A few points

• I am excited about the Tribe's more consistent offense facing the lack of real star starting power (except maybe besides the Angels) in the upcoming AL playoffs.
  
• Although the Browns got smoked this past Sunday, I find myself even more interested to find out if the recent quarterback derby will help make this upcoming game against the Bengals anymore competitive.
  
• I've recently fell in love with this great Football website.

• Baseball Prospectus just recently announced Basketball Prospectus. Although I am a little disappointed that it does not seem to be touching pro basketball, at least at the start. However, with their being recent discussions about how little baseball analysis there is left to do out there (not that I agree with that), it seems like continuing to expand the business into the other main stream sports makes sense. I know I am interested in learning about it.
• Finally, I will be putting up a post soon about the Tribe's playoffs chances, opponents, and how much Wedge can make or break our post season success.
  

JoBo is What?

Last night on Sportstime Ohio and on Indians.com they had polls asking who was the best closer in the AL central this year. The biased answer is JoBo, but the right answer is Joe Nathan. According to BPro's Pitcher's VORP page, Borowski is currently the Indians worst reliever on the roster. Frankly, I agree with them. I do not feel comfortable with:




First off, for any of you unfamiliar with what WXL or LEV mean, check out the definitions at Baseball Prospectus' Glossary.
If you look at the chart you can see that JoBo is used in the Indians highest leverage situations this year, but hes the worst reliever on the chart based up WXL. Now the Indians have had some worse relievers on the roster this year. Cabrera and Hernandez come to mind, but that is no excuse to be putting Borowski in with the game on the line. Luckily, for us Indians fans, when Wedge has been using Perez and Betancourt almost exclusively in the 7th and 8th innings they have been in high leverage situations and it hasn't really cost the Tribe this past week or two.

However, the way Wedge use this trio of relievers last night made me want to scream. He brought Perez in the face ONE batter in the seventh. Why not bring him back out there in the 8th and keep Betancourt ready if needed? If Perez goes through the eighth without any problems than that leaves Betancourt for the ninth. But, with the way the 7th and 8th worked with the way Wedge used them it left the 8th, 9th, and 1 hitters for JoBo in the 9th with a 6-3 lead. Easy save right? Of course not, JoBo instead gave up 2 runs and was left with a showdown with Morneau to decide the game. Not a situation I would ever want to be in again and expect to end up with a Tribe victory.

Cold Weather can't slow Hot Tribe start.

I went to Friday and Saturdays games this weekend, and just finished watching today's game on tv. Here are some observations I saw from this weekend and thus far this season.

- On Friday Carmona's stuff was certainly there, but his lack of control is what led him to give up the home runs to Uribe and Dye. He had to come in with fastballs and they didn't miss em.

- Byrd seems to be an entirely different pitcher from last year. He has been mixing in a splitfinger this year that was really effective Saturday against the Sox. If he can continue to pitch just 75% of what hes show this year on a regular basis the Indians will have one filthy rotation.

-Borowoski started a bit shaky but has thrown strikes and been consistent as of late picking up his 5th save already. Saves really mean very little to me, but it the Indians haven't had a lot of late inning high leverage situations. There was one today, but C.C. Sabathia took care of that 8th inning himself.

-Im not quite sure what kind of opinion i have on wedge's bullpen usage thus far this season. To my recollection there hasn't been a whole lot of high leverage situations late in the game. The couple I recall were either created by the reliever himself ( Hernandez or Davis walking a few), or when Sabathia was still in the game. It will be interesting to see if the heart of the lineup is up with a guy or 2 on in the 8th for the opposition and who Wedge uses in that situation. Im gonna guess a mix between Fultz/Betancourt/Hernandez, but I hope he uses Borowski for the biggest part of the game.

