Choo-Choo gone?

Could Choo be on his way out of Cleveland?
I think that might be the Indians best option.
Photo courtesy of Wikimedia Commons 

If the right deal comes along, the Indians should trade Shin-Soo Choo.

I honestly didn't think this would even be on the table back in March or April, but the time has come and I'll tell you why.

After defeating Justin Verlander on Thursday, the Indians fell flat on their faces, getting swept in their three game series in Minnesota.

And that's putting it politely.

The Twins outscored the Indians 28-6. For those of you who don't like subtraction, that's a "diff" of -22. Numbers like that in a three game series are nothing short of pathetic.

Of course, that means the starters' ERA for this series was an abhorrent 11.81. Josh Tomlin has been downright awful in his last eight outings with a 2-5 record and a 7.02 ERA, and he was dismal in game one giving up eight runs (all earned) on 10 hits in 4.0 innings. Ouch.

Derek Lowe didn't pitch in this series, but he's been just as bad over his last 12 starts, going 2-8 with a 7.59 ERA. Justin Masterson came on and crapped out in game two, and Ubaldo Jimenez had a forgettable performance in game three.

And then the offense... The Indians scored three meaningful runs all weekend—one in each game. Sure, they scored five runs in Saturday's contest, but four of those were scored in the eighth and ninth innings when the game had long been decided—what I like to call Garbage Time.

And manager Manny Acta also had a terrible series, leaving his players out to dry by refusing to argue at least three blown calls. What frustrated me the most about Acta, though, is that he had the nerve to say that the calls were blown after the game on Saturday (not to mention the bad call on Sunday with Asdrubal Cabrera tagging out a would-be base stealer that wasn't called out).

Look, if the calls were blown, the manager should at least go out there and have a conversation with the umpire. I don't need a guy to kick dirt, or make a spectacle out of the whole thing, but if you think the umps blew the call, go tell them. Immediately! Don't wait till the half-inning, or when you're talking to the press to air your grievances.

But I digress. The real question with all this is how in the wide, wide world of sports did the Indians play so poorly after such a nice solid against Detroit?

Well, the answer lies in the numbers. At the end of the game today, STO presented these stats in a graphic and I hope you all don't mind if I hit you with them now.

The Indians since the All-Star break...
Games: 17
Record: 6-11
Runs Per Game: 3.0
Games of 3 runs or less: 13
Batting Average: .229
Starters ERA: 6.33
Runs Scored: 51 (Worst in AL)

Had enough yet?

I know I've been as loud as anyone about the team scoring three runs or less, but the problem is that this is not just a second half trend. The Indians overall record is 50-52. They're just 27-25 at home, 23-27 on the road. Their run differential is -66—an alarming stat for any team trying to contend. And now they've fallen to six games out of the AL Central, and 5.5 games out of the second Wild Card spot.

Not to mention that in 49 of their 102 games overall, they've scored three runs or less.

Think about that, in nearly half of their games, the Indians have not scored more than three runs! And this is supposed to be an AL team! I've been an Chris Antonetti/Mark Shapiro apologist for years, but the way they put this team together with shoe strings and gum is absurd.

And that is why at this point in the season, with the team playing as poorly as it is, it's time to sell. Obviously, veterans like Lowe and Johnny Damon should go. Casey Kotchman is expendable as well—same with Jose Lopez and Shelly Duncan. But here's where we come back to the beginning of this here post with the idea of trading Shin-Soo Choo.

I'm a big Choo fan, and I honestly think the Indians should do their damnedest to re-sign him after the 2013 season. But, based on the team's track record, I have absolute no faith that they'll even try. Thus, it's time for the Indians to do what they do best and fleece other teams out of their quality prospects.

The rumor circulated today that the Pirates are interested in Choo, but would have to deal Starling Marte to make the deal work. If the Pirates call up the Indians willing to make that deal, the Indians have got to seriously consider it.

Marte is 23, bats right handed,  and is a pretty electric player in the outfield. He was called up on Thursday and immediately made an impact, drilling the first pitch he saw in Houston out of the park. If the Indians can get this guy, they'd be foolish not to explore the possibility.

