Indians Wrap-up, Because I Care Even If Some Don’t

October 6, 2011

It was a fun summer, what else can you say. The Cleveland Indians sealed it up with a loss against Detroit, 5-4 , ending the season at 80-82. If nothing else a .500 season would have been great, but what can you do. Coming up against a steamroller like Detroit and playing a lot of young guys against the division champs, you can’t have a ton of expectations. But coming into a year where the Tribe was supposed to be battling the Royals for fourth place and looking up all year at the Twins and Tigers duke it out, and after that opening day bludgeoning at the hands of the White Sox, the only thing to say is, what a year.

Some pessimists will say that after starting off 30-15, the Indians petered out and played 16 games under .500 the rest of the season. But where’s the fun in that? Up until August they were in the thick of things, in first place even, and there was story after happy story coming out of the lineup. Look at Asdrubal Cabrera first and foremost. This guy was a decent shortstop last year, the kind of guy you want batting in the number 2 hole because he gets the ball in the gap, gets on base, and sets the table for the big boys. By the end of the season, he and Carlos Santana WERE the big boys. He credited free agent signee Orlando Cabrera (who helped to cause hell for announcers when they turned double plays – if only Miggy were on the team too) with telling him to swing the bat, don’t just spank the ball. My words, but the right sentiment. A-Cab apparently launches the ball during BP, but the first couple years of his career he was a slapper. Not so anymore, setting a Cleveland record for home runs by a shortstop. The dude is a stud, and even if he is only 90% next year (and I have no reason to believe this was a fluke year) he’s still a top-5 shortstop in the league.

I just mentioned him, so let’s talk Black Magic Woman, or Carlos Santana as most people know him. That knee injury last year is forgotten, now he’s a power-hitting, switch hitting catcher with a cannon arm and great plate discipline. A slow start tamped down the batting average a bit, but everything else just reads satisfyingly. An OPS+ of 123, 97 walks to 133 K’s, AND he learned to look for and hit a breaking ball as the year went on, Santana has made Tribe fans forget about Victor Martinez, except for the repeated daggers V-Mart thrust into their heart in August. Plus Santana’s a good catcher. Maybe he’s not a proper 4-hole hitter, but in the 5 or 6 that kid is dangerous. Big things are in the future for this young gun, and it’s going to be fun.

Over on the other side of the battery meanwhile, that pitching staff was all kinds of stupid this year. The Bullpen Mafia didn’t lose much of its luster down the stretch, it was more just young guys blowing things when they were given a chance after the Indians were out of it. But Chris Perez, Vinny Pestano, old standby Raphael Perez, Joe Smith, all the guys were just dazzling all year. There’s something about Tony Sipp that just makes me uncomfortable when he’s on the mound, but even he had a good year. Pestano may be the star of the ‘pen, striking out 12.2 per nine, but CP was a great closer in his own right. He has that swagger Pestano may not have yet, and the ability to shrug a blown game off. Unlike in 2008 where fans (or me at least) were worried the bullpen was playing over its head the previous year, case in point Joe Borowski, the current setup is young, eager, and only has more coming in. Nick Hagadone fires lasers, Zach Putnam likewise, and the minors are still chock-full of young arms that will help somehow, somewhere down the line.

Now, as for that rotation, let’s talk Justin Masterson. This dude is filthy. Boston Red Sox fans wish they could have him back, that’s for sure. One way scouts describe a power sinker is that the guy is throwing shot-puts, but Masterson heaves bowling balls. Ninety-six with late movement that knocks the bat to the ground is deadly, and he’s shown why. One start this year he threw 97 pitches, if I remember correctly, and 96 were fastball/sinkers. One changeup in the third or fourth ruined what could have been a silly day. As much as Ubaldo Jiminez was supposed to be the ace, Masterson was the only Indians pitcher with an ERA+ over 100 (which would be average) clocking in at 124. He gave up 11 home runs, four of those in the last month of the year and seemingly all to Miguel Cabrera. He eats innings, he keeps runs off the board (77 ER in 216 IP) and he has a great attitude. He IS from Jamaica, so maybe that has something to do with it. Combine him with the stuff Carlos Carrasco flashes when he’s not throwing at batters’ heads and the solidity that Josh Tomlin, he of the 1.05 WHIP and strike zone assault charges, there’s some potential magic to be found here. Now, if Carrasco could harness his explosive fastball and devastating secondary stuff, he could be the ace of this staff, but that’s on Tim Belcher more than anything. And Carrasco of course, we can’t deflect responsibility. I just wish people didn’t refer to him as Little CC, it’s just wrong.