Snow Delays

Well I finally am home to watch an Indians game this week and we get a snow delay lol, thats NE Ohio for yah. But if they do get to continue on with the game the Indians are leading 4-0.
However, during the game Victor Martinez strained his squad running to first. The Indians have said he is day-to-day, but I would expect Victor not to see action until atleast the weather warms up a bit. Ill have to check with Will Carroll over at BP tomorrow to see if he has a better update.

While searching through the blogs i view daily Viva El Birdos gave this link which i though was a very interesting read.
The gentlemen in that discussion (Tango, N. Silver, MGL, etc are by far among my most respected performance analysts. Check it out.

Just as expected

- The offense shined
- CC was good despite just getting over a bruised forearm
- The WhiteSox pitching isnt as good as last year, and the teams is getting old.


I expect more of the same Wednesday.

Good and the Bad

First off, I just wanted to verbally thank the Twins for this. With a pitcher of Garza's ability you would have to think that regardless of what the Twins' think he needs to work on he'd be better than Ponson and/or Ramon Ortiz with or without AAA seasoning. Terry Ryan always seems to hang with the veteran choice longer than he should, and it seems he hasn't learned a thing from last years mess with Tony Batista.

The pitcher that beat out Garza for the 5th spot, Silva, had a horrific spring and struggled last year as well. Apparently the Twins see his track record and see Silva as having something left. Silva does have amazing control, but his lack of strikeouts mixed with him being very prone to the longball (38 hrs in only 188 IP last year) makes me think it should have been an easy choice for the Twins. But thats why the play the games. For the Tribe's sake I hope Silva is just slightly below average and makes the Twins take longer to realize their mistake and further themselves from the Tribe as we start the season.

3 more days...

SuperStar worries

As i mentioned yesterday one of the topics I wanted to focus on was Sizemore, the leadoff spot in the Tribe's lineup , and whats gonna happen when Hafner's contract runs out.

My biggest concern is not for this year or the next, but right now the Indians have a huge lack of star potential as far as position players are concerned in the minor leagues. Baseball Prospectus doesn't show any potential upcoming offensive starts to take the place of when Hafner's contract runs out in 2008. Now the Indians obviously could attempt to resign him, but there are two problems that are associated with that. One is a 32 year old player with a "old-player" skillset is a big risk to take even if it is Hafner. So the Indians will have to decide whether or not they want to take a big risk with a big contract on Hafner, or try and fill that void with someone else. However, Hafner was one of the best offensive players in the league period...his VORP total of 79.7 compared with the likes of Howard and Pujols (both over 80) and he missed the last month of the season. So Shapiro will have a pretty big decision to make when Hafner's contract runs out.

Then lies the next problem, if Hafner goes, where will that missed offensive production come from? I think Sizemore's next couple of years could tell us what we will need. If Sizemore gets even a little bit more power you can envision him being a 3 or 4 hitter in the lineup, however then you need to find someone with a good OBP to top the lineup. Trevor Crowe possibly could have those qualities, but hes a centerfielder( a position we got locked down for quite some time) and unless he starts hitting for more power himself hes not gonna be suited for a corner.

However, if Sizemore's production stays the same then we will need someone with lightower power to take Hafner's spot in the lineup. Where the Indians will find it, I really don't know. It would be pretty easy if Marte turned into the superstar he was thought to be a couple years ago, but his production has yet to match those expectations in the majors.

Various Wahoo Concerns

This weekend I am going to be looking into a few Tribe concerns for the upcoming season and the ongoing future of our favorite baseball team.

One involves the Indians leadoff hitter "dilemma". If Grady's bat gets any better ( and if doesnt you wont hear any complaints from me) then we will hear even more suggestions/questions about moving Sizemore down to the third spot in the lineup. Do the Indians have a future answer for the leadoff hitter? Do they have one now? If Pronk leaves after his contract expires is moving Grady down inevitable? I'll let you know.

Some of the other concerns I will address are :
- Is Garko going to get a shot at platooning this year? He really doesn't have any upside, but is his bat good enough to stick this year?
- Who should we be rooting for to make this years bullpen?
- Will Eric Wedge still be the manager when the Indians make it to the World Series again?

