1971 Recap: Expectations were high for the Tribe to not only contend again but repeat as AL East champions. Instead, they struggled early, completely fell apart in June, and only a HR race by Ernesto Garcia kept the fans coming to the park by season's end as they fell to dead last in the division.
1972 Outlook: Cleveland's pitching all kind of turned into pumpkins last year but they also got old and slow in a big hurry. They appear to be set to retool, not rebuild, but maybe it's time for the latter.
Pitching
---------------------
Code:
Pitching Age BT W L WL % ERA G GS GF CG SHO SV IP H R ER HR BB IBB SO WHIP H9 HR9 BB9 SO9
Matthews, Josh 25 LL 13 17 .433 3.57 35 35 0 10 2 0 267.1 257 118 106 14 99 3 165 1.332 100.0 0.5 3.3 5.6
Hamilton, Dylan 28 RR 10 13 .435 4.21 32 32 0 8 3 0 222.1 241 116 104 23 83 1 105 1.457 100.0 0.9 3.4 4.3
Lagunas, Andy 30 RR 8 16 .333 4.82 38 29 6 6 1 2 203.1 213 120 109 23 69 4 144 1.387 100.0 1.0 3.1 6.4
Martinez, Jose 26 RR 5 5 .500 3.54 25 16 2 1 0 0 124.2 129 58 49 16 29 7 97 1.267 100.0 1.2 2.1 7.0
Godard, Eric 30 RR 1 8 .111 4.53 41 0 32 0 0 16 59.2 66 31 30 4 29 2 41 1.592 100.0 0.6 4.4 6.2
Sanchez, Elias 33 RR 6 6 .500 2.85 50 0 27 0 0 4 72.2 68 27 23 6 23 2 27 1.252 100.0 0.7 2.8 3.3
Regan, Chris 30 RR 5 4 .556 4.82 33 14 7 1 0 0 115.2 149 68 62 7 29 1 57 1.539 100.0 0.5 2.3 4.4
Zavala, Fernando 29 LL 3 3 .500 4.44 27 8 9 0 0 0 75.0 73 40 37 4 18 0 37 1.213 100.0 0.5 2.2 4.4
Pacheco, Keith 32 RR 5 6 .455 4.15 23 10 11 2 1 5 82.1 92 43 38 10 28 1 67 1.457 100.0 1.1 3.1 7.3
Coltrane, Robbie 21 RR 5 3 .625 3.34 8 8 0 2 1 0 56.2 60 29 21 5 14 0 34 1.306 100.0 0.8 2.2 5.4
Herrera, Gerardo 26 LL 2 2 .500 5.40 18 0 5 0 0 0 26.2 32 16 16 2 20 1 20 1.950 100.0 0.7 6.8 6.8
Johnson, Malik 25 RR 1 1 .500 4.30 19 0 8 0 0 0 23.0 28 13 11 3 9 0 17 1.609 100.0 1.2 3.5 6.7
Whittier, Landon 26 LR 1 0 1.000 4.37 9 2 4 0 0 0 22.2 24 11 11 5 16 0 17 1.765 100.0 2.0 6.4 6.8
Lopez, Ramon 27 LL 1 1 .500 3.00 8 2 1 1 1 0 18.0 17 6 6 4 4 0 14 1.167 100.0 2.0 2.0 7.0
Ellis, Doug 26 RR 0 0 .000 1.64 10 0 0 0 0 0 11.0 8 3 2 0 2 0 8 0.909 100.0 0.0 1.6 6.5
Andrade, Raul 33 RR 1 0 1.000 4.86 7 1 1 0 0 0 16.2 15 10 9 3 12 0 7 1.620 100.0 1.6 6.5 3.8
Boyce, Lamar 28 LL 1 0 1.000 8.62 14 0 6 0 0 1 15.2 17 16 15 1 19 1 12 2.298 100.0 0.6 10.9 6.9
Hernandez, William 23 RR 1 0 1.000 3.00 2 2 0 1 1 0 15.0 14 5 5 0 8 0 5 1.467 100.0 0.0 4.8 3.0
Bando, Noah 22 SR 1 1 .500 3.21 2 2 0 0 0 0 14.0 13 5 5 0 1 0 9 1.000 100.0 0.0 0.6 5.8
