Bleacher Report - Articles by Bob Salyer

Cleveland Indians' 126-Game Slump: Can Anything Be Done?

Bob Salyer — Sun, 04 May 2008 16:05:14 -0400

Many are asking where the Cleveland Indian’s offense has gone lately.

Well, I am here to inform you that it hasn’t just been the 31 games this season, but the entire second half of the 2007 season and the 14 playoff games—this slump has been with us for 126 games.

I always thought slumps lasted three to five days and that it would only be two or three hitters—not 80 percent of the team.

Looking at some of the Tribe's offensive statistics from last year’s second half of the season, one should note a few things. (As a reference, there are 30 major league teams and remember that the National League still uses pitchers to hit.)

2007 Season, Second Half Stats

The Tribe finished 21st in batting average; 17th in OBP; 27th in slugging percentage; 25th in OPS; 22nd in home runs, RBI, and runs scored; 21st in hits; 25th in total bases; and 20th in at-bats.

The 2008 stats after 31 games

The Tribe is ranked 25th in batting average, 17th in OBP, 25th in slugging, 26th in OPS, 22nd in home runs, 18th in RBI, 21st in runs scored, 28th in hits, 29th in total bases, and 26th in at-bats.

These stats are actually slightly higher than they were back when I first started writing this article a couple of weeks ago.

Scoring 15 and 11 runs in two of the games elevated some of these stats, but unfortunately the extra runs can't be used in other games where we scored fewer than three runs. 16 of the 31 games this season, we have scored less than thee runs.

This, my friends, indicates that this is not a slump.

Slumps are supposed to last a week to ten days, at the most. This pathetic offense slump is not passing 126 games!

All winter, many posters and writers have stated that we needed to get more help offensively. For whatever the reason, General Manager Mark Shapiro and Manager Eric Wedge decided that what we have is good enough.

Now the David Dellucci and Jason Michaels platoon in left field did not work last season, even before Dellucci’s injury. Then they have a still untested, but promising, rookie in Franklin Gutierrez start in right field making both corner outfields positions questionable for the 2008 season.

With no trade occurring, many thought Ben Francisco and Shin-Soo Choo should have been given the opportunity for left field, once Choo was eligible to play. However, Shapiro and Wedge continued to publicly state that they were confident with our outfield.

All of that has been well documented so no reason to pursue that any further.

Then, include having Andy Marte becoming a utility player—even though he can realistically only play third base. Of course, the reason they kept him on the roster was because he was out of options and Shapiro was fearful that Marte might turn into another Brandon Phillips situation. They then decide to not give Marte any chance to prove himself on whether he could ever start for the Tribe on a steady basis.

Include the thought that Casey Blake, who is starting at third base, even though his statistics have started to degrade even further, will become a free agent at the end of he season.

So is all lost, offensively?

If changes are not made soon, we should expect the same type of offensive performance that make pitchers like Dushscherer, Gaudin, Eveland, Mosely, DiNardo, Lester, Galarraga, Blackburn, Baker, Bastista, and Hochevar look like Hall of Famers.

This is where Derek Shelton and the scouting system need to take some heat—actually, a lot of heat.

I know that our pitching staff would love to face our hitters. Starting with the second half of last season, the league has gotten a report on how to pitch to our hitters and be successful.

It doesn’t take a genius to figure it out.

Depending on the hitter, throw soft and curves off the plate and for some, with two strikes high fastball.

I am not a scout but it is so obvious to figure out how to pitch to us.

Former Indian John Farrell just took it up another notch in his approach to our hitters in the American League Championship Series. The other teams have just copied that recipe on how to pitch to the Tribe hitters and so far have been very successful.

Why hasn’t the Tribe coaching staff adjusted the opposing team’s approach?

It appears that our coaches are saying "This worked for the last part of 2006 and early 2007 so why do we have to change?"

Well have hope, Tribe fans. here are a few relatively easy and inexpensive ways to fix what ails our offense.

Move # 1

Trade release Dellucci and Michaels. Dellucci has his batting average all the way up to .267 now and Michaels has reached .207.

Maybe they have shown enough for some team to be interested?

