Why should I still be an Indians fan?

Manny Acta, scapegoat for the
2012 Cleveland Indians.
Photo Courtesy of
Wikimedia Commons 

Seriously, why?

Where should my motivation come from to continue to support this team?

The 90s? A period of time I barely remember because I've only been living for 21 years.

The promise of Jason Kipnis and...who else on this current roster?

Certainly not Justin Masterson—not after he's going to finish the year with an ERA hovering around 5.00. Not Chris Perez either—if they almost designated him for assignment after he criticized the Dolans for not spending money in August, you can bet your fanny they'll trade him this offseason. Not Asdrubal Cabrera either—he can't stay healthy through a second half.

Vinnie Pestano perhaps? Sure let's get behind a guy who's an unproven closer.

Or maybe Carlos Santana? He can sure hit a garbage time home run.

Ah, I know—Sandy Alomar. Of course, the Indians current interm manager (who'll probably lose that "interm" tag sooner than later) will keep my fandom because this season's historic collapse was all Manny Acta's fault. That's it.

Give me a freaking break.

I don't know that I've ever been so mad at a Cleveland sports team in my life. It's not that I thought Acta should keep his job—I certainly didn't. Any team that goes through a month with a record of 5-24 deserves to have its leader canned. No doubt Acta knew this, and was prepared for it.

But what I don't understand—and what I'll perhaps never understand—is how General Manager Chris Antonetti is going to keep his job. His horrendous offseason last winter cost the Indians a chance to contend this year. And his poor talent evaluation has cost the Indians mightily in both the CC Sabathia and Cliff Lee trades.

It doesn't matter how many people were clamoring for Matt LaPorta. He's been a nothing short of a collosal failure, and that blame has to lie somewhere.

Oh, and by the way, not that it directly falls on him, but the team can't draft players either. Or sign them in Asia and Latin America for that matter.

Antonetti said it himself in today's press conference, "We all share in the responsibility of how things turned out this year—myself, the players, Manny and the coaches."

But when it comes down to it, who put together this roster that lost 24 games in August and has lost 91 so far with six games left to go?

I wrote about this in August, and it's more apparent to me today than ever before—the Dolans care far more about loyalty than results.

I'm not going to sit here and write that they don't care about winning. I believe that they do. But facts are facts. This regime of Mark Shapiro and Antonetti have combined for two playoff appearances since 2001. We can make it sound worse and say one playoff appearance in the last 10 years. And yes, I know the '05 team could've made the playoffs this year with this weak division, but the bottom line is it didn't happen. That team flamed out in the last week of the season instead of winning the Wild Card.

92.3 The Fan's Daryl Ruiter pointed this out today and I think it's the strongest argument I have for just giving up on this team.

With Shapiro & Antonetti in charge, #Indians are 849-927 (.478);2 winning seasons over that span. 0 since 2007; Yep Acta was the problem

— Daryl Ruiter (@RuiterWrongFAN) September 27, 2012

By keeping Shapiro & Antonetti, ownership is telling an already angry fan base that .478 baseball is OK w/ them

— Daryl Ruiter (@RuiterWrongFAN) September 27, 2012

A winning percentage under .500. No winning seasons since the year the team probably should've won the world series. What am I suposed to hang on to?

And I don't want to hear, "Well, the Royals and the Pirates haven't had a winning season in 20 years!" Does Cleveland look like Kansas City or Pukesburgh? Are we supposed to lower our standards just because someone else isn't good?

Neither of those places are my city. I don't follow those teams. I don't care about their standards for winning, or not winning. And if you think I'm going to sit here and be complacent after this team fires its manager for losing 90+ games in a year during the, "Window of Contention" then you're out of your mind.

Where are the Indians going? What's the plan? Rince, ring out, repeat? Is the front office really going to try to put together another team with shoe strings and gum and then tell me it's going to contend?

Really?

I've written it before, but apparently I've got to write it again:

Blow it up.

Everything.

Perez, Masterson, Asdrubal, Joe Smith—anyone with any kind of value should be traded this winter. The cupbords are bare. There are literally no prospects in the upper echelons of the minors. The best you can hope for with the team as its currently built is .500. And I feel the need to emphasize this, that's at best.

If the Indians front office honestly thinks the team can reload or retool with some free agents, a new manager (if you honestly think Terry Francona is going to come here, you're lost), and maybe a trade, all its members need to take a look in the mirror and ask themselves, how?

I understand wanting to keep this front office together, but at some point, results have to start to matter more to the Dolans. Winning has to start being the #1 priority.

