Cleveland Sports Forum

Afraid of Miguel Cabrera? Manny Acta says 'yes': Indians Insider
Home plate umpire Tim Welke works to cool off Detroit's Miguel Cabrera after Cabrera was hit by a pitch from Justin Masterson in the eighth inning Sunday at Progressive Field. The Tigers eventually scored to break a 2-2 deadlock, but the Indians rallied for three runs in the bottom of the inning.

CLEVELAND, Ohio -- Manny Acta understands if his players aren't afraid of Miguel Cabrera. He is, and he's not afraid to admit it.

The Indians completed a 6-0 homestand Sunday with a 5-4 victory over Detroit. In three straight wins against the Tigers, the Indians intentionally walked Cabrera three times, twice in the first inning.

"I'm not afraid to say I fear him," said Acta. "I'm petrified of the guy. He did that against me in the NL East when I was over there. It's no disrespect to the guys who hit behind him. We respect everyone, but we fear Miggy and we're not afraid to say it."

Friday night, the only time the Indians didn't intentionally walk Cabrera in the first, he hit a two-run homer. He homered again on Saturday to start the fifth. On Sunday, he singled home the Tigers' final run in the ninth off closer Chris Perez.

"We did it a lot last year in the second half," said Acta, referring to intentionally walking Cabrera. "To me he's the best hitter in the American League, hands down. I'm not talking about batting average, I'm talking hitter.

"He's the most intimidating guy in the American League. ... You can never fool him. When you do fool him he hits the ball off the wall."

Cabrera is a .336 (72-for-214) lifetime hitter against the Tribe with 15 homers and 49 RBI since joining Detroit in 2008. No other active player has more homers and RBI against the Indians in that span.

On the rise: Michael Brantley's RBI single gave the Indians a 4-3 lead in the eighth inning Sunday. In his last 14 games, Brantley is hitting .333 (18-for-54) with 10 runs and five RBI.

"Michael and Orlando Cabrera have really made things happen this last couple of games," said Acta.

Talbot update: Mitch Talbot said he felt a "stretching" feeling in his right elbow during his bullpen session on Saturday.

"After not throwing off the mound for 19 days, I thought I'd really be able to let it go," said Talbot, "but I felt a little stretching in the elbow. It didn't feel as good as I expected."

Talbot went on the disabled list with a strained right elbow. He's scheduled to throw another bullpen Tuesday in Oakland when the Indians open a three-game series against the A's. If all goes well, he'll throw a rehab game Thursday at Goodyear, Ariz., the Indians' spring training site. Talbot said he'd need at least two rehab starts before being activated.

"I'm going to have to get to a point where I can throw at least five innings," said Talbot. "As good as this team is playing, I don't want to go in there and only go four innings."

Jeanmar Gomez, recalled from Class AAA Columbus, has made two starts for the injured Talbot.

Calm and cool: The closer Alex White came to making his big-league debut on Saturday evening, the calmer he became.

"I was the most nervous when I was eating breakfast," said White with a smile before Sunday's series finale against the Tigers at Progressive Field.

For the record he had bacon and eggs.

"I was nervous all the way up to when I started throwing in the outfield," said White. "Once I started throwing, I really felt comfortable. I felt like this is what I'm supposed to be doing."
White allowed two runs on six hits in six innings. He left with the score tied, 2-2, in a game the Indians eventually won, 3-2, in 13 innings.

"It was one of those experiences I've been looking forward to for a long time," he said. "It was everything I expected it to be. It was a lot of fun."

White's parents, brother and friends were at the ballpark. Five members of the coaching staff from the University of North Carolina, including head coach Mike Fox, were at the game as well.

Finally: Adam Miller, once the Indians' top prospect, made his debut at Class A Kinston on Saturday. He allowed four runs on four hits with one walk and one strikeout in an inning. ... The Indians' 13-game home winning streak ranks third in team history. The Indians didn't win their 13th game at Progressive Field last year until June 28.

“People find some reason to believe”

By Anthony Castrovince/MLB.com

On Twitter: @Castrovince

NOTE: This is an expanded version of the feature running on Indians.com and MLB.com today.

Almost certainly, there were some optimistic souls east of Clyde and west of Conneaut who saw this coming. Perhaps there was a clueless kid in Caledonia who thought CC Sabathia and Cliff Lee were still around.

But if we may speak in generalities here, then we can say that nobody without an affiliation or agenda was reasonably forecasting what we’ve seen to this point from the Cleveland Indians.

And if we may speak in specifics, nobody was predicting a 19-8 start that had the Tribe resting Monday with the best record in baseball, fresh off setting a club record for April victories (18) and safely at the forefront of the standings of a surprisingly winnable American League Central.

Even now, you’re much more likely to come across scouts, execs and analysts forecasting a fallback for Manny Acta’s club than you are of finding bona fide Tribe fever believers.

The Indians know this. They know there are skeptics who will label their showing, to date, as an April aberration that will prove to be a mirage by midseason.

“Did you ever notice that people don’t want to be wrong?” outfielder Shelley Duncan said. “I think sometimes there might be something that’s in their head that they want to believe. But since the general consensus doesn’t want to believe it, they don’t want to put their neck on the line.”

