Thoughts after today's game:
(1) Ahmed Rosario needs to be traded. Otherwise I see a full-time starter becoming disgruntled when he is sitting on the bench half or more of the time. This is a waste of his talent but, right now, he is not a good fit in CF, so I am not sure how else to handle this than to trade him to get Senzel.
(2) When you look at the pitching results from today consider that what Texas threw out there was not even a good B game lineup. Watching Bieber this time compared to his last start when he got rocked the only differences were that Ahmed Rosario wasn't out there giving the other team extra outs AND the hitters were actually swinging at a lot more balls out of the zone today compared to his last start when he was actually facing real ML hitters. But Bieber still wasn't crisp today against this AA/AAA lineup as it took him 80 pitches to get through 4 innings. I am telling you, this guy is not right. There is something wrong because today it was all about competing and frankly, against this lineup, he didn't dominate as he should have as guys were fouling off too many pitches and he was going way too deep in counts against this lineup.
(3) Along those same lines the Indians pitchers struck out 18 guys today. But, given the weakness of the guys Texas had on the field, you really can't make much out of today's pitcing performance which is part of the reason Parker should be sent down. Gose, at least, looked like he had his slider working at a level that was intriguing but the rest of our relievers were just dominating weaker hitters, something they would not see in a ML regular season game.
LINEUP
When Perez is catching:
vs a RHP: Hernandez (2B), Gimenez (SS), Jose Ramirez (3B), Franmil Reyes (DH), Eddie Rosario (LF), Perez (C), Bradley (1B), Naylor (RF), Zimmer (CF)
vs a LHP: Hernandez (2B), Gimenez (SS), Jose Ramirez (3B), Franmil Reyes (DH), Eddie Rosario (LF), Luplow (RF), Bradley (1B), Perez (C), Ahmed Rosario (CF)
When Hedges is catching:
vs a RHP: Hernandez (2B), Gimenez (SS), Jose Ramirez (3B), Franmil Reyes (DH), Eddie Rosario (LF), Bradley (1B), Naylor (RF), Zimmer (CF), Hedges (C)
vs a LHP: Hernandez (2B), Gimenez (SS), Jose Ramirez (3B), Franmil Reyes (DH), Eddie Rosario (LF), Luplow (RF), Bradley (1B), Ahmed Rosario (CF), Hedges (C)
Obviously lineups have to change when Chang or Gamel is in unless we want one of them to hit second.
Rationale: I have seen Eddie Rosario hit second now for several games and he is not a #2 hitter. He needs to hit 5th to allow him to focus on his power AND to give Reyes and Rarmirez protection with Perez or Bradley or Luplow (against LHP) hitting behind him to protect him. Getting Eddie additional ABs by getting him closer to the top of the lineup is great IF it doesn't screw up the flow of the lineup, which it has consistently done so far. Plus, I am not sold on Eddie R. as a good hitter yet. His swing is loopy and he is having some weird contact pounding balls into the ground like he is being somewhat overmatched by pitchers. So, actually, 5th is better for him if he IS having trouble hitting. Tito is a great manager but having Eddie R. hit second is just plain stupid and even if it isn't stupid based on analytics, it simply does not work. Plus, hitting Gimenez 2nd actually should take pressure off him as he can focus on hitting to the right side, taking some pitches both to let Hernandez run and to get on base for Ramirez, hit-and-run and, in case he hits the ball on the ground, using his speed to avoid a double play. The only advantage to hitting Gimenez 8th is if you substitute Ahmed Rosario for Gimenez and that gives your lineup L/R balance at the end if Zimmer hits 9th and plays CF
Bullpen - We are starting to get a little more clarity but, with the clarity, comes questions. We found out that Trevor Stephan has made the team. While I always like rookies making the team it seems like when he struck out Anderson, Robert and Abreu in a row that is what put him over the top. What if those guys were just punking him to make him look better than he is? The Indians keep him on the roster pushing a proven reliever out the door on an opt-out clause and then Stephan is gone after a month?
But he is on the roster as a reliever. We will have 8 or 9 relievers, so what does that leave us?
Wittgren, Karinchak and Clase are locks for the bullpen along with Stephan.
Perez, Shaw, Plutko and Maton are the veterans who appear to be locks.
That gives us 8 relievers right there and that looks good to me. If we want a 9th reliever AND we can't get Gose to stay in the organization then I think we have to keep him. He is the wildcard. I would rather have to DFA him into the season than let him walk right now.
I will let Parker walk if he doesn't want to go to the Depth camp.
I am OK with Nelson and Sandlin going to the Depth camp to get more experience, along with Cam Hill who will be rehabbing. If Parker stays in the system that gives us probably the strongest set of relievers at AAA that I can remember, and that doesn't even count the guys we had in camp who we already sent to the minors.
Rotation - We covered this yesterday but my four starters right now are Beiber, Plesac, Civale and Logan Allen. McKenzie and Quantrill go to the Depth camp to start the season. If something goes really wrong and you need an emergency starter, that's Plutko. Early in the season we only need 4 starters and when we need 5, we bring back McKenzie first with Quantrill getting more time as a starter at the Depth camp/Columbus (AAA). Not ideal for Quantrill but we really don't have room for him in the pen right now and don't need him as a starter.
So either we package Quantrill with Ahmed Rosario to get Senzel to play CF or we keep Quantrill in the minors to wort out his issues.
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