Minor League post - 6-29-2021

 I don't want the hope of the minor leagues to get lost in our worrying about Josh Naylor.  Naylor's condition and recovery, to me, is more important in this moment than any baseball game at any level.

That being said, when you were a fan of the Indians in the 60s-80s you came to love the baseball draft and the minor leagues because that is where you knew the future of the Cleveland Indians had to come from to change this mediocre "MAJOR LEAGUE"-emulating franchise (are mimicing life) into a winner.   So every time a new minor league season begins I have that sense of hope for the future.  Every night when I watch the games or look through the box scores I am excited to see our minor leaguers having good performances, dreaming on the day they can do that in the majors and help the Indians win.

Right now we have some hopeful signs in the minors, especially for our hitters.

• I can't wait (but will have to for another night) wait for the rookie league team to get started.   I harken back to a few years ago when Bobby Bradley tore up that league to the tune of winning the hitting triple crown.   Today he is in Cleveland bringing our Indians hope and production.   Who, if anyone, will be the next Bobby Bradley?   Our rookie league team is, on the surface, position player-rich and pitching question marked.   Which, if any, pitchers will step up and put up eye-popping numbers that give us hope of seeing him in Cleveland someday?
• Some of our prospects are finally coming around.  Nolan Jones is starting to hit with authority.  Will Benson is raising his average since being moved to leadoff hitter.  Angel Martinez and Jhonkensy Noel are establishing themselves as top 10-level prospects in the Indians system.  Oscar Gonzalez is on quite a roll right now and Andres Gimenez is showing incredible pop for a middle infielder. Guys like Tyler Freeman and Owen Miller still have promise of being major league contributors.   Gabe Arias, Gabe Rodriguez, Richie Palacios, Jose Fermin, Jose Tena and Brayan Rocchio are all starting to move to and above the .250 line.  Yainer Diaz is a hitting machine, the only question being will he do enough to convince the Indians to roster him this year so he doesn't go the way of Kai'i Tom in the Rule 5.  George Valera is just getting healthy and Bryan Lavastida is showing that his low minors hitting was not a fluke but, rather, of the promise of things to come.  Joe Naranjo shows a glimmer of hope as does Aaron Bracho.
• There have been some guys like Yordys Valdes, Christian Cairo, Delgado, Marcos Gonzalez, Bo Naylor  
• The minor league pitching has, on the whole, been a disappointment.  Except for the guys who have graduated to the majors, almost every true pitching prospect has underperformed or been injured except for Daniel Espino and Logan T. Allen.  Not one other pitching prospect really stands out for me at this point and even guys like Robert Broom and Nick Mikolajchak have not been as lights out as I would have liked.  Let's hope whatever is wrong with these guys gets fixed soon as we need guys like Cantillo, Wolf, Moss, Logan Allen and Lenny Torres to become studs in our future.  It would be great if Cam Hill came back better than ever and if Adam Scott could contribute on the major league level, both by the end of this year.

Thoughts after Sunday's game

 First, my prayers are with Josh Naylor at this moment.   I sincerely wish that he makes a complete recovery and we see him back next spring training.   The prayers are because I was taken back to when Matt Whitney broke his leg in spring training.   He was never the same again.   I pray for a much better outcome for Josh Naylor.

Second, the loss of Naylor just puts in play the popular axiom next man up.  I am not saying that Sam Hentges, Cal Quantrill and Eli Morgan have continuously lit it up since they were thrust into the lineup.   Even Bradley Zimmer has come up to make positive contributions (more on this later).   Bobby Bradley is still Bobby Bradley but he stepped up in a big way when he was called up.

Besides the disappointing performance by Owen Miller, the next biggest disappointment in our minor league system is the play of Oscar Mercado and Daniel Johnson.   If just one of them would have played to their past performance (Mercado) or potential (Johnson) I would feel a lot better about our next man up in the outfield.   Hey, as much as I like Naylor's drive and all-out play, on a good team he is just a very good 4th outfielder.   Ditto, likely, for Harold Ramirez.   However, it is been the disappointing play of Mercado and Johnson that has made these two guys (three, counting Zimmer) starters.  