There might be some truth to that remark. But another truth is that only 16.7 percent of the season has elapsed, and the Indians, who field the second-youngest roster (average age: 27.8) in the Majors, still have a long, long way to go to prove they are fact and not fluke.

Here’s one sabermetric analysis to sum up the situation. Before the season began, Baseball Prospectus’ oft-cited PECOTA system had the Indians winning just 74 games this year. Now, the organization’s Playoff Odds Report gives the Tribe a 39.3 percent chance of making the playoffs, projecting the Tribe to go 63-72 the rest of the way for a final record of 82-80.

So the computers, much like many humans, still aren’t convinced the Tribe can keep up this pace, or anything near it.

Fan support has increased, most tellingly in the Tribe’s improved TV ratings. But it wasn’t until this past weekend, when the Northeast Ohio weather finally began to cooperate, that the Indians, who ranked last in the Majors in attendance last season, began to see more support at the turnstiles.

Still, the local enthusiasm has been somewhat tempered by the perils of the past. The Indians’ 2007 team, of course, came within a win of the World Series was beaten up by injuries and unmet expectations, then torn up by one blockbuster trade after another. Fans have been slow to embrace the rebuilding effort.

“People don’t want to get heartbroken again,” Duncan said. “You don’t want to put all your belief into something and not have it come true. So we’re just trying to create excitement.”

The Indians have certainly done that in these early weeks of 2011. In absence of much firm outside belief in their abilities, they keep showing up and keep executing to the best of their abilities.

And yes, they keep winning.

They’ve won in almost every way imaginable, from the small ball of a late-inning suicide squeeze to the big ball of a walkoff grand slam. Through it all, they’ve piled up quality starts, demonstrated dependable defense and, for the most part, avoided bullpen blemishes.

It’s been a fry cry from the 2010 team that went 69-93. In fact, one month in, this Indians team has already swept more series than that one. The Tribe has the best run differential in baseball, at +47, after finishing last season at -106.

What in the name of Andy Marte is going on here? Is the late Bob Feller pulling the switches from above? Did Charlie Sheen’s “winning” attitude displayed in “Major League” and announced in his bizarre media blitz have some sort of cosmic influence on this club?

Who knows? What we do know is that the Tribe’s strong start has, thus far, been sustained, even as some valuable pieces have fallen by the wayside.

“We lost two of our starters to the DL,” said closer Chris Perez, referring to Carlos Carrasco and Mitch Talbot, “and it’s just swept under the rug. It’s like, ‘OK, who we calling up?’ We just keep going. I think it shows how far this organization has come. I think there are other teams that could lose two-fifths of their rotation, like the Yankees, and start signing scrap-heap guys. We’re not doing that. We’re promoting guys from within that are talented.”

Jeanmar Gomez has been uneven in relief of Talbot in the rotation thus far, but top 2009 Draft pick Alex White had a solid debut Saturday, filling in for Carrasco. All along, Justin Masterson has evolved into a premier starting arm, and Josh Tomlin has been surprisingly unbeatable, too.

“Fausto [Carmona] has probably been the worst one, and coming out of Spring Training he was filthy and dominating,” Perez said. “He’s struggled the most and still been really good. The biggest question mark was getting quality starts, one through five, and we’ve done that.”

Indeed, the Indians’ rotation entered the off day tied with the Angels and the vaunted Phillies for the MLB lead in quality starts, with 20 in 27 games. Their starters have posted a 13-5 record with a 3.71 ERA and a .249 batting average against.

And when the starters have handed the ball over, they’ve handed it to a dependable relief corps that has posted a 3.08 ERA and .216 average against. Perez is 7-for-8 in save situations.

The pitching prowess has allowed the Indians to win in decidedly non-fluky fashion. This is not a club that’s simply bashed the opposition into submission (though the Indians do have the Majors’ fourth-most homers, with 34, and fourth-highest slugging percentage, at .445).

“You don’t see really crazy numbers,” Duncan said. “You don’t see guys with unreal statistics that you know they can’t keep up. You’ve got Masterson and Tomlin who haven’t lost a game yet, but don’t look at their win-loss record, look at the numbers of how they’ve pitched. That’s something I’ve been noticing, which makes me more encouraged. We’re not putting godly statistics up there. And we still have a couple guys who haven’t really started hitting, and we still have some young guys who are going to get better and better.”

With youth comes unpredictability, which the Indians feel they’ve helped counter with the additions of veterans Orlando Cabrera and Adam Everett in the infield. Jack Hannahan was a surprise addition to the roster when Jason Donald suffered a hand injury in Spring Training, and Hannahan’s contributions on the hot corner — a former defensive black hole for this club — have been a big boost, as well. Anything they get at the plate from Hannahan, who has delayed any need to rush top prospect Lonnie Chisenhall, is a bonus, and they’ve already gotten more than they expected.

“I don’t think we’re making overly exceptional plays,” Masterson said. “But we’re making the plays. And as pitchers, we’ve done a decent job of making pitches when we need to.”

