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November 16, 2017Let me preface this piece by sayingΒ I love Terry Francona. A few years ago, my wife and I got a pretty great opportunity during an event at Progressive Field with my dad’s family due to their participation in our local Relay For Life. We got tickets to a game, purple Indians hats, and a pre-gameΒ parade on the field. It started in right field, out of the garage doors, went down the fencing and by the dugouts and around back out the way we came. As we neared the Tribe dugout, I looked inside to see if anyone was out early, getting ready. It was at this moment I saw Francona pinning the lineup cart to the dugout wall and, almost as a reflex, I yelled, “Hey Tito!” It was an exclamation of greeting to him but also an attention getter to my wife and family. He waved back and my dad has never let me live it down that I would be so casual as to yell “Hey Tito!” and get a response.
Francona has helped usher in a new era of Cleveland Indians baseball to a generation of fans that were on the precipice of forgetting about one of the most storied franchises in Major League Baseball. One of the five best managers in the game, a Manager Of The Year nominee almost every year he’s been in Cleveland, Francona has helped talented prospects become All-Stars and reclamation projects become building blocks for a perennial playoff team.
This, however, is not an article I write to praise the beloved Terry Francona. This is a warning that the franchise is goingΒ down a bad path.
There is a large faction of Indians’ fans that have blind trust in Francona and back every move and lineup change the manager makes, regardless of whether or not it makes much sense at first blush. They will bend over backward to rationalize the decisions, always armed with “Trust in Tito” at the ready, as if repeating it numerous times will make it so. Citing past performances (two World Series titles and the always present “rings” conversations) conjures up a favorite saying of WFNY’s own Mike Hattery: “Good outcomes do not equal a good process.”
I can’t exactly pinpoint when or where the scales tipped, but the breadcrumbs have been there for months. Somewhere along the lines, it seems as though Francona has garnered more decision making power than previously held and is using it to further an agenda that seems to profit players closest to Francona and former colleagues of Tito’s. Now, obviously, these decisions are made in the interest of winning. I am not accusing Francona nor the front office of trying to tank or hurt the organization outright, but there have been moves to cater to the egos of players and coaches close to Tito and those *have* hurt the organization’s chances of winning. Throughout the season(s) I have pulled together an inconclusive list of players that seemingly have the backing of Francona regardless of performance. The list of players includes, and is not limited to, the following: Michael Brantley, Jason Kipnis, Corey Kluber, Bryan Shaw, Yan Gomes, Lonnie Chisenhall, and Josh Tomlin. Together they form The Tito Boyzz (double Z for extra flava).
Michael Brantley and Lonnie Chisenhall on the playoff roster
The medical bungling of players over the past few years is mind-boggling in and of itself, but the decision to bring along Brantley and Chisenhall while leaving seemingly-useful players like Yandy Diaz and Abraham Almonte off the postseason roster is malpractice. Brantley, playing on an ankle that was already determined needed surgery but “couldn’t get any worse by playing”, barely had any lead up to the playoffs, with only 25 plate appearances in the weeks prior. The decisions to roster both were compounded when Edwin Encarnacion twisted his ankle in an almost Gordon Hayward-esqueΒ style at second base. Francona was forced into starting the not-ready Brantley, who was said to have been rostered to be a pinch hitter, and the results were less than ideal: 12 plate appearances, one hit, four strikeouts and one walk. Chisenhall’s postseason was somehow worse, with four strikeouts in five at-batsΒ in four games. Both proved that roster construction is vitally important and not a single roster spot should be wasted. Had a healthy and productive Diaz been on the roster, it’s possible the Tribe could have moved forward to the ALCS and given Encarnacion proper time to heal.