I doubt any team will take Dellucci with us still owing him around $7.75 million for this and next season.

Whatever it takes, these two needs to off the Tribe roster.

Move # 2

Call up Ben Francisco.

I don’t care what he is batting at Buffalo, call him up. Most players would be discouraged and not have their head in the game if they were sent back to Buffalo for the third time after outperforming all of his competition.

Move # 3

This is the big one.

Trade for Reggie Willits of the Angels. They have called him back up from AAA at Salt Lake City. It is obvious he is not in their plans this year, with an outfield of Hunter, Guerrero, Matthews, Jr., Anderson, Rivera, and even Figgins.

I don’t care if it takes a prospect like Trevor Crowe, we need to get a guy who can lead off and play left field—now!

No one knows how many years it will take Crowe to be ready to play for the Tribe and by that time, he could be out of options too.

I need to explain further why we need Willits. Yes, I would love to have Carl Crawford, Alex Rios, or Jason Bay, but Shapiro is not going to give up three or four of his precious prospects for them.

The price tag for Willits should be minimal compared to the other guys. But Willits is a switch hitter, great glove and good arm, great speed to play left field and can steal bases. He has a good eye at the plate with excellent on base average and is only 26 years old and is making $432,000 a year.

He has the makings of a core player for the Tribe.

Most importantly, he can lead off and will allow us to move Grady Sizemore to the No. 3 hitting position in the lineup and move Travis Hafner down to the No. 5 position.

To remind you of what Willits has done in his Major League career with the Angels:

In 476 total at-bats, 89 runs scored, 139 hits, .292 batting average, .394 on base average, 80 walks, and 31 stolen bases.

Imagine a lineup of WILLITS, CABRERA/CARROLL, SIZEMORE, MARTINES, HAFNER, GARKO, PERALTA, GUTIERREZ/FRANCISCO AND BLAKE/MARTE.

Certainly a lot better than what we are currently putting on the field.

If anyone has any concern about Sizemore not batting lead off and batting third instead, look at his stats last year and this season hitting with men on base versus no one on base.

Briefly, for this year Sizemore is hitting .226, .317 OBP, .358 slugging, and .675 OPS with no one on base. With runner(s) on base, he is hitting .350, .481 OBP, .350 slugging, and .831 OPS.

Last season he had the same type of improvement with runners on base. So that tells me that Sizemore is a much more focused and dangerous hitter with men on base.

Batting third would give him more opportunities to hit with runners on base. We have been told for years now that Sizemore needs to be batting lead off by Wedge and company. I don’t know if that ever was really true but if we get a lead off hitter, he can be put in the third position, which will make our entire offensive more productive.

Move # 4

Either play Andy Marte or trade-release him.

We need to find out what his status is before Choo is activated from the disabled list and rehab assignments. At least one of the two must be eliminated. Adding Andy Gonzalez could help this team as utility more than Marte has been able to.

Move # 5

Someone has to pay for the ineffective offense by the Tribe hitters. The first place to start here is the hitting coach, Derek Shelton.

We have too many good ballplayers that are slumping badly and have obviously the wrong hitting philosophy. The scouts around baseball have found out how to pitch to our hitters (change ups and curve ball off the strike zone mainly) and our coaching staff has not responded back adequately.

The man in charge of this offense needs to be held accountable and it should have been done last season, probably in 2006.

In summation, we have some very good offensive players with the Tribe but we have a couple of weak spots that need to be eliminated if we are to be serious contenders for the World Series this year.

Mr. Shapiro and Wedge may have to swallow some pride but they need to look at the larger picture of what is best for the team, not only this year but for years to come.

With the trade to obtain Willits, which would start a chain reaction of moves, we are not going to be robbing our farm system. That was the main fear of Shapiro and others when the names of Rios, Crawford and Bay were mentioned as trade possibilities.

In addition, the offense has been inconsistent for a number of seasons and Shelton needs replaced by bringing in someone with a different and better strategy. My first thoughts here are to pay someone like Tony Gwynn to come in and take over this area. I believe that hitting philosophy is most of the problem and Gwynn can certainly articulate what the Tribe hitters need to do to improve.

