I think players use it to mask other drugs because it makes people pee

seagull wrote:My wife takes that drug. Is she suspended?

You better have her checked Seagull, she may be trying to mask her use of Geritol!

That stuff must work by osmosis. I have to pee more than she does.

The blessings of aging!

seagull wrote:That stuff must work by osmosis. I have to pee more than she does.

Well if so maybe the Twins are happy to have Pineda away from the team.

the suspension would help us much more if it were applied retroactively: voiding his wins over the past 60 days!

Final Thoughts: Where the Indians stand following their weekend series against the division-leading Twins

Zack Meisel 4h ago 3
MINNEAPOLIS — Here are 13 thoughts on the Indians following a series victory in chilly Minnesota.

1. What does winning two of three at Target Field earn the Indians? Not a whole lot at this point. They remain 5.5 games behind the Twins, and the Rays and Athletics refuse to lose. The Twins’ schedule, padded by a two-week slate full of Royals and Tigers and White Sox — oh my! — makes it so the Indians must get Arizona-in-July hot and hope the limping (in a literal sense) Twins inexplicably flounder against inferior competition.

2. At the least, though, the Indians granted themselves another few days of lukewarm interest when it comes to the AL Central race. If they handle the Angels the next few days, that should persist. The Twins will host the Nationals for three and then travel to Cleveland. If the Indians win, say, two of three in Anaheim and sweep the Twins, well, the intrigue could skyrocket. For now, FanGraphs gives the Indians a 2.2 percent chance to win their fourth consecutive division title (and a 37.9 percent chance to make the playoffs at all).

3. The Indians should have Shane Bieber and Mike Clevinger on the mound against Minnesota next weekend. That should help.

“That’s not going to be a big series if we don’t win in between there,” Clevinger said. “So, we’ve got to take this next series just like it’s gonna be the Twins. If we’re still in a good spot, that should be a pivotal series that next go-around.”

4. Clevinger’s last 13 starts (since the clunker in Baltimore, his first outing since turning his ankle in his first outing since tearing a muscle in his back): 2.00 ERA, 22 walks and 108 strikeouts in 81 innings. Twelve of those 13 starts could be classified as “quite good.” Pitcher won/loss records are mostly useless, but this fits the narrative of this point, so let’s note: Clevinger is 10-0 during this stretch. Take that, nerds!

5. Clevinger broke into the majors in 2016 and filled a variety of roles for an Indians team that advanced to the World Series. In 2017, he emerged as a reliable starting option with loads of potential. Last season, he vowed to log 200 innings and he finished at that exact total. This season, despite a two-month absence, he has blossomed into the sort of starting pitcher a team desperately wants taking the ball for a critical game.

“It’s fun to watch the evolution of maturity,” Terry Francona said. “And I think, like good pitchers or players, as they learn the league and they learn more about themselves, as long as they stay healthy, they get better. You see the hair flying and everything — I don’t know if people realize how hard he works.”

He certainly wants the opportunity to anchor the staff. Clevinger and Bieber have developed into the pillars of the club’s rotation.

“I think any athlete, that should be your mindset,” Clevinger said. “That should be the way you are. That’s what I’m here to do. I’m not just here to try to be a better pitcher tomorrow. I’m here to win and I want to win. I want to help us win.

“I want us to beat the hell out of them every time we see them, especially when we’re this close and we’ve got this kind of race coming down the stretch. It just makes it that much more fun.”

6. On Sunday, Clevinger limited the most powerful offense in baseball history — if we’re going by all-time home-run totals — to two runs across 6 1/3 innings … and he didn’t even feel right on the mound. His legs felt heavy. His fastball averaged only 93.9 mph, about 2 mph less than his season average. He said his changeup saved him.

“It was just one of those days,” he said. “It was a battle.”
A dangling arm, a toe tap and a field goal attempt: How Mike Clevinger’s unorthodox delivery made him an ace


(Jeffrey Becker / USA Today)
7. The Indians’ outfield defense has routinely saved the pitching staff lately, too. Brad Hand already owed Oscar Mercado a filet and a glass of cabernet after the rookie’s game-saving leaping grab against the White Sox earlier in the week. (I’m assuming Nick Wittgren, who replaced Hand late in the inning and was on the mound for Mercado’s highlight-reel catch, would treat for dessert. Perhaps some tiramisu.)

On Sunday, Mercado and Yasiel Puig collided in right-center on a ball that Puig somehow snagged before plummeting to the grass.

“We both said ‘I got it’ at the very end,” Mercado said. “It’s one of those where you don’t want to get out of the way because you don’t know if he’s gonna get out of the way, so we both went for it.

“I’m not gonna lie, I was freaking out, because that’s a freight train.”

