Cleveland Sports Forum

I certainly can't argue with those observations.

You do have to realize that Bourn's appeal is certainly not in the .OPS department. And his defense is beyond reproach.

Don't get me wrong, I certainly wish and hope for some late winter acquisitions that upgrade either the offense or rotation. Last year a lot of things happened late.

But I do think there's room for optimism for internal improvement offensively for sure.

BA takes a look at our Third Base Experiment

Buoyed by a slew of young talent in 2013, the Indians improved their 2012 record by 24 wins and made it back to the postseason— albeit only for one game—for the first time since 2007.

Carlos Santana
Carlos Santana (Photo by Tomasso DeRosa)

Now one of their young stars, catcher Carlos Santana, is prepared to make a sacrifice for the good of his team in a move that would bring his career full circle.

After the season ended, Santana broached the idea of playing third base—the position he came up playing as a Dodgers farmhand—in a discussion with manager Terry Francona and general manager Chris Antonetti.

“In our end-of-season meeting with Carlos, he told Tito and I that he would be content to continue catching, DHing, and playing some first base, but asked if there were other ways where he could potentially impact the team,” Antonetti wrote in an e-mail. “After some discussion about various ideas, Carlos suggested that he work at third base to further enhance his versatility and provide Tito more options to keep his bat in the lineup.”

Santana started his career as a third baseman in the Dodgers organization back in 2005, but last played the position on April 23, 2008, three months before he was flipped to Cleveland in a short-sighted move for third baseman Casey Blake.

After some rest and little time to reacquaint himself with the position, Santana began playing third base for the Leones del Escogido of the Dominican League. Santana played eight games at third base during the regular season, then two more in the playoffs. He also spent three games (plus the last inning of another game) at first base. He’s made five errors—three fielding, one throwing and one missed catch—at the position.

Despite the unpleasant early start, Antonetti is unbowed about Santana’s potential to make himself into a viable option at third base in time for the beginning of the season.

“Since Carlos hasn’t played third base with any regularity in seven or eight years, it’s going to take some time for him to get comfortable there again,” Antonetti wrote. “Provided he continues working at it throughout winter ball and into spring training, we are optimistic that he can be an option to play some third base for us. How much he’ll play there will depend upon a variety of factors including our team composition and how much progress Carlos makes defensively.

“He’s athletic with soft hands and a strong arm so he possesses some of the necessary ingredients to be successful at the position. With nearly four months until the start of the season, our focus at this point is working with Carlos to help him improve rather than evaluating his present ability at third base.”

The experiment is made possible by several factors. Santana is already a poor defender behind the plate. While it’s difficult to quanitfy catcher defense, he caught just 18 percent of runners (18 of 62) last year and was worth -1.2 dWAR by Baseball Reference’s defensive metric. By contrast, Yan Gomes was worth 1.8 dWAR and caught 41 percent of runners (20 of 49), 15 percent better than league average.

The acquisition of outfielder David Murphy this offseason pushes Nick Swisher to first base, further limiting Santana’s options. With catcher and first base primarily handled, there seem to be just two places left to get Santana’s stellar offense into the lineup every day: DH, where he would split duties with Swisher and Jason Giambi, and third base, which in 2013 was handled primarily by Lonnie Chisenhall.

Chisenhall, in his third season in the big leagues, hit just .225/.270/.398 on the year with 11 home runs and 36 RBIs.

It will take a lot of work and a lot of evaluation time, but Antonetti and the Indians are confident that Santana can make his idea into a reality by April.

Chisenhall, in his third season in the big leagues, hit just .225/.270/.398 on the year

And more relevant to the Santana experiment, he hit 111/158/250 the rare times they let him flail away against lefties; a bit better 184/205/237 the previous year. He has only been given 74 at bats vs lefties in the past two seasons.

And it's hard to believe that his unwillingness to toe Joe's line and play winter ball to work on his shortcomings can win him any points with Francona or Antonetti.

