While We’re Waiting… Matt LaPorta at First, an O-Line Preview, and Chris Perez’s Comfort
July 20, 2009New WFNY Swag: Regressive Field
July 20, 2009Is it just me or do the Indians seem to lose every weekend series they are involved in? It’s not a falsehood. After Cliff Lee’s gem Thursday night, it was back to reality for Red, White, and Blue. Three games, three losses, all of which were winnable games. Since the season opened, the Tribe is now 3-11 in weekend series. Nice right? The Seattle Mariners lineup is not exactly murderer’s row, and the “new” Indians lineup was supposed to be a shot in the arm for a stagnant offense.
That “new” lineup featured a return of Grady Sizemore to the leadoff spot, while Shin-Soo Choo and Victor Martinez flipped spots in the three and four holes. Ryan Garko and Ben Francisco also found themselves still on Eric Wedge’s lineup card all weekend. Sweet.
Wedge’s moves combined to score just six runs in over 27 innings. It was more of the same from the offense. Grady turning back into “K’dy,” Kelly Shoppach and his windmill upper cut swing providing nothing, A continuation of Victor Martinez’s struggles (now nine for his last 83), and Benny Francisco being Benny Francisco.
I know, I know – Benny homered and singled in Sunday’s 5-3 loss, but he was 0-10 in the first three games of the series while playing a butcher job version of left and center. I think I found the stat of the year – of Francisco’s 66 hits this season, only two of them have been to right field. TWO. Yet Benny still plays every day and hits at a .237 clip. Shame on hitting coach Derek Shelton (who should not have a job right now with the way Shoppach, Francisco, and Jhonny Peralta have completely regressed under his tutelage this season).
It’s OK though, because The Grinder is really into his current lineup right now:Â “I believe in the lineup we’re putting out there, but we need to do a better job,” Wedge said. “We’re still missing some fastballs at times, whether it be fouling them off or taking some pitches.”
Meanwhile one ex-Shelton pupil, Franklin Gutierrez, put on a weekend clinic at the Jake. For the series, Franky G had five hits, including two home runs, and drove in five. In the field Saturday night, he twice robbed Indians hitters of extra bases with terrific running catches, and threw an absolute strike to home plate which nailed Victor Martinez at the plate, except for the fact that home plate umpire Dana Demuth completely missed the call. Franky showed the full arsenal right in the face of his former bosses, which had to be shaking their heads wondering why he was dealt this offseason rather than Francisco. The truth is, Gutierrez is a true center fielder, and a gold glover at that, mis-cast in right for the Indians. He has a cannon for an arm which K’dy Sizemore could only dream of having. Franky wasn’t going to unseat Sizemore and was the perfect trade bait in reality. The problem has been plans B & C – Francisco and David Dellucci, have been miserable failures. We could see this one coming a mile away.
Obviously, Matt LaPorta still isn’t plan D. Why, I have no idea.
On a positive note, the starting pitching was decent enough all weekend. I won’t say that “eye candy” (as my wife calls him) David Huff had a good outing Friday night. Three runs and 108 pitches in five innings is nothing to write home about, but each start is another learning experience for the rookie. Tomo Ohka, who I had the pleasure to see live Saturday night (ha ha), probably saved himself for another week or so with his seven innings of four hit, three run ball. (The only real good news from Saturday night – I got my Surfin’ Sizemore bobblehead doll and the best chicken fingers basket in the business). Yesterday afternoon, other than his one bad inning – a three run first – Starter Aaron Laffey was his usual self, scattering eight hits in six innings.
Not that the Tribe starters were sterling all weekend, but they gave their team a chance to win each game. Unfortunately, the bats all had a three-day slumber party at the corner of Carnegie and Ontario.
To bring an end to a horrific “Beach Weekend,” the Tribe, trailing 5-3 with a man on two out in the bottom of the ninth, watched as Ichiro made a game saving catch at the right field wall off of the bat of Vic the Stik. Poor Victor looked so dejected after Ichiro robbed him to end the game. He, and the 20,900 fans, deserved better.
