#stopruiningourstarters: Twice yesterday, trying to avoid using the bullpen, Francona left in starters in a couple of batters too long. Carrasco was at an even 100 pitches after 5 innings and a lot of those were high pressure pitches as he had given up 5 runs. Plutko had gone 7 innings and we were comfortably ahead and he was at 103 pitches. Both times this backfired on Francona as has this tactic almost every time he has used it in his tenure as a manager.
I know Tito says he wants to win every game but, as I said before, if that was true he would stop sending Tomlin out there and stop playing Kipnis.
He is KILLING our starters with this crap. He just needs to stop. Yeah, we get it. Your bullpen sucks and they are losing us games. Find a way to MAKE this bullpen successful. STOP ruining our starters.
#whattodowithgio: I have the solution to the Gio Urshela situation. Get rid of Brandon Guyer. Look, Guyer is a good idea just like Abe Almonte was, in a vacuum, a good idea. But it practice there is a reason that guys like Guyer hang on as 23rd to 25th men and, if they become free agents, are likely to only be signed to cheap contracts or minor league deals. If he has a minor league option left then use it. Otherwise, DFA him and bring up Urshela. Erik Gonzalez can play some OF if necessary as can Ramirez. Look, Urshela is not going to hit like he hit in AAA but he is a better hitter now and keeps getting a little better each year. His glove and versatility along with the versatility of Gonzalez gives Francona just what he needs.
#toppropectsslumping: Francisco Mejia and Bobby Bradley have struggled so far this year (Bradley did break out yesterday). So what is up? My feeling is that nothing is up but it is worth watching. On the same thought Shane Bieber was promoted to AAA and put in a solid start in his first outing. I wonder, given how bad Columbus' veteran minor league deal starters are doing if Bieber sticks. I think he does.
#startingpitchingdepth: Speaking of Bieber and Plutko, they have added some starting pitching depth to the Indians. I know Francona doesn't like to have a long reliever in his bullpen but how many times so far this year has he needed one and, instead, had to burn through 3 or 4 guys to get the game done. It may be time to bite the bullet and move Tomlin to the bullpen for the rest of the season and give Plutko his shot. If he does struggle Bieber might be ready by that time and we can always fall back to Tomlin later in the season.
#bullpensucks: Hey, it's not like this is unexpected. Goody and Olson were potential one-year wonders waiting to happen. McAllister fell so out of favor that he was an afterthought in the playoffs. The only good thing about the Miller injury is that it kept Francona from overusing him in the last week or so. This is what you get when you don't improve your bullpen every year. It was crazy to lose Shaw and not sign someone else of quality. Instead we went bottom of the barrel fishing and what we got: Belisle, Belliveau, etc. has actually made things worse. At this point the only thing left might be to start bringing up minor leaguers and hope that each will be good for about a month before the league figures him out, at which point you move on to the next guy. One thing is for sure: what it will cost us in prospects to fix this issue in July will be MUCH worse than what we would have had to spend over budget to fix this issue last off-season. You don't buy a Mercedes and then replace your blown out left front tire with a repaired tire from Joe's Automart. That is what we did and now the Indians need to fix this WITHOUT losing prospects doing it. You know, maybe they should bring in Whitey Herzog as a consultant. He was great at making a bullpen out of nothing, figuratively speaking.
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