civ ollilavad wrote:Last couple years Indians have been among the top the league in walks while being among the bottom of strikeouts.

Remember Michael Brantley whose K/BB would be right around 1/1?

Jose Ramirez also right up there with Brantley - and when you added previously Santana it made for a tough go for pitchers.

Bieber will start Friday against the Blue Jays, Mandy Bell of MLB.com reports.

The Indians hadn't needed a fifth starter thus far, which they happily took advantage of in an effort to manage Bieber's innings. He is set to make his 2019 debut at home against a Blue Jays lineup that ranks in the bottom five in baseball so far this season in wRC+ (54) against right-handed pitching.

We could only be so lucky.

Now that Luplow joins the Naquin in the hit club, Richie Scheinblum' classic 0 for April mark stands at least in relation to OFs. Richie went 0-30 with 2 walks and an OPS of 061 in 1969. Still comparatively early but Perez and Stamets are 0-10

Some of you old guys could remember the immortal Gus Gil who hit .115 in 1967 as a 28 year old rookie. He had his good month in April and then I see was a combined 0 for 40!! in May June and July

another great infielder of my youth was Tony Martinez who ranked with Davalillio and Alvis as well rated rookies in 1963. Tony manged to hit 156 which was a modest improvement over his April debut of 6-46 and an OPS of 336 [who even knew there was an OPS in 1963]

Speaking of retroactively created stats, I picked Tris Speaker at random and see that he led the AL in WAR in 1912 1914 and 1916 and has the 6th highest career WAR of a position player.
if he'd been aware of that, he could have negotiated a raise of maybe $150

A big problem with WAR, especially retroactive, is that it includes defensive metrics. Those are sketchy enough in the present day - imagine how sketchy retroactively!

Melky Cabrera went 3-for-3 to help his squad beat the Reds 2-0 on Thursday.

All three of his hits were singles. He is now slashing .429/.467/.500 through his first 15 plate appearances with his new team. The 34-year-old outfielder is getting regular playing time in the early part of the season, although that could change when Gregory Polanco (shoulder) and Lonnie Chisenhall (hand) come off the injured list in a few weeks.

Cody Allen turned in a flawless ninth for his first save of the year on Friday.

It was Allen's third appearance, but it was the first time he'd been handed a save chance by the struggling Angels. Allen has yet to allow a hit this season.

The right-hander's velocity remained unimpressive, as he again sat 91-92 mph with his fastball, but Allen was able to get the job done. The 30-year-old may not be lighting up the radar gun the way he used to, but he'll be locked into ninth-inning duty for the Angels as long as he's reasonably effective.

Perhaps Plawecki earned himself some more play:

Kevin Plawecki went 1-for-3 with his first homer of the season Friday against the Blue Jays.

It was a solo shot off Trent Thornton in the third inning. Not only was it his first home run of the season, but it was also his first hit. Acquired from the Mets this offseason, Plawecki was a well-regarded catching prospect at one point.

(Also he definitely looked good defensively)

Yankees recalled infielder Giovanny Urshela from Triple-A Scranton/Wilkes-Barre.

Urshela will serve as a backup infielder and defensive replacement. The Yankees have lost Miguel Andujar, Didi Gregorius and Troy Tuluwitzki to injury and needed a healthy body to fill out the roster.

After the game the other day Clevinger said he would make his next start. He has to remember he plays for Cleveland.

Roster move:

Recalled RHP Nick Wittgren from Triple-A Columbus
Placed RHP Mike Clevinger on the 10-day IL (retroactive to April 8) with a right upper back/Teres major muscle strain

Right. In other words, they will use the 10 day IL to skip a start that the schedule would have mandated a skipped start (by someone, probably would have been Bieber) anyways. Now Bieber doesn't skip. And by doing so get an extra arm into the pen instead of an unused starter (remember they used Bieber out of the pen last time they skipped him).

Of course weather in April too - there are more off dates left open to be filled by make ups.

That's my "take" anyways. If you have off days, and there is any doubt at all, why not just skip Clev's turn and keep the others on regular rest.

So while it sounds all dramatic that he is going to the IL, just the usual procedure actually.

Next offseason will very likely take the 10 day and put it back to 15 day IL since teams do this all the time when it's only 10 days.

As well, MLB is (likely) putting a cap on the number of pitchers you can have on a roster next season. Lots of pretty big changes were put off until next offseason