Cleveland Sports Perspective

 

On Sunday night, June 14^th, Cliff Lee took a no-hitter into the eighth inning of a game against the St. Louis Cardinals.  Since that 3-0 victory, the Cleveland Indians have lost 13 out of 15 games.  Obviously, the season has gone south since then, and right now nothing is going right for this team.  Here are some comments about this ballclub—

 

·          One of the things that is said to support manager Eric Wedge is that his team never quits.  Watching this team since the Mark DeRosa deal on Saturday night, that can no longer be used as an argument.  The Indians have gone through the motions since the deal was made.

 

·          Did anyone else find the note left by DeRosa to Ryan Garko interesting?  He told Garko to “keep grinding”.  Was this a jab at Wedge and his mantra?  And if so, does it mean that the veterans on this team finding the managers’ clichés tired and played out?

 

·          GM Mark Shapiro apparently doesn’t like comparisons to the Tribe teams of the 90’s.  Too bad!  Do you think the Yankees’ Brian Cashman likes hearing about not winning a World Series since 2000?  Shapiro has it easy here from both the fans and the media.  He needs to quit making excuses and take action to put together a contending team.

 

·          That said, it is ludicrous to say the GM is living off the Bartolo Colon trade.  Doesn’t anyone remember he traded for Asdrubal Cabrera and Shin-Soo Choo?  I also think Luis Valbuena will be a good player down the road.

 

·          Is Wedge incapable of changing an opinion about a player?  Let’s use Josh Barfield as an example.  Barfield was given the 2B job in 2007, and couldn’t hold it, forcing the call up of Asdrubal Cabrera.  It seems Barfield will never be given an opportunity again from the current manager.  It’s the same with Rafael Perez.  He was the lights out southpaw out of the bullpen for the past two years, and he continues to be put into tight situations despite his struggles this year.

 

·          It’s crazy that the reliever with the second most appearances on the team (R. Perez) has an ERA of over 9.00 for the season.

 

·          Do we really need to see more of Ben Francisco and Kelly Shoppach?  I understand Shoppach catches Cliff Lee, but why doesn’t Victor Martinez catch the rest of the time?  As for Francisco, if you’re not Andy Sonnanstine, he can’t hit you.

 

·          Chris Gimenez had two hits on Monday playing LF, and didn’t play on Tuesday against a southpaw.  Why?

 

·          Don’t look now, but this team is on pace to lose 100 games!  Even the biggest critic of the Indians’ management would not have figured that. 

 

·          The Tribe’s handling of their prospects should also be questioned.  With Columbus pitching Kirk Saarloos, Jack Cassel, and Ken Ray on a regular basis, can anyone explain why Hector Rondon is still at Akron?  Or why Lonnie Chisenhall is still at Akron?  Or why Nick Weglarz is still at Akron.  Rondon pitched well in spring training, and he should be at Class AAA by now with all the pitching problems this organization has had.

 

All in all, this has developed into a huge mess.  Sure, it’s not all Eric Wedge’s fault, but I believe his handling of the bullpen contributes to the poor performance.  Still, how can the Dolans expect the fans of this team to watch another 80 games or so with the team playing like it has over the past three weeks. 

 

Tribe fans deserve better.  Whether or not they get it is up to management.

 

MW

 

The Indians’ trade of Mark DeRosa was another case of the team trading a potential free agent for prospects.  Chris Perez is a power arm out of the bullpen, a 24-year-old right-hander who has the ability to make hitters swing and miss.  DeRosa was acquired by the team knowing he was going to be a free agent at the end of this season. 

 

However, it brings into question how the Indians deal with potential free agents, and do they make the correct decisions in regards to which ones to keep?

 

A few years ago, the Tribe knew three key components were about to be free agents after the 2008 season:  C.C. Sabathia, Jake Westbrook, and Travis Hafner.  As of the end of the 2006 season, these three players represented the team’s best power hitter, the ace of the pitching staff, and a solid #3 or #4 starter. 

