Case of the "Aces"

Photo Courtesy of Wikimedia Commons

If you're any kind of Indians fan, you probably have an opinion on the Ubaldo Jimenez trade and the way the former 19-game winner has pitched since coming to the Tribe last July. But the Big U is not the only guy in the front of the rotation I'm concerned about.

As inconsistent as Ubaldo has been in his 21 starts with the Indians, Justin Masterson had become the gold standard for consistency game in and game out. Last season, each time Masterson took the mound, you had to feel good about the Tribe's chances to win the game—it would only be a matter of whether the offense could score enough runs.

This year, though, all that has changed with Masterson. After 11 starts, the big righty is 2-4 with an eye popping 5.05 ERA. And supposed No. 2, Ubaldo, is 5-4 with a 5.79 ERA.

Of course, record and ERA aren't everything so let me hit you with some more numbers. Masterson's WHIP (walks+hits per inning pitched) is 1.49, while Ubaldo's is 1.79—both of those marks are well above each pitcher's career average. Based on that previous number this may not surprise you, but Masterson and Jimenez are also top 5 in the AL in walks—Masterson at No. 5 with 34, Ubaldo tops in the league with 42.

Needless to say, those are not the kind of stats you want from your top two starters.

So what do you do when you've got a problem like the Indians have with these two? Well, first off I think they need to be treated as separate entities. As Indians mlb.com beat writer, Jordan Bastian, pointed out on his Twitter earlier tonight, Masterson has had three bad starts that have been really bad. Other than that, Masterson has a 3.08 ERA over 52.2 innings. The bad starts have produced a 12.06 ERA in 15.2 innings.

Even in the beating he took tonight, Masterson showed some positive signs. He didn't walk a batter, and only allowed earned runs in the first two innings. He also saved the bullpen by throwing six innings. Okay, so the damage had already been done, but at least Masterson did something good.

Ubaldo, on the other hand...what the heck do you do with the guy? I tweeted the other day that it's really hard for the Indians to justify having Zach McAllister in AAA while Jimenez stinks up the majors, but that's exactly what's happening right now. One of the many, many problems with Ubaldo is that you never know which Ubaldo your'e going to get when he steps onto the mound.

I've read a lot of Ubaldo apologists and defenders talk about how "he's much better at home!" and, I'll admit, based on the numbers that's true. At the Jake this season, Ubaldo is 3-1 with a 3.38 ERA. He's also holding opposing hitters to a .171 batting average. Those numbers are pretty ace-like, but he's still walked 19 batters and struck out just 17 in 32 innings.

But I'm sure you all know what those nice numbers at home mean—he's been downright horrendous on the road. We're talking 9.00 ERA, .358 batting average against, 39 hits, and 23 walks in just 24 innings. And the show he put on against the White Sox on Sunday was nothing short of pathetic—and that's me being nice.

So what do you do with Ubaldo? I don't know, put special glasses on him so that every time he pitches he thinks he's in Cleveland?

I'll say this—a professional pitcher who's making $4.2 million dollars should be able to pitch no matter where he is. I'm sick of hearing the "he's working on his mechanics" excuse—that crap should've been done in Spring Training and the calendar is about to flip to June.

With Jimenez, I think it's definitely a mental issue. I hope every day, Manny Acta is in his ear telling him to get his stuff in gear, and every time he has a start like he did in Chicago, Acta takes him to the woodshed.

Indians GM Chris Antonetti has consistently said that the Tribe acquired Ubaldo to be a "front of the rotation" starter. Well you know what, I'm sick of him pitching like a guy that needs to be sent down to AAA. Is 9-8 with a 5.41 ERA in 21 starts what you'd expect from a so-called "front of the rotation" guy?

Yeah, I didn't think so.

Masterson has shown that he can still be the ace we need him to be—his start last Thursday against Detroit and Justin Verlander is a prime example. But if the Indians are going to be a playoff team, both Masterson and Jimenez must to step up and consistently be the pitchers they're supposed to be.

Well, that or maybe we could get some addition by subtraction by finding a way to rid the rotation of Ubaldo until he gets his you-know-what together.

Can't hurt to wish, right?
~MAS

The Memorial Day Checkpoint

Many people around MLB feel like Memorial Day is a good time to gage where teams stand and see which teams are or are not legitimate. And while we should all take a moment out of our days to be thankful for the men and women who have served—and are serving—this great country, the day off also allows for some time to talk baseball.

Granted a whole lot can change between the unofficial start of summer and its unofficial end of Labor Day, but since we're all fairly invested in the Tribe, I think it's safe to say that this team is pretty legit.

Now I know the White Sox opened up a can of whoop-you-know-what on us over the weekend, but how many games were you really expecting the Indians to win in a series the team played without its 3-5 hitters? How many teams can loose all three of those key bats and still have a decent offensive attack?

Strangely enough, the answer is...the Indians. After losing 9-3 on Friday night, Acta's Fun Bunch came out and scored seven runs on Saturday, six on Sunday, and now eight today. And I'll say this, a team that has Jose Lopez in the cleanup hitters spot should not be scoring seven runs a game. That's incredible.

But right now, we're seeing a few guys step up and put the team right on their back—Michael Brantley and Jason Kipnis. Those two players have done so much for the team in the past few days, both offensively and defensively.

If you haven't seen this catch Brantley made on Saturday in Chicago, watch it and be reminded of Kenny Lofton in the 90s.



