May 18, 2013

How good of a starting prospect is Danny Salazar?

May 9, 2013 by 22 Comments

danny salazarThe Cleveland Indians must have seen something in Danny Salazar before everyone else — and their early belief has paid off in a big way.

After the 2011 season, Cleveland’s organization surprised a lot of people by placing the 21-year-old right-hander on the official 40-man roster. Salazar actually had only made 15 starts in the previous two years because of Tommy John surgery and still hadn’t made it past the Single-A Midwest League with Lake County.

Yet, nearly 18 months after being protected from possible Rule 5 poaching, Salazar is rewarding the Tribe with the hottest start of any pitcher in professional baseball. In fact, following his fourth straight magnificent performance for Double-A Akron on Monday, he announced his own promotion to Triple-A Columbus on Twitter. And now, it’s time to wonder if he might be the best home-grown Cleveland pitching prospect in years. [Read more...]

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WFNY Stats & Info: Historical numbers during Indians’ recent run

May 9, 2013 by 2 Comments

The Indians are now 9-1 in their last 10 games. The last time the team went at least 9-1 in a 10-game stretch was sparked by a 10-game winning streak from August 17-27, 2008. It’s been four-and-a-half seasons.

But the most impressive thing about these last 10 games has been the run differential. Overall, the Tribe is out-scoring their opponents 67-24 (+43) in these 10 games. After taking the first three games over the Oakland A’s by a combined 6 runs, that means they beat their first 7 opponents by a combined 37 runs.

That +43 differential is actually the second-best in a 10-game stretch during the 2013 season. The Tigers out-scored opponents by +49 in such a run earlier this year.

The last time Cleveland had at least a +43 differential in a 10-game stretch was April-May 2001.

Here are the offensive stats during these last 10 games:

349 at-bats 67 runs
111 hits
18 doubles
4 triples
21 homers
65 RBI
76 strikeouts
26 walks
.318 avg,
.366 on-base percentage
.573 slugging percentage
.939 OPS

The slugging percentage is the statistic that stands out the most to me. In the first 21 games of the season, the Indians only had a .418 slugging percentage. That again ties to yesterday’s stat about the amazing—yet unsustainable—nature of the team’s slugging increase.

Here are the starting pitching stats during these last 10 games:

8-1 record
2.64 ERA
64.2 IP
47 hits
19 runs/earned runs
6 home runs
22 walks
55 strikeouts
.204 avg,
1.07 WHIP
7.7 K/9
3.1 BB/9
2.50 K/BB

That’s also quite impressive comparatively to the start of the season. In those first 21 games, the Indians rotation had a 5.72 ERA. Overall on the year, the Tribe pitching staff has tied for the lowest BABIP in baseball at .264, with the rotation ranking 29th at .267.

All of these stats seem flukey and I hate to be the bearer of bad news. But that +43 run and the impressive output from both the sluggers and starters deserve to be in near-historical ranking.

[Related: Animated: Nick Swisher celebrates… a lot]

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The Diff: Indians’ odd start and usual MLB run distribution

May 8, 2013 by 5 Comments

For my entire archive of The Diff at WFNY, click on this link. Last week, I wrote about historical expectations for regression to the mean in the NBA and how that relates to the 2013-14 Cleveland Cavaliers. This week, it’s back to baseball again.

The Diff

It’s been a strange start to the season for the Cleveland Indians, eh? Although the team is 16-14 and now performing better than or slightly around preseason expectations, it’s taken a wild ride to get here. There was the 8-13 start and now the 8-1 rally. But more significantly, it’s been a peculiar offensive run distribution that has made each coming game quite the surprise. [Read more...]

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WFNY Stats & Info: Examining the Indians’ jump in slugging percentage

May 8, 2013 by 2 Comments

As it currently stands, the Cleveland Indians’ .101 increase in OPS is the largest year-over-year increase from last season in Major League Baseball. Most of that increase is naturally from the team’s massive improvement in slugging percentage.

So I set out to investigate: What are the largest year-over-year increases in slugging percentage in MLB history? The Indians are at .089 over last year in SLG alone. I figured that that has to be some type of record. In fact, it is. As of right now, that would be tied for the second-largest increase in MLB history dating back to 1903.

Only four times has there ever been an increase of .080+. The best ever: .095 by the 1977 Chicago White Sox. Second-best: .089 exactly by the 1911 White Sox.

