Indians' Top 5 second basemen: Bell's take
By Mandy Bell @MandyBell02
April 6, 2020

No one loves a good debate quite like baseball fans, and with that in mind, we asked each of our beat reporters to rank the top five players by position in the history of their franchise, based on their career while playing for that club. These rankings are for fun and debate purposes only. If you don’t agree with the order, participate in the Twitter poll to vote for your favorite at this position.


Mandy Bell
✔
@MandyBell02
We’re continuing to build the Indians’ All-Time team. Next up: Second base.

Who do you think is the best 2B in Tribe history?

Because polls limit us to four options, feel free to comment to vote for Bobby Avila, Carlos Baerga or any other second baseman you think is the best.

59%Roberto Alomar
8%Jason Kipnis
1%Joe Gordon
32%Nap Lajoie
3,361 votes•Final results


1. Nap Lajoie, 1902-14
Key fact: Indians' all-time leader in Wins Above Replacement

As we continue to make these lists, the decisions don’t get any easier. But Nap Lajoie sitting atop the all-time second basemen rankings was as much of a guarantee as you could get.

Lajoie became the face of the Cleveland franchise, joining a club that was known as the Bronchos in 1902 but turned into the Cleveland Naps (named after Lajoie himself) beginning the following season. He remained with the organization through 1914.

• Indians' All-Time Around the Horn Team: C | 1B

In 1904, Lajoie led the Majors in hits (208), doubles (49), RBIs (102), batting average (.376), slugging percentage (.546), OPS (.959) and OPS+ (202) in 140 games. He also had the most hits and doubles in the Majors in 1906 and 1910, with an MLB-best .383 batting average in ’10. Not only was he one of the biggest stars of his time, Lajoie’s name still lives on in the Indians’ record books. He owns a 79.8 bWAR, the highest of all Tribe players, and has recorded the most hits in Cleveland history (2,047). He hit the second-most doubles (424) and collected the third-most RBIs (919).

In 1937, Lajoie was elected into the Hall of Fame. When reading Lajoie’s online portfolio on the Baseball Hall of Fame website, readers are greeted with this quote from Hall of Fame pitcher Cy Young: “Lajoie was one of the most rugged hitters I ever faced. He’d take your leg off with a line drive, turn the third baseman around like a swinging door, and powder the hand of the left fielder.”


2. Joe Gordon, 1947-50
Key fact: Member of the 1948 World Series championship team

Joe Gordon closed out his 11-year career by playing his final four seasons in Cleveland, where he was selected to three All-Star Games and placed in the top seven in American League MVP Award voting twice. His fWAR (7.1) trailed just Lou Boudreau (10.9) and Ken Keltner (7.2) on the team during its championship run in ’48, and he was a solid defender in all four years in Cleveland. Among Indians second basemen, Gordon ranks second overall in defensive WAR (7.4) behind Lajoie (11.5).

Although he was a member of the Tribe for only four seasons, Gordon is one of just three second basemen in the franchise to hit at least 100 homers and was a part of one of the two championship teams in franchise history.


3. Roberto Alomar, 1999-2001
Key fact: Won a Gold Glove Award in all three seasons with the Tribe

Although most of his Hall of Fame career was spent away from Cleveland, Roberto Alomar enjoyed two of his best seasons with the Tribe, hitting .323 with a .955 OPS in 1999 and hitting .336 with a .956 OPS in 2001. His 7.3 fWAR trailed only Manny Ramirez among Indians in ’99 and ranked tied for fourth overall in the Majors that season. Alomar also was an All-Star in each of his three seasons with the Indians.

Like Gordon, Alomar’s time with the Tribe was short, but he ranks fourth among all Indians second basemen in bWAR (20.3), fifth in homers (63), third in batting average (.323) and first in on-base percentage (.405) and slugging percentage (.515).

Alomar's great play ends it
Aug 13, 1999 · 0:24

4. Bobby Avila, 1949-58
Key fact: Won the AL batting title with a .341 average in 1954

Longevity and consistency -- those are the two adjectives that best describe Bobby Avila’s 10-year career in Cleveland. He played the second-most games, trailing Lajoie, of all Indians second basemen and posted the second highest bWAR (28.5). Avila was selected to three All-Star Games and finished third in AL MVP Award voting in 1954.

5. Jason Kipnis, 2011-19
Key fact: Owns record for most home runs hit by an Indians second baseman

Two All-Star appearances, one Wilson Defensive Player of the Year Award, 123 homers and 1,121 games were certainly enough to earn Jason Kipnis a spot in the top five. His nine-year stint in Cleveland came to an end after the 2019 season, when the Indians opted to not exercise the club option on his contract. But the man known as “Dirtbag” saw his playing time with the Tribe end even earlier than expected when he broke his right hamate bone last September.

When the injury happened, Kipnis said that he knew he'd likely just played his final game with the Indians. After reality set in, Kipnis reflected on his highs and lows of his career and expressed his gratitude for the city of Cleveland. But he still had one regret.

“One of the most unfortunate parts of this is that I don’t get to try to finish what I started eight years ago with a bunch of guys: the mission,” Kipnis said. “I think we turned around a franchise. 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.”

Kipnis' three-run homer
Oct 29, 2016 · 0:29
Kipnis' three-run homer
Honorable mentions
• Carlos Baerga was a key piece to the 1990s lineups. In eight seasons with the Tribe, he recorded the fourth-most hits among second basemen (1,097), third-most doubles (190) and second-most homers (104) and RBIs (565).

• Bill Wambsganss: The man who turned the only unassisted triple play in World Series history in 1920 also had the fifth-most hits (1,083) and RBIs (429) of all Indians second basemen.

• Duane Kuiper ranks sixth among Cleveland second basemen with 786 hits and fifth in triples with 26. He also was 11th in defensive WAR (1.9) and was a part of Dennis Eckersley’s no-hitter and Len Barker’s perfect game.

Mandy Bell covers the Indians for MLB.com. Follow her on Twitter at @MandyBell02.

Inbox: How will the Indians' outfield shape up?
Beat reporter Mandy Bell answers questions from Cleveland fans


By Mandy Bell @MandyBell02
May 27, 2020

CLEVELAND -- The return of baseball may be just around the corner, which leaves plenty of unanswered questions about the Indians’ roster. What answers do we have now? Let’s take a look in this week’s Inbox:


Mandy Bell
✔
@MandyBell02
· May 26, 2020
It's been way too long. It's time to break out another #IndiansInbox. Respond here with your questions and I'll answer a few this week!


Evan Miller
@EvanSlevin
What are your expectations for this outfield group? I’m worried everyone is injury-prone and overall lacks power.

1:01 PM - May 26, 2020

Well, as long as Franmil Reyes is a part of the outfield crew (or if Jordan Luplow is facing a lefty), I’m not sure worrying about power can be something that’s applied to the entire group. Reyes absolutely destroyed the ball during Spring Training this year, and the club has high expectations for his offensive production. Domingo Santana hit 21 home runs last season, which gives the Tribe another possibility of some pop in the middle of the order.

Between Greg Allen, Luplow, Jake Bauers, Oscar Mercado and Tyler Naquin, the Indians may not have the most explosive outfield, but that doesn’t necessarily mean the overall expectations for the crew should be low. If Naquin, who was really finding his groove last season before tearing the ACL in his right knee in August, platoons with Luplow in right, Mercado, who had an exceptional rookie season, starts in center and Reyes, a powerhouse, starts in left, the outfield may surprise a lot of people.


Mandy Bell
✔


Evan Kelly
@evanvkelly
What’s the latest on Tyler Naquin? Both injury-wise and role-wise. Really felt like he was beginning to re-establish himself before the injury


At this point, it seems pretty safe to assume that Tyler Naquin will be given the green light to begin full baseball activities when he returns to Texas for a final checkup with his doctor. That appointment was scheduled for the first week of April, but it was postponed due to the coronavirus pandemic. While play has been suspended, Naquin has continued his rehab and is expecting to be ready for the second round of Spring Training.

His role will likely depend on what he’s able to show during those few weeks leading up to the start of the season. Naquin seemed to be settling into a more regular role in the Tribe’s lineup before his Aug. 30 injury. The Indians have an overcrowded outfield, so he may begin the year platooning with someone like Luplow in a corner outfield spot, but he has the chance to eventually earn the everyday job.


James Edgar
@jamesedgar70
Does the team plan to keep Clase despite the 80-game suspension?


Surely, the Indians were disappointed to hear the news that their newly acquired reliever was suspended for 80 games after testing positive for a performance-enhancing substance. Emmanuel Clase will serve his time, but when that suspension is up, he’s expected to work his way back into the Tribe’s bullpen. Keeping him would not be advocating for his past decisions, but the club thought highly enough of the 21-year-old to trade a two-time Cy Young Award winner in Corey Kluber for him (and outfielder Delino DeShields). It’d be hard to imagine the Indians would give up on Clase before he gets his chance to prove his worth on the mound.