Speaking of the attendance, on a Sunday afternoon where the weather is as perfect as it can possibly be (75 and sunny), the Indians can’t even pull more that 20,900 fans? That is atrocious and speaks volumes to strength of a fed-up fan base. The anti-Wedge and Shapiro voices are getting louder and louder, and apathy is just about to start setting in. The majority of people are getting to the point where they just don’t care anymore. It’s not in my blood to do so, but I understand the people who feel this way. I mean, seriously, what do we get out of watching guys like Francisco and Garko every day? Or Tomo Ohka every fifth day? Or relief appearances from Winston Abreu or Mike “John” Gosling?
Up next for the Indians is a day off before a long road trip that starts North of the border in Toronto. Cliff Lee starts the series for the Wahoos facing Jays rookie Brett Cecil.
45 Comments
I don’t have another season ticket game until September. I wonder if LaPorta will be up by then or will they send him to the Arizona Fall League to work on learning to play 3rd base as well?
LOL @ ‘tutelage’.
everytime I see Ryan Garko’s ginormous head in the batter’s box i cant help but scream “WHY IS HE STILL GETTING AT-BAT’S???”…the same thing usually happens 2 batters later when I see Benny’s wrinkley head in there…I’m so tired of seeing those two in the lineup…send benny back down to be a batting champ with Marte, and let LaPorta play left and bounce to first once in a while…I’d let Choo play center a couple days here and there if we need to…or call up brantley and just get 2010 underway…
Burn it down. Start over.
I wonder how the Dolan’s ever made enough money to buy this team when they obviously have no business sense.
They are making the fans so mad, and alienating so many of us, that with each passing day it will become that much harder to win us back. Right move or not (obviously it is) firing Wedge would at the very least signal that ownership has a pulse.
I mean, really?!
I would conclude that the Dolans = Rachel Phelps, only Miami already as a team.
David Stern…..right on sir, only wish more would have realized what you said YEARS ago. Water finds it’s own level……..this team under this ownership is now the perennial KC Royals midwest.
Get used to it…….or demand better. Better late than never to wake up and smell the stankness.
Can Dan Gilbert buy the other 2 teams in this town?
i continue to look at tickets for home games that people are essentially giving away…waaaaay under face value…but I cant bring myself to go…how sad is that? and I LOVE baseball…but watching these butchers (shop, gark, and frans), I just cant…I think I would be a better option than those three knuckleheads…
but then I think…does this have anything to do with the hitting coach? possibly…but again, it comes down to talent evaluation and having players play where they are comfortable…
making adjustments obviously is lost on Shoppach, Peralta, and Benny…the pitchers made the adjustment to them, but they didnt do the same…who’s fault is that?
What’s wrong with Garko getting time? The guy hasn’t had a fair shot all season with Shoppach and Valbuena. He led the team in RBI last year and has hit well over .300 since the end of June…Garko has proven he should be at 1B daily yet we continue to play Shoppach and Catcher and make Victor play First.
Bacon – show me when garko has produced when the Indians werent 10 plus games out of first?
we’ve been within 10 plus games out of first?!? He hardly played the first half of this season…how are we supposed to use any of that in talking about his “production”? He hit .290 in 2007 with 450+ AB with 20+ HR which was his first real full season in the majors. He then followed that with a team leading RBI season in 2008 while already being on Wedge’s “list” and being benched numerous times (was he sent down to the minors like Asdrubal last year too? i don’t remember if he was or not)
Defensively I think he’s our best option at first as well. This year Victor has 3 errors in 339 TC while Garko has 2 errors in 411 TC. I understand that’s only one error but Garko only had 4 all last season in 1123 TC. He has proven (at last in my eyes) that he should be our everyday 1B.