One final thought.

In the picture of Shapiro and Wedge celebrating the 2007 Central Division Championship, notice the crowd in the background. To get back to that point of attendance and excitement, something has to be done quickly, to really get the Jake, oops, sorry, Progressive Field rocking again.

We need to make these moves for the team and the fans.

Does This Season for the Tribe Come Down to Preserving Mark Shapiro's Ego?

Bob Salyer — Mon, 21 Apr 2008 15:14:32 -0400

I wrote this article two weeks ago but after review, it still is applicable. What really concerns me this season is that Mark Shapiro and Eric Wedge has really be telling the press and the fans 'untruths'. The both said that who they keep on the roster this year will depend on how they perform, in Spring Training and in the season and not whether they have any options left or guaranteed contracts. That was not the truth.I am at the point where I am wondering if it comes down to preserving Shapiro's ego and not letting unwisely spent dollars walk.First, Andy Marte was kept because Shapiro is still trying to prove that his Coco Crisp/Marte trade was not a horrible trade for the Tribe. Marte performed poorly the last two years with the Tribe and at Buffalo, came in this spring in 'dissapointly poor shape' according Wedge, performed poorly this spring with the exception of a few home runs, his fielding was pathetic. He can really only play third base but he makes the team as a utility man. Remember last season, Marte was given the starting job at third base and Ryan Garko almost didn't make the team. Was Marte playing 'asleep at the wheel' this spring to make sure that the Tribe released him so he could play for another team. He is smart enough to realize that he is not going to get very many at bats with Wedge's buddy Casey Blake around. And even Marte knows that he is not a 'utility player'.Even though I think that he will do fine, Jeremy Carroll had the utility spot sewn up regardless of what Josh Barfield or Andy Gonzalez did. Not base on performance but because he was signed as a free agent. Barfield was doomed for Triple A and Buffalo regardless of what he or anyone else did on the field.David Dellucci and Jason Michaels were given they left field platoon before spring and again, regardless of performance, Francisco or anyone else was destined for Buffalo. There a few teams out there that would take Michaels off our hands as a fourth outfielder but no team is desperate enough to take Dellucci and his $7.75 Million salary that we owe him off our hands.Most knowledgeable baseball fans would much prefer a platoon of Ben Francisco and Shin-Shoo Choo rather than the Dellucci/Michaels platoon, and it comes considerably cheaper too. Don't forget, we have Blake and Carroll who can fill in the outfield if needed. In addition, there are many outfielders out there available that are as good as or better than Dellucci/Michaels if the young guys would falter.Choo, when he is finally activated in late May will be released unless there are injuries to the outfield. The Tribe brass is adamant that they will try to prove that signing Dellucci and Michaels was not a mistake.In spite of all of those wrong decisions, the Tribe may be able to overcome them, just like the large number of poor decisions that were made last season. Injuries, not ability or superior talent evaluation, enabled the Tribe to be bring up players who would not have been given a chance otherwise. And it was not a shock to many of us that they performed well when finally given a chance.If the brain trust of the Indians try to force feed us Dellucci, Michaels and Marte like they tried to force things in 2006, I can see the same type of frustrating season as 2006. Well, it is starting to look a lot like 2006.

If the Cleveland Indians Really Wanted to Win the World Series...

Bob Salyer — Sat, 12 Apr 2008 04:55:07 -0400

Yes, if the Cleveland Indians really want to win the World Series this year without 'giving up the farm', it can be done.

We have moves that need to be made now! And I am talking about moves that will not drain our farm system. Yes, I am frustrated not just about our first ten games, but that much of what we have seen was predictable before the season began. And the Tribe Brass thought nothing needed fixed.

Another part of my frustration is to look around at the young ex-Indians who are doing so well (Phillips, Kouzmanoff, Barton, etc.) and we have David Dellucci, Jason Michaels, and a young fellow in Andy Marte who can only play third base, but will not be given playing time. I see us performing much like we did in 2006 after a very successful season in 2005.

Some of these suggestions will be unpopular, but are a few places to start.

