sportscoach
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I think Mercado stays for 22, he's a plus defender and I think his bat will improve. I feel like HRam would be out before Mercado...
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2021 Series #36 | Indians @ Tigers | Aug. 13-15
- Thread starter Wham with the Right Hand
- Start date
I think Mercado stays for 22, he's a plus defender and I think his bat will improve. I feel like HRam would be out before Mercado...
Criznit
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Things don't exist in a vacuum like that. Keeping Zimmer doesn't mean at the expense of a prospect. If it does you can say that about anyone on the 40....
Zimmer has been a 1.2 WAR player in 59 games this year.. Being arb eligible is a bit of a wrinkle but he should still be "cheap"..
And yes as of now there is no doubt he is on the opening day roster in 2022.. Maybe even as a regular...
Any fringe player we keep means a prospect that isn't protected.
While Zimmer has put up .9 fWAR, it is based on an unsustainable .379 BABIP.
While his defense is a nice luxury, the need for it was eliminated by the acquisition of Straw.
I doubt that the FO has decided that it is ready to guarantee Zimmer a roster spot for 2022 right now.
While Zimmer has put up .9 fWAR, it is based on an unsustainable .379 BABIP.
While his defense is a nice luxury, the need for it was eliminated by the acquisition of Straw.
I doubt that the FO has decided that it is ready to guarantee Zimmer a roster spot for 2022 right now.
Criznit
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Of the current players on the roster Only Franmil, JRam, Straw and Bradley have been "better" offensively, using OPS and OPS+
And nobody has been luckier.
FOs don't base their decisions on luck. They base them reasonably expected production.
DCTribefan
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Shaw is toast. Nowhere near the pitcher he was in April and May.
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Shaw made a mess of the 8th inning but it wasn't totally his fault. Miggy walked on seven pitches after just missing hitting his 500th on the drive to right that curved foul. Candelario singled to center on a jam job that sawed his bat in half with the business end coming to rest next to second base. After a clean single Haase blooped one to center to score both runs. Only one hard hit ball in the inning, but to be fair Shaw also threw a wild pitch before exiting. Young saved his ERA from taking more of a beating.
However, it's concerning that after Shaw started the season holding opposing batters to 6 hits in 68 AB's (.088) in April and May, they have hit .273 against him since then. His ERA in June, July, and August is 4.41 after a 1.31 in April and May.
I think there's a good chance he won't be back if he doesn't turn things around in the next 47 games.
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The Indians starting lineup, including the pitcher, included only three players who have spent the entire season in the big leagues; Straw, Josie, and Franmil. All the others including Hentges spent time in the minors this year, some of them most of the season, with the exception of Ramos, who was released on June 20 and was out of baseball for a couple of weeks before the Indians signed him on Aug. 6.
It was a mostly minor league team playing against a major league team. Even the bullpen consisted of some minor leaguers; Parker, Young, and Stephan, who would have spent the entire year in the minors if he weren't a rule 5 pick.
It was amazing the score was 4-4 in the 8th. But I agree with Manning - the Indians should have won handily except that they were 3-for-15 with RISP.
Hentges started great - striking out Grossman and Schoop. But he fell behind Miggy 2-0 and then grooved a fastball. Hard single to left. Then he fell behind Candelario 2-0 and grooved a fastball. Home run. Lesson learned (hopefully). When facing future HOF'ers and cleanup hitters and behind in the count 2-0, don't give in and groove a fastball, especially if they hit right-handed. Keep pitching to the edges. If you walk them, so be it. If Hentges walked both Cabrera and Candelario he would have escaped all damage because Nunez made the third out.
Hitting are destroying Hentges' fastball. Fangraphs gives it a value of -16.7 which is horrible. His best pitch is his curveball (1.3), followed by his changeup (-0.1) and slider (-1.1). His fastball averages 94.7 which is not particularly fast. It appears to be straight with no movement. The one Miggy drilled to left was 95, the Candelario homer came on a 93 mph fastball. Both were in the middle of the zone above the midline.
Hentges needs to pitch every five days in Columbus or Akron next year and figure out how to either locate his fastball much better or get better movement on it, or both. Either that or develop a killer curve and slider, using his fastball strictly as a show pitch off the edges.
It was a mostly minor league team playing against a major league team. Even the bullpen consisted of some minor leaguers; Parker, Young, and Stephan, who would have spent the entire year in the minors if he weren't a rule 5 pick.