And yet, Puig is the one who took a tumble. Quite the surprise.

“What do you mean?” Mercado asked before flashing a smile. “I’m jacked.”

Four pitches later, Mercado sprinted to St. Paul to haul in a fly ball off the bat of Luis Arraez. The key? The trainer jogged to the outfield to check on Puig and Mercado, which allowed the center fielder a chance to catch his breath before the ensuing at-bat.

“I was hoping to see Mercado in one piece,” Clevinger said, “then he got back up and then to see Puig went back to the ground was really surprising to us all, so we gave him a good time for that. I’m just happy they’re both OK, obviously, but it was just funny to see Puig, like a linebacker — I thought the Browns were gonna be calling Mercado after this.”

8. Greg Allen made an impressive catch in the ninth to provide Hand with an important out, given the trouble the closer toiled in later in the inning.

“That was awesome,” Mercado said. “That ball just kept going away from him and then I saw him catch it and I was like, ‘Whoa.’ I was caught off guard, because that was pretty sick.”

Francona said Hand is still searching for the proper slot when throwing his slider. The Indians need him to get straightened out, especially with the bullpen mired in hold-your-breath mode for the last few weeks. They still lead the majors in bullpen ERA, though their massive edge on the second-place club, now the Astros, has eroded.

9. Wittgren approached his locker Sunday afternoon just as a reporter asked Clevinger to comment on the reliever’s ability to wiggle out of a jam in the seventh inning.

Clevinger noticed Wittgren and quipped: “As I was biting my fingernails …”

Wittgren interjected.

“That makes two of us,” he joked.

10. The Indians are, unsurprisingly, taking a micro approach to the final few weeks of the season. Ask anyone in the clubhouse about the AL Central race and what they need to do to chase down the Twins and they’ll reply that the focus is simply on that day’s game, that they can only channel all of their energy toward what’s directly in front of them. It’s cliché, but it’s imperative to operate in that manner. There’s nothing they can do about their 5.5-game deficit other than attempt to win one game at a time. And there’s certainly no use in expending energy on stressing over what the Rays or Athletics are up to.

But Clevinger took it one step further.

“It’s more of an emphasis on every play than it is every game,” he said, “because the more you’re looking at every game, you look up in the seventh and can be down by three. So I think we’ve been doing a good job of just trying to win that pitch, win that at-bat, keeping everyone up in good spirits no matter what if it’s going good or bad on the field.”

11. For a team missing Corey Kluber, Michael Brantley, Josh Tomlin and others from the last few years, the Indians don’t appear to be lacking leadership. Carlos Santana chatted with Puig in the dugout Saturday night after the Wild Horse failed to leave the barn on a grounder back to the pitcher. Puig apologized to Santana and to Francona and contended he wouldn’t repeat the mistake, but it was an especially poor look given that Francona had spoken to the team Thursday afternoon about making sure the players leave it all on the field for the final few weeks of the regular season.

Many in the clubhouse also point to Francisco Lindor as one of the primary steerers of the ship. By the way, with one more home run this season, Lindor will become the fourth player in franchise history to record three consecutive 30-homer seasons (Jim Thome, Albert Belle, Manny Ramirez).
(David Berding / Getty Images)
12. After Sunday’s game, a Minneapolis-based reporter asked Francona the difference in leaving town with a 5.5-game deficit, as opposed to, say, a 7.5-game hole.

“Two games,” Francona replied.

The reporter attempted to expound upon his question by asking for Francona’s psychological and emotional state after taking two of three from the Twins.

“Psychologically … emotionally … you know what, I don’t know how to answer that,” Francona said. “I’m not smart enough, psychologically. And emotionally, I’ve been tired since June, so I don’t think it matters.”

The conversation then shifted to Allen’s critical ninth-inning grab in left field.

“That helped me emotionally,” Francona said.

13. After the game, the Indians boarded their flight for California, with the rookies — plus 17-year veteran Oliver Pérez, for some reason — clad in purple and blue spandex. Several veteran players giggled Sunday morning as they finalized the wardrobe plan. It’s been a long season. Three weeks remain until October.

‘Look where I am right now’: How Franmil Reyes became a big-league slugger — and the ‘Fun Guy’

Zack Meisel 3h ago 3

As Roberto Pérez changed into dress clothes in the corner of the visitors clubhouse, Franmil Reyes took center stage. Before an audience of teammates gorging on the postgame spread, Reyes stood up from the dinner table and acted out a sequence from that night’s game.

Reyes, a 6-foot-5 behemoth who ranks 346th in the majors in sprint speed, had the clubhouse howling as he mimicked the disappointment Pérez demonstrated about failing to advance a base on an errant pitch.

Reyes has always been the biggest. He has often been the loudest. And he has usually been the one enjoying himself the most.