 

A staff ace is the most important thing on a pitching staff, and remember, this was before Cliff Lee emerged as a top of the rotation starter.  At this point, Lee was a solid #2 or #3 starting pitcher, and had combined for 32 wins over the past two seasons (2005 & 2006).  Still, the management chose to hold off on signing Sabathia, and instead focused their attentions on Hafner and Westbrook, who they deemed to be more signable.

 

Did the Indians try to ink the big lefty to a multiyear deal after the 2006 season, before his Cy Young Award season the following year?  Only C.C. and his agent can vouch for the legitimacy of any offer.  However, it was clear that Sabathia was coming into his own, and would have signed for much less than he received from the Yankees following his 2008 campaign.

 

Instead, the Indians turned their attention to Westbrook, and inked the sinkerballer to a three-year contract extension.  Once again, this is not to denigrate Westbrook, but he’s an innings eater who will have years where he is very good, and also years where he is mediocre.  Could the $10 million or so given to Westbrook have been used to sweeten the proposal for Sabathia after he won the ’07 Cy Young Award? 

 

The Tribe signed Hafner while he was struggling during the 2007 season.  There is a limited market for Pronk because he is a designated hitter, which eliminates all of the National League teams.  Also, the large market teams all have DH’s, like Boston (David Ortiz), New York (Hideki Matsui), and Los Angeles (Vlade Guerrero).

 

It is clear that Sabathia was the free agent to keep out of that trio, and that should have been determined after the 2006 season.  If he was not at all interested in signing a long-term deal after the ’06 season, then the Tribe should have traded him, and they would have received more than the prospects they received when dealing him last season.  This is because the club trading for him would have had him for two years guaranteed.

 

I’m rehashing all of this because of the rumors that Cliff Lee is on the trading block.  I understand that it would have been a huge gamble signing the lefty to a long-term deal after last season because he was coming off a terrible 2007 season.  However, Lee has shown that last year was not a fluke, and he is indeed one of the better pitchers in the major leagues.

 

This organization has to change the way they handle potential free agents, particularly with elite players.  Victor Martinez and Grady Sizemore are both getting close to their free agency years, and the front office needs to deal with both of these guys at least two years before their current contracts end.  Talking to them a year before their deal ends is too close in terms of time.  The players figure they went that far already, they might as well see the process through.

 

Would this team be better off with Sabathia instead of Westbrook, the latter’s elbow injury notwithstanding?  Of course, they would.  However, Shapiro attacked the free agent he had the best chance of signing.  It’s more of the unwillingness to take a risk that has hampered the organization.

 

Trading Cliff Lee would be another blow to the fans of the Cleveland Indians.  However, if Lee and the Tribe can’t get close to a deal in the off-season, then the ’08 Cy Young Award winner should be dealt before the beginning of the ’10 season in order to get major league talent, not prospects, in return. 

 

The Dolans want to review the entire organization?  The Indians’ fans already have, and they will be voicing their opinion by staying away from Progressive Field.

 

KM

 

The Cleveland Indians made the first move in what is becoming its annual fire sale, dealing Mark DeRosa to the St. Louis Cardinals for reliever Chris Perez and the infamous player to be named later.  This leaves the disappointing Jhonny Peralta, whom Eric Wedge went out of his way to praise after Friday night's game, as the regular third baseman.  Things just keep looking up for the Tribe.

 

DeRosa was mishandled from the moment the Indians acquired him.  When GM Mark Shapiro traded for him, most people thought the former Cub would play 2B with Asdrubal Cabrera going to shortstop and Peralta going to third.  However, as usual, the Indians were smarter, putting DeRosa at third, where he had some defensive issues.

 

When they finally moved Peralta to third, it left DeRosa without a spot in the infield.  Over the past month or so, he spent most of his time in LF or RF.  However, he was still productive with the bat, hitting .270 with 13 homers (2nd on the team) and 50 RBI (also 2nd on the team). 

