Bauer will make 10 million dollars less than the entire payroll of the Indians in 2021.

For those of us who grew up with fathers that loved MLB maybe we should attempt to have a national protest before we are all gone. The game is dying...... MLB needs to have a salary cap. With out it this game is going to disappear !

Jeff Passan
@JeffPassan
·
3m
I think Trevor Bauer getting paid as much as some teams' entire payrolls this season says a lot more about those teams than it does Bauer or the Dodgers


You know for having a father from Cleveland this guy is boring and stupid !

since as Meisel notes above, Luplow will play a corner vs any and all lefties, and since Naylor has no significant differential between facing RH or LH, and is on his list as a potential RF, it seems pretty obvious to me that the logical outcome will be as came to me in a flash of incite a few days ago:

Luplow in RF vs lefties; Naylor vs righties
Naylor at 1B vs lefties; one of the B boys at first vs righties.
There will be probably be room for one extra OF since there'll be a 26 man roster, so 2 among Bradley, Bauers and Johnson could stay on the roster.

So Passan is Rick Passan's kid? I'd wondered.

Carl Willis helped convince Heath Hembree to sign with Cleveland Indians, but analytics was the real draw

Updated 2:47 PM; Today 2:47 PM



Righty Heath Hembree will join the Cleveland Indians for spring training as he looks to regain the form that made him a mainstay in Boston's bullpen for seven seasons.AP


By Joe Noga, cleveland.com

CLEVELAND, Ohio — When Heath Hembree was weighing his options in free agency this offseason, the 32-year-old righty got a little help from a familiar face he knew back in Boston.

Indians pitching coach Carl Willis worked with Hembree for parts of three seasons when he was a youngster pitching out of the Red Sox bullpen. Willis was part of Cleveland’s recruiting effort to snag Hembree, who agreed to a minor-league contract with Cleveland earlier this week worth a reported $1.25 million if he makes the big league club out of spring training.


Hembree said the relationship with Willis was one of several factors that drew him to the Indians, but it wasn’t the only one.

“We built a relationship that we both liked and respected each other,” Hembree told cleveland.com on Thursday. “There’s some familiarity there for me coming over to a new organization. So, it was just something that made my decision a bit easier.”

A big reason Hembree picked Cleveland was the opportunity to work with the club’s player development department and the way it embraces analytics to get the most out of a pitcher’s potential. Hembree said he felt the Indians were maybe a little further along in terms of analytics than any other club he’s played for.

The analytics revolution was in its infancy when Hembree was drafted to San Francisco back in 2010, but the veteran reliever realizes how important the numbers game is now for every player, regardless of when he came on board.

“Seeing the resources (the Indians) have and what’s going to be available to me to develop, I’m going to be able to dive deeper into my repertoire and what makes me “me” on the mound,” Hembree said.


After posting a 2.0 bWAR in seven seasons with Boston, Hembree struggled following a midseason trade to Philadelphia last year. He posted uncharacteristically high numbers for walks per nine innings (4.8) and home runs per nine (6.8) and allowed 13 earned runs in 9 1/3 innings before a sore elbow shut his season down.

Now fully healthy, Hembree says he is looking forward to getting on the mound in Arizona and pitching to his strengths.

“Obviously it starts with my fastball,” he said. “Early in my career I didn’t know what made it good, but now I kind of know about spin and how I can throw my offspeed pitches to help my fastball be that much better.”

Looking at a potential role in Cleveland’s bullpen, Hembree realizes that there is room for somebody with experience, particularly the kind of playoff stripes he earned in 2018 when he did not allow a hit or a run in four outings for the Red Sox on the way to a World Series title. But Hembree says he still can learn plenty from the young talent in the Indians pen.


“I feel like I’m still learning as well,” Hembree said, “I’m just looking forward to getting in the mix with the guys, getting in the flow and trying to build a relationship. If it means bringing a little more experience, I’m just looking forward to getting involved.”

Jeff Passan

American columnist

Jeffrey Scott Passan is an American baseball columnist with ESPN, after a 13-year stint with Yahoo Sports, and author of New York Times Best Seller The Arm: Inside the Billion-Dollar Mystery of the Most Valuable Commodity in Sports. Wikipedia

Born: September 21, 1980 (age 40 years)
Nationality: American

Parents: Rich Passan, Debbie Passan

Education: Solon High School, Syracuse University

rusty2 wrote:Bauer will make 10 million dollars less than the entire payroll of the Indians in 2021.

