Results tagged ‘ Cleveland Indians ’
Who’s on first?
First thing first, no manager, Joe Maddon or otherwise, botched his lineup card and listed two first basemen. The body of this post has no connection to the last; they share similar titles, that’s it.
This is about the New York Mets and their search for an everyday replacement for Carlos Delgado. I got to thinking about the subject upon reading Jon Heyman’s column on SI.com today in which he explores possible replacements and lists some early trading block candidates. As a side note, if you’re on Twitter, follow Heyman: @SI_JonHeyman. He offers great pieces of info and will engage in conversation from time to time. Follow me too @dyopchick.
After discussing the Mets’ in-house possibility, Daniel Murphy, he lists six players whom Omar Minaya might be looking at: Nick Johnson (Nats), Aubrey Huff (O’s), Russell Branyan (M’s), Mark DeRosa and Victor Martinez (Indians) and Garrett Atkins (Rockies).
My top three, in order would be: Martinez, DeRosa, Huff. The reason I’ve got the two Indians at the top of the list is their versatility. Everyone around the league knows that Minaya is trying to get a player to keep first base warm until Delgado is healthy (10 weeks or more), so opposing GMs are going to charge a small King’s ransom. If you’re the Mets, and you’re going to give that up, you’re going to want someone who can help you if and when Delgado can play. Martinez can do that because he can continue to spell Delgado, as well as catch upon his return. Same thing goes for DeRosa, who, according to Heyman, is being made available by GM Mark Shapiro already. DeRosa can play all four infield spots and help out in the corner outfield spots and won’t require as much in return as Martinez.
The third choice would be Aubrey Huff. I went with him over Branyan and Johnson because he can be had the easiest. The Orioles are already nine-and-a-half games out of first place and the calendar doesn’t say June yet. If they want to build around the core of Brian Roberts, Nick Markakis and Adam Jones, they need to get some love young arms in there to support them.
Branyan is a no-go for two reasons: one, he’s shown flashes before. Maybe he hasn’t put together an entire six-week stretch like the one he’s currently having, but who knows if another change of scenery will shake his confidence again. Also, while the Mariners are six games behind the first-place Rangers, they showed some signs of life under first-year skipper Don Wakamatsu and if they think they can make another run or two at Texas, they’ll certainly need Branyan in the lineup.
Johnson is having a great start for the Nationals, but to my knowledge, he doesn’t play anywhere but first base. That means, when (if) Delgado returns, he turns into a pinch hitter and defensive replacement. On top of that, Minaya is going to have to put a great package together to get a player out of his own division, even if it is the lowly Nats.
Photo credit:
Omar Minaya
Who else might be feeling the heat?
After his club began the season 12-17, Bob Melvin (along with a few members of his staff) became the first coaching casualty of the 2009 season. 34-year old A.J. Hinch has come down from the front office to take the helm as the fifth skipper in club history.
Will Melvin be the only manager fired mid-season? My guess is probably not. Let’s take a look at three other managers who are on the proverbial hot seat:
Eric Wedge, Indians – Wedge’s club was picked my many prognosticators to capture the American League Central crown and, by some, the AL pennant. Wedge’s club is tied with the A’s for the fewest wins in the AL (11). The Tribe has dropped four in a row, including being swept at home by division-rival Detroit over the weekend.
The excuses are there – Travis Hafner is hurt again, Cliff Lee is not the same pitcher that claimed the AL Cy Young a year ago and Carl Pavano leads your rotation with two wins. Sooner or later the excuses run out and someone has to take the fall. A look at the Indians’ schedule reveals that a tough road trip looms. After three at home against the White Sox, Cleveland will embark on a 10-game to Tampa, Kansas City and Cincinnati. After that, they’ll return home for a pair of four-game sets against Tampa and the Yankees, however, I’m not certain that Wedge will make it back with them.
Clint Hurdle, Rockies – In a world where the phrase “What have you done for me lately” rules, Hurdle might become the second NL West manager to be fired this season. Sure, he took the Rockies to their first World Series in franchise history in 2007, but today the Rockies are in the division cellar with a 12-19 record.