Carr, Chris 25 LL 0 1 .000 8.31 3 1 1 0 0 0 8.2 15 11 8 3 1 0 3 1.846 100.0 3.1 1.0 3.1
Becker, Chris 26 RR 0 0 .000 5.40 7 0 3 0 0 0 6.2 11 4 4 1 1 0 5 1.800 100.0 1.4 1.4 6.8
Washington, Jerry 26 LL 0 0 .000 0.00 2 0 0 0 0 0 1.1 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 0.000 100.0 0.0 0.0 6.8
Code:
Starting Pitching GS Wgs Lgs ND Wchp LTuf WTm LTm tmW-L% CG SHO QS QS% GmScA Best Wrst sDR lDR RS/GS RS/9 IP/GS Pit/GS <80 80-99 100-119 >=120 Max
Matthews, Josh 35 13 17 5 1 9 16 19 0.457 10 2 25 71% 54 86 2 14 8 3.2 3.8 7.6 118 0 3 18 14 151
Hamilton, Dylan 32 10 13 9 0 5 10 22 0.313 8 3 18 56% 48 80 13 12 9 4.0 5.1 6.9 109 0 6 21 5 144
Lagunas, Andy 29 8 14 7 2 3 10 19 0.345 6 1 14 48% 48 81 19 11 9 2.6 3.5 6.6 103 3 9 12 5 135
Martinez, Jose 16 4 5 7 0 2 8 8 0.500 1 0 9 56% 54 84 24 5 6 2.8 3.7 6.6 97 2 4 8 2 127
Regan, Chris 14 4 4 6 2 1 6 8 0.429 1 0 6 43% 41 64 3 4 6 3.6 5.1 6.5 99 2 5 6 1 122
Pacheco, Keith 10 3 5 2 1 1 4 6 0.400 2 1 3 30% 47 77 25 6 2 3.0 4.2 6.4 105 1 3 4 2 136
Zavala, Fernando 8 3 1 4 1 0 6 2 0.750 0 0 3 38% 47 72 19 2 3 4.0 6.0 6.0 91 2 3 3 0 114
Coltrane, Robbie 8 5 3 0 1 1 5 3 0.625 2 1 5 63% 52 88 13 1 4 3.3 4.1 7.1 104 1 1 5 1 122
Lopez, Ramon 2 1 1 0 0 0 1 1 0.500 1 1 1 50% 56 86 25 0 1 1.5 2.1 6.5 89 1 0 0 1 120
Hernandez, William 2 1 0 1 0 0 2 0 1.000 1 1 1 50% 54 79 29 0 1 2.0 2.4 7.5 119 0 0 1 1 127
Whittier, Landon 2 1 0 1 0 0 2 0 1.000 0 0 2 100% 53 57 49 1 1 2.5 3.6 6.3 116 0 0 1 1 123
Bando, Noah 2 1 1 0 0 1 1 1 0.500 0 0 2 100% 58 60 56 0 2 3.0 3.9 7.0 90 0 2 0 0 91
Andrade, Raul 1 1 0 0 0 0 1 0 1.000 0 0 1 100% 49 49 49 0 1 3.0 4.3 6.3 88 0 1 0 0 88
Carr, Chris 1 0 1 0 0 0 0 1 0.000 0 0 0 00% 18 18 18 0 1 1.0 1.6 5.7 89 0 1 0 0 89
Code:
Relief Pitching GR Wgr Lgr SVOpp Sv BSv SV% SvSit Hld IR IRS IRS% ALi LevHi LevMd LevLo Run Emp <3O >3O 0DR 1DR 2DR 3+DR Out/GR Pit/GR
Sanchez, Elias 50 6 6 9 4 5 44% 14 5 17 3 15% 1.298 14 24 22 12 38 5 24 8 14 6 22 4.4 22
Godard, Eric 41 1 8 21 16 5 76% 21 0 14 3 18% 1.960 24 11 11 7 34 6 15 8 14 9 10 4.4 23
Zavala, Fernando 19 0 2 1 0 1 0% 5 4 8 3 27% 1.246 5 10 8 5 14 1 8 4 8 3 4 4.3 21
Regan, Chris 19 1 0 0 0 0 0% 0 0 13 4 24% 0.501 3 16 16 9 10 3 8 3 4 3 9 4.0 21
Johnson, Malik 19 1 1 2 0 2 0% 5 3 14 5 26% 1.026 6 11 11 7 12 4 7 3 6 3 7 3.6 20
Herrera, Gerardo 18 2 2 1 0 1 0% 2 1 6 3 33% 1.571 6 10 10 4 14 5 7 3 3 4 8 4.4 26
Boyce, Lamar 14 1 0 1 1 0 100% 3 2 6 3 33% 0.693 3 8 8 4 10 4 4 2 3 0 9 3.4 24
Pacheco, Keith 13 2 1 5 5 0 100% 6 1 8 2 20% 2.164 7 5 5 5 8 1 6 2 4 2 5 4.3 22
