The 2013 Cleveland Indians

[MoFlo]

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p>Justin Masterson is 3rd Indians starter to beat White Sox 4 times in a season. Others were Luis Tiant in 1968 &amp; CC Sabathia in 2006. (Elias)</p>&mdash; ESPN Stats &amp; Info (@ESPNStatsInfo) <a href="https://twitter.com/ESPNStatsInfo/statuses/363068455294992384">August 1, 2013</a></blockquote>
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[kidduck]

I still remember Tiants' 1968 season, the most dominant year by a Cleveland pitcher in the modern era.

21-9

1.60 ERA

9 shutouts

19 complete games

 

[Frank Stallone]

None of those guys need to be in the pen.

The pen has been somewhat improved recently, and Joe Smith hopefully will get it together soon which will also help.

I agree with this. Sort of going unnoticed or just not talked about. They're not all the way back, but they sure are getting their form back. There was no way they could've gotten worse. So I had and still have hope they will continue to improve and get back to form. Then...I think we will see a damn good team.

 

[kidduck]

Mastersons' ranking this season among MLB starting pitchers:

Wins- 4th

IPs- 4th

K's- 6th

CG- 2nd

SHO - 1st

Those numbers look like an ace to me.

 

[kidduck]

The Two Headed Monster: Gomes/Santana

The following are the production lines of Carlos Santana and Yan Gomes when they play at catcher. It includes some overlap as we are 108 games in and they have 109 total “games” because of substitution. I ignored Marson and Omir Santos because their contributions were the definition of negligible.

Carlos Santana: 67 G, 9 HR, 32 RBI, .266 BA, .385 OBP, wRC+ 144

Yan Gomes: 42 G, 7 HR, 26 RBI, .301 BA, .335 OBP, wRC+ 141

Total: 109 G*, 16 HR, 58 RBI, .279 BA, .369 OBP, 143 wRC+

Averaging wRC+ is foolish so that may be ignorable; however, the sum total of the two is fairly impressive, especially considering the total production compared to catchers. Most teams are faced with a large dropoff in production from 1st string to 2nd string catcher which has its effect because of the amount of rest a catcher needs throughout the season.

There are three thoughts surrounding the catching situation and the two players specifically that I would like to highlight.

1. Santana should continue to play a large portion of the time around the plate but it should be controlled at about 55%. This is because his offensive value outweighs his defensive mediocrity by a large amount. However, on the other hand, Gomes has to be in the lineup more frequently, especially behind the plate.

Gomes' catch and throw skills are miles beyond Santana’s and one could argue he is a better blocker as well. Game calling is harder to evaluate and take someone with a superior intellect to judge. The important clarification being that this is not because Santana is not an unbelievable value behind the plate because of his offense, but because of Gomes' above average abilities behind the plate and his offensive outburst.

2. The DH spot should rotate through the following: Gomes/Santana, Aviles, Giambi and Reynolds. The DH rotation as well as the increased catching duties allowing Gomes to play at least 70% games as the season winds down.

Obviously, Gomes could be a small sample size genie but there have been some legitimate improvements like plate discipline and contact rate that leads us to believe some of it is sustainable. Unless Reynolds gets hot or the Tribe adds a bat during the waiver period, Gomes should continue to grab a larger portion of Mark’s at bats.

3. Jeff Ellis highlighted this well in his evaluation of Indians catching over the last three years, but Santana has become an underrated player by Indians fans because our expectations of him became irrationally high. His production, particularly his elite ability to get on base is impressive. I am about to beat a dead horse, and it is not because I dislike Asdrubel Cabrera or because of his middling production this season, but Carlos Santana needs to be hitting cleanup.

Yes he has struggled there before but this is a different team with more protection, and the leadership to allow him to be comfortable. 95% of Carlos Santana is the second best hitter on this team right now, so shift him to the four.

Link: http://www.indiansbaseballinsider.com/blog/second-thoughts-game-108-white-sox-1,-indians-6,-52075

 

[EdMonix11]

I'll leave you guys some "breathless" clips of one of the nastiest and most underrated pitchers in the game. Get excited for this guy Tribe fans..... I love me some Corey Kluber! Yes, I am the bandwagon conductor of the Corey Kluber Society over at Fangraphs; beatin' the drums, blowin' the whistles.

