Ten Goals for the Remainder of September
by APV on Sep 8, 2011 9:41 AM EDT
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- Wrap Asdrubal Cabrera, Shin-Soo Choo and Justin Masterson in bubblewrap until next Spring
- No more injuries
- Find playing time and get positive at-bats out of Chisenhall, Kipnis, Phelps and Donald
- Carlos Santana finish the season on a hot-streak and pull his OPS over .800
- Lou Marson replicate his month of June, his best hitting month as a pro (.283/.327/.348)
- No more blow-ups from Ubaldo
- Get one or two starts from McAllister and Kluber
- More good outings from Nick Hagadone and Josh Judy
- Develop some sense of how broken is Grady Sizemore
- Watch a few more final homeruns from Jim Thome in a Tribe uniform
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I think a few more would be finish in second, spoil the tigers shot at home field advantage in the first round the final three games of the season, and finish over 500. Those aren’t that important but it’s good for the morale of the team going into the offseason considering how many injuries we’ve had.
by MikeKucharik on Sep 8, 2011 10:29 AM EDT via mobile reply actions
Regarding points 4 and 5, do you believe the situation next year becomes that Santana plays 1B and Marson turns into our full-time C? Does the Tribe brass have hopes/expectations that Marson turns into a productive .270 – .280 hitter for a whole season, or will they search out other 1B options in the FA market?
Rather scared. Inquiring about dog.
I am not necessarily envisioning any specific plan for Marson and Santana, only commenting that Marson is still young enough as a catcher to be a valuable asset going forward. But he needs to hit better than .200 for that to be the case.
by APV on Sep 8, 2011 1:21 PM EDT up reply actions
I think they’d be pretty pleased if Marson could hit .250.
by Jay on Sep 8, 2011 2:06 PM EDT up reply actions
I’d also wrap Travis Hafner in bubble wrap, hoping for a healthier 2012 season.
Grady is a problem, given his contract, and is the few weeks remaining enough to come to any sort of a medical conclusion? My bet is the offseason is when that decision gets made, and they won’t have enough data to figure it out. What to do…
Mostly, since I don’t have a division championship to celebrate, I’ve decided to be happy about the tremendous experience so many of our your players have had as the summer winds down— Good preperation for next season. We still have a couple of weeks of good baseball to let them get even more, and so I say do the obvious, and “play the kids.”
I’m not sure wrapping Hafner in bubble-wrap does anything for us at this point. The organization has to make a decision on how much his roster spot is worth, and whether it can stomach eating the remainder of his contract in exchange for not having a part-time DH-only on the roster. Grady is indeed a problem.
by APV on Sep 8, 2011 1:23 PM EDT up reply actions
I think we have to eat Travis’s contract if we’re serious about next year (it hurts to write that). As for Grady, I would shut him down now and give him as much time as possible to fully heal. I don’t want to chance another injury in a meaningless end of the season. Let the kids get some playing time.
Really, he had the highest wOBA of any player on the team this season with 300 PA or more at .353. It seems to me it is more important for the team to focus on replacing the production out of 1B and the outfield spots.
Hafner has 601 OPS in his last 32 games, playing about five games a week. He will miss most if not all of the 39 games after that.
Of course, he also had a 994 OPS before that point, but he only played in 48 out of 86 games.
On balance, he’s given us half a season of average DH production and a full season of taking up space on the roster. It isn’t something you’d throw away carelessly, but it also isn’t a lot to give up.
by Jay on Sep 9, 2011 1:46 AM EDT up reply actions
I’m not sure there’s a point to DFAing him prior to the start of the season. I think, to your point, that they need to be serious about DFAing him if he goes on the DL or appears to be playing hurt in April.
by Jay on Sep 9, 2011 1:39 AM EDT up reply actions
Hannahan has been the 3rd most valuable Indians hitter based on WAR and I admire what he’s done. But starting today knowing we’re 9 out let’s play Chisenhall in all the rest of the games. I didn’t have a problem with Jack playing so much lately because he no doubt deserved it with his bat and outstanding glove. But 9.5 is too much so it is Chis time!
