rusty2 wrote:Who won that Cliff Lee trade ?

I'd have to say Cliff Lee.

He went to the WS....pitched his way into huge contracts....and is probably sleeping in a house wallpapered with Ben Franklins.

So yeah...I'll go with Lee....washed up and all....

Remember back when $100,000 wasted for Wayne Garland for each of about half dozen years seemed like a financial disaster?

Cleveland Indians fans battling frustration while waiting for Carlos Santana and team to get hot: Terry Pluto

CLEVELAND, Ohio -- When it comes Carlos Santana, the Indians are waiting...

And waiting...

And waiting...

In some ways, Santana is much like the Tribe this season.

The fans keep waiting....

And waiting...

And waiting for something good to happen for more than a few days in a row.

The Tribe is 39-44 after Tuesday's 2-0 victory over Houston. At this pace, the Indians will finish the season at 77-85, which would be a major disappointment.

Sports Illustrated lost its brains (again) by picking the Indians to win the World Series. I discount them.

ESPN's Buster Olney picked them to win the Central Division. In the spring, I had a long conversation with Olney about that and how I didn't see the Tribe being any better than an 87-win team.

ESPN's David Schoenfield ranked all 30 Major League teams in spring training.

He rated the Tribe as the No. 4 team in all of baseball.

He wrote: "Picking the Indians to win the Central isn't really a radical pick -- they won 85 games last season and 92 in 2013. The offense should be above average, especially if (Jason) Kipnis and Brandon Moss are healthy. And while the defense is questionable (last in the majors in overall DRS), it's the young rotation that has come together. ... Second-half stats aren't always predictive, but the Indians had the best rotation ERA in the AL after the All-Star break."

The Indians expected a good year from Santana. They needed a good year from Santana.

But he is batting only .212 (.708 OPS) with 9 HR and 36 RBI. His defense at first base also has been below average compared to a year ago.

CAN THINGS CHANGE?

The Tribe's longest winning streak was six games (May 19-24). In early June, they were 25-26.

That's the closest to a winning record since they started 2-1 to open the season.

But since then, the team just slogs along.

Tuesday's victory raised the Tribe's home record to 16-24, the worst in the American League. A few fans emailed me about the small crowds impacting the home record.

But the Indians actually are averaging a few more fans (17,248) this season than a year ago (16,791).

In 2014, the Tribe was 48-33 at home and 51-30 in 2013.

Even during the dismal 68-94 2012 season, the Indians were 37-44 at home.

Manager Terry Francona offered no theories on the lack of home success, other than not playing "consistent baseball."

He sounds as frustrated by it as the fans.

And if the season is going to change, the Tribe needs to start by winning at home.

SLUMPING SANTANA

Tribe fans know about Santana's slow starts.

Last season, he was batting .160 at the end of May. But then he hit .308 in June, .313 in July,

So by now, Santana was hot in 2014.
And if the season is going to change, the Tribe needs to start by winning at home."

But consider his performance in 2015:

APRIL: Batted .239, 3 HR, 11 RBI.

MAY: Batted .217, 3 HR, 16 RBI.

JUNE: Batted .189, 3 HR, 9 RBI.

JULY: Batting .200, 4-of-20. No homers or RBI.

A switch hitter, Santana has all nine of his homers from the left side of the plate.

He's been a right-handed hitter 101 times, and has only three extra-base hits (all doubles) to show for it.

For his career, Santana has been a better right-handed batter (.274, .826 OPS) than from the left side (.229, .783 OPS). But not this season.

Nothing much is working for Santana.

OPTIONS LIMITED

Francona admitted Santana is "having a tough time right now, but it will happen for him. Guys eventually get to their level, and he will."

So Francona waits.

The manager also doesn't have many options at first base. Nick Swisher is out with knee problems. He came back earlier in the season, but hit only .198 with two homers in 101 at bats.

At Class AAA Columbus, Jesus Aguilar is batting .261 (.728 OPS) with 11 HR and 53 RBI. Columbus is a hitter's park. It's difficult to judge the stats for some players.

For example, Jose Ramirez is hitting .360 in 100 at bats for the Clippers. Lonnie Chisenhall is a .309 hitter in Class AAA. Both had horrible problems hitting early in the season with the Tribe. Ramirez was batting .180, Chisenhall was at .209 at the time of their demotions.

The 29-year-old Santana does have a minor league option left. He came to Cleveland on June 11, 2010. He was inserted into the lineup in the No. 3 spot. He is one of the few members of the Tribe never to make at least one return trip to the minors.

Also at Columbus, 27-year-old Jerry Sands is batting .259 (.908 OPS) with a team-leading 12 homers. He was up with the Tribe early in the season.

