Cleveland Sports Forum

well, that's done now too

Giovanny has had a back problem so not a playtime time this spring. Probably no more "ready" than Lindor but getting a steady solid defender in place of the unmotivated and sloppy Chisenhall is a wise move.

Hell, the team already can't hit. So might as well make the defense better (that wouldn't be tough).

With a pitching staff like ours, makes sense to me.

PS - Dear Mr. Antonetti, please keep looking outside the organization for a 3B upgrade.

I'll look at the stats but I'm betting that our offense is not much off what is normal these days. This is clearly an era where pitching dominates.

The numbers confirm, we're at or slightly above average in the key offensive categories:
No. 5 in batting average; No. 3 in on base pct; No. 8 in slugging average; No. 4 in OPS; No. 7 in runs scored.
We get guys on base very weel, we need to do better getting them home.

http://espn.go.com/mlb/stats/team/_/sta ... /league/al

Translation.

Our good hitters get on then the multiple holes in the lineup strand them.

Another translation - a couple of those categories could be called "The Carlos Santana categories"

Seriously, the problem is their stats are accumulated by a few. Just too many holes in that lineup. Swisher coming back did not help either.

Swisher coming back did not help either.

another injury would be timely. Raburn and Murphy have both stayed over 300, but get less time now that Swish takes up space.

Swish cannot run-basically at all. Legs are necessary for power so unless legs get better-warning track power only unless he hits it just down the line. He is now a pretty big out in our lineup.

I wanted the Tribe to spend some money for years. When they finally did it was on Bourn and Swisher. Careful what you wish for.

at least they have found a way for Bourn to be useful; speed at the bottom of the order, a little more than a straight platoon player, ok in CF.

BA isn't listing picks for every round now.

18th Juco 1b Anthony Miller. No writeup.
22nd Juco 3b Garrett Benge.
When Benge graduated from high school, he didn't gather much attention from recruiters because teams were worried he was too small. There?s nothing Benge can do about his height, but he's added 20 pounds to his 6-foot frame. That may have helped convince Oklahoma State to sign him, but his pure lefty swing and his insane production this year at Cowley County CC made a much louder argument. Benge led junior college hitters in batting average (.502), on-base percentage (.601) and was third in slugging percentage (.946). He struck out only 13 times while walking 51 times. Benge is a below-average runner and is a fringe-average defender at third, but any team picking Benge is making a bet on the bat.

filling in the blanks:

16th round high school 2nd baseman Coby Vance --- it's about time they picked a 2nd baseman
19th round Juco OF Todd Isaacs
20th round high school SS Luke Wakamatsu He gets a scouting report:
Son of former Mariners' manager Don Wakamatsu, Luke is a very polished high school shortstop, much like one would expect for someone who has grown up around the game. Wakamatsu has the hands, actions and range scouts look for in a shortstop. He needs to add good weight and strength to his skinny 6-foot-3, 185-pound frame. Wakamatsu is an above-average runner and he swings the bat well from both sides of the plate but doesn't drive the ball yet. He’s committed to Rice.

21st round rhp Brock Hartson, college player
Hartson has bounced back very well from Tommy John surgery to become a very reliable starter for Texas-San Antonio. Hartson has a 90-92 mph fastball, a potentially average changeup and a fringe-average breaking ball, but he lacks an out pitch.