Cleveland Sports Forum

Martin designated for assignment.

Indians Designate Leonys Martin For Assignment
By TC Zencka | June 22, 2019 at 12:16pm CDT

The Indians designated centerfielder Leonys Martin for assignment today, tweets The Athletic’s Zack Meisel. The move makes room for Aaron Civale, who is set to make his major league debut. This might be just the first of a number of moves coming for the Indians in the next couple of days, tweets Meisel.

The Indians somewhat surprisingly entered the season with Martin, 31, as their everyday centerfielder, and through the end of April he managed a 91 wRC+. That kind of offense from a plus defensive centerfielder would be palatable, but Martin’s defensive metrics have taken a dip this season (-1 DRS, -3.3 UZR).

Making matters worse, his offense has fallen off to where he now owns a .199/.276/.343 slash line and an abysmal 62 wRC+. It’s pretty shocking that a team’s valuation of a player can shift so suddenly from starting 65 of the team’s first 75 games to designation for assignment – but such is the state of affairs for the Indians in 2019. June has been particularly tough on Martin, as he has hit just .125/.192/.333 this month.

Looking For A Match In A Clint Frazier Trade
By Connor Byrne | June 21, 2019 at 10:48pm CDT

In July 2016, when the Yankees were on the periphery of the American League playoff race, they made the bold decision to trade superstar reliever Andrew Miller to the Indians for four players. Outfielder Clint Frazier and left-hander Justus Sheffield, two top 100 prospects, headlined an impressive-looking haul for the Yankees. The Yankees’ hope then was that Frazier and Sheffield would eventually turn into indispensable pieces of their 25-man roster, but three years later, we now know it may not happen. Sheffield’s already out of the organization, which flipped him to the Mariners last winter in a package for two years of control over front-line starter James Paxton. Frazier remains, though his place with the franchise could be on shaky ground.



Frazier, who Yankees general manager Brian Cashman once said possesses “legendary bat speed,” has already racked up his most significant major league playing time this season. Returning from a concussion-marred 2018, the 24-year-old has slashed a solid .283/.330/.513 (118 wRC+) with 11 home runs and a .230 ISO in 2019 plate appearances. Although that’s starting-caliber offensive production on your typical team, a healthy Yankees lineup is anything but ordinary.

The acquisition of designated hitter/first baseman Edwin Encarnacion from the Mariners last weekend helped push Frazier out of New York, which subsequently sent him back to Triple-A Scranton. With Encarnacion and Luke Voit at DH/first and Aaron Judge, Giancarlo Stanton, Aaron Hicks, Brett Gardner and Cameron Maybin in the outfield, the team had little choice but to take advantage of its ability to option Frazier. Even with Maybin now going to the injured list, the Yankees may not recall Frazier because he’d mostly ride the bench.

Frazier was understandably displeased with the Yankees when they demoted him, though it seems they still hold him in high regard. Owner Hal Steinbrenner voiced his support for Frazier this week, saying he’s going to be “a big part of this team going forward.” Nevertheless, Steinbrenner’s words won’t quell the trade rumblings hovering around Frazier as the July 31 deadline nears. The Yankees don’t have to trade Frazier, who’s not on track to reach arbitration until after 2020 or free agency until the conclusion of the 2023 campaign, but they may not be able to find consistent playing time for him next year either. While Gardner and Maybin could be gone by then, most or all of Encarnacion (if his $20MM club option is exercised), Voit, Judge, Stanton and Hicks will return in prominent roles.

With little space for Frazier in the near term, the Yankees’ best bet may be to flip him for help this year in an effort to boost a World Series-contending roster. Adding up Frazier’s youth, production in the minors and majors, and controllable status, he’d be a valuable commodity on the trade market. New York’s known to be hunting for a middle- or front-of-the-rotation starting pitcher – something it may be able to acquire by dangling Frazier in talks with other clubs. The Yankees don’t boast a high-end farm system, which would make it all the more logical for them to use Frazier as trade currency this summer.

If the Yankees are going to trade Frazier in the next month-plus, it reportedly won’t be for someone who’s due to become a free agent. Should we take that at face value, it would rule out a deal involving Frazier and Giants left-hander Madison Bumgarner – this year’s most hyped rental starter. Regardless, Bumgarner would have to waive his partial no-trade clause for the Yankees.

