INDIANS - 4/19/03

The team is off to a 5-11 start, and has lost its last three games. Aside from decent pitching and a few hitters, there are very few reasons to believe that things will turn around any time soon.

TEAM NEWS

Perhaps most puzzling is that virtually every positional player has failed to hit, with the exception of Milton Bradley. Aside from Bradley, the outfield has not played well. Karim Garcia, hampered by minor injuries, has slid to a .189-2-6 start, while Matt Lawton is hitting .145-2-8. That could all change soon, as there are a few notable hot-starters at Triple-A. Coco Crisp and Jody Gerut would be amongst the first reinforcements to shore up the weak major league outfield.

John McDonald has played well, but does not receive consistent playing time with Brandon Phillips manning the second base job. If that trend continues, expect McDonald to take over additional playing time, perhaps partially at the expense of Casey Blake at third. Shane Spencer appears to be gaining more playing time with his hitting, and Ellis Burks has been solid in the DH slot.

The pitching, meanwhile, has been a bit better. C.C. Sabathia has been somewhat of a disappointment, unable to overpower the opposition as it appeared as though he would do. Sabathia has been relatively solid, but has allowed far too many baserunners than he should. He is simply too hittable, and needs to walk fewer batters.

The trio of Brian Anderson, Ricardo Rodriguez, and Jake Westbrook have all been solid. Anderson was outstanding in his first two starts, although he was poor in his last outing. He will not be as good as the first two outings, but likely won’t be as bad as the last, either. Rodriguez has been a pleasant surprise, and has shown plenty of potential for the future. He has yet to have a real poor outing that is typical of young starters, so that could be coming soon. However, as a young pitcher on a rebuilding club, Rodriguez has given fans plenty to look forward to. Westbrook, filling in for the injured Jason Bere, has been simply unhittable. He has a 0.73 ERA and sub-1.00 WHIP, carrying his spring success into the regular season. It would be extremely hard to picture him moving back to the bullpen upon Bere’s return, putting Jason Davis in jeopardy.

The bullpen has been an area of great concern, and has done nothing to reassure the front office that it can get the job done. There is minimal flexibility for promotions, primarily due to the fact that many of the pitchers are out of options, and that might make it difficult to find help from the minor league system. Aside from Danys Baez and Carl Sadler, the bullpen has much room for improvement.

MINOR MATTERS

The minor league season has begun, and it is time to point out the fast starters of the young season. One hitter and one pitcher will be mentioned from each minor league affiliate.

Triple-A Buffalo

OF Coco Crisp tore up advanced pitching in spring training, and has carried that success with him to Buffalo. Hitting .400 with four stolen bases and outstanding plate discipline in 40 at-bats, Crisp could find himself in Cleveland in the short-term future. Crisp has been overlooked for most of his career, but that could all change beginning with this season.

SP Dave Burba has started the season on a role. He is certainly not a prospect, but simply refuses to give up. With the bullpen struggling, Burba would be a wise option to plug into a big-league relief role. There may be other options ahead of him at the moment, but that will change if he continues to pitch well. Keep an eye on him, as it would be great to see Burba pitch again on the major league level.

Double-A Akron

OF Grady Sizemore is the top outfield prospect in this organization, and has shown the talent that lead the front office to demand Sizemore be included in the Bartolo Colon deal. He has hit .358-2-10-2, and showing excellent patience at the plate. Sizemore is still extremely young , yet has dominated older pitching. That speaks volumes towards his talent, as does the fact that he made this list over Ryan Church, Eric Crozier, and Corey Smith, all of whom have smashed the ball so far this year.

SP Jeremy Guthrie was the Indians first-round pick in last year’s draft, yet did not play due to a late signing date. That has not slowed him down, as he has absolutely dominated opposing batters. With a 0.63 ERA and sub-1.00 WHIP in three starts, Guthrie could find himself advancing to the big leagues much sooner than most originally thought he would.

High-A Kinston

OF Rodney Choy Foo gets the nod not because of his name, but because of his hot start. Foo has hit .385-1-6-2, while slugging .615. Foo is one of the better hitters on a somewhat weak Kinston team, so it will be important for him to extend his early-season success into the latter stages of this year.

SP Brian Slocum is in his first full season of professional baseball, yet has adapted well with a fast start. He is 0-1, but has a sensational 1.13 ERA in three starts. His control could use a bit of work, but he has a decent chance of eventually reaching the big leagues. As with the hitters, there is very little pitching depth on this Kinston team.

Low-A Lake County

OF Jason Cooper was Guthrie’s teammate at Stanford, and has started the season with an equally impressive start. He is hitting .346-4-9 with 10 walks and 10 strikeouts in 52 at-bats. Cooper is a natural hitter, and could quickly rise up the organization’s prospect depth chart. If all goes well, Cooper may not stay at Lake County much longer, as he is fairly experienced with his college background.