Just like the Indians, Colorado has a three-game series at home this week (vs. Houston) before heading out on a 10-game road trip to Pittsburgh, Atlanta and Detroit. It’s as daunting as the trip for Cleveland, but if the Rockies go 3-7 or 2-8, Hurdle may be replaces by Memorial Day when his team gets home to face the Dodgers.
Colorado currently has two able (and presumably willing) candidates to fill in on an interim basis, should management see fit. Bench coach Jim Tracy has seven years of major league managing experience with the Pirates and Dodgers. An even more intriguing possibility is hitting coach Don Baylor. Baylor was the first manager in team history, serving in that capacity from 1993-1998. He also spent three years with the Cubs from 2000-2002.
Toronto brought back Cito Gaston mid-season last year and now he has them sitting atop the AL East at 22-12, tied with the Dodgers for most wins in baseball.
Joe Girardi, Yankees – Giardi’s name is a popular one to throw out there in discussions like these, but it’s not without reason. Management gave him prized pieces in CC Sabathia, A.J. Burnett and Mark Teixeira, but the team is 15-16, 6.5 games behind the first-place Jays. The Bombers did welcome back slugger Alex Rodriguez to the lineup this weekend in time to take two-of-three from the Orioles, but there are still problems – Chien-Meng Wang’s ineffectiveness, Teixeira’s struggle at the plate and the overall struggle of bullpen, most notably.
I don’t know how patient New York is going to be with Girardi, but I would think if a move was going to be made, it would be done soon before they fall too far behind Toronto, Boston and Tampa.
Photo credit:
Hurdle: http://www.fantasyphenoms.com/userfiles/image/t1_hurdle.jpg
Here comes Matt?
There is a buzz coming out of Cleveland and it’s surrounding a red-hot prospect, Matt LaPorta. Acquired from Milwaukee in the deal that sent CC Sabathia to the Brewers, LaPorta began this season with the Class AAA Columbus Clippers of the International League. Needless to say, the 24-year old slugger is doing pretty well. Through 19 games, LaPorta is batting .368 (25-68) with four doubles, two triples, five homers and 14 RBI. He has also scored 20 runs and was recently named IL Batter of the Week for 4/20-26.
Yesterday, the Indians placed DH Travis Hafner on the 15-day disabled list with a sore shoulder. Yes, the same right shoulder that caused him to miss so much time in 2008. The word out of Cleveland that it’s not as serious, but according to MLB.com reporter Anthony Castrovince, Pronk will be making the obligatory visit to Dr. James Andrews in Birmingham to have it checked out. To take his place, the Tribe summoned a pitcher, Rich Rundles from Columbus, but that gives them 14 pitchers currently on the roster so another move is most assuredly forthcoming.
The MLB.com article mentions LaPorta and David Dellucci as possibilities, but I think it has to be Matt. Look at what Evan Longoria did last season with the Rays. Granted, he was only with Class AAA Durham for about a week, but he came up and went a season-long tear that resulted in the American League Rookie of the Year Award. Or how about the Brewers’ Ryan Braun in 2007? He spent 34 games with Class AAA Nashville, got the call-up to Milwaukee and batted .324 with 34 homers and 97 RBI in 113 games on his way to claim National League RoY honors.
The timing is right and LaPorta could be just the jolt the Indians need to rise from the cellar of the AL Central.
Photo Credit:
http://cache.daylife.com/imageserve/0eGi5d9aX75TE/340x.jpg
That’s the last time I’ll ever be wrong
I’m here to admit I was wrong. To make amends for the error of my thinking and to eat a big steaming plate of crow.
In this space last Monday I wrote about a few surprising elements of the early 2009 season. First, I wrote about the surprise atop the NL East. While the Braves and Marlins were tied for the NL East lead, I predicted that if one of those was going to contend throughout the summer, it would be the Braves. They have experienced bats like Brian McCann and Chipper Jones to go along with a rotation who was looking strong behind Derek Lowe and Jair Jurrjens. The Marlins, in my eye, were too inexperienced to be the real thing. Since that post, the Braves who enjoyed the second highest run differential in the league at +12, have seen that number shrink to -5. They dropped five in a row before picking up their first win in a week over the Pirates.