The Giants’ outfield is abysmal, which would seem to make Frazier a fit, though it’s still unclear whether they’d choose him over another team’s offer that could be fronted by a top 100 prospect(s). After all, the vast outfield at Oracle Park in San Francisco is no place for a weak defender. Frazier has been that to this point. Factoring in his nationally televised misadventures in right field against the Red Sox on June 3, Frazier has posted minus-7 Defensive Runs Saved and a minus-4.0 Ultimate Zone Rating in just 319 innings as an outfielder this season. Those struggles aren’t anything new for Frazier, who’s at minus-12 DRS with minus-8.4 UZR during his 686-inning big league career as an outfielder.

Bumgarner’s the most proven starter among likely trade chips, but he’s not the most valuable. That honor belongs to Tigers lefty Matthew Boyd, who’s enjoying a breakout season, makes a paltry 2019 salary ($2.6MM) and isn’t set for free agency until after 2022. For all of those reasons, Frazier won’t be enough to headline a package for Boyd, who should be able to net the Tigers a bounty headed by premium prospects. Besides, considering the Tigers don’t want to continue their relationship with defensively limited, offensively gifted corner outfielder Nicholas Castellanos, it’s fair to wonder how much they’d value a similar player in Frazier.

Meanwhile, Detroit’s AL Central rental rival in Cleveland may have its own coveted trade chip in righty Trevor Bauer. The Indians are very much in the wild-card race, yet there has still been ample speculation about a Bauer trade. He’s on a $13MM salary right now and controllable through 2020. Mark Feinsand of MLB.com wrote Thursday that a potential Yankees acquisition of Bauer “would probably be centered around” Frazier. There’s logic behind that – the Indians are already familiar with Frazier, who’d be able to help their woeful offense on a cheap salary right away. However, Frazier alone wouldn’t be able to pry Bauer and his year and a half of remaining control out of Cleveland.

It seems the Yankees would stand a better chance of using Frazier to net Blue Jays righty Marcus Stroman, who, like Bauer, is under control through 2020. Stroman doesn’t have Bauer’s upside, but he’s enjoying a fine bounce-back season at an opportune time for rebuilding Toronto. The fact that Stroman’s earning a reasonable $7.4MM will only help the Blue Jays’ cause when they inevitably move him. Stroman would bring back promising prospects in a trade, but if the Jays want a more established player, Frazier’s bat would fit in an outfield whose only productive full-timer has been Lourdes Gurriel Jr. Although New York and Toronto play in the same division, that wouldn’t serve as a deterrent to a trade. These teams are just a year removed from a deadline deal which saw the Yankees acquire starter J.A. Happ for infielder/outfielder Brandon Drury and outfielder Billy McKinney.

Because we’re discussing high-end starters who’ve come up in trade rumors, we would be remiss not to mention Nationals super-ace Max Scherzer and Diamondbacks No. 1 man Zack Greinke. John Harper of SNY.tv reported Friday the Yankees would love to acquire the still-dominant Scherzer (who wouldn’t?), though it seems like much more of a pipe dream than a realistic hope on their part. For what it’s worth, Nationals general manager Mike Rizzo shot down the idea of dealing the soon-to-be 35-year-old Scherzer last weekend. Even if Rizzo were to reverse course, Frazier wouldn’t come close to leading a package for Scherzer.

Frazier would have a better chance to help the Yankees land Greinke, but there are obvious roadblocks standing in the way of that. For one, thanks in part to the 35-year-old Greinke’s terrific production, the Diamondbacks are hanging in the NL playoff race. Still, if the team attempts to trade Greinke, his contract and 15-team NTC would complicate matters. Greinke, signed through 2021, is still owed upward of $90MM (including deferrals). He’ll also count $34MM-plus per season against the luxury tax until his contract runs out. If the D-backs were to assume a large portion of Greinke’s remaining deal, maybe they and the Yankees could work something out. Greinke would still have to sign off on a trade to the Bronx after that. All things considered, a swap around Frazier and Greinke looks like a long shot, to say the least.

More starters than the above figure to be available around the deadline, but ideal matches look hard to find from the Yankees’ perspective. For instance, Texas lefty Mike Minor would give the Yankees what they want – an effective starter who’s not a rental – though he probably won’t wind up on the move with the Rangers in playoff contention. The same may apply to one of Greinke’s D-backs rotation mates, Robbie Ray.