And until that happens, I just don't know if there's any reason for me to be an Indians fan.

~MAS

"Did you even have a plan?!"

Johnny Damon was just one of the Indians Front Office's
mistakes in personnel "upgrades" for this season.
Photo courtesy of Wikimedia Commons

How did it come to this?

That's what I found myself thinking as I watched the Yankees beat the Indians 4-2 on a sunny Sunday afternoon in a Progressive Field full of the visiting team's fans.

How in the wide world of sports did the Indians go from a team on the brink of contention to one that's on the road to 90 losses?

You can say players have underperformed, and you'd be right. But the real problem was that this team was not built to win a World Series in the first place.

Before the Indians game Friday night, general maneger Chris Antonetti spoke to reporters and some of his comments speak volumes about the way the 2012 Indians were put together, along with how the front office thought the team could be able to contend.

"Our plan was to try to win as many games as we could," Antonetti said. "That was our focus, to try to maximize the resources we had to win as many games as we could. Obviously, it hasn’t been a successful year to date." 

Maximize the resources we had. What an interesting phrase. I don't want to read into it too much because these weren't planned, written, thought out remarks, but what other team would say "maximize the resources we had" in their plan to contend? The Rays, maybe? But when you talk about resources, that kind of sounds like a money problem—which would more than implicate the Dolans in this disaster. 

But, of course, that wasn't Antonetti's only curious remark. 

"We talked about this at the start of the season, in order for us to have the year we wanted to have, we needed a lot of things to go our way," he said. "We needed to stay healthy. We needed to have our best players perform. We needed to have our young players take the next step in their development. And we needed to get key contributions from some of the veteran guys we brought in to have bounce back years. And I think you can go through that list and a number of those things didn’t happen—certainly not at the level that we needed them to for us to be the team we wanted to be."

That's a laundry list of four variables that the Indians were depending on in order to contend. And sure, the Rays, A's, and Pirates might say the same about three of those four, but if you look at teams that contend year in and year out, they're not depending on young guys and washed up veterans to "bounce back."

That's not even mentioning the fact that the Indians went into the season featuring an all-lefty lineup, and an all-righty rotation. I've asked this question before, but when was the last time anyone saw a World Series winner without a right handed hitter? And that's not even taking into account the fact that fans have been clamoring for a big right handed bat since 2005.

But because Antonetti talked about players needing to stay healthy, one reporter asked what the GM would say to fans who think the Indians wasted $5 million on Grady Sizemore. 

"In retrospect, obviously that’s certainly true," Antonetti said. "We were hopeful that Grady would be able to rebound and play, and obviously that has not happened. So we knew there was a risk obviously when we signed him, and it didn’t work out."

No, Chris, it didn't work out. Neither did any of the other moves you made in the offseason—Casey Kotchman, Derek Lowe, Jose Lopez, Kevin Slowey, and Johnny Damon (who was signed in season, but you get the point). 

I think everyone would agree that the front office severely failed in putting together a roster that would seriously contend for the division. Even when things were going "well," the Indians were either winning 4-2 or getting blown out—which is why they've almost always had a negative run differential this season. The high water mark for this team was May 24, when they beat Justin Verlander and the Tigers to get to eight games over .500 at 26-18. 

Immediately after that, they got swept by the White Sox and lost a series to both the Royals and Twins. 

Now I'm on record as saying the Dolans need to send a message to the fans that mediocrity isn't good enough by firing Antonetti, but at some point they also have to look long and hard in the mirror and ask why are they even in this business if they're not making money and all they do is lose? It can't be fun to be the whipping boy of every fan and sports radio host in Cleveland. 

But whatever happens, the entire Indians organization needs to realize that whatever the "plan" was to contend this year failed miserably. And they'd all be wise to never try to implement a plan like that again. 

~MAS

Why the Dolans Are Soft

What if...Indians ownership wasn't okay with
being mediocre?
Photo from brianpenzone of Flickr

Let me start out by saying that if you haven't read Terry Pluto's interview with Paul Dolan on Cleveland.com, read it now. It will give you all the context you need for everything I'm about to lay on the Dolans.

Perhaps I shouldn't say the "Dolans" though, since Pluto's interview was only with Paul. But my opinion still remains—the Indians ownership needs a serious attitude adjustment if it intends to make the organization one that can contend for World Series titles.

