While We’re Waiting… More on Perez, double-play combo and thin at LB
May 22, 2012Indians’ Joe Smith Reportedly Involved in Bar Altercation
May 22, 2012
Tribe off-days seem few and far between. With a 21-game in 20-day stretch now over and the 40-game mark now surpassed, we can take a look at some hard truths about this this team. Last year the magic number was 45 games, where the Indians were 30-15 and the darlings of the majors. Things fell completely their way during that stretch. The pitching was spectacular, both rotation and bullpen. It was a different hero every single night. Heck, Orlando freaking Cabrera (Obie!) was being hailed as a guy who was a great clubhouse influence (insane I know) who helped Asdrubal Cabrera find his power stroke. Everything clicked.
This season we have another first place team at essentially the same point in the season. Once again, the pitching has been very good, but not quite as good as a year before. During that hot start, the 2011 club looked a lot better offensively than what we have seen from this current group, yet both teams are in first place. The 2012 offensive limitations have been known since the start of Spring Training.
There have been three spots of concern – first base, third base, and left field. Casey Kotchman hasn’t exactly set the world on fire with his bat (.208/.291/.611/3 HR/14 RBIs), but at least he is playing gold glove caliber defense and is moving in the right direction with his bat (.276/.348/.746/1 HR/10 RBIs in May). Jack Hannahan has stabilized the hot corner (.287/.365/.801/3 HR/18 RBIs) despite missing the last week with a bad back. Left field, on the other hand, has been a complete disaster and doesn’t look like it it is getting better anytime soon.
We will get it out right out of the way before we go any deeper – the Indians are in this predicament thanks to the brilliant idea of bringing back the injury plagued Grady Sizemore to be the center fielder. Michael Brantley was supposed to roam left field, but he has yet to play a single game there.
The Indians started the season by handing the job to Shelley Duncan, a career bench player who at age 32, got his big break. Last September, Duncan was the Indians most consistent performer, driving in23 runs and hitting seven jacks. As for the hoard of journeyman the Indians brought in to compete with him in Goodyear, well lets just say one was worst than the next. Despite hitting under .200 this Spring, but leading the team in RBIs, Shelley won the job.
As the exclusive regular left fielder in April, Shelley struggled mightily. he struck out 22 times in 61 ABs and hit just .230/.355./.700. Things got desperate enough that on April 13th, the team signed the 38-year old Johnny Damon, a guy who hasn’t played the outfield regularly for more than two seasons. It was a complete, knee-jerk, panic move by the Indians front office, who hoped to catch lightning in a bottle. By May 1st, Damon was brought to the club, despite zero Spring training and just two weeks of shagging fly balls and hitting off of rookie league pitching in Arizona.
Once Damon arrived, he and Duncan became a pretty strict platoon in left. So far the results have not been what anyone had hoped they would be. I really want to give Johnny the benefit of the doubt, considering he was rushed to Cleveland without any Spring Training. But what I have seen from him just has not been impressive. The only part of his game that has worked have been his legs. However, he doesn’t get to run very often considering he isn’t getting on base. A career .285 hitter, Damon is hitting just .172 (10-58)/.285/.508 with just two extra base hits and two RBIs. It is not as if he is making loud outs either. We’ve seen a lot of weak popouts and grounders from Damon. He started as the Tribe’s leadoff man, but has been moved down to the seven spot.
His defense…. I’ve gone there many many times since he has been signed. Johnny is no longer a viable major league outfielder and hasn’t been for three years. The Indians thought he’d hit and they could live with his glove. Well, Damon isn’t hitting and he’s stuck in left field, unable to DH with Travis Hafner on the roster. The Tribe will continue to go with him and hope he breaks out of it.
Duncan is the only viable option on the current Major League roster until Sizemore returns in late June/early July. But as poor as he was in April, his May has been worse (.143/.226/.547/1 HR/2 RBIs) Aaron Cunningham is a defensive replacement and bench guy. Damon will have to turn things around by the time Sizemore comes back or he will be dropped.