They are sticking with Santana.

THE STRUGGLES

The Indians thought they could avoid a slow Santana start.

A year ago, he was trying to play third base. He batted only .129 in 93 at-bats when at that position.

Then, he did some catching, batting only .235 behind the plate.

In the middle of June, he became a full-time first baseman. His bat was revived, and he hit .274 (.912 OPS) with 20 HR, 63 RBI in 94 games.

Francona talked about how Santana caught fire last season in Kansas City (9-of-14, 5 HR in four games). That was July 25-27. But Santana already was finding his swing, as his .308 June batting average showed.

Over the last three seasons, Santana batted .250 (.803 OPS), averaging 22 HR and 79 RBI.

Santana actually reaching those levels this season would mean the kind of torrid finish that could ignite the Tribe.

Corey Kluber (4-9, 3.45 ERA) won his first game since May 28. The Indians won at home. Michael Brantley hit his first homer in 180-at bats, stretching back to May 14.

Santana cut down his huge swing and ripped a couple of base hits in Tuesday's victory. It was the first time in 12 games that he had more than one hit.

The Tribe hopes for the second half of the season don't rest entirely on Santana producing. But unless he does, this season will be just more of the same frustration.

NOWHERESVILLE, Vermont -- When it comes Terry Pluto, VT'er is waiting...

And waiting...

And waiting...

In some ways, Pluto's columns are much like the Tribe this season: you know that another sentence, or game, is coming right up, but it's going to be the same old same old.

VT'er keeps waiting....

And waiting...

And waiting for something interesting and new to show up in the next sentence.

The secret to Cody Allen's unhittable curveball ...

http://m.indians.mlb.com/news/article/1 ... -dominance

Who is Cleveland Indians rookie Cody Anderson?

By John Sickels on Jul 9, 2015

Tonight in Cleveland, the Indians will send rookie right-hander Cody Anderson to the mound to take on the Houston Astros. Anderson has been excellent in his first three major league starts: he's given up just two runs in 23.2 innings for a 0.76 ERA, walking just one guy and giving up only 14 hits in that span while fanning 10. Anderson did not receive a great deal of hype pre-season, so let's take a look at his profile and potential future.

Anderson pitched college baseball at Feather River Junior College in California. He was originally an outfielder but converted to pitching full-time in 2011 and performed well enough (2.15 ERA in 46 innings, 42/18 K/BB) to be drafted in the 14th round. He pitched just five innings in the New York-Penn League after signing, but I had some intriguingly good reports on him from college and filed this summary for the 2012 Baseball Prospect Book:

Cody Anderson was drafted in the 14th round last June from Feather River Junior College in California. The Indians spent $250,000 to sign him away from a junior season at Texas Christian. He’s big, throws 90-94 MPH, and has one of the livelier arms to come out of the junior college ranks last season. His control needs work and his slider and change-up are unrefined, but there is raw material here for the Indians to work with. He could become a mid-rotation starter with proper development. Grade C with upside.

Anderson's 2012 season for Lake County in the Midwest League was decent enough, with a 3.20 ERA, 72/29 K/BB in 98 innings, 92 hits allowed. The scouting reports didn't change much from college: he was still at 90-94 with the fastball and his secondary pitches still needed work, but his fastball command had shown some improvement. He still rated as a Grade C entering 2013.

That season went quite well: 2.34 ERA, 112/31 K/BB in 123 innings for High-A Carolina with 105 hits allowed. He had some issues in three Double-A starts (5.68 ERA) but overall reports were positive with noted improvement in his breaking pitches. The report entering 2014:

He emerged as one of the best pitching prospects in the Indians system last year with a strong run in High-A. He had some problems in his last few starts after moving up to Double-A but no one is holding that against him. Anderson has a classic number four starter profile: low-90s fastball, good slider, decent curveball, weak-but-developing change-up. Nothing is plus but if the change-up comes around he’ll have four pitches to work with. Combine that with decent command and a workhorse body and you have, well, a number four starter. Grade C+.

Alas, 2014 remained a struggle in Double-A: 5.44 ERA, 81/45 K/BB in 126 innings, 141 hits, 17 homers allowed for Akron. This wasn't a problem with his velocity, which actually increased a tiny hair (he was clocked at 90-95 rather than 90-94) but his curveball and slider both deteriorated and he didn't improve the change-up. The report for this spring:

No way around it: Cody Anderson had a bad year in 2014. He entered the season as a trendy sleeper prospect but obviously didn’t live up to that. Although he still showed an intriguing 90-95 MPH fastball, his slider, curveball, and change-up all went backwards. The problems got worse as the season progressed, with a 7.67 ERA in his last six starts. There didn’t seem to be an injury involved, but he doesn’t have the kind of blistering fastball or sharp command to thrive if his secondary pitches aren’t reliable. He could end up in the bullpen and show more dominance in shorter stretches. Grade C.