On the other side of the coin lie two men who hold the fortunes of the Indians in their hands. Fausto Caramona is signed through 2013 and the Indians want, nay expect, him to recapture the magic of 2007 when he was third in Cy Young voting. Unfortunately, Fausto was just terrible this year. When a sinkerballer gives up 22 home runs, you have to wonder what the hell is going on. A 1.405 WHIP, while not terrible, isn’t what he’s getting paid to do, and neither are 205 hits in 188.2 innings. Plus, the dude may just be crazy. I have not seen a pitcher talk to himself as much as Fausto does on the mound, whether congratulating himself or cursing himself out for even something so small as throwing a ball on 2-2. That and the little brown patch that accumulates on his right butt cheek every outing is endearing in its own way. I could go on with deeper numbers, but the fact is, the Tribe’s Opening Day starter was just hot garbage this year.

Speaking of which, one of the big splashes at the trade deadline came, bizzarely and stunningly for fans, out of Cleveland. New general manager Chris Antonetti got his first big nut flexing by swapping top pitching prospects Alex White and Drew Pomeranz for Ubaldo Jimenez of the Rockies. I still like the trade, having a guy with the kind of ammo Ubaldo has for two more years isn’t a bad thing, and you never know how prospects, especially pitching prospects are going to work out. But the fact remains Jimenez was pretty much a fat disappointment. He gave up a lot of runs, 37 earned in 65.1 innings in his time with the Tribe. Yet another thing Mr. Belcher is going to have to work on. Who knows what the problem is when a guy can tickle 98 on the gun, has a 94 mile an hour cutter, and a nice pile of secondary pitches to compliment. According to Fangraphs, Ubaldo was relying on his changeup a bit too much this past year, which is a bit frustrating. I mean, if I were a pitcher of his talent level, I would want to blow guys away. He could be over thinking it and trying to out-guile the batter, or maybe it’s the catcher calling the game. He’s got to be better, and if he can catch some of that 2010 magic again, having him and Masterson at the top of that rotation is just fun.

What else is there to say? Matt LaPorta is plainly not a long-term solution at first. He doesn’t have the power to make up for his mediocre glove, and his plate discipline is spotty at best. Michael Brantley is going to be a good major leaguer for a long time. He does everything right, plays great defense, and his bat is coming around. Shin-Soo Choo had a miserable year by his standards. He needs to be better, back to the consistent .300 average, 25+ homers and great defense we were used to. Grady Sizemore is just a sad story for any Indians fan. We love him, he loves Cleveland, but the guy just can’t stay healthy. It’s sad when a player’s passion is the cause of his demise, but from the running into walls to the aggressiveness on the base paths to the laying out for fly balls, Grady is his own worst enemy. It’s also the reason he was one of the best center fielders in the game and a true superstar for two or three years. If you’re the Tribe front office, what do you do? Any contending team would love to have him at the very least coming off the bench, but the Tribe WILL be contending next year, and he isn’t overly costly, so he’ll probably hang around. With Eziekel Carrera hanging around in the minors and Brantley and Choo anchoring the rest of the outfield, it’s not detrimental if he’s not out there every day, but damn if it wouldn’t be sweet.

Then there’s Jason Kipnis. I don’t know what to say about this kid, but he’s a stud through and through. I see traces of another second baseman in him, a certain Philadelphian All-Star. Kipnis is a dirt dog, he has a great bat, he wants to play, and his glove is very good. We didn’t get enough of him this year because of injury, but if he doesn’t crack the opening day roster, there’s something wrong with the Indians front office. He’s the future of the team, that’s just real talk.

Just one other young guy disappointed a bit, not on a LaPorta level, but still a bit. Lonnie Chisenhall led us all on with a hot bat in spring and an awesome name to bellow from the stands. Then he goes out and hits .255, gets on base at a .284 clip and flashes mediocre power. Towards the end of the season after Acta said they need more production from the corner spots on the infield and Lonnie started going off. He hit four of his seven homers in the month of September so plainly he wants a job, but he strikes out too damn much. Patience there is key, and the kid’s only 21, so he’s more of a wait and see type than LaPorta. For real, that guy needs to go.

Maybe I missed something in this exhaustive (I think) review of how the season went in Brown Town. Acta is a fine manager and deserves the extension he’s been given. The team will be better next year, if only because people will be healthy. They’ll chase for the division crown, of that I have to believe because the Tigers are good but not THAT good, the White Sox are an enigma and are possibly losing their best pitcher to free agency, the Twins are falling apart and are never great, just good enough, and the Royals are the Royals. Maybe in three years we can’t say that, but you still have to pitch, and so far that collection of whatever you want to call the guys taking the mound in KC are just not good at all. So here’s to next year. The law of averages says the Indians have to win one sooner or later, right? Let’s not look at the Cubs. Good.