Series #2- Kansas City @ Cleveland. Tribe home opening series.

[PIP]

Indians Fever ?

 

[petes999]

All those fans who insist that two games can define a team and a player...

What do ya think now?

For the umpteenth time, it wasn't two games but how the lineup is constructed! You can say we added Eddie and Amed and lost Santana and Lindor who had bad years at the plate. Who wouldn't want Santana at first this year? But overall, we didn't have the lineup to compete in playoffs (outside AL and NL central) last year nor this year. I am just waiting on Miller and Freeman to replace Bauers/Chang and possibly Naylor. We also need to break in Gimenez bat and Amed in CF which will both take awhile. In the meantime, we will bitch and moan as we see the results. If you want to be an optimist fine but dont complain as we bitch about the obvious. We are a good team but not a competitive Oct team, if cold is our excuse to a slow start.

Edit -- sorry if this is a bit harsh as this isnt directed at you in general. But as i said before we all have our opinions i hope we can express it without be condescended as overreactionary when many have been consistent all offseason.

 

[sportscoach]

For the umpteenth time, it wasn't two games but how the lineup is constructed! You can say we added Eddie and Amed and lost Santana and Lindor who had bad years at the plate. Who wouldn't want Santana at first this year? But overall, we didn't have the lineup to compete in playoffs (outside AL and NL central) last year nor this year. I am just waiting on Miller and Freeman to replace Bauers/Chang and possibly Naylor. We also need to break in Gimenez bat and Amed in CF which will both take awhile. In the meantime, we will bitch and moan as we see the results. If you want to be an optimist fine but dont complain as we bitch about the obvious. We are a good team but not a competitive Oct team, if cold is our excuse to a slow start.

We need to wait things out. They haven't hit as bad as the numbers have said. Also Chang doesn't need any replacement as well..

 

[petes999]

We need to wait things out. They haven't hit as bad as the numbers have said. Also Chang doesn't need any replacement as well..

Chang is decent for utility (not 1B hitter) but we have a bunch of decent hitters ... we just don't have Twins/Yankee line up for Oct. Its my hope that 2 of Arias, Freeman, Jones and Miller can add that much needed punch to extend the lineup as we don't have money to do it in FA or trade. But as I suspected offseason, its looking towards 2022/23.

 

[Real Deal]

We have one bat in our lineup that scares a pitcher, and I think that one bat is going to have a year not of his standards because of the awfulness around him.

Daniel Johnson, Bobby Bradley, and Nolan Jones somewhere makes this team watchable.

I know it's 4 games but I read in here yesterday that we are one of the better teams in baseball. Well... that might be a bigger joke than this lineup. Now you can say we have one of the better pitching staff's and I'll agree.

 

[Criznit]

The more Gamel plays, the more 500 we become.

Amed Rosario doesn't look like he will be playing much centerfield.. Can we bump Gimenez to AAA to "work on things" which will also manipulate his service time in the Tribe's favor, plug A.Rosario into SS, call up Johnson and see what we have then?

We have 3. yes 3 hitters with proven track records.. Only one of those is a true MVP threat.

JRam
E.Rosario
C.Hernandez

after that
F.Reyes - on his way but still not proven.. If he is a DH only going forward (he is) he better "get better"....
J.Naylor - I like his chances..
A.Rosario - also on his way, but what is his ceiling?
Berto - on one year, off the next... Should be an "ON" year, if he plays like is 2019 or dare I say better he might be our 2nd/3rd best hitter
A.Gimenez - he is only here for lack of track record... For now.

longshots:
J.Bauers
Y.Chang - I think he is the best bet in this category to put up decent offensive numbers may even "breakout"
Luplow - has shown flashes, can he be more than a platoon option. If he can play center regularly, Chang and him might be the difference maker, good or bad...
Gamel - our 4th/5th outfielder is playing too much.

Players in AAA that maybe better than our current lineup

D.Johnson
B.Bradley
O.Miller
B.Zimmer - you can keep Benny G and I'll keep Bradley Z.

Lets be realistic. Runs may tend to come in bunches with this group or not at all. No more Gamel leading off, no more Berto batting 8th. Someone will have to breakout if we expect more runs, or someone will need to be replaced at some point.

 

[WhoAzcue]

Amed Rosario doesn't look like he will be playing much centerfield.. Can we bump Gimenez to AAA to "work on things" which will also manipulate his service time in the Tribe's favor, plug A.Rosario into SS

You can't possibly be this reactionary. We've played four games, three of which were started by left-handed pitchers. That's the reverse of what we'll normally see. THAT'S the reason we've only seen Gimenez start two games. I don't think it was intended for shortstop to be a straight platoon, otherwise Gimenez wouldn't have started against Matt Boyd. Skubal is filthy, so Amed started at short that game, and I suspect because he's swinging it well, Francona was tempted to press his luck further with Duffy on the mound. So it didn't work out. There is ZERO indication the Tribe is abandoning Gimenez after two games.