Garko is slow and is prone to going way out of his range at first to go for balls he shouldn’t…he’s also almost a dead-red fastball hitter and fails miserably at making any sort of contact against curves…hes average at best with sliders, but seems to have regressed a bit in that fashion…he also has a tendency to miss inside pitches often and is very vulnerable to inside breaking pitches…of his 21 HR’s in 2007 – 14 came with no one on…2/3 of his HR’s with no one on? seems fishy…also this as well…Garko does not have the power to generate his own HR’s the majority of the time…this is evident not only in his HR’s almost always coming off of up in the zone pitches, but also on fastballs as well…
I’ve heard it said where Garko is a singles hitter and I couldnt agree more…he hits the high cheese well, but when pitchers bust him inside and with offspeed stuff, hes vulnerable…he’s slow as well, so if hes on first, RARELY will he go first to third on a single, so you have to play station to station…with the potential of LaPorta and Brantley, I would rather see one of them than him at this point…sure hes hitting around 300 for July, but his ops is actually the lowest its been all year than in previous months…1 2b and 1 hr…just seems like a stretch for a corner infielder or outfielder…
He is slow…but that’s where you put slow players…at 1B! I think if you only look at 2007, the 2/3 HR’s with no one on looks fishy, but he came back in 2008 and hit .318 with runners on, .315 with RISP, .333 RISP w/2 outs, and .421 with bases loaded. I think it’s fair to say he took the criticism of his 2007 season and improved bigtime for 2008. Yes all those numbers are less this year (except he’s .429 with bases loaded this year) but I still blame that on the inconsistency in his playing time.
Garko, I mean…we shouldn’t be even arguing about Garko. Garko is a fine role player. He should be getting AB’s. In the right lineup the guy could hit 25 HR and 80 RBI’s. That’s more than acceptable. He’d be a great 6 hitter in a lineup that had any potential. The current lineup…does not have potential (hangs head in shame).
Garko is never going to be an all-star, regardless of playing time, hes still going to be slow and oafish…LaPorta has the potential to be an all-star…Garko is a backup 2-3 times a week player…the more he plays in pressure situations, (2007 playoff run), the worse he does…the more he plays when it doesnt matter (2008 stretch .500 run), he plays well…he’s not an everyday player…he will start hitting now that theyre completely out of it…I hope they trade him ASAP…he’s a role player (agree with bambino), but will never and should never be an everyday player…I would see him as a #7 or #8 guy to be honest…at best…
Who knows, maybe the Indians goal is to play him enough in non-pressure situations and let him put up some numbers and hang him out there as trade bait to a contender. Like we should have done with Shoppach cough cough.
I agree Bambino!
I agree Bambino!
Garko’s 11/35 in the postseason shows he can’t play in pressure situations? His two 2B, one 3B, one HR, and 7 runs scored showed he can’t play in the playoffs? The guy proved last year he is an everyday player by leading the team in RBI’s only to get shafted once again by Wedge. Brantley and LaPorta have nothing to do with Garko. While they may be using LaPorta at first…he has 6 errors so far this minor league season in very few chances…and hit a whole .190 while he was up here this season. He’s hitting great in the minors but that doesn’t mean he has all-star potential. His being a big prospect also has no bearing on his all-star potential.
Bacon, are you the guy with the Garko jersey sitting behind the net at home games?
Garko couldn’t play for a competitive major league team. He’s literally a doughy sloppy goofy sappy non-entity. He hits when nothing is on the line, has very few total extra base hits, and just punches singles out when nobody’s looking.
Cut the goof and play LaPorta.
I believe I said “the more he plays in pressure situations, (2007 playoff run), ” the playoff run meaning the second half of the season where he tailed off as the pressure mounted…
Garko is nothing more than a backup, and shouldn’t be taking AB’s away from young prospects who actually have a chance to make a difference for the future as this season (with your boy Garko) not amounting to anything…trade him for some pitching and be done with the dead end…and leading a team with 90 RBI’s is like winning a best dressed award at a Star Trek convention…sure you win, but good Lord, you still look like a trekkie…saying you’re led an underachieving team with 2 of its best hitters (hafner and victor) not healthy to get around the .500 mark?…thats sorta weak…I dont see where you can quantify that as a legit argument for his abilities…why? because he was the only one who was available at that time? we didnt have anyone else who could?
lol great argument isis…i see you really went out on a limb there to say something that hadn’t already been said. Was his “nothing on the line” hitting represented more last year when he hit well over .300 with runners on or when he hit over .300 in the 2007 playoffs?