Caleb Philips
@calebphilips8
With a potential roster expansion in the cards for a season that may happen this year, who do you think would be players that benefit the most from that?


Plenty of guys come to mind, but the top three would probably be Cam Hill, Daniel Johnson and Logan Allen.

Hill had an impressive camp just a few months ago, allowing just one run in five innings with two strikeouts. If the season would’ve started on time, the 26-year-old would’ve been on the bubble to make the Opening Day roster. Now, especially with Clase’s 80-game suspension, the need for another bullpen arm is even higher. The non-roster invitee could find his way to the big league roster this year.

There are a lot of outfield options, but Johnson could be another to put in the grass. In 84 Triple-A games last season, he hit .306 with an .867 OPS, nine homers, 44 RBIs and 27 doubles. His speed would be an attractive asset to have on the bench, and his bat and arm strength could help him find his way into the lineup.

Because there is a chance that starting pitchers may not be 100 percent ramped up for the start of the season after another quick round of Spring Training, it’s likely that teams will carry some extra starters if there is a roster expansion. In that case, Allen could be the next man up as an option for the Tribe’s rotation, which already has Mike Clevinger, Shane Bieber, Carrasco, Adam Plutko, Zach Plesac and Aaron Civale.



Cherie
@coolkall
How is Carrasco doing? If we have baseball this season will he be ready to pitch every 5th day?


Carrasco (right elbow inflammation) was questionable for the original Opening Day date, but he wasn’t expected to miss too much of the season. Now, two months later, he should be more than ready to go when Spring Training resumes.

Indians manager Terry Francona said Carrasco has been sending in videos when he throws his bullpens at home and has looked like himself on the rubber. The Tribe fully expects Carrasco to be healthy for the next Spring Training, but pitching every fifth day may be a tougher thing to predict. Because of this unprecedented break and possibly a quick ramp-up period just before the season begins, starters may not have enough time to be 100 percent ready for the start of the year. In that case, starters may need a little more recovery time to start the year, but regardless, Carrasco is expected to be in the rotation.


Mcgavin
@McGavin777
Your personal favorite baseball moment?


Speaking of Carrasco…

There are so many baseball moments that would be in the running for this, but it is really tough to top the Stand Up To Cancer moment during last year’s All-Star Game. The image of him standing beside four of his teammates and his manager while his home crowd is erupting in cheers as he’s shown on the big screen will forever stand out as my favorite memory.


Mandy Bell covers the Indians for MLB.com. Follow her on Twitter at @MandyBell02.

Read more: Cleveland Indians

Joe Sewell on the catcher list for Romano.
LHP Jake Miller in the 20s and 30s? How come my father never mentioned him.

Dad definitely would have gone for Gene Bearden for his super 20 win season the last time we won the World Series: Shutout wins in games 151 and 154 to clinch a tie with the Red Sox. Then a complete game win in the playoff clincher. And game 3 shutout in the Series. Who cares that 48 was his only double digit win season.

Indians' Top 5 right-handed starters: Bell's take


By Mandy Bell @MandyBell02

@MandyBell02
We’ve officially made our way through the position players as we build the Indians’ all-time roster. Now, we turn to right-handed starters.

It seems safe to say that Bob Feller separated himself as the clear favorite, so who do you think should be No. 2?

26%Bob Lemon
11%Addie Joss
57%Corey Kluber
6%Early Wynn
2,599 votes•Final results
22
11:03 PM - May 24, 2020
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Here is Mandy Bell’s ranking of the top five right-handed starters in Indians history. Next week: Left-handed starters.

• Tribe's Top 5: C | 1B | 2B | 3B | SS | LF | CF | RF | DH

1. Bob Feller (1936-41, '45-56)
Key fact: Indians’ all-time leader in bWAR among all starting pitchers

Despite the number of outstanding right-handers that have donned an Indians uniform, Feller stands out from the rest. The Hall of Famer cracked into the big leagues at 17 years old and was named to his first All-Star Game when he was 19. He gave up four prime years of his career to serve in World War II after proving to be one of the best pitchers in the game over the three seasons leading up to his departure.

In 1939, the man nicknamed “Rapid Robert” for his devastating fastball led the American League in innings pitched (296 2/3), complete games (24) and wins (24), and he posted an AL-leading 246 strikeouts. He returned in 1940 and ’41 to lead the Majors in wins, starts, innings pitched and strikeouts while finishing in the top three in AL MVP Award voting each season.

“It wasn't until you hit against him that you knew how fast he really was,” Hall of Famer Ted Lyons was quoted saying on Feller’s Hall of Fame profile. “Until you saw with your own eyes that ball jumping at you.”

Feller is the Tribe’s all-time leader in wins (266), strikeouts (2,581), starts (484), complete games (279) and innings (3,827). He led the AL in wins six times and strikeouts seven times. The righty set club single-season records for strikeouts (348), innings (371 1/3), shutouts (10) and complete games (36) in 1946. He pitched a franchise-record three no-hitters, 12 one-hitters and was a first-ballot Hall of Famer by an overwhelming margin in 1962.


2. Addie Joss (1902-10)
Key fact: Holds MLB’s all-time career WHIP record

Who knows just how long Joss would’ve dominated on the mound if he didn’t die at the age of 31 due to tuberculous meningitis. He was dominant in nine seasons with Cleveland, setting the club record for ERA (1.16) in a single season in 1908, and he's the Tribe’s all-time leader in ERA (1.89, second lowest in MLB history) and shutouts (45).

From 1905-08, Joss had four 20-win seasons, leading the Majors in ’07 with 27. The Hall of Famer tossed a perfect game on October 2, 1908, against the White Sox in the heat of a pennant race, and threw a no-hitter against the White Sox again in '10. Joss led the Majors twice in WHIP (1903, ’08) and owns MLB’s all-time record in career WHIP (0.968).

“Joss sort of hid the ball on you,” Hall of Famer Bobby Wallace said, according to Joss’ Hall of Fame profile. “One moment, you’d be squinting at a long, graceful windup, and the next instant, out of nowhere, the ball was hopping across the plate -- and a lot of us standing flat-footed with our bat glued to our shoulders.”

3. Bob Lemon (1946-58)
Key fact: Elected to the Hall of Fame as a pitcher after beginning his career as a position player

It’s hard to believe that someone who didn’t start his career as a pitcher could end up being one of the best hurlers in Indians history. While serving in the military during World War II, Lemon pitched in service games and caught the attention of a few other big leaguers who had also enlisted. When he returned to the Indians in 1946, he attempted to make the transition from infield to outfield, but he eventually took the rubber after word spread about his pitching ability. The rest, as they say, is history.

Lemon tossed a no-hitter during the Tribe’s World Series championship season of 1948, led the AL in wins three times and is third in club wins (207), starts (350) and innings pitched (2,850). In Game 2 of the ’48 World Series, Lemon threw a complete game, allowing one unearned run in a 4-1 victory. He then got the win in the clinching Game 6 after tossing 7 1/3 frames and allowing three runs on eight hits. He was elected into the Hall of Fame in 1976.


4. Corey Kluber (2011-19)
Key fact: Only two-time AL Cy Young Award winner in team history

From 2014-18, Kluber finished in the top three in AL Cy Young Award balloting four times, winning in both ’14 and ’17. In that five-year span, he had the fourth-best ERA in the Majors (2.85), the third-highest fWAR (30.3), the second-most innings pitched (1,091 1/3, most in the AL) and the third-most strikeouts (1,228). He also tossed 17 complete games and seven shutouts in that stretch while averaging 10.1 strikeouts with only 1.8 walks per nine innings. His 1,461 strikeouts and 27.7-percent strikeout rate rank second in club history among righties with at least 100 appearances.

“I think we had a chance to see Corey grow into one of the best pitchers in the American League,” Indians president of baseball operations Chris Antonetti said when Kluber was traded this past December. “He went from an unheralded prospect when we acquired him and through a tremendous amount of hard work and dedication, he turned himself into one of the best pitchers in the American League.”


5. Early Wynn (1949-57, '63)
Key fact: Inducted into the National Baseball Hall of Fame in 1972

During the 1950s, no AL pitcher earned more wins than Wynn’s 188. Of his 300 big league wins in his 23-year career, 164 of them came with the Tribe, including four 20-win seasons. He led the club in innings pitched and strikeouts five times each and ranks fifth in wins among right-handed Tribe hurlers.

Wynn is tied with Lemon for the third-most strikeouts in club history (1,277), and his 36.1 bWAR is sixth highest among righties. He was a three-time All-Star with the Tribe and finished his 10-year career in Cleveland with a 3.24 ERA.

