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Cleveland Indians 2018-2019 Offseason Outlook

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As far as the players speaking about about their approach vs Houston's...

Obviously take it how you want, but I tend to buy those comments considering it came from multiple guys in the locker room and knowing how heavy Houston is into analytics.

It is pretty easy to put on your blinders from the outside and call them lazy because they came up short again. Don't think they're putting the blame or difference in the series solely on analytics, but I definitely think Houston puts their players in a great position to succeed.
 
Listening to Anthony Castrovince this afternoon.

Brantley - gone
Donaldson- gone
Miller- gone
Allen- likely gone

He painted an extremely bleak future for the team payroll wise and said fans are going to be upset this offseason.

Only If we were a top 10-15 team in attendance, I could see $$$ flying around. But we stay in the mid to early 20's range.

I hope Castrovince is full of shit on Brantley. He's the one guy you actually bring back.

But hey with this optimism then we mine as well start counting the days until Lindor is traded at the deadline.
 
Listening to Anthony Castrovince this afternoon.

Brantley - gone
Donaldson- gone
Miller- gone
Allen- likely gone

He painted an extremely bleak future for the team payroll wise and said fans are going to be upset this offseason.

I don't think it's wild to predict all 4 are gone, but it's more that 3 of the 4 probably aren't worth retaining than the Indians not being able to keep them. Even Brantley would scare me beyond a year, although I do hope he returns.
 
I don't think it's wild to predict all 4 are gone, but it's more that 3 of the 4 probably aren't worth retaining than the Indians not being able to keep them. Even Brantley would scare me beyond a year, although I do hope he returns.

Agreed on all of this.

Castro is pretty realistic, sucks that he took such a pessimistic view on it. Not reassuring at all lol
 
To me this is pretty weak

This is an accountability problem. It’s just pointing fingers at the staff for the players’ deficiencies

Was it in the Astros scouting report that the Indians pitchers would commit 3 errors in a game? Or thr Cody Allen would come out and serve up meatballs all game (as if you needed a sophisticated scouting report for this).

Guys put together God awful at bats all series waving at garbage and it rubs me the wrong way to point to preparation over it. Own it.

Wow, for real. Knew I couldnt be the only one rolling my eyes. All this talk about analytics and secret tactics behind the scenes. These guys are clowning, for real.
 
Lol so yeah, Clevinger got into a twitter spat with the MLB Network host. Pretty much over nothing major, Clev is obviously salty about losing like any competitor would. But a video was retweeted by the host and it was Clev saying Houston isn't anything special earlier in the season.

Clev didn't think it was professional on the host's part.
 
Listening to Anthony Castrovince this afternoon.

Brantley - gone
Donaldson- gone
Miller- gone
Allen- likely gone

He painted an extremely bleak future for the team payroll wise and said fans are going to be upset this offseason.

I'm assuming this has to do with high spending the last two years no long post season run and lower attendance this year since April and may were shit weather and the teamunderperformed all year
 
Kluber, Bauer, Carrasco, Clevinger, and Bieber make we still have Triston McKenzie lurking in the minors. Salazarr is always hurt but sometimes just shutting things down for a year can be a difference maker but we really cant rely on him for much. I hate trading starting pitching but that is how you can fix multiple problems this team has in a cost efficient manner.
 
I'm assuming this has to do with high spending the last two years no long post season run and lower attendance this year since April and may were shit weather and the teamunderperformed all year

It doesn't help even when we were winning the fans really aren't coming out anymore. I think this offseason we are going to end up doing more trading than signing. I wouldn't be 100% surprised, to see a much younger team in 19.
 
I would go all in for 2019, and see what the market is for Kluber. Besides him our starting pitching did fine against Houston, and a rotation of Bauer, Carrasco, Clevinger, Bieber is still pretty formidable in the playoffs.

You would need some young, proven hitters that that could help the offense in October. If they don't want to trade Kluber, see what Mckenzie could get you. The bullpen could be put together with some affordable free agents or filled from the minors. Finding good hitters is another story, especially outfielders. I just feel they owe it to this group and fans to try one more time to get this right. It just sucks we are in a league filled with powerhouses. The national league is a complete joke, none of those teams scare me like the astros or red sox. The cubs have faded the past 2 years like the indians and they have a much larger payroll than we do.

I would also trade Edwin or Alonso. They are the root of our problems. Both of those guys have major holes in their swings, and you can't have them in the middle of your order against pitching like the astros. Edwin was a total waste of money. His numbers are inflated, and he has only 1 hit in two years of postseason games with no homers.
 
Agreed on all of this.

Castro is pretty realistic, sucks that he took such a pessimistic view on it. Not reassuring at all lol

It depends on what he meant. I don't expect the Indians to grab headlines this winter by signing Harper or Machado, nor do I think they need to. Fix then pen, retool your lineup, and let's make another run at this thing.
 