In the meantime, there has been a clamoring of sorts for our old friend, the AAAA special Matt LaPorta. Give Matty credit. He has handled himself incredibly well despite completely falling out of favor with the franchise that made him a cornerstone chip in the the 2008 trade for CC Sabathia. He went down to Columbus and has knocked the cover off the ball. But we have all seen this before. He’s now 27 years old and has had more than 500 AAA at-bats over a four-year span. It shouldn’t surprise anyone that he is hitting .321/.401/1.058/13 HR/28 RBIs while playing both left field and first base.
Check his road and home splits though. LaPorta is hitting .360 with 12 homers and 24 RBIs at Huntington Park, a notorious hitters haven. On the road, he has just one home run and four RBIs while hitting .255. I think The Gator has one more shot with the Indians, the question is when. LaPorta was taken out of last night’s 9-6 loss to Scranton/Wilkes Barre after being hit with two pitches. However, he stayed in the game for two innings before being pulled. Could he be on his way to Cleveland for the Tigers series?
His manager Mike Sarbaugh denied as much after the game saying LaPorta was taken out because his ribs were sore.
The fact that we are even discussing LaPorta as a real option for left field is a scary proposition and the worst case scenario for what the Indians had planned back in January. Long term there is an even bigger issue. There are no outfielders in the pipeline above the A ball level that can be taken as serious top flight prospects. This upcoming offseason will again feature shopping or trading for some sort of outfield help.
In hindsight, the decision not to go three years with OF Josh Willingham looks to be a mistake. At the time, I understood why they didn’t and was behind it. Three years for the 33-year old outfielder seemed like a stretch, despite the fact that he was coming off of a career year (.246/.332/.810/29 HR/98 RBI) in Oakland. But the thought of being saddled with a 35-year old below average defender in that third year making $7 million was something GM Chris Antonetti just didn’t want to get locked into. However, sometime you pay for that last year for the production of the first two.
Willingham ended up signing in Minnesota, where he has kept the power going, hitting .292/.410/1.003/8 HR/25 RBIs. Imagine those numbers from a right-handed stick in the middle of the lineup playing left field for the Tribe right now. All of the issues I described in the last 1100 words or so wouldn’t exist (assuming Willingham’s production was close to the same as what he has done for the Twins).
The incredible thing about this entire situation is the fact that the Tribe is getting absolutely nothing from the left field position and very little from first base – two “offensive positions” – yet they are in first place.
Go figure.
(photo via Chuck Crow/The Plain Dealer)
31 Comments
At least with LaPorta you (maybe) have some upside right now? That’s the best I’ve got.
Where is the organizational accountability for totally ruining LF for the last 5 years?
They knew they needed all of those positions ideally filled by a right handed bat and didn’t get the job done. Ironically Austin Kearns that’s right Austin Freakin Kearns is raking in Miami as a right handed bat who comes off the pine when the Marlins face lefties. (see last night vs. Moyer/Rockies) Siiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiigh.
Cue the angry Sizemore defenders in 3…2…1…
I can understand the concern when it comes to LF as a Tribe Fan and even CF.
I ask the honest question though…how many quality outfielders are in the AL Central?
Tigers – I like Boesch and maybe Jackson.
Twins – Willingham (still a journeyman)
White Sox – Nobody.
Royals – Gordon.
That’s all folks.
The lack of outfield depth not only in the division but in all of baseball is shocking. It’s why guys like Willingham and Cuddyer get far more money than probably deserved.
On a positive note…after spending last night at Lake County it is obvious to anyone who watches baseball that Lindor has that look. Continue to develop him and keep feeding Asdrubal and we have our 3B and SS for the 2015 season.
If you think about it, the real problem with LF is 2B.
If Kipnis hadn’t been switched he would be out there in left raking. But then 2B would be a hole. Easier to fill 2B with a journeyman? Donald, Phelps, even Lopez? More “aceeptable” to the general public if 2B is hitting around .200?
Might be worth a thought if Grady gets hurt again.
