Re: Articles
1846I am sorry about Chisenhall but I like having Donald back. If he can play OF adequately he should really help.
Re: Articles
1847I hope that we're buying not selling at the deadline. That said, as buyers we will be pretty limited on what we can offer anyone since we have very minimal depth in the organization.
Re: Articles
1848I don't know if I'd want to let him go Seagull. As far as right hand hitting players are concerned, he has to be in our top 3, maybe 4. I say we keep him. He's also a pretty steady defender. The perfect utility player that I'm hoping keeps getting some consistent game time action.Lopez was a good pickup this winter by the blind squirrel in the FO.
Might be worth someting at the deadline.
“Every day is a new opportunity. You can build on yesterday's success or put its failures behind and start over again. That's the way life is, with a new game every day, and that's the way baseball is.”
-- Bob Feller
-- Bob Feller
Re: Articles
1849Cleveland Indians pound out 15 hits in 12-3 victory over Los Angeles Angels
CLEVELAND, Ohio -- Travis Hafner didn't have a hit in the first inning, but he had a big effect on what happened at that moment and beyond Wednesday afternoon at Progressive Field.
Ervin Santana had two out and a man on first when Hafner came to the plate fresh off the disabled list.
On a hot humid day, he made Santana throw 11 pitches before drawing a walk. No one knew it at the time, but Santana and the Angels were done.
Michael Brantley followed Hafner to the plate and hit a 1-1 pitch over the right field fence for a 3-0 lead that steamrolled into a 12-3 Indians victory over the Angels in front of 20,979 fans. Hafner deserved at least half the credit for that homer and what followed in the first two innings.
"I was really happy with that at bat," said Hafner, after spending a long time in the trainer's room getting his surgically repaired right knee ice. "I was down in the count, but was able to work him. It gave us an extra guy on base. It was a hot day and anytime you can make a guy throw extra pitches it's a good thing."
Santana was gone one out into the second. He faced six Indians and gave up five hits, including a single to Hafner, before being replaced. When Casey Kotchman completed the six-run inning with a three-run homer off Hisanori Takahashi, the Indians led, 9-1.
"You could see the Hafner effect right away in that first at-bat when he wore out Santana with all those pitches," said manager Manny Acta.
No worries if you missed it because the Indians didn't.
"Haf makes that pitcher work," said Kotchman. "There is fear in the opposing team when that guy is up there. He's an imposing figure and he grinds out at bats. Whether he gets a hit or not, he makes that pitcher work."
Johnny Damon, like Kotchman, has been around. He started the six-run second with a leadoff single and added two more hits before the game ended.
"Haf's at bat certainly helped Brantley get a good pitch to hit," said Damon. "Santana knew his pitch count was getting up there. I'm not saying he laid a pitch in there, but at-bats like that make everyone else around you better.
"That's the kind of stuff we did when I was in Boston and New York and we ended up being champions."
The homer was only Brantley's second of the season, but he has 40 RBI in 78 games. He had 46 in 114 last year.
"Hats off to Haf, what an incredible at bat that was," said Brantley.
Santana (4-9, 5.75) retired Shin-Soo Choo and Asdrubal Cabrera on three pitches start the game. It took him another 30 to get the third out of the inning.
"We had some great at bats with two strikes," said Acta.
Santana is 1-7 with a 5.03 ERA against the Indians. The only time he beat them was last July and he needed a no-hitter to do it. There was no no-no Wednesday as he allowed eight runs on six hits in 1 1/3 innings.
Derek Lowe (8-6, 4.43) used the outpouring of runs to win his first game since June 1. He entered Wednesday's game at 0-3 with a 5.46 ERA in his last five starts.
The eight victories are one shy of his total from 2012 when he went 9-17 with Atlanta. Lowe, pitching with a big lead, allowed three runs and scattered 11 hits in six innings.
"It's well documented how June went for me, so it was nice to get some early runs," he said.
Lowe is 5-1 with a 2.86 ERA in eight starts at home this season.
"This is going to be a good long break for me," said Lowe. "I can sit back and be a fan for the next four games, then go into the All-Star break and get rejuvenated for the second half."
The Indians added three more runs in the fifth as Kotchman, Jack Hannahan, Damon and Marson opened with four straight hits. Kotchman scored on Marson's single, Hannahan scored on Choo's double play grounder and Cabrera doubled home Damon.
The Angels are a handful. They lost two out of three to the Tribe, and trail the season series, 4-2, but are still 27-12 in their last 39 games as they return to Anaheim.
The Indians have won five of their last seven games, scoring 53 runs a long the way.
CLEVELAND, Ohio -- Travis Hafner didn't have a hit in the first inning, but he had a big effect on what happened at that moment and beyond Wednesday afternoon at Progressive Field.
Ervin Santana had two out and a man on first when Hafner came to the plate fresh off the disabled list.
On a hot humid day, he made Santana throw 11 pitches before drawing a walk. No one knew it at the time, but Santana and the Angels were done.