This obviously shows the historical significance of the Indians’ early-season slugging numbers, especially as it compares to the anemic 2012 Cleveland offense. But it also seems discouraging: This slugging probably won’t keep up at this leve 1 . It just hardly ever happens so suddenly.

The best-ever slugging increase in the last decade: the 2004 Detroit Tigers at .074. Only five teams since 2003 have had an year-over-year slugging percentage increase of .05+.

The best-ever slugging increase in Indians history: the 1994 team at .075. Of course, that was the strike-shortened season, but it also was the start of the successful streak of the mid ’90s.

[Related: Mark Reynolds and His Missing Strikeouts]

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  1. The Indians are currently owners of the fourth-highest home run-per-fly ball rate in baseball with 14.3 percent. In 2012, they were 26th with 9.4 percent. A different line-up, sure, but these numbers, if sustained, would be Yankee-like. Mark Reynolds and Carlos Sanatana, for instance, are both hitting HRs at a higher clip than their career averages. [back]

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While We’re Waiting… Hot start for Francisco Lindor

May 6, 2013 by 12 Comments

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.

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Prospect notes, as highlighted by the top star in the system: “SS Francisco Lindor (.341 1 HR 10 RBI .406/.505) Lindor has made quick work of Carolina League pitchers, a league that often favors pitchers because of the size of the league (eight teams). His 13K/10BB ratio early is very nice too for the league he’s in. He’s already off to a hot May. I predicted at some point this year that they’d have to move him to AA-Akron, but with Ronny Rodriguez in front of him right now (for the time being and having no where else to put him right now) he’ll continue to man shortstop for Carolina and haunt the league’s pitchers.” [Jusin Lada/It's Pronounced 'Lajaway'] [Read more...]

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WFNY Stats & Info: Putting Bauer’s early command issues into perspective

May 2, 2013 by 8 Comments

Trevor Bauer’s performance last night was just the 98th time in MLB history that a starting pitcher had the following stats:

– At least 5.0 IP
– No runs allowed
– At least 6 walks
– Max of 1 hit

Tampa Bay’s Matt Moore had a similar such performance on April 10 this season. No pitchers accomplished this feat in 2012.

Specific to the Indians, when with the Colorado Rockies, Ubaldo Jimenez’s no-hitter on April 17, 2010 qualifies as he managed to walk six Braves despite allowing zero hits.

Justin Masterson was the last Indian to do so, on August 15, 2010 where he walked six Seattle Mariner batters in six innings of work.

Of all MLB pitchers with at least 10 innings under their belt in 2013, Bauer leads the pack with 11.7 walks per nine innings pitched. St. Louis’ Mitchell Boggs is second, a full three walks-per-nine-innings fewer than Bauer.

In MLB history, only 51 pitchers have ever started a season with at least six walks in each of their first two outings. Besides Bauer in 2013, Cincinnati’s Homer Bailey was the most recent to do so in 2009. Only five pitchers then advanced their streak to three games—Hall of Famers Nolan Ryan (1977) and Bob Feller (1941) are among this group.

[Related: Indians 6, Phillies 0: Bauer & The Raburn Show Help Tribe to Fourth Straight Win]

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The Diff: Regression to the mean and the Cavaliers

May 1, 2013 by 6 Comments

For my entire archive of The Diff at WFNY, check out this tag. Last week’s edition tackled an aggregate of 60 mock drafts from around the Internet, which obviously didn’t prove that fruitful when the Browns took Barkevious Mingo (projected by only 3 mock drafts). Oh well.

The Diff

Back in my second-ever version of The Diff, on Jan. 23, I wrote over 3,000 words on six specific franchise comparisons for the current iteration of the Cleveland Cavaliers. Obviously, much has been written here at WFNY and elsewhere since about the hopeful trajectory of the Cavs organization, especially with the re-addition of head coach Mike Brown. Today, I’ll hope to share even more analytics behind previous NBA rebuilds and some statistics behind their variability. [Read more...]

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WFNY T-shirt giveaway and NFL Draft link roundup

April 25, 2013 by 26 Comments

It’s Draft Day in Cleveland. So we at WaitingForNextYear know there’s a lot going on out there. That’s why we’re back with one final draft post — as a T-shirt contest and to recap all the talk over the past week. Enjoy and thanks for being the best readers.