Yasiel Puig and Carlos Santana poke fun at how much Reyes covets his canary yellow Lamborghini and at how much he talks, his booming baritone echoing throughout the clubhouse on a daily basis. They cackle when he squeezes into his denim shorts that stop a couple of inches shy of his knees. In San Diego, Reyes developed a reputation for targeting the high notes in Whitney Houston’s “I Will Always Love You” in the dugout.

“You see a guy like that and you don’t really think ‘teddy bear’ right off the bat,” said Indians reliever Phil Maton, who also played with Reyes on the Padres. “He’s just a huge dude, a ton of power, very intimidating. But you couldn’t find a nicer guy.”

He pumps his fist when he trots around the bases after one of his signature scoreboard-spooking homers. He laughs at himself after he hustles down the line for an infield single, only to be replaced by a pinch-runner. He smiles when Puig’s taunting interrupts his train of thought as he reaches the climax of a harrowing family tale.

And on his way home from the ballpark, Reyes dons a white T-shirt that reads: “Fun Guy.” Given his journey, there’s no reason for him not to relish every moment of big-league life.

“All the sad moments, the hard moments that we went through,” Reyes said, “everything is in the past.”

As early as 4 a.m., Reyes’ mother, Dominga, would leave the house with her sister and her best friend’s mom. They rode a bus four hours to a province on the other side of the Dominican, near the border of Haiti, where markets imported avocados, beans, clothes and other goods from Miami and sold them for a pittance. The women shopped there, lugged all of their purchases home and Dominga peddled them in her town to turn a small profit.

On the return trip one day, they reached Azua, hometown of big-leaguers Maikel Franco and Franchy Cordero — Reyes’ former Padres teammate and one of his closest friends. The bus stopped as they arrived at a heated protest. As Reyes described it, people weren’t peacefully marching while toting signs. Instead, they lit wheels on fire and placed them in the street to block traffic.

So with the bus at an impasse, Dominga called her husband, Federico, who ditched work and drove about two hours to retrieve them. They were heading home on a highway with one narrow lane running in each direction. As they went around a curve, a truck veered across the dividing lines. Its left wheels spun up the side of their car, killing Reyes’ dad and aunt. Dominga and her friend’s mom were unharmed.

Reyes sports a tattoo of his father’s first name (which is also Reyes’ middle name) on each arm. Reyes and his wife, Marian, are expecting their first son — their fourth child — in November. That news prompted a wave of father-son memories to flood his mind.

“I’ve been waiting for my baby boy,” Reyes said, unable to hold back a smile.

Reyes can recall walking to a nearby river with his dad to wash the family’s clothes when they didn’t have running water in the house. He fondly remembers how his father would buy a big box of soda cans from the market and preside over dancing competitions. The kid in the neighborhood who displayed the flashiest moves earned a soda.

At Federico’s funeral, Reyes’ aunt was bawling as she asked, “How’s it going to be? Your father was a good person.” Reyes was 5 at the time and his younger brother Franklin — now a minor-leaguer in the White Sox system — was only 2. Reyes occasionally spotted his mother in tears, but she made a point to shield her emotions and to smile and laugh so her children would follow suit.

“She was always happy and laughing,” Reyes said. “I would say all of my happiness comes from my mom. She is my big inspiration.”
(Ken Blaze / USA Today)
After school, Reyes would walk to his grandpa’s house, situated beside the neighborhood’s main attraction, its baseball field. Kids in Sabana Grande de Palenque wanted to preserve their uniforms for their weekend games, so they convened at the field for weekday pickup games in clothing they didn’t mind dirtying. Usually, that meant just the bare essentials: nothing but boxer shorts. No shirt. No shorts or baseball pants. No shoes.

Reyes stood out back then, but he never figured baseball would become his career, even though longtime major-leaguer Juan Uribe once told the town’s mayor: “That little boy right there is gonna be big. He’s gonna be somebody in the future.”

Reyes regularly hung around the Padres’ Dominican complex, but only because it sat about five minutes from his home. He played baseball because it was fun and provided an escape from the harsh realities of a difficult upbringing, not because he ever thought he would launch home runs beyond the bullpens at Petco Park.

The day Reyes auditioned for the Padres, when he was 16, they offered him $700,000 to sign.

“Coming from a very poor family,” he said, “it was a big opportunity for me and for my family to start a new and better life.”

Uribe proved clairvoyant with his early praise, even though Reyes had his doubts, as recently as two years ago. He overhauled his hitting approach at High A in 2016, when he realized he didn’t have to yank every pitch to deposit the baseball over the fence. Pitchers constantly attacked him with offerings on the outside part of the zone, so he started to flex his muscles and drive the ball to the opposite field.