Ellis, Doug 10 2 3 2 1 1 50% 2 0 6 2 25% 1.698 4 2 2 2 8 0 5 3 2 0 5 4.8 23
Lagunas, Andy 9 0 2 2 2 0 100% 3 1 3 1 25% 1.276 4 3 3 2 7 1 5 1 3 2 3 3.9 22
Martinez, Jose 9 1 0 0 0 0 0% 0 0 8 4 33% 0.757 2 5 5 4 5 0 6 0 1 1 7 6.3 32
Becker, Chris 7 0 0 0 0 0 0% 2 2 6 3 33% 1.150 2 4 4 3 4 2 1 2 1 1 3 2.9 13
Whittier, Landon 7 0 0 0 0 0 0% 1 1 1 0 0% 0.902 1 4 4 1 6 0 3 1 2 0 4 4.3 32
Andrade, Raul 6 0 0 0 0 0 0% 0 0 2 1 33% 0.260 0 6 6 2 4 0 4 1 1 0 4 5.2 31
Lopez, Ramon 6 0 0 0 0 0 0% 1 1 6 0 0% 0.635 2 4 4 3 3 4 1 1 0 0 5 2.5 13
Carr, Chris 2 0 0 0 0 0 0% 0 0 0 0 0% 0.264 0 2 2 0 2 0 1 1 0 0 1 4.5 23
Washington, Jerry 2 0 0 0 0 0 0% 1 1 2 0 0% 3.525 1 1 1 1 1 1 0 1 0 0 1 2.0 6
At this point, examining the trade of
Dylan Hamilton for Justin Kindberg is just painful, so let's not focus on that and just focus on what Hamilton has become for this team: a finesse-based innings muncher who, even in an off year, can still get 100 Ks, and who throws a 12-to-6 curve that forces hitters to pound the ball into the ground. This was especially necessary this past season as Cleveland Municipal Stadium sported HR ratings of 138 and 168 - great for Ernesto Garcia, sure, but deadly for this pitching staff. Actually, in that context Hamilton's 23 allowed doesn't look so bad; indeed, he only allowed 9 of those on the road.
Josh Matthews was/is the homegrown talent and he at least didn't fall quite as far, although he still had a losing record and 17 losses because of a team-high 9 tough losses. For now,
Jose Martinez looks like the only other sure thing in the rotation. Hes got better stamina than the CGs would suggest and he's got 2 swing and miss pitches but there has to be a reason why the guy will be 27 and has never sdtarted more than 16 games in a season.
Behind him the Indians like what they see in young
Robbie Coltrane, a massive bear of a man who tells people he keeps a corral of magical creatures in the offseason (I'm told he's actually an actor but those folks can be rather fanciful). He's projected to be more of a finesse guy than a strikeout guy but has the command to potentially make that happen. The 5 hole for now is down to
Chris Regan, who struggled mightily last year as a starter but posted a 2.13 ERA in relief, and 23 year old
Noah Bando (probably not his real name), who followed up a 15-9, 2.76 campaign at AAA Wichita with 2 solid September appearances.
The bullpen has long been a mess for Cleveland and 1971 it just got messier.
