Category: Indians

I wanted to hammer this out as fast as possible during today’s series opener with the Minnesota Twins. As this is being written, the Indians are down 3-0 with newest phenom Danny Salazar on the mound. He has allowed two bombs from the Twins on pitches that simply got too much of the plate. Bad execution leads to bad results. Just like the pitch he threw to Miguel Cabrera in his last game.

However, now I am REALLY impressed with Danny Salazar. His response to the second home run from the Twins was nothing short of spectacular. He took a deep breath. Then proceeded to strike out the side with a fantastic mixture of off speed pitches and well located fastballs. If anyone doubts that he belongs in the majors, they haven’t seen enough baseball. This young man is the real deal and a sight for the sore eyes of Indian fans everywhere.

He may lose tonight’s game. He might even get bombed out early. But that response to the second home run shows that his head is on straight and he has the emotional control required of a great starter in the big leagues.

There is no question that his stuff is major league ready. But there are many pitchers with major league stuff who never make it in the major leagues. And there are even more pitchers with major league stuff that never make it as a starter in the major leagues. To be a starter you have to demonstrate consistency, command, emotional control and an ability to adjust to the game as it develops. If you have all of those things and dynamic stuff, you can be an ACE. Now it is way too early to place that responsibility on this young man. But I have seen enough to see that it could happen and would be a great boost to the Indian’s hopes next year. He could even help this year if the team finds a way out of their current funk.

Think of Danny Salazar as the anti-Carrasco. Carlos has dynamic stuff like Salazar. But Carlos has never demonstrated the emotional control or ability to adjust to the game. Salazar, in just a short time, has demonstrated all of that. As I finished the last sentence, Salazar just pitches himself into and out of a bases loaded jam. That is also a trait of a great pitcher. So, no matter what the result today, this performance has solidified my positive opinion of Danny Salazar. This may be his worst performance on paper but, when analyzed in the detail baseball deserves, is actually his best.

The unfortunate blow to Kluber may turn out to be a blessing in disguise. If it doesn’t turn out to help this year, my belief is that it will for years to come. Salazar is here to stay as long as he stays healthy. It will be very tough for Antonetti or Francona to decide otherwise.

One thing I should have anticipated before the season began, but I did not, was the streaky nature of the 2013 Cleveland Indians. I was kind of sucked into the notion that they would be more consistent because of a better mix of veterans. That will eventually be true in my opinion but not yet. What I failed to factor in (and I bet most fans did as well) was the huge culture shift caused by the number of veterans coming from different organizations and different baseball “cultures”. One of the strongest influences on the 90s Indians, aside from their immense talent, was a system-wide belief that they would win and win consistently. The majority of our veteran base came from very different backgrounds but all with a modest or high level of recent success. Bourn came from a broken organization (Astros) into a highly successful organization (Braves) but saw a monumental collapse at the end of last year similar to the Indians. Swisher came from a consistently winning organization but with their own cultural challenges (Yankees). Aviles came from a recently consistent organization who had a horrible 2012 (Red Sox). Stubbs came from a very good and improving organization who has not quite found the way to make it over the hump (Reds). Rayburn came from a recently solid organization with an expectation of winning (Tigers) but was forgotten there. Shaw/Albers came from a solid young organization where they have had decent success (Diamondbacks). Hill was nomadic and almost a AAAA player. Kazmir came from the scrap heap (I say that will all due affection). Jimenez came from an organization who doesn’t seem to have a consistent culture (Rockies). Giambi has not had many consistent ABs over the past few years but has a world of “cred” from winning organizations (Oakland/Yankees). The rest of the team was basically young and from an organization (Indians) that has, frankly, had no consistent culture and is back to trying to find itself again. The fact that the majority of the rest of the roster went through the most painful August collapse in Cleveland history adds to the intrigue of our new cultural development.

As I now look at all of this with a large part of the season gone, I might have anticipated a rocky and less than consistent approach and culture from this team. They have spent all season trying to “find themselves” as a team. Francona has been completely aware of this when he keeps saying “I like my guys”. He is confident, as I think we all should be as fans, that the diverse cultures brought to the 2013 Indians will settle in and develop into a winning attitude and expectation. As usual, I think Terry will be right even though he anticipated the inconsistency better than I ever did. He knew that to develop a culture and to find an identity could not happen overnight with this diverse group. As you watch the clubhouse now and realize what they went through with that horrible stretch of baseball, an identity is developing. And that identity is not one of losing or a lack of confidence. This team is just beginning to believe in themselves as a group and it would be anticipated that this will carry over as the season progresses. No team played much worse than the Indians in their most recent stretch. Conversely, no team has played much better in their two stretches around that horrible baseball.

The Indians organization is in a good position to succeed and will go, as we all have said from the beginning, as far as their pitching will take them. I have no doubt that the team placed on the field every day is vastly superior to the 2012 team as I have said all along. We need to do our part and recognize that some of this inconsistency should have been expected and act accordingly. I am proud to be an Indians fan and expect great things, if not from the 2013 Indians, in the years ahead.

Although the past two Indian games have not been things of beauty. they have been wins. When you are struggling as much as the Tribe, you will take wins whenever you can get them.