Honorable mentions
• Stan Coveleski (1916-24) was one of the best spitballers the game had ever seen. The depth of the Indians’ right-handed starters is proven by Coveleski sitting in the honorable mentions section. The Hall of Famer is second in bWAR among Tribe pitchers (56.7) and finished his nine years in Cleveland with a 2.80 ERA, 856 strikeouts and a 1.251 WHIP in 360 games (305 starts).

• Mel Harder (1928-47) is the only player in franchise history to spend 20 seasons in Cleveland. Throughout his long tenure, he racked up the third-highest bWAR among pitchers (48.5). Harder was a four-time All-Star and won the ERA title in 1933 with a 2.95 ERA. He earned 223 wins with the Tribe and finished his long career with a 3.80 ERA before becoming the club’s pitching coach.

• Gaylord Perry (1972-75) spent parts of four seasons of his 22-year career with the Tribe. From 1972-74, the righty led the AL in complete games twice, led the AL in wins once, was selected to two All-Star Games, won an AL Cy Young Award and collected a handful of MVP votes in each season.

Mandy Bell covers the Indians for MLB.com. Follow her on Twitter at @MandyBell02.

Indians' Top 5 shortstops: Bell's take


By Mandy Bell @MandyBell02
April 20, 2020



Here is Mandy Bell’s ranking of the top 5 third basemen in Indians history. Next week: Left fielders.


Who do you think is the best shortstop in Tribe history?

41%Omar Vizquel
15%Lou Boudreau
44%Francisco Lindor
0%Joe Sewell

1. Lou Boudreau, 1938-50
Key fact: Was a player/manager for the Indians during the 1948 World Series season

MLB.com has been going through each position over the last few weeks. No race has been closer than this one. Boudreau and the No. 2 player on this list both have convincing cases to reign supreme, but the former player/manager of the Tribe is going to get the nod with an MVP Award and a World Series ring backing his case.

Of all Indians players, Boudreau places fourth in bWAR (61.6) behind Nap Lajoie (79.8), Tris Speaker (74.3) and Bob Feller (65.2), and ranks far above the second-closest shortstop, Joe Sewell (45.4). His 22.7 defensive WAR also bests all other shortstops. Among Tribe shortstops, Boudreau played the most games and has the second-most hits (1,706), doubles (367), triples (65), RBIs (740) and on-base percentage (.382).

In franchise history, the Tribe has only had three MVP Award recipients: George Burns (1926), Boudreau ('48) and Al Rosen ('53). That award-winning season for Boudreau was especially memorable because he helped lead (as a player and manager) his team to its second -- and most recent -- World Series title. He hit .355 with a .987 OPS, 18 homers, 106 RBIs, 34 doubles, six triples and just nine strikeouts in 152 games. He served as the team’s manager from '42-50 before he left for Boston in '51. He was elected into the Hall of Fame in 1970.

“He had terrific instincts and was a great competitor," said Feller, his fellow Hall of Fame teammate, according to Boudreau’s Hall of Fame profile page. “As a player-manager, he became so good that he went as far as calling pitches from shortstop. He was always thinking, always in the game.”


2. Omar Vizquel, 1994-2004
Key fact: Won nine of his 11 Gold Glove Awards in Cleveland

There are plenty of arguments that support Vizquel moving up a tick higher on this list. And just because Boudreau’s World Series win, MVP Award and Hall of Fame election currently have him ranked at No. 1 doesn’t mean Vizquel’s incredible career in Cleveland should be discredited.

Vizquel will forever be remembered as the Tribe’s best defensive shortstop of all time, winning Gold Glove Awards in nine straight seasons from 1993 through 2001. The three-time All-Star’s defensive WAR ranks fourth among all Indians players and second among shortstops, behind Boudreau.

"His defense was remarkable," said former teammate Sandy Alomar Jr. "Omar, he was kind of like the human GPS. He knew where to play. He knew the hitter. On the go, he'd make decisions out there. Now you position players because of all this data that we have. Omar already knew that.”

In 11 seasons with Cleveland, Vizquel hit .283 with 1,616 hits, 906 runs scored, 60 homers and 584 RBIs. He had a standout offensive year in 1999, slashing .333/.397/.436 with 42 stolen bases and a career-high 112 runs scored to earn his second All-Star selection. In his third year on the Hall of Fame ballot, he received 52.6 percent of the vote, as he continues to inch closer to the 75 percent threshold.


3. Francisco Lindor, 2015-present
Key fact: Holds record for most extra-base hits in a single season by an Indians shortstop

Lindor’s time as a member of the Tribe may be running out, as he’s set to hit free agency after the 2021 season if the Indians do not re-sign him, but he has certainly made every moment in a Cleveland uniform as memorable as it could be. No matter how much longer he’s with the Tribe, he’s already fourth in defensive WAR (8.9), fifth in overall WAR (27.6), tied for most homers (130) and has the highest slugging percentage (.493) and OPS (.840) among all Indians shortstops in just five big league seasons.

He emerged on the big league stage in 2015 and has been elected to the All-Star Game in each year since. He’s won two Gold Glove Awards, two Silver Slugger Awards and quickly became one of the best players in the game. Over the last three years, he’s recorded the third-most extra-base hits and homers in a single season (among shortstops), and he logged the second-most home runs and hits through the first five years of a career by anyone in club history with 130 and 835, respectively.

"Those things make you open your eyes and say, 'Wow, this kid has some tremendous ability out there,'" Vizquel said in 2016. "He has been exciting to watch. Ever since last year when I first got the chance to see him. It's like, 'Wow. This kid has a lot going on.'"


4. Joe Sewell, 1920-30
Key fact: Struck out just 99 times in 11 seasons with the Tribe

Even the Indians’ fourth-ranked shortstop has arguments to be listed higher. The Tribe’s depth at the position over the years has been evident, with Sewell leading all Cleveland shortstops with 1,800 hits, 375 doubles, 868 RBIs and a .320 batting average. He spent 11 seasons of his 14-year career in Cleveland and received MVP votes in six seasons but never won. He was a part of the 1920 World Series championship team after he was called on in September to replace Ray Chapman, who died because of a baseball-related injury. In 11 Cleveland seasons, he hit under. 300 just twice and struck out only 99 times in 6,579 plate appearances. He was elected into the Hall of Fame in 1977.

5. Ray Chapman, 1912-20
Key fact: Most triples among shortstops in franchise history (81), sixth among all players

In nine years, Chapman collected a 29.2 WAR, which ranks fourth among Indians shortstops, and recorded the most triples of all Tribe members at his position (81). He recorded the fifth-most hits (1,053), drew the fourth-most walks (452), posted the fifth-best on-base percentage (.358) and had the ninth-highest defensive WAR (4.4). He was hitting .303 with an .803 OPS and 49 RBIs through 111 games in the thick of a pennant race on Aug. 16, 1920, when he was struck in the head by a pitch from Carl Mays. He was removed from the game and died at the hospital a day later. Sewell replaced him on the Tribe’s roster, and the team went on to win its first World Series that season.

Honorable mentions
• Julio Franco played just under 1,100 games for the Indians throughout parts of eight seasons and ranks fourth in hits (1,272) and RBIs (530) and owns the second-best batting average among Indians shortstops (.297), trailing Sewell.

• Woodie Held played seven seasons for the Tribe (1958-64) and is currently tied with Lindor for the most homers by an Indians shortstop with 130.

• Asdrúbal Cabrera was selected to two All-Star Games and won a Silver Slugger Award in his eight years in Cleveland. He ranks fourth all-time in doubles (211) and homers (82) among Indians shortstops and sixth in RBIs (430) and stolen bases (69).

• Jhonny Peralta owns the third-most home runs of Tribe shortstops with 103 during his eight-year stint with the Indians and has the fourth-highest slugging percentage (.422).

Mandy Bell covers the Indians for MLB.com. Follow her on Twitter at @MandyBell02.

Indians' Top 5 third basemen: Bell's take


Here is Mandy Bell’s ranking of the top 5 third basemen in Indians history. Next week: Shortstops.


Mandy Bell
✔
@MandyBell02
It’s time to continue building the Indians’ All-Time roster. This week: third base.

Who do you think is the best third baseman in Tribe history?

(We’re limited to four options in polls - if your top choice isn’t listed below, comment who gets your vote!)

2%Ken Keltner
44%Al Rosen
52%Jose Ramirez
2%Bill Bradley

1. Al Rosen, 1947-56
Key fact: The last Indians player to win an American League MVP award

Third base is one position that doesn’t have a lot of clear-cut candidates as the all-time best for the Tribe. In a group that contains a lot of similar statistics, both defensive and offensive, three letters that forever accompany Rosen’s name help make him stand out from all the rest.