And how can you say enough about Kipnis? The JK-Kid is still in his first full season in the big leagues  and in his first three game stint as a No. 3 hitter he's gone 7/13 with four runs scored and six RBI. Not to mention he hit two home runs off of Jake Peavy in Chicago. Plus, Kipnis has hit an incredible .500 (12-24) in his last six games. Those are some serious numbers folks, and I think it's a fantastic sign of things to come.

With Lonnie Chisenhall back up from AAA to replace the injured Jack Hannahan, I think the future is now for the Indians infield. It's just my unprofessional opinion, but I think Chisenhall's swing looks a lot more compact and smooth than it did towards the end of last season on this home run.

But, of course, the last three games, the starting pitching has really let the team down. I can't even get into the enigma that is Ubaldo Jimenez without wanting to scream, but Derek Lowe definitely had the clunker for which he was probably due. And even though we won the game, the team needs more out of Josh Tomlin than five innings with four earned runs.

The good thing is that Masterson has come on as of late, pitching seven strong innings and only giving up one run in his last start against Detroit on Thursday. Also, as bad as Ubaldo has been, you've got to feel at least moderately good about Lowe, Gomez and Tomlin for the rest of the rotation.

So what's the point of all this? Well, yes the Indians do have offensive problems—even with Asdrubal and Santana back later this week, the Indians still have way too many lefties in the lineup and an albatross in left field. Maybe Matt LaPorta will be able to fill that void, but I doubt it. Either way, I'm sure President Mark Shapiro and GM Chris Antonetti have been working the phones, trying to find some kind of bat to put out there.

But for now, as Chris Perez so tactlessly put it, let's just enjoy this first place baseball team. I fully expect the Motor City Fat Cats to get their act together and start mashing the ball with good pitching, but for now, let's hope we can beat up on the cellar dwellers of the AL Central to create some more separation in the division.

More to come, Tribe fans.
~MAS

Hey, Chris Perez? Shut up and pitch

I have been as critical as anybody about the Indians closer, Chris Perez, but I've also been very happy to eat crow each and every time he's proven me wrong. After all, I was one of the idiots with the knee jerk reaction after Perez's Opening Day debacle to say that Vinnie Pestano would be the closer by mid-July.

Although there's still a very, very slim chance that could happen, I really wouldn't count on it. And I honestly couldn't be more happy about that. Since he blew the save on Opening Day, all Perez has done is go 13 for 13 in save situations with a 1.72 ERA—including a flawless 9th inning yesterday where Perez struck out the side on 10 pitches, nine of which were strikes. It was probably the most dominant performance from a closer I'd ever seen in person at the Jake.

Now, the Indians attendance problems have been well documented, but on a day where the Indians drew nearly 30,000 fans for the second straight game and had their largest crowd since Opening Day, why in the wide, wide world of sports would Perez go off on the fans?

I realize, as Perez said on his Twitter, that the closer was only answering the questions he was asked, and I also appreciate his candidness and honesty in answering the questions, but you know what? I think a few of his comments went too far.

Okay, I'll admit that I hold this perhaps unpopular opinion, but on principle I'm usually just fine with booing home players if you're a fan in attendance. You paid for the price of admission to see an entertaining product on the field, so if that product stinks I have no problem with letting them know it. And if the closer blows a save, he deserves to get booed—and I will boo the guy 10 times out of 10.

To his credit, Perez acknowledged the fact that after blowing the save on Opening Day he deserved to get booed. And I agree with Perez when he said that it was ridiculous when two guys reached base and fans booed earlier this week when he pitched against the Mariners. Perez didn't even end up giving up a run in that inning, and the Indians ended up winning the game. In situations like that, preemptively booing is uncalled for—especially because no harm was actually done.

But beyond that? Can't say that I care if Perez is "pissed off" over getting booed at home.

You know why? Because Perez has 4.5 million reasons to suck it up and get over it.

Professional athletes are paid ridiculous amounts of money to be entertainers. As Adam the Bull from 92.3 The Fan said on his Twitter last night, All-Star players get booed in New York and all over the country all the time. So if Perez can't stand the fact that fans might not be so encouraging every time he takes the mound, maybe he's in the wrong business.

And additionally, to say that Carlos Beltran chose to sign with the St. Louis Cardinals over the Indians because of fan support or lack thereof is positively absurd to me. Yes, Beltran turned the Indians down—as well as Roy Oswalt and Carlos Pena—but there were a number of factors with those things. Oswalt was being a general jerk and only wanted to play for maybe two teams. Pena wanted to go back to a familiar environment with the Rays, in part because his family was located in Tampa. And with Beltran, he didn't want to switch back to the American League—a switch that can be difficult (ahem, Albert Pujols)—after playing in the NL since mid-2004.

So for Perez to insinuate that Beltran was swayed to the Cardinals over the Indians because of the fans just sounds foolish. He's really saying that despite the similar amounts of money offered, any logical person wouldn't sign with the defending World Champions? Yeah, I'll let Dr. Evil handle this one for me.

So here's the deal, Perez says he's in for the long haul, to bring a Championship to C-town, and I believe him. He's sure as hell pitching like it. But you know what? If you don't want the fans to boo you, it's probably not a good idea to assail them in the press.

I'll say this—I'm still going to cheer on Chris Perez and hope that he continues to prove me wrong. I'm still going to go down to the Jake as much as I can, and I hope you will too. But if the team stinks that night, they're going to hear it from me.

And I will not apologize for that.
~MAS