If it all had worked out perfectly, you’d have Chiz raking at 3B, Asdrubal, Phelps/Donald, and Matty at 1B. Kipnis in left, brantly/Grady, Choo. Santana/Marson/Hafner. Hannahan UTIL.
Looked nice a paper a couple years ago I bet.
Willingham would look nice in LF, but that’s in the past. He’ll most likely be put on the block sooner or later because the Twins look to be going nowhere fast. Once Sizemore comes back, Damon should be out, and once we bring up Laporta, Duncan looks to be done as well.
Choo?
…and Gordon’s was converted from third base within the last two years.
Of course…moving him to the leadoff spot might be the best thing that ever happened to him.
you think that production is lower cross-baseball in the outfield because of the steroid era being over? teams are looking for guys that are fast and can play small ball instead of just big guys with fake muscles.
Of course. The problem is that very few teams run all that much anymore and if you are not hitting or getting on base speed does not really mean much. I think we just are going through one of those periods in baseball. If you really want a good laugh…
http://espn.go.com/mlb/stats/batting/_/position/lf
Exactly…who is to say that Kipnis does not end up there. I also don’t care that Goedert is 27 years old…I think he should at least get a month in LF to see if you have anything.
how did lavisky look?
Hard to say…was not catching. DH for the night…hit a couple of balls hard but foul…had a base hit. Morimando the starter for LC was impressive. On the Toronto side the kid playing 3B was major league glove ready. Impressive kid.
Twins signed him for three years I doubt they move him after just part of the first year.
well, Gordon was a top10 overall pick flameout who moved from a corner IF spot to the OF as a last gasp hope of getting something out of him.
sound like LaPorta?
(i know, i have never brought that up before 🙂 )
well, on paper, we could still have:
Hannahan nailing down the 3B slot.
Chis moving to 1B and raking there.
Kipnis/Asdrubel the best offensive middle IF in the AL.
Santana/Marson at C
Hafner – DH
Brantley/Choo/LaPorta?Sizemore?
dangit, still fell short on the LF spot. hence this thread 🙂
Kipnis was drafted with the intent to switch him to 2B. He only played OF in the minors to get his bat in the lineup and in his first offseason became exclusively a 2B. There is no “if Kipnis hadn’t been switched” alternative to work with here.
Is there such a thing anymore? I’m pretty sure even Grady’s Ladies have disbanded at this point.
There’s a big difference between the AL and NL.
Exactly my point. Would you be more comfortable as a fan if we “fell short” at 2B instead of LF?
Also, my point is that the FO thought that they had that middle of the order RH bat, corner IF/OF guy in Laporta and all signs from the minors said that’s who he would be.
It’s hard to make contigency plans for a guy you truly thought was going to be your stud. Didn’t work out though.
Agree to some point but he was a full time outfielder in college so he could still probably pull it off.
The real shame is all those drafts where they spent high draft picks on corner IF/OF and they flamed out due to injury or suckiness. Wegz, Whitney, Aubrey, Mills, Snyder
I thought they all became nurses to increase their odds with him?
yeah, it’s amazing how many guys are thought to be real stars for 20-25yrs of their life at every level and just don’t cut it.
oh, and I don’t really care about which position is our weak spot. it’s just ‘8th slot in the order’ or ‘9th slot in the order’ to me. but, yeah, alot of people want to see that heavy hitting OFer.
2005 draft. spent the first 5-6 picks (can’t remember offhand) all on guys we moved to OF in the minors. all of them failed spectacularly.
Ha! I like it… it’s funny because it’s true.
Definitely didn’t mean you specifically when I said “you”. I’m crazy like that.
Exactly
He probably could play a passable outfield if they devoted his full attention to the defensive side of the ball there. But that seems pretty dumb considering how much success he’s had. He was drafted to be a 2B, because they thought his body type and athleticism would work well there (and it has), not to be a OF.
Beggers can’t be chosers. Get the best 9 guys out on the fiedl as many times as you can. If it is easier to get a passable 2B than LF, go ahead and do it.
At least that is one line of thinking. Not necessarily mine, I’d have to think more about it.