Michael Brantley followed Hafner to the plate and hit a 1-1 pitch over the right field fence for a 3-0 lead that steamrolled into a 12-3 Indians victory over the Angels in front of 20,979 fans. Hafner deserved at least half the credit for that homer and what followed in the first two innings.
"I was really happy with that at bat," said Hafner, after spending a long time in the trainer's room getting his surgically repaired right knee ice. "I was down in the count, but was able to work him. It gave us an extra guy on base. It was a hot day and anytime you can make a guy throw extra pitches it's a good thing."
Santana was gone one out into the second. He faced six Indians and gave up five hits, including a single to Hafner, before being replaced. When Casey Kotchman completed the six-run inning with a three-run homer off Hisanori Takahashi, the Indians led, 9-1.
"You could see the Hafner effect right away in that first at-bat when he wore out Santana with all those pitches," said manager Manny Acta.
No worries if you missed it because the Indians didn't.
"Haf makes that pitcher work," said Kotchman. "There is fear in the opposing team when that guy is up there. He's an imposing figure and he grinds out at bats. Whether he gets a hit or not, he makes that pitcher work."
Johnny Damon, like Kotchman, has been around. He started the six-run second with a leadoff single and added two more hits before the game ended.
"Haf's at bat certainly helped Brantley get a good pitch to hit," said Damon. "Santana knew his pitch count was getting up there. I'm not saying he laid a pitch in there, but at-bats like that make everyone else around you better.
"That's the kind of stuff we did when I was in Boston and New York and we ended up being champions."
The homer was only Brantley's second of the season, but he has 40 RBI in 78 games. He had 46 in 114 last year.
"Hats off to Haf, what an incredible at bat that was," said Brantley.
Santana (4-9, 5.75) retired Shin-Soo Choo and Asdrubal Cabrera on three pitches start the game. It took him another 30 to get the third out of the inning.
"We had some great at bats with two strikes," said Acta.
Santana is 1-7 with a 5.03 ERA against the Indians. The only time he beat them was last July and he needed a no-hitter to do it. There was no no-no Wednesday as he allowed eight runs on six hits in 1 1/3 innings.
Derek Lowe (8-6, 4.43) used the outpouring of runs to win his first game since June 1. He entered Wednesday's game at 0-3 with a 5.46 ERA in his last five starts.
The eight victories are one shy of his total from 2012 when he went 9-17 with Atlanta. Lowe, pitching with a big lead, allowed three runs and scattered 11 hits in six innings.
"It's well documented how June went for me, so it was nice to get some early runs," he said.
Lowe is 5-1 with a 2.86 ERA in eight starts at home this season.
"This is going to be a good long break for me," said Lowe. "I can sit back and be a fan for the next four games, then go into the All-Star break and get rejuvenated for the second half."
The Indians added three more runs in the fifth as Kotchman, Jack Hannahan, Damon and Marson opened with four straight hits. Kotchman scored on Marson's single, Hannahan scored on Choo's double play grounder and Cabrera doubled home Damon.
The Angels are a handful. They lost two out of three to the Tribe, and trail the season series, 4-2, but are still 27-12 in their last 39 games as they return to Anaheim.
The Indians have won five of their last seven games, scoring 53 runs a long the way.
Re: Articles
1850Commentary
Play ball! Really, play ball!
Updated: July 3, 2012, 8:35 PM ET
By Rick Reilly | ESPN.com
Things that nobody reads in America today:
The online legal mumbo jumbo before you check the little "I Agree" box.
Kate Upton's resume.
Major League Baseball's "Pace of Play Procedures."
Not that baseball games don't have a pace. They do: snails escaping a freezer.
It's clear no MLB player or umpire has ever read the procedures, or else how do you explain what I witnessed Sunday, when I sat down to do something really stupid -- watch an entire televised MLB game without the aid of a DVR?
Cincinnati at San Francisco was a 3-hour, 14-minute can-somebody-please-stick-two-forks-in-my-eyes snore-a-palooza. Like a Swedish movie, it might have been decent if somebody had cut 90 minutes out of it. I'd rather have watched eyebrows grow. And I should have known better.
Consider: There were 280 pitches thrown and, after 170 of them, the hitter got out of the batter's box and did … absolutely nothing.
Mostly, hitters delayed the proceedings to kick imaginary dirt off their cleats, meditate, and un-Velcro and re-Velcro their batting gloves, despite the fact that most of the time, they hadn't even swung.
Buster Posey of the Giants, The Man Who Wrecked Your Dinner Reservations, has this habit of coming to the box, stopping outside it and unfastening and refastening his gloves before his FIRST SWING! What exactly was he doing in the on-deck circle? His cuticles?
I knew I was in trouble in the first inning when the Reds' Brandon Phillips stepped up. My notes on his five-pitch at-bat:
Strike: steps out, examines the trademark of his bat at length.
Ball: steps out, grabs barrel of bat, seems to be talking to it.