Change-up

Slider

Curve

2 Seam (its like hes throwing a whiffle ball)

 

[kidduck]

Terry Francona considering changes to starting rotation for Detroit series: Cleveland Indians Insider


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By Paul Hoynes, The Plain Dealer
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on August 03, 2013 at 9:34 PM, updated August 03, 2013 at 9:35 PM

Manager Terry Francona is considering changing the Indians starting rotation for their upcoming series against Detroit.

Associated Press​

MIAMI, Fla. -- The Indians are being mum about who will start the third and fourth games of their upcoming four-game series against Detroit at Progressive Field. The series against the AL Central-leading Tigers opens Monday night.
The Indians' daily game notes Saturday listed every starter for the Tiger series as TBA (to be announced). Later in the day manager Terry Francona saidCorey Kluber will face Anibal Sanchez on Monday

andJustin Masterson will face Justin Verlander on Tuesday. He would not say who will face Doug Fister on Wednesday and Max Scherzer on Thursday. If the rotation stayed on its normal turn, Ubaldo Jimenez would pitch Wednesday and Zach McAllister on Thursday.


"We want to sit and talk about it a little bit," said Francona. "Maybe Sunday morning (we'll announce it). We're talking about a few different things. We'll get to it."


Jimenez, who slogged through four innings in Friday's 10-0 loss to the Marlins, is 1-2 with a 6.92 ERA in three starts against the Tigers this season. They're hitting .309 (17-for-55) against him and have scored 10 earned runs in 13 innings.


McAllister has faced the Tigers once this season, allowing two earned runs in a six-inning no decision.


Danny Salazar started Friday night for Class AAA Columbus, allowing no hits and no runs in five innings in a 8-0 victory over Buffalo. He threw 52 pitches, including 40 strikes, and was clocked at 97 mph to 99 mph.


Salazar would be in line to take Jimenez's start Wednesday if the Indians decide to manipulate the rotation and or roster.

 

[Stark]

I'd definitely start Salazar against Detroit if he's in line for it. Ubaldo against the Tigers just seems like a disaster (like it has been this season), and this is a very, very important series.

 

[kidduck]

Nice to see management not just staying the course.

 

[macbdog]

Recalling and starting a guy on such a pitch count restriction as Salazar is pretty much guaranteeing not only a short start but a probable need to use Ubaldo anyway. If the Tigers manage to do anything against Salazar- even if they don't score runs- they could have him out of the game by the 4th. Then who goes in? Ubaldo would be the likely long man. I think you dance with who ya brung, I know Ubaldo has scuffled against the Tigers but before his rough outing against he Marlins he had been pretty reliable. If Salazar or even Carrasco didn't have the pitch count restrictions I might think otherwise.

 

[ajz20]

Lol. well I guess my suggestion of bringing up Salazar was not as stupid as some of you claimed.
JImenez is an average pitcher that struggles vs good lineups such as Det. Give the kid a chance!

 

[Derek]

Lol. well I guess my suggestion of bringing up Salazar was not as stupid as some of you claimed.
JImenez is an average pitcher that struggles vs good lineups such as Det. Give the kid a chance!

I don't think anybody said that he wouldn't get another start this year or that it was a stupid idea. He will be on major pitch restrictions, which is all anybody pointed out.

 

[Bkerr02]

He threw a 100 pitches last start. If he gets through 5 that's about all ubaldo gives anyways. I say roll the dice and go with Salazar. The kid is filthy and could give the tribe a huge boost against Detroit

 

[Derek]

He threw a 100 pitches last start. If he gets through 5 that's about all ubaldo gives anyways. I say roll the dice and go with Salazar. The kid is filthy and could give the tribe a huge boost against Detroit

Who threw 100 pitches in their last start? I know Salazar didn't. He got pulled after 52 pitches in 5 innings while throwing a no-hitter.

He's been on a 50-60 pitch limit this year in AAA. I think they pushed it to 70-80 last time he started for us.

 

[kidduck]

He threw 89 pitches vs Toronto.