On paper, Frazier looks like a strong candidate to join a new organization by the end of July. However, in trading Frazier, the Yankees would likely need to acquire someone who would provide a noticeable boost to their World Series chances. We’ll find out soon whether they’ll be able to pull off that difficult feat.

Oops, I should have read Articles folder before I posted in General!

That’s ok, it was worth a repeat. Glad to see Martin go!

Cleveland Indians DFA Leonys Martin; slugger Bobby Bradley close to being promoted


Updated 1:59 PM;


Power-hitter Bobby Bradley is expected to be promoted to Cleveland by the Indians on Sunday or Monday.
David Dermer

Power-hitter Bobby Bradley is expected to be promoted to Cleveland by the Indians on Sunday or Monday.

By Paul Hoynes, cleveland.com

CLEVELAND, Ohio -- Leonys Martin will not have another chance to argue with Francisco Lindor. He won’t have another chance to steal home, either.

Martin was designated for assignment on Saturday by the Indians to make room for rookie right-hander Aaron Civale, who is scheduled to start against the Tigers at 4:10 p.m.

“This was a difficult move for us organizationally with all we’ve been through with Leonys,” said Chris Antonetti, president of baseball operations, “but at this point we felt it was the right thing to do for our team. We have a lot of moving parts right now and we expect there to be some forthcoming moves that will rebalance our roster over the next few days.”


Antonetti said Martin’s poor offense, not his argument with Lindor on Thursday in the dugout at Globe Life Park, was the reason Martin was DFA’d. Lindor and Martin had to be separated after the first inning Thursday after some sloppy play by Martin in center field.

The back story to this move is twofold:

*Rookie Oscar Mercado will replace Martin as the regular center fielder.

*Slugger Bobby Bradley could be wearing an Indians uniform as soon as Sunday. Bradley is hitting .292 (75-for-257) with 17 doubles, 24 homers and 55 RBI at Columbus. He’s posted a .997 OPS.

“Unfortunately, Leonys has just had a really difficult time getting going offensively,” said Antonetti. “We feel there are guys who are capable and have earned some of those at-bats. That kind of led to this decision.”

Martin’s defense seemed to slip as well.

“I think Martin played a fine center field,” said Antonetti. “It may not have been to the caliber that he’s played in the past, but overall on balance that wasn’t the issue. It was more on the offensive side.”

The Indians were desperate for a center fielder last July 31 when they acquired Martin from Detroit. He played six games and then was struck with a life-threatening bacterial infection that cost him the rest of the season. Martin, during his illness, lost 40 pounds.


In November the doctors at Cleveland Clinic cleared him to resume baseball activities. He went through spring training without a hitch, but offensively never recovered his swing.

BOBBY BRADLEY
1B, CLEVELAND INDIANS

Indians recalled 1B Bobby Bradley from Triple-A Columbus.
Bradley struggled in his first taste of Triple-A ball last season but has put up a .292/.359/.638 batting line with 24 home runs and 55 RBI in 67 games for Columbus this year. He does have a 32 percent strikeout rate, though, and the track record says that while Bradley should hit for some power, it wouldn't be a surprise if he struggled. He figures to play regularly between the designated hitter spot and some first base, with Jake Bauers seeing more time in the outfield.

Jun 23, 2019, 9:51 AM ET

That seems fair, but Dan Vogelbach (Seattle) came up this year with the same profile and has been quite the force. To me, he is a good comp.

I was never a big fan of Bradley because of his strikeouts. You know me, that bugs me. But after watching our offense this year it became clear he was a better option than some we were playing.

I'd rather have a guy batting 250 with a lot of homers and strikeouts than a guy batting 200 with very little power.

He's not going to be 1995 Albert Belle, but he will be an improvement.

Indians president Chris Antonetti discusses Leonys Martín’s departure and Bobby Bradley’s future
By Zack Meisel Jun 22, 2019 20

CLEVELAND — It happens all the time. An Indians fan recognizes Chris Antonetti and asks him about potential roster moves.

Lately, Bobby Bradley has been the popular subject of wonder. Antonetti could be strolling along a street in downtown Cleveland or shopping at a grocery store.

“Depends upon who’s at the grocery store with me,” Antonetti said, “but yes, I’ve been asked a lot about Bobby Bradley.”

And what does he tell the grocery store customers?

“It’s exciting to think about Bobby’s future,” Antonetti said. “At some point, we expect that he’ll be here to help us. Hopefully, they see him in the vegetable aisle.”

