2020 Series #14 Royals at Indians, Sep. 7-10

[xmasbuck]

Why? Are the Blue Jays slumping?

sarcasm is lost on the literal minded

 

[redscoon]

I don’t know what the answer is for the offense. Naylor looks like another AAAA weak stick. Personally, I’d start grabbing guys from the alternate site and seeing if there is any spark. Johnson? Jones? These guys can’t be any less productive than the crap we watch every night.

I’m pretty confident the answer isn’t doing nothing like we’ve seen to this point. Santana looks awful, but walks a lot. Lindor is shit with RISP. Why not shake something up? Lead one of those guys off. Do something. Anything. You have too much starting pitching to not try and find some answers with this offense.

 

[sportscoach]

Honestly to those of who say anything about Singer being a rookie, he is a rookie who was in College two seasons ago and played one season in the minors. He wouldn't be up in the pros unless the organization felt this was the best place for him to develop. He was due a solid pitching performance and everyone (outside of Mike Freeman for whatever reason) weren't picking the ball up well against him. It happens, just magnified more since the Indians haven't been the best overall with the bat.

Also the team hasn't pitched well overall in the two starts Hedges has made. With Civale being a command pitcher and throwing to a new battery mate, its possible that hurt some of his command out there in a way since Hedges isn't going to make the same decisions as Perez would. Don't get me wrong, Hedges is a solid catcher, but its hard to just come up and catch new pitchers that you don't know much about and keep everything running smooth.

Though personally, we need a rainout tomorrow. I think the guys just need that mental break for a day in a sense.

 

[Kiddo]

The last 15 games Carlos is batting .180 yet he keeps playing every single game and batting cleanup. It's time to shake things up a little.

 

[Wham with the Right Hand]

everyone (outside of Mike Freeman for whatever reason) weren't picking the ball up well against him. It happens, just magnified more since the Indians haven't been the best overall with the bat.

Alomar had a different explanation besides not picking the ball up well.

"The plan was to get in space and go the other way, but I guess we went away from that plan pretty quick. I don’t know if the guys were getting frustrated, but give that kid kudos."

So they had a plan on how to attack him, got frustrated, and "went away from that plan pretty quick".

I love it. That's the second day in a row Alomar has publicly criticized the Indians' approach at the plate. Not the execution; the approach. It's about damn time somebody starts holding these guys accountable for this horrific performance by the offense. Nothing against Tito but he rarely says anything that can be construed as critical. I can see why the players love him so much.

So the last place Royals come into town and outscore the Indians 27-9 despite missing their two top hitters in Salvador Perez and Soler. Great. The Royals just knocked us into third place. I'm glad Alomar is calling these guys out.

I doubt that a lineup change helps much. Derek has provided a lot of statistical evidence showing it doesn't really matter in what order the hitters come up. But something has to change so they might as well give it a shot. Obviously putting Lindor in the role as a middle-of-the-lineup run producer isn't working out.

I have to respect Kansas City, though. They have two really good looking young starters in Keller and Singer, their back of the bullpen is very good, Merrifield is a terrific leadoff hitter who can play three or four positions well, Soler led the league in home runs last year, Perez is an All-Star catcher, and these young guys Franco and Oliveras look like they know how to swing the bat. They sure hammered the Indians' staff this series. There are a few missing pieces but they have a lot to work with.

The Tigers were 47-114 last year; one of the worst teams in history. This year they're 20-23 in baseball's toughest division.

The A.L. Central could be a brutal division next year.

 

[Wham with the Right Hand]

The game was basically lost in the third inning when Civale gave up three runs after there were two out and nobody on. Merrifield hit a single and Civale walked Mondesi to set up the big inning. Here's what he said about the walk to Mondesi:

Hindsight I should taken a little more time and been more aggressive with that at-bat,” said Civale. “I was trying to keep Whit (Merrifield) at first. But I should have been a little more aggressive in the zone. Looking back on that, that at-bat changed the outing for me.