With Aviles around, hard to see Carlos being the RH option at 3B. Although that's probably the way he plays 3B the LEAST - in other words hurts the team the LEAST with his defense.

This one should be interesting. Be hard to Carlos at 3B for more than a handful of games. I am guessing his body type is pretty darn different than 2008 as well.

As one who sat next to Carlos in a minor league game many years ago I can still remember thinking that he was a very small guy. He is a decent first baseman so this may not be as difficult as one may think.

Danny Salazar Can Throw That Speed Ball By You

by Brad Johnson - January 7, 2014

Prospect analysts generally ranked Danny Salazar between the fourth and tenth best prospect in the Indians farm system heading into 2013. That was a big swing and a miss. Salazar broke out last season and posted gaudy strikeout totals at every stop along with a 96 mph heater and a stingy walk rate. In a ten start, 52 inning sample in the majors, he pitched to a 3.12 ERA and 2.75 xFIP, neither of which appears suspicious in any way. His season culminated in a playoff appearance against Alex Cobb of the Tampa Bay Rays. It should have been the kind of noisy breakout experienced by Stephen Strasburg, but it’s quite possible that Salazar will be undervalued in fantasy leagues this spring.

Salazar mostly worked with a three pitch mix in his brief big league audition. He showed a rare sinker in July and August, but he put the pitch away for the stretch run and playoffs. His primary repertoire consists of a four seam fastball, slider, and a splitter. The fastball is a special pitch, averaging between 96 and 97 mph. He generated whiffs over 14 percent of the time with the pitch. That is exceptionally elite. To the best of my knowledge (at least as far as my querying skills can take me), Salazar’s fastball featured the best whiff rate of any starter last season (cutoff 50 innings pitched).

For comparison’s sake, Yu Darvish had the highest overall whiff rate of qualified pitchers, but his fastball whiffed under 10 percent of batters. I believe Matt Harvey was second best in fastball whiff rate among starters, his heater clocked in with an 11.74 percent whiff rate. Impressive, but still over two percentage points less than Salazar. Moving to relievers, Craig Kimbrel‘s fastball slightly outperformed Salazar’s in garnering whiffs (14.77 percent), while I had to pull up Aroldis Chapman (15.84 percent) to find a pitcher who was substantially better than Salazar. Which is all to say that Salazar has a special fastball, the likes of which is rare among relievers, let alone starting pitchers.

Salazar approaches starting with the aggression of a reliever, which partially explains why he averaged only five innings per start. The rest of the explanation includes careful handling by the Indians due to a complex injury history that included Tommy John surgery in 2011. Salazar gets ahead with early fastballs, throwing a first pitch strike 67 percent of the time. That’s seven percent above league average for those keeping score at home. Against right-handed hitters, he uses his entire three pitch mix, but lefties generally only see the fastball and splitter.

Salazar Pitch Usage
Salazar Pitch Usage

Given his shallow repertoire and aggressive nature, there could be some scope for the league to “figure him out.” If he brings the same stuff to the table, he’ll still generally dominate the competition. People like to say that major league batters can hit any fastball if they know it’s coming, but that’s an oversimplification. His fastball may not generate whiffs 14 percent of the time next season, but we have every reason to expect it to remain among the best in baseball. The risk here is that his superlative fastball performance might stand for a bit of regression from historically excellent to good/great territory.

Sticking to the topic of his fastball, one red flag from last season was the high .254 ISO he allowed on the pitch. We’re obviously dealing with a small sample size, but Salazar also works up in the zone. As you’ll find in the heat map below, that’s where he finds his whiffs. Pitching up in the zone combined with the predictability of seeing a fastball in certain counts is a combination that could produce a high expected ISO for the pitch. In lay terms, he may allow more extra base hits and home runs than the hypothetical Joe Pitcher.