Let's start with the obvious. Pluto quotes the Indians payroll as $71 million, 26th out of the 30 teams. The average MLB payroll is $105 million. I'm not going to argue that the Indians payroll should be over 100 million, since that's just not going to happen, but there really is no reason in the world the Indians payroll can't be $80 million. I've been saying that since the last offseason, and I still believe it's true.

And yet, Dolan said to Pluto that "there is no expectation the payroll for next year will be substantially different from prior years."

I don't think anyone is asking for something unreasonable. Fans just want the payroll to be competitive with the rest of the league.

But what really, truly frustrates me is what Dolan said about the trio of Chris Antonetti, Mark Shapiro and Manny Acta. Keep in mind that this Indians team was supposed to compete for division titles in 2012 and 2013. The Antonetti-led front office made that clear by trading for Ubaldo Jimenez at the deadline last year.

Regardless, Pluto reports Dolan had this to say about the three amigos:

"We assess everyone at the end of every season...As painful as this has been, I don't want to get into some knee-jerk reactions."

Oh really? I think Scott Radinsky might disagree with you on that, Paul. Unless he doesn't count as "everyone."

Nevertheless, Dolan also had this to say specifically about Antonetti.

"It's not fair just to judge [Antonetti] on the last year or so...He has been with us for a long time [since 1999] and has been the architect of some deals that turned out very well—long before he became general manager."

You see, the way people in the Indians organization use the term "knee-jerk" makes me think that they don't exactly realize what it means. Does Dolan really think it's unfair to judge a GM over a body of work that extends past two years? I'm talking back into 2010, when it was announced Antonetti woud officially take over the GM role after the season, after being trained to do so for a few years.

Well fine then. Since Antonetti came to the organization in 1999, the Indians have made it to the playoffs twice. Two times in 13 seasons. And really, I don't think the 2001 playoff appearance should even count (the 1999 appearance most certainly doesn't, which is why I didn't even consider it). That was John Hart's team, and if anyone gets an assist it's Shapiro.

From 2000 and beyond, the Indians have a combined record of 1,017 - 1,039. That's a winning percentage of just .495. That, to me, paints a bold picture of mediocrity.

Is that what the Dolans want?

And if even if you don't just want to go from the last couple of years, let's take a look at what the team has done since it finished one game short of the World Series in 2007.

From 2008 and going into Friday's contest against Boston, the Indians have a record of 347 - 413. That's a winning percentage of just .456.

Why is this good enough?

When the GM puts together a team with nine left handed hitters and five right handed starters that he claims he "expects to contend" that ends up losing 11 games in a row, at some point you've got to think about a change.

This is not a "knee-jerk" reaction. A winning percentage below .500 since 2000 and significantly under  .500 since 2008 should not be acceptable. I don't care how many good trades he might have made, he undeniably blew the CC Sabathia and Cliff Lee trades. In fact, an argument could be made that he blew the Victor Martinez trade as well.

And this gets me to why the Dolans are soft. Nancys. Sissies. Wussies. Or another word that you could probably guess, but I won't write it here.

To them, loyalty is more important than results. Loyalty to a team President in Mark Shapiro and a GM in Chris Antonetti that have had one playoff appearance since 2002.

What if...a winning percentage under .500 wasn't good enough?

What if...the Indians had an owner that wasn't satisfied with mediocrity?

If the team isn't for sale, then the Dolans are going to have to show that they actually want to win. Firing Antonetti—and perhaps Shapiro as well—would send a message to the fans that .500 isn't good enough.

And that's exactly the message this fan base wants to receive.

~MAS

This Must Be Rock Bottom...Right?

Like the commercial says,
"What if...it never happened?"
Too bad this 0-9 road trip did happen...
Photo from brianpenzone of Flickr

What can you say after an 0-9 road trip?

What can you say about a team that got outscored 74-28 in those nine games?

What can you say when a team leaves home 3 1/2 games out of first in the AL Central and comes back 9 1/2 games out?

What can you say about a closer that continually runs his mouth, and then goes out and blows a three-run save in a game his team desperately needed him to win?

Surely, it can't get any worse than this.

Can it?

A week ago, I wrote that the Indians should consider trading Shin-Soo Choo. Anyone could see that the Indians had been struggling since the All-Star break and thus had turned from a contender to a team in baseball purgatory. Since then, we had no deadline deals either way, heard the same old, "The players here must play to their potential," garbage from GM Chris Antonetti, and we've seen this team just fall flat on its face.

You know what? I don't even know that "falling flat on its face" is harsh enough for this nine game losing streak.

Remember when they beat Verlander before the road trip started? Yeah, me neither.

