Kluber met with media today. Said he can't say for sure but he doesn't think his injury will end his season. Will know more at the end of the 3 weeks when cast comes off and they see how it's healing.

Nope, you were first. I was typing about Plutko, hit submit, and yours was there already. I'll have to be quicker next time.

From Zach Meisel -

There are 30 teams in Major League Baseball. Here are the Indians' offensive (in a literal sense) ranks.

Batting average: 30th
On-base %: 25th
Slugging %: 29th
wRC+: 30th
Home runs: 27th
Strikeout rate: 27th

Keep in mind, pitchers bat for half of the league's teams.

- - -

And from Mandy Bell (new Indians beat reporter for MLB.com) -

Through 34 games, the Indians are hitting a combined .212. That is their worst team average through their first 34 games since 1910, when they hit .197 in that span.

Don't worry, the team has merely "hit a little bit or a rough patch" quoth Francona

I do think, in retrospect of course, they knew they were cutting it thin offensively.

So you mix in the injury to Lindor, the slow start by JRam continuing, and now injuries to the vaunted rotation and you have recipe for a disaster.....errr.....rebuild year.

Because the Twins are good enough to capitalize.

Kudos to them because they saw an opportunity and they added on - and got some breaks to make it work out for them. It's on all right.

The Indians came in with a lack of margin for error - it all had to work. But their margin for error was compromised by the Lindor situation and JRam meltdown for a month+ at this point. Oh, and the fact that they HAD competition this year in the Central.

Derek Falvey must be pretty encouraged right about now.

Twins are in the driver's seat.

They are but their starting pitching still is not proven over the long haul.

Jake Odorizzi and Martin Perez have shown good stuff over the years, but they have not been consistent. Jose Berrios is a stud, period.

So my point is that IF Odorizzi and Perez have broken through and tapped that potential they have shown in the past, then it will be a very long season.

But that is far from established yet. Obviously their team on the field is better than ours, but then again it is better than most. They actually lead the league in SLG. and are 2nd in .OPS. There is no comparison in hitting.

Add that to their top 3 rotation guys and you have a team that's clicking. But what clicks can come unclicked and though I think their hitting will stay good I do think the jury is out on those 2 starters in particular. (Kyle Gibson had a solid year last year too but has started slowly.)

Here is that sortable hitting stat page again for reference.

http://www.espn.com/mlb/stats/team/_/st ... order/true

TFIR wrote:They are but their starting pitching still is not proven over the long haul.

Jake Odorizzi and Martin Perez have shown good stuff over the years, but they have not been consistent. Jose Berrios is a stud, period.

So my point is that IF Odorizzi and Perez have broken through and tapped that potential they have shown in the past, then it will be a very long season.

But that is far from established yet. Obviously their team on the field is better than ours, but then again it is better than most. They actually lead the league in SLG. and are 2nd in .OPS. There is no comparison in hitting.

Add that to their top 3 rotation guys and you have a team that's clicking. But what clicks can come unclicked and though I think their hitting will stay good I do think the jury is out on those 2 starters in particular. (Kyle Gibson had a solid year last year too but has started slowly.)

Here is that sortable hitting stat page again for reference.

http://www.espn.com/mlb/stats/team/_/st ... order/true

Here is the Twins' pitching stats:

http://www.espn.com/mlb/team/stats/_/ty ... asontype/2

I think everyone needs to just give it some time. Seems like the FO has a better track record than most. Long season. No reason for Chicken Little yet.

Tom Withers @twithersAP
29 minutes ago
Statistical oddity: #Indians have not hit a triple. #Royals have 21.

That is strange; we have several triples candidates in the lineup, Lindor, Martin, Ramirez/

I read that oddity and the oddity about Oscar Gonzalez right about the same time. Oscar G is hitting like 355. He has a base hit in 27 of 29 games this year. But dude has not walked one time. You'd think hitting that well you would at least get an intentional one by now.

makes you think better pitches will start making him fish for stuff out of the zone. I'd like to see him promoted where he gets tested more and has to develop a sense of the strike zone. Unless he simply is able to hit anything wherever it's throwm

Yeah, he strikes me as a Vlad Guerrero (senior) type that swings at anything. And can hit most of it.

took a quick look at Vlad Sr. stats. In his long big league career his walks per annum ranged from 35 to 84, during the heart of his career averaged about 60. If Oscar can develop that selectivity and keeps hitting he'll be rock solid.