironically the injury concerns were the “cheaper” Westbrrok and Haf.
An .845 OPS would be great for a shortstop or a center fielder, but is pretty average for a DH — the least demanding spot in the lineup, obviously.
I agree that they should just shut Hafner and Sizemore down at this point. We can use the lineup spots to get a good reading on some of the kids, and (hopefully) ensure that Sizemore and Hafner are completely ready for 2010, and don’t injure themselves further.
I do take issue with the idea that Hafner somehow “stole” money from Cleveland. He took a hometown discount to remain an Indian. He didn’t force Shapiro to give him the contract, and I certainly don’t think that he’s intentionally played poorly since its signing.
Furthermore, the way that MLB salaries are regulated, long-term contracts are often the first chance for a player to get his true market value. Were the Indians “stealing” from Hafner when he was clubbing 40 home runs a year for relatively paltry sums? I would argue not.
I suppose that there are two sources of blame for the Hafner mess — luck, and Mark Shapiro. I think that both have played a role, but don’t know which is the primary culprit. Regardless, I certainly wouldn’t blame Travis Hafner.
Yeah, I can’t blame Hafner. What’s he supposed to say? “Yeah, no. That’s way too much money for me. What if I get hurt?”
I dont really blame Hafner either…when he was healthy, he was ridiculously good…hope he can come back next year at 100% and return to form…he looks like he is cheating on pitches right now, and he has lost that fantastic judge of the strike zone and plate coverage…hope he can make it all the way back…
#7 is correct.
There have been 13 players in the AL this year that have appeared in at least 50 games at DH, and Hafner ranks 6th among them in OPS:
A.Lind (TOR) – .902
J.Thome (CWS) – .892
J.Kubel (MIN) – .891
H.Matsui (NYY) – .887
L.Scott (BAL) – .837
T.Hafner (CLE) – .833
V.Guerrero (LAA) – .819
A.Jones (TEX) – .805
J.Cust (OAK) – .773
D.Ortiz (BOS) – .772
P.Burrell (TB) – .741
K.Griffey (SEA) – .728
M.Jacobs (KC) – .724
So yes, his performance really is quite “average” for the postion this year…and he is getting paid a boat-load of money by a team with limited resources to produce those average numbers on very limited playing time.
I was one of the people who was ecstatic when they signed Hafner…I loved to watch him hit, and he was coming off 3 straight amazing seasons (OPS of .993, 1.003 and 1.097 from 2004-2006) in which he was arguably the best hitter in the AL. This contract is a complete and total albatross for the team right now, but at the time I was high-fiving everyone around because I couldn’t believe the Indians had actually found a way to keep my favorite player as well as a middle-of-the-lineup force in town for years to come.
I, like many, deep down hope and wish that Hafner will return to form and start blasting balls into the mezzanine deck like it’s 2005…but I think we have to face facts, folks. He’s a 32 year-old DH with a bum shoulder that hasn’t gotten better despite being rested heavily for two years. I don’t think we’re ever getting old Pronk back.