Again, the Indians were outscored 74-28. That's an average of 8.2 runs a game versus 3.1 runs a game. That means the team wasn't pitching or hitting. And when you've got that combination...yikes.

A couple of nights ago, the Indians play-by-play voice Tom Hamilton said that you just don't see these kinds of losing streaks in the majors without seeing changes made in personnel. You can say that firing someone now would just be a scapegoat, and that might be true. But the fact still remains, when you have a losing streak like this, something has to change.

And that can't just be designating certain veterans for assignment. Derek Lowe and Johnny Damon are both gone—as they should have been at the very least a week or two ago—as is Jeremy Accardo, and there should be more changes to the roster. I understand that Ezequiel Carrera was hitting over .400 since the All-Star break, but does anyone think of him as more than a fourth outfielder? And how little faith does the front office have in Russ Canzler and Matt LaPorta that they still aren't up at the major league level?

I had a spirited debate with a colleague a couple of weeks ago that firing Manny Acta would be a bad idea. I now have to say that it probably isn't. I get that Acta is a cool, calm, collected guy, and he can only play the players he's been given, but something has got to give here.

The problem is, when you replace Acta with Sandy Alomar Jr, the results are going to be the same because Alomar will have the same crap team.

That's why I'm saying the front office needs to be cleaned out. President Mark Shapiro and Antonetti should both fear for their jobs at this point—and so should anybody else that is in their corner.

Have they made a living out of fleecing other teams out of their prospects for marginal players? Absolutely yes. That's how they acquired Asdrubal Cabrera (Eduardo Perez), Shin-Soo Choo (Ben Broussard), Carlos Santana (Casey Blake), Zach McAllister (Austin Kearns)—the list goes on.

But who do we have from the CC Sabathia, Victor Martinez, and Cliff Lee trades? Michael Brantley and Justin Masterson. Don't talk to me about any of those other players, because none of them have an impact.

If you look at the haul Kansas City received for Zack Grienke—Alcides Escobar, Lorenzo Cain, Jake Odorizzi, and Jeremy Jeffers—two of those players have made an impact at the major league level, and the rest have at the very least been effective at AAA. That trade rebuilt the upper levels of the Royals farm system, which is one of the main reasons why that team really has a positive outlook for 2013.

What do the Indians have in their upper levels?

Nothing. Not one impact player whatsoever. Why do you think we're calling up 31 year old Vinny Rottino and 28 year old Chris Seddon?

The cupbord is bare and that must fall on the front office. And this is all before we even get into the fact of signing Grady Sizemore for $5 million, but passing on Josh Willingham because of a third year and concerns about his back.

It can't get much worse than this for the Indians and as Hamilton said, changes must be made. These players are trying. To use an Eric Wedge word, they're grinding out there. But they must be put in a position to succeed. Who does that fall on?

Mark Shapiro. Chris Antonetti. To some extent Manny Acta.

Get rid of 'em all. And Dolans, you can sell the team while you're at it.

What if?
~MAS

This One's Big—Really, Really Big

It's time to play that game again...
What If...the Indians win this series with the Tigers?
Photo from brianpenzone of Flickr

So the Indians managed to salvage one of four games from Baltimore with their ace on the mound to start and the best 1-2 bullpen punch in the league to close it out.

I don't think it can be understated how big of a win that was for the Wahoos. It broke a four-game losing streak, it prevented a four-game sweep, it brought the team back to .500, and it gave the team a little wave of momentum to ride into a huge three-game series with the Detroit Tigers.

While we've been patiently waiting for GM Chris Antonetti to give us a Christmas present in July, the Fat Cats went out and made themselves just a bit fatter by acquiring second baseman Omar Infante and starting pitcher Anibal Sanchez from the Miami Marlins. They gave up their top pitching prospect in Jacob Turner, but this is the right type of move for a hot team that would like to stay hot.

Infante stabilizes a second base position for the Tigs that has been a situation analogous to the Indians' left field in terms of offensive production, and it also gives them an above-average pitcher that can help the rotation. It really reminds me a lot of the move the Tigers made last year in trading for Doug Fister a bit before the deadline.

Fister was thought of as an above-average pitcher at the time of the trade, but it proved to be a very shrewd move by Detroit GM Dave Dombrowski. Fister ended up going 8-1 with a 1.79 ERA in 10 starts (11 overall appearances) for the 2011 Tigers, and undoubtedly helped that team run away with the AL Central crown.

Now that's not to say that Sanchez is all of a sudden going to pitch like Cy Young, but anytime you can acquire an above-average starter and second baseman when you're in position to contend for a World Series, it's a pretty good move. Well, at least on paper.