In 1953, Rosen won the MVP award and still stands as the club’s most recent recipient. That season, he hit an American League-high 43 home runs and drove in a Major League-high 145 runs with an MLB-best 1.034 OPS. In 10 seasons (just seven full seasons), Rosen was a four-time All-Star with six 20-plus homer seasons and he leads all Indians third basemen with 192 homers. Among players who played third in more than 25 games for the Tribe, Rosen’s career .879 OPS ranks the highest.

"He was an inspiration to us all and had a special presence, strength and intellect," former Indians team president Mark Shapiro said in a statement after Rosen’s death in 2015. "His fierce competitive nature and toughness was legendary."

2. Ken Keltner, 1937-49
Key fact: Made two difficult, backhanded plays to help end Joe DiMaggio’s 56-game hitting streak

Keltner was a seven-time All-Star during his 12-year stint with the Tribe. Of all Indians third basemen, he’s logged the most hits (1,5610), doubles (306), runs (735), games played (1,513) and RBIs (850) and ranks second in bWAR (33.1). He was a member of the 1948 World Series championship team and hit .297 with a .917 OPS, a career-high 31 home runs and 119 RBIs that season.

Though he’s one of the few members of the Tribe who took home a World Series title, his name is often associated with another feat. On July 17, 1941, DiMaggio was attempting to extend his hitting streak to 57 games, but Keltner made two backhanded stops on hard-hit ground balls down the third-base line to rob DiMaggio of base hits. The famous streak ended at 56 and prevented what would’ve become a 73-game streak, as DiMaggio recorded a hit in 16 more contests after Keltner assisted in holding him hitless.

3. Bill Bradley, 1901-10
Key fact: Owns highest bWAR of all Indians third basemen

In 10 years with Cleveland, Bradley accumulated the highest bWAR of all Indians third basemen (34.9), the highest defensive WAR (10.8) and recorded the most triples (74). He also logged the second-most runs (649), hits (1,265) and doubles (238) among third basemen. Bradley finished his decade with the Tribe hitting .272 with a .690 OPS (111 OPS+). He had a breakout season in 1902 with the Indians, hitting .340 with an .890 OPS, 39 doubles, 77 RBIs and 104 runs scored in 137 games.

4. José Ramírez, 2013-present
Key fact: Holds single-season home run record for Indians switch-hitters

Ramírez has been a member of the Tribe since 2013 and became a permanent fixture on the big league roster beginning in ’16. In that first full season, Ramírez hit .312 with an .825 OPS. In the next two seasons, he was selected to the Midsummer Classic, won Silver Slugger awards and placed third in the MVP voting. In ’18 he joined Grady Sizemore and Joe Carter as the only three Indians players in franchise history with at least 30 steals and 30 homers in a season.

“He’s a guy that we can lean on,” teammate Shane Bieber said last August. “It’s awesome. It seems like he’s batting, like, six times a game just because of the impact he has. I’m sure it seems like that, maybe even more, for the other team. We’re able to lean on him. He’s a guy that you can trust in any situation.”

Ramírez has played more than 50 percent of his big league games at third, but has also spent time at second, short and the outfield. The middle infielder turned third baseman may shift away from the hot corner, especially if the Indians extend his contract beyond the 2021 season. But if he remains at third, he could easily work his way up in this list with a few more years under his belt.

5. Larry Gardner, 1919-24
Key fact: Member of the Indians’ first world championship team

Gardner owns the best batting average (.301) of the club’s third basemen who played more than 25 games. Despite only hitting 10 home runs in his six seasons with Cleveland, he ranks sixth in RBIs among third basemen with 401. Gardner also played a big role in the Indians’ 1920 world championship, hitting .310 with 118 RBIs during the regular season. The following season, he bested those numbers, posting a .319 average with 120 RBIs.

Honorable mentions
Buddy Bell’s career really took off just after he left Cleveland. He put together a solid seven seasons with the Tribe, hitting .274 with a .710 OPS. His 24.5 bWAR is the fifth highest among Indians third basemen. But when he got to Texas in 1979, he began a stretch of six straight seasons where he won a Gold Glove Award and was selected to the All-Star Game in four of those years. Travis Fryman won a Gold Glove with the Indians in 2000, alongside teammates Omar Vizquel and Roberto Alomar. It’s the eighth time in MLB history that three infielders on the same team each won the award. Of his eight-year career, he had his best in 2000 with the Tribe, hitting .321 with a .908 OPS.

Brook Jacoby recorded the third-most hits (1,178), home runs (120) and RBIs (524) of Indians third basemen and hit the fourth-most doubles (192). The two-time All-Star wrapped up his nine-year career with the Tribe, hitting .273 with a .750 OPS. Toby Harrah played five of his 17 seasons in Cleveland, posting a career best .304 average and .888 OPS in his All-Star year in 1982. He stole the third-most bases of all Indians third basemen (82) and ranks sixth in bWAR (18.7).

A decade of Carlos Santana: Despite changes in Cleveland, he remains a constant
By Zack Meisel 3h ago 12
Carlos Santana sat on the bench in the visitors dugout at Wrigley Field, a navy winter cap atop his head and a collection of voice recorders inching toward his beard.

While his manager agonized over the decision, Santana shrugged off his shift to the outfield for the Indians’ visit to Chicago’s North Side for a few World Series games in 2016. He had totaled a whopping four innings of major-league experience in left field, but he accepted the assignment so Terry Francona could assemble as imposing a lineup as possible under National League guidelines.

All Santana has ever aimed to do is provide value to the franchise in any manner he can. His batting average hasn’t always sparkled. His position on the diamond has changed several times. And yet, a decade after his debut, Santana has proven to be one of the more productive (and underrated) players in Indians history.

He broke into the big leagues with the Indians on June 11, 2010, a catcher who carried a well-regarded stick. A decade later, now a first baseman, he still calls Cleveland home. “My sweet home,” to be precise.

Santana sits in eighth place on the Indians’ all-time home run list, but he’s only 35 long balls shy of overtaking Albert Belle for second. That would leave only Jim Thome ahead of him. That’s the sort of company that merits a guy a plaque in Heritage Park and a pregame speech at an infield podium on a summer evening.

Santana has racked up more walks than any other Indians hitter not named Thome or Tris Speaker, a couple of Cooperstown residents. He ranks in the top 15 in team history in games played, plate appearances and RBIs, rubbing elbows on the leaderboards with luminaries like Nap Lajoie, Earl Averill, Lou Boudreau and Larry Doby. He has treated Cleveland fans to six walk-off home runs, three shy of Thome’s team record.

Francona has long raved about Santana’s aversion to days off. The manager can etch his name in Sharpie onto every lineup card without a second thought. Santana’s games played in his nine full seasons in the majors: 155, 143, 154, 152, 154, 158, 154, 161, 158.

During his worst seasons, Santana has still been slightly better than league average at the plate. At his best, he’s been an All-Star, a power threat equipped with the patience required of a parent at a toddler’s birthday party.

Carlos Santana, through the years
2010
140
0.401
37
29
2011
124
0.351
97
133
2012
120
0.365
91
101
2013
132
0.377
93
110
2014
127
0.365
113
124
2015
107
0.357
108
122
2016
130
0.366
99
99
2017
115
0.363
88
94
2018
108
0.352
110
93
2019
135
0.397
108
108
(Note: wRC+, or weighted runs created, measures a player’s total offensive value, with 100 being league average. OBP is on-base percentage.)

The Indians acquired Santana and pitcher Jon Meloan from the Dodgers for Casey Blake in 2008, the sort of heist usually accompanied by a prison sentence. Santana debuted less than two years later and he posted a .260/.401/.467 slash line in 46 games before Ryan Kalish’s slide into home at Fenway Park wrecked Santana’s left knee and cut short his rookie season.

Yan Gomes’ arrival in 2013 all but ended Santana’s run as a catcher. He auditioned at third base before finally settling in at first, where he developed into a Gold Glove Award finalist. When the club signed Edwin Encarnación, Santana moonlighted as an outfielder during interleague play.

Before each game, Santana smooches the top of Francona’s head in the dugout for good luck. He once placed pink water wings upon the arms of Juan Uribe, a teammate he called “El Pavo,” or “The Turkey.” Before hitting coach Ty Van Burkleo could finish his coffee one morning last spring, Santana pulled him away from the cage for a quick dance during batting practice.

He also has a serious side. Just ask the Fortnite-loving Phillies. Or ask Yasiel Puig, who failed to run out a ground ball in Minnesota last September and subjected himself to Santana’s wrath upon his return to the bench. Santana ensured the matter was swiftly resolved and wouldn’t happen again.

Santana produced one of the most iconic poses in Indians lore in October 2016, when he planted his knees on Toronto’s green carpet, clutched the baseball that secured the club a World Series berth and spread his arms wide to embrace the stampede of teammates rushing his way. Once the cigar smoke cleared and the champagne puddles evaporated from the visitors clubhouse at the Rogers Centre, Santana pocketed that baseball, a keepsake representing one of his fondest memories as a longtime member of the franchise.