Beast Sandro
Hannahan is one of the wonderful stories from 2011…I love that guy, but yes, I think it is time to play Chisenhall.
by APV on Sep 8, 2011 1:23 PM EDT up reply actions
Don’t care one bit about #10, but I’ll add:
- Build up Sipp’s trade value (I’ll be beating this drum all offseason, guys)
- Get a better grasp on who the **** Fausto is
"I want to be playing at the end of October or the end of September -- not just at the beginning of April." —Grady
Agreed…Sipp is still cheap. Also, I think we know who Fausto is (whether we like him is a different, and more relevant, question).
by APV on Sep 8, 2011 2:21 PM EDT up reply actions
I know this might sound stupid, but are the playoffs possible with Carmona being any more than a fifth starter? He can’t be trusted to not get crushed in at least one inning of every game.
What is Carmona’s WAR this season? He must be at or under replacement level.
Rather scared. Inquiring about dog.
His WAR’s in the negative numbers. His 14 QS, 37th in the AL, has value, but his 50% QS rate is below the AL average of 54%. Last year he was 5th in the AL with 22 QS, tied with Justin Verlander. Next year? Zeus knows, maybe.
Fair enough, but with the risks involved these bad-Carmona, good-Carmona ‘ifs’ can only amount to a fourth or fifth-value starter. If we pin our rotation hopes on him, we’re toast.
Rather scared. Inquiring about dog.
At the moment, he’s the #3 guy in the 2012 rotation. If Talbot comes back, which wlll be as manna from heaven—and is not, as an Indians sufferer of many decades’ duration, something for which I’m expectantly scanning the skies—Fausto’s #4. The likelihood that Gomez, Huff, McAllister, Kluber, Talbot or Barnes pushes him lower seems somewhat small.
He seems similar to Francisco Liriano: a #3 or #4 starter with the possibility of being an ace. No, not someone you pin your hopes on. Ubaldo and Masterson are sporting those badges.
Heading into next year we have:
Tier One:
Justin Masterson
Ubaldo Jimenez
Tier Two:
Josh Tomlin
Fausto Carmona
David Huff
Tier Three:
Jeanmar Gomez
Zach McAllister
Scott Barnes
Mitch Talbot
Corey Kluber
Tier Four:
Hector Rondon
Joe Martinez
TJ McFarland
Matt Packer
by APV on Sep 8, 2011 4:20 PM EDT up reply actions
Looking at that list I become interested in the pitchers becoming available over the winter. Recognizing our lack of money will limit what we can do, we could really use a league average horse (as Jake Westbrook used to be for us) or even a healthy number 4.
by MTF on Sep 8, 2011 7:02 PM EDT up reply actions
i would agree, but the options are pretty bleak on the free agent market
by APV on Sep 8, 2011 9:12 PM EDT up reply actions
If there were good options, they’d be out of our price range, anyway.
"Lotta heart in Cleveland." - Ian Hunter
by Denver Tribe Fan on Sep 9, 2011 1:34 AM EDT up reply actions
Is Rondon in that last tier because you expect him to still be behind because of the injury for at least half or all of next season? I thought because of the timing of the surgery that he’d be further along by the start of next season than that.
He is in the last tier because coming off TJ and a 16 month absence, we have really no idea what to expect of him.
by APV on Sep 9, 2011 6:32 AM EDT up reply actions
How can you discount entirely the possibility — just the mere possibility — that Carmona can produce a season like 2010? He was slightly better than league average and contributed 210 IP over 33 starts.
Mind you, I was careful not to expect more of the same from Fausto. I may have been more down on him entering 2011 than anyone else you know. But I still see that there is a possibility that he can contribute to a winning ballclub in 2012, as he certainly could have last year.