So here's the deal—and don't stop me when you realize you've heard this one before—the Indians will play these Tiggies for three games in late July starting tonight at 7:05. The Tribe comes into the game four games behind Detroit in the Central, and 3.5 games back of the second Wild Card spot (but since Manny Acta said "how dare anyone" talk about the Wild Card when we're only four games out in the Central with 60+ games left, I guess we shouldn't talk about it).

I'll be blunt—I don't think the Indians will make the playoffs, whether they acquire a player (or two...or five) from a trade or not.

Here's a stat for you—in 9 of the 11 games since the All-Star break, the Indians have scored three runs or less. That's right, only twice in eleven games have they scored more than three runs.

There's no other word I can come up with for that than pathetic.

Want to know how many times the Tigers have scored three runs or less in their 10 games since the break?

Once.

Yes just one time, and it came in a clunker of a 12-0 shutout loss to the Angels. You can go back even further and the numbers don't get any worse for Detroit. In July, that shutout is the only time that team hasn't scored at least four runs. In fact, you have to go all the way back to June 29, when the Tigers lost 4-2 to the Rays, to find another game where they scored less than three runs.

With an Indians pitching staff that ranks second last in the American League—not to mention 27th overall—and an anemic (at best) offense, we as Indians fans have reason to be worried coming into these three games. This is not the same Tigers team the Indians swept May by scores of 5-3, 4-2, and 2-1.

Yes, this Indians team has looked bad since the All-Star break with a paltry record of 4-7, and the Tigers have looked great going 8-2 in the same span, but that's why they have to go out and play the games, right?

I hate to call it a make or break series for the Indians, but let's face it—they need a big series win or the team's postseason chances will quickly start to slip away.

~MAS

Allow me to Reintroduce Myself, My Name is Rob! R to the O-B!

Same guy, same number, different name.
Roberto Hernandez—What if?
Photo Courtesy of Wikimedia Commons

When Roberto Hernandez was arrested in January for identity fraud, I made the joke that his two names represented the internal battle he always seemed to face—the good Fausto vs the bad Fausto. And I thought, wow, maybe when he was pitching well he was having a good day and felt he was able to conceal his identity well, and in a bad day—or bad year, like in 2009, or even 2011—the whole fraudulent identity thing may have been weighing on him.

But now that the cat's out of the bag, who knows what in the wide of sports the Indians are going to get out of Hernandez once he joins the club after his three week suspension.

First of all, how long is it going to take to get him ready to face major league hitters? Every report has said that Hernandez has been throwing 75-pitch simulated games in his native Dominican Republic. That's all well and good, but those simulated games aren't even against batters from Lake County. Also, 75 pitches really isn't that many for a starting pitcher. He'll need to be stretched out to a least 100 over the next three weeks in order to actually be ready to start for the big-league club.

But even with all that, I have a very bad feeling the Indians are going to see him as their mid-season acquisition of a starting pitcher, and then focus all their efforts on getting a bat. Is that the absolute worst thing that could happen? Well no, not exactly—especially if Hernandez pitches like "Carmona" did in 2007, or even 2010. I know Antonetti said in his press conference today that Hernandez's return doesn't really affect what the team is trying to do in the trade market, and Ken Rosenthal said today that the Indians are focusing their trading efforts on a starting pitcher, but based on this front office's track record, I just don't believe the Indians are going to acquire another starter. 

And the worst part is that it yet again comes down to "What if?" What if Hernandez can come back and be a quality starting pitcher for the last six weeks of the season?

What kind of garbage is that?

This is why every time the stupid "What if?" commercials come on the radio or television, I want to change the station. How much of this "What if?" crap are we as fans supposed to take? It's like this team is being put together on shoe strings and gum—not track records and actual efforts to tangibly improve the team.

I'm sorry, but right now this team is a game over .500, and anyone who thinks someone who hasn't pitched in a major league game in nearly a year is going to all of a sudden become a dominant starting pitcher in MLB—let alone the American League—probably needs their head examined.

You can't even tell me that Hernandez pitched well down the stretch last season, because he didn't. Sure he had a good July and August, but then went 1-3 with a 7.26 ERA in six starts in September and October. So really, this could be subtraction by addition. Is he really what this team needs at a point where it's 2.5 games out of the second Wild Card spot and 3.0 games out of the Central? And who knows where we'll be in three weeks when he's eligible to pitch for the team.