Ball: steps out, takes three practice swings, taps corner of batter's box, steps one foot in, taps plate, places other foot in, stretches, fiddles, finally looks at pitcher, calls timeout! Does it all again.
Swing and a miss: steps way out, adjusts belt, adjusts jersey, addresses barrel again.
Grounds out to short.
Apparently, the bat didn't listen.
By the way, the average number of seconds per pitch this game: 31.34. Thirty-one seconds per pitch? This is not a misprint. Do you realize people can solve an entire Rubik's Cube in 22 seconds?
All of this, of course, is in direct violation of MLB's "Pace of Play Procedures" (hah!), which state: "Umpires will not grant time for batters to step out of the box if to do so would unnecessarily delay the game."
Unnecessarily delay the game? The only delay these hitters knew was unnecessary. And when they weren't doing that, the pitchers were lollygagging behind the mound, re-rubbing pre-rubbed baseballs or gazing up to identify cloud animals.
New rule: Umpires who don't order batters back into the box within 12 seconds -- because the rules state that a pitcher must throw the ball within 12 seconds of receiving it -- will get the room at the hotel next to the newlyweds.
There's also this amusing passage in the "Pace of Play Procedures" (hah!): "When given permission to leave the batter's box under Rule 6.02, batters may not step more than 3 feet from the batter's box."
Whoo-eee! That's rich. These guys wandered away from the box like 2-year-olds at a petting zoo. Six times they left the dirt circle around the plate altogether. Left the entire circle!
And by the way, this nonsense about there's only a 2-minute, 10-second TV break between half innings? Bullfeathers. Only once did the break between half innings take 2:10 or less. The rest of the time, it was miles over. The break before the top of the fifth was 4 minutes, 12 seconds! Where did everybody go? Out to feed their meters?
There were more ways to waste time in this game than in a month of teamsters meetings.
There were 14 attempts by pitchers to pick off runners, not one of them even coming close. Most of them resembled somebody tossing a turkey to a co-worker.
New rule: Pitchers get two pickoff attempts per runner. For every one after that, the umpire adds a ball to the hitter's count.
Four times the hitter, after going through his Art Carney routine, got into the box, decided the pitcher was messing with him, and called time out.
Twice the pitcher wanted a timeout.
Five times the catcher called time out to go out to the mound to discuss, what? ObamaCare?
Four times the pitching coach wanted time. That's 15 timeouts in a game that didn't even have a clock. Can you imagine if Tom Brady could call a timeout anytime he wanted? You'd be in Foxborough long enough to vote.
And explain to me why a reliever who's been warming up in the bullpen for five minutes still needs eight pitches to warm up on the mound. Do field goal kickers get eight practice kicks? Dumb.
Like tennis grunts, all this crud is just a lot of bad habits that only serve to annoy the very people MLB is supposedly trying to captivate -- the fans. It doesn't sell more TV ads, doesn't get the game done before the kids have to go to bed, doesn't do anything but make your thumb hit the CHNL UP button sooner.
This game was mercifully won by the Giants, 4-3, on their last at-bat, when Reds right fielder Jay Bruce botched an easy fly ball.
Three hours and 14 minutes, 170 step-outs, and three double-shot macchiatos for that?
Please, I beg of you, bring on the NFL.
Play ball! Really, play ball!
Updated: July 3, 2012, 8:35 PM ET
By Rick Reilly | ESPN.com
Things that nobody reads in America today:
The online legal mumbo jumbo before you check the little "I Agree" box.
Kate Upton's resume.
Major League Baseball's "Pace of Play Procedures."
Not that baseball games don't have a pace. They do: snails escaping a freezer.
It's clear no MLB player or umpire has ever read the procedures, or else how do you explain what I witnessed Sunday, when I sat down to do something really stupid -- watch an entire televised MLB game without the aid of a DVR?
Cincinnati at San Francisco was a 3-hour, 14-minute can-somebody-please-stick-two-forks-in-my-eyes snore-a-palooza. Like a Swedish movie, it might have been decent if somebody had cut 90 minutes out of it. I'd rather have watched eyebrows grow. And I should have known better.
Consider: There were 280 pitches thrown and, after 170 of them, the hitter got out of the batter's box and did … absolutely nothing.
Mostly, hitters delayed the proceedings to kick imaginary dirt off their cleats, meditate, and un-Velcro and re-Velcro their batting gloves, despite the fact that most of the time, they hadn't even swung.
Buster Posey of the Giants, The Man Who Wrecked Your Dinner Reservations, has this habit of coming to the box, stopping outside it and unfastening and refastening his gloves before his FIRST SWING! What exactly was he doing in the on-deck circle? His cuticles?
I knew I was in trouble in the first inning when the Reds' Brandon Phillips stepped up. My notes on his five-pitch at-bat:
Strike: steps out, examines the trademark of his bat at length.
Ball: steps out, grabs barrel of bat, seems to be talking to it.