Stop back later this weekend for answers.

The Hiatus is Over.

When I first started this blog I was naive and thought that traffice would come easy. As time went on and the traffic never came, so did my desire to write. However, times have changed and now all i can really think about is writing about the Indians and baseball. So as the 2007 baseball season reaches its beginning, I attempt a new beginning at making this a successful blog.

Baseball Playoffs at its Best.

As i think about what to write about the previous 2 games this Wednesday, I feel as upset as if the Indians were playing tonight about the rain delay at Yankees stadium. Its not because I have a soft spot for the Yankees like many think I do, but because there is simply nothing more exciting that watching playoff baseball in New York. From a TV perspective the atmosphere just cannot be emmulated. I remember the atmosphere during the Indians playoff runs in the 90's and it certainly was amazing, and it would be amazing to see how that compares to Yankees stadium in person. Jeters performance last night was simply amazing...he earns all the praise he recieves.

As for the previous two games, they both had two crazy plays that had effects on the outcome of the game. During the Twins/A's game Tori Hunter made an unexpected outfielder blunder that led to Kotsay hit a 2-run inside-the-park homerun. If Hunter hadnt dove at an uncatchable ball The A's coulda had 1st and 3rd and tied at 2-2 instead of being at 4-2.

In the Dodgers and Mets game the Dodgers ran themselves out of a atleast a run by getting two runners thrown out at first in the same inning. Jeff kent ran right through a stop sign and JD Drew didnt watch the play in front of him and possibly cost the Dodgers a chance at an extra run they desperately needed.

----

Well the Yankees and Tigers played the afternoon game i desperalely wanted to see last night, and the Tigers pulled out a close game with some great pitching from the bullpen. Todd Jones pitched the 9th for the save, but if i was manager i would have loved to see Zumaya finish the game off because he was dominating the Yankee hitters and shoulda been there for the final inning.

Why the wait?

I went to the game on Friday and noticed that the Indians had recalled Ramon Vazquez. But what really caught my eye was that he was starting at third base the day after Boone's 3 error performance against the Yankees. It just seems to me that Shapiro is thinking Boone is all of a sudden outhit Marte by a wide margin sometime this season. Marte may have 18 errors in Buffalo, but Boone has yet to impress me defensively either. Three errors in one game shoulda been the hurdle Shapiro needed to use to call up Marte and do what is best for the club...release Aaron Boone.

Atleast the game on Friday was the one worth going to over the weekend with excellent performances from the offense (nice to see Guitierez get 3 hits) and the complete game shutout from Sabathia.

Some good things?

Despite Sabathia's disapointing performance (although his defense didn't help him whatsoever) put a damper on my mood of the Tribe, there still are some things to be hopeful for. It was great to see the Indians FINALLY send Johnson packing and call up Sowers. And with Marte starting to hit like everyone knew he could, lets hope to see Boone get the next ticket to Buffalo. It was nice to see the Indians call up Mujica because hes been nothing but phenominal in the Minors and our bullpen has been a problem all year.

More Indians Goodness

After that11-0 crushing loss to the WhiteSox things werent looking that good for the Tribe. But after a 4-3 win yesterday they followed it up with a 5-0 victory. The first time the Sox were shutout all year! Westbrook pitched like he did in 2004 and Grady continued to sizzle. A lot has been made of the big change in the Indians' defensive efficiency this year and it certainly is a concern. However, the defense hasn't had much of an effect on his performance when compared to last year. Westbrook is basically averaging the same numbers as last year, and the defense is much much worse this year. Therefore, the encouraging thing is if the Indians offense can get near the level they were last year Westbrook could fit nicely somewhere between 04 and 05.

Questions of the Week

The Tigers have lost their first two games against the Yankees in their current series.