For those of us who grew up with fathers that loved MLB maybe we should attempt to have a national protest before we are all gone. The game is dying...... MLB needs to have a salary cap. With out it this game is going to disappear !

Well put rusty - the rich get richer. How can MLB be the only sport without anything resembling an effective cap? Absolutes bullshit!

OK, off the soap box because it ain't changing soon so time for me to change the way I look at it.\

Until all that changes the Cleveland Indians will be also rans. No shame in that because the system has turned tons of teams into also rans.

I will point out that expanding the playoffs has some potential for our Tribe. Anything can happen in a shorter series is NOT just a trite saying. There are way too many examples of that.

I do have faith that our knack for developing pitchers will keep our Tribe a fun team to follow and while they may not be favorites they will at the very least be competitive. For me it will still be fun to watch. Expectations have to be adjusted until MLB gets a clue.

(Actually it's the player's union that stands in the way of that. But other unions in pro sports have lived with the cap so I don't think a "union rant" in general is accurate. But I will rant on the MLB union)

I agree 100%. There is very little "sporting" about a system that stacks the deck every season in favor of certain teams.

It will eventually be the downfall of the game if half or more of the teams are waiting to possibly catch lightning in a bottle to win one championship in a generation and big market teams regularly are expected to be serious championship competitors.

https://www.mlb.com/indians/news/best-m ... tions-2021

Ok so sure the Dodgers are No. 1 with Bauer behind Kershaw
And even without Clevinger Padres have a good case to be No. 2
Mets as No 3. with Carrasco rated their No. 2 starter. Perhaps; Carlos wasn't that high in the Indians rotation last year
Yankees as No .4 is nuts. Of course they too feature an ex-Indian as their No. 2 starter but Kluber and Tallion and Montgomery as a trio haven't won 10 games over the past 2 years. Yeah, if they all return to past peak they could be good but that's asking a lot.
Then come Nationals, Braves and White Sox
Cleveland's No. 8. Not unfair since Plesac has a short history; Civale hasn't really proven himself; and of course that's even more true for McKenzie and the uncertain No. 5.

From the Plain Dealer; not much interesting but it's something.
The idea of Mercado who never gets on base hitting 2nd seems absurd to me. I think he hit 9th most of the time in 2019 when he actually was useful.
Bradley playing 1st vs lefties seems highly unlikely too.
Meanwhile not sure why everyone thinks we should send Giminez to AAA when he beat out Rosario last season.
The proposed bullpen looks awful, but I don't know if there are any better current options. Maybe Nick Sandlin impresses in spring training.

CLEVELAND, Ohio -- Manager Terry Francona can always use a little help from his friends.

That’s why Indians beat writers Joe Noga and Paul Hoynes asked their subtext subscribers on Wednesday for their opinions on the Indians’ lineup, rotation and bullpen for the 2021 season. Spring training opens next week and the Indians first spring-training game is Feb. 28. So it’s that time of the year.

We posted two lineups, one against righties and one against lefties, a starting rotation and bullpen on Wednesday. Then we invited subtexters to join the conversation while we discussed the topics on the Cleveland Baseball Talk podcasts Wednesday and Thursday.

Here’s what we texted Wednesday on subtext:

Indians vs. right-handers: 1. 2B Cesar Hernandez (S), 2. CF Oscar Mercado (R), 3. 3B Jose Ramirez (S), 4. LF Eddie Rosario (L), 5. DH Franmil Reyes (R), 6. RF Josh Naylor (L), 7. SS Amed Rosario (R), 8. 1B Bobby Bradley (L) and 9. C Roberto Perez (R).

Indians vs. left-handers: 1. 2B Hernandez (S), 2. CF Mercado (R), 3. 3B Ramirez (S), 4. DH Reyes (R), 5. LF Rosario (L), 6. RF Jordan Luplow (R), 7. SS A. Rosario (R), 8. Perez (R), 9. 1B Bradley (L).

Starting rotation: RHP Shane Bieber, RHP Zach Plesac, RHP Aaron Civale, RHP Triston McKenzie and RHP Cal Quantrill. It should be noted that Noga made a case for Civale following Bieber in the No.2 spot because of the durability and consistency he showed last year in the 60-game sprint.

Bullpen: RHP James Karinchak, RHP Nick Wittgren, RHP Emmanuel Clase, RHP Phil Maton, RHP Adam Plutko, RHP Bryan Shaw, LHP Anthony Gose and RHP Heath Hembree (if the Indians go with an eight-man pen).