Reyes slugged a career-high 25 homers at Class AA San Antonio in 2017, but the Padres opted to leave him unprotected prior to the Rule 5 draft. Any team could have snagged him.

No team did.

“I was really sad,” he said. “I was really disappointed about baseball. I didn’t want to play anymore.”

His mother’s advice kept him motivated, and a few days later, the Padres called to invite him to big-league camp.

“You worked hard for it,” Dominga told him, “so when you go there, you can show them that they’re wrong. Don’t show them that you’re upset about it. Work hard and be prepared for the opportunity.”

That spring, Reyes smacked a pair of homers in his first 11 at-bats, but he suffered a bone bruise in his hand when he slid into third base during a game. So, he started the 2018 season at Class AAA El Paso, where he posted a 1.180 OPS over six weeks to earn his first promotion to the majors. The guy nicknamed “La Mole,” or “beast,” finally had a chance to showcase his elite power.

The Padres were the only organization Reyes ever knew, their roster stocked with friends who were also beginning their big-league odysseys. Reyes never had a chance to bid farewell to his teammates when he was traded this summer. His agent told him he was bound for either Cleveland or Tampa, so he stayed behind in San Diego and waited for the official word while the Padres traveled to Los Angeles for a series.

It didn’t take long for Reyes to fit in with a new group of teammates. About a week after the trade, following a win in Minnesota, Reyes, Puig, Pérez and Lindor engaged in a playful shouting match, in which everyone was teased at some point, in the center of the clubhouse.

“Franmil’s going to get along with just about anybody,” Maton said.

Adam Cimber, another former Padre, referred to Reyes as “a big goofball.” Terry Francona said Reyes reminds him of David Ortiz.

“When you walk in the room,” Francona said, “the smile or the laugh immediately puts you at ease. It’s that big teddy bear. He has a lot of resemblance to David at that age.”

Wrestling star John Cena paid the Padres a visit in support of his friend Logan Allen, another passenger on the San Diego-to-Cleveland transit. When he learned about Cena’s presence, Reyes urged the Padres to allow him to meet the WWE icon.

“When I saw that guy,” Reyes said, “I almost cried.”

Reyes detailed to Cena how WWE programming would air in his hometown every Saturday and Sunday. Kids would pray for their baseball games to end in swift fashion so they could sprint home and watch wrestling, often packed like sardines into one of the few living rooms in the neighborhood that contained a TV.

“John Cena in the Dominican is a big, big deal,” Reyes said. “I told him, ‘Growing up as a kid in the Dominican and seeing you on TV, I never thought this was going to happen.”

It required a persistent belief in his own ability, which contributed to his rise to the majors. And now, the Indians are banking on him pelting the center field trees at Progressive Field with home run balls for at least the next five years. That sounds like fun to the Fun Guy.

“Look where I am right now,” Reyes said, smiling and spreading his arms wide. “I never thought I was going to be a professional baseball player.”

The Indians’ bullpen plan: Throw everything (everyone) at the wall
By Zack Meisel 1h ago 6

Nick Wittgren’s ninth-inning walk on Wednesday evening forced Terry Francona to make an extra stroll to the mound. Wittgren and Oliver Pérez were tasked with protecting the Indians’ one-run lead in the final frame, but the baserunner necessitated a third reliever.

Francona is going to burn a ton of calories this month.

Adam Cimber jogged in from the bullpen, floated three strikes toward Albert Pujols and completed an adrenaline-fueled, fist-pump-aided spin move on the mound.

Three outs. Three relievers. Countless questions about how this will work moving forward.

Brad Hand took a redeye flight to Cleveland after the Indians’ win on Tuesday. He underwent an MRI, which came back clean, but Francona said the closer is dealing with some arm fatigue and hasn’t been bouncing back in ideal fashion. Hand’s status for this weekend’s momentous series against Minnesota is up in the air, though it sounds like the Indians will gradually build him back up.

In other words, there will be a lot more piecing together the ends of games. The Tito Shuffle will be in full effect. Keep some Valium next to the remote control.

First, let’s discuss Hand. His average fastball velocity dipped to 90-91 mph for three consecutive outings before he secured — with an assist from Greg Allen — the Indians’ victory at Target Field on Sunday. So, the tired arm theory checks out, and explains why Francona said Hand was struggling to find the right arm slot to throw his slider properly.

On June 20, Hand threw nine pitches against the Rangers, simply because he hadn’t pitched in five days. He pitched again the next night. And the night after that. And two nights after that. And the night after that.
If we use June 21, then, as our arbitrary endpoint, we find that in Hand’s last 27 outings, he owns a 6.48 ERA, and opponents have compiled a .345/.410/.555 slash line against him. Essentially, every hitter who has faced Hand over the last eight weeks has morphed into Hall of Famer Stan Musial (career .331/.417/.559 slash line).

