Cleveland Indians 2016 Season Thread
 

Figured since the A's, Tigers, Yankees and Mets have one, why not the Tribe! ;)

I honestly did not see them at 51-33 around the midway point of the season, especially with Brantley out and playing Chisenhall in RF. I am curious to see who they target in trades to upgrade in the OF and the bullpen. I personally would have liked to see them go after Reddick and Doolittle (before he went on the DL). But I would be ok with bringing in Jay Bruce but I guess it depends on what they have to give up to get him.

Yup, now that we own y'all again, you decide to start a Indians thread.....:o

I honestly think the Tigers are going to make a run at the Indians in the Central. They have too good of an offense, especially when JD Martinez comes back off the DL. And after that performance yesterday, I hope the front office sees that Zach McAllister should be on waivers ASAP.

And with that last statement about McAllister. this happened :p

7/7/16 Cleveland Indians placed RHP Zach McAllister on the 15-day disabled list. Right hip discomfort.

7/7/16 Cleveland Indians optioned Mike Clevinger to Columbus Clippers.

7/7/16 Cleveland Indians recalled Austin Adams from Columbus Clippers.

7/7/16 Cleveland Indians recalled Joseph Colon from Columbus Clippers..

Ehh, I'm sure the Tigers guys are sick of me invading their thread anyway. Go Tribe!

Also announced today - Corey Kluber announced to the All-Star Team. I feel a little better being a first place team with 3 all-stars rather than two. Glad Lindor is there - he's da man!

Actually you need to keep coming round or it's going to be open season on Tom Hamilton:o

Second half starts with the Tribe up (essentially) 7 games on the rest of the division. Three game series with the Twinkies seems to lineup with the following matchups:

Carrasco v. Santana
Bauer v. Duffey
Tomlin v. Gibson

Hopefully we can take advantage of a "weaker" opponent coming out of the break, though we have not played them well yet (2-4 against them so far).

I guess the biggest questions in the short term are:

1) What to do at catcher, with Yan Gomes sporting a solid .516 OPS. I think they are stuck with him to some extent since he has a long term contract. Maybe down the stretch/playoffs, they end up pinch hitting in his 3rd AB in important spots as needed. To me, a Lucroy acquisition seems unlikely, but you never know I guess.

2) What the Indians do at the deadline. I think it seems obvious they will get one RP at least. Interesting to see if they splurge for like Chapman (unlikely) or settle for more like Jake McGee or Will Smith (more likely) or some righty. OF upgrade seems less likely now with Brantley seemingly working toward a return. I still would like to see them get another bat (outside of Brantley) as I don't want to enter a stretch relying on Ramirez and Chiz to bat in key RBI situations against good pitching.

The Twins for some reason are the only team in the division that they have trouble with, I hope that they snap that and get at least 2 of 3 in the series up in Minnesota.

I think they are going to stand pat at catcher, especially with Perez coming back from his thumb injury. Both Perez and Gomes have options left, so one of them could end up in Columbus for a bit or they could include Perez in a trade somewhere, but what I think is most likely going to happen is Perez is optioned to Columbus and they keep Giminez and Gomes in the majors because they have the best chemistry with the pitchers and they don't want to mess that up. I would not rule out Gomes going down, but I think that Perez makes most sense to go down.

They have to get another arm or two in the bullpen and an upgrade in the OF. I see them going after maybe Reddick in Oakland and when Doolittle comes off the DL, maybe they work a deal to get both of them? I could also see them getting Will Smith or Jeremy Jeffers from Milwaukee and then find another OF option.

I am with you, I don't feel comfortable with Ramirez and Chiz in the OF, especially Ramirez in LF defensively....he has been ok out there, but I don't want him out there with a game on the line.

I also am a little worried that Josh Tomlin will remember he is Josh Tomlin and come back down to earth, but they do have options at Columbus to toss out there. But with Kluber, Salazar and Carrasco as the top 3 and Bauer is looking like maybe he figured it out, so maybe it's not something to really worry about.

Seems like they will continue to juice the Ramirez orange as much as possible, unless he quits hitting. I assume he will move to third mostly full time when Brantley returns. I think his OF days are somewhat numbered. I hope.

That is what they are planning once Brantley comes back, Uribe will go to the bench and play 2-3 days a week at 3b and Ramirez will get the rest of the load. Good news is Brantley is going to be in Akron this weekend, and if all goes well he may be activated by next weekend at the latest.