That move could be imminent. The Indians designated Leonys Martín for assignment Saturday afternoon. That cleared a spot for Aaron Civale to make his major-league debut on the mound. Civale is expected to return to Class AAA Columbus — Mike Clevinger anticipates missing only this one start — and the club will balance its roster, adding some hitting and subtracting some pitching.

“I expect we’ll have other moves,” Antonetti said. “We won’t continue to carry this many pitchers. As much as Tito likes relievers, at some point, we need to rebalance the roster.”

Bradley entered Saturday with a .292/.359/.638 slash line for Columbus this season. He has socked 24 home runs and 17 doubles in 67 games. The one alarming number on his stat line: 91 strikeouts.

Antonetti met with reporters before the game Saturday at Progressive Field. Here’s what he said about Martín’s departure, Oscar Mercado’s emergence, Corey Kluber’s recovery and more.

On the decision to cut ties with Martín: “Difficult move for us organizationally with all we’ve been through with Leonys, but at this point, we felt that it was the right thing to do for our team. We’ve got a lot of moving parts right now and expect there to be some forthcoming moves that will rebalance our roster over the next few days.”

On whether Martín’s argument with Francisco Lindor in the dugout in Texas played a role in the decision: “No effect. I mean unfortunately Leonys has just had a really difficult time getting going offensively, and we feel that there are guys that are capable and have earned some more of those at-bats, and that kind of led to the decision.”

On Martín’s defense in center field: “I think he played a fine center field. It may not have been to the caliber that he had played it in years past, but overall, on balance, that wasn’t the issue. It was more on the offensive side.”

On the emotional difficulty in making the decision: “It was hard. Obviously, as I said, with all the things we’ve been through with Leonys and his family to this point, it wasn’t easy. But we also have an obligation to do what we think is the right thing for the rest of the team, and at this point, that’s how we got to what we did.”

On whether Mercado’s performance made the team more comfortable to make the move: “Yeah, Oscar was a big part of the equation. I think his continued development and emergence as a really productive major-league player for us helped nudge that decision. But it’s also a factor of the way some of the other guys have performed as well because we feel some of the guys on our roster have earned some more at-bats and we can better allocate playing time differently than we have over the last couple of weeks.”

On Carlos Carrasco, who was hanging around the clubhouse Saturday afternoon: “Yeah, he’s making progress. He’s working through his treatment and that’s really all I can say. Beyond that, we really can’t elaborate a whole lot, other than he’s doing well.”

On what intrigued them about Mercado at the trade deadline last season: “Last year at the deadline, one of the things we sought to do was improve some of our upper-level outfield depth and we liked Oscar’s skills package and what we knew about him as a player — a really athletic outfielder that had recently converted and we thought there was still some potential for him to grow and develop on both sides of the ball, offensively and defensively. And to Oscar’s credit, he’s taken ownership of his own development from the day he got here and has continued to make progress really each day that he’s been here and he’s always seeking to learn, always seeking to get better. And that mindset’s a really good ingredient to setting a platform to being a really effective major-league player.”

On what element of Mercado’s game seems most improved: “Really in all facets. He spent a lot of time this offseason, offensively, trying to rework his swing to get it to a point where it’d be more effective and efficient. We’ve seen the benefits of that. He’s continued to get additional experience in the outfield and he’s getting more comfortable out there by the day. And the same thing on the bases. Tito will be the first to tell you, one of the things that’s great about Oscar is that he’ll make mistakes like any young player, but he’s really seeking to learn from them and improve and then he goes about making the adjustments that he needs to make.”
Oscar Mercado (Tim Heitman / USA Today)
On what Jordan Luplow has provided: “Jordan’s been a force for us in the middle of the lineup, especially against lefties. Hopefully, he can continue to build on the momentum he’s established and as he’s getting those opportunities now against some righties, continue to put up productive at-bats. We’ve been really encouraged by the progress he’s made and the impact he’s had on our team.”

On how the team’s performance over the past couple of weeks might influence trade-deadline decision-making: “I don’t think any two-week period will, but we have about five weeks to assess where we are as a team and what things we may or may not want to do to make adjustments. So we have a little bit of time to work through that. But it won’t be focused on any short-term assessment.”

On Jason Kipnis’ recent surge: “Yeah, it’s been really fun to see over the last few days. You can see the difference he can make on our team when he’s playing the way he’s capable of playing. To see him use the whole field and really drive the ball with authority from left-center field to down the right-field line, it’s been really fun to see. Even his infectious energy over the last couple days was contagious within the team. It’s been great to see. Hopefully, he keeps it going.”