 

In return, the Indians get a power arm out of the bullpen in Perez, who will turn 24 this week.  The relief corps is the achilles heel for Cleveland, so from the standpoint of upgrading a weakness, it's not a bad move.  It will be interesting to see who will be erased from the 'pen when Perez reports tomorrow, especially after Jensen Lewis was sent back to Columbus to make room for Jose Veras.  The easy way out would be to send Tony Sipp back, but it terms of effectiveness, Rafael Perez or Joe Snith should be the one that goes.

 

Cabrera was activated to replace DeRosa on the roster which means the team has a million infielders and no outfielders.  Ryan Garko is playing LF today, and no one wants to see that on an extended basis.  So, who is going to replace DeRosa in left?  Will Matt LaPorta be brought up?  Or will it be Michael Brantley?  The ballclub cannot continue to put Ben Francisco in that spot on an everyday basis.  He has proven he is not an everyday player.

 

Again, dealing DeRosa was the easy way out.  Wedge can talk up Peralta all he wants, but dealing DeRosa will make it harder for this team to score runs.  Peralta simply has not become the player he was projected to be after his breakout 2005 season.  It's four years later, and we still see the same ups and downs you would associate with a guy just up from the minor leagues. 

 

The front office is selling yet another season down the river, and the general manager's staunch defense of his manager is getting tiring.  The Cavaliers made a bold move this week trying to win a championship, meanwhile the Indians are considering having a meeting to discuss the organization.  The White Sox' Ozzie Guillen is right, meetings are for losers.  And so is trading for prospects.

 

MW 

 

 

 

It was an eventful day for the Cleveland Cavaliers even before the NBA draft started, as GM Danny Ferry pulled the trigger to bring Shaquille O’Neal to Cleveland in exchange for Ben Wallace, Sasha Pavlovic, the 46^th pick in the draft and cash considerations.  In terms of the talent changing hands, it is a no-brainer decision. 

 

As we’ve stated before, Pavlovic has talent, but doesn’t bring it to the floor every night, making him a nightmare to coach.  Wallace is a shell of the player he was when he was winning the NBA Defensive Player of the Year awards.  O’Neal was still third team all NBA last year at age 37, and made the All Star team.  He’s not the Shaq he was earlier in the decade, but he’s still a productive player.

 

I see O’Neal definitely being on the floor when LeBron James is getting his rest at the beginning of the second and fourth quarters, with the Cavs feeding the low post and having the offense run through him.  O’Neal will be a starter, but my guess is Mike Brown will limit his minutes to around 24 to 27 per night, with the big guy getting some games off on back to back nights.  This will keep him fresh for the playoffs.

 

When the two megastars are on the floor together, O’Neal is an underrated passer who will definitely benefit from having a player like James cutting to the basket.  And if James is double teamed, how many players can stop Shaq one on one in the post? 

 

Defensively, O’Neal can put his massive body on a guy like Dwight Howard and make it difficult for the Orlando big man down low.  There shouldn’t be a need to double team in the post for the Cavs now that O’Neal is defending down there.  No, Shaq doesn’t play the pick and roll well, or at all.  But on the defensive end, the Cavs are getting him to guard guys like Howard.

 

The Magic even reacted to the Cavs’ move by trading for Vince Carter, who is far from the player he once was.  Carter is soft and not mentally tough, so I can make a very good case that this makes the Magic not as strong of a team as the one that beat Cleveland in the conference finals, particularly if they lose Hedo Turkoglu to free agency.

 

As for the draft, I can’t explain what the Cavs were doing in picking Christian Eyenga with the 30^th pick, unless another deal is coming.  Eyenga will not play for the wine and gold this season, and it is an odd pick, especially with Sam Young, Patrick Mills, and Derrick Brown still on the board.  Danny Ferry had a chance to upgrade the talent level of the team, and get a bigger wing player (Young or Brown) with the pick and whiffed on it.

 

I do like the second round pick in North Carolina’s Danny Green.  Green is a big guard and you know he learned about playing defense playing for Roy Williams.  He could very well make the team next season, but probably will not contribute much because he won’t get the playing time.

 

All in all, it was a good day for the Cleveland Cavaliers.  However, the front office can’t stop here, and I don’t believe they will.  More moves have to be coming to get wing players with length, because if the Cavs don’t get better in that area, getting Shaquille O’Neal alone won’t bring a title.

