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Cabrera is all but certain to attend his first All star game next month (Photo: AP) |
All Star worthy?
The participants for the 2011 MLB All Star game on Tuesday, June 12th will soon be announced, and the Indians have a few players who are worthy of consideration.
I think it goes without saying that at this point that shortstop Asdrubal Cabrera is a shoe in to be named to the team. He has an outside shot to be named the starter at shortstop for the American League club, though it appears that Yankees shortstop Derek Jeter will maintain his 400,000 vote lead when voting ends on June 30th. Even so, when the reserves are announced next weekend he will most definitely be included on the team.
To date Cabrera, 25, is hitting .294 with 12 homers, 43 RBI, and a .842 OPS. He currently ranks 2nd in the AL shortstops in batting average, 1st in runs scored (50), 1st in hits (89), 1st in doubles (19), 2nd in triples (3), 1st in home runs, 1st in RBI, 3rd in stolen bases (12), and 2nd in OPS. In addition to his performance at the plate, he has been dazzling in the field and been a regular on ESPN’s Sportscenter “Plays of the Night”.
After Cabrera it gets a little dicey in figuring out who may also represent the Tribe in the Midsummer Classic. The only other possibilities are right-handed pitchers Josh Tomlin (9-4, 3.95 ERA), Justin Masterson (5-5, 3.18 ERA), Carlos Carrasco (7-4, 3.62 ERA), and closer Chris Perez (2-3, 2.54 ERA, 18 saves).
Tomlin, 26, is tied for the league lead in wins, but doesn’t appear to have the eye-popping numbers or sexiness to get added to the roster over a host of other popular names from other teams, though if he were to go out his next start and win his 10th game it could make it interesting. He is a machine who goes out there every night and competes, and while he is never really dominating, he always keeps his team in games. He has gone at least six innings in all but one of his 15 starts this year and has 11 quality starts.
Masterson, 26, has the sexiness that is a draw to the All Star game and is a player that opposing managers remember because of his very good stuff. His win-loss record may not be all that great, but that is beyond his control as he gets very poor run support. Even so, he appears a long shot to make the team.
Carrasco, 24, is having an awesome June where in five starts he is 3-2 with a 1.77 ERA. He has gone at least six innings in 11 of his 14 starts, and the three he did not go at least six innings were the start where he left the game on because of injury on April 24th and then the first two starts after coming off the disabled list in mid-May. His late surge will most likely not be enough, but he is laying the groundwork to a breakout season and some attention for next year.
Perez, 25, may have the best shot of anyone to join Cabrera. He has earned a reputation as one of the better young closers in the game, and his 18 saves ranks 3rd in the AL. He is 18-for-19 in saves, the 2nd best save percentage in the AL only to Jose Valverde of the Tigers who is a perfect 17-for-17. Usually the top four to five relievers make the All Star team, and there is no question that Perez has been one of the top relievers in the AL this year.
As for a prediction? Cabrera will be on the team, Perez probably will be, and Tomlin might be.
Painful loss
The Indians continue to get bit by the injury bug. The latest to be bitten is outfielder Shin-Soo Choo who was placed on the disabled list on Saturday with a broken left thumb and will probably be out for at least four to six weeks. The Indians recalled outfielder Travis Buck to fill his spot on the roster.
This is a big blow to the Indians. Choo may only be hitting .245 with five homers, 28 RBI, and a .687 OPS in 72 games, but he is still one of the key contributors to the team both offensively and defensively. He has hit at least .300 with over 20 homers and 85 RBI the last two seasons, so the belief has been that he would eventually turn things around this year (he still may). Also, while he has been an adventure of sorts fielding the ball in the outfield this year, there is no denying the impact his throwing arm can have on a game.
The Indians training staff has been busy this season and Choo is the latest player to miss considerable time. Already this season outfielder Grady Sizemore has been on the disabled list two different times, designated hitter Travis Hafner missed a month with an oblique issue, first baseman Matt Laporta is out with a sprained ankle, right-handers pitchers Mitch Talbot and Carlos Carrasco missed a few weeks, and right-handed pitcher Alex White has missed the last month with a sprained right middle finger and could potentially miss the rest of the season.
For the Indians to be where they are at this point of the season is amazing when you consider that they have not been 100% all year as several key pieces have missed considerable time. In addition to that several key contributors on offense have performed below expectations. The team keeps plugging away and finds a way to win, but eventually it is going to catch up with them. They need to get healthy and their key players need to start performing better if they want to stay in the AL Central race for the remainder of the season.
Nunnally fired
The Indians made a surprise announcement last Sunday when they fired hitting coach Jon Nunnally. Minor League Hitting Coordinator Bruce Fields has been named the interim big league hitting coach until the Indians fill the job on a more permanent basis this offseason.
The reason the Indians gave for making the move was that they "needed a new voice", but there is no question that Nunnally fell on the sword for an offense which has underperformed for the last month and a half. A lot of this is not the fault of Nunnally as the offense went into a tailspin after Travis Hafner got hurt plus Grady Sizemore has been in and out of the lineup after two different stints on the disabled list. The two big disappointments though have been Shin-Soo Choo and catcher Carlos Santana, and are big reasons why Nunnally is unemployed by the Indians today.