Off to baseball’s best start at 11-1, the Marlins have been on fire since the word go. They are the only undefeated road team in the game (6-0) and oh by the way, the current five game lead they hold over the Braves and Mets is the LARGEST IN FRANCHISE HISTORY. The Fighting FIsh have done it with quality pitching (3.24 team ERA ranks second in the NL) and timely hitting (see three straight ninth-inning rallies in Washington D.C. over the weekend). I learned my lesson on the predictions, so all I will say is that I’m very excited to watch this Marlins team compete all summer long.
My other surprise (disappointment) was the play of the Cleveland Indians. Cliff was miserable in his first two starts and they had just one win in the season’s opening week. The Tribe finished 3-4 in a seven-game road trip to Kansas City and New York. Lee was much better on Thursday, besting New York’s ace, C.C. Sabathia, 10-2. The reigning AL Cy Young winner allowed only one run over 6.0 IP. It’s too early to tell which version of Lee we’ll get in 2009, but Thursday’s outing was a step in the right direction toward regaining his dominance of a season ago.
The bats also came alive during the trip, capped off by Saturday’s historic 14-run second inning and 22-4 win over the Bombers. No player might be more indicative of the breakout than new third baseman Mark DeRosa. He started the road trip hitting .115, but raised his average to .236 to go along with three homers and 15 RBI (6 in Saturday’s route alone). If DeRosa and Grady Sizemore can get going at the top, the Indians can be in the thick of the race in no time. They currently sit just 3.5 games behind first place (Chicago, Detroit, Kansas City).
After One
Now that the 2009 MLB season is a week in the books…
Biggest Surprise:
The NL East; specifically who’s at the top and who isn’t. If you told me a week ago two teams would be tied for the division lead at 5-1 and asked me to pick the two teams, I would’ve said the Mets and Phillies. Not so fast, my friends. In fact, it’s the Marlins and Braves who are tied atop this loaded division, with Philly and New York coming in at 3-3 and the Nasty Nats still in search of their first win at 0-6.
The Marlins began the week by sweeping the Nationals in Miami. As I wrote above, the Nats are winless, but the Marlins offense produced some solid numbers, doubling up Washington, 26-13 in the three-game series. They followed that up by taking two-of-three from the Mets over the weekend, including an outstanding 2-1 pitcher’s dual on Sunday between Josh Johnson (2-0, 0.57 ERA) and Johan Santana (1-1, 0.71 ERA).
The Braves should be 6-0 with their only loss coming when the bullpen imploded in Philadelphia, inexplicably surrendering a 10-3 lead in the bottom of the seventh. They joined the Marlins as being beneficiaries of getting the Nationals on the schedule so far. Atlanta has the second highest run differential in the league at +12 (St. Louis, +16) and has gotten some solid pitching efforts from both Jair Jurrjens (2-0, 2.45 ERA) and free agent acquisition, Derek Lowe (1-0, 0.57 ERA).
I know it’s early, but I think if I had to pick one of these two that will be in contention once the calendar shows September, it would be the Braves. If they continue to get solid production from familiar names like Chipper Jones and Brian McCann and rookie Jordan Schafer to go along with the strong starting pitching, they’ll be a contender all summer long.
Oh, by the way, the Marlins travel to Atlanta for a three-game set beginning tomorrow night (Volstad vs. Vazquez).
Biggest Disappointment:
The plight of the Cleveland Indians. Chosen by many to be the class of tightly-contested AL Central, the Indians narrowly avoided their worst start in 95 years yesterday by posting their first W, an 8-4 triumph over the Blue Jays. Perhaps even more alarming has been the performance of the reigning Cy Young Award winner, Cliff Lee. In two starts, Lee is 0-2 with a 9.90 ERA (11 ER/10.0 IP). By comparison, in his magical run a season ago, Lee surrendered only four earned runs during the entire month of April.
The offense hasn’t done much to pick up the staff so far, either. Cleveland has the lowest run differential in the American League at -18 and has surrendered the most runs in all of baseball, 51. Travis Hafner has been all or nothing with three homeruns, but only six hits total. Mark DeRosa, acquired from the Cubs to shore up the hot corner, is batting just .115 (3-26) in the early going.
The Tribe embarks on a seven-game road trip beginning with three in Kansas City before helping to christen New Yankee Stadium in a four-game set beginning on Thursday. They need to win both series or manager Eric Wedge might feel his seat getting a little warmer.
*all stats courtesy of ESPN.com
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