The secret of buying laundry appliances: While We’re Waiting
August 5, 20162016 Browns Preview: Outside Linebackers
August 5, 2016Think back for a moment to the April version of yourself—the cynical one who’d still never experienced a championship parade and who thought the Indians’ weak outfield would be its undoing. Now imagine explaining to that earlier you that, on the faraway date of August 4, a Cleveland starting line-up in a meaningful baseball game would actually include the trio of Rajai Davis (CF), Abraham Almonte (inexplicably in RF), and Brandon Guyer (who?). “Nightmare,” your former self might say, followed by some mumbling and the follow-up word, “disaster.” And yet, in this topsy-turvy world, those three guys actually helped the Indians (61-45) finally beat the Twins (43-65) on Thursday, keeping the Tribe firmly atop the AL Central for a 62nd straight day.
Yes, that conversation with your past self would eventually include a recap of Tyler Naquin’s emergence, and Lonnie Chisenhall’s solid season, and Jose Ramirez’s huge breakout, and Michael Brantley’s ongoing rehab, etc etc. But let’s stay on point. Abraham, Rajai, and that other guy(er) delivered the goods in Cleveland’s much-needed 9-2 blowout win, avoiding what would have been one of the more embarrassing four-game home sweeps in recent memory. The outfield went a combined 5-for-13 at the plate, and all three also tallied a defensive assist. Their pals down there in the dirt part of the diamond were contributing their fair share, as well, as Jason Kipnis homered in the first, and Carlos Santana, Francisco Lindor, and Jose Ramirez all added their own deep flies by day’s end. When was the last time that all four starting infielders on a team homered and all three starting outfielders picked up an assist? The answer is never. That had never happened in Major League history.
Meanwhile, in the one pitching matchup in this series that actually looked like it favored Minnesota, lefty Hector Santiago got banged around (4 ER in 5IP), while 15-year-old Mike Clevinger stopped playing Pokemon Go long enough to work 4.1 innings, allowing 2 ER—nothing special, but practically a Maddux performance compared to what Indians starters had offered in this series.
In a bit of an interesting move, Terry Francona elected to put his new heat-seeking missile Andrew Miller into the contest with two outs in the sixth inning. Everybody in the Indians pen was good in this one, as Miller, Dan Otero, Bryan Shaw (fulfilling his contractual obligation to pitch every day), and returning youngster Ryan Merritt held the Twins scoreless. But Miller Time was particularly enjoyable, as the lefty struck out three of the four men he faced, including Joe Mauer and Max Kepler—two guys who I think were a combined 23-for-24 in the first three games and who have names that sound like 1930s German boxers.
Random Thoughts:
1. Andrew Miller is a Video Game Pitcher
Since the deal went down on Sunday, you’ve probably already seen a lot of stupid, impossible statistics attributed to this Andrew Miller fellow. My favorite, hands down, is the dude’s absolutely unreal 2016 strikeout-to-walk ratio—which, like the main character on the excellent Netflix series Stranger Things, is superhuman and known by the number Eleven. That’s right, Miller is currently striking out 15.3 batters per 9 innings and walking just 1.4. That’s a ratio of 11.0. If you think you contemplate how good that is, you don’t.
Miller’s second-best K/BB season, 2014, already ranks as the 6th best all-time among pitchers who threw at least 50 IP in a season. His ratio that season… was 6.06 K/BB. To repeat, Miller’s ratio so far in 2016 through 47 IP is ELEVEN.POINT.ZERO. If he sustains that, he’d surpass Kenley Jansen’s stupid 10.0 K/BB effort from last season, and also move ahead of No. 2 on the list: the greatest season maybe ever by a pitcher, Pedro Martinez’s 1999 campaign (8.46 K/BB).
2. The Look of a Closer?
Miller’s use in Thursday’s game was more about getting him into the flow of pitching in Progressive Field perhaps, but he also faced the middle of Minnesota’s lineup.
https://vine.co/v/5q5BjYrngPT
This raises the question, what is Francona’s long term plan here? From the look and feel of it, he may be leaning toward using Miller more in the same way the southpaw was deployed much of the year in New York—as an all-purpose fireman for any inning. If so, I wholeheartedly support the approach. If a save comes in the ninth, Miller can handle it. If the game is on the line in the seventh or eighth, by all means, use your best weapon. The only argument against this method is the old “but guys need to know their role or they get all emotional and uncomfortable” excuse. I greatly dislike that line of thinking. A bullpen guy’s job is to come in and throw strikes. Be prepared. Is that really too much to ask of a supposed “specialist?” If changing the pecking order throws you off your game, you might be in the wrong business.