Hand did record 34 strikeouts in 25 innings during that stretch. When he could locate his slider, it still proved effective. But he will remain a significant question mark for the final two weeks of the regular season.

This bullpen situation is reminiscent of 2013, when Chris Perez lost his grip on the closer role in the final week. At that time, the Indians also had Justin Masterson filling a multi-inning fireman role following his recovery from an oblique injury.

That’s the sort of position Carlos Carrasco could occupy down the stretch. Carrasco threw 30 pitches on Wednesday in relief of Adam Plutko. He worked around a pair of walks and recorded five outs without allowing a hit. He’s been throwing in the mid-90s since his valiant return from a three-month, leukemia-induced absence.

All season, Hand has owned the ninth, with some combination of Pérez, Cimber, Wittgren, Nick Goody and Tyler Clippard covering the sixth, seventh and eighth. Pérez and Cimber, especially, have been deployed in matchup situations. Pérez has limited lefties to a .581 OPS, as his wacky, hitch-filled, never-duplicated delivery makes it nearly impossible to pick up the baseball that’s plunging away from them.

Cimber has had his share of struggles in recent weeks, but he has only surrendered two home runs to righties in 169 plate appearances this season, which made him the prudent choice to face the 655-homer man in the ninth on Wednesday. Cimber literally ranks in the 0th percentile in the majors in fastball velocity, but his submarine arm angle adds enough deception that he ranks in the 76th percentile in average exit velocity against. (Last year, he ranked in the 96th percentile.) His issue is that his lack of velocity leaves him little margin for error.

Goody, Clippard and Wittgren have developed into reliable right-handed options, with a 2.63, 2.65 and 2.68 ERA, respectively. Jefry Rodriguez, another intriguing arm, has spent the week in the bullpen, but has yet to pitch, and probably won’t be thrown into any high-leverage situations since he hasn’t pitched in a major-league game in three months.

There’s also the name James Karinchak, which has been shouted into the abyss for months. Karinchak shut the door for Class AAA Columbus in Game 2 of the Governor’s Cup on Wednesday. The Clippers sit one win from a championship, but can the Indians afford to wait around when Karinchak could be tossing his upper-90s heater for them? (No.) Had he been promoted long ago, he might be better equipped to handle high-leverage, major-league opportunities by now.

Next season, if the league adopts certain rule changes, Francona might not be able to capitalize on the ability to mix and match, a contributing factor to the Indians bullpen’s league-leading 3.61 ERA. Last weekend, Francona voiced his displeasure with the potential change that would require a reliever to face at least three batters in any appearance.

“They may put that in the rules,” Francona said, “but I’ll go kicking and screaming.”

Pérez has thrived in a situational role with the Indians the last two years. His outing on Wednesday was his 60th of the season. That triggered a clause in his contract that boosts his guaranteed salary to $3 million for 2020, which will be his 18th season in the majors, a record for a Mexican pitcher.

“You’re gonna give the big-market teams a huge advantage,” Francona said, “because they’re gonna go out and get the guys who throw full innings. OK, well if we’re piecing it together, we should be allowed to.”

They’ll have no choice but to piece it together for the next few weeks. Keep a tally going: Francona will be making plenty of trips to the mound.

Hoping Carrasco is now ready to step into this.

And trying Karinchak in the back end somewhere can't hurt.

These are desperate times for playoff hopes and that's what teams live for. The postseason, even the wildcard can lead to big things.

regarding Karinchak [as well as OF's Johnson and Tom] he's not on the 40 man roster so a move would have to be made to add and promote him.
At this point all the injured guys are on the 60 day DL with the exception of:
1. RHP Juan Carlos Mejia who has been injured for about three months but remains on the active roster; I have no idea why; perhaps it has something to do with his limit of 3 options; this has happened with other minor leaguers most notably that pitcher who was injured every year on opening day and missed season after season before being signed as a minor league FA
2. Jose Ramirez. Tito was quoted in a PD story today that they talked about moving Jose onto the 60 day DL but didn't that was fair to him as he's trying or hoping anyway to be back sometime yet this season

The remaining option to make room for any of three AAA guys who could be helpful would be DFA someone currently on the roster. The candidates would be: Velazquez, IF/OF who was picked up when someone else DFA'd him this summer; apparently he's a reasonably good bench prospect.
Phil Maton and Hunter Wood, neither of whom has either notably under or overwhelmed with the Tribe but could be worth having as bullpen options in 2020.

CLEVELAND -- The Indians had a frustrating and disappointing Saturday, dropping both games of a split doubleheader to the first-place Twins. In a day with few bright spots, the one positive takeaway was seeing prospect James Karinchak make his Major League debut.

