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Your 2019 Cleveland Indians

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MGMT said:
Eh, I wouldn’t completely lambaste the Jose skeptics when there was a massive sample size of him nosediving from last season into this one. Hell, a good month-and-half doesn’t have me fully convinced he’s completely returned to the elite player he’s been.

It’s been absolutely awesome to see him trending upward but holding the phone for a minute isn’t egregious imo.
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While what you say is true, there’s also a much larger sample size of him being a dominant player. It would be one thing if he was on the wrong side of 30, but he’s not.
 
Replacing AJ Cole with a healthy Danny Salazar in the pen for the stretch run would be absolutely huge.

Does anybody think they're going to try to force the reintegration of Dan Otero in the pen or is he pretty much done? I don't think he's better than any of our current bullpen guys outside of maybe AJ Cole at this point, and I want Salazar to take his spot.
 
Player OPS in July:
Tyler Naquin: 1.212
Jose Ramirez: 1.088
Francisco Lindor: .981
Greg Allen: .892
Carlos Santana: .830
Jordan Luplow: .800
Oscar Mercado: .793
Mike Freeman: .738
Jake Bauers: .726
Roberto Perez: .723
Kevin Plawecki: .718
Jason Kipnis: .708

Bobby Bradley also had an .828 OPS in July, but he's not on the active roster.

Player WHIP in July:
Nick Goody - 0.44
Shane Bieber - 0.79
Tyler Clippard - 0.90
Adam Cimber - 0.92
Mike Clevinger - 1.03
Nick Wittgren - 1.04
Zach Plesac - 1.07
Brad Hand - 1.08
Adam Plutko - 1.13
A.J. Cole - 1.17
Trevor Bauer - 1.23
Tyler Olson - 1.61
Oliver Perez - 2.40
 
After today, the Indians have 9 remaining games vs the Royals and Royals

The Twins have 20, including a 10 game stretch vs. the Royals/Tigers to close the season, as well as 3 vs. the Marlins
 
I'm very excited about the Hunter Wood upgrade to our bullpen. I'm about equally as disappointed that Salazar appears to be moved into a starter role, rather than coming out of the bullpen. We're probably going to roll with Bauer, Bieber, Clevinger, Plesac, Salazar and then hope you can get a Kluber and/or Cookie to come back in form this year--but I'm not holding my breath on either.

I think the best way to use Salazar is out of the pen--but if he's going to start, let him be more of an opener. He doesn't have to be held to a single inning, but I'd hold to to a max of about 3. With the quality of starting pitching already in the rotation and Tito's insistence on an 8-man bullpen, we should be able to handle this pretty well.

RP: Hand, Cimber, Perez, Wittgren, Wood, Clippard, Goody, Olson is a pretty damn good bullpen that only gets better with Otero eventually replacing Olson, and then if you can bring back Kluber or Cookie, you move Salazar in there as well? Damn--that's probably the deepest pen in the league and you're ready to rock for the playoffs.

With the lineup, I'm starting to have a hard time pulling Bauers off of 1B... the Bauers/Santana platoon at DH/1B is really nice. Obviously if you can get a huge bat like Castellanos, you use the positional flexibility to stick Bauers in LF, Santana at 1B and Castellanos at DH... but I'd be okay looking for an OF to upgrade over Greg Allen rather than strictly for a DH at this point.

Catcher is locked in with Perez/Plawecki. Our IF is locked in with Freeman backing up the foursome of Lindor/Jose/Kipnis/1B. RF looks set with Naquin/Luplow. CF looks set with Mercado. Just need to fill in that one gap that's either a LF, or a DH/1B that moves Bauers to the OF. I'd also be okay if the guy we brought in played a good CF and moved Mercado to LF.
 
Out of the Rafters at the Q said:
I'm very excited about the Hunter Wood upgrade to our bullpen. I'm about equally as disappointed that Salazar appears to be moved into a starter role, rather than coming out of the bullpen. We're probably going to roll with Bauer, Bieber, Clevinger, Plesac, Salazar and then hope you can get a Kluber and/or Cookie to come back in form this year--but I'm not holding my breath on either.