Salazar Whiff Rate by Location – Fastball Only
Salazar Fastball Whiffs

So basically, what we have with Salazar is an aggressive pitcher with a shallow repertoire, excellent primary pitch, two good supporting pitches, and the potential to put up elite fantasy numbers. That package comes with risks. He may not last very deep into games, which hurts his odds of capturing the win and his overall strikeout total. Also, whenever we see superlative performance, we should be prepared for regression. Lastly, he has a bit of an injury history ranging from major elbow surgery to a variety of minor maladies.

In some ways, Salazar’s late season dominance is reminiscent of Harvey’s audition in 2012. Fantasy owners paid an average of $9 to acquire Harvey last season and if Salazar is going for a similar rate, he’s a huge steal. This probably doesn’t need to be said, but while it’s perfectly reasonable to be bullish about Salazar in 2014, don’t go paying for 200 innings of the 2013 version.

If you want to see the graphics with that last article, this link should work. Where the article said pitch usage and whiff rate etc. there was a graph to illustrate.


http://www.fangraphs.com/fantasy/danny- ... otoFeed%29

Cleveland Indians official says there are no plans to phase out Chief Wahoo

Glenn Moore, Northeast Ohio Media Group By Glenn Moore, Northeast Ohio Media Group

on January 09, 2014 at 3:44 PM, updated January 09, 2014 at 4:15 PM


CLEVELAND, Ohio -- Don't worry Chief Wahoo fans. The Cleveland Indians are not looking to phase out the logo anytime soon.
Indians Director of Communications Curtis Danburg was a guest on Thursday's Sport Insider on cleveland.com and clarified the recent confusion over reports that the Indians may be changing their primary logo.
Chief Wahoo has been the smiling symbol of the Indians since the 1940s.
"The fact of the matter is there's no change to our approach at all," Danburg stated. "We have three logos. We have script Indians, we have block-C and we have Chief Wahoo. You will see the same logos in the same place on the uniforms this year. There's no process to eliminate Chief Wahoo."
You can download the mp3 or listen with the player above.
Native Americans and supporters have protested the use of the Cleveland Indians team name and the club's Chief Wahoo logo at early season home games at Progressive Field.
Danburg added that the designation of the Tribe's logo that Major League Baseball uses might change.
"It's a nature of changing the, maybe the designation that you might see that Major League Baseball uses in their style guide, which is a more of a discretionary change. It's nothing to do with the approach in locally how we use it or anything to read into."
When asked if there were any long-term plans in phasing out Chief Wahoo, Danburg said, "It's not even being talked about at the present time. It's certainly a hot issue, especially with what's going on in D.C. with the Redskins and we are certainly monitoring that. There are no immediate need or thoughts to change our approach."

Cleveland Indians willing to wait for starting pitcher of their choice

CLEVELAND, Ohio – The Indians showed patience and stealth last offseason when they waited until February to sign free agent outfielder Michael Bourn to a four-year $48 million contract. At the start of the offseason, Bourn was said to be in line for a $75 million to $80 million payday.

There is no way the Indians could play in that league, but they were persistent, staying in touch with agent Scott Boras through the winter until they became Bourn’s last best option on Feb. 15.

They are trying to do the same thing this offseason with the emphasis on adding a front-of-the-rotation starter at below the sticker price. They are not in the market for another shot-in-the-dark veteran like Brett Myers.

The Indians like their rotation of Justin Masterson, Danny Salazar, Corey Kluber, Zach McAllister and a free-for-all for the fifth spot among Josh Tomlin, Carlos Carrasco, Trevor Bauer and Shaun Marcum. Why would they add a Myers-type arm to that group when Tomlin, Carrasco, Bauer or Marcum could be better?

OK, so let’s take the conversation uptown to Masahiro Tanaka’s neighborhood. The Indians have been in contact with Casey Close, Tanaka’s agent, and could very well be meeting with the Japanese right-hander over the next few days following his arrival in Los Angeles on Wednesday. They’re going to have to take a number because just about every team, with the probable exception of the pitching-rich Red Sox, Rays and Cardinals, have meetings scheduled with the 6-2, 205-pounder.