This is to say nothing of 2007.
by Jay on Sep 9, 2011 3:12 AM EDT up reply actions
Naturally, I am not advocating a complete dumping of Carmona — that would be silly — however I am saying that, with the bad history being more recent and far-outweighing the good history in span, Carmona can only be counted on as back-end rotation filler. With the hopes of something more, of course, much like what occurred in 2007. Nevertheless, that can’t be relied upon.
Likewise, if I approached my fantasy draft expecting upside from questionable sources in key positions, I’d be dead in the water.
Rather scared. Inquiring about dog.
far-outweighing the good history in span
The good history lasted a year, all of 2010. The bad history lasted most of a year, 2011.
"An intelligent man is sometimes forced to be drunk to spend time with his fools" -Hemingway
But that isn’t more recent than 2010. You said the bad history was both more recent and longer in duration. That statement isn’t true.
"An intelligent man is sometimes forced to be drunk to spend time with his fools" -Hemingway
by notthatnoise on Sep 10, 2011 4:10 PM EDT up reply actions
It would appear that 2007 Fausto will remain no more than a myth. A true modern baseball tragedy.
by jakesinger777 on Sep 9, 2011 11:48 AM EDT up reply actions
The demise of Hafner and Sizemore are two additional trajedies. The Westbrook contract is the only one that personally disgusts me, looking back on it. Martinez, DeRosa, and especially the Blake trades aside, our asset management record since 2007 is looking very bad today.
I don’t remember getting nearly as giddy about Hafner or Sizemore as I did about Fausto in 2007. He was absolutely thrilling to watch; little did we know we’d never see it again or else we might have cherished it more. The bug game is and probably will remain my all-time favorite baseball watching moment, at least until we finally win a WS.
by jakesinger777 on Sep 9, 2011 2:40 PM EDT up reply actions
We know who Fausto is. Both of him.
"Lotta heart in Cleveland." - Ian Hunter
by Denver Tribe Fan on Sep 8, 2011 4:16 PM EDT up reply actions
I feel like Rafael is better suited for his current role than Sipp is for his. I just don’t have any faith in Sipp. Too many long fly balls.
"I want to be playing at the end of October or the end of September -- not just at the beginning of April." —Grady
Also! One would think Sipp has much higher trade value than Raffy. Raffy could get us a nice Johan Pino to DFA in May.
"I want to be playing at the end of October or the end of September -- not just at the beginning of April." —Grady
One would be wrong.
Why are you eager to trade Sipp? Does this reveal something to you about his value?
Raf Perez has more value—he has proven himself a bullpen fixture—and it’s time to sell. And we will sell. Sipp stays (for now).
by jhon on Sep 8, 2011 7:20 PM EDT via mobile up reply actions
11. Enjoy the arrival of Hagadone.
12. Lobby for Hanna’s Gold Glove.
13. Finish ahead of Wedgenius’s and Ozzie’s crews.
11. I like this one.
12. Should we organize a Twitter campaign to the voters?
13. We are a lock to finish ahead of Seattle. It is not a stretch to say that we have a better chance of catching Detroit — essentially none — than Seattle has of catching us — less than none.
by Jay on Sep 9, 2011 3:15 AM EDT up reply actions
I’d tweet hard to get Jack a gold glove
My watch is broken... it's stuck on Tribe Time
#suckitLaw
by Turkmenbashi on Sep 9, 2011 5:15 AM EDT via iPhone app up reply actions
Well, the first step is to compile a list of Twitter accounts for AL managers and coaches. Who wants to step up to the plate to do that?
It would also be a good idea to get the attention of national media — ESPN and MLBN — and possibly a couple of key media folk in AL markets who could influence a vote.
I’ll contact the Indians, see if they have an interest in getting involved.
We need a hashtag. #gold4hannahan seems straightforward and informative enough.
by Jay on Sep 9, 2011 1:39 PM EDT up reply actions
I like the Twitter campaign idea as well
I like ex-Phillies prospects.
by Gradyforpresident on Sep 9, 2011 12:44 PM EDT up reply actions
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