The move does seem a bit reactionary though as for as bad as the offense has been of late it was the best in the American League the first five weeks of the season. Nunnally has to get some credit for that. Also, Asdrubal Cabrera is having a breakout year and Hafner is enjoying a resurgence at the plate. Again, if you are going to blame Nunnally for Choo and Santana's struggles you have to give him some credit for Cabrera's and Hafner's success too.
Also Michael Brantley has come into his own as a solid hitter. And really, how can you fault the hitting coach when the lineup often includes the likes of Jack Hannahan, Orlando Cabrera, Austin Kearns, and Lou Marson? The move appears to be something more the result of some things going on behind closed doors, either a rift between Nunnally and Acta or something personal with Nunnally that he needed to step away from the game.
In any case, the Indians have moved into a new direction and it appears they are hoping the midseason change at hitting coach can help spark the offense similar to what they did in June of 2005 when they fired Eddie Murray as hitting coach and replaced him with then Minor League Hitting Coordinator Derek Shelton. Whether by coincidence or not, the offense and team caught fire after that move was made.
Enough already
With Choo going on the disabled list with a broken thumb on Saturday, it means a couple of outfielders on the team will continue to get opportunities although they have done nothing to date to warrant it. Travis Buck was recalled for what feels like the hundredth time on Saturday and now will probably form some sort of right field platoon with Austin Kearns.
Buck, 27, was the story of spring training with a very good performance that earned himself a spot on the Indians opening day roster. With his prospect pedigree of the past it was felt that maybe the Indians caught a break and may have found a late-blooming gem. Unfortunately, that has not been the case as he has not played well this year hitting just .228 with two homers, nine RBI and a .625 OPS in 32 games. At this point he has proven to be nothing more than Major League depth and a classic “4A” player too good for Triple-A but not good enough for the big leagues.
Kearns, 31, has been an absolute disaster this year at the plate hitting just .198 with no homers, two RBI, and a .583 OPS in 30 games. There is absolutely no question you won’t find many higher character guys in the game or that the situation he is going through with his son tears at the heart, but tough decisions sometimes need to be made and made strictly on performance. He simply is not cutting it, and we are likely seeing his career ending right before our eyes.
The question remains how much longer will the Indians keep Kearns - and to a lesser extent Buck - around? With Choo’s injury it means Kearns probably gets to stick around awhile longer, and defensively he makes sense with his arm and solid defense. But right now there are lots of options internally that the Indians could turn to which at this point could produce no worse and likely would play better. It is well beyond time to make a change.
Minor shakeup
The Indians did some reshuffling of their minor league rosters up and down their system on Friday. One of the most noteworthy moves was the release of Triple-A Columbus right-handed reliever Jensen Lewis. From a performance perspective it is hard to argue with the decision as he really struggled with Columbus where in 22 games he went 3-2 with a 5.22 ERA, and really struggled keeping runners off base allowing 40 hits and 15 walks in just 28.0 innings (almost two baserunners an inning).
Lewis, 27, has had a rough year as going into the season he looked to be a lock to make the Indians opening day bullpen, especially after he signed for $650,000 in the offseason to avoid arbitration. But he pitched poorly in the spring and his velocity was down considerably, and the Indians eventually made the tough decision late in camp to remove him from the 40-man roster and after he cleared waivers he was outrighted to Columbus. Now that he has been released he is now free to sign with any team as a free agent.
The move created a spot on the Columbus pitching staff to add a high upside bullpen arm in right-handed Chen-Chang Lee, or more commonly known as C.C. Lee. He was having a very good season at Double-A Akron where in 23 appearances he went 2-1 with a 2.50 ERA (39.2 IP, 27 H, 11 BB, 56 K). He is one of the Indians best relief prospects, and by some considered the best, so his promotion was more than deserving. High-A right-handed reliever Tyler Sturdevant (4-2, 1.98 ERA, 21 G) was also promoted to fill Lee’s vacated bullpen spot in Akron.
The Future
Earlier in the week Major League Baseball announced the rosters for the 2011 All Star Futures Game to be played on Sunday, July 10 at Chase Field in Phoenix, Arizona as part of Major League Baseball’s All Star festivities. The game pits the top talent in minor league baseball against one another in a matchup of the United Stats versus the World.
Two Indians minor leaguers were named to the United States team, Triple-A Columbus second baseman Jason Kipnis and High-A Kinston left-handed pitcher Drew Pomeranz. Pomeranz is one of ten pitchers on the United States roster, and so far this season in 12 starts is 2-2 with a 1.93 ERA (60.2 IP, 44 H, 23 BB, 77 K). Kipnis is one of fifteen position players on the team, and to date is hitting .291 with 8 HR, 43 RBI, and a .873 OPS in 71 games. He also has 13 doubles, nine triples and ten stolen bases.
Rosters for both teams were decided on by all 30 big league clubs, Major League Baseball, the MLB Scouting Bureau, MLB.com, Baseball America and USA Baseball. Players from all full season clubs are eligible for a selection. The game can be seen live on MLB.TV and ESPN2 starting at 6:00 p.m. ET. XM Radio will also broadcast play-by-play coverage of the event live on XM 175.
Follow Tony and the Indians Prospect Insider on Twitter @TonyIPI. Also, his latest book the 2011 Cleveland Indians Top 100 Prospects & More is available for purchase for $20.95 to customers in the US (shipping and handling extra).
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