The Twins had tied the nightcap at 5 in the eighth inning for a brief moment before Miguel Sano launched a grand slam off of Nick Goody. With the Tribe trailing by four, the team turned to Karinchak for the remainder of the game in front of the third sellout crowd of the season.

“Not nervous,” Karinchak said of his emotions running to the mound. “The ballpark was obviously electric, but it’s still baseball. Same mound. I was pitching to a familiar face, Eric Haase, and I pitched to [Kevin] Plawecki at the Texas Rangers earlier in the year at the exhibition game.”

The 23-year-old right-hander forced Jason Castro to fly out to center to record the final out of the eighth inning. When he came back out for the ninth, Haase, Karinchak’s Triple-A catcher, replaced Plawecki behind the plate.

“Execute pitches,” Karinchak said of his mindset taking the rubber. “First batter, [I didn’t do that]. But the second inning I came out, I was executing a lot better.”

Karinchak struck out Ian Miller, Max Kepler -- although he still got on because of a dropped third strike -- and Jorge Polanco before LaMonte Wade Jr. popped out to short to end the frame.

“It was good to get him in,” Indians manager Terry Francona said. “Obviously, you’re trying to win the game. When it looks like that’s slipping away, getting a kid some experience, I think, is important. He threw the ball really well. Just getting his feet wet is important.”

For a bullpen that doesn’t really have a hard-throwing arm, Karinchak certainly brings some gas, as he stayed between 97 and 97.9 mph on all 13 of his four-seamers. Cleveland's No. 21 prospect, according to MLB Pipeline, also threw four sliders and seven curveballs, the latter pitch resulting in three swinging strikes and three called strikes.

“I mean, everybody was saying the same thing: ‘Same game. Be yourself,’” Karinchak said. “So that’s what I tried to do.”

If I execute pitches, they usually don’t hit them’: Welcome to the James Karinchak show
By Zack Meisel Sep 17, 2019 5
CLEVELAND — He’s short on words.

What was the feeling like when he flung his final warm-up toss, trotted down the bullpen steps and jogged to the mound before a sellout crowd for the first time in his life, a moment every aspiring major leaguer plays on repeat in his mind?

“Exhilarating,” James Karinchak said.

And what flooded his mind as he stood atop the big-league rubber, ready to showcase the electric fastball and physics-defying curveball that have perplexed minor-league hitters for the last two years?

“Execute pitches,” he said.

It doesn’t matter whether Karinchak responds to questions with one word, a shrug or a detailed backstory matching the length of “War and Peace.” What matters is Karinchak is not short on ability, and as the Indians attempt to wiggle their way into a wild-card position, the rookie reliever’s usage and performance will be one of the leading storylines.

“He throws freaking fuzz and has a great curveball,” said Adam Plutko, who briefly shared a clubhouse with Karinchak at Class AAA Columbus this year. “It’s going to be a lot of fun to watch. He’s a little high-strung, but as a back-end reliever, which he has the potential to be, it might work out great.”

Freaking fuzz. You can’t teach that.

Undoubtedly, the potential is there. All it takes is one glance at Karinchak’s minor-league numbers to recognize it. Including the Triple-A postseason, Karinchak totaled 82 strikeouts in 33 2/3 innings. He posted a 2.41 ERA and limited opponents to a .138 batting average.

At some point, that level of minor-league dominance produces diminishing returns. It’s now understood that 22-year-old prospects and languishing veterans can’t touch his pitches. What’s next?

But Karinchak didn’t join the Indians until they had only 15 games remaining on their regular-season schedule and until their bullpen was bordering on a state of disarray.

“The reason we’ve got him now is there’s 15 games left,” Terry Francona said over the weekend. “That potentially gives us a chance to pitch him in a couple games — maybe not with the bases loaded and two outs, that type of situation — to see if he could possibly help us down the stretch. At worst, what it does is it gives us a read on where this kid is going into spring training. I tell you all the time, it’s about impossible to evaluate somebody in spring training that you don’t know. And again, that’s at worst. Maybe this kid comes up and gets everybody out. We’ll see.”

Karinchak’s first three pitches during his debut Saturday night clocked in at 97.5, 97.5 and 97.9 mph. His curveball leaves his hand at the same release point, near his right ear, so just as a hitter decides to swing, thinking another fastball is surging toward the plate, it plunges toward the dirt, prompting one media member to refer to it as the Millennium Force.

“They say he really competes really well, like he’s not gonna back down from anybody,” Francona said. “I think that’s kind of obvious when you look at the numbers. … He’s striking everybody out. Is that gonna play? How’s it gonna play here? There’s one way to find out. But the experience, again, at worst will be really good for him.”