Carlos Santana is responsible for six walk-off home runs for Cleveland. (Jason Miller / Getty Images)
Last summer, Santana authored the perfect homecoming script. He admitted his concentration wavered early in the 2017 season because of his impending free-agent status. He wanted to remain with the Indians, and Chris Antonetti and Mike Chernoff stuck around at the airport for a couple hours after flying back from the Winter Meetings that December to try to finalize a deal with him. Ultimately, the Phillies’ $60 million bid proved too generous for Santana to reject.

Santana never sold his Bratenahl home, though. He rented it to Encarnación in 2018 and then merrily moved back in once the Indians reacquired him (in exchange for Encarnación) a year after his departure. That cheesy quote — if you love something, let it go; if it comes back, it was meant to be — was clearly crafted with Santana and the Indians in mind. Throughout 2019, Santana gushed about how comfortable he felt back in Cleveland, and his output at the plate reflected as much.

In the spring, he declared his intention to capture the first All-Star nod of his career. He reached the break with a .297/.418/.540 clip, which earned him a spot in the Home Run Derby and the role of cleanup hitter in a lineup stocked with superstars. As he strolled to the batter’s box for his first-round matchup against eventual champion Pete Alonso, the roar of the home crowd startled every seagull on Lake Erie’s shore.

Santana played with Russell Branyan and Luis Valbuena, with Grady Sizemore and Travis Hafner, with Nick Swisher and Michael Bourn, with Mike Napoli and Rajai Davis and now with Oscar Mercado and Franmil Reyes. He endured 90-loss seasons under Manny Acta and has enjoyed 90-win campaigns under Francona. He debuted nine days after Armando Galarraga tossed an (im)perfect game against the Indians and has stuck around long enough to witness a pair of Corey Kluber Cy Young campaigns and Shane Bieber’s rise from college walk-on to All-Star Game MVP.

Santana occupies the double locker in the far corner of the clubhouse, a spacious location typically reserved for a long-tenured member of the roster. Everyone has tacitly agreed to ignore the year he spent consuming cheesesteaks and smashing TVs.

The Indians hold a $17.5 million option on Santana for the 2021 season. A normal 2020 season could have vaulted him up the franchise rankings in a variety of categories. By the end of 2021, he could have cracked the top 10 in team history in WAR, runs scored and RBIs, and the top three in games played.

He shifted from catcher to third base to first base, from cleanup hitter to leadoff hitter back to the middle of the lineup, from a guy who drew a ton of walks and hit for some power to a Home Run Derby headliner. And for the last decade, aside from one quick, little escape to Philadelphia — shh, no one talks about that around here — Santana has remained one thing for the Indians: a constant.

Indians add first-round pick Carson Tucker to their stash of shortstop prospects


By Zack Meisel Jun 11, 2020 4
Nine years ago, the Indians drafted a high school shortstop with their first-round selection. They opted for Francisco Lindor over Javy Báez, pinning their hopes of landing a superstar on the kid with the never-fading smile and the never-faulty glove.

On Wednesday night, with Lindor’s fate uncertain, the Indians snagged another shortstop with their first-round choice (No. 23 overall).

But, no. Hang on. That’s not how this works.

Carson Tucker isn’t Lindor’s immediate successor. The draft choice isn’t further proof that Lindor will have a new address in the next year or so. Tucker is simply one well-regarded shortstop prospect in a farm system stocked with them.

That didn’t prevent a reporter from asking Scott Barnsby, the Indians’ amateur scouting director, if Lindor’s hazy future factored into the team’s draft strategy.

“That wasn’t even a consideration for us,” Barnsby said.

Tucker is 18 years old, only three weeks removed from his virtual graduation ceremony from Mountain Pointe High School in Phoenix. He may one day take over at shortstop for the Indians, but that day is at least a few years away (and it doesn’t help that there likely won’t be much of a minor-league season in 2020).

The Indians have loaded up on middle infielders in recent years, both through the draft and the international free-agent market.

Tyler Freeman, a top-100 prospect per Baseball America and MLB Pipeline, was the club’s second-round pick in 2017. He reached High-A Lynchburg (Va.) last year and owns a .319/.379/.441 slash line during his minor-league career. Baseball Prospectus listed Brayan Rocchio as a top-100 prospect this year, even though he just turned 19 in January and has appeared in only 129 professional games.

Freeman, Rocchio and Gabriel Rodriguez all rank within MLB Pipeline’s top-10 Indians prospects. Angel Martinez, Jose Tena and Jose Fermin aren’t far behind. Plus, the club took three shortstops among its first six picks in last year’s draft. They won’t all stick at that position, but Barnsby stressed how much the organization values versatility, and shortstops tend to make smoother transitions to other spots on the diamond.

The Indians do expect Tucker, though, to remain at shortstop. Barnsby lauded his athleticism, speed, arm strength and footwork. Some of that stems from his DNA: Tucker’s father, John, played in the Cardinals organization. His mother ran track and field and played volleyball in college. His older brother, Cole, also a shortstop, broke into the big leagues with the Pirates last year. The Pirates grabbed him with the 24th overall pick in 2014.

Cole marveled at how his younger brother has developed over the last year. Carson grew three inches and added 15 pounds last fall/winter. Cole said Carson would upstage older players in the cages whenever he joined his brother for batting practice. Carson posted a .390/.455/.574 slash line in 92 high school games.

“(The athleticism), combined with the physical maturation, was really a separator for him,” Barnsby said.

Because of the pandemic, teams were forced to make decisions on players with less information and video evidence than they typically possess. Tucker played in only three games this year before his senior season was canceled.

He did participate in a live batting practice session organized by Trevor Bauer in the Arizona desert last month. Bauer and Indians pitchers Logan Allen and Cam Hill threw to a handful of hitters. Tucker launched one of Allen’s offerings toward Sedona. Despite the baseball’s majestic flight path, Allen contends it wasn’t a home run. He did, however, endorse the Indians’ draft decision.

The selection of Tucker marks the sixth consecutive year in which the Indians have turned to the high school ranks for their first pick.

“Best player available,” Barnsby said. “It’s not a targeted approach. Going in, we didn’t know we were going to end up with a high school player.”

The Indians tabbed Tanner Burns with their other Day 1 selection, the 36th overall pick. Burns logged a 2.86 ERA in three years at Auburn University, with 210 strikeouts in 188 2/3 innings. During his sophomore campaign in 2019, he joined Casey Mize — the No. 1 overall pick in 2018 — as the only Auburn pitchers over the last 20 years to record 100 or more strikeouts in a season.

Burns’ fastball clocks in at about 92-93 mph and tops out at 96 mph. Barnsby praised his pair of off-speed pitches as well. Burns was named to the preseason watch list for the 2020 Golden Spikes Award, bestowed upon the top amateur player in the country.

C.T. Bradford, who scouts Alabama for the Indians, played at Mississippi State for Butch Thompson, who now serves as the head coach at Auburn. Burns’ father, Mike, spent three years in the minors with the Astros in the early ‘90s.

The Indians will make four selections on Thursday: Nos. 56, 95, 124 and 154.

Related: John Hart revisits some of the Indians’ best and worst picks

Related: A three-part series on the scouting/drafting processes

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should we all try to make ourselves younger?

Final Thoughts: The Indians’ familiar path to Carson Tucker
By Jason Lloyd Jun 14, 2020 7

Twenty-seven thoughts on the Indians’ first-round pick, the Cavs being left out of the restart and the involvement of Cleveland’s sports leaders in social justice movements …

1. Six years ago, when the Indians were scouting Cole Tucker in advance of the 2014 draft, his father, Jackie, made a prediction.

2. “You’ll be back,” he told Indians area scout Jon Heuerman. “I have a 12-year-old who you will be back to talk to me about.”

3. Heuerman laughed when he recently returned to the Tuckers’ home in Ahwatukee, Ariz., to talk about their youngest son, Carson. Yes, Jackie was right. The Indians were back. And they liked what they saw.

4. There is already a level of familiarity and trust between the organization and their first-round pick, 18-year-old Carson Tucker, in part because of the scouting work the Indians did on Cole. They passed on him to select Bradley Zimmer in the first round in 2014. This time, the Tucker household agrees: In a family of ballplayers, Carson is the best in the house.


A family picture of Carson Tucker leaping to turn a double play when he was in sixth grade. (Courtesy of Jackie Tucker)
5. He could ride a bicycle without training wheels before he was 2. When he was 6, he played on 9U teams. At 11, he was the youngest player on a Team USA 12U national team that played in Taiwan. His father was worried about his son’s nerves playing in front of 15,000 people that day, so he went down to the field to check on him before the game. He found Carson laughing and dancing in the dugout.