Jason Kipnis in center field
At the same time, Kipnis was allowed to roam center field despite precious few innings manning the spot since his time as an Arizona Sun Devil. He too was coming back from injury though he had found an AL MVP candidate, Jose Ramirez, entrenched at his position of choice upon his return. Francona desired to lean on Kipnis, so he was asked to give center a try, which happened to be a position he had boasted in the clubhouse as being able to play best on the team. He had some route struggles and baserunners did not fear his arm to any degree, but he did make a spectacular catch in the ALDS. The main issue with Kipnis in the postseason was he was having a poor season at the plate. Further, Kipnis has struggled his entire career with left-handed pitching. Despite these struggles, Kipnis was entrusted to an every game role in the postseason.
Playoff rotation struggles
While Trevor Bauer’s results in Game 1 of the ALDS were spectacular, one could argue he shouldn’t have gotten the ball in the first place. Ace (and Cy Young winner) Corey Kluber was in line for the start, but Francona and pitching coach Mickey Callaway wanted to give Kluber an extra day’s rest due to an at-the-time-undisclosed-possible-back-issue and would pitch him in Game 2 of the series. That would mean that Carlos Carrasco, he with the 3.29 ERA, 3.19 FIP, 226 strikeouts, would only pitch once in the five-game series. Knowing that Kluber might have had some issues health-wise, the decision to pitch Carrasco only the once while letting Kluber get the decisive Game 5 start is a head-scratcher.
Coaching changes
Mickey Callaway was always tagged to be a manager. His work with the rotation and starters such as Carlos Carrasco and Trevor Bauer was becoming legend around the league. He was often seen as one of the forces that brought more of a sabermetric viewpoint to the clubhouse, and many thought he would supplant Francona as manager when the latter retired. Once the New York Mets made Callaway their manager, the focus turned to who would be replacing him. In-house options such as Jason Bere, Ruben Niebla, Steve Karsay, and Matt Blake were passed over by former Cleveland pitching coach Carl Willis. Willis was a dark horse candidate, an old-school option who is the antithesis to Callaway’s sabermetric approach. Though the two never worked together previously, the pairing of Francona and Willis seem to be a departure from the way things were done and more towards an avenue Francona is familiar with. It remains to be seen how the staff will handle such a move away from Callaway’s methods.
Also on the move this offseason, the aforementioned Jason Bere is off to seek employment elsewhere after seemingly butting heads with members of the Indians franchise. The former bullpen coach was let go after not securing the pitching coach position and Scott Atchison was hired to be the new bullpen coach. It appeared that Bere was the heir apparent to Callaway, but when Willis was hired, Bere was fired, but not before being told who was coming in, and why he was passed over. Firing an up-and-coming coach who would offer the most continuity for a team that has World Series aspirations seems to be a signal that something fishy is afoot.
Brantley option picked up
An $11 million option on a player of Michael Brantley’s pedigree seems like a no-brainer. A top 3 finisher for the MVP in 2014 and an All-Star at midseason should be on the roster for what seems to be a relative bargain. However when you consider the fact that in each of the last three seasons, Brantley has missed significant time due to injury and add to it the fact that Brantley is having surgery on his ankle, surgery that will keep him from doing anything baseball related until February or March at the earliest, the $11 million seems as though it could have been used elsewhere. This could all be moot if Brantley performs to his “glory days” years, but again “good results do not equal a good process”. Hoping for the best on an injury-riddled player who’s best years seem to have gone by is not best practices.
First base conundrums
Position battles are nothing new in baseball, but when the exiting player is one of the most underrated players in major league baseball, filling the spot becomes extra tedious. Carlos Santana seemingly never got the praise he deserved (except here at Waiting For Next Year…he is beloved and we might/will have to hold candlelight vigils if he leaves in free agency) and never got the chance to get into the inner cribbage circleΒ it appeared. What is to be done at first base in his wake remains to be seen, and frankly, it’s borderline scary.