So, to Johnson, it is time to step up.   BTW, 0-9 with a golden sombrero in one game this year after 1-14 last year is not stepping up, just to be clear.   I truly hope you do better when you are called up this year, which might be in time for tomorrow's game unless Andres Gimenez is called up.  If Johnson or Mercado is not called up it should be the final warning in their heads.   They are better than this but because they can't put it together we had to play Amed Rosario in CF and we have to start 4th outfielder types.   Guys, if you can't perform at the expecgted level we are going to need your 40-man roster spots to use on guys who will help this team win.

Regarding Zimmer, is it really possible that his myriad of injuries, including that bad shoulder injury, has totally zapped any power he has?   He has become a stick-your-leg-out, look-for-a-walk, bunt-for-a-base-hit, slap-grounder-the-other-way guy.  He has the other tools to play in the majors but it is really a shame that he doesn't have the power he once had as his current level is not even 4th outfielder level in the majors.   Even if could learn to hit the ball hard to left left field like Rosario does to RF, even if he could hit to LF like Eddie Rosario does that would be something.   And right now we need something.

Will Nick Sandlin, Kyle Nelson, Justin Garza and guys like that be productive major league relief pitchers or will they follow in the path of many of the guys we say pass through Cleveland in the 70s and 80s?   I hope they do but watching the game today I was taken back to those years where he had high hopes for young relievers who just faded into oblivion as fast as they rose to Cleveland.   Let's hope these guys stick for a lot of years.  With Karnchak and Clase,  young relievers like this could really make the next few years exciting.  BTW, congratulations to Garza on your ML debut.   You are short, righthanded and guys hit a lot of balls hard on you today.   Still, I would rather have you on the mound learning as you go rather than some 30+ AAAA reliever...or starter.  Plus, down the road, we may still be looking at Hentges and/or Quantrill permanently being quality fixtures in the bullpen...if we can find more starting pitching so our bullpen would be really solid if all these guys proved effective.

More on our minor league games today when I get some time tonight.   Right now, my thoughts are with Josh Naylor.   Get better, man.   Get better.  If he has to have surgery I pray that the surgeon does a great job.

I just hate this!

 

Saturday Quantrill : 5 IP  3 H 0 R  0 ER  2 BB  2 K  

Sunday Hentges:  5 IP  2 H  0 R   0 ER   2 BB 4 K

Tonight Morgan:  5 IP  1 H  1 R  1 ER  0 BB  9 K

Three great starts by your young starters, right?

WRONG!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Francona decides that Morgan, already at 62 pitches (Hentges was at 57 on Sunday), is going to pitch the 6th inning.

Three batters later and after some gasoline poured on by Sandlin, Morgan's final line is:

5 IP 4 H  4 R  4 ER 0 BB 9 K

What does Morgan learn from this:  I suck and can't be a starter in the majors, especially after his last two starts.   

You know, this game didn't matter.   What did matter was Morgan's confidence, which is now ruined.  

Morgan is a gimic pitcher.  He, at this point in his career, will be lucky to go through the order twice.  LUCKY.  

So, not only do we lose the game, Morgan loses more confidence and we STILL have to go to the bullpen for the same number of outs.

One good thing did come out of Francona's move.   As we are going to lose this game now we only have to play 8 innings so our bullpen has one less inning to cover.

Face it.  Francona blew this one out of his butt.   Things happen.  But I have worked with young people most of my adult life and I can tell you confidence is everything.   Francona shot Morgan's tonight, and at a time we need to be BUILDING conficence.   That is why I HATE when managers put young pitchers in positions where they are likely to fail.  Let's hope, down the road later this year, Morgan can put these three outings behind him...just like he would have put the first two behind him if Francona had taken him out when he should have, after his five inning gem!

One more thing.  Let's see what Francona says after the game.  If he did the right thing he would say "Man, my fault.   I screwed up and turned his gem into a disaster."  However, I anticipate him saying "When you are dealing with young pitchers they have to find a way to get through the order a 3rd time.   Morgan is young, he'll learn."  Morgan, of course, will echo his manager's sentiments...just like good cannon fodder should.

Now that's a first

 Our entire rotation, all 5 guys, decimated by injury or non-performance.   Don't remember seeing that as an Indians' fan before.   

To begin, let's talk about how we got here:

1. The sticky substance theory -   Did Civale and Bieber get hurt by trying to compensate for not being able to use sticky substances any more?   I find that hard to believe, really.   If anything, with Bieber, the Indians are just harvesting the abuse they have put Bieber's arm through the last 3 years or so.   He wasn't right at the end of 2019 in my opinion and we continued to abuse his arm, at times, in 2020 (the Sandy Alomar game comes to mind) and this year (121 pitches.  Really?).   As far as Civale, pitchers get hurt.  I think he is the least likely to be guilty of using sticky substances, really.   I am thinking that guys like Blake Parker or Eli Morgan with ridiculously large breaks on their pitches might be more suspect.   Ditto for James Karinchak.  