But while strong pitching and solid defense carries a team a long way, Cabrera also points to the psychology that has been instilled here from day one of Spring Training. This was a young team that shrugged off losses as par for the course in 2010.

Now, the Indians come to the ballpark expecting to win.

“That’s one of the things Manny and I came to tell the guys,” Cabrera said. “Losing is just… a loss. We lost that night, we move on, and we come out on top the next game. It’s not like we’re losing, meaning we’re going to lose all the time.”

It is often said that no team is truly defined until it endures an extended stretch of losses. The Tribe was tested a bit last week, when Perez blew a save in Kansas City and the team was swept in a two-game, rain-shortened series in Minnesota. But the Indians quickly bounced back with a 6-0 homestand that included three victories over the Tigers in which they scored the winning run in their last at-bat each time.

A popular opinion is that a more meaningful measure of misfortune — the kind of losing stretch all clubs go through at one time or another in a 162-game schedule — might be a more accurate indicator of this club’s ultimate staying power.

But Acta, for one, dismisses that notion.

“I saw these guys tested last year, and they were younger with less experience and minus the solid veterans that we added to this ballclub,” Acta said. “I don’t worry about it. The main thing is, when that happens, you have to have the right people in your clubhouse, and I think we have them right now.”

They’re also in the right division. For while the Indians have stormed out the gates, the White Sox and Twins, the supposed darlings of the division, have been bleeding losses, entering Monday a full 10 games back of the Tribe. The Tigers, 7 ½ games back, haven’t been much better, while the Royals, 4 ½ games back at 15-13, have been another big surprise dismissed by some as a fluke.

“Everything’s really falling into place for us, if you look at it,” Perez said. “It’s there for the taking, but it’s not going to be easy. The top teams behind us, they’re going to make a run. They have too much talent. It might be one of those five-team races where nobody is really leading the pack. That’s why it’s nice coming out to this great start, because, if we do stub our toe, we could still be there.

“That’s all we can ask for is to have a chance.”

Amazingly, that’s what the Indians bought themselves in this season’s first month. Nobody predicted they’d have it, and few seem to think they can sustain it. But with each win comes a little more belief.

What Might Be on A Lazy Sunday
Written by Paul Cousineau
Paul Cousineau

cs_gw

A baseball season is a marathon.
It is a 162-game grind.
You have heard them all and realize that a baseball season is not won or lost on one particular day or night.

However, baseball seasons – marathons that they are – are made up of particular at-bats and specific innings that shape the summer and are comprised of moments in time that adjust expectation, perception, and outcome for any team. There are seminal moments in any baseball season, when fans are given a glimpse into what’s coming, whether they want to pay attention to them or not, because these seminal moments can be both good and bad.

In the 90’s, everyone remembers Manny, Eck, and “WOW” cementing that the upstart Indians were not just a mirage, but a freight train about to start running downhill, a feeling that was justified when Albert Belle deposited a Lee Smith fastball into the CF picnic area a few days later. In the matter of a couple of days in the middle of July of 1995, the Indians of the mid-1990s established themselves as an offensive juggernaut and as a force to be reckoned with whose future looked limitless.

Think back to those halcyon days and realize that those moments exist and that they provide a glimpse into what’s coming in a season, whether the revelation comes in April, May, June, or even July. Regardless of when they show up on our doorstep, they portend success or failure as they set the mood for a season, for a team, or an organization as the moments becomes harbingers of events still to come.

Remember when Hafner wrapped a Keith Foulke offering around Pesky Pole in Fenway in 2005 for a game-winning Grand Slam to finish off an epic comeback for an Indians team that nobody was quite sure about?

How about when Kelly Shoppach provided the late-inning magic in late June of 2007 that left no doubt that the Indians were in the AL Central race to stay, providing the spark that would carry the Indians all the way to the ALCS?

Of course, not all of these moments that provide that “glimpse” are good memories…
To wit, remember when Joe Borowski’s 83 MPH “fastball” was served up to Manny Ramirez in mid-April of 2008, setting the tone for a 2008 season that would result with CC leading his team to the playoffs…as a Brewer?

Maybe you prefer Granderson robbery of a game-winning HR off of Sizemore’s bat in 2009 that put the Indians into a freefall that would claim both El Capitan and their reigning Cy Young Award winner as an example of a season-changing moment in time…

Done with the history lesson, does everyone realize that what happened on Friday night could be looked back upon as THAT moment when the 2011 Indians grew up from a “pleasant surprise” to a legitimate contender in the AL Central…and maybe more?

With the (now fully healthy) face of their franchise on 2nd base and with their highest paid player nursing an ankle/foot injury, the Indians survived a bases-loaded strikeout from Choo to see the most exciting young hitter since Manny Ramirez to don the Chief provide the “WOW” moment for a new decade. The Indians came into the 2011 season in need of a fast start, in need of some momentum, in need of some believers to realize that the tear-down from 2008 to 2010 was not in vain and that it was not the beginning of another 40-year walk through the desert that older fans remembered all too well.