On the keys to the team’s improved play of late: “Scoring runs has helped. We’ve gotten more consistent offense from most of our lineup and that’s really helped us on those days when we maybe haven’t pitched as well as we could, we’ve won some games like we did (Friday) night. That’s helpful because now, in the first part of the season we were so reliant upon our pitching that it made it tough to win a bunch of games. But thankfully our offense is now seemingly coming around and has helped us win.”

On the status of Corey Kluber, who is scheduled to get a midweek checkup: “He needs to get a series of scans and continue to first make sure the bone’s fully healed and then once it is we need to continue to build up volume and stress on the arm and that’s what we’re doing now. Hopefully at some point next week he’ll begin throwing.”

On top prospect Triston McKenzie: “He’s still in Arizona. He’s still working his way back from that upper back/shoulder strain from the spring.”

On Dan Otero’s setback during his recovery from a shoulder injury: “He won’t throw for a few days, so his timetable has slowed down a little bit. We don’t yet have a clear time frame for him, but it won’t be in the next few days where he’s back.”

On how the elimination of the August waiver period might influence moves leading up to the July trade deadline: “In terms of any sort of larger trades involving prominent players, I’m not sure it will have much of an impact because it was really difficult to trade those guys in August. The only players that got traded in August were either guys that filled a depth need or players on big contracts that teams let pass on waivers. I don’t think it will have too much of an impact on those big deals, but I do think it will force teams to assess their depth and make even a lot of smaller trades early to be able to make sure that if anything happens in August or September they’re well prepared for it. I would expect the overall volume of trades will increase prior to July 31, even if they may not be the headline-grabbing ones.”

On whether it’s more challenging to be in a position in which they could buy or sell, as opposed to the last few years, when there has been no doubt about their position: “I guess I haven’t looked at it as harder or easier. One of the things we always have to do in our position is figure out how do we balance the near term with the long term. Every decision we make, we’ll have to weigh both of those two things. There are times when we place a heavy emphasis on the short term and what’s in front of us at the expense of the long term and there are times that we make decisions that are more long-term focused. Exactly where we’ll be on that balance in July is really hard to predict. But that’s something we will have to weigh.”

‘We’re living a dream’: The family view of Bobby Bradley’s debut from Row BB

Zack Meisel 3h ago 8
CLEVELAND — Bobby Bradley stood on the far end of the Indians’ clubhouse and stared at the sheet of paper hanging on the bulletin board. A smile spread across his face and he spotted his surname wedged between “Kipnis” and “Plawecki.”

“It’s unbelievable,” he said, before retreating to his locker, where his new white No. 40 jersey waited.

Imagine the scene: a rookie seeing his name on a major-league lineup card for the first time, the realization of a dream he’s had since he was 4 years old.

“Well, you should’ve taken a picture!” says Bradley’s mother, Deloris.

Fair point.

“Aw, man. He’s a really laid-back kid,” she said. “So if you get a smile out of him, it’s something special.”

OK, so there’s no documentation of that memorable moment, but Bradley and his family captured a host of photos and obtained a pile of keepsakes from his debut Sunday afternoon. He received the lineup card, the ball from his first hit — a ground-rule double to left field — and a couple of baseballs to dole out to his mom, sisters and aunt who watched his first big-league game from seats near home plate. Appropriately, they sat in row BB.

On Saturday, Bradley wrapped up afternoon infield practice and Columbus manager Tony Mansolino summoned the 23-year-old to his office. Mansolino informed Bradley he had earned a spot in the MLB Futures Game, but the Indians didn’t want him to participate out of fear he might suffer an injury.

Bradley asked about the Triple-A All-Star Game, slated for July 10 in El Paso, Texas. Did the Indians want him to skip that showcase, too?

“They don’t want you in either of those,” Mansolino said, “because you’re going to Cleveland.”

It took Bradley a minute to grasp what his manager was suggesting.

“Once it finally got through my head, excitement kicked in,” Bradley said.

He called his mom, who just so happened to be visiting Columbus. The Clippers planned to present Bradley with his Player of the Month award for May before their game Saturday. Deloris had asked when the family should arrive at Huntington Park.

“Hey, we’re not doing that anymore,” Bradley told her.

“Why?” she asked.