That sort of sounds like I'm saying the Indians may have been better off with Hernandez staying in the Dominican Republic, but it's honestly not. I actually think the Tribe should put him in the bullpen and go from there.

If you recall "Carmona's" rookie year of 2006, he enjoyed a stretch of about two and a half months as the Indians' setup man, and was pretty darn effective as a reliever. Then the Indians traded Bob Wickman and tried to make "Carmona" the closer, an experiment that turned out to be an unmitigated disaster.

But the point is, as a middle-reliever and setup man, Carmona was great. And since everyone in the bullpen not named Rogers, Smith, Pestano, or Perez has been completely unreliable, I think it would be wise to put Hernandez back there. Let's let those who have been starting all season long do that job if we need a rotation replacement—those like Jenmar Gomez or Corey Kluber in AAA, or someone acquired from a trade.

To me, "What if Roberto Hernandez pitches well in the starting rotation for six weeks?" just isn't the type of question an organization serious about winning a division or wild card spot should ask its fans.

~MAS

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

Notice of Concern: Ubaldo Jimenez

The Tribe might have been better off letting
Ubaldo Jimenez stay in a Rockies uniform
last season.

Photo courtesy of Wikimedia Commons.

When the Indians traded three of their top ten prospects in reliever Joe Gardener, then starter-now reliever Alex White and flamethrower Drew Pomeranz to the Rockies last summer, I said I was conflicted.

I said that I wanted starting pitcher Ubaldo Jimenez, but I wasn't sure about trading Pomeranz for him—especially because Pomeranz had done nothing but exceed everyone's expectations in his first professional season.

And now that Pomeranz has made the Rockies rotation out of Spring Training, White has made the Rockies bullpen, and Gardener is expected to be at the major league level at some point this season, I can't help but think the Indians made a very bad deal.

Just so we're clear, I would be saying this even if Ubaldo hadn't gotten himself suspended five games for beaning Troy Tulowitzki on Sunday afternoon. (Ubaldo's appealing the suspension, so he most likely won't miss his first start on Saturday versus the Blue Jays.)

In any case, yes, it's true that Ubaldo could regain his form and be an effective top of the rotation starter again. Yes, Spring Training does not count. But how can it not be a concern that his velocity is down to 93-94 MPH, from about 96 MPH in his heyday with the Rockies?

And how can it not be a concern that he's so immature that he felt like throwing at Troy Tulowitzki in the first inning instead of trying to make Tulo look foolish by striking him out?

And how can it not be a concern that overall this spring, Ubaldo compiled a 1-4 record with a 7.43 ERA with 15 strikeouts and 15 walks in 23 innings?

And how can it not be a concern that even when Ubaldo had his best start of the spring—a five inning outing against the White Sox—he still made 90 pitches and was behind in the count way too often, which didn't allow him to go his scheduled six innings?

Drew Pomeranz, on the other hand, had a stellar spring—and I may be selling him short by just saying "stellar," because he was truly outstanding. He went 3-0 with a 0.53 ERA in 17 innings. That's right, folks, he gave up just one earned run in 17 spring innings. He gave up 11 hits, walked just four, and struck out 11 this spring as well.

You see the problem here?

Yes, it's just Spring Training, but Pomeranz has a chance to be better than Ubaldo this season, already! It's positively absurd that the Indians former top prospect could be better than the pitcher we traded him for this year, but it's well within the realm of possibility.

This trade stung when it happend all those months ago, but it could sting even more if Ubaldo doesn't get his you-know-what together and start pitching like an ace. I'm sorry, but when you trade a prospect who you figure is going to be great for a pitcher who you believe can regain his form, you need it to work out.

And nobody needs this trade to work out better for the Indians than GM Chris Antonetti. This was his first big move as GM, and so far it's the biggest stinker—it's definitely worse than the Grady Sizemore signing mess and the OF situation that's come out of it.

But don't get me wrong—I'm rooting for Ubaldo, and you should be too. This is Major League Baseball. There's no givesies-backsies. So right now, all of us Tribe fans better be hoping, wishing, and praying for Ubaldo to pitch like the 2010 Ubaldo Jimenez that amazed everyone in the league.

Otherwise, the Indians may have made one of the worst trades in the history of baseball.

'You want free agents? You'll get Casey Kotchman and like it!'

Kotchman last year with the Rays
Photo courtesy of Wikimedia Commons

So I've been hearing a lot of positive reaction to the Indians signing Casey Kotchman, and I've gotta say that I'm not totally in favor of this deal.