Here’s a sample of what we’ve been hearing from out subtext audience.

Regarding the lineup, a subscriber from the Toledo area liked Amed Rosario in the No. 2 spot against righties and lefties and dropped Mercado to No. 9 to take advantage of his speed. Against righties he took a gamble and batted lefties Eddie Rosario, Naylor and Bradly Zimmer or Jake Bauers consecutively in the fifth through seventh spots. He better have some right-handed hitters on the bench to pinch-hit late in the game.

Against lefties he suggested that right-handed hitting Yu Chang should get a chance at first base along with Naylor.

He liked our choice in the rotation, but offered an interesting suggestion for the fourth and fifth spots. Since last year’s 60-game season limited the number of innings starters threw, he wondered if the Indians could rotate a number of starters through those spots to make sure McKenzie and Quantrill weren’t overworked. The Indians have options in Plutko, Logan Allen, Scott Moss, Trevor Stephan, Jordan Humphreys and Sam Hentges.

In the pen, he went with Stephan in the seventh spot with lefties Allen and Gose competing for the eighth spot if needed. Stephan is a Rule 5 Draft pick and the Indians must keep him in the big leagues or offer him back to the Yankees. He felt Zimmer, Chang and Bauers would make the final 26-man roster.

A subtexter from 267 area code in Philadelphia felt Mercado and Bradley should start the season at Class AAA Columbus. He wants to give Bauers a shot at the first base with Naylor helping him out.

He felt Zimmer was being overlooked as an option in center field. He suggested the Indians go bargain-basement hunting and lo and behold they came to terms with veteran center fielder Billy Hamilton to a minor league deal on Thursday night. He also felt the Indians needed a right-handed hitter to push Bauers/Bradley at first base.

Regarding young shortstop Andres Gimenez, who came to the Indians along with Amed Rosario from the Mets in the Francisco Lindor-Carlos Carrasco deal, he felt Gimenez should open at Columbus. He felt Rosario’s offense would help the Indians stay in contention for as long as possible.

An optimistic texter from the Columbus area said he has only two points of concern -- first base and center field. With Carlos Santana relocated in Kansas City, the Indians need Bradley, Bauers or Naylor to produce at first. In center field there’s going to be competition among Mercado, Zimmer and Hamilton. Ben Gamel, who agreed to a minor league deal with the Indians on Thursday, has played center before, but never on a regular basis in the big leagues.

Bleacher Reports projected lineup is much closer to my projection than the Plain Dealer's

Projected Lineup

1. 2B Cesar Hernandez
2. LF Josh Naylor I put Josh 2nd but wasn't sure it made sense; LF? I thought Rosario played Left?
3. 3B Jose Ramirez
4. DH Franmil Reyes
5. RF Eddie Rosario
6. 1B Bobby Bradley f
7. SS Andres Gimenez that makes make 2 votes for Gimenez, many others for Rosario
8. C Roberto Perez
9. CF Oscar Mercado if he can go 269/318/443 as he did in '19 I'd probably keep down here since he's not on base enough
SP Shane Bieber



Notes

The decision to re-sign second baseman Cesar Hernandez means newly acquired Andres Gimenez and Amed Rosario will be battling for playing time on the Cleveland infield.

Adding a proven run producer in Eddie Rosario on a reasonable one-year, $8 million contract will help take some pressure off Jose Ramirez, and a breakout season from Josh Naylor would also go a long way toward reshaping the offense.

The first base and center field jobs will both be up for grabs this spring, with Jake Bauers, Daniel Johnson and Bradley Zimmer among the notable players on the outside looking in, according to this projection.

civ - I believe the Tribe has shown they hugely value defense up the middle - especially SS and catcher. So I also think it will be Gimenez

Do who's the best defensive center fielder ?
Mercado Hamilton A Rosario Zimmer?

Defensively Billy Hamilton and it isn't close.

I think Hamilton's value will be as a part timer - and defensive sub in CF.

Do NOT forget that the 10 inning runner on 2nd rule is in effect again this year. Billy Hamilton is made for that rule. You stick him on 2B as the runner - and the other team has a heart attack because of one of the speediest guys of all time. That rule alone could carve out a niche for him.

Here are his career splits.

https://www.baseball-reference.com/play ... Career&t=b

Hey, it ain't exactly Babe Ruth but he does bat .248 in his career vs. righties (he is a switch hitter). He will steal a bushel of bases.

Another year older and perhaps a step slower. Don't know whether the Tribe worked him out or just looked at what he has done a few years ago.

Free look.