The problem is all the teams we have to compete with in the AL have powerhouse lineups and great bullpens. The only area I feel we have over them is starting pitching with Houston being right with us there. We know we have a limited budget to work with so how do we replace the players we are going to lose and get to the level of Houst , NY and Boston? The Indians did nothing last off season to improve the club and I feel they took the wrong approach there...Alonzo and Santana was a wash but at least they saved money. We really may have to consider a trade of a starting pitcher to see if we can get multiple players to fix some of these holes
 
Home attendance down this year, just one game of playoff $$ and hefty raises to
Lindor and Bauer don't leave many loose dollars for sure fire improvements via
free agency.

Best chance to really shake up the roster is to move a starting pitcher. The rotation
is currently the team strength, but we are witnessing the lessening importance
of this in the postseason. Six innings from a starter in the playoffs is now a
long outing. The question is what player(s) to go after and how to acquire them at a palatable
price, in both personnel and $$$.


Tribe doesn't have the bullpen arms to play at the highest level in the new type
of baseball. Miller and Allen(both questionable anyway) are gone or should only come back on the cheap.
The rest of the bullpen is a joke. Tito didn't trust Hand when it really counted.
And just who among the bullpen crew right now could you say has
a quality arm(high 90s fb) or another nasty out pitch? The bullpen needs
a total overhaul, but given how the $$ were thrown at Joe Smith and Brian
Shaw last off season, that won't be an easy fix.

The outfield? Hahaha. Assuming Brantley goes elsewhere. Allen is probably the
best of the bunch after MB but where is the thunder? You've got to have
at least one corner outfielder who can go 30+HRs and those guys aren't
very available or affordable.

Catcher is another area needing an upgrade. It's all well and good to talk
about the defensive side of Gomes and Perez but they are only black
holes when it comes to providing any threat to help the offense. And in
the postseason, every position has to have a realistic chance to impact
the scoreboard with the bat.

Infield is weak at 2 positions. And just what kind of hitter is JRam?


Tribes' front office has a formidable task getting this team to the level of
the teams they have to beat to win the World Series. Central Division
title is theirs in all probability but the fans aren't coming out for that
anymore.

It's certainly no fun watching the team get overpowered the last
2 postseasons.

Maybe with the retirement of Chief Wahoo, a new mojo can begin. But
winter looms, and my optimism is at a low ebb.
 
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Home attendance down this year, just one game of playoff $$ and hefty raises to
Lindor and Bauer don't leave many loose dollars for sure fire improvements via
free agency.

Best chance to really shake up the roster is to move a starting pitcher. The rotation
is currently the team strength, but we are witnessing the lessening importance
of this in the postseason. Six innings from a starter in the playoffs is now a
long outing. The question is what player(s) to go after and how to acquire them at a palatable
price, in both personnel and $$$.


Tribe doesn't have the bullpen arms to play at the highest level in the new type
of baseball. Miller and Allen(both questionable anyway) are gone or should only come back on the cheap.
The rest of the bullpen is a joke. Tito didn't trust Hand when it really counted.
And just who among the bullpen crew right now could you say has
a quality arm(high 90s fb) or another nasty out pitch? The bullpen needs
a total overhaul, but given how the $$ were thrown at Joe Smith and Brian
Shaw last off season, that won't be an easy fix.

The outfield? Hahaha. Assuming Brantley goes elsewhere. Allen is probably the
best of the bunch after MB but where is the thunder? You've got to have
at least one corner outfielder who can go 30+HRs and those guys aren't
very available or affordable.

Catcher is another area needing an upgrade. It's all well and good to talk
about the defensive side of Gomes and Perez but they are only black
holes when it comes to providing any threat to help the offense. And in
the postseason, every position has to have a realistic chance to impact
the scoreboard with the bat.

Infield is weak at 2 positions. And just what kind of hitter is JRam?


Tribes' front office has a formidable task getting this team to the level of
the teams they have to beat to win the World Series. Central Division
title is theirs in all probability but the fans aren't coming out for that
anymore.

It's certainly no fun watching the team get overpowered the last
2 postseasons.

Maybe with the retirement of Chief Wahoo, a new mojo can begin. But
winter looms, and my optimism is at a low ebb.

The fans have never came out. Even when they went to the world series, they only averaged 19,000. This year only 24,000. Cant complain about ownership, when the only time fans show up is at playoff games, home openers, and some weekends in the summer. Even after a day getting swept, it has been a great 3 year ride and hopefully 2 or 3 more seasons to go. It sure beats the hell out of losing 90+ games.
 
I agree that the ownership has stepped up more than fans the last couple of
years.

The point of my last post was about what the road looks like to be a serious
WS contender. It's obvious that the current formula isn't enough given
the current opposition and type of game baseball has become.
 

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