Also, I am pretty sure if Plesac was cheating he wouldn't have had to break his thumb in frustration after that bad start.

Let's talk, for a minute, about how Dolan and the FO got us to this point.   They left #4 and #5 open at the beginning of the year.  To save money they went cheap and hoped.   Dolan even admitted that he wasn't putting a very good team on the field due to a low payroll.   They didn't give us anyone who could fill those spots if the question marks McKenzie and Allen failed.   Plus, they really didn't have a backup plan if ONE of Bieber, Civale and Plesac got hurt, let alone all three.  Not like good, cheap starters grow on trees,  however.  Look how many teams are using openers.  Still, you have to have a plan where you have veteran guys in the minors who have a history of being relievers who can throw 2 or more innings, if needed (no, not Adam Plutko).

Maybe we could have traded one of our FIFTEEN minor league SS top prospects for a long reliever with some talent.

So, as always, bad luck plus a cheap owner gets us to this point.  A great manager keeps us afloat through the storm that is cheap ownership.

Who knows, maybe this will all work out and what we have here is just a forced hiatus for a bunch of guys who threw under 100 innings last year.   Maybe these injuries aren't serious and, at the end of the season, we will see them as a blessing in disguise.

Kudos to the players, the manager and the FO for giving us enouigh talent to not implode (so far) and for one of the greatest managers in baseball history for keeping the ship afloat during this hurricane.   Maybe we can win 90 games this year before other teams catch on that we really shouldn't!!!

Such is life

 The Indians lost on Friday night 11-10 even though they made a great comeback from an 11-1 deficit.   

The Indians lost on Saturday afternoon after Cal Quantrill and Blake Parker gave them 6 strong innings when two of their star relievers surrendered 4 walks and 2 HRs in a 7 batter segment of inning 7.

What can we make of this?  Absolutely nothing.

There is so much going wrong physically with this team that a glitch in the bullpen like Saturday's is magnified.  

As the Indians have said, keeping that stiff upper lip, there is no story here.  Move along.  

Such is life in a 162 game season.   Stuff happens.   End of story.

As I look at it with my pre-season prediction of 82-80, the Indians are still playing with house money.   The future of this offense looks much brighter than it did at the beginning of the season.   Some of their minor leaguers (Andres Gimenez, Nolan Jones) are starting to hit the ball well, making themselves options for later this year.

And you know what?  Even the Indians fan who made the most outrageous prediction about their finish this year, whoever that person is, still has a decent chance to be right if everything falls into place.

This is a long season.  We may have many highs and many lows left to go.

Frankly, if we don't win tomorrow we could be looking at a 5 game losing streak as I don't see much hope of us winning Monday or Tuesday against the Cubs.   

But, again, we came into this series 10 games over .500 and the worst we could end up leaving ChiTown is 5 games over .500.  Not great but not bad.

The wonderful thing about the standings is that if we win on Sunday we will have only lost one game to our games over .500 compared to how we came into Pittsburgh.

Let's keep our fingers crossed for a win by our Indians on Sunday.    I think it would go a long way to help take the sting out of Friday and Saturday.

I am an Indians fan.    Signing off for tonight!

Where does the rotation/pitching staff go from here?

 OK, in the last post we talked about the roster crunch.   We basically have a filled roster and with Luplow going on the 60 day DL AND Perez about to come off the 60 day DL, we have some issues if we want to add another reliever.    

Right now we could send Kyle Nelson down but the only guys we could bring up would be Logan Allen and Scott Moss, both on the 40-man but neither viable right now due to bad performance or injury, respectively.  If we bring up anyone else, we have to DFA someone.

Blake Parker has held it together so far, ERA-wise, but a deeper dive into his numbers so that he is only a AAAA space filler who has had some luck so far.  DFAing him would create a roster spot right now.  

Oscar Mercado and Daniel Johnson are quickly becoming AAAA guys but I don't think we want to DFA either right now.   If we did choose one, we could add a pitcher not currently on the 40-man roster.

We need to replace Nelson now.    We SHOULD replace Parker now.