CS_WO_1Fears of that were silenced with one crack of the bat on a chilly April night in front 15,568 of the loudest fans to ever pass through the turnstiles at the corner of Carnegie and Ontario. While some have been slow to acknowledge that the Indians are winning these games in a sustainable manner – strong starting pitching, lockdown bullpen, timely and dynamic hitting – Carlos Santana’s moonshot into the April night ended all doubt.
This Indians team is for real…

This Indians team is not a mirage and it is not simply providing a tease to a city that has been teased for too long. Instead, it is providing a compelling reason to love sports and to love baseball to a town in need of a reason to hope and a reason to love sports (and particularly baseball) once again. If you’re here and reading this, you probably don’t need to be told this, but the seeds sewn by this organization over the last few years have started to bear fruit…and it’s looking like a bumper crop.

And yet, this is a team that the city does not know as the casual fan on the North Coast is still more consumed by the NFL Draft for a team that has only broken their collective heart in a league that may not be playing their upcoming season instead of realizing that the Indians team playing in front of their own noses is maturing and evolving into the most enjoyable Tribe team in recent memory. The bitterness of the tear-downs that decimated the team (and added the players we’re now seeing lead an exciting team) have left most Cleveland fans waiting for the other shoe to drop (or the next player to be traded) for the Tribe…all while debating the wisdom of the 21st pick in the NFL Draft.

That said, since most of the North Coast has been paying more attention to the NFL Draft than to their hometown 1st place team, perhaps it is apropos to include this terrific paragraph from a “draft primer” as Chris Hutchinson from TCF, as he had a great comparison when discussing the NFL Labor Dispute between the landscape of the NFL and that of MLB:
But make no mistake what a perfect NFL world would look like if the Players had their say - it would look like Major League Baseball. Or worse.

There would be no Salary Cap (and, consequently, no Salary Floor). There would be no Franchise Tag. Free Agents would have full control and would get paid insane amounts of money. Contracts would be guaranteed, even if said contract turned out to be an unsheddable anchor around the neck of the team that offered it. Teams would turn over with disgusting frequency, and the richest teams would have opportunities every season that the smaller market teams would not. The Dallas Cowboys would be loaded (on paper) every season while the Cincinnati Bengals would become the Pittsburgh Pirates. Less fortunate teams would be forced to draft better than everyone else just to compete, then trade away their most valuable commodities because they have no chance of keeping them long-term.

As a quick aside, if you’re not reading Hutchinson’s “Browns Outsider”, well…you should be.

But isn’t that about right when breaking down the life cycle of the mid-to-small-market teams in MLB? Read this again and give me an instance of a small-to-mid-market team that has been able to bypass this cycle:
Teams would turn over with disgusting frequency, and the richest teams would have opportunities every season that the smaller market teams would not… Less fortunate teams would be forced to draft better than everyone else just to compete, then trade away their most valuable commodities because they have no chance of keeping them long-term.

Since 2002, the Indians have “turned over” twice with a tear-down announced with the Bartolo deal, a build-up (that resulted in a team that was one win away from a World Series), and a horrible and efficient tear-down that alienated the fans that remained from 2004, all bringing us back to this particular moment in time. While that may not be the best strategy for building, much less maintaining a fan base, the Indians have “turned over” now twice successfully and here they sit at 18-8, with the best record in the AL (tied with the Phillies), with the best run differential in all of MLB (+41 after 26 games) and with a 4 ½ game lead in the Central.

Is it only May 1st?
Of course, but consider what Castrovince dug up in terms of fast starts to seasons:
In the last 10 years, from 2001 through 2010, 59 of the 80 teams (or 73.8 percent) that reached the playoffs had at least a .500 record in April. In that same 10-season span, of the 78 teams that finished the season with 90 wins or more, 61 (or 78.2 percent) at least broke even in April. So… there’s that.

While I’ll hold off on the “print the playoff tickets” crusade, those findings are not insignificant.

If the 15,568 number to see the Santana walk-off saddens you, realize that there’s a moratorium around these parts about attendance as what I wrote three weeks ago, that “I’m tired of attempting to crawl inside the head of the Cleveland fan” still holds firm. That said, if you’re not excited about what’s happening at the corner of Carnegie and Ontario or are still shooting arrows at the Dolans or Shapiro or whatever boogie man makes you angry…well, I just feel bad for you. Because you’re missing out on the most exciting and fundamentally sound baseball that’s been seen on the North Coast since the mid-1990s.

Yes, the Indians had a couple of years (2005 and 2007) in which everything seemed to go right, but not like this…
Not with suicide squeezes to beat the Beaneaters AND with walk-off Grand Slams from their dynamic young catcher against a division rival AND a wild-eyed and wild-haired closer shooting bullets through the opposition’s lineup.

Maybe there is still some resistance to this team and to this organization, given the unknown about most of the players, but the always tremendous Ryan Richards over at LGT had a fantastic line earlier in the week when he wrote that “Cleveland fans laugh at players that they know nothing about, loathe the players they are used to seeing, and fondly remember them after they leave.”