WFNYOnTheClockMock1WebWFNYOnTheClockMock2Web

WFNY Draft Day T-Shirt Contest:

Only one entry permissible per household. A single comment will be selected randomly by the WFNY staff. All entries must be submitted by 7:59 p.m. Thursday, April 25. Winner will receive their choice of T-shirt from the WFNY collection at GV Art and Design.

In order to qualify, please copy and paste both of the questions, along with your answers:
1) Who do you think the Cleveland Browns will select in the first round?
2) What has been your favorite NFL Draft post at WFNY recently? [Read more...]

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WFNY Roundtable: Browns draft predictions for the 1st round

April 25, 2013 by 18 Comments

Per an annual tradition, WaitingForNextYear presents its annual NFL Draft predictions. We hope you enjoy our takes and we look forward to watching — for better and for worse — tonight with you at the Map Room.

WFNY_roundtable

1) It’s Draft Day. In your prediction, what will the Cleveland Browns end up doing in the first round?

Jacob: After all the talk and all the rumors, I think the Browns stay put and pick at an area of great need: Cornerback. I’ll share my thoughts on Alabama CB Dee Milliner later. But I think he’s a perfectly fine pick at No. 6 and the Browns will stick there.

Kirk: The Browns will trade down into the 11-13 range, gaining a second round pick, and select quarterback EJ Manuel. We all know that Weeden isn’t Banner or Lombardi’s guy, and I forsee the Browns taking a QB, even if it’s not what I would do with the pick at all. The Browns seldom make me happy on draft day, and I expect that tradition to continue.

TD: I think all the talk is a total smoke screen. They desperately need a CB and I think like the fact that Dee Milliner’s medical history is an issue all of a sudden. I believe they want the Lions to pass on him and would snap him up at 6 in a heartbeat.

Scott: The Browns will be forced to wait until the final minute or so of their clock in hopes that a team is willing to trade up to the sixth slot. I’m presently erring on the side of this happening, allowing them to trade down to the 11th spot (everyone believes San Diego wants to move); the 12th (Miami) and 13th (Now the Jets thanks to their trade of Revis) are also in play. If this happens, I expect them to take Tyler Eifert or Alabama OG Chance Warmack. If they’re stuck at six, it’s a crapshoot between Milliner and a linebacker—my guess is Barkevious Mingo.

Craig: West Virginia QB Geno Smith. They’re slow playing it. I just wanted someone in this questionnaire to say Geno’s name. [Read more...]

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NFL Rumor: Browns among teams interested in Davone Bess

April 24, 2013 by 9 Comments

Tomorrow night is the 2013 NFL Draft, which will certainly feature plenty of trade speculation, but Wednesday night brings about a new Cleveland Browns trade rumor. Reportedly, the team is among many interested in the services of 27-year-old Miami Dolphins wide receiver Davone Bess.

From the Twitter account of the Chicago Sun Times’ Sean Jensen:

With Miami’s offseason acquisitions of Pittsburgh WR Mike Wallace, St. Louis WR Brandon Gibson and NY Jets TE Dustin Keller, Bess has suddenly become expendable from their deep receiving unit. Rumors have circulated for the past several months on where he might land in 2013. Meanwhile, all offseason, the Browns have been linked to interest in several options to boost their less-than-ideal receiving corps.

Bess originally signed by the Miami Dolphins as an undrafted free agent out of Hawaii in 2008. He has played the entirety of his five-year career with the team, exceeding even the wildest of expectations.

In these five seasons, Bess has 321 receptions for 3,447 yards and 12 touchdowns. He is one of only 10 NFL players (Bess, Boldin, Fitzgerald, Gonzalez, Ca. Johnson, Marshall, Wayne, Welker, White, Witten) to catch 50+ balls in each of the last five seasons. He also helped to return punts for Miami from 2008-2011.

Currently, Cleveland owns the rights to six other draft picks after the No. 6 overall selection on Thursday night: 3rd (68); 4th (104); 5th (139); 5th (164); 6th (175); 7th (227). While potentially unpleasant to fans, it could be possible that the team parts ways with one of these precious few picks on a deal for Bess, who is due approximately $3.4 million in 2013. Such a trade certainly would be more likely if the Browns pull off another draft move to add more picks.

[Related: The best offensive free agents still available for the Browns]

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The Browns and the First Round: Ezekiel Ansah

April 24, 2013 by 6 Comments

We are less than a week from the NFL Draft, also known as the most important day of the year for your Cleveland Browns. With (another) new regime taking over the reigns and new schemes in place on both sides of the ball, it is crucial that Joe Banner, Mike Lombardi, Ray Farmer, Rob Chudzinski and the crew nail these three days. It all starts Thursday night with the primetime First Round.