@Isis – agreed…and LaPorta got jerked around, not Garko…at least he gets regular at bats (inexplicably)…LaPorta would play 3 be off for 1, play 1, off for 4, play 5, off 1, on 2, off 2, on 1, etc etc…no regular playing time…
and sorry im the guy in the bleachers with the Belle, Thome, and Ramirez jersey’s on 🙂
LaPorta should have never been up here in the first place. What could have happened by bringing him up when we did…DID happen…he played like sh*t and needed to be sent back to the minors…where he should have been from day 1 this season.
hahahaha…Bacon, pass some of whatever it is you’ve got…good stuff…
LaPorta will be up soon enough…I’ll be willing to bet that Garko and Peralta will be traded before the deadline, Peralta because he doesnt want to be here anymore, and Garko because some team thinks along the same lines as you do…”he’s solid”…which equates to average…and if some other team thinks that, then I will happily take whatever they will dish out…we can watch Garko flounder elsewhere…and LaPorta will be a far better everyday #3 or #5 hitter than Garko ever thought he could be…
Same thing goes for Valbuena and being in the minors this year. Maybe he’d have some more confidence in his hitting if he’d been facing that hitting all year instead of the big boys. That call is a bit tougher due to the Asdrubal injury…we would have had to do something and Valbuena probably would have been the way to go (i think Barfield was still hurt?) We did still had DeRosa then and he played 2nd last year so I’m not sure why we couldn’t have done the Peralta to 3rd move then and let DeRosa play 2nd until Asdrubal was back.
@ Bacon – Needs more Baerga!
if nothing else, I agree on the Valbuena assessment…he was/is not ready…but he’s getting playing time for the same reason Garko is…he’s on Wedge’s good side…unlike Barfield…
Garko has been on Wedge’s sh*t list since he didn’t run out that grounder last season and Wedge benched him for 3 or 4 straight. Since then Shoppach has taken priority in the lineup whenever there has been a choice.
Bacon, name me a COMPETITIVE major league team that Garko could play for, and who (position/player) he would replace.
I agree Barfield never got a fair shot. It’s borderline understandable though because last season we were counting on Asdrubal, and he showed us he wasn’t ready yet, and then Barfield got hurt so Carroll took over until Asdrubal got back. This year would have been a great time to give Barfield a shot once we decided to move Asdrubal to short and Peralta to 3rd.
If Garko is on the list as you say, why is he playing??? also, you said 3-4 straight, but I dont think he was ever sat for more than 2 games…i dont remember any benching for that…but thats ok…i dont remember a lot of things!
If Garko is a staple of the Tribe’s future………………
If I was Garko I’d not be proud that my nickname is Fred Flinstone.
I would love to see Barfield at second with any sort of regularity…
@37 – clearly because Betty was the better looking wife…
lol Isis who said staple? He should have been playing this year and last as our 1B over Shoppach catching and Victor playing 1st. I never said he was the future of our team or that he would be an all-star.
When did being fast at 1B become a big deal? He’s obviously not an outfielder and even though Wedge has played him there this season I think anybody would agree his speed IS a problem in the outfield…at first it’s a problem though?
I just think that in this day and age with the amount of raw physical abilities of some, that there’s really no more room on any MLB roster for a guy who cant run…if there is, then hes a catcher with a cannon for an arm…last I saw, Garko was neither…if he’s a decent catcher, than I can see him being a semi-regular…but as a 1B, hes sorely lacking in many aspects…
I dont think Vic playing 1st is the issue…its Shoppach catching…if he was a catcher previously, give him a mask and lets see what he can do…but as a position player…I think he’s sub-par…
but I do respect your opinion…heck, I really liked Herges…haha
I agree Victor at 1st isn’t really the issue and Shoppach is the big problem. If that’s the case though and we put Victor behind the plate, do we really want to put the everyday 1B role on LaPorta? A few years down the road that may not be a terrible plan…but LaPorta hasn’t exactly showed great fielding skills.
as far as the speed at 1B thing we’ll have to agree to disagree 🙂 Running down the list of 1B in the entire mlb there really aren’t too many i’d name as “not slow” haha
I think that getting a more athletic guy at first with more power and speed is an upgrade…and while there may not be any first basemen that are fast, or close to it, many of the others make up for it with a high average, gold glove abilities, tons of power, etc…I just dont see Garko fitting in there…and because this year is not going to amount to anything, might as well let them try LaPorta out…I dont think he will necessarily be the 1B of the future…but I feel like at this point, hes a better option than Garko…