Truer words may not exist in terms of the Cleveland Indians “fan” psyche and the whole brilliant sentence played out before our eyes leading up to the season as Justin Masterson and Matt LaPorta and (fill in the blank) were downplayed by nearly everyone (present company included) as flawed players who would contribute to a 4th place team and who would come to represent an organizational failure to capitalize on trading their most valuable assets over the last two years. Going further, Josh Tomlin was just a “AAAA” pitcher and the Indians bullpen was an unproven group of young arms whose value was largely unknown.

While the value of most of these players is still largely unknown and there is the remote possibility that they all still comes crashing down (injuries to 40% of the rotation and the DH are never a good thing), the Indians have now played 26 games and sit atop the AL in ESPN’s convoluted “RPI” rankings.

Maybe that means nothing come July, but what the first month of 2011 has been about is finding out about these players that have led this team to this point – learning about Mike Brantley’s bat-to-ball ability, welcoming the Grady we once knew back into the fold, realizing that Matt LaPorta can be more than just a placeholder, seeing Justin Credible’s maturation into a legitimate top-of-the-rotation starter, and witnessing an evolution of a bullpen (most notably Vinnie, Tony, and Rage) from a group of talented arms into a lockdown unit capable of preserving a lead or prolonging a tie game – and bearing witness to all of it has been an absolute blast.

tigers_walk_offAfter watching a talented group players that we DID know struggle (notably in 2006 and 2008), with the majority of Indians’ fans using the “it’s still early” rationale to justify that the Tribe could still climb back into the divisional race (and it should be pointed out that the Twins are now 9-17, 9 games back while the Pale Hose are 10-18, also 9 games back), the 2011 Indians are now the rabbit in this race – setting the pace. Perhaps it’s just an odd feeling to see only track in front of us and not the backs of the ones we’re trying to catch…but it’s an awfully good feeling.

Maybe you want to point to the strength of the Indians’ schedule for their good record, but the Indians’ opponents records to date has been middle of the road, so it’s not simply as if the Indians are getting fat on the table scraps of MLB.
But even if they are, does it matter?

Teams that win divisions win them by dominating the lesser lights of the league and largely playing .500 baseball against the better teams. Thus far, the Indians have been in nearly EVERY game and have won games that they shouldn’t have won because of their bullpen and their resiliency while remaining close in games (sometimes coming down to an ultimately empty final AB) in games that they have lost.

Certainly the schedule that’s coming is going to reveal some truths about this Indians team, with series against the Athletics (in Oakland), the Angels (in Orange County), the Rays, the Red Sox and the Reds coming to the North Coast in May, with the Rangers and the Yankees (in the Bronx) coming at the beginning of June, but watching the Indians play baseball over the past month…isn’t it time to welcome these challenges?

Over the last two weeks, the Indians have proven that their fast start isn’t on par with that of…say, the Royals (and you should read this from Joe Pos as to why) in that they have kept with a “Plan” in terms of building this team, despite the catcalls from the local (and national) media, holding true to the belief that the talent that they assembled via trade and draft from 2008 to today would augment the pieces already in place and that they would compete in the AL Central…and maybe more.

Perhaps nobody thought that it would happen this fast, but playing off of the “What If” ad campaign that the Indians have started, Scott Bricker presents a brilliant sequence of questions and pictures at LGT wondering “What If” for this team…in that “What If” this is the year (and I’ll be right here for when you finish hitting that link)?

That may be wildly premature as the calendar flips to May, but this 2011 team is good where it counts, is fun to watch, and is easy to cheer for, particularly for a town in need of a reason to cheer.

Maybe the injuries to the rotation cause them to take a tumble and maybe somebody exposes Supermanahan to Kryptonite…
Maybe Hafner’s foot and the elbow injuries to CarCar and The Fury prove to be too much to overcome for a team still building and evolving into a winner…

But in a world full of “maybes”, after watching The Axe Man drive a ball deep into the April night, with a group of young players – not aware that they’re not supposed to be doing this – waiting for him at home plate, I’m not thinking about those negative “maybes” anymore.

I’m too busy focusing on the “maybes” that are just as possible…like “maybe” this is the start of something special, announced by the crack of the bat from Carlos Santana on a cool April night in Cleveland, that had me thinking, “maybe” this is Tribe Time…Now.
Posted by Paul Cousineau May 01, 2011 8:55 AM Last Updated: May 01, 2011

Indians’ trades start paying off

By Lacy Lusk


More than a month into the season, the Cleveland Indians have the best record in baseball. A big reason for the surprising start is that they had a plan, and they stuck to it.

Team President Mark Shapiro (formerly the general manager) and first-year GM Chris Antonetti (a Georgetown alum) worked together to acquire talent when the small-market franchise had to decide whether to start over or stand pat.

In 2008, a year after coming within a win of reaching the World Series, the Indians dealt CC Sabathia to Milwaukee. Left-hander Cliff Lee went 22-3 for that 81-81 team, but by the next July he was off to Philadelphia.
Cleveland catcher Carlos Santana jumps for joy after hitting a game-ending grand slam against Detroit on Friday night. (Amy Sancetta/Associated Press)Instead of keeping a few veterans and hoping to contend in the AL Central, Cleveland went with the long view — much as it did when John Hart built a powerhouse in the 1990s.