But because Choo wouldn't just be a rental, I don't think it would be unreasonable for the Indians to want a pitcher out of the deal as well. And it can't just be some far away prospect, I'm talking about a good AAA pitcher. Yes, 2011 No. 1 overall pick Garret Cole is also in the Pirates system, but I don't think Choo is worth all that much. I'd be plenty happy with Jeff Locke, and I could settle for Justin Williams. Both of those guys are 24, and have continued to show progress throughout their minor league careers. One of them must be included in any deal with the Pirates for Choo, and I'd expect Antonetti to stipulate that.

I keep saying this team was put together with shoe strings and gum, and I really do believe it. The inconsistency has turned into Garbage Baseball, and after getting swept by the Twins, it seems the season is all but over. As unfortunate as it is, it's time to sing a little Goodnight Irene and get a good deal for a very good player.

~MAS

Time to hit the Panic Button?

Some of you may recognize the style of the image to the right from the "Keep Calm and Carry On" poster England used right before WWII broke out. I've seen people wearing shirts that have that phrase on it in college to try to promote mental health and stability, and the Dodgers Twitter account has been using a modified version of the phrase when the team starts losing.

But because of the slogan's history (seeing as how there really was no reason whatsoever to "Keep Calm and Carry On" in England in 1939... Seriously, how are you going to tell me to keep calm and carry on when the country is about to get the crap bombed out of it? But I digress...), I find "Now Panic and Freak Out" to be both funny, and probably more appropriate to the original situation.

But since you're not here to read my thoughts on historical posters, I'll get right to the point—I know it's baseball, I know teams go through rough stretches, especially when there are injuries, but I'm just going to say it:

When you lose four of six games to the bottom two teams in the division, and seven of your last nine games overall, it just might be time to panic and freak out—at least a little bit.

Consider the fact that even when you factor in the injuries, it's really been the pitching that's killed the Indians in their last nine games. In the seven losses, the pitching staff has given up run totals of 9, 14, 12, 8, 6, 7, and 6.

Have the Indians been world beaters on offense in those losses? Absolutely not. But if you have a game like last night, where the team is scratching and clawing back and ties the game, the pitching must go out and keep the score where it is. Josh Tomlin battled all night in yesterday's 7-4 loss, but once the offense tied the game he went out there and gave up a solo shot, and then Tony Sipp gave up a 2-run jack to Mauer to kill any and all momentum for a comeback.

It nearly seemed like a carbon copy in today's game. Justin Masterson yet again didn't have good control and gave up three runs in the first four innings. I was watching it, and I'll tell you, it could've been much worse. Masterson, however, did go six innings and gave the Tribe a chance to get back in the game. But Nick Hagadone came in with the score 3-2 in the seventh, and by the time Manny Acta took him out of the game with two outs in the same inning, it was 5-2.

Those are the types of things that just kill your team.

Now, the Indians are going on what's going to be a "show me what you're made of" 10-game road trip to Detroit, St. Louis, and Cincinnati. Yes, the Fat Cats are also reeling having lost five of their last seven, but if the Indians continue to pitch poorly, they'll wake up the perhaps 600 lb. two-headed monster of Miguel Cabrera and Prince Fielder.

And it won't get easier from there—the Cardiñals and Reds have been battling it out all season for first place in the NL Central.

So here's the deal—Carlos Santana should be back for Tuesday's game in Detroit. Lonnie Chisenhall has hit well so far since being called up and should continue to do so. Matt LaPorta has a fantastic opportunity for the next few games to show that he, in fact, can be the productive right handed hitter everyone expected he'd be when the Indians traded for him in 2008.

When the starting pitching rights itself, the Indians can beat any team any day of the week. But if that doesn't happen soon, it might be time to panic and freak out.

~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

Prince Fielder to the Tigers? Son of a—What do we do now?