Well, it could have made sense to seek the answer to that question earlier in the season, which might have made Karinchak better equipped to handle high-leverage situations by now. He seemed destined for a midseason promotion until he suffered a hamstring strain in mid-May. To that point, split between Class AA Akron and Class AAA Columbus, he had rattled off 13 scoreless appearances, having yielded only five hits and three walks, to go along with 32 strikeouts.

In mid-July, he completed a three-outing rehab with the organization’s Arizona League team. He recorded an immaculate inning (three strikeouts, nine pitches) in his first two appearances. When he returned to Columbus, his command disappeared. He walked 12 in his first eight innings, though he kept piling up strikeouts.

Karinchak’s walk rate certainly raises any evaluator’s antenna. Even Karinchak knew he walked 6.7 batters per nine innings in 2018. He reduced that number to 5.6 this season, which is still uncomfortably high. However, that pitfall is mitigated some by the fact he doesn’t give up many hits, almost never surrenders a home run (four in 82 1/3 innings the last two years) and typically winds up stranding those runners, since he strikes out just about every poor sap who steps foot in the batter’s box.


During spring training, Karinchak worked with Indians lower-level pitching coach Joel Mangrum on his release point, and they used differential balls — ones slightly smaller or larger than a standard baseball that help pitchers hone their command. James Harris, the Indians’ director of player development, called Karinchak “one of the hardest workers in the system.” He completes lengthy pre- and postgame routines, and he practices his delivery in the bullpen in the first inning — but without a ball in his hand.

The work ethic explains how Karinchak has evolved from a starter at Bryant University to a highly intriguing reliever for the Indians in a little more than two years. The team converted him to a reliever, Harris said, based on his major-league projection and “developmental opportunity.”

From Aug. 21 through Sept. 1, Karinchak logged 6 1/3 innings, with no walks and 14 strikeouts. The Indians opted to add James Hoyt, Dan Otero and Carlos Carrasco to their bullpen when rosters expanded at the start of the month, but Karinchak remained in Columbus. Five days later, Jefry Rodriguez joined the relief corps. He has not appeared in a game since.

Karinchak was surprised to learn of his promotion when Columbus manager Tony Mansolino called him into his office last week, since the Clippers, at the time, stood one victory shy of an International League title. The Indians had shut down Brad Hand for the week, though Francona stressed those storylines were unrelated.

It might be too late in the season and too early in Karinchak’s major-league career for him to supply significant contributions to the 2019 season, but he could play a prominent role on next year’s club.

The reason for that? Leave it to the guy who gets right to the point.

“If I execute pitches,” Karinchak said, “they usually don’t hit them.”

(Photo: Jason Miller / Getty Images)

‘I’ve loved this city from Day 1. It’ll be missed.’ Jason Kipnis and the imperfect final chapter

Zack Meisel 4h ago 12
CLEVELAND — Torii Hunter scooped up the baseball and tossed it into the stands, unaware that the ball was meant for a shelf in Jason Kipnis’ townhouse.

Sandy Alomar Jr. spotted the fan who caught it, grabbed three baseballs and exchanged them for the ball Kipnis smacked to right field for his first career hit, a walk-off single against the Angels in 2011. Then, Kipnis was a plucky, 24-year-old second base prospect with an entire career ahead of him. Now, he’s 32 and wading into uncharted waters.

That walk-off single was the first of Kipnis’ 1,120 hits, which places him 22nd on the franchise’s all-time list. Odds are, No. 1,120 — a double to left notched after he broke a hamate bone on Sunday — will be his last with the club.

When Kipnis entered the interview room at Progressive Field on Wednesday afternoon, he contended that allergies had prompted his eyes to well up, not emotion and reflection. But no one could blame Kipnis for feeling sentimental about an imperfect, unfortunate final chapter to a winding, eight-year journey in Cleveland.

“It’s not the ride off into the sunset you hope for as a player when you’ve been with a team for a long time,” Kipnis said.

Few players have the chance to craft the ideal script, though. Kipnis’ tenure in Cleveland included a pair of All-Star nods, a failed web series (who could forget the Jerry Kipnis Show?), a trio of division titles, a shattered Jobu figurine, countless post-home-run “Bar Mitzvah chair” celebrations in the dugout and even a World Series appearance against his childhood team.

“There’s tons that I’m proud of,” Kipnis said. “One of the most unfortunate parts of this is that I don’t get to try to finish what I started eight years ago.”

Earlier this season, when Kipnis was scuffling at the plate, I asked him if he had a minute to answer a question pertaining to a story I was writing.

Needing just the one quote, I joked: “Can you do my job for me?”

Kipnis replied: “Can you do my job? Wait, don’t answer that. You probably could.”