A series of trades followed. Eventually, Manager Manny Acta was hired. In his second season in Cleveland, Acta deserves credit for being patient with a bunch that went 69-93 last season as the youngest team in the major leagues. Now the second-youngest to Kansas City, the Indians are 19-8 (a .704 winning percentage) with a roster laden with players who came over in trades.

Here’s a look at the deals that supplied major league talent, from best to worst (as of now):

1. 1B Ben Broussard to the Mariners for RF Shin-Soo Choo and LHP Shawn Nottingham

Choo hasn’t done much yet this year, but he’s coming off back-to-back 20-homer, 20-steal seasons and has an excellent arm in right field.

2. 3B Casey Blake to the Dodgers for C Carlos Santana and RHP John Meloan

Santana gives Cleveland a younger version of Victor Martinez, a switch hitter who wears No. 41 and is a premier offensive threat for the position.


3. 1B Eduardo Perez to the Mariners for SS Asdrubal Cabrera

After fracturing his forearm last year, Cabrera is slugging .459.

4. C Victor Martinez to the Red Sox for RHP Justin Masterson, LHP Nick Hagadone and RHP Bryan Price

The sinkerballing Masterson is off to a 5-0 start with a 2.25 ERA after going 6-13, 4.70 last season. Hagadone has a 0.00 ERA in 14 2/3 innings at Class AA Akron.

5. IF Mark DeRosa to the Cardinals for RHP Chris Perez and RHP Jess Todd

Perez is 7 for 8 in save opportunities. Dealing for DeRosa in the first place, though, could cost the Indians as right-hander Chris Archer became a top Chicago Cubs prospect before moving to the Tampa Bay system in the Matt Garza deal.

6. C Kelly Shoppach to the Rays for RHP Mitch Talbot

Talbot, out with a right elbow strain after going 1-0, 1.46 in his first two starts this season, has been a rotation find.

7. LHP CC Sabathia to the Brewers for 1B-OF Matt LaPorta, OF Michael Brantley, RHP Rob Bryson and LHP Zach Jackson

LaPorta is slugging .513 as an everyday first baseman. Brantley filled in well in center field before Grady Sizemore rejoined the lineup after missing nearly a year with a knee injury.

8. OF Franklin Gutierrez to the Mariners in a three-team trade that included the Mets and brought in RHP Joe Smith and 2B Luis Valbuena

The Indians’ bullpen has been aided by late-round draft picks and obscure major and minor league free agents. Smith has not helped much, and Gutierrez is a gifted defensive outfielder battling a stomach ailment.

9. LHP Cliff Lee and OF Ben Francisco to the Phillies for RHP Carlos Carrasco, IF Jason Donald, C Lou Marson and RHP Jason Knapp

Carrasco, on the DL with a tight right elnow, had been showing signs of having a breakout year. Donald is in Class AAA after playing with Cleveland much of last year. Knapp is a hard thrower thought to be the key to the trade, but he has not been able to stay healthy.

After Washington fired Acta, he had a chance to become manager with either Houston, a franchise for which he had worked, or Cleveland. He said he liked what he saw from the Indians’ young players, and they have shown why.

The farm system is also pitching in after a dry period. Right-hander Alex White, a 2009 first-round pick, allowed two runs in six innings Saturday in his major league debut. Left-hander Drew Pomeranz, a 2010 first-rounder, has a 1.54 ERA with 34 strikeouts and seven walks in 23 1/3 Class AA innings. Third baseman Lonnie Chisenhall and second baseman Jason Kipnis, both at Class AAA Columbus, could add pop to the lineup as soon as this season.

The Indians are 4 1/2 games up on Kansas City, 7 1/2 on Detroit and 10 on the Chicago White Sox and Minnesota. At this rate, they may even be a buyer instead of a seller this summer.

Plain Dealer staff The Plain Dealer

CLEVELAND, Ohio -- Outfielder-first baseman Jordan Brown, who was playing for the Cleveland Indians' Class AAA team, the Columbus Clippers, has been traded to the Milwaukee Brewers organization for cash considerations.

Brown will be assigned to Milwaukee's Class AAA team, the Nashville Sounds. The trade of Brown allows Columbus to make room on its roster for infielder Josh Rodriguez.

The left-handed hitting Brown, 27, was batting .278 in 72 at bats for the Clippers, with three doubles, one triple, three home runs and 13 RBI.

Brown played in 26 games for the Indians last season, including games at designated hitter besides first base and the outfield. He hit .230 in 87 at bats, with seven doubles and two RBI.

Brown, a fourth-round draft pick of Cleveland in 2005, led the International League in 2009 with a .336 batting average.

Also, Indians trainer Lonnie Soloff says designated hitter Travis Hafner is making the Indians' trip to the West Coast, which begins Tuesday night in Oakland against the Athletics.

Soloff says Hafner is making progress after missing the Indians' last four games with a strained tendon in his right foot. It's possible he could play at some time during the six-game trip.