Ball: steps out, takes three practice swings, taps corner of batter's box, steps one foot in, taps plate, places other foot in, stretches, fiddles, finally looks at pitcher, calls timeout! Does it all again.
Swing and a miss: steps way out, adjusts belt, adjusts jersey, addresses barrel again.
Grounds out to short.
Apparently, the bat didn't listen.
By the way, the average number of seconds per pitch this game: 31.34. Thirty-one seconds per pitch? This is not a misprint. Do you realize people can solve an entire Rubik's Cube in 22 seconds?
All of this, of course, is in direct violation of MLB's "Pace of Play Procedures" (hah!), which state: "Umpires will not grant time for batters to step out of the box if to do so would unnecessarily delay the game."
Unnecessarily delay the game? The only delay these hitters knew was unnecessary. And when they weren't doing that, the pitchers were lollygagging behind the mound, re-rubbing pre-rubbed baseballs or gazing up to identify cloud animals.
New rule: Umpires who don't order batters back into the box within 12 seconds -- because the rules state that a pitcher must throw the ball within 12 seconds of receiving it -- will get the room at the hotel next to the newlyweds.
There's also this amusing passage in the "Pace of Play Procedures" (hah!): "When given permission to leave the batter's box under Rule 6.02, batters may not step more than 3 feet from the batter's box."
Whoo-eee! That's rich. These guys wandered away from the box like 2-year-olds at a petting zoo. Six times they left the dirt circle around the plate altogether. Left the entire circle!
And by the way, this nonsense about there's only a 2-minute, 10-second TV break between half innings? Bullfeathers. Only once did the break between half innings take 2:10 or less. The rest of the time, it was miles over. The break before the top of the fifth was 4 minutes, 12 seconds! Where did everybody go? Out to feed their meters?
There were more ways to waste time in this game than in a month of teamsters meetings.
There were 14 attempts by pitchers to pick off runners, not one of them even coming close. Most of them resembled somebody tossing a turkey to a co-worker.
New rule: Pitchers get two pickoff attempts per runner. For every one after that, the umpire adds a ball to the hitter's count.
Four times the hitter, after going through his Art Carney routine, got into the box, decided the pitcher was messing with him, and called time out.
Twice the pitcher wanted a timeout.
Five times the catcher called time out to go out to the mound to discuss, what? ObamaCare?
Four times the pitching coach wanted time. That's 15 timeouts in a game that didn't even have a clock. Can you imagine if Tom Brady could call a timeout anytime he wanted? You'd be in Foxborough long enough to vote.
And explain to me why a reliever who's been warming up in the bullpen for five minutes still needs eight pitches to warm up on the mound. Do field goal kickers get eight practice kicks? Dumb.
Like tennis grunts, all this crud is just a lot of bad habits that only serve to annoy the very people MLB is supposedly trying to captivate -- the fans. It doesn't sell more TV ads, doesn't get the game done before the kids have to go to bed, doesn't do anything but make your thumb hit the CHNL UP button sooner.
This game was mercifully won by the Giants, 4-3, on their last at-bat, when Reds right fielder Jay Bruce botched an easy fly ball.
Three hours and 14 minutes, 170 step-outs, and three double-shot macchiatos for that?
Please, I beg of you, bring on the NFL.
Re: Articles
1851Sheldon Ocker: Tribe must improve to stay in contention
By Sheldon Ocker
Beacon Journal sports writer
Published: July 7, 2012 - 11:00 PM
The Indians finished the first half of the season with a 42-39 record. Drum roll, please. At least a smattering of applause is in order, so go ahead and cut loose.
Three games over .500 with 81 games to play will get you a prime 12-ounce strip steak at a high-end restaurant, if you have $45 to pay for it.
I don’t mean to denigrate the Tribe’s accomplishment, and it is an accomplishment. The problem is that the team’s future is as unpredictable and its contradictions no less glaring than they were three months ago, when the season was in its infancy.
What do you make of a club that has given up many more runs than it has scored yet continues to flirt with a .500 record or better?
At the halfway mark, Indians pitchers had the second-worst earned-run average in the American League and the fourth-worst batting average against, but issued the fewest walks per nine innings and allowed the fourth-fewest home runs.
The offense was 11th in home runs, 10th in slugging percentage, eighth in batting average and hits but a respectable sixth in runs scored plus first in walks and had the second fewest strikeouts.
Indians manager Manny Acta says that the bad numbers were neutralized by the terrific workmanship of relievers Chris Perez, Vinnie Pestano and Joe Smith. Because of them and the recent consistency of starters Justin Masterson, Ubaldo Jimenez and newcomer Zach McAllister, the Tribe is winning the close games. No argument about any of that.
But can a team with major flaws remain in contention for the Central Division championship?
The Indians have no impact hitter in left field or first base, and Carlos Santana, alleged to be a star in the making, has struggled virtually the entire season.
Josh Tomlin seems to have fallen victim to the sophomore jinx, and the corps of middle relievers has been beset by an urge to give up runs in bunches. A manager doesn’t need seven lockdown relievers, but unless he has at least four, there will be times he runs out of fresh arms. Acta has three.
