Cleveland Sports Forum

EE has 12 homers and 27 RBI, and has gotten on base at a .371 clip so far.

Santana has 5 homers, 19 RBI, and .383 OBP

Dunno, TFIR, all things considered the team probably would have been better off getting Santana back at trade deadline or this upcoming offseason!

HB - obviously based on the early numbers it's hard to argue your point.

This is just me, but a traded athlete is a motivated one. So EE is off to a far better start than we have ever seen. I don't think that keeps up.

I think Santana ends up with better numbers - but only time will tell that one.

Any of you guys subscribe to The Athletic?

Zach Meisel has a new article up about the Tribe’s poor offense, and he says it includes, “some pretty damning insight from an opposing pitcher”

I’d love to see that quote.

I do. I post a lot in here and they are mostly from The Athletic. Here it is:

The Indians’ quest for answers at the plate

Zack Meisel May 13, 2019 28
CHICAGO — There’s an old adage about a baseball season resembling a marathon, not a sprint. Really, it’s a race to find answers.

The sooner the Indians can solve the issues plaguing their roster, the better their chances of chasing down the upstart Twins in the AL Central. It’s early, but it can get late awfully quick.

The Indians are playing with no margin for error. Every slight slip-up haunts them like a caffeinated ghost. On Saturday, a couple of inexcusable defensive lapses wasted Trevor Bauer’s sterling effort on the mound. On Friday, a rare Brad Hand misstep sealed an extra-inning loss. It’s a painful brand of baseball to consume.

The common denominator in each defeat is a lack of hitting.

(I’ll give you a moment to scoop up your jaw from the floor.)

Those with fogged-up glasses could see it coming. Even the Indians entered this season knowing they would likely wind up trading for a bat this summer. The problem is, they can’t just complete a quick fix — tossing a nameless minor leaguer to a non-contender for a veteran outfielder — and cruise to another division title. And, frankly, they never should have assumed such a course of action would suffice in the first place.

Every team has to modify its roster on the fly during the season — the Yankees have somehow survived an injured list the length of a CVS receipt — but the Indians’ offseason approach has left them with a Terminal Tower-high pile of homework. Attempting to plug the lineup’s leaks via trade will only sap the farm system of its newly restocked talent, which seems a bit illogical for a such a payroll-conscious club.

How many Tribe hitters are you certain will post at least a league-average wRC+ (100)? Surely, Francisco Lindor (90 wRC+ at the moment) will work out the kinks with his timing. Carlos Santana (114) as well. José Ramírez (66) has a long way to go. Anyone else?

Last season, Ramírez, Lindor, Michael Brantley, Edwin Encarnacion, Melky Cabrera and Yan Gomes all finished with a mark greater than 100, plus Josh Donaldson, Lonnie Chisenhall and Yandy Díaz in smaller sample sizes.

Jordan Luplow has been one of the Indians’ most proficient hitters this season (146 wRC+). Are we positive he needs to be pigeonholed into a platoon role? I asked Terry Francona that question after Luplow socked a pair of home runs Thursday, and the manager’s response painted a portrait of a team that’s clearly desperate for solutions. Luplow’s minor-league splits aren’t drastically different, though he has exhibited more power against left-handed pitching.

“No,” Francona replied, “in fact, I was just looking at that now, because a guy swings the bat that good, I don’t want to be the one to cool him off. I’ll look at it. But to your point, we don’t want him to be strictly a platoon guy. It’s hard, though, when you have three other guys who are left-handed, so, you know, we’ll see. Your point’s taken and I agree. I’m just not sure what to do right now.”

I half-jokingly interjected and said I didn’t want to come off as though I was telling him how to do his job.

“No, I think that you’re right,” he said. “I just don’t know what to — we have to figure that out. Those things have a way of working themselves out. It’s just, you know, you have to be patient sometimes.”

That’s sensible and fair. But the trade deadline is two months away, and the Indians need to start determining exactly how aggressive they’re going to be should they stay in buyer mode. Will they need an outfielder? Two outfielders? A second baseman? A reliever or some starting pitching depth?