Encarnacion has the most experience on the roster, having played 75 games there in 2016 for Toronto and 23 for Cleveland in 2017. Edwin, however, is trending towards being a full-time DH and would provide nowhere near the almost elite levels of defense Santana brought. Yandy Diaz has been taking some at first in winter league, but that would negate his great throwing arm at third. General manager Chris Antonetti has talked about Brantley’s past foray’s at first, but those were years ago in the minor leagues plus there’s an offseason without any baseball-related activities keeping Brantley from learning a new position. And we all know Jason Kipnis is seemingly out of a position with Jose Ramirez possibly moving to second for good and Bradley Zimmer returning to patrol centerfield, so first seems to possibly be an answer…I guess? A different free agent first basemen could be brought in, but the odds are one of the Tito Boyzz being anointed the replacement for Carlos.
When you look at the sum of these decisions and moves and hirings and firings, the overall outlook for the team and the future start getting bleaker and bleaker.Β The plan for the offseason seemed entirely different from how events turned out. Francona’s fingerprints have been all over every decision this offseason. The fact that this appears to be one of the darker timelines going forward for the Tribe is not lost and can be attributed to Francona’s influence. Let’s hope some good results come from this bad process.
40 Comments
“Knowing that Kluber might have had some issues health-wise, the decision to pitch Carrasco only the once while letting Kluber get the decisive Game 5 start is a head-scratcher.”
Well okay, it might look like a head-scratcher now. But at the time, Bauer was lined up for Game 4 coming off an outstanding start, and you’ve got your Cy Young winner pitching Game 5 (if needed).
What if the Tribe had lost and Kluber had pitched only once? People wouldn’t be scratching their heads, they would be cleaning them off the ceiling.
I can’t fault Tito’s strategy. Hey, it’s baseball. You take your best shot, but there are no guarantees.
And remember… Bauer didn’t give up an earned run in either outing.
If Kluber was dealing with an injury, then why pitch him twice? They wanted to give him an extra day, which he doesn’t actually prefer, due to the injury. Hindsight is 20/20, but knowing now that Kluber was dealing with something makes the decision to throw Carrasco only once in the series circumspect.
Bauer was fantastic in his first outing. He was getting hit HARD in his second though, the only reason he didn’t give up an earned run was due to those errors. The Yanks were going to score against him in that game. Love Bauer, but it wasn’t his best day.
Yes, but none of that argues against the decision to give him the start.
Something was off with Kluber though. We could see it and you could def see it first game he pitched. If he was healthy patch him game one if not, maybe have him pitch game 3 but you canβt risk any games in a five game series.
Plus if Kluber is dealing with issues let him pitch on more rest then be primed if we move on to next series.
Okay, but by then it was too late to do anything about Carrasco. He obviously couldn’t start Games 3 and 5. So the alternative would have been to start Tomlin, Clevinger, or Salazar instead of Kluber for Game 5. But only Kluber and maybe Tito know if or how badly Corey was hurt.
It sure would have been nice if it hadn’t gotten to that point. Alas.
Isn’t the fact that it was too late to do anything about Carrasco pretty telling? If he would have approached the series normally, Carrasco might have been able to go in Game 5 if they knew something was up with Klubs.
Here is the argument against giving Bauer the Game 1 start.
In the 2017 season, in the 2016 season, in the 2015 season and cumulatively over those three seasons, Corey Kluber and Carlos Carrasco were far and away the two best starting pitchers for the Cleveland Indians.
If one was injured or laboring (possibly Kluber), then it is an acceptable managerial response to mitigate it by reducing their workload (which actually wasn’t done- that would have been start Kluber in only one game or G1 & G5).
There is no explanation to why Carrasco wasn’t fully utilized.
You were talking about Bauer’s Game 4 start, and that’s what I was referring to.
You don’t get a Bauer Game 4 start w/o a Bauer Game 1 start, which was my point.
Bauer should have started G2 (if worried about Kluber’s health) or G3 (if not).
Also, if it matters, none of this is full-on hindsight as we were discussing our displeasure w/ these decisions in real time too.
But it was what it was, not what it wasn’t.
Sorry Marty. I am not following. The issue was planning for Cookie to only get one game, which was done before the ALDS started.