6. “Well, shit, I guess I’m the only one who’s nervous,” Jackie laughed.

7. With the help of Micah Franklin, a family friend and former major leaguer, Carson recently revamped his swing. He simplified his hands, cut out a lot of excess movement and changed his feet. The idea was that he has gotten by this far on athletic talent alone, but the changes will help him against better pitching.

8. Jackie Tucker spent a year playing minor-league ball for the Cardinals. His wife, Erin, was a volleyball player and track star (heptathlete) at Arizona. And if you’re worried about signability issues, since Carson is also committed to play shortstop at Texas, forget it. The family has big plans for their son in Cleveland.

9. “This is an opportunity we couldn’t pass up. We are all in. My family is all in for the city of Cleveland,” Jackie said. “He’s coming to Cleveland.”

10. Jackie voluntarily speaks of philanthropy and giving back to the communities where his boys will live. It’s something the family believes in deeply. With Cole in the Pirates system and Carson now on track to get to Cleveland, the Indians already joked the parents will have to start house hunting in Akron, which is fairly central to both Cleveland and Pittsburgh. It’s only a playful joke for now, particularly since the couple’s oldest son is a photographer in California. But those who know the Tucker family well gush over the type of people they are and the boys they have raised.

11. Along those lines, Jackie told me something this week I’ve never heard in more than 20 years in this business. When I called him late one night recently and told him who I was and what I was doing, Jackie said, “If my son is ever disrespectful to you, you better call me.”

12. I joked that all players grow sick of reporters eventually. It comes with the territory. But a handful of conversations I’ve had in recent days makes it clear that this is a special family. Now can the kid play in the majors? We’ll see.

13. As baseball owners and players continue to slug out an agreement to return, I can’t help but notice how the level of distrust between the two sides seems higher here than in any other sport. Now to be clear, I’ve met very few players who trust teams/owners in any league. They’ll say all the right things publicly, but there is a certain level of skepticism involved in all of professional sports.

14. But it’s higher in baseball. And I wonder if it has to do with the fact it’s the only major sport without a salary cap. This is not to advocate for a cap in baseball. I believe in capitalism and earning as much as you can, as much as a business owner is willing to pay you. But when there are caps in place, there is only so much negotiating involved.

15. In baseball, however, there are no limits. There are no caps. There also is no floor. Teams are free to spend as much or as little as they see fit. And when they pull back on veteran free agents, as the case was a couple of winters ago, it creates more animosity and distrust between the two sides.

16. Bottom line: I’ve felt for a while now that baseball is speeding toward a work stoppage when the labor agreement expires next year. This feels like it’s going to get bloody. The last few months have only reinforced that.

17. It was the correct decision to leave the Cavaliers out of the NBA’s restart. However, now the league has to figure out what to do with the eight teams that were omitted. Nine months is simply too long for teams to go without meaningful games, particularly since the eight teams omitted are all relatively young and in various stages of a rebuild. They need court time together.

18. As it stands now, this will be a longer layoff than the eight months between the end of the 2010-11 season and the start of the 2011-12 season, which was delayed by a work stoppage. As the league begins easing sanctions on coaches working on the court with players, the teams left out of the Orlando restart deserve organized time together.

19. “We have asked the league to do things so there’s not a competitive disadvantage. If you take eight, nine months off in between games, there’s no doubt that there will be a competitive disadvantage for your group,” coach J.B. Bickerstaff said. “We’ve had discussions with the other eight teams as coaches to try and figure out a way to put something in place so that we can negate that disadvantage as best as we possibly can. How do we get guys together in our market? How do we get some competitive games out of it?”


Cavaliers coach J.B. Bickerstaff would love to see his young players, like guards Collin Sexton (2) and Darius Garland, get some meaningful games before the start of the 2020-21 season. (Kim Klement / USA Today)
20. Several of Cleveland’s sports leaders are getting involved in the social justice movement. Bickerstaff is part of a subcommittee of the NBA coaches association intended to find ways to make an impact on each of the league’s 28 markets. The committee is composed of both black and white current and former coaches: Lloyd Pierce, Gregg Popovich, Steve Kerr, Stan Van Gundy, David Fizdale, Quin Snyder and Brett Brown.

21. The Indians’ Chris Antonetti, our Ken Rosenthal reported, played a leading role in baseball’s Black Lives Matter statement at the start of the draft. And Browns coach Kevin Stefanski attended a Black Lives Matter protest in Avon, Ohio, last weekend while also signing his name to a petition of more than 1,400 coaches, players and executives across all sports urging Congress to pass the Ending Qualified Immunity Act. The act would allow citizens to pursue legal actions against police and other government officials when they believe their civil rights have been violated.

22. “That was something (the Players Coalition) brought to our attention last week. I did my homework, I did my research,” said Stefanski, who reiterated multiple times he wanted to attach his name to add validity to causes. “We have to do better … most of us realize that there have to be reforms of some sort. I just felt like this was something that was important to support moving forward.”

23. A number of Browns players, including Jarvis Landry, Odell Beckham Jr., Baker Mayfield, Myles Garrett, Joel Bitonio and Larry Ogunjobi, also signed their names to the petition.

24. As for Bickerstaff, in addition to his role on the subcommittee, he was scheduled to meet with the NAACP and the Police Athletic League in recent days.

25. “Our goal and objective here is to put things in place that are sustainable and can hopefully outlast me here in Cleveland,” he said. “The issues we have as a whole in America won’t be solved overnight. But the most important thing to me and the one we want to make sure we’re sending is we’re in the mindset of prevention. Right now, in our society, with the majority of our issues and this issue in particular, we react when it happens. As long as the media cycle is covering it, people are up in arms and they’re doing things and then another distraction comes and we move away from the issue, and then it happens again and we react. What my goal is in working with our organization and my family is to figure out ways we can prevent these incidents from happening. I’m educating myself on the city as best as I possibly can, talking to people who know exactly what is going on, and then we will try to do things that can impact our city long term. A lot of this stuff is blinded by the violence that is happening with the police, but what we need to do also is focus on our communities as a whole and figure out ways to help bridge the poverty gap, figure out ways to help educate our young kids. Because when those opportunities occur, there’s less police interaction when those things are moving in the right direction, which leads to less police violence because there’s less police interaction. Those are all things that we can’t forget.”

26. On the topic of social justice and protests, multiple sources told The Athletic that Rise Nation was one of the downtown businesses that sustained heavy damage during the looting and protests in late May. Derek Millender, the Cavs’ strength and conditioning coach, has an ownership stake in the fitness studio near Rocket Mortgage FieldHouse. Millender declined to comment to our Kelsey Russo through the Cavs.

27. Sports are coming. Hang in there. Talk to you soon.

(Top photo of Carson Tucker: Mike Carlson / Getty Images)

Rosenthal: Manfred must strike a deal with the players or ruin his legacy
By Ken Rosenthal Jun 16, 2020 477
Rob Manfred finally seems to be figuring out he has no choice: Strike a deal with the union and salvage the 2020 season, or ruin his legacy as commissioner of baseball.

As if the perception that Manfred is beholden to owners and out of touch with players was not bad enough, he was trending on Twitter on Monday after performing a massive flip-flop.

Granted, the commissioner is forever in a tricky spot, empowered to act in the best interests of the game, but employed by the owners. Still, how does Manfred in a span of five days go from telling ESPN the season “unequivocally” would take place to saying on the same network he was “not confident” it would happen?

The mere suggestion of a canceled season – seemingly over financial concerns – is offensive. Major League Baseball, shut down by the COVID-19 pandemic, will suffer tremendous consequences if it remains dark for almost 18 months. On top of that, a work stoppage appears increasingly likely after the collective-bargaining agreement expires on Dec. 1, 2021. Yet, rather than see the forest for the trees, Manfred wants to set the forest on fire?

Actually, that’s not his plan.

The threat of a billion-dollar grievance from the Players Association has forced Manfred to reconsider exercising his right to set a schedule for the 2020 season and return to his original mission of reaching a deal that is acceptable to both sides. What he wants now, according to sources, is to stop bickering with the union, start negotiating and reach an agreement that will bring the sport at least temporary order.

Yet for a guy who suddenly is looking for peace, Manfred sure has a funny way of showing it.

He and the owners, supposed stewards of the game, are turning the national pastime into a national punch line, effectively threatening to take their ball and go home while the country struggles with medical, economic and societal concerns.

Baseball is a business, we all know that. But it is a business that former commissioner Bud Selig describes as a social institution with social responsibilities, a business that holds an antitrust exemption, distinguishing it from every other professional sports league. Such a business should hold itself to a higher standard, but in these talks, if you can even call them that, Manfred and the owners keep sinking lower. Unless making dead-on-arrival proposals, tone-deaf public remarks and other assorted blunders is your idea of negotiating savvy.