The first one is a no-brainer, trade/release Dellucci, Michaels, and Marte. It is unbelieveable to me that we have these three on our roster, with two of them starting most games. Bring up Ben Francisco and Andy Gonzalez (to take Marte's spot) from Buffalo.

Gonzalez would give us a utility guy who can actually PLAY a number of positions (3B, 1B, and the OF). It seems to me that manager Eric Wedge is falling for that veteran garbage again by playing Michaels in right field so much and letting Gutierrez sit. I see another young man that may be losing his confidence trying to play for Wedge.

The biggest move, the one that will be controversial—sign Barry Bonds. He has stated numerous times that he would love to play for a team that has a chance to go the World Series. Indications are that he would not require a huge salary contract, and it would be for only one year.

The Tribe could be a perfect fit. The big if, is that he must come on the team as a team player, and not expect to have special perks that could throw off the team chemistry.

Yes, the news media will go crazy, but he could be protected from much of that. Bonds obviously doesn't let the fans' criticism effect his play. Getting away from the west coast may be perfect for him. You can also expect a tremendous rise in the ticket sales for the Indian games.

Then what would we expect from Bonds? He would be in left field about half the games and, Ben Francisco the other half. When he isn't playing, just think of the advantage of having a guy like him to pinch hit late in the close games.

Francisco would also be able to relieve Gutierrez in right field against some of the tougher right-handed pitchers. Francisco has shown that he can hit right-handed pitchers much better that Gutierrez.

Then when Shin-Soo Choo is activated, we could send Gonzalez back down to Buffalo and determine if Choo will be able to get playing time and produce under Wedge. I have a concern that for whatever the reason, Wedge has shown very little faith in playing Choo enough to give him a decent opportunity. I don't see that changing with Wedge being the manager.

I would love to see us include Dellucci, Michaels, and Marte in a trade with the Baltimore Orioles to obtain Brian Roberts. The Orioles are playing well now, but their slide will start soon and then they will be looking to trade Roberts. I would be willing to throw in a Jeremy Sowers/Aaron Laffey, as well as a couple of AA prospects. I may even consider Josh Barfield since I don't believe he is in Wedge's plans anymore.

We need to get a great leadoff hitter like Roberts, and quit playing around and allow Sizemore to bat in the second or third position. Even if it means that we have to overwhelm Baltimore, we still have not even started to give away our farm system.

Just think of the lineup we could have: ROBERTS, SIZEMORE, BONDS, MARTINEZ, HAFNER, PERALTA, GARKO, GUTIERREZ, BLAKE. And then a bench of Jamey Carroll, Francisco, Kelley Shoppach, and Gonzalez/Choo. The lineup the Indians have been using is a joke compared to what we could have. Consider our lineup now: SIZEMORE, CABERA, HAFNER, MARTINEZ, PERALTA, GARKO, DELLUCCI, MICHAELS AND BLAKE. That is not a World Series Championship team.

I believe that the pitching will again be our strength. C.C. Sabathia will eventually get his game straightened around. I expect big seasons out of Fausto Carmona and Jake Westbrook. Cliff Lee has looked good early, and Paul Byrd is struggling, but I believe he will be adequate for a fifth starter. Our bullpen will again be a strength for us even, if Joe Borowski should falter.

But our offense is what really needs immediate help. We finished the second half of the last season as the 24th ranked team in many of the major offensive categories. Much of that continued in the playoffs, especially against the Red Sox. Most teams have discovered how to pitch to our lineup, and that has carried over into 2008.

Getting Barry Bonds is without a doubt controversial, but how bad do we want to be able to win a World Series. The great managers know how to direct a team with different type of ballplayers and attitudes. We seem to want to produce a team with a good-guy images but that by itself will never bring championships. I truly believe that Bonds could positively effect the team in many ways.

I do have reservations that Wedge would convince his partner, Mark Shapiro not to make this move. Having a strong-willed personality would create major issues in Wedge's confidence. But Wedge needs to become a real major-league manager that is not fearful of specific ball players.

After all, this is a team game and we should be making moves to make this the best team to compete for the World Series!