Rafael Perez has missed almost the whole schedule with a mysterious arm injury, and Tony Sipp tumbled into a slump that cost him the manager’s trust. Lately, Sipp has gotten batters out in noncritical situations. The next step is to prove that he can do it when the Tribe has the lead in the seventh inning.
Increasingly, Acta has been giving the ball to Esmil Rogers, who was singularly unsuccessful with the Rockies, despite a fastball that averages 96 miles per hour. Maybe the change of scenery was beneficial, because so far Rogers has not shown the tendency to walk the house that plagued him in the National League.
Ideally, Sipp and Rogers can become reliable fourth and fifth relievers. But even if only one of them gets the job done consistently, the manager will have the flexibility he requires. What about Nick Hagadone? Certainly, the left-hander has the arm to be a potential back-end reliever. But not yet.
To stay in the race, something must be done to improve the attack. The light might suddenly go on for Santana, who so far has not been able to internalize the adjustments Acta and hitting coach Bruce Fields have asked him to make.
If Travis Hafner stays healthy, he can be a major part of the solution. And there are a few tweaks that might help. That is not to say the attack suddenly will resemble the Big Red Machine, but given the fact that the Indians depend on their pitching to win, a little upgrade in the offense might be enough.
My sense is that the Johnny Damon experiment is wearing thin. Acta has been using Shelley Duncan more and Damon less in left field, and Duncan has responded. He did the same thing the second half of last season, when he was given regular playing time.
The question you have to ask: Why didn’t the Tribe’s deep thinkers plant Duncan in left from the outset of the season and leave him there, particularly when they knew the value of having another right-handed bat in the lineup?
Offensive help isn’t likely to come from outside the organization. So far, not many quality hitters have been shopped around. As the July 31 trading deadline nears, that might change, but don’t count on it.
Farm systems are supposed to be an answer when a team is looking for new blood. Unfortunately for the Indians, the roster of the Columbus Clippers is not stuffed with future All-Stars. But how about Matt LaPorta and his 17 home runs?
Fair or not, LaPorta has become persona non grata with Tribe operatives. He probably is at least two injuries away from being summoned from Triple-A. The only thing you hear about him are whisperings about his inability to hit a breaking pitch, a minor-league breaking pitch. Whether that is true or not, it’s the opinion being disseminated.
Is Russ Canzler a viable candidate? He has been more consistent at the plate the past few weeks. At some point, it’s possible he will be called up. But counting on a rookie to ignite the attack would be like betting the farm that Sherwin-Williams will hire LeBron James to be its spokesman.
General Manager Chris Antonetti isn’t talking, but I’m guessing if he can only acquire one player in a trade, he would rather obtain a starting pitcher. Maybe a guy like Ryan Dempster. He’s been nursing a shoulder injury, but that’s a short-term obstacle.
The Cubs’ plan seems to be rooted in dumping salary and starting over. Dempster makes $14 million and will be a free agent in the fall. The Tribe would have to pay between $4.7 million and $5.8 million, depending on when a trade was made. If the Indians had to give up a player, how about LaPorta? They certainly don’t want him.
Winning the division title might depend more on how the White Sox and Tigers play than any moves the Tribe makes. If one of those clubs goes on a tear, it’s probably over. But there is no indication that will happen.
Should Indians fans start saving to buy playoff tickets? As it was in April, May and June, a division title is achievable, not probable. But if the Tribe doesn’t get there, you can always use the extra cash to buy Chia pets for all your friends … or enemies.
By Sheldon Ocker
Beacon Journal sports writer
Published: July 7, 2012 - 11:00 PM
The Indians finished the first half of the season with a 42-39 record. Drum roll, please. At least a smattering of applause is in order, so go ahead and cut loose.
Three games over .500 with 81 games to play will get you a prime 12-ounce strip steak at a high-end restaurant, if you have $45 to pay for it.
I don’t mean to denigrate the Tribe’s accomplishment, and it is an accomplishment. The problem is that the team’s future is as unpredictable and its contradictions no less glaring than they were three months ago, when the season was in its infancy.
What do you make of a club that has given up many more runs than it has scored yet continues to flirt with a .500 record or better?
At the halfway mark, Indians pitchers had the second-worst earned-run average in the American League and the fourth-worst batting average against, but issued the fewest walks per nine innings and allowed the fourth-fewest home runs.
The offense was 11th in home runs, 10th in slugging percentage, eighth in batting average and hits but a respectable sixth in runs scored plus first in walks and had the second fewest strikeouts.
Indians manager Manny Acta says that the bad numbers were neutralized by the terrific workmanship of relievers Chris Perez, Vinnie Pestano and Joe Smith. Because of them and the recent consistency of starters Justin Masterson, Ubaldo Jimenez and newcomer Zach McAllister, the Tribe is winning the close games. No argument about any of that.
But can a team with major flaws remain in contention for the Central Division championship?