Oscar Mercado isn’t the savior, but it seems unnecessary for him to remain in Columbus, given the club’s shortage of right-handed hitting. His speed and defense would be welcome, too. The Indians want Mercado playing nearly every day, but that might require the end of the Carlos Gonzalez experiment or a Tyler Naquin demotion. At the least, Mercado could spell Leonys Martín against southpaws and mix in against right-handed pitching.

The Indians want to demonstrate patience with their hitters, but there’s just too much hoping and wishing going on at once. Ramírez is the root of the problem; he has shown signs of life, but no signs — the bevy of extra-base hits we grew accustomed to witnessing — that he’s ready to carry an offense for an extended stretch.

The lineup features zero thump. Roberto Pérez’s three-run blast on Sunday was only the club’s third such home run of the season. Martín, the team’s new No. 9 hitter, leads the club with six home runs. The Twins boast seven players with at least that many. And recent blunders on the basepaths have only furthered the Indians’ scoring struggles.
Jake Bauers (Daniel Shirey / Getty Images)

If we remove pitchers’ plate appearances (how do we still have separate rules for each league — wait, that’s a different column), here’s how the Indians’ offense stacks up against the rest of the league:

Batting average: .223 (28th of 30 teams)
On-base percentage: .304 (23rd)
Slugging percentage: .348 (29th)
wRC+: 73 (29th)
Strikeout rate: 25.4 percent (26th)
Home runs: 35 (27th — the Mariners, Astros and Twins have hit more than twice as many)

Here’s what they’ve done fairly well:

Walk rate: 9.8 percent (10th)
Stolen bases: 27 (fifth)

White Sox starter Lucas Giolito revealed some rather damning insight into his approach against the Indians last week. Giolito noted how he threw only three curveballs and one slider and settled on a simple fastball/changeup combination to fluster the floundering Tribe lineup.

“The changeup was keeping them off-balance,” Giolito said. “They weren’t adjusting to it. So we just stuck with that. … I had good feel for my curveball and my slider in the bullpen. I was thinking, ‘Let’s keep that in the back pocket if they start to adjust. But they didn’t really do that. The changeup got better as the game went on. So we just went with that.”

That is not a glowing review of the Indians’ hitting contingent. When an offense is struggling, fans, seeking a scapegoat, often call for the hitting coach’s job. There’s no telling what, if any, impact that will have, this isn’t the 1927 Yankees off to a sluggish start and a new coach would have to catch up to speed on the hitters’ preferences, mechanics and tendencies.

That said, those comments aren’t exactly comforting.

This isn’t some doomsday warning, and anyone who has dedicated a minute or two to watching the Indians has surely recognized the hitting woes. It’s the complexity in finding the proper solutions for the lineup that makes the 21-18 start so unfulfilling. That record seems rather unsustainable if the offense can’t emerge from this mud pit. After all, their run differential sits at minus-9.

Francona and others in the organization have acknowledged the roster is not a finished product. It’s still May, after all. Plenty can change. Teams ebb and flow. Hitters discover their rhythm. Management grows impatient.

It’s all about the search for the right answers — and finding them before it’s too late.

(Top photo: Frank Jansky / Getty Images)

We've talked about this a lot obviously. Losing Brantley was huge. Plus these guys looked up to him.

I can imagine them thinking, "Lindor and Jose Ramirez will have to carry us and hopefully some kids come through".

Well Lindor got injured and JRam got to sucking.

So they went from cutting it close, to catastrophically bad.

It's honestly hard to believe that the front office thought that a club with an outfield consisting of Naquin, Luplow, Martin [whose health they weren't even sure of], Bauers, Allen and the kids they acquired: Mercado and Johnson [before CarGo was picked up] would have anything resembling a contending team's offense.
Maybe they wished upon a star that Kipnis would hit well all season for change.

They either made good cheap choices or got lucky with the bullpen. But not so with the lineup.

And the TEAM knows it.

(See the General Folder for further comments on that)

Mandy Bell of MLB.com reports that the Indians will recall outfield prospect Oscar Mercado.
He's expected to take the roster spot of Tyler Naquin (calf). Mercado has earned the promotion by putting up a .294/.396/.496 batting line with four home runs and 14 stolen bases for Triple-A Columbus. He has elite speed and has consistently put up big steals totals in the minors, making Mercado a viable target in fantasy leagues. The 24-year-old is primarily a center fielder but has played all three outfield spots. He should see regular playing time.

