This and that

Some random thoughts:

The story in the Plain Dealer about the man who still has his season tickets for him and his wife although his wife passed away 19 years ago was heartwarming.  A very good piece.  

The Jay Bruce trade was an important piece.  Don't want to toot my own horn but I said that all we need is one more bat and that would change everything.   Given that teams weren't jumping on getting Bruce shows that he wasn't THE piece we could have had but that it was any GOOD piece that would make the difference.   Still, imagine what it would have been like if Giancarlo Stanton had come over in June as I asked for and continued his home run rampage in Cleveland. 

The Indians are now starting to hit.   That is all they really need assuming their starting pitching is only average for the rest of the year.

If our catchers could only hit .250 with a little power...

Our bullpen is still in flux but some of these peripheral guys (Goody, Olson, for example) are doing really well.

Tough luck for our AAA relievers.   Guys like Louis Head, Cole Sulser, Josh Martin and Jeff Johnson might be getting a shot in the majors in other organizations (remember Joe Colon and Perci Garner last year). However, the ML bullpen sixth inning/situational guys doing well, the addition of Joe Smith and the addition of guys like Craig Breslow and even Diego Moreno and, of course, the ever-looming 40-man roster issues, make it impossible even to give the above 3 even a reward callup.  Everyone wants a career in the majors but even a cup of coffee is a fulfillment of a lifetime dream for many of these guys.  Ditto for Kyle Crockett and AAA starters like Plutko, Narveson, Grube,  Merrywether who might get callups to see if they can succeed in shorter roles in the majors.  For many of these guys it is like being 2.5 games behind for the second wildcard spot but having to climb over 7 other teams to get there.   Possible, but it is going to take a lot of bad luck to get it done.  I might trade Head, Sulser, Martin and Johnson to some ML team for a month and a half rental of a hitting catcher who is going to be a FA.  I don't normally like to throw prospects away but I feel so bad for these guys I might consider doing it. 

When Brantley and Chisenhall come back we have a problem.  It's a good problem but yet a problem.

We have Encarnacion and Santana to split first base and DH.  Remember that Chisenhall and Brantley have also played 1B in their careers.

We have Brantley, Bruce, Chisenhall, Zimmer, Guyer and Jackson to split the outfield.

We will have Naquin, Diaz and Almonte in the minors. 

Basically we have too many guys for the positions.  WAY too many guys.   It will take Tito's magic to work all these guys in, keep them sharp, and still win games now and, hopefully, if we get to the post-season.  I think Chisenhall will get some time at 1B and 3B and Diaz at 3B once they get to the big leagues again.  We need to get Santana, Encarnacion, Ramirez and Kipnis some rest down the stretch.   It would also be nice to give Lindor some rest and give Gonzalez some ABs.  With the current lineup plus Brantley, I think that Gonzalez's bat, or lack thereof, won't hurt us. 

If we are fortunate to make it to the post-season it will be interesting to see how Tito constructs his roster.   To me, the odd man out right now is Zimmer.   Just like Naquin last year Zimmer's weaknesses are being exposed.  If we fall in love with his defense I think we will be burned as rookies are still rookies and I think his defense may disintegrate just a bit under the bright lights of the playoffs.  I look at the above and see a playoff roster clearly without Bradley Zimmer...at least this year.   

Two surprises who might make the post-season roster:  Diaz and Tim Cooney, who pitched his first game back from injury last night.   Diaz is versatile and could hit when necessary.   Cooney could fill a variety of roles and would be fresh compared to guys who played the whole season.   An interesting piece was done on Diaz and his negative swing plane.   Maybe he can't help us but my feeling is that I would have rather had him up in the 10th inning in the 7th game of the WS instead of Michael Martinez.   Just sayin'.