The Browns currently hold the sixth pick. Will they go with a defensive back? Could they turn to a pass rusher? Would they possible fortify the offensive line? Could they shock everyone and take an additional offensive weapon? Or maybe, just maybe, would they trade the pick to a team that wants to move up and snag one of those top offensive tackles?

From now until Thursday’s first round, a different member of the WFNY staff will take their look at one player in particular and tell you why the Browns, should they choose to, would go in this direction.

Ziggy AnsahThe Player:
Name: Ezekiel (Ziggy) Ansah
Position: Defensive End
School: Brigham Young
Height: 6-5
Weight: 271
40-yard dash: 4.63

Whom he would replace:
Jabaal Sheard?

Why he makes the most sense for the Browns:
A freak athlete with limited football experience, Ezekiel Ansah has been advertised as possibly having the most potential of the elite DE/OLB prospects in this draft. For a player of his height and arm length (35″), his speed and athleticism (4.26 20-yd shuttle) is scintillating for NFL scouts. Along with free agent acquisitions Paul Kruger and Desmond Bryant, he could be the final piece of an elite pass rushing attack.

[Read more...]

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The Diff: Cleveland Browns mock draft analysis

April 24, 2013 by 6 Comments

For my entire archive of The Diff at WFNY, check out this tag. Again, last week’s topic covered baseball attendance in April and sellout streaks. Now, it’s NFL Draft talk time.

The Diff

Yesterday, I wrote a teaser for a mock draft database that I was compiling. At the time, I had a sample of 50 mock drafts from around the Internet. Many were awful, as some of you dutifully pointed out in the WFNY comments.

So now, I’ve cleaned things up quite a bit and expanded my mock draft list. There are now 60 mock drafts in my database. And today, as a special treat for you, I’ll share a link to the spreadsheet and provide some analysis on what it all means for your Cleveland Browns on Thursday.

Click here to view WFNY’s Mock Draft Database in a locked Google spreadsheet. [Read more...]

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WFNY Stats & Info: NFL mock draft database teaser

April 23, 2013 by 10 Comments

Tomorrow, in my weekly WFNY Wednesday post called The Diff, I’ll be sharing a detailed analysis of 50 NFL mock drafts and dozens more big boards.

For today, as a special “WFNY Stats & Info” sneak peek of tomorrow’s post, I bring you inside the WFNY email chain for two early items I shared with the group this morning.

Milliner emerging as mock draft favorite at No. 6

Among these 50 mock drafts from around the Internet, Alabama CB Dee Milliner is picked in the top five in just eight of them (16%). Among the other 42 mock drafts, he’s picked by the Cleveland Browns at No. 6 in 28 (66.7%).

Obviously, for clarity, there are so many factors at play when mock drafts include trades. Thus, those mocks have been ignored for this early analysis. But for now, let it be known that Milliner is emerging as the clear favorite if the Browns actually do stay at No. 6 — so study up.

After Milliner, there are five other players — BYU DE Ezekiel Ansah, Notre Dame TE Tyler Eifert, Oregon OLB Dion Jordan, Utah DT Star Lotulelei and LSU DE Barkevious Mingo — that were picked by the Browns in 3-5 of the mock drafts.

Mock draft confusion with the Eagles at No. 4

While the first three picks in the NFL Draft have shown a relatively consensus pattern per these 50 mocks, there’s no favorite at all for the Philadelphia Eagles at No. 4.

Lotulelei was picked the most times (13) overall, but both Central Michigan OT Eric Fisher (35%) and Texas A&M OT Luke Joeckel (33%) were picked more frequently when available.

Overall, there are five players with picked-available rates between 24-35% at the No. 4 slot for Philadelphia. That’s by far the most tightly contested among the top seven. And if folks recall, Milliner was an early favorite here as well.

[Related: Hooray! NFL Network and ESPN agree not to tip draft picks via Twitter]

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NBA Rumor: Cavaliers reach out to retired Phil Jackson

April 21, 2013 by 9 Comments

More details continue to emerge this weekend on some possible coaching candidates for the Cleveland Cavs, and the ESPN.com NBA crew has an update tonight on Phil Jackson. Per the reporting of Brian Windhorst and Marc Stein:

“As they did eight years ago when he was in retirement, the Cleveland Cavaliers have reached out to Phil Jackson about their head coach opening, sources told ESPN.com. The Cavs, who fired coach Byron Scott last Thursday, have been in touch with Jackson to gauge his interest in returning to coaching and in their open position.”

