Castrovince on Acta year end news, in brief

..including some on Santana, a hint of winter news and a pitching review

over 1 year ago MTF 23 comments 0 recs |

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Good stuff. Sounds like Masterson should be in the rotation next year.

by JulioBernazard on Sep 30, 2010 5:49 PM EDT reply actions

“He’s never been overmatched, but he has nothing to show for the season,” Acta said. “He was unable to get his head above water.”

That’s the Luis thing. This is exactly how he was last year, inspiring all the confidence.

by afh4 on Sep 30, 2010 11:52 PM EDT reply actions

Acta’s contention that the rebuild is within the pitching staff, not the lineup

As if the offense is not a problem: 26th in runs scored, 24th in team OPS, 24th in Total Bases – and this includes the NL West. Who does he think he’s kidding?

Resident LGT results-oriented boob.

by mauichuck on Oct 1, 2010 2:02 AM EDT reply actions

He probably in his head is factoring in a return to form for Santana and Grady next year. Right or wrong, I assume that is why he feels that way.

by Roger Dorn on Oct 1, 2010 9:13 AM EDT up reply actions

And AstroCab, and Matty Boom, and Pr… er, never mind.

by JulioBernazard on Oct 1, 2010 10:35 AM EDT up reply actions

Replacing the player with virtually the worst OPS in the major leagues among “regular” players (but, man, can he bunt!) would be a nice start. Depressingly, though, Astro Cab and Matty Boom (sic) were almost as bad in that department.

'If I'm not here, 'I'll be somewhere else.'' Andy Marte

by peter m on Oct 1, 2010 10:48 AM EDT up reply actions

Oh, Valbie’s gotta go.

by JulioBernazard on Oct 1, 2010 5:21 PM EDT up reply actions

There are many here among us who think the offense is fine, just dormant, and will break out as soon as Grady returns. And Hafner—look at his OPS!—will come back, too. As I’ve said before, if you added Albert Pujols to this team it would still be a 30th percentile offense. It’s also putting a lot of pressure on Santana. I think we were spoiled this season by Santana’s great performance. Or overperformance. He isn’t going to be Mike Piazza or even Gary Carter. He’ll be a better version of Tony Pena. That’s awesome, but it’s not sufficient to carry an offense.

I think that Acta is saying, one thing at a time. First things first. Getting a starting rotation is the order of business. Scoring runs is a longterm project.

by odradek on Oct 1, 2010 12:19 PM EDT up reply actions

He isn’t going to be Mike Piazza or even Gary Carter. He’ll be a better version of Tony Pena.

What makes you say this?

by Brad D on Oct 1, 2010 12:42 PM EDT up reply actions

I could speculate, but that would be mean. He picked this angle a while back, and he’s riding it.

by dgcambridge on Oct 1, 2010 1:11 PM EDT up reply actions

I will point out that I said before the season the offense would be a problem. And it has been. It was an unpopular statement, but 632 runs is a problem.

by odradek on Oct 1, 2010 2:27 PM EDT up reply actions

You are a genius.

by Roger Dorn on Oct 1, 2010 11:01 PM EDT up reply actions

By the way, “a better version of Tony Pena” is just mind-numbling stupid. He could end up there, but he is not that type of player at all. He’s been an offense-first catcher all along.

Check out Pena’s minor league plate approach compared to Santana’s. Totally different players. And PECOTA has him at 370/470 for next 10 years. PECOTA doesn’t know about his knee injury, but it also doesn’t know about his 2010 offense.

Anyway, there’s 10 minutes of very non-original research which shows how ridiculous a comp that is. What’s your backing odradek? Anything? Any tiny shred of thought beyond wanting to throw a wet blanket on a good piece of the season? You’ve said that you understand that minor league number have meaning, and yet pretty much everything else you’ve said indicates otherwise.