2015 has been much, much different.

He started off with 10 strong starts for Akron (1.73 ERA, 36/9 K/BB in 52 innings, 44 hits). Promoted to Triple-A Columbus, he went 1-1 with a 2.33 in three starts with an 18/5 K/BB in 19 innings. And now he's here in the majors, looking good in his first three outings.

Okay, so why is this happening?

Looking at the arsenal, we see his four-seam fastball has ticked up again, his heater maxing out just under 97 MPH (96.9) and averaging 92.4, about one MPH faster than most of his minor league career. Although the average velocity hasn't changed much, having a higher available peak helps a bit. Brooksbaseball.net describes the fastball as "a real worm killer that generates an extreme number of groundballs compared to other pitchers' fourseamers". He has relied very heavily on that fastball this year, throwing it 65 percent of the time.

His main secondary pitch in the majors thus far has been his change-up, thrown about 30% of the time and varying between 79 and 85 MPH. That's interesting because reports last year said the change-up was unreliable, seldom-used, and "too firm" at 86-88 MPH according to Baseball America. His 2015 change-up is quite different than the reported 2014 version.

His hard breaking ball has always been described as a slider but PITCHf/x rates it as more of a cutter in 2015 and one he hasn't used that much, a little over 10 percent of the time. He still has the slow curve but has thrown it just six times over his three starts as a show-me pitch.

Putting all that together, Anderson has seen his mainline fastball increase a bit velocity-wise and his command of the pitch has been very strong thus far. His change-up has shown huge improvement compared to last year. He hasn't relied much on his breaking stuff and it will be interesting to see if that changes as he moves forward.

Sabermetrically, the extremely low walk rate in his first three starts is obviously helpful, but his strikeout rate is also quite low, his batting-average-against is unnaturally low at .171 and both indicators are caution flags for the future. The 0.76 ERA can't be sustained of course; his FIP (2.91) and xFIP (3.66) are more realistic barometers. But hey, those are both good enough for him to hold a rotation spot.

Bottom line: Anderson has come a long way in a short time and is much better than last year, but my guess is that he'll give some of that progress back once hitters get a better look at him. Ultimately, however, the projection assessments of Anderson coming out of college (future inning-eating starter) still look like the most likely outcome.

CLEVELAND, Ohio -- Progressive Field resembled a scene out of The Walking Dead on Thursday evening.

The Indians are the walkers, the zombies, the listless entities that can't seem to show signs of life in front of the home crowd or in the first game of a series.

Thursday's 8-1 loss to the White Sox -- another in the lethargic department for Cleveland -- dropped the club to 9-23 in series openers. The Indians also own a 19-27 mark at home this season. Trevor Bauer couldn't blame his outing on an irregular hiatus between starts. Six days after a dud in Cincinnati -- his first outing in nine days, thanks to the All-Star break -- he surrendered six runs on six hits over six frames against Chicago. He served up three home runs in a span of eight batters in the fourth and fifth innings. That erased all memory of three spotless frames to start the night.

The Indians' offense disappeared against White Sox right-hander Jeff Samardzija. Cleveland mustered only four hits. The club scratched across its only run in the sixth inning, as rookie shortstop Francisco Lindor delivered an RBI single. By then, the White Sox had already tallied five runs.

White Sox left fielder Melky Cabrera socked a 94-mph fastball on the inside of the plate for a 384-foot solo shot to right-center to start the fourth. Four batters later, Alexei Ramirez deposited a changeup that Bauer left up in the zone into the left-field bleachers. Chicago's leadoff hitter, Adam Eaton, slugged a fastball 393 feet to right-center to begin the fifth.
Cabrera struck again -- off Tribe reliever Kyle Crockett -- with one on and two outs in the seventh. That provided the final difference. Samardzija, the subject of recent trade rumors, limited the Indians to one run on four hits over eight innings. He didn't walk a batter. He struck out three.

What it means

The Indians dropped to 45-49. They sit just 1 1/2 games in front of last-place Chicago in the American League Central. Seven of the Indians' nine series-opening victories have come away from Progressive Field.

Switch it up

Cabrera became the first White Sox batter to slug a home run from each side of the plate in the same game since Nick Swisher on June 30, 2008. Swisher's feat came against the Indians.