I am curious to see Erik Gonzalez play a little (they just recalled him from Columbus and sent House back down). He is having a good year .296, 6 HR 39 RBI down there and has played SS, 2b, 3b, CF and LF so maybe he is the replacement to Martinez or maybe a showcase for a possible trade.

Win 2 of 3 against the Twinkies (as expected), still up by 6.5 games as the Tigers and Royals played each other, the Yan Gomes problem has sorted itself out. Everything coming up Milhouse for the Tribe.

Indians play three games in KC in the middle of their RNC roadtrip, rolling out Klubot/Salazar/Carrasco for a key divisional series. Would be nice to gain another game on them in the standings.

Read they are going to call up Roberto Perez to replace Gomes, who is supposed to the DL with a separated shoulder. Perez can at least walk and hit the occasional homer, so that should be an upgrade over Gomes - who's OBP slipped to .198 before the injury.

I just ran a query on BB-ref for seasons with > 250 PA and OBP < .200. One name came up....

Yeah from listening to local sports talk radio, Gomes went on the DL and they are going to activate Perez today and he will serve as the primary catcher and Giminez will be backup/Bauer's personal catcher. I feel bad for Gomes, he has never been the same since being injured a couple years ago. You can tell he is doing whatever he can to break this funk he is in but they need to do something, so perhaps this injury will force their hand. Names that popped up that they may look at as possible rentals are Kurt Suzuki and Nick Hundley since they will be cheaper to acquire than a guy like Lecroy.

I also just heard that the Indians are pushing to deal for Andrew Miller from the Yankees. Hopefully they can give up a couple second tier prospects to get him.

I think the Indians are deep enough to give up an OF prospect, particularly since Zimmer is still struggling at AA - I hate guys with poor hit tool. Not sure how to value Aiken; part of me would feel good about potentially selling high on him, the other part wants to see him next year (second year away from TJ surgery).

I'd be OK if they took Zimmer or Frazier or Bradley. I feel strongly about striking while the pitching is hot, so to speak. The window is definitely now. I'd like them to do something like this. I'm starting to even talk myself into Lucroy.

You just named their top 3 prospects, no way you give one of them up for a relief pitcher, even if he is under control for 2 more seasons after this one. I have heard P- Mike Clevinger (#7), C - Francisco Mejia (#8), IF- Erik Gonzalez (#11) and 3B - Yandy Diaz (#13) all tossed around. The one package that made sense to me was Clevinger, Mejia and another low level guy for Miller. Either way, it's nice to be talking about being buyers instead of what prospects they will get back for our major leaguers.

Yeah that's probably why I am not the GM lol.

Francona is typically a good game manager but two moves with his starting pitchers the last few games have had me scratching my head (at the time they happened, not with the benefit of hindsight).

The other night he leaves Bauer in to start the 7th, despite him being at about 102 pitches. The bullpen was pretty rested and coming off of the All-Star Break. I didn't see why he didn't go to the bullpen there. As a result, Bauer gives up some baserunners and, combined with the bullpen, gives up the lead and, ultimately, the game, in extra innings.

Last night, with Kluber at 95 pitches, with a shutout through 7, he goes to Shaw for the 8th. Why do that? As a result, the bullpen implodes and they steal defeat from the jaws of victory.

He tends to listen to Bauer when he says he is good to go, not sure why that is, maybe to keep his ego/personality in check? He should have gone to the bullpen and maybe they win in extra innings.

As for Kluber, he had some cramping in his calf and they took him out because of that, otherwise he would not have taken him out.

Ah. I had checked the score before I went to bed using the MLB At Bat app and it didn't mention the cramping, just that Shaw was in. I just read a recap now that did mention it.

Shaw has been hot and cold all season, I hope he can work through whatever it is that he is going through. It brings the need to make a move to add a relief pitcher to the back of the bullpen much higher on the list now.

That move to let Bauer start the 7th certainly ended up biting them in the rear. He wasn't exactly mowing through the Twins in the innings prior to that either.

The problem really stems from having no one to really rely on in the 7th and 8th innings. Manship and Shaw could just have easily given up those runs (obviously Manship did once those guys were on). THey really need to pull the trigger on some guys. I'd prefer the Miller route, but if we have to go after second tier Brewer guys - that's still an upgrade.

Tough loss last night, glad I didn't watch.

He had been quite good in his last 8 or 10 outings. I guess he was bound to have another bad one. Still not sure he should be an 8th inning guy right now.

I watched the first 3 innings, then watched an episode of "Mr. Robot" (trying to finish the first season) and then went to bed. I checked the At Bat app at that time and saw it was still 2-0 in the 8th with Shaw. I felt reasonably assured and went to bed...though I wasn't terribly surprised when I saw the score this morning...