"What? Why wouldn't you want an upgrade over Matt LaPorta, someone you have constantly hammered?"


Yes, yes, I know, I don't like Lappy.

But here's the thing—is Kotchman really an improvement?

First of all, we signed him for a 1-year, $3 million deal. For most teams, that's absolute chump change. For the Indians, it's a fairly significant investment. So let's take a look at what we're getting.

Kotchman is coming off of a year where he hit a  10 home runs and 48 RBI with a career best .306 average. Can't say those stats exactly set the world on fire...although none of the Indians hitters broke .300 on their final averages last year. What's even more "blah" to me is that he only had a total 36 extra base hits in 146 games! That's 10 home runs, 24 doubles and two triples.

What's more is that in 2010, Kotchman had a pretty awful season with the Mariners, batting just .217 with 9 HR, 51 RBI, and just 20 doubles in 125 games.

Honestly, Kotchman has never been much of power hitter—he's only hit a total of 96 extra base hits over the last three seasons, and average of 32 per year. This would would be fine, but he's a corner infielder. And our other hot corner is going to be manned by either youngin' Lonnie Chisenhall or the veteran Jack Hannahan—who, as much as I absolutely love his glove, is never going to be confused for an offensive specialist.

So what am I saying here?

Well, let's take a look at the numbers of Matt LaPorta. I have never been a LaPorta apologist, and I really think he should be replaced, but for comparisons sake, let's just look at the numbers, huh?

In what can be considered his second full season, Lappy played in 107 games, hit 11 home runs, drove in 53 runs, and had 23 doubles.

Wait a second, that's 34 extra base hits in just 107 games—not even counting his one fluke triple!

...see where I'm going with this?

I know LaPorta is not that good, strikes out way more than he should, has a biological clock clicking like a time bomb at age 27, and honestly has been a terrible disappointment from the CC Sabathia trade, but are we really improving that much with Kotchman?

I don't know that we are.

To be completely honest, I'd almost rather see the kid we just bought from traded Tampa Bay for cash for, Russ Canzler, get a shot at first base. At least he's younger—only 25—and has shown that he can get some extra base hits.

But at least for now, it looks like we're going to be stuck with Kotchman.

Wow.

And since we're on the subject of free agents, correct me if I'm wrong, but I do believe that Kotchman is the only free agnet the Indians have been able to reel in on a major league deal. Yes, they've made a heck of a lot of depth moves, and that's fine with me. But...this is it, guys.

(Okay, aside from Grady Sizemore, but he was re-signed so that doesn't really count.)

However—and this is not something I was ever expecting to say—I really don't think this is the Dolan's fault.

Stay with me on this—the Indians have been reportedly interested in at least three big name free agents, and they've all said they're not interested. I'm talking about Roy Oswalt, Carlos Pena and Carlos Beltran.

According to the PD's Paul Hoynes, the Indians offered Pena a 1-year $8 million deal and got told no. They offered Beltran 2-years, $24 million and were told no from him as well. Oswalt told them no before they even got to the negotiating table.

It's not like GM Chris Antonetti isn't trying, it's just that guys don't want to come here. That's the sad reality.

Honestly, right now it looks like the only way the Indians could get a "big name" free agent to sign here is if they severely overpaid—and you know the Dolans aren't going to do that.

Do I want the Dolan's to sell the team because of that? I'm not sure. But I do know this—if the Indians can prove to the world that they can stand up to the Motor City Fat Cats (see what I did there?), they will probably have a much easier time singing free agents better than Casey freaking Kotchman next winter.

But hey, just over 60 days left till Opening Day. Can't say I'm not excited.
~MAS

Hello Ubaldo!

I'm conflicted.

I want to like this trade, I really do. But I just don't know that I can yet.

I mean, the Indians just don't do this! We trade our best guys for prospects, not the other way around. Never the other way around. At least not since the John Hart era.

Okay, did I want a big trade? Yes. Did I say I'd like Ubaldo Jimenez in an Indians uniform? Yes. But did I want to give up Pomeranz in the process?

Hell no.

Okay, yes we got a pitcher who blazed through the league in the first half of last season, but he has been a little more than human since July 19 of last season. After going 15-1 with a 2.13 ERA before that date, he went 4-7 with a 3.70 ERA the rest of the way. And then this year he started out April with a 6.75 ERA and went through May with a 5.45 ERA. I'm usually in favor of giving a guy the benefit of the doubt based on past services, but to give up your top prospect who has done nothing but gas guys in the minors, someone who projects to be in the rotation (maybe even the front of the rotation!) by next June, it just seems like a little too much to me.