The Indians have no impact hitter in left field or first base, and Carlos Santana, alleged to be a star in the making, has struggled virtually the entire season.
Josh Tomlin seems to have fallen victim to the sophomore jinx, and the corps of middle relievers has been beset by an urge to give up runs in bunches. A manager doesn’t need seven lockdown relievers, but unless he has at least four, there will be times he runs out of fresh arms. Acta has three.
Rafael Perez has missed almost the whole schedule with a mysterious arm injury, and Tony Sipp tumbled into a slump that cost him the manager’s trust. Lately, Sipp has gotten batters out in noncritical situations. The next step is to prove that he can do it when the Tribe has the lead in the seventh inning.
Increasingly, Acta has been giving the ball to Esmil Rogers, who was singularly unsuccessful with the Rockies, despite a fastball that averages 96 miles per hour. Maybe the change of scenery was beneficial, because so far Rogers has not shown the tendency to walk the house that plagued him in the National League.
Ideally, Sipp and Rogers can become reliable fourth and fifth relievers. But even if only one of them gets the job done consistently, the manager will have the flexibility he requires. What about Nick Hagadone? Certainly, the left-hander has the arm to be a potential back-end reliever. But not yet.
To stay in the race, something must be done to improve the attack. The light might suddenly go on for Santana, who so far has not been able to internalize the adjustments Acta and hitting coach Bruce Fields have asked him to make.
If Travis Hafner stays healthy, he can be a major part of the solution. And there are a few tweaks that might help. That is not to say the attack suddenly will resemble the Big Red Machine, but given the fact that the Indians depend on their pitching to win, a little upgrade in the offense might be enough.
My sense is that the Johnny Damon experiment is wearing thin. Acta has been using Shelley Duncan more and Damon less in left field, and Duncan has responded. He did the same thing the second half of last season, when he was given regular playing time.
The question you have to ask: Why didn’t the Tribe’s deep thinkers plant Duncan in left from the outset of the season and leave him there, particularly when they knew the value of having another right-handed bat in the lineup?
Offensive help isn’t likely to come from outside the organization. So far, not many quality hitters have been shopped around. As the July 31 trading deadline nears, that might change, but don’t count on it.
Farm systems are supposed to be an answer when a team is looking for new blood. Unfortunately for the Indians, the roster of the Columbus Clippers is not stuffed with future All-Stars. But how about Matt LaPorta and his 17 home runs?
Fair or not, LaPorta has become persona non grata with Tribe operatives. He probably is at least two injuries away from being summoned from Triple-A. The only thing you hear about him are whisperings about his inability to hit a breaking pitch, a minor-league breaking pitch. Whether that is true or not, it’s the opinion being disseminated.
Is Russ Canzler a viable candidate? He has been more consistent at the plate the past few weeks. At some point, it’s possible he will be called up. But counting on a rookie to ignite the attack would be like betting the farm that Sherwin-Williams will hire LeBron James to be its spokesman.
General Manager Chris Antonetti isn’t talking, but I’m guessing if he can only acquire one player in a trade, he would rather obtain a starting pitcher. Maybe a guy like Ryan Dempster. He’s been nursing a shoulder injury, but that’s a short-term obstacle.
The Cubs’ plan seems to be rooted in dumping salary and starting over. Dempster makes $14 million and will be a free agent in the fall. The Tribe would have to pay between $4.7 million and $5.8 million, depending on when a trade was made. If the Indians had to give up a player, how about LaPorta? They certainly don’t want him.
Winning the division title might depend more on how the White Sox and Tigers play than any moves the Tribe makes. If one of those clubs goes on a tear, it’s probably over. But there is no indication that will happen.
Should Indians fans start saving to buy playoff tickets? As it was in April, May and June, a division title is achievable, not probable. But if the Tribe doesn’t get there, you can always use the extra cash to buy Chia pets for all your friends … or enemies.
Re: Articles
1854I assume the disqualified list--I hadn't heard of it either--is a mechanism by which a team can get around having to pay a guy for a self-inflicted injury, or an injury incurred while engaging in behavior prohibited by one's contract. He had been sent back to the minors, but the injury technically happened Friday when he was still with the team, so this also is a way to keep Hagadone from drawing a major league salary while he's on a major league disabled list.
If he broke bones, his season is over. Idiot.
If he broke bones, his season is over. Idiot.
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1855Just read about it in another article. No pay, no service time earned.
I assume Fausto is on the same list.
I assume Fausto is on the same list.
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1857Angry Nick Hagadone injures pitching hand
Published: Sunday, July 08, 2012, 7:10 PM
Updated: Sunday, July 08, 2012, 7:31 PM
Dennis Manoloff, The Plain Dealer
CLEVELAND, Ohio -- Left-handed reliever Nick Hagadone has been placed on the minor-league disqualified list as the result of a self-inflicted injury to his pitching hand, said Indians General Manager Chris Antonetti on Sunday.