Eric Godard, the Rolaids Relief Award winner in 1964, started the season as the team's closer but, following a 4 save, 1.08 ERA April, he missed all of June and a chunk of July, during which time
Elias Sanchez stunk up the joint. Godard responded with a solid July (0-2, 5 sv, 2.89) but then fell off a clif after August 1 (1-6, 7 Sv, 6.34). I can't say that that puts his entire career in doubt given the state of this pitching staff but it presents them with a conundrum to say the least, especially as Sanchez proved able to pitch in lower leverage situations (and, somehow given the defense behind him, in spite of not getting Ks).
Malik Johnson probably has to see a lot of PT in the 'pen this year just based on a lights-out slider.
Batting
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Code:
Batting Age BT G AB R H 2B 3B HR RBI BB SO SB CS DP BA OBP SLG Pos
Wolfe, Joe 26 RR 98 270 31 65 10 0 3 30 45 43 0 0 13 .241 .353 .311 2
House, Jonathan 29 LR 90 249 17 54 6 2 3 26 20 52 0 0 11 .217 .271 .293 2
Mexia, Cesar 30 RR 17 35 2 3 2 0 0 1 4 8 0 0 0 .086 .179 .143 2
Varner, Ray 28 LR 7 8 0 1 0 0 0 1 0 1 0 0 0 .125 .111 .125 /2
Jonathan House struggled at the plate and saw his average fall for the third straight season. As he's already got a fairly weak arm - he only threw out 22.6% of would-be stealers in 1971 - that meant that as the season progressed he lost more and more PT to his intended platoon-mate and caddy
Joe Wolfe. Wolfe is at least average at shutting down the running game and the pitching staff seems to prefer his low-key approach to House's desire to be the center of attention. In AAA the AI insists that
Pete Easter is ready to be called up but the numbers say he slashed .122/.265/.201 in AAA Wichita so I disagree.
Code:
Batting Age BT G AB R H 2B 3B HR RBI BB SO SB CS DP BA OBP SLG Pos
Garcia, Ernesto 27 LL 156 627 105 169 30 0 65 147 44 119 1 0 18 .270 .317 .628 3*
Kelver, Kyle 32 RR 5 5 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 2 0 0 0 .000 .000 .000 /3
Pritchett, T.J. 35 RR 132 430 53 98 13 3 10 42 75 78 0 2 14 .228 .341 .342 4*
Escobedo, Marcos 32 RR 51 143 13 34 4 2 0 10 18 21 0 6 6 .238 .321 .294 4/3
Oropeza, Luis 25 LR 15 40 5 12 2 0 1 4 2 10 0 0 1 .300 .333 .425 4
Ramirez, Bobby 23 LR 142 515 84 177 20 10 15 67 66 54 32 17 3 .344 .418 .509 5*
Hernandez, Roberto 29 RR 63 127 13 32 6 1 4 25 7 17 0 0 6 .252 .287 .409 5/3
Aguillon, Tony 26 RR 16 45 8 20 3 0 1 5 4 3 1 0 0 .444 .500 .578 /564
Johnson, John 27 RR 96 382 43 89 17 4 3 21 19 35 6 3 10 .233 .272 .322 6
Romney, Mitt 24 RR 48 160 20 42 5 2 3 19 17 27 2 0 6 .263 .330 .375 6
Grube, Chris 29 LR 31 83 7 12 1 0 1 6 5 10 1 1 1 .145 .191 .193 6
What else do I have to say about
Ernesto Garcia? He's very, very clearly the MVP, and to put that HR record into perspective the #2 guy in the league, Oakland's Chase Young, hit 30 of them (the NL had a couple of 40 HR guys). Easy ballpark or no, Garcia lapped the field. He's also a less than great defender, perhaps the slowest player in the league, and, this past year, showed himself to be a malcontent. Long-term, is he too big a personality for the city of Cleveland? Only time will tell. For now, first base is his and his alone.
I'm not sure the same can be said for
TJ Pritchett, who looked every bit his 35 years of age at times last season. He still walks a lot and he's still a solid defender at second base, but his .228 average was the lowest of his career and outside of 1970 he's never been much in the way of a power guy.