SOURCE: Mandy Bell on Twitter
May 13, 2019, 6:38 PM ET

TYLER NAQUIN
OF, CLEVELAND INDIANS

Tyler Naquin (calf) could be placed on the injured list.
Oscar Mercado is reportedly coming up to take the roster spot of Naquin, who hasn't played since last Friday because of a left calf injury. The Indians are set to face a lefty on Tuesday and have an off day Wednesday, so a backdated IL move would make sense. Jordan Luplow is in right field again Monday.

RELATED: Jordan Luplow
SOURCE: Zack Meisel on Twitter

The Athletics will have a week to trade or release Kendry Morales. Though he played the field in Oakland, most clubs will look at him as a pure DH option, so he’s likeliest to land with an American League club. The Indians have been mixing at matching throughout their lineup all season and parted ways with Hanley Ramirez already, while the Twins are evaluating Nelson Cruz for a potential injury. Morales could also latch on with a non-contender who hopes to bring in a veteran leader that can mentor a younger, developing core of players.

Morales could also latch on with a non-contender who hopes to bring in a veteran leader

That may be definition of the Indians.

I actually thought he might be a good fit, but rumor is the Yankees actually.

Oscar’s no slouch: Mercado isn’t the savior, but he should be a helpful piece

Zack Meisel May 14, 2019 9
CHICAGO — For weeks, two hurdles blocked Oscar Mercado’s path to the major-league roster.

No matter the level, the Indians wanted him playing on a daily basis. A promotion to the big-league bench would do his development no favors. He needs outfield grass beneath his cleats, not Terry Francona’s discarded Dubble Bubble wrappers.

Second, the Indians wanted to monitor the results of his offseason swing changes over a longer period. Mercado recently limped through a weeklong stretch in which he collected only one hit in 25 at-bats. He followed that up with a 9-for-25 week that included two home runs and four walks.

He has cleared both hurdles, in part because Tyler Naquin’s bothersome left calf is preventing him from carrying the baton.

Mercado will join the Indians in time for their Tuesday afternoon tilt against the White Sox on Chicago’s South Side. He’ll replace Naquin, who is headed to the injured list retroactive to Saturday.

That provides an opening for regular plate appearances for the 24-year-old, and it rewards his recent output with a well-deserved promotion, the sort of timing the Indians prefer when making such a move with a prospect.

This cannot be understated: Mercado is not some savior riding into the clubhouse on horseback to rescue the denizens in distress. His presence won’t cure José Ramírez’s power-sapping symptoms or inject life into Jason Kipnis’ lumber or heal the fracture in Corey Kluber’s arm and the bruise in his pitching delivery.

Mercado does, however, fit like a puzzle piece on a roster starved for right-handed hitting. In an ideal setup, he would spell Leonys Martín against lefties and man a corner outfield spot against righties.

Martín vs. LHP this season: .472 OPS
Martín vs. RHP this season: .777 OPS

Mercado vs. LHP this season: .300/.364/.533 slash line in 33 plate appearances
Mercado vs. RHP this season: .292/.406/.483 slash line in 107 plate appearances

On his off days, he could serve as a defensive replacement trusted to haul in every pop fly skied to his side of the outfield, a pinch-hitting weapon deployed against tough southpaw relievers, or a pinch-runner directed to cause havoc on the bases. He stole 14 bases in 17 attempts in 30 games for Class AAA Columbus.
Indians outfielders have compiled a .229/.297/.351 slash line, a 72 wRC+ (which ranks 26th out of 30 teams), with the league’s second-worst strikeout rate (29.5 percent) and a combined -0.2 WAR.