ESPN reported that Tanaka met with the White Sox on Thursday.

Still, the Indians are in the game and it would not be surprising if they make a lucrative multiyear offer, including the $20 million posting fee. The posting fee is paid only if the team and Tanaka, 25, agree to a deal.

Realistically, the chances of the Indians signing Tanaka are slim. The Yankees and Arizona are among the big-city teams that seem willing to pay just about any price to get him. If the Indians offered Tanka $50 million, the Yankees could easily double it.

If this turns out to be a dry run for the 6-2, 205 pounder who went 24-0 last year for the Rakuten Golden Eagles, so be it. The Indians would undoubtedly learn from the exercise and their effort could earn them some points on the Pacific Rim the next time they pursue a player from that part of the world.

One way or the other, this is going to end quickly. When Rakuten posted Tanaka, it set a deadline of Jan. 24 for him to sign with a big league club or return to Japan.

Now comes Part B of the Indians waiting game. Starters Ubaldo Jimenez, Matt Garza, Ervin Santana and Bronson Arroyo, for now, are still unsigned. Those four starters have to sign somewhere and if the price is right, one of them could slide right into the No.2 spot in the Tribe’s rotation behind Masterson. The problem will be money.

It’s unlikely the Indians would give one of those four pitchers the kind of money they offered Tanaka even though they would all improve their rotation.

The Indians have always liked Garza (10-6, 3.82). They’ve tried to acquire him in the past, most recently in July when he was pitching for the Cubs. When the Cubs asked for Lonnie Chisenhall, the Indians ended the conversation.

Garza, who finished the season with Texas, did not receive a qualifying offer, so he wouldn’t cost the Indians their No.1 pick in the June draft. Garza’s health is a concern. He has not pitched a full season in two years because of a right elbow injury in 2012 and a strained side muscle last year.

Arroyo (14-12, 3.79), like Garza, did not receive a qualifying offer. He’s spent the last eight years with the Reds and the Indians know him well from interleague play and spring training. Arroyo will open the season at 37, but he’s topped 200 innings in eight of his last nine seasons. The one year when he didn’t, he threw 199.

Santana (9-10, 3.24) did receive a qualifying offer from Kansas City. If the Indians signed him, they would forfeit the 22nd pick in the first round. Still, it might not hurt that much because presumably they’d receive a high pick as compensation for losing Jimenez because they made him a qualifying offer of $14.1 million in November.

The Indians also own the 37th pick in the draft thanks to last year’s competitive balance lottery.

In 2011, Santana threw a no-hitter against the Indians at Progressive Field.

About a month ago, Jimenez (13-9, 3.30) was looking for a four-year deal worth between $17 million to $20 million a year. Earlier this week, it was learned he’s still looking for a multi year-deal worth more than $14 million a year. But as well as Jimenez pitched for the Indians last year, especially in September, it doesn’t appear he’s received a lot of offers.

Should Garza, Arroyo and Santana sign before Jimenez, the Indians believe they might be able to re-sign him a their price. He wouldn’t cost them a draft pick, but right now, they’re content to wait.

Finally: The Tigers have invited former Indians Trevor Crowe and Ezequiel Carrera to spring training on minor league contracts.

I'd like to see Arroyo here.

I agree JR. My only reservation is that old "NL pitcher moves to AL" syndrome.

Cardinals coaches corrected a flaw in John Axford's delivery at the end of the 2013 season.
The coaches filled Axford in on the secret that he had been tipping his pitches for years. Once the issue was brought to his attention and he tweaked his delivery, he posted a 1.74 ERA, 1.36 WHIP and 11/3 K/BB ratio over 10 1/3 innings at the end of the season, and followed that up with a strong performance in the playoffs. If the issue has indeed been corrected, look for the 30-year-old to have a strong run as the Indians' closer.

Source: National Post Jan 12 - 10:47 PM

That makes him sound a lot better.