An even more pressing question than Miller’s role with the Indians, though, concerns his hair. We know that Clint Frazier was required to chop off his red mane to become a Yankee, but will Miller embrace a return to his Boston shaggy dog days during these dog days of August in Cleveland?
3. A Lucroy Conspiracy?
In case you missed it, Indians GM Mike Chernoff was quite direct in an MLB podcast that the team never spoke with Jonathan Lucroy during trade negotiations, hence implying that the catcher was lying when he said Tribe representatives told him he’d be splitting time with Yan Gomes next season. I never doubted that Lucroy was full of shit on that one, since it sounded absolutely ludicrous that Cleveland would trade half the farm for an elite catcher only to tell him—for no good reason—that he might lose his position. Even if that WAS the plan, there would be zero sense in saying so when supposedly trying to get a guy to waive his veto. Nobody has a moral compass that strong or a negotiation strategy that stupid.
But are we to believe that Lucroy’s management team is at fault here? Why make up a silly excuse instead of just saying you didn’t want to come to Cleveland or you tried to get them to trash the 2017 team option and they wouldn’t?
Well, the reason is that both of those explanations make Lucroy look greedy, selfish, and/or petty. At the same time, however, if Lucroy said he asked Cleveland to rework his deal and they refused, it could also make the Indians look bad to the ever-present “Dolanz R Cheap” contingent. So… what if Lucroy, the Brewers, and the Indians worked a secret backdoor deal—not for a trade—but to save face with their fans? By making the whole veto about playing time and the mighty Yan Gomes, Lucroy looks less shitty, cuz he was just looking out for his career and his family and his best baseball situation. The Indians look innocent because money wasn’t the issue. And the Brewers look less stupid because it implies Lucroy was ready to agree to the deal until pondering the Gomes factor. This whole scenario would also potentially ease any possible tensions between the Indians and the Yanimal, indicating they still love him so much that they just couldn’t guarantee Jonathan Lucroy, a top 3 MLB catcher, a starting spot next year.
Sounds like a reasonable conspiracy theory. But Chernoff apparently didn’t love the results coming from the bullshit train, because he derailed the narrative this week and laid the full responsibility at Lucroy’s feet. Seems like a wise move, because while we don’t need any help hating that guy for the rest of the year, it is nice to start getting the gut-punch feeling out of our systems. For a couple days there, the “Veto Heard ‘Round the World” seemed to have drained a lot of the air out of the Party at Napoli’s. It’s like how Billy Dee Williams played Harvey Dent in the first Batman movie; and Tim Burton planned on having him eventually playing Two-Face; we all imagined how cool it would be to see Lando playing Two-Face… but then it just never happened, and he went and did Colt 45 commercials for the rest of the ‘90s instead. Such is life. Lucroy is in Texas. And our catchers are…
4. Human Tire Fires
I’m not going to dig into the combined 2016 numbers of Yan Gomes, Chris Gimenez, and Roberto Perez. Children might be reading this, and my foul language in the Lucroy section is more suitable for their eyes than those statistics. I must admit that I was a fan of trying to bring in the Twins’ Kurt Suzuki on Deadline Day. He presumably could have been had for a tiny fraction of the Lucroy deal, and still would have offered a substantial upgrade on offense and no major step down on defense. The 32 year-old is slashing .283 / .319 / .434 this season. Like Gomes, he doesn’t walk. But he’s just a solid rental piece for cheap, and if an August deal could be had, I’d still look into it. I’m not giving up on Perez or Gomes, but right now, the catching position is an ABYSS. Bright side… the centerpiece of the collapsed Lucroy deal, that youngster Francisco Mejia, just extended his hitting streak to 46 games at high single-A Lynchburg. We might some day be thanking Lucroy for his thoughtfulness.