Well this is pointless. And there’s no guarantee that Carasco wouldn’t have gotten hammered in his second start.
I won’t criticize Tito (or Callaway). Lue yes, and Hue most def, but not Tito. He’s a pretty good manager.
He is a pretty damn good manager, as stated. There are however times where he makes mistakes. Those mistakes are allowed to be called out and questioned just as much as the successes.
“I won’t criticize Tito (or Callaway). Lue yes, and Hue most def, but not Tito. He’s a pretty good manager.”
And here we get to the root of the problem.
I know I should have put a copyright on my work.
This is absolutely it right here.
Even if Kluber was healthy, Carrasco should have pitched games one or two, so you could have him available to pitch a second time. Him being available a second time only becomes more important if Kluber has an issue.
Of course he makes mistakes, and if people want to blame him, that’s fine with me. I don’t care.
All I’m saying is that I don’t blame him. He made a call and it didn’t work out. C’est la voie les rebonds de boule.
I agree, Tito is a good manager. I’ll agree with Gerbs here that he is probably Top 5 in all of MLB. Feels correct there.
Of course there’s no guarantee on Cookie. We’re just trying to setup the best chances. Team/Tito felt it was Bauer twice, I feel it was Carrasco. Stated above why. That’s all.
Thought you might enjoy this one π
WHY DO YUO HATE FRANCOGRUM?????
The loyalty to the players who couldn’t produce was head scratching for sure.
What are the gut feelings on this Healy to Seattle trade so soon after they supposedly talked to Santana? Good news that one other team is out of the running or bad news in that his asking price might have been so high they decided not to even bother?
I agree and nobody seems to be talking about it. The moves that tito made looked like good ol boy and I have said all year that the cribbage crowd were kept around.
Respectfully, the deifiication of Bere is odd. Perhaps somebody on a beat that covers them can add more to how losing him is some huge cog but my informal info is while a competent bullpen guy he doesn’t have the make-up to be a pitching coach. He is really a footnote and when you use weak pillars to support an argument, it goes towards weakening your position.
“Informal info” that sounds like something leaked to the Boston media after the Red Sox fire a coach seems … not useful.
I don’t know enough about Bere to offer much here, other than hearing occasional good things about his work over the past decade. I can offer that the way they let go of Bere was downright odd. After 12 years, you let someone go and say “it’s not about what Bere doesn’t do?”
Granted, that could be and probably is just public posturing, but it still strikes a weird chord and offers little information. I get that they wanted to shift the focus to Atchison, but parting ways with a staple of your organization after 12 years needs a little bit more substance, IMO.
I have a hard time envisioning any Santana scenario that is positive for the Indians.
Good article Gerbs, needed to be said.
I am concerned about the level of influence Tito may have in the front office. This will be an interesting off season.
we draft a star player with the pick we get back
OK, how about a positive 2018,19,20, 21 scenario then please?
This is a solid take. Virtually all of the Indians staff departures have been for greener pastures / promotions. This one was odd.
We’ve had bullpen catchers and such work for decades and get moved on. The bullpen coach is the most replaceable part in baseball coaching staff.
I have a number of lifelong friends work for team related media sources and also inside the organization, and retired from the organization. As I am not a formal writer with the byline, I don’t feel the need to officially source them or claim to source them as I am just commenting on the blog, and am trying to make it clear I am not posing to take myself any more seriously than that.
Diaz was a huge part of the 22 game winning streak and he wasn’t even on the playoff roster. You have to question many of the decisions that were made prior to Yankee series starting. The plans for both the 25 man roster and the starting rotation were highly questionable.
I would go assistant hitting coach as most replaceable. Bere was thought of highly enough to earn a couple promotions and be one of the guys named as helpful to our pitching staff.
So, at best, we go back to the point I made that it sounds like something the Red Sox leak when they fire a manager.
That would be a shame. This org is almost always above that kind of nonsense.