I do like the quality of the at bats now and have more confidence in our hitting. The starting pitching has also been better with cracks remaining in the Cleveland bullpen. The team has remained aggressive and the baserunning better despite some runners being thrown out. So, even though I do not see dramatic improvement leading to the wins, I can see signs of the team beginning to relax and become productive again.

The home stand is critical to see if the Indians can sustain some momentum or begin to falter again. I am cautiously optimistic that this is the beginning of a much better stretch of baseball for the Tribe. What do you think?

Right now the panic and visions of 2011 and 2012 are swirling through all Tribe fan’s heads. That is understandable for a traumatized fan base and a struggling franchise. I have previously posted that THIS Cleveland Indians team is worthy of your support. I see absolutely NO reason to change that stance and this post is the real “reality check” for Indian fans.

It is very easy and trite to say “Here we go again” as the team struggles and Don Kelly (a .190 hitter) crushes a three run homer off Justin Masterson to give the Tigers a 4-1 lead. Now there is a very high percentage chance that the Tigers will sweep from the Tribe and we will be fading away 2 games below .500. Others will tell me “Well, there is your reality check. We stink.” I will tell you that, as long as we play this bad, you will look like a genius and I will look like an idiot. When the team begins to move forward again, you will be no where to be found with your “reality” check and I will be enjoying baseball again. I prefer enjoying baseball.

I am not blind to the obvious about this version of the Cleveland Indians. From the very early days in Spring Training when all were praising the virtues of our bullpen, I was telling you cracks are developing in that bullpen. Unfortunately, the crack is now a hole and we need to be creative about patching it up. Most fans certainly knew that Mark Reynolds was not a reliable third baseman and we were secretly hoping he would never play there. We also knew that our starting pitching was a serious question mark and that counting on Ubaldo is like playing Vegas. We all felt the team would hit fairly well and be able to score runs but that Nick Swisher was not a “savior” level player to carry us to the promised land. All of these things are true and I do not support this team through rose colored glasses.

But when even solid and lifelong Tribe fans begin to question the quality of this team compared to the 2011 and 2012 versions and are questioning whether or not Francona is as good a manager as we thought he would be, it is clearly a traumatized fan base squealing out again in pain. I am in pain as well and see no end in sight to the pain. But that is the beauty of baseball. Teams will look lost for games at a time (as the Indians certainly do now), and suddenly for no apparent reason will begin to play solid again. For an individual hitter, maybe it means a bloop hit they didn’t expect to get. Or a pitcher makes a bad pitch with the bases loaded and the batter pops up instead of slamming a homer. Maybe the other team gets sloppy and walks guys, makes an error, and you bloop one in to score two. Maybe it is just luck. But, as those things start to happen again and they always do, the team relaxes and things start to fit together. Instead of the dribbler being thrown away by your defense, he throws a seed to the first baseman to get the out. Two bloops are followed by a blast and you are up 3-0. A starting pitcher steps up and throws a 3 hit shutout and you win 2-0. Next thing you know, as Manager Brown says “You call that a winning streak.”

Baseball, more than other “physical” team sport, is a game that relies on all pieces of the team to either complement each other or for one piece to “carry” the other ones. Unless either hitting or starting pitching is “smoking hot”, the team will not win unless defense and bullpen pitching is exceptional and some good fortune comes their way. Baseball is a team skill game that cannot be compensated for by brute force. Football, hockey, and even basketball can be influenced by physical play. Therefore when you get mad or frustrated you can at least pancake a guy into the ground, battle for rebounds and commit hard clean fouls, or slam a guy into the boards and rattle his chain. All of these things can clearly influence a game because you can do them more than once. In baseball, when you get mad and play frustrated, you often fail at the plate, on the mound, or in the field. The key is to relax and to let your personal skill take over. Do something you have done for your whole life with confidence and a blind eye to failure. Don’t try to do too much, stay within yourself and rely on your teammates to keep things going if you have a single instead of a home run. This is ABSOLUTELY easy to talk about and difficult to do. That is why team meetings about these types of things often don’t work. The only way they work is if the team is more relaxed after the meeting than they were before.

That is also where fans come into play. I would argue that a great enthusiastic crowd at a baseball game that comes with positive instead of negative energy will relax a baseball team. If the team comes home to boos and negative chatter and empty seats, we will be now another component of the team to be dysfunctional. I don’t imply by that the team will respond with a winning streak simply because fans show up and have positive energy. But to give up an entire season and all the money spent (FINALLY) by the ownership before the season is even half way gone makes absolutely no sense. The Indians now are 2 games below .500 as I write this and we have just lost the game to Detroit. That is not exactly like being 15 games below .500 and out of the race. The reality check is that, if we give up on a vastly superior team with a chance to sustain some winning for a few years this early, we are reacting emotionally and acting like we don’t understand baseball. I have strongly supported the Cleveland fans as knowledgeable and insightful fans. I think we will show that when the team finally comes home. I certainly will do that and I hope you will too.

A team is never as bad as they are when they are losing in bunches and never as good as they are when they are winning in bunches. The 2013 Cleveland Indians have shown both and are still not out of the race by a long shot. They are probably a .540 – .560 team with an outside chance to make the playoffs. As time goes on, we will see that develop and they will be much more fun to watch and support. Right now, it is downright sickening.