I mean, really, how can you be remotely serious about this?

 

[WhoAzcue]

we just don't have Twins/Yankee line up for Oct.

And the Twins have done what the last two years? And we had the Yankees on the ropes last year, facing a game three with no starter...and when they beat us, who took 'em out? The "mighty" Rays lineup?

This fixation on what lineups in April will look like in October is pretty darn ridiculous.

 

[Criznit]

You can't possibly be this reactionary. We've played four games, three of which were started by left-handed pitchers. That's the reverse of what we'll normally see. THAT'S the reason we've only seen Gimenez start two games. I don't think it was intended for shortstop to be a straight platoon, otherwise Gimenez wouldn't have started against Matt Boyd. Skubal is filthy, so Amed started at short that game, and I suspect because he's swinging it well, Francona was tempted to press his luck further with Duffy on the mound. So it didn't work out. There is ZERO indication the Tribe is abandoning Gimenez after two games.

I mean, really, how can you be remotely serious about this?

I will continue to overreact in the game feeds... It has nothing to do with abandoning Gimenez LOL, the "work on things" was a wink to messing with his service time, which kind of makes sense... He is a mainstay, but if you are not playing Amed in CF it keeps messing things up. We have to put him out there now. No one will convince me starting Ben Gamel in CF ever again is a good idea.

edit... If Luplow can run with it, and so far so good.. Let him. Which I think means benching A.Rosario or IDK...

 

[sportscoach]

You can't possibly be this reactionary. We've played four games, three of which were started by left-handed pitchers. That's the reverse of what we'll normally see. THAT'S the reason we've only seen Gimenez start two games. I don't think it was intended for shortstop to be a straight platoon, otherwise Gimenez wouldn't have started against Matt Boyd. Skubal is filthy, so Amed started at short that game, and I suspect because he's swinging it well, Francona was tempted to press his luck further with Duffy on the mound. So it didn't work out. There is ZERO indication the Tribe is abandoning Gimenez after two games.

I mean, really, how can you be remotely serious about this?

I have to agree with this one. They felt Luplow-Amed combo was better than Amed-Gimenez facing Skubal and Duffy.

We really will be stuck with this lineup at least until sometime in late May/early June and I don't think it's that bad.

Plus we have a team BABIP of .231, with an OPS of .753. We are 24th out of 28 team in BABIP but 8th in OPS, while batting .232 (13th). That tells me overall, the Indians have been unlucky and in due if they keep up what they have been doing you will see around a top 10 offense in theory. It's still very early, but it shows at the moment the ball hasnt been bouncing the Indians way.

Outside of Wittgren's inning (3 runs), We have given up 12 runs in the 4 games. Even 15 runs in 4 games said an ERA under 4 as a roster. I feel like in due time, when the luck for the hitting coming our way, we should win games actually fairly easily.

 

[CDAV45]

I'm in standby mode, and we all should be. There was a concern about this lineup prior to the season even starting, but damn, 4 games isn't a good read on anything.

I want to give praise where it's due, and Josh Naylor has been hitting the ball well with little to show for it. The law of averages will see more of his hard hit balls find holes at some point. I could see his frustration on that liner to LF yesterday. He could stand to be a little less aggressive early in the count, but he shouldn't change his approach too much. I still think he's a good hitter with moderate power.

I don't know how the pieces are going to fit together, but I like Amed Rosario. I also think that he's a better SS than most give him credit for and I expect to see him in CF when they aren't facing a LHP.

I like Chang. He's the type of kid that's easy to root for, but this team needs a legit 1B. A big RH bat is needed IMO.

The good news is that in the 3 losses they were never "out of reach". A little offensive punch would bring a few more positive vibes IMO.

 

[petes999]

Plus we have a team BABIP of .231, with an OPS of .753. We are 24th out of 28 team in BABIP but 8th in OPS, while batting .232 (13th). That tells me overall, the Indians have been unlucky and in due if they keep up what they have been doing you will see around a top 10 offense in theory. It's still very early, but it shows at the moment the ball hasnt been bouncing the Indians way.

I will admit that we are a better hitting team than the 6,7,3 hits we got in the 3 losses. However, if the argument is that we can hit against Detroit and KC when other teams are facing much better pitching, you lost me on the logic.