Luis Oropeza, who hit .308/16/61 in 208 at-bats at AAA Wichita, will compete with Pritchett for the 1972 job and probably has the inside track.
Tony "Critter" Aguillon is another guy in that mix. He also cleared .300 in AAA ball but is more of a third baseman than a keystoner.
In a sea of disappointing seasons,
Bobby Ramirez was, along with Garcia, a standout in terms of not having one. He came out of nowhere to take over
Roberto Hernandez' job, lead the league in hitting, and win the Rookie of the Year Award. The sky's the limit for Ramirez and one has to think that Cleveland will now seek to get value from Hernandez, who still won't turn 30 until after the season starts. Hernandez was a 3 year starter for the Tribe and roughly a league average player during that time, although his bad 1970 (.263/15/66 but an OBP of just .280) opened the door for Ramirez in the first place.
John Johnson was a guy you accepted the defense from because he'd hit .340 for you. Last year, the defense seemed pretty fine but he lost more than 100 points off of his average before his season was shut down with a fractured ankle he suffered on July 30. This at least opens the door for the robot-like Stanford(? note: I can't seem to find BYU in the college database) alum
Mitt Romney, although truth be told the Indians would vastly prefer Johnson just returns to normal.
Code:
Batting Age BT G AB R H 2B 3B HR RBI BB SO SB CS DP BA OBP SLG Pos
Huanosta, Alonzo 30 RR 141 591 80 154 27 4 13 57 46 70 2 1 9 .261 .317 .386 7*/3
Whitney, Travis 27 LL 74 82 18 21 3 1 5 17 20 20 0 0 2 .256 .387 .500 /789
Miller, Nick 26 LL 14 18 4 5 2 0 0 2 2 2 0 0 0 .278 .350 .389 /79
Deuser, Russ 24 RR 85 337 42 67 8 5 8 29 28 67 19 5 3 .199 .261 .323 8
Hernandez, Carlos 29 RR 51 179 16 50 6 0 3 15 8 23 2 2 2 .279 .308 .363 8/9
Harpst, Corey 29 RR 29 117 10 21 4 0 3 10 17 24 1 2 0 .179 .287 .291 8/9
Sanchez, Jorge 28 RR 35 110 15 27 2 2 0 12 8 13 6 2 2 .245 .282 .300 89/7
Pron, Tommy 29 LR 136 494 51 135 13 1 9 48 65 52 0 1 13 .273 .356 .358 9*
Fonseca, Chris 24 LR 85 190 25 49 9 2 2 14 12 26 3 2 1 .258 .304 .358 97/8
Both corner outfielders also fell way, way off from their yearly norms.
Alonzo Huanosta outdueled John Johnson to win the batting title in 1970 with a .345 mark but lost more than 80 points off that average. He'll compete for the job - not to mention right field - with another guy who suffered a horrible season in
Nelson Vargas, recently traded from the Angels in the deal that sent CF Carlos Hernandez out the door. Of the two, Vargas is 2 years younger but also doesn't have even the average-ish power that Huanosta has. The argument here, I guess, is that if you have enough guys with down years, one of them is bound to rebound.
The jewel of the trade with the Angels - and one big reason why, in spite of the trade happening out of necessity, it might even work out positively for Cleveland - is CF Norm Hodge. Hodge also suffered an off year with the bat but his glove is as great as it's ever been, and that means that for once the Indians are going to have not just a a guy with plus range at a primary position but arguably the pre-eminent CF in all of baseball. One question with him is how he'll get along with Ernesto Garcia. That's one that simply cannot be answered until they're in same locker room.
Tommy Pron also had his bat short-circuit and that, given his lack of power, might make him the most vulnerable outfielder on the roster right now. Like Huanosta, he's a former BA champ; unlike Huanosta, he won it in the Year of the Pitcher with just a .315 mark. .273 still constitutes a big-time off-year for the career .302 hitter but, well, 30 points off prime is more explainable as a new normal than 80 points is. To underscore the low-power point, Pron hasn't cleared double digits in HRs since 1969.