The March agreement between the parties empowers Manfred to determine the number of games as long as the league pays players their full pro-rated salaries and plays as many games as possible. On June 1, ESPN reported that the league might pursue precisely that course, and the players once again grew angry over what they perceived as a strategic leak.

Well, guess what?

Manfred’s bosses, the owners, evidently are not thrilled with the idea of going forward with a season of 50-odd games over the players’ objections. The players likely would complain Manfred bullied them back onto the field, forcing them to risk their health and safety during a pandemic.

A new, negotiated agreement would address the players’ medical concerns, establish opt-out rules and settle a host of other unresolved issues. And when the alternative without a deal includes a possible grievance that might cost the league hundreds of millions in financial damages, no wonder the owners oppose such a course.

And no wonder Manfred had no choice but to backpedal as if he were running a 100-meter sprint in reverse.

The best commissioners offer statesmanlike presence and superior vision. Few ascribe those qualities to Manfred, and few would argue baseball is in a better place since he took over for Selig on Aug. 14, 2014. Rather than simply enjoy the fruits of the 2016 CBA, a lopsided victory for the owners, the clubs have gorged on them, alienating the players. And once again, they are valuing their own short-term interests over the long-term interests of the sport.

Manfred considers himself a deal-maker. He is reluctant to impose his will even to achieve something as simple as a pitch clock. But once union head Tony Clark responded to the third and most recent of the league’s proposals by saying, “It’s time to get back to work. Tell us when and where,” the commissioner effectively was boxed in.

Not that Clark is necessarily the mastermind of the union’s strategy – that adjective probably more aptly describes Bruce Meyer, whom the PA hired as its lead negotiator nearly two years ago and who appears to be singlehandedly driving the league nuts with his hard-line approach.

MLB officials long for the days when they negotiated with Michael Weiner, the previous head of the union who passed away in November 2013. Weiner was brilliant and levelheaded, and enjoyed a mutual respect with Manfred, who was the league’s lead negotiator under Selig. Meyer, in the league’s view, is far less reasonable, but sorry, the league does not get to pick the other side’s negotiators. Don’t like Meyer? Think Clark is overmatched? Too bad. Find a way to deal with them.

Those on the owners’ side might contend Meyer cares less about baseball than anyone in their camp, criticisms they once leveled at former union heads Donald Fehr and Marvin Miller as well. The job of the union, however, is to assert and protect the legal rights of players. It is essentially playing defense, and if Meyer lacks a feel for the game, Clark certainly has it as a former major leaguer, as do the players who have devoted most of their lives to the sport.

But those players, even though they are the product, control only so much.

Manfred and the owners are the equivalents of the pitcher standing on the mound with the ball – the game can’t begin without them. The March agreement vested Manfred with even more power during the pandemic – the power to resist starting the season until certain conditions were met, as well as the power to set the schedule.

What complicates the situation is that some owners might not want to play at all. Any commissioner who makes decisions that are harmful to the owners or unpopular among them risks getting fired. But Manfred, an attorney who joined Major League Baseball full-time in 1998 and worked closely with the league for a decade before that, seems more determined than most to keep his bosses happy, and not simply by driving revenues to record levels.

An example of Manfred’s deference to owners occurred when he absolved the Astros’ Jim Crane from responsibility in the league’s announcement of the team’s sign-stealing penalties. The Astros’ discipline included suspensions for general manager Jeff Luhnow and manager AJ Hinch, the loss of four high draft picks and a $5 million fine. But the commissioner of baseball seemingly was good with the owner who established the team’s culture?

Then there is the matter of Manfred’s difficulty in connecting with players, as evidenced by his description of the World Series trophy “as a piece of metal” when making a point on ESPN about stripping the Astros of their 2017 World Series title. The remark enraged players and Manfred later apologized for it, but the mere thought offered insight into the way he thinks about his product.

Now consider these negotiations. Perhaps Manfred is struggling to control the hard-line owners who insist the players take a pay cut from the prorated salaries they outlined in the March agreement. But has anyone – Manfred, a more conciliatory owner, anyone – attempted to sway the internal discussions in the other direction? Say to the hard-liners, “Look, we know every club is taking a hit financially, but we can’t engage in tunnel vision, can’t lose sight of the big picture, can’t let our actions reflect badly on our sport?”

The solution to this mess is not terribly complicated. The parties need to stop exchanging angry letters, stop obsessing over how they are perceived in the media, stop making offers in different languages. Then they need to start actually negotiating, perhaps first by resolving numerous secondary issues, then by settling on the pay structure and length of season once and for all.

Last Wednesday, I suggested the owners propose a 72-game season and give the players their full pro-rata salaries. That suggestion probably was ambitious, considering the owners say they will lose money in every game without fans if the players do not accept a pay cut. But the players adamantly oppose a cut, and the owners have yet to make a proposal without one.

So, what number of games at the full daily rate would represent the sweet spot in which the players would agree to an expanded postseason and greater cooperation with broadcasts while forfeiting their right to file a grievance? Is it 62 games? Sixty-five?

Manfred and the owners need to figure it out, and quickly. Most owners will be in the game longer than most players, enabling them to eventually recoup their losses from 2020, then profit from their franchise’s resale values. Manfred, meanwhile, is supposed to be the adult in the room, a leader with a sense of the game’s place in our society, the caretaker of the sport.

If he blows this, it will define him. That should be enough incentive for him to strike a deal, period.

What we know so far about the 2020 MLB season – and other new wrinkles


By Jayson Stark Jun 23, 2020 151
It will be a season like no other. It will be a schedule like no other. (And that’s if it goes off as planned.) So here is what we know about the proposed 2020 schedule so far — and other innovative wrinkles MLB revealed to the 30 clubs Tuesday night:

The schedule
In an effort to minimize travel as much as possible, teams will play all 60 games only against their own division and the corresponding interleague division. Those 60 games will be laid out this way:

• VERSUS OWN DIVISION: Every team will play 10 games apiece against each of the other four teams in its division, for a total of 40 games. Those games would largely be broken down into three-game and two-game series.

• VERSUS INTERLEAGUE DIVISION: Each club will play a total of 20 games against the corresponding interleague division (i.e., East versus East, Central versus Central, West versus West). Six of those games would be against a team’s interleague “rival” (Yankees-Mets, Cubs-White Sox, etc.). The breakdown of the other 14 games has yet to be finalized, but is expected to involve each team playing two interleague opponents three times apiece and the other two clubs four times apiece.

• EASIEST TRAVEL: The 10 NL East and AL East teams will never leave their time zone, so they will have by far the most manageable travel load. The Yankees and Mets, for instance, will play just four teams located more than 240 miles from New York (Rays, Blue Jays, Marlins, Braves).

• HARDEST TRAVEL: The 10 NL West and AL West clubs will be forced to cover three time zones (West, Mountain, Central). And while that’s nothing new in a normal year, it’s a major travel challenge in a season like this, at least compared with the other four divisions.

• EASIEST SCHEDULES: In such an aberrational year, this is tough to predict. But if we go off last season’s standings, the Twins and Indians will play just four teams that had a winning record last year.

• HARDEST SCHEDULES: See above. But again, going off last season’s standings, the Marlins, Orioles and Blue Jays will play seven teams that had records of .500 or better last year.

• LET’S NOT PLAY TWO: Three months ago, there was talk about playing doubleheaders as regularly as once a week, in an attempt to squeeze as many games as possible into a tight window. Now, with health-and-safety protocols dictating teams spend as little time at the park as possible, the tentative schedule will include no scheduled doubleheaders. But with only a handful of off days in a nine-week season, virtually every postponement — either for weather or virus-related reasons — would now have to be made up as part of a doubleheader. So because scheduled doubleheaders would actually limit the ability to reschedule postponed games, that’s one more reason the schedule was laid out with zero doubleheaders.

• INDIVIDUAL TEAM SCHEDULES: For the moment, this schedule is just in tentative form because the players’ union has the right to approve and propose changes to it. So until that process is complete, no further details will be released. As of Tuesday night, teams we surveyed hadn’t even seen drafts of their own schedule, let alone final versions.

Rule changes
• UNIVERSAL DH: For at least the 2020 season (and postseason), all teams will use a designated hitter, marking the first time in history that pitchers won’t hit at any point in a major-league season. As of now, that is for one year only, so the rules in 2021 would revert to their previous incarnation — meaning pitchers would bat in the National League next year (for now). But that’s subject to negotiation, and it’s viewed as unlikely that pitchers will ever hit again in North American professional baseball, except under unusual circumstances.

