Ryan

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Back in the Saddle

That was one the oddest 5-5 stretches I’ve seen in a while. I’m not going to redundantly going to recap what most of you already know. Instead, I’ll go Larry King and start spouting randomness.

Scott Stewart and Jose Jimenez have showed signs of improvement. Yeah, it didn’t take much to look better than they did in April, but Stewart is starting to rack up some strikeouts, and Jimenez is starting to get ground balls again. Rick White has pretty much been as advertised; eat up some innings, and has furthermore pitched out of some high-leverage situations. Now if only David Riske could get back on track….

It really pains me to see Omar Vizquel in the field. His arm strength is just plain bad now, and his range has dramatically decreased. With Brandon Phillips rebounding quite well from his abysmal 2003 season, it’s probably only a matter of time until he’s mentioned as Omar’s heir apparent. Ironically, Omar’s bat may keep him in the league a couple more years. In the right situation, he’d be a very adequate platoon partner at second base, where his lack of arm strength wouldn’t be as much of an issue. But regardless, he’s not going to be a starting shortstop after this season is over.

Who knew the offense was going to be as good as the bullpen was bad? Yes, a lot of this production is coming from Ronnie Belliard and Matt Lawton, but Jody Gerut, Victor Martinez, and Travis Hafner are also playing a big part as well. Casey Blake has been, well, Casey Blake, and the only real weak spot in the lineup has been Alex Escobar or Coco Crisp. Ryan Ludwick would look real nice in the lineup right now.

It’s time to rekindle my annual “Free Kyle Denney!” campaign. Most baseball fans have one unheralded or virtually unknown baseball player that we really root for, and Denney has been that guy for the last two years. He’s essentially the right-handed version of Jason Stanford, except that he was actually drafted. He’s been eligible for the Rule 5 Draft for two years now, and although Lino Urdaneta was drafted this year, teams passed on Denney, even though he’s been successful his entire minor-league career. Why is that? Well, scouts tend to frown on players who aren’t over six foot tall, can’t throw 92-93 mph, only has one good pitch, or who don’t come from a good program.

Denney was drafted out of Oklahoma in the 26th round in 1999, generally not a good sign for a college player. But Denney has done nothing but post sub-4.00 ERAs at every level since then. He’s also been able to “miss bats”, he’s accumulated 466 strikeouts in 487 pro innings, while only walking 154, very good ratios. His only knock? He’s two months away from turning 27, and he’s been old at every level. But if you’re the Indians, why not use this opportunity to try out Denney while contention is a year away? Stanford finally got his shot, and ironically Stanford’s forearm injury could help open the door for Denney as well.

Site Update

I’m experimenting with trying to integrate the minor league rosters with the blog, just so I can limit the maintenance associated with this site. So please bear with me, and please let me know if you have any suggestions as to how I can improve your surfing experience.

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Our Wonderfully Craptastic Bullpen

What a grotesque beast this year’s bullpen is turning out to be.

What’s mind-boggling is that most of the culprits have major-league track records. Jose Jimenez, David Riske, and Scott Stewart have all closed before with at least some degree of success. Yet all three have been absolute gas-cans this season.

What can the Indians do about it? Not much, besides going after another fungible arm or two like Rick White. Otherwise they just have to just hope that the main guys get things back together before the rest of the team is affected by it.

The most unfortunate thing about the bullpen is that it’s overshadowing an otherwise improved team. The Indians are light-years better offensively, ranking at least in the middle of the pack in vritually every team category. The starting pitching has been pretty good for most of the season. But the only thing people seem to mention on this team is the bullpen…it’s been that bad.

VORP Results – April

Probably the best measure of how good or bad a player has been is his VORP, or Value Over Replacement Player. It’s essentially a measure of how much better a player is than a generic replacement player. If you’d like to see the mathematics behind this, here’s a good introduction.

First the starters:

CC Sabathia 10.8
Jason Davis 0.7
Cliff Lee 6.3
Jeff D’Amico -1.7
Jason Stanford 6.8
Jake Westbrook 11.2

Only veteren crumb Jeff D’Amico has really been a below-average pitcher, though Jason Davis has resided there for a couple starts. If you assume Westbrook is going to boot out Jeff when Jason Stanford comes off the DL, it’s a pretty good rotation.

Now, for the hitters:

Matt Lawton 5.0
Omar Vizquel 5.7
Jody Gerut 3.0
Casey Blake 1.5
Travis Hafner 9.6
Ron Belliard 18.2
Ben Broussard 3.6
Victor Martinez 3.6
Alex Escobar 1.1

Again, not too bad considering the expectations for the offense. Obviously Belliard is playing way over his head, but the runs have been there. Unfortunately, the wins haven’t come because of these guys:

David Riske -4.8
Rafael Betancourt 1.3
Scott Stewart -5.5
Jose Jimenez -1.1
Chad Durbin -8.8
Rick White 0.4
David Lee -5.0
Kaz Tadano 0.0

Ouch. Betancourt has the highest value at 1.3, and the rest have been pretty much scrub-level.