Antonetti said an angry Hagadone suffered the injury after his appearance Friday night against Tampa Bay. The Indians officially optioned Hagadone to Class AAA Columbus on Saturday and recalled lefty Scott Barnes on Sunday.
Being on the disqualified list means Hagadone won't receive a salary or accrue service time, Antonetti said.
Antonetti said the injury is significant and that Hagadone will visit with hand specialist Dr. Thomas Graham today. A source said Hagadone fractured his hand and could be done for the season.
Hagadone gave up two runs in two-thirds of an inning Friday night in the Tribe's 10-3 loss. It's part of a slump in which he has allowed 15 runs in 111/3 innings after a strong start to his season.
"I think we all shared Nick's frustration, and we're certainly disappointed with the reaction," Antonetti said. "We wish he would have handled it differently. But he's very remorseful, he's sorry that it happened, and he's been very accountable for it."
Exactly how Hagadone injured his hand wasn't revealed.
Disclosure of Hagadone's injury solves the mystery of why the Indians were short one player for Saturday's game, which was just two days before the All-Star break. Barnes wasn't eligible to be activated until Sunday because 10 days hadn't elapsed since he was sent down, raising questions as to why the Indians didn't simply wait until Sunday to option Hagadone.
Hagadone is 1-0 with one save and a 6.39 ERA in 27 appearances for Cleveland. On May 26, his ERA was 1.93. He has struggled with his fastball command and lack of a consistent off-speed pitch.
Hagadone, 26, was acquired from the Boston Red Sox on July 31, 2009, in the Victor Martinez trade. Right-handers Justin Masterson and Bryan Price also came to Cleveland. Hagadone made his major-league debut Sept. 1, 2011. He was 1-0 with a 4.09 ERA in nine appearances with Cleveland last season.
Barnes has allowed six runs on six hits in seven innings during five appearances with the Tribe this season. He gave up five of the runs June 14 at Cincinnati.
E-Z Mac: Austin Kearns didn't contribute much in his time with the Indians, batting .248 with 10 homers and 49 RBI in 141 games in two stints (2010 and 2011). It's what Kearns produced in his first exit, though, that might amount to a gift that keeps on giving every five days.
The Indians traded Kearns to the Yankees on July 30, 2010, for a player to be named. The player turned out to be Zach McAllister, a 6-6 right-hander.
McAllister has displayed flashes of brilliance in four starts with Cleveland last season. When he returned this season, he had improved in all areas.
Sunday afternoon at Progressive Field, bad Tribe defense cost McAllister a shot at his best stat line in the majors. He gave up four unearned runs in 5 innings and struck out eight in the Tribe's 7-6 loss to Tampa Bay.
McAllister, who was in line for the victory until closer Chris Perez blew the save in the ninth, is 3-1 with a 3.40 ERA in seven starts.
"Zach threw the ball well," Indians manager Manny Acta said. "He had a very good slider and pitched ahead in the count."
McAllister cruised through four innings, striking out seven. He didn't give up a hit until Jeff Keppinger singled with one out in the fifth.
McAllister got the first out in the sixth, then shortstop Asdrubal Cabrera's two misplays paved the way for four runs. McAllister allowed two two-out, two-run doubles, as the Rays closed the gap to 5-4. Joe Smith relieved and got the final out.
"He just ran into a little trouble in that inning, when we didn't play good defense behind him," Acta said. "But he couldn't stop the bleeding there."
McAllister gave up four hits and walked three. He threw 56 of 89 pitches for strikes.
In his previous start, July 3 against the Angels at home, McAllister carried a 4-0 lead into the fifth. Third baseman Jack Hannahan's throwing error on a potential double-play ball that would have ended the inning opened the floodgates for five runs. The Indians rallied to win, 9-5.
"I've just got to execute pitches better and get outs in those situations," he said.
McAllister will be fourth in the rotation coming out of the break, meaning he will next see the Rays on the road.
Published: Sunday, July 08, 2012, 7:10 PM
Updated: Sunday, July 08, 2012, 7:31 PM
Dennis Manoloff, The Plain Dealer
CLEVELAND, Ohio -- Left-handed reliever Nick Hagadone has been placed on the minor-league disqualified list as the result of a self-inflicted injury to his pitching hand, said Indians General Manager Chris Antonetti on Sunday.
Antonetti said an angry Hagadone suffered the injury after his appearance Friday night against Tampa Bay. The Indians officially optioned Hagadone to Class AAA Columbus on Saturday and recalled lefty Scott Barnes on Sunday.
Being on the disqualified list means Hagadone won't receive a salary or accrue service time, Antonetti said.
Antonetti said the injury is significant and that Hagadone will visit with hand specialist Dr. Thomas Graham today. A source said Hagadone fractured his hand and could be done for the season.
Hagadone gave up two runs in two-thirds of an inning Friday night in the Tribe's 10-3 loss. It's part of a slump in which he has allowed 15 runs in 111/3 innings after a strong start to his season.