I think the best way to use Salazar is out of the pen--but if he's going to start, let him be more of an opener. He doesn't have to be held to a single inning, but I'd hold to to a max of about 3. With the quality of starting pitching already in the rotation and Tito's insistence on an 8-man bullpen, we should be able to handle this pretty well.

RP: Hand, Cimber, Perez, Wittgren, Wood, Clippard, Goody, Olson is a pretty damn good bullpen that only gets better with Otero eventually replacing Olson, and then if you can bring back Kluber or Cookie, you move Salazar in there as well? Damn--that's probably the deepest pen in the league and you're ready to rock for the playoffs.

With the lineup, I'm starting to have a hard time pulling Bauers off of 1B... the Bauers/Santana platoon at DH/1B is really nice. Obviously if you can get a huge bat like Castellanos, you use the positional flexibility to stick Bauers in LF, Santana at 1B and Castellanos at DH... but I'd be okay looking for an OF to upgrade over Greg Allen rather than strictly for a DH at this point.

Catcher is locked in with Perez/Plawecki. Our IF is locked in with Freeman backing up the foursome of Lindor/Jose/Kipnis/1B. RF looks set with Naquin/Luplow. CF looks set with Mercado. Just need to fill in that one gap that's either a LF, or a DH/1B that moves Bauers to the OF. I'd also be okay if the guy we brought in played a good CF and moved Mercado to LF.
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i think Salazar out of the pen is the best way to go about things, but another option would be Kluber out of the pen with the understanding he might not have enough time to get fully ready to pitch several innings in a playoff game?
 
bob2the2nd said:
i think Salazar out of the pen is the best way to go about things, but another option would be Kluber out of the pen?
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If Kluber's healthy, he's going to get every chance available to start.

The only way I even think he gets considered for a bullpen role is if he's unable to start a game in the majors before the postseason begins.
 
Out of the Rafters at the Q said:
If Kluber's healthy, he's going to get every chance available to start.

The only way I even think he gets considered for a bullpen role is if he's unable to start a game in the majors before the postseason begins.
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I don't think he gets put on the playoff roster if he isn't starting to be honest. We should have a good enough bullpen to where we don't need Kluber out there. I think its either he starts or he won't be on the playoff roster. We likely will have someone though be a long man in case someone has a bad start so the bullpen gets saved for another day. I feel though Kluber at this rate will get a few starts down the stretch.
 
Urban said:
This upcoming stretch has me a bit worried for Plesac

Ultimately he's gotten good results and for the most part has done well at limiting base runners, but the underlying stats are not very flattering.
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Sad part is I got chewed out saying this earlier in the season. We cannot deny he helped turn this season around, but he still really is a spot starter with an attitude in the pros right now. I think going forward he could develop into a #4 type of guy, but he still lacks another out pitch that he needs to be something better than a spot starter. Though that being said, if he doesn't make it as a starter, he will without a doubt make it as a bullpen arm, even possibly a setup/closer since he has the mentality to be one.
 
sportscoach said:
Sad part is I got chewed out saying this earlier in the season. We cannot deny he helped turn this season around, but he still really is a spot starter with an attitude in the pros right now. I think going forward he could develop into a #4 type of guy, but he still lacks another out pitch that he needs to be something better than a spot starter. Though that being said, if he doesn't make it as a starter, he will without a doubt make it as a bullpen arm, even possibly a setup/closer since he has the mentality to be one.
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I wouldn't say you got chewed out, but you did get mocked. It wasn't for being worried about Plesac, that's rational.

It was for talking about his mentality carrying him, and allowing him to pitch better against better competition. Mentality doesn't make batted balls go to infielders instead of finding holes.
 
Derek said:
I wouldn't say you got chewed out, but you did get mocked. It wasn't for being worried about Plesac, that's rational.

It was for talking about his mentality carrying him, and allowing him to pitch better against better competition. Mentality doesn't make batted balls go to infielders instead of finding holes.
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He isn't afraid to go after guys and even if he is outmatched, still gets back up and continues the fight. That isn't something you can teach. Now can he develop the stuff to stay in the pros, thats to be seen.
 
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