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Buffalo (and Akron) Soldiers

Demoted RHSP Jeremy Guthrie to Akron (AA) from Buffalo (AAA)

A lot of good is happening with the Bisons, but there’s one bad spot so far this year. Jeremy Guthrie, who was supposed to make his major-league debut, has been demoted to Akron. The article mentions mechanical concerns, and I hope that’s all it is. Jeremy’s velocity hasn’t really decreased at all, but he simply can’t find the plate at all this year. He’s walked 18 batters in 19 innings.

Now onto the promising stories; namely Brandon Phillips and Jhonny Peralta, who could make the rebuilding effort a heckuva a lot easier if they develop as promised. Brandon especially has been very promising at the plate. He’s only struck out twice in 57 ABs, an astounding turnaround from last season. And the new plate discipline has not come at the expense of power, either; he’s slugging .491 so far.

Jhonny Peralta has been as good as Phillips or better. He’s hitting .351/.433/.483.

Now what will be interesting to see is where both will end up on the infield. Phillips is a natural shortstop, and he’s looking like the heir apparent to Omar Vizquel. Brandon has played 8 games at 2B, and 9 games at SS, so he’ll probably be the first called up if Vizquel or Belliard have to go on the DL. Jhonny Peralta has also played some games at short (7), as well as third (9). I don’t think the acquisition of Russell Branyan will cut down on Peralta’s time at short, as there’s more a need in Buffalo’s outfield than at third.

Speaking of third, Corey Smith is raking in Akron. He’s slugging a cool .710, and has cut his strikeouts dramatically. But his errors are still a big problem; he’s booted the ball 7 times in 16 games at the hot corner. The Indians have been beyond patient with Smith, and haven’t moved him to the outfield as of yet, but the time is coming when a decision has to made on him.

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Branyan is Backkkkkkkkkkk

Traded a PTBNL/cash to the Atlanta Braves for 3B-OF Russell Branyan

This really confuses me. Granted, he’s reporting to Buffalo, and the Indians aren’t exactly stacked with 3B, but Branyan’s left-handed, not exactly Eddie Murray’s biggest fan, and hitting under .200 in AAA.

I’ll (safely) assume that the PTBNL is pretty much meaningless, or the Indians got Branyan for a couple thousand dollars. What remains to be seen is where Branyan will end up playing. Hopefully that’s in Buffalo, because frankly, I don’t want to see him in Cleveland at all.

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Transactions

Designated RHRP David Lee for Assignment

Purchased the Contract of RHRP Kazuhito Tadano and Recalled him to Cleveland

Traded OF Trey Dyson (A+) to the Los Anegeles Dodgers for RHRP Rick White; Added him to the 25-man roster

Optioned LHRP Jason Anderson to Buffalo (AAA)

Placed C Josh Bard on the 60-day Disabled List (groin)

“Please Excuse Our Dust…”

In the past three days, the Indians have renovated their bullpen, adding two new pieces.

First of all, prospect Kazuhito Tadano was added to the 40-man roster. He’s rated the Indians’ #12 prospect by Baseball America, and projects as a pretty good reliever, possibly a closer. You all know the external stuff concerning Tadano, so I won’t belabor the point. He probably won’t be put into too many pressure situations, and will probably start out in long relief. He had started in Buffalo, mainly to get his work in after an off-season illness.

And today, the Indians traded Trey Dyson, one half of the Brian Anderson trade, to Los Angeles for veteren Rick White. He pitched with the White Sox and Astros in 2003, and posted a combined ERA of 5.78. So far this year, White hasn’t given up a run in 11.2 IP in Las Vegas. I wouldn’t expect too much from White at his stage of his career, but the move was probably made to stabilize the bullpen more than anything, much like Dan Miceli did last year for the time he was here. Looking over the Buffalo roster, there was little, if anything, that could have helped in Cleveland. Luther Hackman has been absolutely awful (16.88 ERA), as has Tim Young (14.73). Jason Anderson probably could be a useful reliever in the future, but it’s pretty apparent that he needs more work in the minors. Fernando Cabrera has also struggled in the first two weeks, and he really wasn’t going to be ready until at least the All-Star Break.

So, here’s the “new” bullpen (for now):

CL David Riske

RH Rafael Betancourt

LH Scott Stewart

RH Rick White

RH Jack Cressend

RH Kaz Tadano

RH Chad Durbin

So where does that leave Jake Westbrook? I’m no manager, but I’d have to think that 16.0 one-hit innings justifies a spot in the rotation, no matter what happens when Jason Stanford returns in another start. When Jose Jimenez returns, things become even more interesting. Tadano is the only one in the current bullpen with an option, so he may only be up here for a cup of coffee.

Regardless, no matter what the Indians do, the troika of Riske, Betancourt, and Stewart HAVE to do their jobs. If not, these moves are simply rearranging Titanic’s deck chairs.