Hafner is hitting .342 in 76 at bats, with five doubles, four homers and 11 RBI.

The Indians, 19-8, own the best record in the major leagues.

Not really surprised Brown got traded. Someone had to go especially after Josh Rodriguez was recently returned to AAA.

Unfortunately for Brown his odds of getting a call up in Milwaukee are probably less than Cleveland.

He had clearly run out of chances with the Tribe. Hopefully he'll get a fresh start with the Brewers...

Or Nashville, anyway.

Jim Ingraham: Indians are rolling, but make no mistake: Santana is slumping

Published: Tuesday, May 03, 2011

By Jim Ingraham

JIngraham@News-Herald.com

Is Carlos Santana in a slump or not?

Over the weekend, Santana hit home runs in three consecutive games, so the answer to the question of whether or not Santana is in a slump is obviously ... well, yes.

Huh?

The answer is yes, because those three home runs are Santana's only hits in his last seven games. Since April 23, Santana is hitting .125 (3-for-24) — and he was in a slump prior to this slump, just not as severe as this slump.

This wouldn't be a big deal if Santana was the Indians' backup catcher, or the Nos. 8 or 9 batter in the lineup. He's not. Santana is the Indians' starting catcher, and he's their cleanup hitter.

In other words, Santana is one of the most important players on the team. It's never a good thing when one of the most important players on a baseball team is hitting .125 over a seven-game span.

It's also not a good thing when that same important player is hitting .191 — for the season. But that's the batting average Santana will take into tonight's game in Oakland. That's the lowest batting average of any catcher in the American League with more than 50 at-bats.

Santana, of course, is supposed to be a key cog in the Indians' offensive machine. Ironically, that offensive machine is rolling along quite nicely, even with Santana, and his .191 batting average sitting in the middle of it.

The Indians go into Tuesday's game leading the American League in hitting and in runs scored, so it's not like Santana's slump is dragging the offense down. The Indians also have a record of 19-8, the best record in the major leagues, so it's not like Santana's slump is dragging the team down.

So what's the big deal?

The big deal isn't the Indians have somebody in their starting lineup hitting .191.

The big deal is Carlos Santana is hitting .191. Carlos Santana isn't supposed to be hitting .191. Why? Because he's Carlos Santana — the next Victor Martinez.

Santana was one of the top prospects in all of minor league baseball last year when the Indians recalled him from Columbus. In his first month in the big leagues, he looked it.

In his second month in the big leagues — not so much.

There was no third month in the big leagues in 2010 because Santana blew out his knee in a home-plate collision that required season-ending surgery.

He worked hard in the offseason to rehab the knee, and it paid off. He started spring training on time, and hit. 300.

Then, the regular season started — and Santana didn't.

He stopped hitting almost immediately. He never really started hitting, until those three memorable home runs over the weekend — particularly his jaw-dropping, walkoff grand slam in the 13th inning Friday night vs. the Tigers.

The rest of Santana's season has pretty much been the Sahara Desert. Not hot, but barren. Desolate. There's nothing there.

Go back to April 9, and in his last 18 games, Santana is hitting .127. But it's an interesting .127, because over those same 18 games, Santana has hit four home runs with 11 RBI. He's also walked 15 times and struck out 15 times.

If you project all of that over a 162-game season, you get a .127 batting average, but with 36 home runs, 100 RBI, 136 walks and 136 strikeouts.

Obviously, Santana, primarily a catcher, would never play 162 games in a season, but clearly his rate of producing runs is very good, even if his batting average and strikeout totals are not.

Then there's this: Santana made his major-league debut on June 11 last year. He hit .345 in June. But from July 1 of last year to today, Santana is hitting .199. That covers 181 at-bats, during which he has hit seven home runs with 24 RBI, 42 walks and 41 strikeouts.

So is the league catching up to him? Have pitchers figured him out? Does he have a hole in his swing? Is he not going to become the All-Star hitter his minor-league career suggested he would become?

Indians manager Manny Acta gets asked about Santana's slump almost every day. Acta hates the question. He spits out some form of the same answer: "Carlos is going to hit."

The manager is a huge fan of the catcher, to the point Acta continues to write lineup cards with Santana and his sub-.200 batting average batting fourth.

Why not? The Indians, with Santana in a slump, still lead the league in wins, hitting and runs scored.

It ain't broke, so why fix it?

On cue, Carlos is 2 for 2 tonight.

Tribe's late push stretches streak to seven

Cleveland first club in Majors to notch 20 victories

By Jordan Bastian / MLB.com | 5/4/2011 2:37 AM ET

OAKLAND -- A walk-off win was not one of the available options for the Indians on Tuesday night. That had been a favorite route to victory of late for the Tribe, but such on-field parties are reserved for the home audience.

So Cleveland did the next best thing. The chargers from Cuyahoga County shook off an evening of anemic offense and mounted a ninth-inning rally inside Oakland Coliseum. The late push helped the Indians to a 4-1 victory over the A's, marking the Tribe's fourth straight win in its last at-bat.

The Indians have now won seven games in a row to improve to an American League-best 20-8 on the season. The latest trip to victory lane included eight strong innings from ace Fausto Carmona and a locked-down ninth by closer Chris Perez.