RP Todd Pennington is an unknown to nearly all fans, yet has been unbelievable so far this year. He has allowed two hits, four walks, and no runs in six innings of work, yet has struck out fourteen batters. Pennington is the primary closer for this Lake County team, and is an interesting player to watch. It is possible that he will come out of relative obscurity to become a decent prospect, so watch his progress this season.

INJURIES

SP Jason Bere is on the 15-day DL with a strained right shoulder, and will be out at least another two weeks. No major fantasy impact here, although he was solid in spring training.

2B/3B Ricky Gutierrez was nearly out of baseball after a serious neck injury, but has made a remarkable recovery. His conditioning still needs work, but it is great to see Gutierrez recovering so quickly from such a career-threatening injury.

SP Cliff Lee is in extended spring training, recovering from a strained abdominal muscle. He will be sent to Triple-A Buffalo after his rehab is complete, and will have an opportunity to return to the majors later this season.

STOCK WATCH

BUY
RP Danys Baez

SELL
SP Ricardo Rodriguez – if the price is right

HOLD
SP C.C. Sabathia
1B Travis Hafner
2B Brandon Phillips
OF Karim Garcia

DEEP SLEEPER WATCH
SP Jake Westbrook

THE BOTTOM LINE

By: Jason Wachs

I cannot wait until the next series between the Indians and the Royals! Yes, you read correctly Indians and Royals. The Indians are going to be even worse than I expected, and I will need some entertainment. My gut tells me the Royals could be just the team to provide that entertainment for me. In their last two game series the two teams combined to hit six batters, three in the final game of the series. Nobody has charged the mound yet, but trust me it is just a matter of time, especially when fiery Indians pitcher Ricardo Rodriguez is on the mound. Rodriguez loves going inside, and I think he even gets a kick out of hitting them. He is the most likely candidate for inspiring an opposing hitter, because only him and C.C Sabathia go inside on a constant basis, (Jason Davis will learn as the season goes along) and nobody with half a brain would pick a fight with the 6’7”, 260 plus pound Sabathia. The most exciting series of the year for the Indians, will be one with no playoff intentions (As much as I love Tony Pena, the Royals need to beat someone besides the Indians and Tigers before they are considered a contender.) and if I get my wish at least two bench clearing brawls. I can picture it now: “ Ladies and Gentleman in tonight’s bout we have Ricardo Rodriguez weighing at versus Michael Tucker weighing at 195lbs.” Then an umpire walks out and says: “There will be no use of bats, gloves, helmets, cleats, and any hits below the belt will result in a ten game suspension.”

Despite no bench clearing brawls yet, two Indians have been ejected. Pitcher Carl Sadler was ejected after he hit Michael Tucker with a pitch in the thigh, and manager Eric Wedge was ejected defending the ejection of Sadler. The umpire’s only half-just reasoning, would be that this was retaliation for Tucker’s homerun earlier in the game. This brings me to my next rant. So far this year I have seen two pitchers be ejected with no warning, and they didn’t even hit the guy above the belt. The first was the Sadler-Tucker incident (Note: This is how I will refer to this incident for any instances in which I bring it up in the future). Lets take an in-depth look at what exactly happened between Sadler and Tucker. First of all Sadler hit Tucker with a curveball! Every intentional bean ball I have seen in my life has been a fastball. Next Sadler three only three of his eleven pitches for strikes, and his previous five pitches were balls. One more tidbit, Tucker didn’t hit the homerun off of Sadler, he hit it off of David Riske. Even if Sadler did intentionally hit tucker, then he should have gotten a warning. The next scenario was Omar Daal being ejected for hitting Matt Lawton. This was a bit less ridiculous, because Lawton had homered off of Daal in his previous at-bat, and Daal had pretty good control all game. The bottom line is the umpires need to stop being so controlling over players, and let them play the game. It used to be that if a hitter hit a homerun, and the same pitcher faced him next he knew he was getting hit, and as long as it was below the neck, then it didn’t bother anybody. I don’t know if MLB’s front office instructed the umpires to monitor hits batsmen more carefully, or if the umpires are taking this into their own hands, but whoever is responsible for this is way out of line.

I will always try to end our little get-together on a positive note, and this week it will be Milton Bradley. Bradley has been one of the positive aspects of the poor Indians offense so far this season, while leading the team in nearly every offensive category. He leads the team in average, hits, runs, homeruns, doubles, total bases, on-base percentage, slugging percentage and OPS. Bradley is also tenth in the league in hitting with a .368 BA, third in runs with 15, fourth in hits with 25, and second in doubles with nine. Despite his great spring no one could have expected him to be this good. Not that he will be an All-Star this year, but if he keeps this up he will be in very nice shape, and the Indians couldn’t ask for any more from a leadoff hitter. Last year I mistakenly labeled Milton an athlete rather than a baseball player, but I couldn’t but happier that he has proved me wrong.