There might not be a player in the league with more self-awareness (and more willingness to partake in self-deprecation). He knows the Indians won’t exercise his $16.5 million option for the 2020 season. They’ll cut him a check for his $2.5 million buyout and assess their options at second base.

Kipnis approached this as a contract year, anyway. The Indians attempted to unload his hefty salary the past two winters. They tried to entice the Mets, tried to lure other teams with a second piece to make the trade package more attractive. No dice.

So, Kipnis reported to spring training with something to prove. He teamed with the Chicago Blackhawks’ athletic trainers during the offseason, knowing health, athleticism and a productive stat line could earn him consideration for a multi-year pact in free agency.

He registered a .245/.304/.410 clip, with 17 home runs in 121 games — not the renaissance that could have landed him a lucrative deal, but probably enough output to keep him from the overpopulating late-March bargain bin.

Either way, this is new territory, Kipnis’ first foray into free agency. He’s open to talking with the Indians’ front office, but no conversation has commenced. Kipnis did say he didn’t think “it would be too hard to get something done,” but he speaks as though he doubts Cleveland’s front office will entertain the idea.

“(The) unknown can be a little frightening at first,” Kipnis said, “(but) most players go through it eventually, whether it’s in a trade or free agency or something. Very rarely does a player play for the same organization throughout their whole career. I’ve been lucky enough to play for roughly eight years for the same organization. Even luckier that it’s been Cleveland.

“It’s been a thrill to be here. I’ve loved this city from Day 1. It’ll be missed. It’ll be hard to part ways. There will always be part of me here.”
(David Richard / USA Today)
Five years ago, the Indians committed to a new core by signing Kipnis, Michael Brantley and Yan Gomes to long-term contract extensions before the home opener. Kipnis is the last man standing. He quipped that he and Corey Kluber spent all spring searching for their old friends in the Arizona clubhouse.

When he signed his six-year extension, Kipnis had made a habit out of racking up doubles by peppering the green wall in left-center field. Manny Acta had supplied him with the nickname “Dirtbag,” since he routinely tarnished his uniform on stolen bases and on chest-first plunges to snare ground balls.

He almost became a victim of his early success, submitting a level of output that, because of injuries or inconsistency, proved too challenging to sustain. He altered his workout routines and his offseason schedule. He constantly checked on his hand placement at the plate, often the key ingredient to his hitting recipe. After years of scouring every social media mention of his name, he finally learned to ignore the pitfalls of his platform.

“I don’t know if being an All-Star early on in the career,” Kipnis said, “or having these hot streaks or that May (2015), I held myself and I know fans kind of hold me to that standard of, ‘Well, why don’t you do that all the time?’ If I could I would, trust me. It’s a tough game. I was just very happy that I kept at it.”

In doing so, he stuck around longer than most. Only Carlos Carrasco — one of his closest friends in the clubhouse — has enjoyed a longer tenure with the team. Kipnis developed tight bonds with Brantley and Lonnie Chisenhall and lived next door to Josh Tomlin. When Carrasco was diagnosed with leukemia in early June, one of his first calls was to Kipnis, who talked his teammate through the harrowing revelation and attempted to clarify some of the medical jargon.

That group endured growing pains in 2012, ’14 and ’15 before rounding into title-contending form.

“I think we turned around a franchise,” Kipnis said. “I think we turned around an organization. We raised the bar here. Sometimes, I fell short of the high standards we set here, and I’m OK with that, because I’m proud that there are higher standards here. I think this is a very classy organization, viewed that way throughout the league. Part of me likes to think I played a part in that. But definitely proud of the three straight division titles, without telling what’s going to happen here down the stretch, the World Series run, the group of guys I got to play with throughout all that. Some of the teams we’ve had, the connection we’ve had in the community. I think there’s loads to be proud of.”

On a shelf in Kipnis’ residence rest two cases filled with baseballs. One has a collection of autographs from players across the league. The other holds his most cherished mementos. His 500th hit, a leadoff single during his torrid May 2015, in which he tallied 51 hits and posted a 1.217 OPS. His 1,000th hit, a walk-off grand slam exactly one year ago against the White Sox.

And, of course, that first big-league knock, the walk-off single Alomar secured.

It is not the way Kipnis wanted his Cleveland tenure to close, especially with the Indians still battling for a postseason berth. But he’s at peace with what he accomplished in eight years in an Indians uniform.

“There’s no need to sugarcoat it,” Kipnis said. “It just sucks, because it’s just been that much fun of a trip for me. I have very few regrets about the last eight years. It’s been an absolute joy to play here.”

It rarely goes this way, but if I am the Indians I offer him a one year $1 million (major league) deal to stay as a utility guy.

In the market these days he just might take that.