IMO the Indians inability to score runs is putting pressure on the pitchers. In this case Civale was so concerned about Merrifield stealing second and possibly scoring a run that he focused on the runner and walked the batter, setting up a big inning. If the Indians were scoring 3-5 runs consistently the pitchers wouldn't be so concerned about allowing one run in the third inning of a 0-0 game. But as bad as the offense has been even one early run allowed could be the difference between losing in 9 or going to extra innings.

By the way, after the Royals got three runs in the third how many viewers assumed the game was over? I did.

On another topic, after 12 appearances Dominic Leone's ERA is up to 8.38. Might be time to pull the plug on that experiment, but if Nelson is the best guy they have at Eastlake there's not much point in replacing Leone. Maybe give Plutko more work? He went 11 days without pitching before getting a couple of innings this series.

OTOH, some might say that Leone's 9.2 innings is too small a sample and we need to keep pitching him until his numbers "normalize" sometime in 2024 or 2025.

 

[sportscoach]

@Wham with the Right Hand

I dont like Leone and I dont think I am the only one. Id much rather have Hill or try someone else personally.

Nelson wasn't fooling peeps last night, but i am not sure about how well Hedges knows guys overall. So we have to see how he does next time out.

 

[CATS44]

The offense is pathetic...hardly a newsworthy statement.

But there is nothing that can be done about it. They will either start hitting or they wont. Rearranging nine guys who don't hit makes no difference.

Here are the best lineup positions for our top five batters, according to their careers numbers per OPS.

1st..Hernandez
1st...Lindor, but Lindors OBP is lower.
3rd...Jose
3rd...Santana
5th...Reyes

Not one of them has produced very well in the two hole or clean up.

Sitting one of them for a few days sounds good, but who is better? Is Naylor better than Carlos?

Panicking and bringing somebody...anybody..up from below sounds good, until the reality of such a move hits. Such a move has to last ten days. Anybody really want to send several of our best players away for ten days?

The die is cast on this lineup...and has been for a long time. Its gonna be Hernandez, Jose, Frankie, Santana, and Franmil.

Its up to them.

 

[Wham with the Right Hand]

The die is cast on this lineup...and has been for a long time. Its gonna be Hernandez, Jose, Frankie, Santana, and Franmil. Its up to them.

Then we're screwed. I would argue that they need help from the 6-9 spots. Not a lot of help, but at least some. When Naquin came back and was hitting the Tribe did better. Getting a couple of hits from some combination of Perez, Naylor, DeShields or Mercado helps, even if it just makes the starter throw more pitches and sets up Hernandez to lead off the next inning.

Alomar talked about the hitters being too aggressive and taking long swings. That may be because they're trying to do too much in the belief that the top five hitters have to produce all the runs. They're putting too much pressure on themselves. They need to get back to the "keep the line" moving approach and play for one or two run innings. A couple of those is usually all this staff needs.

 

[CATS44]

No matter what Sandy does with the line up, we are screwed if the hitters we have don't hit.

And doubly screwed if they continue to play sloppy defense and lousy base running.

 

[CATS44]

Even Franmil isn't hitting the ball lately.

Over the last seven games he is 3 for 23 with five walks. But no XBHs.

 

[sportscoach]

No matter what Sandy does with the line up, we are screwed if the hitters we have don't hit.

And doubly screwed if they continue to play sloppy defense and lousy base running.

Hence why i said they just all need a day off so they can get their minds right.

 

[Martyinnewyork]

If we’re just gonna base our batting order on career numbers, why not put Kenny Lofton in the leadoff spot? He has good career numbers. Of course, he hasn’t hit in a while, but all that matters is that he has a good track record, right?

 

[Wham with the Right Hand]

If we’re just gonna base our batting order on career numbers, why not put Kenny Lofton in the leadoff spot? He has good career numbers. Of course, he hasn’t hit in a while, but all that matters is that he has a good track record, right?

Come on, get serious. Kenny Lofton is retired. We should trade for Miguel Cabrera and bat him third.

 

[Martyinnewyork]

Bring back The Rock!