“I just got called up to Cleveland,” he said.

“What?” she said.

“I’m starting in Cleveland tomorrow,” he said.

She couldn’t believe it, so she made him repeat it.

“Cleveland. Tomorrow.”

And then, a bunch of celebratory screaming.

His casual delivery was no surprise to those who know him best. After all, he still hasn’t revealed to his family that he was tabbed for the Futures Game.

Bradley posted a .361/.426/.652 slash line in rookie ball in 2014 to merit the Arizona League’s MVP honors. His mom asked him for the term used to describe a player who leads the league in batting average, home runs and RBI.

“Triple Crown,” he replied.

“Yeah, didn’t you win the Triple Crown?” she said.

Yeah, he had, when the season ended a week earlier. But this was typical, nonchalant Bradley.

“At that point,” he said, “I was just like, ‘Hmm, I might not be in the minors long.’ And then I started facing a lot more guys the next year and it was like, ‘All right, I have a lot to work on.’”


Bobby Bradley (Jason Miller / Getty Images)
Five years later, he received the long-awaited call to the manager’s office. The Indians have initiated a youth movement this season, with Bradley, the farm system’s most prolific slugger, the latest addition to a young roster. He compiled a .292/.359/.638 slash line at Class AAA Columbus this year, with 24 home runs in 67 games. He also racked up 91 strikeouts. There will be plenty of power. There will be some outages, as well.

Bradley made the two-hour trek north on I-71 on Saturday. He said he struggled to keep his foot off the gas, wanting to arrive as quickly as possible, so he used cruise control. He had envisioned this day for a long time, and it proved challenging to block out the noise once he reached Triple A.

So, a few months ago, he changed his phone number to help him avoid distractions. His mom describes his focuses in life as: “Baseball and home. Baseball and home.”

Bradley remains appreciative of the sacrifices his family made so he could pursue a baseball career. Deloris drove him across the country in her Ford Expedition from their home in Gulfport, Miss. Thirty hours to California. Twenty hours to Cooperstown, N.Y., for a tournament, a visit to the Baseball Hall of Fame and an appearance on “Good Morning America.” Fourteen hours to Cleveland. Ten hours to Jupiter, Fla. Six hours to Atlanta.

They trekked 12 hours to Columbus last week for the Clippers homestand, having no idea their weeklong stay would include a detour to Cleveland. They’ll remain in Cleveland for the Indians’ three-game series against the Royals. Then, they might drive to Baltimore for the weekend set against the Orioles.

Bradley’s sister, Kara, made Deloris a shirt for the trip that reads: “Some people wait their whole lifetime to meet their favorite player. I raised mine.”

“We’re his biggest fans,” Deloris said. “We’re living the dream. We’re having a ball.”



VIEW THIS POST ON INSTAGRAM


HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO THE WOMAN THAT RAISED ME AND HELPED ME GET TO WHERE I AM TODAY THANKFUL FOR ALL THAT YOU’VE DONE AND CONTINUE TO DO FOR ME DAILY HOPE YOU HAVE AN AMAZING DAY! LOVE YOU MOM @MS._DEE55!

A POST SHARED BY BOBBY BRADLEY (@BBRADLEY_44) ON JAN 12, 2018 AT 4:13PM PST

Despite a more than 20-year age gap, Bradley and Kara are close. When Bradley opted to dye his hair blond, he told Kara, but Deloris discovered the new look via a picture in the newspaper.

Kara once took Bradley — an avid hunter and fisherman — to purchase a BB gun. When Bradley revealed to Deloris how he obtained it, Kara yelled: “You sold me out!”

Kara had photo and video duty Sunday. She recorded the action as Bradley clubbed a fastball to left field for an RBI double in the second inning. When the ball dropped and bounced over the fence in foul territory, Bradley’s relatives high-fived. Aunt Patricia danced a bit.

“I thought I got it good enough,” he said, “and I was just like, ‘Please don’t catch it.’”

In his second at-bat, Bradley lined out to the pitcher. Deloris noted how regularly he hits the ball hard, citing his “very heavy hands.” Kara explained that her brother will tap her on the shoulder and she’ll wince and he’ll say, “I didn’t hit you!”

“He hugged me,” Deloris said, “and I’m like, ‘Son, I can’t breathe.’”

Deloris has witnessed “at least four” of her son’s multi-homer games.