• EXTRA INNINGS: In an experiment fueled by health-and-safety concerns, all extra innings will now begin with a runner on second base until one team wins. Despite reports that some games could end in a tie, that would be for spring-training exhibitions only. This rule applies only to the regular season only and would be dropped during the postseason. According to Baseball America’s J.J. Cooper, after the minor leagues adapted this rule two years ago, the percentage of extra-inning games decided in the first extra inning rose from 45 percent in 2016-17 to 73 percent in 2018-19.

• POSITION PLAYERS PITCHING: MLB will reverse its new rule which would have allowed position players to pitch only in blowout games or in extra innings. The new rule for 2020 permits position players to pitch at any point of any game.

• SUSPENDED GAMES: You know those games that start and get rained out before the fifth inning (i.e., before they’re considered “official’)? You won’t be seeing any of those this year. Any games that start, but are then halted by weather, will now be considered suspended games — meaning they will be resumed at the point where they were stopped. The purpose of this rule is to avoid long weather delays in an era in which health officials advise having players together at the ballpark for as little time as possible.

Other new wrinkles
• SIGNINGS AND TRANSACTIONS: All 30 teams have been working under a transactions freeze since March, preventing them from adding major-league players. That freeze ends Friday at noon ET.

• THE 60-PLAYER POOL: With no minor-league season to serve as a reservoir for extra players, all teams will carry a pool of 60 players — about half of whom will be part of a taxi squad assigned to an alternate site not located at the team’s home park. Teams will need to submit the names of those 60 players by Sunday at 3 p.m. ET. Clubs can invite as many as all 60 of those players to their major-league spring training camp, but players not on the 40-man roster also can be assigned to an alternate spring training site.

• ROSTER SIZE: Teams will be allowed to carry 30 players on their big-league roster for the first two weeks of the season, then get down to 28 on the 15th day of the season and then to 26 two weeks after that. The new rule that was supposed to limit the number of pitchers on a roster has been waived because of the unusual circumstances of the season.

• THE AGE OF PERSONALIZATION: All hitters will now have to bring their own pine-tar rags, bat donuts and other equipment to and from the on-deck circle — and will have to retrieve their own caps, gloves and sunglasses from the dugout if an inning ends with them on base or batting. All pitchers will now have to bring their own rosin bag to the mound and use only their own baseballs for bullpen sessions. And baseballs used in batting practice can be used only that day, then need to be cleaned and sanitized, and not be re-used for at least five days. So one thing is clear: Teams are going to have to have thousands of baseballs in the old storage closet.

And that’s just one of a zillion ways this season will be different from any that preceded it.

(Photo: Mark Brown / Getty Images)

There will be baseball: The outlook for the 2020 Cleveland Indians

By Zack Meisel 6h ago 28

Imagine the scene: Francisco Lindor delivers the World Series-clinching hit in what’s likely his final at-bat as a member of the Indians, the storybook moment Clevelanders have waited for since 1948.

Except, there’s no crowd to go wild. As Lindor stares down the opposing pitcher in the bottom of the 10th, with a mandatory runner standing atop second base, the ballpark is eerily silent.

There’s no dogpile in the center of the diamond or parade down E. 9th Street, no possible manner of in-person, widespread celebration that adheres to social distancing protocols. The ghosts of Lou Boudreau and Larry Doby and Bob Feller scratch their heads as they watch the members of Cleveland’s roster cautiously celebrate in an otherwise empty venue — no high fives, fist bumps or hugs this year.

This sure would be a memorable way for the Indians to vanquish the league’s cruelest championship hex. Nevertheless, the Indians’ next bid to end their 72-year title drought has, at long last, been plotted on the schedule, with Opening Day set for either July 23 or 24. (Hey, no threat of snow, for once, though perhaps we shouldn’t tempt the 2020 overlords.)

This will be a sprint, not a marathon. The team that best carbo loads will hoist a trophy in late October, provided the pandemic doesn’t derail a season that took the league and the players union three months to implement following an exhausting series of proposals, counteroffers and public tattling.

Indians players started to trickle back to Cleveland in late May and early June. Roberto Pérez, Carlos Santana, Zach Plesac, Logan Allen, Greg Allen, Daniel Johnson, Shane Bieber and Adam Plutko are among those already working out at Progressive Field, where the team plans to host summer camp, beginning July 1. Tyler Naquin has rehabbed in Cleveland since escaping Arizona in March. Carlos Carrasco has traveled back and forth between Cleveland and his Tampa home.

Other players have trained at the team’s complex in Goodyear, Ariz., during the pandemic, including Delino DeShields, Adam Cimber, Phil Maton and José Ramírez. Those not in Cleveland will report via a staggered schedule.

Indians pitchers pledged months ago to arrive at Spring Training Part 2 — Summer Training? 2 Spring 2 Training? — more prepared than they would be for a traditional spring ramp-up period. By the end of May, one Indians starter had already built up to a five-inning workload. But with an abbreviated schedule and expanded rosters, will teams even deploy pitchers in a customary fashion? The Indians could get creative, given their depth. Before injuries intervened, they had three starting pitchers — Plesac, Plutko and Aaron Civale — jockeying for the final two rotation spots.

Carrasco and Mike Clevinger, who dealt with elbow and knee issues, respectively, during spring training — which, at this point, seems like a different millennium — have since healed. Naquin, who was recovering from September knee surgery, just needs some game repetitions to shake off the rust. Emmanuel Clase, the hard-throwing reliever acquired in the Corey Kluber trade, will watch this season from afar after he received an 80-game ban last month for testing positive for a banned substance. Whether he will need to serve the final 20 games of his suspension in 2021 is yet to be determined.

It appears as though second baseman César Hernández and Domingo Santana will appear in games for the Indians instead of a trivia question about free-agent signees who never actually played for the team. Those who were competing for roster spots in the spring, such as Christian Arroyo, Mike Freeman, Yu Chang, Bradley Zimmer and Jake Bauers, could join the 60-player pool that will be divided into an active roster and a taxi squad. The Indians brought 61 players to spring camp; they’ll start the season with a 30-man active roster, which will gradually decrease to 28 and then 26 players as the season unfolds. Teams will have to consider how their minor leaguers will spend their summers and whether their top prospects should receive consideration for a roster spot or taxi-squad placement. Will Nolan Jones and Triston McKenzie lose out on a year of development? Will they train with the big-league players?

Oh, and as for Lindor: His name is certain to pop up in trade rumors again this winter, perhaps even later this summer. But with an Aug. 31 trade deadline, teams would have to determine where they stand after about 35 games. That’s a small sample size. (Not to mention other complications that could alter deadline plans, such as the challenge to evaluate prospect development or the aversion to forcing players to move across the country during a pandemic.)

An aside: Spitting is prohibited. Chewing gum, however, is allowed. So, Terry Francona can tote his bucket of Dubble Bubble to the ballpark.

Teams will battle only opponents from their division and clubs in the corresponding division from the other league. So, the Indians will play 10 games apiece against the Tigers, White Sox, Twins and Royals, while also squaring off against the Reds, Pirates, Cardinals, Brewers and Cubs. (Ohio Cup fans, rejoice!) Originally, the Indians were slated to play the NL West in interleague competition.

Last season, the Indians amassed a 93-69 record but fell short of a playoff berth. No team with 93 or more wins had missed the postseason since … the 2005 Indians, who also went 93-69 but stumbled during the final week of the schedule.

This year, the regular season will feature only 60 games. The Indians, through 60 games in …

2019: 30-30
2018: 32-28
2017: 31-29
2016: 34-26

A second-half team if there ever was one. Of course, this year can’t really compare, with a modified (and expanded) roster and no gradual buildup. Technically, every game will take place during the typical “second half” of the schedule.

“Whether we play one game or 100, our mentality is we always want to win,” Francona said in April. “That’s the way we’re wired. … Whoever handles it the best, you’re going to give yourselves a better chance to win, and that’s just how I feel about everything. This would just be another thing that we’re trying to handle better than the team we’re playing, regardless of what they ask us to do.”

A 60-game schedule could create chaos. It could flash a middle finger toward regression. The lines between contenders and pretenders will be as blurred as ever. Batters who catch fire don’t necessarily have to cool down. If Ramírez, for instance, repeats his first-half funk from 2019, there won’t be time for him to recover. If he continues his late-season surge, he could carry the Indians lineup to October.

There remains a plethora of questions and a virus-spawned cloud of uncertainty as the season comes into focus. Surely, the journey will be shorter and stranger than anything to which baseball fans are accustomed. The mad dash, and the Indians’ attempt to capture that elusive championship, begins in one month.

Here's an important issue that they have resolved:

• POSITION PLAYERS PITCHING: MLB will reverse its new rule which would have allowed position players to pitch only in blowout games or in extra innings. The new rule for 2020 permits position players to pitch at any point of any game.

Is the 3 batter rule for relievers waived too, I didn't see it mentioned but I skimmed through.