Leonys Martín: 0.4 WAR
Jordan Luplow: 0.2 WAR
Tyler Naquin: 0.1 WAR
Jake Bauers: -0.1 WAR
Carlos Gonzalez: -0.3 WAR
Greg Allen: -0.5 WAR

So, Mercado playing to even a league-average level would offer the Indians an upgrade. Just the fact he swings right-handed is a plus. Francona has placed three or four lefties in succession in the lineup at times, with a limited supply of attractive pinch-hit options at his disposal. As a whole, the Indians own a 71 wRC+, only better than the miserable Marlins, who also are forced, by rule, to include a pitcher in the starting lineup.

The group is pressing, too.

“It’s tough. It’s the hardest part,” Bauers said Monday night after the Indians totaled two hits against the White Sox. “It’s kind of like, what comes first, the chicken or the egg? Do you relax and score more runs? Or do you score more runs and then relax? We’ll see.”

The Indians’ trade for Mercado at last summer’s deadline was the opening act at a grimy, dimly lit concert hall — a footnote to the more pressing Leonys Martín acquisition. The prospects-for-prospects swap snuck past the public radar.

Mercado attended a pair of offseason swing clinics in Cleveland, consulting members of the Indians’ player development staff on how to enhance his offensive profile. They worked on some modifications that would back his bid to drive the ball to the opposite field more often.

His adjustments started to pay dividends the moment he stepped foot in the Arizona desert. He posted a .400/.415/.750 slash line in 40 at-bats during spring training, and he forced the Indians to debate whether he should break camp as a member of the Opening Day roster.

Instead, he trekked to Columbus, where his hitting continued to turn heads. Now, the Indians can observe how Mercado’s refined approach translates against major-league pitching. His performance over the next two months should provide the front office some clarity as it crafts its trade deadline wish list.

It’s unfair to saddle a rookie with the responsibility of rescuing a bumbling batting order, but Mercado has earned a chance to showcase his tools at the sport’s top level.

His path is finally hurdle free, and the Indians are hurting for a spark.

(Photo: Jayne Kamin-Oncea / USA Today)

Butterflies, vomit and wearing the wrong jersey: The MLB debut checklist

Zack Meisel 2h ago 2
CHICAGO — Between his first tee shot and his final putt, Oscar Mercado’s phone buzzed. And buzzed again. And again.

When he finally noticed the missed calls piling up, he thought, “Man, this must be important.” So, he answered the next one. It wasn’t the way in which his manager at Class AAA Columbus, Tony Mansolino, preferred to deliver the news, but he urged Mercado to hurry home to pack his belongings so he could catch an 8 p.m. flight to Chicago to join his new Indians teammates.

Mercado didn’t want his buddies to abandon their round of golf, so he took an Uber back to his apartment. During the ride, he called his parents and siblings to share the news. They all booked last-minute flights from Tampa.

Mercado said he didn’t sleep much Monday night, knowing he’d be in the lineup Tuesday afternoon. He tried to nod off on his flight, but couldn’t halt his frantic mind. Instead, he stared out the plane window and attempted to place the moment in perspective.

“It hits you and you realize that moment you worked for your whole career is finally here,” Mercado said. “It’s something that I’ll never forget.”

Every player remembers his debut and the accompanying emotions and complications. Some struggle to locate the ballpark entrance. Others spend their afternoon kneeling in the clubhouse bathroom while spewing every last bit of guts into the toilet. They all confront the inescapable jitters, the suffocating anxiety, the unparalleled rush.

“This is one of the most exciting days of his life,” Terry Francona said. “There’s no getting (around it). I know having a baby is huge. But you only have one first time in the major leagues. I mean, there’s probably a lot of nerves, maybe a tiny bit of terror, a little bit of anxiety, but a lot of excitement. You just hope that that part actually helps him as opposed to maybe getting in the way. But everybody has to go through it. That’s just the way it is.”

‘You’re wearing the wrong jersey’
After a game in Indianapolis with the Pirates’ Class AAA club, Jordan Luplow joined the big-league club in San Diego in late July 2017. It was his first time flying Southwest, and to add to his unease, he wasn’t aware of the airline’s pick-your-own-seat-at-your-own-peril protocol.

When the news reached the public, Luplow had between 200 and 300 texts, including a slew of messages from numbers he didn’t recognize.