"I think we all shared Nick's frustration, and we're certainly disappointed with the reaction," Antonetti said. "We wish he would have handled it differently. But he's very remorseful, he's sorry that it happened, and he's been very accountable for it."
Exactly how Hagadone injured his hand wasn't revealed.
Disclosure of Hagadone's injury solves the mystery of why the Indians were short one player for Saturday's game, which was just two days before the All-Star break. Barnes wasn't eligible to be activated until Sunday because 10 days hadn't elapsed since he was sent down, raising questions as to why the Indians didn't simply wait until Sunday to option Hagadone.
Hagadone is 1-0 with one save and a 6.39 ERA in 27 appearances for Cleveland. On May 26, his ERA was 1.93. He has struggled with his fastball command and lack of a consistent off-speed pitch.
Hagadone, 26, was acquired from the Boston Red Sox on July 31, 2009, in the Victor Martinez trade. Right-handers Justin Masterson and Bryan Price also came to Cleveland. Hagadone made his major-league debut Sept. 1, 2011. He was 1-0 with a 4.09 ERA in nine appearances with Cleveland last season.
Barnes has allowed six runs on six hits in seven innings during five appearances with the Tribe this season. He gave up five of the runs June 14 at Cincinnati.
E-Z Mac: Austin Kearns didn't contribute much in his time with the Indians, batting .248 with 10 homers and 49 RBI in 141 games in two stints (2010 and 2011). It's what Kearns produced in his first exit, though, that might amount to a gift that keeps on giving every five days.
The Indians traded Kearns to the Yankees on July 30, 2010, for a player to be named. The player turned out to be Zach McAllister, a 6-6 right-hander.
McAllister has displayed flashes of brilliance in four starts with Cleveland last season. When he returned this season, he had improved in all areas.
Sunday afternoon at Progressive Field, bad Tribe defense cost McAllister a shot at his best stat line in the majors. He gave up four unearned runs in 5 innings and struck out eight in the Tribe's 7-6 loss to Tampa Bay.
McAllister, who was in line for the victory until closer Chris Perez blew the save in the ninth, is 3-1 with a 3.40 ERA in seven starts.
"Zach threw the ball well," Indians manager Manny Acta said. "He had a very good slider and pitched ahead in the count."
McAllister cruised through four innings, striking out seven. He didn't give up a hit until Jeff Keppinger singled with one out in the fifth.
McAllister got the first out in the sixth, then shortstop Asdrubal Cabrera's two misplays paved the way for four runs. McAllister allowed two two-out, two-run doubles, as the Rays closed the gap to 5-4. Joe Smith relieved and got the final out.
"He just ran into a little trouble in that inning, when we didn't play good defense behind him," Acta said. "But he couldn't stop the bleeding there."
McAllister gave up four hits and walked three. He threw 56 of 89 pitches for strikes.
In his previous start, July 3 against the Angels at home, McAllister carried a 4-0 lead into the fifth. Third baseman Jack Hannahan's throwing error on a potential double-play ball that would have ended the inning opened the floodgates for five runs. The Indians rallied to win, 9-5.
"I've just got to execute pitches better and get outs in those situations," he said.
McAllister will be fourth in the rotation coming out of the break, meaning he will next see the Rays on the road.
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1858I remember when Al Kaline trashed his arm after thrusting it back into the dugout wall after a frustrating game event.
He was out for awhile, but came back great.
There is no way or reason The Tribe Brass should have sent Nick Hagadone down, especially with the serendipity performances of Tony Sipp.
Honestly now, who here among us has not punched something in anger they should not have punched, and regretted it later. I'm not talking punching people, of course........
He was out for awhile, but came back great.
There is no way or reason The Tribe Brass should have sent Nick Hagadone down, especially with the serendipity performances of Tony Sipp.
Honestly now, who here among us has not punched something in anger they should not have punched, and regretted it later. I'm not talking punching people, of course........
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1859Charlie T. wrote:I assume the disqualified list--I hadn't heard of it either--is a mechanism by which a team can get around having to pay a guy for a self-inflicted injury, or an injury incurred while engaging in behavior prohibited by one's contract. He had been sent back to the minors, but the injury technically happened Friday when he was still with the team, so this also is a way to keep Hagadone from drawing a major league salary while he's on a major league disabled list.
If he broke bones, his season is over. Idiot.
I'm still steaming over Kellen Winslow and his "crotch rocket" motorcycle debacle that cost him and fans a season....and he still got paid.
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1860Correcting myself, it seems Hagadone was deep sixed AFTER his self inflicted injury.
I like an athlete who gets pissed at only himself when he does not perform as expected.
He's coming back, and the bright side is that he might have more movement on his ball when his crushed hand heals in a new way.
The arm is still there.
I double down on Hagadone and in no way kick him to the curb.
I like an athlete who gets pissed at only himself when he does not perform as expected.
He's coming back, and the bright side is that he might have more movement on his ball when his crushed hand heals in a new way.
The arm is still there.
I double down on Hagadone and in no way kick him to the curb.