“The ball, you don’t know where it goes,” she said. “He hits it, and it’s gone. You see everyone turn. It’s surreal.”

Bradley has always had the size and power. Matt Lawton, a Gulfport native and a longtime big-leaguer who played for the Indians from 2002 to 2004, has watched Bradley since he played in Little League.

He once told Deloris: “That boy will be on somebody’s major-league team.”

Deloris looked at him and replied: “You’re talking about the kid out in center field with a hat full of grass, throwing it up in the air and doing somersaults? That little boy?”

“Yeah,” Lawton said, “that little boy.”

Lawton messaged the family Sunday to express his excitement about the news.

Deloris only slept for two hours Saturday night. She cooked eight turkey legs and four sweet potato pies and packed them for the visit to Cleveland.

Bradley received a rousing ovation from the crowd as he exited the game for a pinch-runner in the eighth inning. His teammates greeted him with a beer shower after the game. Bradley got dressed, conducted a couple of interviews and then reunited with his family to gorge on his favorite foods.

“Just to know that this childhood dream is coming true,” Bradley said, “it’s unreal.”

(Top photo of Bobby Bradley: Ken Blaze / USA Today)

On what intrigued them about Mercado at the trade deadline last season: “Last year at the deadline, one of the things we sought to do was improve some of our upper-level outfield depth and we liked Oscar’s skills package and what we knew about him as a player — a really athletic outfielder that had recently converted and we thought there was still some potential for him to grow and develop on both sides of the ball, offensively and defensively.”

Daniel Johnson acquired from the Nationals in the Gomes deal was a similar pickup.
Luplow and Bauers too.
Team needed near major league ready outfielders and they went out and got them. Some of the quarter should turn out to be contributors. Perhaps no stars [?] but they've re-created a serviceable outfield it seems. [Perhaps Zimmer will rejoin the cast too]

Baby steps: Cleveland Indians’ Corey Kluber works in bullpen; Carlos Carrasco plays catch

By Paul Hoynes, cleveland.com

CLEVELAND, Ohio -- The Indians still don’t know if veteran starters Corey Kluber and Carlos Carrasco will pitch again this season. But on a humid Monday morning in the team’s bullpen behind the center field wall at Progressive Field, some baby steps were taken that could lead them back to games sometime this season.

Kluber was going through his throwing motion, while wearing two stabilizing straps. He went through his full windup, without throwing a ball. He has been on the injured list since May 3 with a broken right forearm after being hit by a line drive on May 1.


He is scheduled to go through a series of MRIs this week to see if the non-displaced fracture of his ulna bone is healed. Depending on what the tests show, Chris Antonetti, president of baseball operations, said Kluber may start throwing sometime later this week.

Carrasco followed Kluber’s workout by playing catch. He has been on the injured list since June 5 with an unspecified blood condition. The Indians can’t comment on Carrasco’s condition because it is not a baseball-related issue. He is receiving treatment and it is not believed to be life threatening.

It’s possible that Carrasco could return to the mound before Kluber if his condition can be monitored. But that probably won’t be known for another two or three weeks.

Carrasco’s last start was May 30. It was his third straight loss and he told the Indians he’d been feeling fatigued. He has a history of heart problems and new blood tests revealed his current condition.

The Indians have had three-fifths of their starting rotation on the injured list for much of the first three months of the season. Mike Clevinger is expected to be activated and start against Baltimore on Friday.

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CLEVELAND -- Over the past week, Jason Kipnis has proved it can be as simple as finding a small fix in a swing to flip on an offensive switch. Since he made an adjustment with his hands nine games ago, the 32-year-old has been red-hot and he did not slow down on Monday night.

Kipnis capped a long night at Progressive Field with a homer in the 10th inning to give the Indians a 3-2 walk-off victory over the Royals. It was Kipnis’ third career walk-off homer and his sixth walk-off plate appearance. The series opener also featured a rain delay of 2 hours, 23 minutes in the bottom of the fourth.

“It's an awesome feeling,” Kipnis said. “It never gets old. Getting a hit never gets old. Hitting a home run never gets old. To do it all as a walk-off, it's a thrill, it's a rush, to look back at all your teammates running out to home plate. It really is one of the better rushes in the game.”

• Box score

As Kipnis rounded third base, he saw Francisco Lindor running toward home plate to greet him with a Gatorade cooler. That’s when Kipnis decided to attempt a spin move to avoid the splash zone, as he ran into the dog pile waiting for him at the plate.