What do we have in the minors?

Looking at the stats the most intriguing relievers are Justin Garza (0.49 ERA at AAA) and 3 AA relievers, Francisco Perez, Aaron Pinto and Nick Mikolajchak.

So what would I do?

At the earliest moment I would bring up Moss and send Nelson down, assuming Moss is healthy.  If not, I bring up Logan Allen and send Nelson down.   As Allen started last night, I would go with Moss if I need someone today.

Now the tough one.   As I know Parker is ready to self-destruct at any time I would DFA him and gamble that Garza can be effective.   He is having a breakthrough this year and is stretched out to go 2 innings and is a prospect of some level so would have to be rostered this winter, I think.  People may disagree but I play the hot hand right now and guess that the potential of the unknown is better than the mediocre of the present.

I would promote Perez, Pinto and Nikoajchak and demote 3 of the AAAA guys at Columbus to AA.  This preps me in the near future if I want to make a switch and DFA one of Mercado or Johnson if I need the extra roster spot AND if we DFA Luplow when he comes back.  However, if you don't intend to DFA Luplow or Mercado or Johnson, there is no way to add one of these relievers.

This is the problem where almost everyone on your roster is a current contributor or a prospect that you expect to contribute in the future.  You are limited in your flexibility of just throwing up a rookie and hope he makes a positive contribution as you likely would have to expose him to waivers if you need his 40-man roster spot.

Interesting to see how the FO handles this but I would at least expect to see Nelson sent down today and Moss brought up.

Thoughts for a Thursday

First, let's start with this.   Sweeping the Orioles in four games with the current state of our roster is a testament to the players and Francona, whose use of the bullpen was just plain impressive.  But more on this later.   Really happy where the Indians are right now.   Really happy.  Don't know if we can catch the White Sox but look at how close to .500 the Yankees are so there is always a chance that Chicago will slump and we can pass them in the nick of time.   Can't wait to get Franmil back and added to this lineup.   If Eddie Rosario ever gets back his HR stroke, this offense could get really special real quick.  That's something I never thought would come out of mouth this year.  So let's talk about a couple of other things that crossed my mind today.

1. There are so many more important things in life than baseball that I hesitate to ever use the word "blessed" in talking about what the game of baseball gives to my life.   That being said, I grew up when the Indians were like the Mariners of 2021 and, in some years, like the Orioles of 2021.  I have been a fan since 1960 when, as a kid, I became a fan of my hometown team.   I have to say that through all those 60 or so years, I have to say that I have been blessed over the past few seasons for one reason and one reason alone: Terry Francona.  Hey, we have experienced some great teams and moments during the past 6 decades.   We have even had some managers who were great baseball minds.  However, in my opinion, looking back on the Indians for the last 100 years, the Indians have NEVER had a manager so good at his craft as Terry Francona is.  Now, living in St. Louis for about 40 years I saw great managers like Whitey Herzog.  The White Rat was so good.   He would have a utility guys who would perform well for him every year and then they would go other places and look like 4A players.  A few came back to St. Louis and returned to their old form.   He just knew how to get the most out of the team he was given.  But even watching guys like Herzog and Tony LaRussa all those years I don't know that they can hold a candle to Francona.    He, in my opinion, is certainly the best manager EVER in Cleveland and maybe one of the best of all time.

Francona is blazing new trails this year just like he did in 2016 when he used Andrew Miller really effectively.   Some teams have an opener or two.   Maybe the worst teams may have 3 openers.   But how many teams have what turns out to be FOUR openers on a staff anchored by a guy who is essentially a second year player.   He just knows how to use his pitchers and, even when they explode, how to limit the damage they cause.   For the Indians to be 38-28 at this point with what they have gone through is beyond my ability to comprehend.   This is what a manager getting the most out of the limited resources he has.  I am, as an Indians fan, truly blessed to have lived to see Francona manage my Indians.

2. So Ryan Lavarnway made his Indians debut today.   As someone who has been clamoring for that for a while now you would guess I would be happy, right?   Well, with Lavarnway promoted, reality has set in.  Our roster is so full now that there isn't any fluff in it.  We used up our one 'bullet' when we put Luplow on the 60 day DL.   Now, if we make a roster move, someone is likely to leave the organization through a DFA or through an undeserved demotion.   We have Perez, Reyes and Plesac coming back in the next few weeks.   We have to find a place for them.  Here's what it is likely to look like:

Perez comes off the DL - We have to do two things when this happens. We have to clear a spot on the 40 man roster and clear a spot on the 26 man roster.    The latter is easy.   The problem is, the former is hard.  Either Hedges will have to go to the 60 day DL or one of Lavarnway or Rivera will have to be DFAd.  When Hedges comes back, the other one will have to be DFAd.   Likely, all of our catching depth will evaporate.   

