Cavs ink Kevin Love to contract extension
July 24, 2018Cavs Hope to Avoid 2010 Redux with Love Extension: While We’re Waiting
July 25, 2018The New York Yankees acquired reliever Zach Britton, the Boston Red Sox look near invincible, and the Houston Astros are cruising along after winning the World Series last year. So yeah, it’d be sort of nice if the Cleveland Indians weren’t treating the regular season the same way the LeBron James era Cavalier teams did by sputtering along with the expectation the team can correct course in the postseason.
We get it, the AL Central division isn’t exactly the most challenging of obstacles to overcome. The Tribe doesn’t have players throwing soup on coaches or making up excuses to disappear for two weeks to get married during the season, which is nice. And, if the team was mediocre due to pushing boundaries and allowing the youth at the upper levels of the franchise’s farm system have opportunities, then perhaps it wouldn’t be so frustrating. As it is…
The defense continues to make life difficult especially when the Indians put out one of the worst possible defensive outfields to assemble such as when the configuration consists of Michael Brantley, Tyler Naquin, and Melky Cabrera. Brantley hits enough to make up for his field deficiencies, but both Naquin and Cabrera are hitting 25% worse than the league average in 2018. Meanwhile, manager Terry Francona says that he trusts the bat of Yandy Diaz but he isn’t capable of playing in the outfield. Making matters worse is that giving away those two outfield spots in the lineup, plus catcher against right-handed pitchers1 and first-base against left-handed pitchers2 has meant an offense reliant on the top of the order pushing across runs. Then, there are worries about Corey Kluber’s knee, Carlos Carrasco not having his normal dominant season, and Shane Bieber (4.8 ERA, 3.6 FIP, 1.444 WHIP) showing some signs of MLB hitters catching up to his scouting report.
And then, there is a continual source for the frustration of all Tribe fans in 2018. The bullpen. Yes, the Indians made a trade for Brad Hand and Adam Cimber to help alleviate this issue. There is some confidence this could all work out in the postseason. It is, after all, still July.
However, it is also almost August and nearly the entire relief corps has disappointed this season. Perhaps the changing of the guard at pitching coach predicated some drop-off without Mickey Callaway and Jason Bere leading the group, but at least a couple of the holdovers should have been able to contribute in a positive fashion. Instead, Dan Otero (5.35 ERA / 4.76 FIP), Tyler Olson (7.50 ERA / 4.71 FIP), and Nick Goody (6.94 ERA / 7.10 FIP, 60-day DL) have each seen their ERA climb by at least two points and their FIP by at least one. Zach McAllister’s FIP only went up by 0.8, or he would be in the club too.
Cody Allen has seen his ERA balloon to 4.83. There have been calls of him being overworked, but he is currently on pace for fewer innings pitched (barely) since 2012. Still, Allen’s strikeout rate is down, his walk rate is up, and his FIP (4.84) matches his ERA. Something just isn’t quite right with him.
Andrew Miller was striking out batters per usual, but they were also getting far better contact and far more free passes to first base than ever before. Of course, the issue for Miller this season has been injuries. He went on the 10-day DL in April due to a hamstring pull. He came back and within two weeks was back on the 10-day DL for a knee issue. That stint has turned into a 60-Day DL affair and his latest rehabilitation attempt saw him give up four earned runs in 0.1 innings pitched for the Akron Rubberducks. Whoo boy.
Cody Anderson threw a bullpen on February 17 2018. Yes, early in Spring Training. The expectation was he would go on the 60-day DL, but be ready to return once that time was completed. Instead, he was shut-down for the month of June when he experienced ‘dead arm’ during his rehabilitation.
There were tempered expectations for Danny Salazar, but there was an expectation he would make some appearances. Instead, after two seasons experiencing varying arm pains, Salazar underwent season-ending shoulder surgery on July 2.
Outside of Oliver Perez (1.15 ERA, 2.33 FIP), every single freaking Tribe bullpen ‘throw spaghetti at the wall’ arm has failed. These types of arms don’t have a high success rate, but the Tribe desperately needed a prospect or free agent flier to pan out given everything else going on with their relievers. Baseball is gonna baseball. Neil Ramirez, Matt Belisle, Evan Marshall, Ben Taylor, George Kontos, Jeff Beliveau, Oliver Drake, Marc Rzepczynski, and even Alexi Ogando have taken the mound for the Indians in 2018. Well, Brandon Guyer also pitched a clean inning… given the others, perhaps he should be included.
2018 has not been going to plan. Perhaps this season will wind up being like the 1997 season when the Indians put aside their mediocrity and lived up to the talent available on the roster once the postseason began. Regardless, it is OK to be frustrated in the present because this stretch has been frustrating. The American League appears to be stacked with talent, and the Indians are going to have to play at a much higher level than they are if there is any possibility of even escaping the ALDS.