Honestly, if you're an Indians fan, how can you have any other reaction? We just half-celebrated at the news that beloved former Indian Victor Martinez (who I will always remember how for literally being in tears after being traded from the Tribe to the Red Sox in '09. One of my all-time favorite Indians, definitely top 3) would be out all year with a torn ACL, and then we get this?!

Before you ask, "Did you really expect the Indians to be sign Prince Fielder?" my answer is absolutely not!

But I also didn't think he'd be showing up to work for the next nine years to put on a Tigers uniform, and that we'd have to pitch to him for 17 or 18 games a year.

Is that contract awful? Absolutely yes. Just as I thought about the Albert Pujols contract, nine years and $214 million is just absolutely ridiculous. How can you as an organization believe that you're going to get anything near the same kind of player at the end of that contract? Do you really want to be paying an aging star player probably $10 million more than he's worth at the end of that deal?

Probably not.

But this isn't to talk about how the Tigers will regret this contract in maybe six years. Right now this deal hurts the Indians. Badly.

And again, it's not even that I wanted Prince Fielder—although his fat self would have looked really great manning first base, I know that's completely unrealistic. But when it comes down to it, the Tigers made a hugely aggressive move in free agency to solidify themselves as the frontrunner in the AL Central for years to come. And what have the Indians done?

Well, when Fausto Carmona was revealed to be Roberto Hernandez Heredia, they traded for Kevin Slowey. And yes, I know they said they've liked Slowey for a while, but give me a freaking break, you and I both know they traded for him so swiftly because they needed depth after "Carmona" was officially out of the equation.

You see that, when the Tigers lose one of their key players, they sign someone who could have more of an impact. When the Indians lose one of their key pieces...well, they get someone who has had success in the AL Central, and has some upside, but didn't even win a game last season.

It's a damn shame, isn't it?

So here's where we are—"Carmona" is on the restricted list, which means that he doesn't count on the 25 or 40 man roster, and also doesn't get a paycheck until he reports to the organization. Based on everything I've read, that probably won't be in time for Spring Training, as the process for a visa application can take months. So what do we do?

I'll say this, the answer is not Kevin Slowey.

However, there is a player on the market named Roy Oswalt. Before you get into it about how much more expensive he is, let me just throw out a few numbers.

Because "Carmona" doesn't get paid until he shows up, if he doesn't show up at all this season, the Indians will save $7 million. Now, we've increased payroll by about $18 million just on our own players so far this offseason—and of course those depth minor league contracts. All that is well and good, but if the Dolans are going to spend when the time is right, well, the time is right now.

Oswalt will apparently look for about $7-8 million in a one year deal. I say if you shell out $16-17 million for two years for this guy, and why wouldn't he want to come here?

Even though he had a year that was fairly ravaged by injuries last season, he still made 23 starts for the Phillies going 9-10 with a 3.69 ERA. Okay, so record and ERA aren't all that they used to be with sabermetrics, and Oswalt's WHIP (Walks+Hits per Inning Pitched) was a career high 1.338, and his K/9 ratio (strike outs per nine innings) was a career low 6.0, but Oswalt has proven in the past that he's extremely durable.

The only thing holding back the Dolans from an aggressive move like this is outlined in this tweet from 92.3 The Fan's Daryl Ruiter.

The #Indians spent $111 million between Jake Westbrook, Travis Hafner & Kerry Wood - and nothing to show for it
— Daryl Ruiter (@RuiterWrongFAN) January 24, 2012

So yes, the fact of the matter is the Dolans have poorly spent in the past, but if they're serious about contending, they've got to put the best rotation possible out there—especially if they want to beat the Tigers.

I have about no faith that Ubaldo is going to pitch any better against the Tigers this year—he had 6.35 ERA against them in five starts last season—so doesn't a top three of the rotation in Masterson, Oswalt and Tomlin sound really great?

Here's hoping the Dolans stop handcuffing Indians President Mark Shapiro and GM Chris Antonetti and allow them to make a move that will show the fan base that they're actually serious about this two year contending window.

So We're One Game Over .500...