Let's talk about Plesac.   This is an easy one as Blake Parker or Kevin Nelson can be sent to the minors.  Parker will have to be DFAd while Nelson can just be sent down.  But, still, we lose depth if the logical choice, Parker, is DFAd.

Now about Reyes.   When he comes back we are looking at just having to send someone down.   But who will that be?  You are looking at Clement or Chang as everyone else is solid right now.   I am guessing Clement goes down which is somewhat of a loss, but at least we won't have to DFA anyone.

When Luplow comes back we will have to send someone to the minors.  Who would that be?  There is simply no room on this roster for Luplow with Zimmer playing well in CF and Harold Ramirez as his backup.   If they do try to roster Luplow they would have send Zimmer down AND DFA someone, most likely Daniel Johnson or Oscar Mercado.   Maybe neither would be a great loss but I have seen too many Jesus Aguilars, Joey Wendles and even Yandy Diazs in recent years to want to lose any ML depth until the 6 yr FA loophole kicks in.   

So let's say we navigate the moves above with minimal talent loss in the organization.   We still are thin pitching.   If we need more relievers, NONE of the logical candidates at AAA or even AA are on the 40 man roster.   If we bring one up, we will have to DFA someone.   Again, no fluff on this roster and, at this moment, no 60 day DL possibilities.   This includes Cam Hill who is on the 60 day DL.  If/when he is brought up, we will have to DFA someone.  

So, in summary, here is what I see happening:

Perez, Reyes, Plesac, Luplow and Hill get put back on the 40 man/26 man roster.  

Parker, Mercado and Johnson are DFAd, Clement is sent back to the minors.

Some additional guys being brought up (McCarthy, Garza, Siri) will cost us a guy on our 40 man roster.  Guys like Nolan Jones being brought up will only cost us a man on our 26 man roster but one of those guys might have to be DFAd if they are out of options.  

Not ideal but when your roster is full of young, viable players who are far from being out of options, guys like Parker, Mercado, Daniel Johnson, are likely to be gone from this organization by the end of July.  And the door will likely slam, except for injuries, to guys like Miller and Clement.   Finally, the guys who are flashing good numbers in the minors who are NOT on the 40-man will also be without a path to the majors.

One more thing: With a roster this young, there is little fluff left to remove this winter, meaning it might be harder to protect guys from the Rule 5 draft as we have/had to start the service time clock for so many young players due to the injuries and payroll constraints we were under.   

Thoughts on an off-day

 Are we really that hard up for cash AND this stupid?  

The Indians play the Mariners this weekend for the last time this year.  Apparently we are so hard up for cash that we traded Jake Bauers to the Mariners just not to have to pay his salary for the rest of the year.   Look, major league players tend to regress to the mean of their ability but any major league player can have a game, or a series or even a longer stretch where they outplay that ability...especially if they are motivated.

So why would we give Jake Bauers the chance to come back to Cleveland to prove the fans and media wrong by having a great series?   Why would we do that?   It is just plain stupid to trade a guy with a chip on his shoulder about the Indians AND their fans AND their media to a team you are going to play an important 3 game series against.

Look, in my opinion Jake Bauers will never be better than his current career numbers.  But, as the song says "I am not as good as I once was.  But I am as good once as I ever was".   

I will never scratch my head with us DFAing him after he screwed up every chance we gave him.   But I am really afraid we all will be scratching our heads over the timing of this move if Bauers has a career series against the Indians this weekend.

Bonehead timing and location of this move.   Just simply no excuse for this...but money."

Current state of the pitching staff

Terry Francona is a good company man.  Thus his silence on how the FO has screwed up the starting pitching this season and his, on the surface, acceptance of this try to win cheap mantra.

Tito Francona is supportive of his players.   Thus the hilarious explanation of Zach Plesac breaking his thumb by aggressively removing his t-shirt.

