Fourteen games into the 2017 season, the A.L. Champion Cleveland Indians have been a bit up and down to start the season.
They've gone just 4-7 since the opening series in Texas where the Tribe completed a three game sweep of the Rangers. However, a major league baseball season is a true marathon and for the time being at least, there's no need to hit the panic button. The club has taken the first two games of a three game series in Minnesota against the Twins, coming away with a 3-1 triumph behind a solid pitching effort from starting pitcher, Danny Salazar and an 11-4 whooping with Josh Tomlin on the mound to even their record at 7-7.
Salazar seems to be quickly regaining the fireballing form he displayed the first half of last season when he landed on the A.L. All-star team. He did not, however, win a single game the entire 2nd half after being beset by unfortunate arm issues that landed him on the disabled list. This coupled with stellar starter, Carlos Carassco also landing on the DL for the entire last few weeks of the magical 2016 season, as well as the entire post-season, played a significant role in ultimately derailing the Tribe in the World Series versus the Cubs.
Carassco appears to be healthy as well and the five man starting staff of former Cy Young winner, Corey Kluber, Carrasco, Salazar, Trevor Bauer and Josh Tomlin are set to carry the load until manager, Terry Francona's magnificent bullpen brigade takes over. Kluber got roughed up in his most recent outing similar to his start in Game 7 of the World Series versus the Cubs.
If Kluber doesn't prove to be the Kluber of old over the long haul, Carassco, Salazar and the others are really gonna have to step it up to take up the slack, otherwise the team could be in for some trouble. He's pitched a lot of innings over the past several seasons. Indians starters must be able to hold leads into the 6th inning at the least so that their stellar bullpen can take over.
It's a bit of a myth that this club has a power laden lineup. The dominating Indians teams of the mid 90's had a true power laden lineup top to bottom, this team doesn't. The key to this club repeating as both Central Division champions, American League champs and a World Series title is clearly the pitching staff. There are two legitimate 'power' hitters in the lineup and Francona chooses to continue to bat one of them, Carlos Santana , leadoff. That may or may not change when 2nd baseman Jason Kipnis comes off the DL in a few days.
I would bat Kipnis leadoff followed by Lindor, Brantley, Encarnacion in the cleanup spot, Santana, Ramirez, then the final three in the order. Those six are the Tribe's everyday regulars and while they'll probably hit a modest number of home runs, they can all smack the baseball around the park pretty darn good !
$60 million dollar cleanup batter Edwin Encarnacion, the huge free agent pickup from the Blue Jays is off to somewhat of a slow start, but, just clubbed his 2nd HR of the year against the Twins. There's a common assumption among fans and media that the former Toronto Blue Jay is a huge upgrade over Napoli. On paper, he should be. But, Encarnacion is past what have generally been considered a player's 'prime' years. Furthermore, the law of averages say no one can be expected to hit over 40 home runs six straight years or more.
That being said, maybe he'll go on to wallop 50 HR's ! With every huge contract come very high expectations and there are some fans whom are restless already, which is utterly ridiculous. There are exactly 148 games left to go in a very long season. Players have ups and downs all the time. Frankly, fans that get bent out of shape at a player's batting average with less than 50 AB'S (at bats) are irritatingly amusing. In this era of endless social media, there's ignorance everywhere.
The biggest addition, by far, to this year's lineup other than Encarnacion is the return of All-star outfielder, Michael Brantley. He walloped his 2nd HR against Minnesota and has been fairly consistently smacking the ball, including one huge game winning walkoff in Cleveland. A healthy Michael Brantley is a whale of a hitter and the club better cross it's fingers...and toes that he stays that way over the course of the long season.
3rd baseman turned temporary 2nd baseman, Jose Ramirez is off to a fantastic start and already has knocked in 15 runs to begin the season. With Kipnis' likely return in a matter of days, Ramirez will return to 3rd and Yandy Diaz, the rookie who's been playing there and doing a very commendable job will get sent back down to the AAA team in all likelihood. The spectacular SS, Francisco Lindor, who played very well on the national stage in the World Series is also off to a great start. The kid is just a refreshing jovial special kind of talent.
The catching situation is rather complicated for the time being. Yan Gomes, while being very early in the season, continues to struggle at the plate while receiving the bulk of the catching duties. He struggled unmercifully at the plate all last year when not injured, finishing with an entirely unacceptable batting average of under .170 ! Roberto Perez, who did a solid job in the post-season last year is primed to take over the fulltime duties behind the plate if Gomes and his toothpick bat doesn't get his average up to a respectable number.
Lonnie Chisenhall has been inserted in centerfield, at least for now, but, I'm not betting a dollar he stays there long. He's sort of a streaky hitter with only average power whom usually hits around .300 the first half of seasons only to tail off considerably in the second half. It was rather shocking that sophomore centerfielder, Tyler Naquin was shipped to AAA. The kid couldn't have been happy about it after hitting over .300 much of last year. It seemed like a rather odd move frankly.
Abe Almonte, suspended 80 games last season for PED use and Brandon Guyer are basically two journeyman types temporarily manning the right field spot. Almonte though has contributed more than expected.
Last, but not least, the magnificent bullpen brigade is a huge key to the fortunes of this club. Andrew Miller, the flame throwing versatile lefty strikeout artist acquired from the Yankees at the trading deadline has transformed this group to a feared bunch from the 6th inning on. Give these guys the lead at that point of the game and it's usually lights out for the opposing club.
Closer, Cody Allen throws a pretty hard fastball himself and generally can be depended upon to close out the game. Hard throwing lefty Boone Logan, another free agent off season acquisition just solidifies the group all the more. Dan Otero did a great job last season as well, generally appearing in the 6th or 7th inning. Then there's Bryan Shaw, who's done a superb overall job in a setup role the past few seasons.
If this club avoids injuries, it stands an excellent chance of winning the Central Division once again. The Detroit kittycats, uh, Tigers that is, probably are the Indians' biggest threat within the division, possibly followed by the Kansas City Royals. The White Sox of Chicago and the pesky Minnesota Twins round out the division.
And, who knows, maybe, just maybe this 2017 edition of the Cleveland Indians advances to the World Series yet again, only this time they win the title for the first time in 69 years. Tribe fans, hold on for a scintillating season !
DAVE BURKEY
E-mail: daveywriter@yahoo.com
No comments:
Post a Comment