5. Naquin & Afraid
For a second straight month, Tyler Naquin is your AL Rookie of the Month. More crazily, among all MLB players with at least 200 plate appearances this season, only David Ortiz has a higher OPS than Tyler’s 1.024. If you’re wondering how the generally trigger-shy Indians front office got the guts to deal Clint Frazier, look no further.
6. WAR Mongers
Even after the starting pitching meltdowns of the past week, the Indians’ current Top 7 team leaders in WAR this season include Francisco Lindor, Jason Kipnis, and. . . the entire starting rotation. No other team in the league has more than three SPs ranked in the its top TEN in WAR. Don’t let that information stop you from freaking out, however. Salazar is hurt, Carrasco and Bauer have been stumbling. I’m right there with ya, man.
7. The Whole Kip’N Kaboodle
I am growing a little tired of the long-running narrative of Jason Kipnis’ crummy defense. Is he an elite defender? Of course not. Never has been, never will be. But he has a 0.2 defensive WAR, if you believe in such things. Not a glaring or disturbing mark. Far more importantly, he is having a phenomenal season with the bat and offers the most value to this team at his current position. Yeah, a few double plays didn’t get turned smoothly last week. But let’s also remember that Lindor and Kipnis are still in their first full season as a keystone combo, and their chemistry and timing still need some refining.
8. Belle Curve
This past weekend was the Indians team Hall of Fame inductions, and while Jim Thome continued his sort of silly return to sainthood with this franchise, Albert Belle continues to deprive fans of their insatiable need for some sort of singular redemption event. My guess, based on my lifelong psychological analysis of Albert Belle as a competitor and ill-chosen role model, is that the guy is still bitter about getting booed when he left and joined the White Sox in 1997.
Seem crazy? Well, yeah, for a normal person. There were babies alive that season who are in college now. No self-respecting 2016 Indians fan cares about the free agent choices of Albert Belle in the mid-’90s anymore than people in 2036 will care about Jonathan Lucroy becoming a Ranger. And yet, it just seems to make too much sense that Albert—a man who spent his career thriving on conflict—would balk at the idea of a friendly Kumbaya moment with some people who dared to jeer him when he switched laundry 20 years ago. It feels like minutes ago to the bastard, because when you’re a grizzled, bat-corking, old SOB in your early 20s, things don’t tend to get rosy when you’re pushing 50. [writer’s note: You’re still my hero, Albert.]
Next Up: The Yankees in the Bronx—maybe the only scenario scarier to this team than facing the god d#@% Minnesota Twins again. Oh, and in case you hadn’t heard… Michael Martinez is back!!!
12 Comments
There’s something decidedly unfair about a guy as large as Miller being able to release the ball as far outside the rubber as he does, also being able to throw that hard with such location. And to think that he does this with that weird, three-quarter follow-through.
I’m all for him being deployed as needed. I know there were a ton of folks on Twitter bemoaning his sixth-inning use yesterday, but he did exactly what was needed over those 1 1/3.
I’d like to see a Clayman original rendition of Shaggy Andrew Miller.
Nice article. ’30s German boxers haha exactly. I’d assumed Zimmer was the reason Frazier could be dealt- yeah, it’s Naquin. Thome- I don’t get it either but hey, if the fans want that, fine I guess. It’s like The Wave- if it’s what the people like… Belle: rare for a guy that competitive to not at least have a craving for attention, if only to get his exploits back in the public conversation. 50 HR/50 doubles, etc. etc. I respect him for that at least.
I would as well.
Also, important note, he has already told Cleveland media that he doesn’t plan on shaving for awhile.
What? After this series people were upset he was used against Kepler and Mauer? I am quite glad those people are nowhere near my TL.
You’re right about Miller. He’s like a homeless man’s Randy Johnson. Not a knock on Miller. Johnson was just that much more unfair in his prime.
Tribe, please don’t have another series like that.
Daytime Indians Twitter is a hot freaking mess. Mostly kids off skewl for the summer.
Old ladies sure do love to toss panties Jim Thome’s way. You can affirm this by walking up to any Cleveland-area woman in her late 30s to early 50s and asking if they remember Jim, then just watch them tilt their head back, smile and stare off into space.
I’m glad they got out after the Lucroy thing. Eff that guy forever.
I’ll never understand it. That was as high pressure as you can get. It was the right managerial move to bring in your best reliever to face the heart of the Twins order.
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