Bauer outage

Bauer has allowed a career-high 17 home runs this season in 115 1/3 innings. He allowed 16 home runs last year in 153 innings. Over his last two starts, he has yielded 11 runs on 13 hits in 10 innings.

Bourn to hit

Tribe center fielder Michael Bourn doubled and singled in his first two trips to the plate. He scored the Indians' only run of the night. He is 8-for-16 in his career against Samardzija.

They came, they saw

An announced crowd of 16,317 watched the affair at the ballpark.

What's next

The Indians and White Sox will reconvene at Progressive Field on Friday night for a 7:10 p.m. first pitch. Tribe right-hander Corey Kluber (5-10, 3.38 ERA) will oppose Chicago southpaw Jose Quintana (4-9, 3.83 ERA). Kluber owns an 0-1 record and 4.20 ERA in two starts against the White Sox this season. The Indians will face Chicago ace Chris Sale on Saturday evening.

Here's a challenging question:

Who is the Tribe's Least Valuable Player this year? Lots of contenders. This site chooses Moss:

http://baseball-players.pointafter.com/ ... andon-Moss

Brandon Moss may be leading the team in both home runs (14) and RBI (46) at the break, but he's still been a net-negative as far as WAR is concerned due to poor defensive play.

Of course, even with the power numbers present, Moss hasn't been stellar at the plate, either. His slash line of .220/.296/.427 with a team-leading 93 strikeouts leaves a lot to be desired. Oddly, he's been much better against left-handed pitching.

We'll see how much good team meetings do:


Struggling Tribe calls for change in attitude
Club holds team meeting following 4-game sweep


By August Fagerstrom / MLB.com | July 26th, 2015

CLEVELAND -- Following the conclusion of a 2-1 loss on Sunday that completed a four-game series in which the Indians were swept at home by the White Sox and outscored, 26-5, the club held a lengthy team meeting.

"We've been playing [poorly], there's no way around it," All-Star second baseman Jason Kipnis said. "Embarrassing. No fight, giving up early. We've got people worrying about their own things, nobody's held accountable. It's just not the way we're going to do business here."

The Indians scored one, zero, three and one run in the four games and never held a lead. After giving up five runs in the first inning Saturday night against Chris Sale, Kipnis felt the team had already given up.

"You come out and give up five versus Sale and everybody acted like it was just an impossible mountain to climb," Kipnis said. "The game was over before the bottom of the first. And it can't be that way."

Sunday's loss in particular was a sloppy performance full of mental lapses and fundamental mistakes. In the third inning, the Indians had runners on second and third with no outs after a pair of leadoff hits. Mike Aviles hit a ground ball to first, and Brandon Moss got caught in a rundown between third and home, eventually being tagged out.

"The issue was he has to just keep going, knowing he's probably going to be out, and then let [Roberto] Perez move up to third," Indians manager Terry Francona said. "Roberto saw him turn around and he went back to second. So, [Moss] turned, an error, and made it worse."

Later, Ryan Raburn misplayed a ball in left field that turned a single into a triple. Aviles threw a ball into center field that could have been an out at second base. When a team scores five runs in a four-game span, the magnitude of mistakes is amplified.

"There has to be respect for every play of the game, every out, paying attention to detail, because you don't know what's going to help you sway a game," Francona said. "That's why we talk so much about paying attention to detail and respecting outs and respecting every play, because you don't want to look up and say, 'If we would've done this, we would've won.'"

The statements from the players in the clubhouse after the team meeting reflected what has been visible on the field.

"Right now we're not playing the game right way," pitcher Danny Salazar said. "We don't have energy -- not on the field or in the dugout. We're supposed to enjoy the game and have fun out there, and we're not doing that. We're just sitting there and not doing much."

Following the sweep to what had previously been the last-place team in the American League Central, the Indians will now host the defending AL champions and the team that currently owns the best record in the league in the Kansas City Royals.

"We need to start attacking better," Francona said. "I'm responsible for that. It has not been going the way I want it to. That'll change, or I'll probably die trying. But, it's going to change. It's going to get better."

7-1 Royals in the 4th...

This should change everything:



CLEVELAND -- The Indians called up left-hander Michael Roth from Triple-A Columbus and optioned first baseman Jesus Aguilar to Triple-A prior to Tuesday night's contest vs. Royals.
The right-handed-hitting Aguilar was promoted from Columbus on July 24 with the Indians scheduled to face a series of left-handed White Sox pitchers in Jose Quintana, Chris Sale and Carlos Rodon. Aguilar started all three games and went 2-for-9 with five strikeouts.