Terry Pluto wrote it in his Sunday column, and I really agree with him that if the price was just White, Huff, and some others make the deal yesterday. I like that because you're giving up a RH starter and getting a RH starter in return. The problem is that we're not in a situation where Ubaldo is at the end of his contract, or only has one year left on it like when we traded CC and Cliff Lee. Because of that, the notion that we got less for both of those guys than we gave up for Ubaldo is correct -- and it should be since we have contractual control of Ubaldo for the next two seasons.

Regardless, it really doesn't matter if I like the deal or not, it's going to happen if Ubaldo passes his physical. Based on what I've heard about how he's lost significant velocity on his fastball (down from averaging 96mph to 93mph), I don't think it's a done deal that he will pass it with flying colors. I remember years ago, the Indians were going to trade Omar Vizquel to Seattle for Carlos Guillen and the deal fell through because Guillen didn't pass his physical. Granted, we'd probably have a good bat that the Tigers wouldn't have if that deal had actually gone through, but it just goes to show that the Indians take these physicals very seriously -- and they really should if they're going to have to give up their best pitching prospect.

This deal says a lot about what the front office has learned from the past decade of Indians baseball: Contention is not guaranteed. Remember what happened in '06 after the Indians finished with 93 wins in '05? Flameout. Remember what happened in '08 after the Indians were one game away from the World Series in '07? Flameout again. So only being 1.5 games out with two months to go, the Indians are treating this opportunity like it may not come again next year, and I think that's good.

Still, trading away a prospect -- even if that's all Pomeranz is -- who has a 1.98 ERA, 112 Ks and only 38 walks in 91 innings in his first full season is a tough pill to swallow. Unless Ubaldo can be like CC Sabathia and Cliff Lee after we traded them and carry us to the postseason, this trade could be questioned for a very long time to come.

~MAS

We signed who? Why? Well...Welcome to the CLE

Now that the Super Bowl is over (with yours truly correctly predicted the winner and the amount of points the Packers would score), I guess this blog is going to start becoming more baseball-centric especially since we don't have a basketball team sorry, our basketball team is all kinds of awful.

Cabrera with the Reds last season. He batted .263
with 4HR, 42RBI, and 33 Doubles in 2010.

In any case, the Tribe has reportedly "come to terms with" infielder Orlando Cabrera on a major league contract. Cabrera, a shortstop by trade, is 36 and will bring a much needed veteran presence to the Indians infield. You may remember Orlando's older brother, Jolbert Cabrera, playing for the Tribe from '98-'02. (You probably don't, but I know I remember him because Jolbert accidentally shot himself in the rear end after his time with the Indians, causing my mom and I to nickname him "'Ol Shot-In-The-Butt!") I'm guessing that Orlando has to pass some type of physical or something, because GM Chris Antonetti refused to comment on the signing, according to indians.com and cleveland.com. (Why yes, I did double check my sources). However, I'm a little curious as to why we signed him because the defensive holes we have are at second and third base...not short.

Cabrera does have two Gold Gloves to his name, which he earned in '01 with the Montreal Expos (who are now the Washington Nationals), and then with the Anaheim Angels (or Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim...whatever, that's a stupid name) in 2007. I like those defensive accolades, don't get me wrong, but they would look even better if there were over at third base.

According to both of the aforementioned sources, Asdrubal Cabrera will still be the shortstop this coming season, which means Orlando Cabrera will probably be the second baseman. But I'd honestly be more interested in seeing if he could play third base, because I think second base is easier to play defensively. With the rag tag band of bums players we've got in Jayson Nix, Jason Donald, Luis Valbuena (who I don't think should even be in the conversation), and Cord Phelps (who?), as long as Orlando Cabrera can put on a glove and stand out there, I'm sure he'll be the best defensive option at either position. (I feel like this might get complicated with two Cabrera's next to each other on the infield during the season. I don't envy Tom Hamilton.)

Do I like this signing? Well, I don't dislike it. I would much rather have had Antonetti sign a good defensive third baseman as the stopgap for Lonnie Chisenhall, but I'll take the one for the right side of the infield for Jason Kipnis. And if you don't know those names, you should Indians fans. Chisenhall has the potentiel to be the next David Wright - he's that big of a deal - and Kipnis is also probably going to be a darn good second baseman.

That's all I've got for now. The Browns are actually starting to make some headlines with their roster moves, terminating contracts and such, so I'll probably be back in the next couple of days for an update on their action. See you then!

~MAS