“Anyone else, I probably would have let it go,” Kipnis said. “But because it was Frankie, I decided to spin move him. Hit the B button on him.”
Since making that adjustment on Father’s Day in Detroit, Kipnis is hitting .471 with four homers, 14 RBIs and a 1.411 OPS in nine games. The homer against the Royals was part of a three-hit night for the Tribe’s second baseman, his sixth multi-hit performance in his last nine contests.

“Sometimes a guy will get the feel and it’s -- like with Kip, I think it’s his hands,” manager Terry Francona said. “Sometimes he feels like his hands are kind of like underwater. That’s not what he says. But he has such good hitter’s hands, and when he feels good, he gets pretty dangerous.”

Kipnis has been in the game long enough to know that he can lose the feel of his bat as quickly as he found it. But he’s trying to stick to a system that he’s created to try to ride this hot streak as long as he can.
“There are certain checkpoints that I kind of go [for] when I'm in the cage,” Kipnis said. “I have them written down, that it's something I want to feel whether it's a T-drill or a flip drill, I have different checkpoints I need to cross off before I get out of the cage. I get out of there, going out of the cage, feeling good. With the hands in the right position, it really does, everything kind of falls into line with my body, my weight balance and zone awareness I guess.”

The Royals struck first in the fourth inning, as Whit Merrifield homered to left-center field off Indians starter Adam Plutko just before the tarp was rolled onto the field. When play resumed, Jose Ramirez continued his hot streak by tying the game at 1 with an RBI double to left. In his last 11 games, Ramirez is hitting .326 with three doubles, two triples, one homer, nine RBIs and a .946 OPS.

“Josey looks like he’s starting to feel a little more like Jose,” Francona said.

“Guys who got off to slow starts, you knew they were going to start picking it up a little bit,” Kipnis said. “Especially if it all happens at the same time, kind of like it is right now with me and Jose a little bit. I thought [Roberto Perez] and Frankie kind of carried us earlier, and now our lineup is lengthening, it's getting tougher. We're creating runs in different ways and I think if you add that to the pitching that's always been there, and the bullpen, it's a good recipe for wins.”

Indians - The Athletic - Eno Sarris

After all the admonishments for their parsimonious offseason, the Indians’ plan is finally starting to take shape, at least on the offensive side.

After letting Leonys Martin and Carlos González go and calling up Bobby Bradley and Oscar Mercado, the lineup has some upside and doesn’t look as terrible at the bottom as it did earlier this season. By projections, the team should now have seven players with above-average numbers going forward, and that doesn’t count the surging Bradley and Mercado, who have shown more power this year. Maybe someone like Nick Castellanos would be safer, but Bradley has put three balls in play and already has as many 110-plus EV balls as the Tiger has had all year.

Maybe their internal additions mean the Indians don’t need a bat as much as it once seemed?

On the other side of the ledger, they’ve taken a ton of punches. Injuries to Mike Clevinger and Corey Kluber have contributed to the slow start. But now Clevinger is back, and Kluber will count as the best trade-deadline acquisition in the business.

That leaves the bullpen, which has performed admirably overall but might have one small weakness that it could remedy to set itself up for a wild-card run without spending much: Velocity. Despite having the third-best pen by WAR, the Indians currently have a single reliever with an above-average fastball by velocity, and that’s the up-and-down A.J. Cole. That’s how the Indians ended up with the worst reliever fastball velocity in the big leagues this year.

Of course, velocity is in demand, and relievers close to free agency usually have seen their radar readings decline, so it’s a tricky thing to shop for. But Baltimore has Mychal Givens throwing 95 mph, and maybe getting him out of Baltimore would help solve that homeritis he’s dealing with. If the Royals throw some money down on Ian Kennedy’s salary (he’s owed over $20 million more until the end of 2020), maybe that would be a sneaky acquisition, considering he’s been throwing 95 mph over the past month as a reliever. Because of their years of control, flamethrowers like Joe Jiménez and Tayron Guerrero would just take more than the Indians might want to spend to upgrade a bullpen that’s already performing well. On the way out, the Indians can send two undersized arms with some potential — Nick Sandlin is a side-armer who, at worst, could help replace Darren O’Day in that bullpen in the future.

Proposal: RHP Eli Morgan and RHP Nick Sandlin to the Baltimore Orioles for RHP Mychal Givens.

Ducking from the chairs civ and HB are throwing...