You're right. he has been pitching better lately, but I guess I am spoiled from the past 3 years here, where his ERA was near or below 3.00 and he looked unhittable at times. If they can get a Miller, Jeffress or Doolittle in a trade, then Shaw goes to the 7th and the new guy is the 8th inning man with Allen in the 9th.

Here is an article on Fangraphs about prospects and success rates that kinda sums up my general view. Unless they are truly top 10 guys, prospects wash out a lot, even guys like Frazier and Bradley and Aiken. I'm willing to get 100 known innings of MLB quality for one of those guys considering there is >50% chance the prospect gives you nothing at MLB level.

Again though, I'm willing to admit this could be a terrible idea too. Easy for me to armchair GM with no consequences. I also think the trade where we got Ubaldo was a good move too, so plenty of grains of salt to take this with.

EDIT: oops, forgot the link....http://www.fangraphs.com/blogs/did-t...drew-pomeranz/

I guess I am hesitant to trade off too many of these guys because that is the only way a team like the Indians can survive, because they don't have the resources to go out and spend themselves out of bad trades. I agree that you never know if a prospect will pan out, I mean we have seen our share recently (Andy Marte, Matt LaPorta.....) and yes I know that all teams have guys that fit that bill, but some of them can throw money at that mistake and fix it, teams like the Indians have to ride it out and we get those 70 win seasons.

That being said, I know they have to make a move to improve the bullpen and now it looks like go get another outfielder since Brantley is getting another MRI on his shoulder and they are saying he could be shut down the rest of the year. So I would be ok with them dealing one of those top guys because it looks like they finally have restocked the farm with talent so if the guy the dealt away becomes a good player, there is more of a chance that there is someone else that can come up and be just as good.

I don't want to see another Brian Giles for Ricardo Rincon trade happen. And I think the Ubaldo trade worked out well in the end for the Indians...sure Pomeranz has pitched well this year, but it took him a few years and two organizations to maybe figured it out.

Cleveland takes Game 3 and Royals series with authority with 11 runs in the first 5 innings. Go Tribe! Off day, then a trip to Baltimore for the weekend. Disappointed I can't make the trip there this year (Camden is the closest AL park to me).

Carrasco's splittey-changey pitch is awesome right now. So much movement.

Also guilty admission - I picked up Tyler Naquin for my fantasy team :o

Buster Olney is reporting that Indians are in discussions with Brewers for Lucroy trade:

Cleveland Indians have interest in catcher Jonathan Lucroy

Carrasco looks unhittable lately and has easily become what people consider an "Ace"....maybe the Cliff Lee trade wasn't so bad after all!!

I had the game on at work (love FoxSports Go app!) and yesterday's game reminded me of the team we had in 1995, they looked like they had the Royals pitchers scared to throw strikes because they knew it was going to be hit a ton. The next two series will be interesting as they play Baltimore and Washington, and I think Strasburg is pitching one of the games here in Cleveland.

With the emergence of Naquin, I feel better if they had to deal one of the OF prospects to land that bullpen arm, or maybe Lucroy....but I heard that Milwaukee has a lot of OF prospects so they want either pitchers or corner infielders. Would hate to see Bradley go because I think he is going to be a big time power hitter if he gets up to the majors. But honestly, I am not really buying that they make a move to get Lucroy, because they still think Gomes is the guy behind the plate and with him under control til 2020, I just don't see them trading for a catcher of Lucroy's caliber. I think it was more Milwaukee leaking that so they can get more in a trade with someone else. If they go get a catcher, I see it being someone like Kurt Suzuki and the "big" trade they make will be for bullpen help.

I have him as well. What a nice little surprise this guy is turning out to be. I'm in a AL only league, so finds like this are so very valuable. I actually picked him up early in the season and got ticked when the Indians didn't have playing time for him. Dropped him when he was sent down, but since I also had Brantley, I picked him back up again when Brantley went back on the DL. I've since traded Brantley....man I didn't want to do that, but by dumb luck, I'm in the thick of the race in my league and just couldn't wait out the injury any longer. Do you think the Indians will have at bats for Tyler when Brantley returns?

They are saying that Brantley could miss the rest of the season, but they won't know for sure until they get the MRI results back. But I read that when Brantley is back, Naquin will still see a lot of playing time in CF with Almonte going down to Triple-A and Davis will probably split time in RF with Chisenhall. Ramirez will go to 3b and Uribe will come off the bench. But going into next year, I think Naquin will be given the first crack at winning the everyday CF spot.