However, in the end, this is the front office's fault.   And ownership's.   They brought in ZERO even semi-competent veteran minor league pitchers this off-season.  They counted on making it through the season with Biever, Civale, Plesac and McKenzie and that they could find one starting pitcher from what was left.  In essence they:

• Bought into the idea that Cal Quantrill could be a starter.    It is clear the guy is a great reliever.   It is also clear that he may never be a great starter.   Starters need to pace themselves, not ever seeing the light at the end of the tunnel.   Relievers don't need to pace themselves, as they always see the light at the end of the 1- or 2-inning tunnel.    Look, even if spin rates and velocity remain constant when you compare a guy starting or relieving, there is just something about the urgency of being a reliever as compared to the slower pace needed for someone being a starter that means that some guys just can't start.  Just like some guys can't be closers.   The Indians should have gotten that instead of throwing Quantrill against the wall to see if he stuck.
• Counted on McKenzie to be a solid #4. They had a very small sample size last year and they are paying the price of his growing pains this year.
• Counted on one of the rookies, Logan Allen, Scott Moss, Eli Morgan being able to help in an emergency.   Now, that might have actually worked but they didn't account for the fact that these three pitchers, their only realistic minor league starting options, would all get hurt.
• Didn't prepare to have the eventuality that they might need to use an opener.   The bullpen is, except for Quantrill, filled with one inning guys.   Not that I would have kept Plutko.   We saw what he was like on Saturday.   But we should have made plans for the opener thing somehow.  We didn't.
• Didn't prepare for the emergency where all of the above didn't work.  Throwing JC Mejia out there and expecting anything more than Wednesday is really just throwing stuff against the wall and hoping it sticks.   Hail Mary!  You needed a better plan, folks.

Plus, now you are bunring out your young bullpen guys.   How much damage do you think is done to a Kyle Nelson by giving up a 5-spot and watching his ERA balloon up to AAAA player levels?   Not everyone is Phil Maton, Josh Tomlin or Adam Plutko who can take a licking and keep on ticking. 

Giving Up

Now, don't get me wrong.  With Terry Francona and the veterans we have no one on this team will EVER give up...I hope.   But what I see out of our veteran hitters is this:   Once we get behind a number of runs I see an everyone-for-themselves attitude.   Everybody starts swinging for the fences instead of piecing together rallies.  We don't have the keep-the-line moving attitude.   We don't grind out ABs to get the starting pitcher out of the game.   We don't make relievers work.  This results in us making it too easy for teams with the lead to just coast through the last several innings.   Look at yesterday.   Mejia got knocked out because he couldn't put hitters away.   Compare that to our veteran hitters, and then our rookies swing so early in counts and ending up with weak contact.   We just don't seem to want to grind out ABs once we get behind.    Not saying that in this all-or-nothing baseball world the keep-the-line-moving attitude would work much.   But at least it would be better than the swing-for-the-fences-on-the-first-pitch mentality that this team seems to get into once we fall behind...like on Wednesday.   When you have a lot of games like yesterday like this team has had, you have to ask yourself if our play-from-behind strategy needs to change.   I think it does.

Taking advantage of your opportunities...or not.

1. Totally undeserved opportunity: 100 ABs, .190 BA, .277 OBP, .280 SLG (3 2B, 2 HR)

2. Deserved opportunity: 42 AB  .119 BA, .140 OBP, .143 SLG (1 2B)

3. Opportunity because there we no one else and deserved based on spring training results:  79 AB  .177 BA,  .214 OBP, .278 SLG (5 2B, 1 HR)

Three guys who have had good opportunities and all 3 of them are not taking advantage of them.

4. Deserved and overdue opportunity: 5 AB   .800 BA (2 2B, 1 HR) 

Here is an opportunity seized and run with.   Not that this line will hold but it shows how you can make an impression.

More fuel on the fire that Bradley should have been here since the beginning of the season.

Still don't understand Owen Miller.   I get that there may be butterflies, adjustments to the big league, etc.   But this guy has a great spray chart.  He has hit at every level.   He hit this spring training.   Was killing it this year at AAA.   He looks overmatched repeatedly, even by the mediocre Baltimore pitchers.   I hate to say this but the guy doesn't deserve another ML AB until he figures this all out.  He has gone all Logan Allen on us and needs to go back to the minors.

Yu Chang?  Maybe he will come around.  

The next guy up is Bradley Zimmer.   We desperately need him in CF.   All he has to do is just be a mediocre .260 hitter with a little power, some walks and the good defense and baserunning he always shows.