For a team that hit bottom 10 in most hitting categories last year (OBP was 19th out of 30), adding Eddie & Amed/Gimenez and subtracting Lindor & Carlos isn't a big boost if a boost at all (factoring Carlos and Lindor had off years where I would assume improvement this year - and other who had great years would slide a little -- as we are a team some ups and some downs).

At least Tampa had an average hitting team (not our bottom 10) so they could be competitive in more than just one "game 2" (yeah like if we won that game, we would be in the WS -- give me a break). Love it when posters say 1 game is meaningless but then point to 1 in our 5 last playoff games when we actually hit (Astros 7-2, 3-1, 11-3 Yankees 12-3, 10-9 --- hang your hat on that one game).

You need both hitting and pitching to come together to make it in the playoffs (unless you have old playoff format with less playoff series -- more chance for luck to prevail -- and throw a Hershiser almost ever other day). So, even though, we almost had Yankees "on the ropes with no game 3 starters," you cannot with a straight face say we would have been the Rays even with their average line-up.

And, April does not determine October success. However, if you are projected 80-90 game team, you cannot throw away games in April unless I miss something that MLB decided to throw out April games entirely, if so I do apologize. Even with a great pitching staff in 2019 (where one or two could falter like Cookies illness and Bauer mental break down), 3 games (no matter in April or Sept) do matter on October 3. When we were a great 95+ team, we had more room for error. This year, we are relying on Jose and Bieber to carry this team (no 1-2 month injuries allowed for them) - as every game counts.

 

[CATS44]

We are hitting a lot of balls on the screws with little to show for it.

I wouldn't change much if of anything yet.

Franmils average exit velocity is over 90, very good for cold weather, and his Ks are way down so far, but his BABIP is .125.

That is the definition of bad luck.

Eddie has come out of the gate well, but his launch angle is 1.9, compared to a career 15.

Naylor, whose problem has been launch angle, is sitting at 22.4 with a 20% barrel rate. Please, please, please, keep that up. (Very unlikely) Those numbers over a whole season are all star numbers, but the results that should be there aren't.

If we hit in June exactly as we did yesterday we score five runs or so.

But the big play, the killer, was Carlos' play in the ninth. That wasn't bad hitting. In fact, the first three at bats were excellent.
It was great defense.

Without Carlos' play, we have the tying run on second at the very least with nobody out. I would take that situation every day.

 

[Wham with the Right Hand]

We are hitting a lot of balls on the screws with little to show for it.

I wouldn't change much if of anything yet.

Franmils average exit velocity is over 90, very good for cold weather, and his Ks are way down so far, but his BABIP is .125.

That is the definition of bad luck.

Eddie has come out of the gate well, but his launch angle is 1.9, compared to a career 15.

Naylor, whose problem has been launch angle, is sitting at 22.4 with a 20% barrel rate. Please, please, please, keep that up. (Very unlikely) Those numbers over a whole season are all star numbers, but the results that should be there aren't.

If we hit in June exactly as we did yesterday we score five runs or so.

But the big play, the killer, was Carlos' play in the ninth. That wasn't bad hitting. In fact, the first three at bats were excellent.
It was great defense.

Without Carlos' play, we have the tying run on second at the very least with nobody out. I would take that situation every day.

Agree with this. The Indians hit quite a few balls hard yesterday but either right at someone or right into a strong wind.

The other thing that lost the game was Rosario botching an easy third out and then Allen assuming Merrifield would not swing on a 3-0 pitch and grooving a batting practice fastball. We'll be playing 18 more games against this team so put that in your notebook.

Also, somebody needs to tell McKenzie you never walk the #9 hitter to lead off an inning, especially when he's already struck out in both his previous at-bats. Doing that will bite you every time. McBroom is 6'3" so it's not like he has a tiny strike zone.

I'm impressed with the way Eddie Rosario and Naylor have been swinging the bat. Cesar and Hosey will get going. Berto looks way better at the dish than last year. Franmil hit four balls hard yesterday and had a HR the day before. Amed looks like a hitter, wherever he plays. Overall I think this team will score, or at least more than last year by a significant margin. Shortstop and first base are the question marks at this point.

I think they'll eventually get around to putting Naylor at first, Daniel Johnson in right, and A. Rosario in center. Against lefties Tito might play Amed at short and Luplow in center so as to replace Gimenez's bat with Luplow's.

 

[Wham with the Right Hand]

Without Carlos' play, we have the tying run on second at the very least with nobody out. I would take that situation every day.

Carlos was semi guarding the line with a three-run lead late in the game, which was the right move. Give the Royals credit. He was in the right position and it wasn't that hard a play.

What impressed me more was Miggy laying out to backhand a short-hop, get to his knees and throw the runner out at second. Not bad for an aging DH.