Tony Pena….nothing worse than a lazy troll.

by dgcambridge on Oct 1, 2010 1:24 PM EDT up reply actions

I’m certainly lazy, but I ain’t no troll. Troll is a term of contempt you use for those you disagree with. You disagree with me, that’s fine.

Tony Pena was a very good catcher. He was, in his early years, a pretty good offensive player. He never had the plate discipline Santana has shown, but my comparison is based simply on watching the two of them behind the plate. When I watch Santana catch, I am reminded of his Dominican predecessor Pena: the athleticism, the physique, the batting style. If Santana turns out to be merely Tony Pena it would be pretty damn cool.

I’m trying to say you can’t expect Carlos to be capable of carrying the offense. He is still on crutches. He showed a lot this season, but I don’t think it is realistic to expect him to hit like that all the time—especially if he continues to catch.

Wet blanket? Santana has 192 plate appearances in the big leagues. If he sucked in his first 192 PAs you would say—rightfully so—it was an insufficient sample.

There has been plenty of good news this season. Consider the starting rotation. The bullpen looks much better. But the offense is not part of the good news. To believe it will magically correct itself by miraculous improvement is silly.

by odradek on Oct 1, 2010 2:16 PM EDT up reply actions

Santana’s track record is a lot more than 192 PA. HIs performance in the majors (868 OPS) was perfectly consistent with his 240 PA in Triple-A (1044 OPS), not to mention his numbers in High-A and Double-A (975 OPS). If anything, his rookie numbers could be seen as a little disappointing.

When we talk about a small sample with Marte or LaPorta, for example, we’re talking about that because the small-sample big-league numbers are at odds with the large-sample minor-league numbers. Nobody talks about small samples with Trevor Crowe.

On the larger point, I agree that enough has gone wrong that we can’t just assume the offense will put itself back together. But good things have happened, too. All we can really do is see how Cabrera, Sizemore, Santana and LaPorta perform next year, and then we’ll have some idea what we have. Certainly there is the potential for a decent or even good offense there, but the benefit of the doubt is gone for now.

by Jay on Oct 1, 2010 3:35 PM EDT up reply actions 1 recs

Good point about numbers at odds with the trend. At the age of 23, Pena hit .327/.367/.498 in the PCL (hitter’s league). At the age of 23, Carlos hit .290/.413/.530 in Akron (not a hitter’s league).

by odradek on Oct 1, 2010 4:06 PM EDT up reply actions

You know I’ve been watching Satana too and he’s not just a “pretty good offensive player”, he’s one of the best rookie hitters I’ve ever seen in a Tribe uniform. I don’t expect him to be Pena or Fosse, or Romano, or Alomar Jr. or Victor, I expect him to be better.

Resident LGT results-oriented boob.

by mauichuck on Oct 1, 2010 3:45 PM EDT up reply actions

I agree that he looks like an amazing hitter. He looked so extraordinary I have to question whether he really is that good.

by odradek on Oct 1, 2010 3:59 PM EDT up reply actions

Fact is, he looked better than the 868 OPS. He looked like a 1000 OPS, so we wonder whether it was real. But the number was only 868, and there’s little reason to be suspicious of that.

You have been an Indians fan way too long.

by Jay on Oct 1, 2010 4:21 PM EDT up reply actions

Yes, you’re right, I have been an Indians fan for too long. Chuck’s assessment of Carlos makes me wary, though I think I agree with him. I expect Santana to have visa problems or something.

by odradek on Oct 1, 2010 4:31 PM EDT up reply actions

Look odradek, the one thing all Indians fans can agree on is this: when we do land a super-star, embrace him for the time he’s here. There’s been plenty of fool’s gold caliber players – the aforementioned Joe Charboneau is but one. But this guy – this guy – is the real Manny/Joey/CC/Cliff/Grady deal. It’s OK to fall in love again – just remember, eventually he’ll leave us for a richer dude.

Resident LGT results-oriented boob.

by mauichuck on Oct 1, 2010 4:55 PM EDT up reply actions