Thoughts for a Thursday

LOGAN ALLEN 

In spring training Logan Allen was quoted as saying:

“Force my way, kick the door down,” Allen said. “Let everybody know that that Logan Allen that was not throwing strikes, not throwing hard, inconsistent, kind of a fringe four-A player -- that's not me. I'm here to get outs in the big leagues, I'm here to help the Indians win and I think I've done a pretty good job of showing it up to this point."

When I read that at the time I thought to myself 'Here is a guy who is either really kicking down the door or here is a guy who has rabbit ears (and eyes) and follows the trolls on the internet too much".

Well, after 5 starts it seems like that trolls are winning.  When I saw him walk off the mound today I saw a guy who was talking to himself and not in a lost way or in a mad way like "I will never let that happen again" because, if he really did feel like that, he would have made a change somewhere in his last 3 starts.   At one point today he had allowed 6 HRs to the last 12 batters he faced, which makes him a great guy to have on the mound if you are in a HR derby competition, not a ML starting pitcher.    His body language when he walked off today APPEARED TO ME like someone who felt like the world was against him and he couldn't catch a break.   Not like someone kicking the door down.  The Indians talk about him controlling his emotions.  When I hear that and see him I see a guy with a chip on his shoulder who is not using that chip as motivation.

He needs to go down to the minors and he needs to work on his game.   At the same time, the Indians need to give someone else a chance.  If Allen TRULY wants to get better and TRULY is not a 4-A player like the trolls must be saying he is, then the Indians can develop him into a good starter.   The issue is, when he walked off the mound today I saw a guy who either did not have the stuff to be a major league starter or one who was deceiving himself that he was ready to be a major league starter.  

JOSH NAYLOR

I don't think that any of us thought that Josh Naylor was ever going to win a Golden Glove award.   That being said, the Indians thought they were getting a guy who was a potential outfielder who could hit for some power and have some plate discipline who, if he couldn't play the OF could be a good guy to play first base in a pinch.   I saw Brent Rooker, a middling prospect for Minnesota suited more for LF/1B and DH who has hardly, if ever, played in Progressive Field before this series, make a great sliding attempt to catch Ahmed Rosario's drive down the RF line.   Yeah, he didn't catch the ball that hit him in his glove but comparing that to the ridiculously bad effort Naylor made on Cruz's drive to the same corner in this series as well as a number of other gaffes and near miscues he has made in RF this year makes me realize even more that the guy should not be in our OF.   So we have a need at 1B so we put him there, right?   Well, that may work eventually.   He has made some nice plays there but had the one Buckner-esque error to cost us a game and then bobbled an underhand flip from the pitcher that a 9 year old could have caught.  These are the plays that a major league fielder MUST make.  Right now the Indians are better with Franmil Reyes in RF than Naylor, especially with Naylor's lack of power and lack of plate discipline which totally exposes Reyes in front of him as everyone knows Naylor can't impact the offense if they pitch around Reyes.  In fact, Reyes will hardly ever even let himself be pitched around so having no protection behind him increases the odds that he will not become the hitter he can be.

JAKE BAUERS

The guy has started to hit the ball so he will be able to continue renting locker space at Progressive Field for the next week or more, I guess.   But, again, looking at body language, it almost seems like Bauer is listening to the trolls as well and for some reason is thinking that his performance, or lack thereof, is somehow acceptable from a major leaguer.  What he has done in this series is only delaying the inevitable...and in a very detrimental way to the health of this team as he is giving the FO that stuck with him for no apparent reason coming out of ST more of a chance to say "Well, there may be something there afterall.   We just need to keep playing him to find out for sure."  So Bauers needs to bring out his best impersonation of Mike Hargrove which, to me, is his upside and actually start contributing to this team's offense because, if he thinks his performance this year is anything BUT what a 4A guy would put up, then he is deluding himself.    

Hey, we took 2 of 3 in this series, something we desperately needed.  Is today's loss a killer?  No.  But it does again expose the problems with this team.  Bobby Bradley may not be the next coming of Babe Ruth but I would rather see Bradly flail away for a month than see Bauers and even Naylor's empty at bats.  At least we got to see some of our young pitchers perform well this series so, while it is a shame to see Oliver Perez go (true professional in every way) at least it is for youth rather than some 4-A guy.