It was amazing the score was 4-4 in the 8th. But I agree with Manning - the Indians should have won handily except that they were 3-for-15 with RISP.
Hentges started great - striking out Grossman and Schoop. But he fell behind Miggy 2-0 and then grooved a fastball. Hard single to left. Then he fell behind Candelario 2-0 and grooved a fastball. Home run. Lesson learned (hopefully). When facing future HOF'ers and cleanup hitters and behind in the count 2-0, don't give in and groove a fastball, especially if they hit right-handed. Keep pitching to the edges. If you walk them, so be it. If Hentges walked both Cabrera and Candelario he would have escaped all damage because Nunez made the third out.
Hitting are destroying Hentges' fastball. Fangraphs gives it a value of -16.7 which is horrible. His best pitch is his curveball (1.3), followed by his changeup (-0.1) and slider (-1.1). His fastball averages 94.7 which is not particularly fast. It appears to be straight with no movement. The one Miggy drilled to left was 95, the Candelario homer came on a 93 mph fastball. Both were in the middle of the zone above the midline.
Hentges needs to pitch every five days in Columbus or Akron next year and figure out how to either locate his fastball much better or get better movement on it, or both. Either that or develop a killer curve and slider, using his fastball strictly as a show pitch off the edges.
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The series finale today is the rubber match and will decide which team is in second place to start the week. Tristan McKenzie goes against RHP Drew Hutchinson, age 30, who has not pitched in the majors since 2018. Hutchinson pitched for the Milwaukee Milkmen of the Independent Association last year. The Tigers picked him up and he went 8-3, 3.63 in AAA Toledo this year. In 17 starts for Toledo he averaged just under 5 innings per start. In his last seven starts he had a 2.62 ERA for the Mudhens. This could be a semi-bullpen game for Detroit.
McKenzie finally put together two solid starts in a row after a long run of alternating good and bad starts. He went 7 inning allowing 3 runs against Toronto and 6 innings allowing 2 runs against Oakland, who are both much better than Detroit. If he can make it three good starts in a row that would be a big step forward, IMO. Tristan started against the Tigers way back on May 26 and pitched 5 one-hit, no-run, innings. Afterward Miggy told him that he hates hitting against him. So it wouldn't surprise me if Miggy takes him deep today.
Franmil is 1-for-20 and is in a deep funk. But it was nice to see Josie get two extra base hits yesterday. It seems like for the Tribe to win they need contributions from the bottom of the lineup. Yesterday the bottom third was 1-for-9.
Oscar Mercado had an RBI double yesterday and also lined out to the right-fielder. He's been hitting a lot of line drives lately that have been caught. His BABIP is only .244 against a career average of .274 so he's been unlucky. However, for the season his numbers are down across the board from his debut 2019 season, including line drive percentage and hard hit percentage. He's become a more disciplined hitter, chasing fewer bad pitches, but he's also taking more strikes. He has not improved since 2019 and he needs to show his curve is up if he wants to stick around.
If Oscar were the only guy who could play center he'd be in better shape, but with the acquisition of Straw it means Mercado (and Zimmer) are now corner outfielders and they need to have a bat that produces at the expected level for a corner outfielder.
McKenzie finally put together two solid starts in a row after a long run of alternating good and bad starts. He went 7 inning allowing 3 runs against Toronto and 6 innings allowing 2 runs against Oakland, who are both much better than Detroit. If he can make it three good starts in a row that would be a big step forward, IMO. Tristan started against the Tigers way back on May 26 and pitched 5 one-hit, no-run, innings. Afterward Miggy told him that he hates hitting against him. So it wouldn't surprise me if Miggy takes him deep today.
Franmil is 1-for-20 and is in a deep funk. But it was nice to see Josie get two extra base hits yesterday. It seems like for the Tribe to win they need contributions from the bottom of the lineup. Yesterday the bottom third was 1-for-9.
Oscar Mercado had an RBI double yesterday and also lined out to the right-fielder. He's been hitting a lot of line drives lately that have been caught. His BABIP is only .244 against a career average of .274 so he's been unlucky. However, for the season his numbers are down across the board from his debut 2019 season, including line drive percentage and hard hit percentage. He's become a more disciplined hitter, chasing fewer bad pitches, but he's also taking more strikes. He has not improved since 2019 and he needs to show his curve is up if he wants to stick around.
If Oscar were the only guy who could play center he'd be in better shape, but with the acquisition of Straw it means Mercado (and Zimmer) are now corner outfielders and they need to have a bat that produces at the expected level for a corner outfielder.