"When we brought up Aguilar, I think I mentioned to you guys that if we felt the need or felt short on pitching, that we might not be able to keep Aggy here," manager Terry Francona said before Tuesday's game against the Royals. "We've been in our bullpen quite a bit. I look at that card every night and it's starting to be pretty thick with guys' usage. We have a night game and then a noon game [on Wednesday], and if somebody goes short, we wouldn't have a chance to undo the damage.

Aguilar made his Major League debut with the Indians last year, batting .121 without a home run over 38 plate appearances. He had a strong 2014 with Columbus, but has had less success in 2015, batting .255/.318/.410 with 13 home runs in 402 plate appearances.

Roth was originally drafted by the Indians in the 31st round of the 2011 Draft, but he chose to return to college. The Angels then selected him in the ninth round of the '12 Draft, and he began his professional career. After spending three years in the Angels' system, making his Major League debut in '13, Roth was twice designated for assignment and elected to become a free agent.

"It was Roth's turn to start tonight [for Columbus]," Francona said. "He's not here to go left-on-left or anything like that, he can give us length out of the bullpen and protect us in case something happens."

The Indians signed Roth to a Minor League contract on Jan. 6. He has made 19 starts for Triple-A Columbus this season, posting a 4.16 ERA in 114 2/3 innings.

"I've had some good games, I've had some bad games down in Triple-A, but it's all in the past and you have to move forward to the opportunities you're given," Roth said. "I'm excited about this opportunity and looking forward to helping the team any way I possibly can."

CLEVELAND -- If the Indians ever intended to be buyers in the days leading up to Friday's non-waiver Trade Deadline, that plan has since been scrapped. A week of offensive ineptitude and the worst home losing streak in four decades has Cleveland re-evaluating the roster it thought could be a contender this year.
Following a 2-1 loss to the American League Central-leading Royals on Tuesday night, general manager Chris Antonetti discussed his club's recent shift in thinking. In light of the recent events on the diamond, the Tribe is now looking toward next season, while also trying to salvage what is remaining of the season at hand.



"A week ago at this point," Antonetti said, "we were looking at all options and actively pursuing ways to add players to our Major League team that were short-term fits. I think our focus is a little bit more longer-term, though we're still discussing players coming back to our Major League team, but only players whose control extends beyond this year. So, it's shifted our focus a little bit."

The first shoe fell in the fourth inning on Tuesday, when veteran outfielder David Murphy received the customary dugout hugs and handshakes that usually accompany a Deadline deal. The 33-year-old Murphy was traded to the Angels in exchange for Double-A shortstop Eric Stamets. It was hardly a blockbuster deal, but the move adds a plus defender with good speed to the Tribe's system.

Moving Murphy removes roughly $2 million from Cleveland's payroll for the remainder of this season, though the Indians will be sending cash considerations as part of the swap. The Indians were already on the hook for a $500,000 buyout of Murphy's contract regardless, if the team did not want to pick up his $7-million team option for 2016.

It was not a trade that will move the needle much one way or the other, but it provided evidence that Cleveland's position in the standings has convinced the front office to begin planning for next year. The Indians have lost six in a row and the team's eight-game losing streak at Progressive Field is the longest home skid since June 8-21, 1975. Since July 10, when the Tribe was two games within .500, it has since gone 3-10.

"I don't think we anticipated being in this spot," Antonetti said, "where we would be trading a veteran like Murphy, who is not only a contributing player on the field, but a great guy on the clubhouse and has been a big part of our team the last few years. This is the situation we're in now and there was an opportunity for us to get back a player we liked and also, as important, may provide an opportunity for a younger player to come up and get some at-bats."

With Friday's Deadline at 4 p.m. ET approaching, the Indians might not be done making moves, either.

For the other players in the clubhouse, it is hard to blame the front office for changing its view of this season.

"I don't think it's the front office's fault. They're playing the hand that they've been dealt this year," outfielder Brandon Moss said. "We've definitely underperformed. For him to say that, I think that's just stating the obvious, as far as it goes for how we've played. Nobody's happy. Nobody's enjoyed this season. ... It's been a tough one.

"It's very tough to sit here and be in here and go through it, because I know what we go through and I know how much we all care. I know how much we all want to win. I know how much we all want to bring fans to the stadium and give them something to root for, but it's just not getting done. And I can't blame Chris for saying what he said."

there was an opportunity for us to get back a player we liked

Yeah, right.

also, as important, may provide an opportunity for a younger player to come up and get some at-bats."

Welcome to Cleveland James Ramsay, I guess, although he's not much in Columbus to earn a promotion

Not Ramsay, they called up Holt. He's more of a center fielder. He bats right. He has no power. Could be a better version of Bourn.