As the title says, we're one game over .500 and now 3 games back of the Tigers -- good for second place in the AL Central. This upcoming series with the Rangers is absolutely huge, not only because Ubaldo is pitching for the first time, but because the Tigers happen to be playing the Royals and if they sweep (which is a real possibility), and we only win 1 game, we'll probably be in deep you-know-what. I'm glads that we're still in the race, but I'd like to keep it that way.

Here's the deal about that Boston series -- were you really expecting to win more than 2 games there? Anytime you can go away for a 4 game series with a team as good as the Red Sox and come away with a series split, I think you have to call that a success. The fact that we were in each and every game is just gravy to me. I think it's fair to say that the starting pitching in that series was excellent.

Even though Tomlin  gave up 5 runs, he kept the Indians in the game. Dave Huff has totally made a believer out of me with his 3 starts, especially going 5, 3-hit, shutout innings against the Red Sox. Even though Carlos Carrasco has looked like a man about to implode in his last few starts, he really got the job done, going 7 innings with 3 runs -- only 2 earned. And then Justin Masterson was dominant last night, striking out 9 in 6 innings, and giving up 3 earned runs.

So what does that all mean? Well, first off it means that we got 2 quality starts out of 4 games. If David Huff had gotten some defensive support behind him, I'm sure he would've been able to go another inning and get that notch on his belt. Maybe I put too much stock in quality starts, but I think with our bullpen if the starter can hold the opposition to 3 runs or less in 6 innings, we'll be in a great position to win.

The problem comes when we can't score more than 3 runs -- and that happened in our two losses to the Sox. Tuesday we only scored from the solo blasts of Kipnis and Chisenhall, relying on rookies in a penant race is never going to work. Wednesday, we managed 3 runs off of the knuckleballer Wakefield, but then the Red Sox 'pen shut us down.

And what do those numbers mean? Ehh, not very much other than the simple saying "You can't win, if you don't score."

Will we get help from Choo and Sizemore when they return in a few weeks? Well sure, it would be very nice, but I just don't think we can expect that. I don't think we should expect that, based on what they'd been doing the rest of the year. I think both players put a lot of pressure on themselves to play to the best of their abilities, and neither was doing a particularly good job of it this year. I think Sizemore was terribly plagued defensively too, sometimes looking clueless out in center rather than a former gold glove winner.

But those guys won't be playing in Texas. It's really going to be up to A-Cab, Hafner, Brantley and the finally-getting-hot Santana to carry the offense down in super hot Texas. Tim Cowlishaw just tweeted that it's 107 degrees down in Arlington, so I bet the ball will be carrying. The Rangers are 3rd in runs scored, 2nd in batting average, and 2nd in slugging percentage -- numbers that mean all our pitchers better bring their A-games.

And yes, that menas you Ubaldo.

Go Tribe!
~MAS

Series Review - Tribe @ Baltimore 7/14-17

So I think this series can be summed up in that it started out quite well and then just crapped out at the end. Offensively, I was pretty disappointed with the last two games, even with the out pouring in the 9th on Saturday. Pitching wise? There was just nothing to write home about at all this weekend. Since that's the bigger area of concern to me, I guess I'll start there.

Consider this, against a team that had lost seven in a row coming into the series, Indians starters could only muster one quality start. One. And you know who that was? Nope, not Justin Masterson if that's who you were thinking. It was Carlos Carrasco in the loss on Saturday night. I, admittedly, did not watch the first game of this series because I went to a midnight showing of Harry Potter  (which was awesome in IMAX 3D, by the way. Totally worth the price of admission) and was in line during game time, but the fact that we only had one quality start is always going to be a problem with me, I don't care how many runs we score. That being said, Masterson did only give up 4 runs, and I don't think he'll give reason for concern as we continue into the second half of the season.

A lot of credit has to go to Tomlin for his start on Saturday, as he was getting knocked around a whole lot but battled well enough to go his usual 5 innings. I tweeted this, but something that always bothers me is when the team goes out and gets a lead and then the pitcher gives it right back. That's just not doing your job. Still, the offense came through for Tommy and my personal favorite pitcher on the Indians staff got his 11th win of the season.