Overall, the emphasis of tonight’s ESPN.com article seemed to be that Jackson would prefer to return to the NBA in a management role, a la Pat Riley with the Miami Heat. Jackson is now 67 years old and last coached in the summer of 2011. According to the article, “in January, Jackson told SheridanHoops.com that he had ‘no intention of ever coaching again.’”

Thus, it appears likely that the Cavs and owner Dan Gilbert are just feeling out the potential prospects of Jackson’s interest in coaching. While the Cleveland organization might be a relatively attractive situation for most typical coaching candidates, it is believed, per this report, that Jackson might be more interested in teams like the Brooklyn Nets or Sacramento Kings (soon-to-be Seattle, maybe) where he could be a lead voice in the front office.

Specifically, that would deal with working preferably in a “management capacity” and to possibly “oversee personnel moves and mentor a head coach,” per tonight’s report.

Previously in Cavs coaching news, Mike Brown reportedly met with Gilbert on Sunday. Stan Van Gundy also reportedly expressed his disinterest in the currently available openings. Several other candidates — such as Golden State assistant Michael Malone or Indiana assistant Brian Shaw — just began coaching in the playoffs with their current teams this weekend.

[Related: Mike Brown Take Two? In The Right Situation, Yes]

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Sunday Indians Notes: Beau Mills, the rotation and prospects

April 21, 2013 by 1 Comment

beau mills and tuve

Beau Mills and his bucking bulls: The Indians scoring 19 runs was not the strangest news I saw yesterday. No, not even close. It began with a pair of tweets from @Indians (here and here) sharing pictures of a young bucking bull named Tuve (after Astros infielder Jose Altuve) that happens to be owned by Indians third-base coach Brad Mills and his son Beau, Cleveland’s 1st-round pick in 2007.

I couldn’t believe it. The Mills family just owns a bull, named it after a Houston player and had it in front of Minute Maid Park on Saturday? So I Googled. And found the Plain Dealer‘s Paul Hoynes’ report from Friday night: It was true. Mills, the 26-year-old first baseman who the Indians pitched away to Cincinnati in June 2012, officially has retired from baseball and is raising several young bulls for a living. [Read more...]

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While We’re Waiting… Draft day trades brewing?

April 21, 2013 by 3 Comments

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.

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Connecting the dots between a possible Kansas City-Miami trade that might affect the Browns’ plans with the No. 6 pick in the NFL Draft: “The connections between the Chiefs and the Dolphins, with regard to [Branden] Albert, have been present for awhile. Now, they possibility could be coming closer to being a reality. On Thursday, Arrowhead Pride passed along the information that the Chiefs had given permission to the Dolphins to speak to, but not meet with, Albert.” [Chris Pokorny/Dawgs By Nature]

[Read more...]

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MLB News: Asdrubal Cabrera day-to-day with wrist contusion

April 21, 2013 by 4 Comments

Saturday night was full of joy for the Cleveland Indians en route to a dominant 19-6 win in Houston that snapped a five-game losing streak — but the team still was dealt a slight blow in the injury column at Minute Maid Park.

Starting shortstop Asdrubal Cabrera left the game following two plate appearances (a one-out single to left and an inning-ending groundout) in the top of the first inning when Cleveland stormed out to a 8-0 lead. Backup Mike Aviles replaced him in the field in the bottom half of the frame, then went 2-for-4 over the duration of the contest.

According to a report from Paul Hoynes of the Plain Dealer, Cabrera suffered his wrist injury before the game when he fell down the dugout stairs. X-rays were negative. Manager Terry Francona was one of the first people to help Cabrera up from his fall. The shortstop was ruled as out for Sunday’s 2:10 p.m. series finale.

Cabrera’s injury is the latest in a variety of ailments to already plague the Tribe in 2013. Among the other 25-man roster players to also be injured in the first three weeks: Scott Kazmir, Jason Giambi, Carlos Santana, Jason Kipnis, Michael Bourn and Brett Myers. The first four all have returned to action, while Bourn is on the DL retroactive to April 15 and Myers, who announced his flexor tendinitis yesterday, is returning to Cleveland today for an MRI.