“And I’m a pretty low-key guy,” he said. “I keep my circle pretty small. I couldn’t imagine somebody that’s really friendly and outgoing. My buddy, Cole Tucker, just debuted with the Pirates. He’s the most social person I’ve ever met in my life. He probably had, like, 800 messages.”

The Pirates had an off day before their series against the Padres, so Luplow’s family drove south from their home outside of Fresno, Calif., and secured their own hotel.

Upon his arrival at the ballpark, security wouldn’t grant Luplow entry, since he hadn’t yet obtained his player ID card. He displayed his license, his Instagram page and a visual of the Pirates’ active roster and the guard finally relented.

Luplow didn’t spend spring training in big-league camp, so he estimates he had never met about 90 percent of the members of the roster. So as he learned the batting practice procedures, the pregame schedule and how to navigate Petco Park, he also shook hands with a village of unfamiliar teammates.

As Luplow headed toward the field, Gerrit Cole stopped him.

“Hey, Lup,” he said, “I’m going to say this because it’s your first day, but other than that, you’re on your own: You’re wearing the wrong jersey.”

Luplow had grabbed the one hanging inside his locker, instead of the one the clubhouse attendants had placed on the side of his locker.

“You get the first one under your belt,” Luplow said, “and you’re like, ‘All right, that’s it. Here we go now.’ ”


Mike Clevinger (Mike DiNovo / USA Today)
A half-hour on the bathroom floor
A few hours before he took the mound for his debut, Mike Clevinger wandered outside of Great American Ball Park until he crossed paths with an Indians PR staffer, who directed him to the entrance and, ultimately, the visitors clubhouse.

That was the least of his troubles. About 45 minutes before first pitch, Clevinger dug his knees into the bathroom floor and vomited into a toilet. He nearly ran out of time for his pregame treatment session. And when he jogged onto the field to warm up before the game, he mistakenly dashed toward the Reds’ bullpen until Mike Napoli steered him in the proper direction. Clevinger joked that he “was just checking it out.”

He had an entire contingent of family from Jacksonville in the stands about 20 rows behind the visitors dugout. A handful of his relatives wore pins displaying a photo of Clevinger from 1999, when he played for the Indians in Little League. After an Indians extra-inning win, they all retreated to the team hotel, where they ordered food and celebrated with some beers.

‘Butterflies all day’
Oliver Pérez started the 2002 season at Lake Elsinore, the Padres’ High-A affiliate. He hadn’t yet reached the legal drinking age, but after he made four starts for Class AA Mobile, he received an unexpected ticket to the majors.

“You’re always thinking, ‘I want to be there. I want to be there,’ ” Pérez said. “And then, boom, they call you, and after that, you still can’t believe it.”

He flew to Baltimore to meet the team, but Bruce Bochy told him he would start in San Diego a few days later. That allowed Pérez to notify his family in Culiacan, Mexico. About 10 relatives flew to San Diego for Pérez’s debut against the Mariners on a Sunday afternoon at Qualcomm Stadium.

Pérez quickly noticed the size of the crowd (30,784) and the talent on the Mariners’ roster; Seattle won 116 games the year prior, and it started strong again in 2002.

Pérez tossed his warmup pitches on the mound. And then in stepped one of the most agonizing matchups for any pitcher.

“I had to face Ichiro,” Pérez said, “and I was like, ‘Whoa.’ ”

Pérez struck out Ichiro to commence his big-league career, and he earned the victory with five solid innings of work.

“When you come into the clubhouse,” Pérez said, “you stop and think, ‘I’m in the big leagues.’ You feel butterflies all day. The second day, that’s when you settle in.”

‘Don’t strike out. Don’t strike out.’
Roberto Pérez didn’t get any sleep the night before, but adrenaline carried him through his debut July 10, 2014.

“You don’t have a second to sit down and think about it,” he said. “You have so much going on. As soon as they told me I was coming up, you start calling your family, you have to pack. And you get no sleep.”

He was the first player to arrive at Progressive Field, where he learned the Yankees were in town, and it was Derek Jeter’s final game in Cleveland.

“The clock was moving so slow,” Pérez said. “I wanted to get onto the field.”