I think this is really driving the decision. If Brantley comes back, I think they would be OK standing pat with the offense. If he can't come back, then we are back to being stuck with Ramirez and Chiz batting fifth and sixth on a playoff team and they would likely so something to help the offense. It wouldn't necessarily have to be Lucroy, could be Bruce (not pushing this, just noting as a possibility) or whoever. But I would expect them to make an offensive move if the news turns south again, which seems more likely.

Yes as long as he keeps hitting. Worst case I think is he would be the good platoon side with Rajai in CF.

Unfortunately, I didn't get the 2 HR, 6 RBI day yesterday. :(

I did. :D and boy do I need home runs. I was actually able to trade Brantley and Zimmermann for Chris Davis and Chris Archer(Archer is a free agent in our league, so he is a rental) a couple weeks back. Did this trade for the home runs and hoping my getting rid of Zimmermann gets him out of his funk(yeah I'm very superstitious). So far, I think Davis has hit me one home run and now he has some form of virus and isn't able to play. I swear I'm jinxed.

A pretty good read in today's Plain Dealer talking about how the Indians formed the starting rotation:

10 years in the making: How the Cleveland Indians' vaunted starting rotation came together | cleveland.com

The season series against the Orioles makes it look as though Baltimore has the best starter ERA in the AL and Cleveland has one of the worst instead of the other way around...

I can rationalize that the Os are not a good matchup for Tomlin. I can't rationalize why we couldn't hit their pitching. Ugh. I'm a little afraid the back half of our lineup is remembering that they are all journeyman players.

FWIW:

Report: Indians have best deal on table for Chapman | Yardbarker.com

I also read some snippet somewhere where Cody Allen has done the "I'll do whatever the club needs" line. Maybe it's true.

It sounds like the Cubs may be the top contender to get Chapman, which I am ok with because I hate giving up prospects for a rental, especially when that rental player could go back to the original team.

Yankees, Cubs Working On Trade Involving Aroldis Chapman, Gleyber Torres - MLB Trade Rumors

I see the Indians getting someone like Will Smith and maybe the (re)signing of Joe Thatcher gives them a lefty on lefty guy that can be better than the circus of lefties they have run out there all season.

On another note, they promoted both Frazier and Zimmer to Triple-A Columbus:

Prospect Notes: D'Backs, Indians, Chang, Perez - MLB Trade Rumors

Yep, I heard Chapman to Cubs talk on Mike and Mike this morning also. Ditto on the rentals.

Bit of a tough convention road trip. Hopefully some home cookin' and a couple off days this week will get them back on track.

Would have liked them to get at least one against Baltimore, but I will take the 4-5 on the road trip since they still have a 6 game lead in the division. Washington will be tough, but being at home I will be ok with a split with them (quick 2 game series), then get back to business with 7 games against Oakland and Minnesota, so hopefully they get rolling there.

Lindor with the first walk off hit of his career....the look on his face was awesome, reminded me of watching a Little League game and seeing a kid come through in a big spot. Big win for the Tribe last night.

Looks like the Indians landed Lucroy

Wade Davis To Undergo MRI On Right Arm - MLB Trade Rumors

I saw that they had pulled him from the starting lineup and everybody figured something was up. With a Brantley return up in the air, I'm OK with this. We'll see what the return is, seems to be players mostly several years away from the bigs.

The hill for Detroit may be a little steeper now.

Here is what they are saying in the local paper:

If the deal goes through, the Indians are expected to send catcher Francisco Mejia, outfielder Greg Allen and shortstop Yu-Chen Chang to the Brewers for Lucroy. A fourth player could also be headed the Brewers way.

And now the Indians acquired Miller from the Yankees

Indians To Acquire Andrew Miller - MLB Trade Rumors

Not happy they gave up Frazier in that deal, but getting a pitcher like him who is under control for 2 more seasons makes it easier to swallow.

I had heard they were considering Sheffield or Triston McKenzie. Though apparently Sheffield is being sent to the Yankees, that is apparently off the table.

These are bold moves by the Tribe if they are true.

And of course most importantly, I need them to keep Allen as the closer for my fantasy team. lol

Well, people can't say that the Indians' front office doesn't go big at the trade deadline...at least for another few years. Hopefully this helps, but we need to get Uribe out of the lineup. It's not as bad now, as you can't trust a playoff run on a lineup that features two guys batting under .200 (I think Uribe's slightly over that, but he's been dropping like a rock). Now that Gomes is going to move to backup when he gets back it won't be as bad.