Is it just 2 well played games by the Yankees or are the Tigers' pitchers finally starting to come down back to earth?

What recent rookie callups will have the biggest impact on their team? Jered Weaver of the Angels? Lastings Milledge of the Mets? Or Liriano of the Twins?

Of course it will depend upon how long each rookie stays on the major league team, but just to highly touted prospects to keep an eye on. Weaver will be facing the Indians this friday so I should be able to get a good look at him then. I think Liriano could have a great year, but the Twins might be so out of whack that very few will notice. However, atleast the Twins are being agressive with a prospect this time instead of babying many of their past prospects.

Questions of the Week

Last week i asked several questions about baseball and the sporting world....

Would Sabathia continue his strong performance? Yes, he pitched well against the Tigers only giving up 3 runs and striking out 10 in 8 innings.

Are the Detroit Pistons that much better than the Cavaliers?

Happily no where near it. Cavs have won 3 straight and look to close out the series tomorrow night.

Between the Reds and Tigers, which teams' starting pitching would fade first?

The Reds went 2-4 on the week, and their pitching certainly wasn't great, but in the games the pitching was good..they got very little if any run support. The Tigers haven't fallen off one bit and are tied with the Whitesox for first in the Central.

Next Monday i will have a new set of questions up to look at.

Payback is a ...

Last week when the Tribe got swept by the Royals, it seemed as like the Indians couldn't get any worse. Well, it got even a bit more worse after being swept by the Sox afterwards.

But after a losing streak of 6 games, the Indians responded by sweeping the Royals back to Kansas City. Hafner has started to really heat up, Sizemore has continued to get on base and hit with power. Blake has yet to cool down, and the Indians got good or decent starting pitching for 2 games, and got a complete game shutout from Westbrook Teusday night.

As the Pirates come to town, the Indians need to get these three games to make up for their recent struggles.

Another One

The Indians have been swept 2 consecutive series after losing 3-2 to the Tigers. The Indians led 1-0, until a critical defensive miscue by Eduardo Perez broke the door open for the Tigers to score 3 runs in the seventh. Jason Davis pitched well and Cabrerea pitched well after allowing his inherited runners to score.

Rafael Betancourt should come off the DL tomorrow, and I am not sure who would be sent down to replace him. Carmona, who was just called up to replace Graves, should be safe because I can't imagine the Indians' wanting to be jerking him around. I would find it fun to watch Carmona work on his game in the bullpen and eventually work his way back to the starter the Indians expect him to be.

Indians drop another.

Apparently, someone is taking the Tribe's losing streak pretty hard.

At Rick's Tribe Report yesterday, Rick made some comments about the Indians' 3-0 loss to the Tigers. Read his latest column and check out our discussion afterwards in the comments section.

For anyone that has read my posts on this site they would know I am an avid Indians fan. This losing streak is bothering me as much as anyone, but I still find time to point out some positives or still find some hope in a loss. Blaming Sizemore's baserunning yesterday is not an option in my opinion. The Indians' defense and inability to have good AB's against Bonderman were the issue.

Tribe Struggles Again

Another loss by the Tribe tonight, this time to the Tigers 5-4. Lee didn't have one of his best starts, but the bullpen looked a lot like last years atleast. The offense only scored four runs, but with the amount of runs we scored in the KC series and got nothing from it, you can't be upset at them for ONLY scoring 4 runs. Carmona was brought up after the Indians' finally released Graves, but they still intend to make him a starter in the future. A few years back the Twins did the same thing with Johan Santana, and we all know how succesful that turned out to be. I think a similar outcome is possible with Carmona, and it will be interesting to see.

Indians' Bullpen Needs Soon to be Adressed

I was going to comment on what kind of bullpen changes could possibly be made in the next couple of days, but Shapiro beat me to it.

As the Indians' open their series with Detroit later today I hope that with both Lee and Sabathia starting our current bullpen flaws can be put aside for atleast 2 games of the series.