Carrasco also had to work to get his 7 innings, and he did it without unraveling. I think this is one of the most important things to come out of this series, especially after how hard Carrasco was shelled in his previous couple of starts. I really think we should've won Saturday night, but the Bullpen Mafia just didn't come through. If they had, I just don't think Carrasco would've gotten the loss. Maybe this is obvious, but I don't think he deserved it.

Still, if we're actually going to win this division, Carrasco, Tomlin and Masterson have got to be able to give us quality starts in probably 75-80% of their starts the rest of the way. (That percentage is just my own made up thing based off of nothing but my opinion. Don't try to look it up anywhere).

I don't want to spend a lot of time on Jeanmar Gomez, simply because he just wasn't as effective as he needed to be. 5 runs in 5.1 innings? Mitch Talbot could've done that. The Indians need Gomez to be ready. I mean, this guy was about to start the AAA All-Star game after going 9-3 with a 2.40 ERA in the first half for the Clippers. I'm pretty sure this is his 3rd stint with the big league club -- it's time for him to take a rotation spot and keep it and not be a AAAA player. Unfortunately, giving up 5 runs just ain't gonna cut it.

I'm sure a lot of people are going to rip the bullpen for their mistakes this weekend, but I think it's important to remember that they never gave up a lead -- they just made the deficit worse. We've still got the best 'pen in the league, people, don't panic about that.

What we should panic about is our outfield situation. Krady Grady Sizemore went down with another right knee contusion, the same knee he 'contused' (if that's a word) earlier in the season. He was starting to get hot in this series too, so that's definitely not great. That means we're now without 2/3 of our starting 3 outfielders. There's just no way we can contend with a platoon of Buck and Kearns in RF, Carrera in CF and Brantley in LF.

That's no knock on the Porsche Carrera or Brantley, but the Buck/Kearns situation really needs to end. I think Buck would be a fine fourth outfielder, but Kearns is officially washed up. I know he hit that home run against the Yankees, and that was a nice little moment, but what else has he done this year? I believe the crickets are telling me the answer. We need some pop out of at least one of the three outfield spots, and without Grady, we just don't have any. With Grady we didn't have that much, since he's been hitting .230, but that's another story.

I'm going to say this here for the first time, and will probably repeat it a bunch over the next couple weeks -- If we are going to contend in this division, we have to make a trade for a RH outfield bat. I would've said that before Grady went down, but it's especially true now.

In other offensive news, it was nice to see how we just didn't quit in Saturday's ballgame, even though we had been completely shut down by spinach Alfredo Simon most of the game. Here's a fun fact, Simon is currently the subject of a murder investigation in the Dominican Republic and had to go back there for a court date after his start. I guess he wanted to make a lasting impression in case he has to go to jail. I just couldn't believe that when Matt and Rick were talking about it on STO. Yikes.

Anyway, that whole being shut down by Orioles pitchers thing was a bit ridiculous, but I always love when our hitters just refuse to quit. You've got to enjoy seeing A-Cab, Hafner and Santana all work walks to knock out the O's closer and then O-Cab delivering a bases clearing double. If the Indians do, in fact, end up making the playoffs, it's going to be because of veterans on this team like O-Cab, Hafner and -- I'll even venture to say -- A-Cab. Asdrubal was on this team in '07 when we went to the ALCS, he knows what kind of fight that takes as was Hafner. With O-Cab, the guy just gets on playoff teams wherever he goes. That 'never say die' attitude is going to be key down the stretch.

Now that is a lot to take in, so let all of that marinate as we get a twin billing tomorrow in the Twin Cities with a Twins ball club that has won 7 of their last 10 ballgames. Huff and Carmona will take the hill for the Tribe in the games tomorrow. Both starts are important for both pitchers, as I firmly believe the Tribe brass would love to move Huff in a deal and Fausto really just needs to get his you-know-what together. But it's an important series in general, as the Indians have got to start beating their divisional opponents if they're going to end up taking the Central crown.

Until next time, Go Tribe!
~MAS