Is he going to be Bauers part deux or is he finally going to figure it out.   

This team desperately needs Zimmer to hit so he gets to play defense and one of Miller or Chang to hit.

As far as today's 18-5.   Just flush it and move on to St. Louis.    

Thoughts for a Saturday night

LEARNING FROM ADVERSITY...AND PRIVILEDGE

Francona said they were looking to see how players (particularly Bobby Bradley) handled the adversity of being sent down to the minors when he didn't deserve it.   Well, instead, he found out 2 things, although he sugar-coated the second one:

• He found out that Bradley pouted when he was unfairly sent to the minors.   While that isn't good, it is not unexpected and, frankly, actually makes me feel better about his slow start this year.  
• Francona also found out how Jake Bauers performed when given something he didn't deserve.  Did he take the opportunity and run with it?  Nope.  Just like he had 3 errors in the game after he was told he made the team, he hit and fielded in the regular season like...well...Jake Bauers.   He has been bad-to-terrible his entire career and I will always believe that the only reason he lasted this long with the Indians is because we traded him for Yandy Diaz and the latter has actually really helped his team win.

Bradley started out well today with a double and a run scored.   Francona may be right.  Jake Bauers may learn to hit with another team.   What Francona will never know is how many wins it cost the Indians by having Bauers play instead of keeping Bradley at the beginning of the season.

Good luck to Jake Bauers.   I will always be disappointed that you did little to nothing for my team after you were given a gift you didn't deserve.  Being on this team at all this year.  Hope you treat the next team that gives you an opportunity better than you treated the Indians.  

Maybe Bauers ends up in Pittsburgh. They seem to be collecting ex-Indians.  

BLAKE PARKER

He showed AAAA stuff today.  Fortunately he and Karinchak kept the Orioles from scoring after Parker loaded the bases with no outs.   I really wish we had a real prospect or two who was ready to help us.in the bullpen.   I have seen so many of these AAAA guys go through Cleveland since Tito has been here that it almost hurts to watch another one.  I hope I am wrong and he turns into a guy like Maton but what he showed today is that he was getting AAA guys out on experience, something that I saw when I watched him pitch at Columbus.   That is probably not enough to pitch effectively in the majors.  Guys get signed to minors deals late basically because they are not likely to be effective in the majors.   As I said earlier...if there was anyone else ready in the minors...but there isn't.  So, Parker becomes a mopup man like Plutko until we find someone more effective.

HELP FROM THE MINORS

You know I have said how disappointed I am in Owen Miller.   I just don't get it.  He is so lost and looks like he doesn't have a clue at the plate.   He looks like he doesn't belong in the majors instead of looking like he had nothing left to prove at AAA.    How many times over the past few games has Miller been in situations where he had a chance to gain confidence and help the team?  Many.   And each time he looked overmatched.   I just don't get it.   I have been watching baseball for over 50 years and I just don't get it.   Normally I would say send him out now but we don't have ANYONE in the minors who deserves a promotion to the majors, except Lavarnway who I still think should replace Rivera to give us some more hitting.  But for infielders and outfielders, there is no one in our entire minor league system who deserves a chance in the majors.   Even Tyler Freeman is not ready.   You can see it watching his ABs at Akron as he has a lot of soft hits.   He will probably get even better at AA and may start hitting the ball hard consistently as the season wears on.  He will likely get a promotion to AAA and probably have middling success there and be a factor sometime next year.   But at this point, if you think Miller is overmatched, it appears Freeman would be worse.  None of our exiled ML outfielders is ready.

I thought Bradley Zimmer was ready to help but the game today was typical for him.  Each AB he had a very hittable pitch to hit and he let it go by and ended up striking out every time.   Interestingly the announcers are always harping on our better hitters when they miss 'their' pitch.   They don't say anything about Zimmer.   I think everyone has given up the idea of him ever being an offensive threat again.   This is almost as disappointing as Miller as all we would need is for Zimmer to hit .260 with a .320 OBP and a .700 OPS.  Along with his speed and defense in CF that would be enough on this team.  I don't know that this is too much to ask but, after today, I am worried that Zimmer follows Bauers out of town before the end of this season.   Really disappointed if that happens but, when you get chance after chance, at some point you have to help the team that is giving you all those chances.  You just have to.