 

JK

 

 

With possible changes in the news for the Cleveland Indians, pretty much everyone in the organization is taking heat, from owner Larry Dolan to the coaching staff.  Some criticism is well founded and based on good information; other stuff doesn’t have a lot of basis in fact. 

 

One such criticism is that the Tribe just doesn’t have a lot of talent.  While it is true that the team has had problems securing talent in the draft, they have acquired good players in other ways.  For example, look at the everyday lineup of this year’s team. 

 

If we assume Victor Martinez is the first baseman for these purposes, and we use VORP (Value over replacement players) as the criteria, the Indians actually have some very good players.  Take Martinez, for example.  I don’t think anyone would argue that Martinez is a quality major leaguer; in fact, he will probably make his third all-star appearance next month.  His 942 OPS lead the regulars, and he has a VORP of 28.4.

 

In fact, the Indians have four regulars with a VORP over 10.0.  Besides Martinez, Shin-Soo Choo (21.8), Asdrubal Cabrera (15.4), and Mark DeRosa (12.9) also are in this category.  Travis Hafner (11.8) is as well, but I didn’t include him because of his limited availability because of injury. 

 

As a comparison, the Boston Red Sox have six everyday players who have VORP’s of over 10.0, just one more than the Indians.

 

The lowest ranked players who have seen significant playing time for Cleveland are OF Ben Francisco (-0.5), Kelly Shoppach (-0.9), and Grady Sizemore (0.3).  Sizemore has his elbow injury as a reason for his struggles, and if that has been a problem since spring training, it could explain his poor season.  MLB Network analyst Harold Reynolds showed how Sizemore released his hand from the bat when swinging at an outside pitch, probably because of the pain involved in trying to hit that pitch.

 

With Luis Valbuena showing he can play a little bit, second base isn’t a problem spot either especially with Jamey Carroll on hand to back up.  Jhonny Peralta (4.4) is doing an average job at the hot corner. 

 

This means the two weak spots in the lineup are C (Shoppach) and LF (Francisco).  These positions can be easily remedied by putting Martinez back behind the plate more often (he has caught less games than Shoppach), and playing Ryan Garko (2.2) more often at first.  Garko isn’t doing much, but he is a better hitter than Shoppach.

 

With Hafner back at least two games out of three; DeRosa can play LF on an everyday basis, thus putting Francisco on the bench.  The point is, the Tribe puts a pretty good lineup on the field everyday, so saying there isn’t a lot of talent is wrong.

 

What there isn’t is a lot of pitching, which as its rank of 13^th in the American League in ERA shows, is dreadful.

 

The only starting pitcher, and in fact, the only pitcher who has toiled for the Indians this season and is doing a very good job is, of course, Cliff Lee (34.3).  The only other pitchers who have VORP’s of over five are Matt Herges (8.5) and Aaron Laffey (7.5).  The worst hurlers are really no surprises:  Fausto Carmona (-15.0) and Rafael Perez (-9.9). 

 

It makes sense too.  Carmona was the key member of the starting rotation, and he has been a bust so far, undermining the entire rotation.  If not for Carl Pavano, the rotation would really be a mess. 

 

Perez’ struggles have led to the overwhelming problems the team has had in the 8^th inning.  The Tribe figured they had three options for the eighth in Perez, Rafael Betancourt, and Jensen Lewis, who went 13 for 13 in save opportunities last season.  Betancourt has been hurt, and the other two have been complete failures.

 

The point is that Mark Shapiro and the Dolans said this team was going to be built on pitching.  Instead, the pitching has been horrendous, and the alternatives brought up from the minors apparently aren’t there.  It’s this facet of the team that is the chief culprit in the disastrous season the Indians are having.  First, it was the starters, and over the last two months it has been the bullpen. 

 

However, there is talent on this big league roster.  That’s another reason this season could have been salvageable with a move here or there.  Instead, it looks like Shapiro fiddled while his team burned.

 

MW