On the season thus far, Cabrera had been one of the bigger reasons for the team’s early offensive struggles. He’s now batting .150 (9-for-60) in 16 contests with two home runs, three RBI, six walks and 18 strikeouts. Most significantly, he’s been ridiculed for batting just .053 (1-for-19) with runners in scoring position. Maybe a few extra days off could help him get back into a positive rhythm as well.

[Related: Astros 3, Indians 2: Struggles continue in clutch situations]

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MLB News: Scott Kazmir to make Indians debut on Saturday

April 20, 2013 by 7 Comments

For the first time in over two years, left-hander Scott Kazmir is scheduled to appear in an MLB game tonight. The now-29-year-old former pitching phenom will be the starting pitcher for the Cleveland Indians at Houston at 7:05 p.m., as the Tribe looks to break a five-game losing streak.

Officially, Kazmir has returned to the Cleveland Indians’ 25-man roster today, taking the spot of infielder Cord Phelps, who goes back down to Columbus now that Jason Kipnis has returned to the lineup.

Kazmir was quickly placed on the DL this season retroactive to April 2 as he strained his right rib cage just before Opening Day. He made one rehab appearance in Columbus on April 15, posting an effective 5-inning start with only one run and five hits allowed, against zero walks and five strikeouts.

Fans and the coaching staff appear eager to see Kazmir compete again at the major league level. He was a non-roster invitee to spring training, seemingly a long-shot to ever make the roster, but emerged with a 3.46 ERA in 13.0 IP out in Arizona to win the No. 5 rotation battle.

“He’s not going to back down to anybody,” manager Terry Francona said Friday, per a notebook from the Akron Beacon Journal‘s Sheldon Ocker. “The biggest thing is getting him stretched out again, so he can go deeper in games. So I think he’s very excited about this.”

Additionally, it’s also fitting that Kazmir’s long-awaited return will take place in his hometown of Houston. He graduated from Cypress Falls High School in 2002, becoming the 15th-overall pick in the MLB draft, and then returned home in 2012 to play for the Sugarland Skeeters, an independent team in a nearby suburb. Many family members are expected to attend Saturday’s game.

“You go out there the first time you want to show out, you want to do real [well],” Kazmir told MLB.com’s Gene Duffy. “At the same time, you don’t want to overthrow. You want to stay within yourself and get your game. You have to slow back on that adrenaline.”

While he’s no Satchel Paige, Joe Nuxhall or Jose Rijo, Kazmir’s 2-plus year absence — dating back to April 3, 2011, with the Los Angeles Angels — still will put him on an elite short list of MLB pitchers all-time. Many Indians fans also are hoping for his debut to spark the suddenly struggling 5-10 team.

[Related: On Scott Kazmir and My Impending Middle Age]

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The Boots: NBA Draft lottery, Byron Scott’s tenure, playoffs

April 20, 2013 by 12 Comments

nerlens noelIn my usual half-rapid fire, half-prose form, I’m here today with another edition of The Boots. Again, for those unfamiliar with this feature, I assign loosely defined “Boot Up” or “Boot Down” votes to trending topics in the sports world. Let’s talk basketball again today.

Boot Up: Slotting in at No. 3 – That’s not necessarily what Cavs fans were hoping from the 2012-13 season. Kirk, Scott and Andrew all have written way more eloquently than I possibly could about the franchise’s current situation post-Byron Scott. But for now, I’d like to focus on what it means for the draft. Obviously, slotting in at No. 3 lines up the stars for a possible better pick than later in the lottery, as fans hoped before the year and maybe even as late as the end of February. [Read more...]

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Astros 3, Indians 2: Struggles continue in clutch situations

April 20, 2013 by 9 Comments

brett myers astros

With Friday night’s disheartening 3-2 loss at the Houston Astros, your Cleveland Indians are now 5-10 on the season. They’ve lost 10 of 13 since winning the first two ballgames of the season and have lost five straight dating back to Sunday afternoon against Chicago.

First, the important news: It’s sensationally early in the season. According to some preliminary math, it would appear that 15 games is slightly less than one-tenth of the 162-game usual MLB schedule. That means that if the Indians are to be a .500 team — as many of us WFNY writers predicted only a few weeks ago — then there’s still plenty of time to make up only 5 games.

But then you get into why this losing streak has happened. And it’s been pretty explainable, albeit flukey, which should at least again present some hope going forward. [Read more...]

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