As far as pitchers, anyone we bring up from the minors at this point is really a Hail Mary.  Scott Moss is still not ready.  Juan Hillman is still not ready. Nick Mikolojchak is still not ready.   Robert Broom isn't ready.  There is no one truly ready  Kirk McCarty might be worth a look but, again, this would just be a Hail Mary.   Ditto for Justin Garza.  Eli Morgan still is worth a look but I would like to see him get at least 5 more AAA starts before he is brought back up again.   Maybe 10 starts to be safe, if he stays healthy in that stretch.

TOMORROW

Another interesting game tomorrow as Quantrill gets the start.   I hope he does well but just as much of a concern to me is how the bullpen does when Quantrill is taken out tomorrow.  It would be great to win this series and stay ahead of KC and make up ground on the White Sox...and get a little more over .500 in case the next stretch taxes our team's talent. 

 

Thoughts as gametime approaches

 Bobby Bradley up, Blake Parker up, Eli Morgan down, Jake Bauers DFAd

I have to say I am mostly happy about this series of moves.   Bauers has had plenty of chances with the Indians.   Plenty.   I guess the organization felt that with Yandy Diaz's lack of power (.292 SLG) this year, it was the best PR time to get rid of Bauers.  

I wanted to see Morgan yesterday piggybacking with Mejia but that didn't happen.   Hopefully he can, by merit, not injury, get another stint this year and make the most of it.

I have said before and am saying again that Parker should not be on this team.   For anyone who say Heath Hembree's performance for Cincinnati so far you understand what AAAA relievers give you in the majors.   Since I expect Hembree-like numbers for Parker, my question is: Really?  The problem is that there was literally no one else.  Broom has been so-so, unfortunately.  Hill is still on the DL and Mickolajchak is still a ways away, experience-wise.  And all the rest of the AAA relievers are AAAA relievers, in actuality.   So we throw Parker against the wall and hope he sticks.  Thus is life when you don't have 5 legitimate starters.

Good to see Mejia and Sandlin pitch well yesterday.   Good day for Maton, not so good for Shaw and Wittgren.   The hitting, as usual, was atrocious.   Really disappointed in Owen Miller...still.  

Hopefully today is a better day but even with Civale, facing Means will be a task.  

Minor league teams still sucking it up.

Rain, rain, go away

 Tito said it yesterday: I think I like baseball, even though this is agonizing.

Feel the same way, skipper!

So, the cancellation of today's game is just a pain in the butt.  Mejia not getting to start, maybe a chance to see Morgan in non=monsoon conditions, another shot for Miller and Zimmer.   Add to that the cancellation of Clippers game and it gives me no choice but to cut the grass and do yardwork!

But before that, some thoughts about last night:

The Indians' TV announcers are funny guys.   They knw that the Indians have lots of warts and are not afraid to point them out.   Still, they are subtle.  I imagine sometime after Austin Hedges is not longer with the Indians there will be statements made about how he may have been the worst hitter in Indians' history or something like that.   Like when he hit the HR last night and the comment was that he scoooped the ball into the stands, or something like that. Not he crushed it or got into it or demolished a mistake.   I have never heard a HR described like they did it and today's internet headline about Hedges being a wood chopper or whatever it said was equally hysterical.   

I feel bad for Hedges, Bauers and Chang.  Their ineptitude on offense is becoming legendary, even for a franchise where ineptitude was commonplace in the 70s, 80s and early 90s.  

These guys chastise the pitchers, hitters and fielders as they screw up.   But with the above 3 there is careful choosing of words and, to me, what appears to be a lot of clenching of teeth, similar to the line in A League of Their Own where Tom Hanks, face turning red, tries, with clenched teeth, to sugarcoat the  fact that his OFer missed the cutoff man for about the millionth time that season.

Life imitating art.    Perfect.

In any case, a win is a win and the Indians scored a bunch of runs.   Bieber, except for one inning that included a little league HR, we really solid, taking slightly over 100 pitches to go 7 innings.   Ramirez being removed for dehydration is concerning but, aside from that, it all looked good.

One final thought.   Although it may have gotten lost in the world wind that was Sunday and Monday, Ernie Clement got called up to the 27th man but did not appear in a game.   Shades of Moonlight Graham!1    Hopefully keeps stickin' and his bat success and versatility gives him a real opportunity to have, at minimum, a Karl Pagel-like career, if not much (hopefully) more.  

Oh, BTW, Owen Miller, STOP SUCKING!