Pérez battled New York’s David Phelps in his first plate appearance.

“My back leg was shaking,” he said. “I was just telling myself, ‘Put the ball in play. Don’t strike out. Don’t strike out.’”

He grounded out to second base in his first at-bat, but he walked, singled and slugged a two-run homer in his next three trips to the batter’s box.

‘You’re leading off the next inning.’ ‘Fuck.’
When Francona answered the call at 7 a.m., he assumed his trainer was reminding him of his 8 a.m. doctor appointment.

“I go, ‘I know. I’ll be there,’ ” Francona said. “And he’s like, ‘No, you’re going to the major leagues, man.’ I had never thought about it. So, he goes, ‘You’re leading off. You’ve got to get there.’ ”

Francona arrived at the Denver airport and scanned the newspaper. He noticed Nolan Ryan was starting for the Astros that night against his Expos.

“I’m going, ‘Fuck, Nolan’s pitching,’ ” he said. “I’m like, ‘Holy fuck.’ But I could not get there.”

An air traffic controller strike complicated travel plans, and Francona had trouble leaving Denver on time.

“You talk about anxiety,” Francona said. “I’m thinking, ‘(Manager) Dick Williams is gonna hate me.’”

He arrived at the Astrodome in the fourth inning.

“I walk in the dugout and I was, like, all happy to see the guys I knew,” Francona said, “and Dick Williams is like, ‘You’re leading off the next inning.’ Fuck. Can I at least say hello to somebody?”

The cramped tunnel connecting the clubhouse and dugout didn’t provide much space for Francona to rehearse his swing. He joked that he practiced a vertical, ax-chopping motion.

He didn’t have to face Ryan, who exited after six scoreless innings. Instead, Francona grounded out to first against Dave Smith. He pinch-hit again a few days later, notching his first career hit, and then made his first big-league start.

“I led off,” he said. “I went 0-for-4, got thrown out at the plate and we lost (2-1).”

‘Just soak it all in’
Before Tuesday’s game, Mercado and bench coach Brad Mills circled the left-field grass at Guaranteed Rate Field. Mills filled him in on the intricacies of playing the position at that venue.

Mercado struck out in his first three trips to the plate. He was nicked by a pitch in his fourth visit to the batter’s box.

“The game speeds up for you a little bit because it’s your first day out there, first-day jitters,” Mercado said.

Across the room, Shane Bieber reminisced about his debut, nearly one year ago.

“I woke up with sweaty palms and my mind was racing the whole day,” Bieber said. “I was kind of miserable. It’s a feeling like no other. It’s hard to explain. All I know is, I was happy when it was over. I was happy to get it out of the way and get past it, even though it was something I was looking forward to my whole life.”

After Tuesday’s game, Mercado posed for photos with his family near the Indians’ dugout. He retreated to the clubhouse, sat in the black leather chair at his locker and scrolled through his phone, an unrelenting source of buzzing the last 24 hours.

There are still texts to return, thank-yous to script. He’ll get to all of that Wednesday, when he can finally exhale and prop up his feet in his hotel room in downtown Cleveland.

“A lot of the guys were telling me to just soak it all in,” Mercado said. “I mean, you only get a chance to debut one time.”

(Photo of Oscar Mercado: Matt Marton / USA Today)

What did you think of this story?

Roberto Pérez didn’t get any sleep the night before, but adrenaline carried him through his debut July 10, 2014.

“You don’t have a second to sit down and think about it,” he said. “You have so much going on. As soon as they told me I was coming up, you start calling your family, you have to pack. And you get no sleep.”

He was the first player to arrive at Progressive Field, where he learned the Yankees were in town, and it was Derek Jeter’s final game in Cleveland.

“The clock was moving so slow,” Pérez said. “I wanted to get onto the field.”

Pérez battled New York’s David Phelps in his first plate appearance.

“My back leg was shaking,” he said. “I was just telling myself, ‘Put the ball in play. Don’t strike out. Don’t strike out.’”

He grounded out to second base in his first at-bat, but he walked, singled and slugged a two-run homer in his next three trips to the batter’s box.

Damn HB - nothing like having it ALL downhill after your debut!