More importantly, the Indians staged another resilient comeback.

"There's nothing magical about it," Indians manager Manny Acta said.

Try telling that to Tribe fans.

After witnessing 190 losses over the past two seasons -- defeats of all shapes and colors -- a fatigued fan base has watched this team, filled with youngsters and sprinkled with veterans, do what many thought impossible. Only the men inside the clubhouse are willing to say any of this was expected.

"We all expected a lot out of ourselves," Indians first baseman Matt LaPorta said. "If you don't expect greatness, you shouldn't be here. That's what we expect -- greatness."

They received as much on Friday night, when Carlos Santana delivered a walk-off grand slam to take down the Tigers. One night later, Orlando Cabrera set off a celebration with a walk-off single. On Sunday, Cleveland completed a sweep of Detroit with another comeback win.

Acta insists there is a method to all this madness.

"You just have to continue to put up quality at-bats," Acta said. "Work the count and make things happen. These guys, they're not afraid to take pitches and get deep in the count. They have made things happen."

The Indians did not make much happen through the first six innings, which were owned by A's right-hander Tyson Ross. Up to that point, Ross managed to survive with only a 1-0 lead to work with. Cleveland finally managed a breakthrough in the seventh, when Santana singled and scored on a base hit from LaPorta.

In the ninth inning, with the game stuck in a 1-1 deadlock, Michael Brantley led off against A's lefty Brian Fuentes. Brantley did all he could to find a way on base, taking pitches and fouling balls off before eventually drawing a walk. Brantley was promptly picked off, but his at-bat was not wasted.

"Michael had such a good at-bat," Cabrera said. "By the time the other guys went up there, we had pretty much seen everything Fuentes had. Those kind of at-bats help develop those type of innings."

LaPorta followed with a single to left. Jack Hannahan pulled a pitch into right to put runners on the corners. Then, up came Cabrera, who was out of the starting lineup on Tuesday for a scheduled day off. That was until he was called into the game as a defensive replacement in the eighth.

In the batter's box, Cabrera stroked an 0-1 offering from Fuentes into left-center field for a crucial single that pushed the Indians to a 2-1 lead.

"That's what a professional baseball player does," LaPorta said. "He comes in off the bench, we need that big hit and he did it. That was huge."

It was also only the beginning.

After Grady Sizemore was hit by a pitch, Asdrubal Cabrera singled home another pair of runs to pad the Tribe's cushion. That late three-run burst made Acta's decision to keep Carmona on the hill for eight innings pay off. Carmona picked up a well-earned win.

Carmona (3-3) limited the A's (15-15) to just one run on five hits. The lone blemish came in the fourth inning, when he allowed Daric Barton to reach with a leadoff single. One infield hit and two groundouts later, Barton crossed home plate to put Oakland ahead, 1-0.

Beyond that, Carmona was unflappable.

"He was never in any kind of danger," Acta said.

Indeed, Carmona pounded the strike zone, ending with five strikeouts in a series of quick innings. His performance provided the Indians' offense with time to figure out a way to scratch a few runs across.

"They're just clicking on all cylinders," Fuentes said. "Carmona, he went out and threw the ball really well, gave up one run and kept them in the game, and they just hung around. It's just a really good ballclub."

One that has recently acquired a taste for comeback wins.

"The attitude is just to win," Orlando Cabrera said. "Find a way to win. Hang in there."

Even if that means moving the party from the field to the clubhouse.

It's taken time, but Cleveland Indians are getting big results from their big-name deals: Terry Pluto

Published: Tuesday, May 03, 2011, 8:51 PM
Updated: Tuesday, May 03, 2011, 8:52 PM
By Terry Pluto, The Plain Dealer
Michael Brantley entered Tuesday's series opener against Oakland batting .309 with a .394 on-base percentage as a starter either in left or center field.

CLEVELAND, Ohio -- For Tribe fans, the first shock wave came on July 7, 2008. That was when CC Sabathia was traded to Milwaukee for Matt LaPorta, Zach Jackson, Rob Bryson and a player to be named later.

Less than a year after coming one game away from the 2007 World Series, the Indians traded the Cy Young Award winner. In Sabathia, they also traded one of the best pitchers to come through the farm system in decades.

"We knew it would be traumatic for the fan base," said team president Mark Shapiro. "But we also knew they was no way we'd sign CC."

Sabathia was heading to free agency, knowing his destiny was to become baseball's highest paid pitcher.

"The question wasn't trading CC," said Shapiro. "It was should we wait until after the season and take the amateur draft picks [as compensation], or try to find someone who'd trade us some top prospects."

Milwaukee was in serious contention and needed a big-time pitcher. The Indians convinced the Brewers to immediately part with LaPorta, who was leading all of the minors with 20 homers in 84 Class AA games at the time of the deal.

Jackson and Bryson were pitching prospects, but not high on anyone's list. Then the Indians faced a choice -- an outfielder named Michael Brantley or third baseman Taylor Green -- as the last piece in the trade.

They went with Brantley despite having more of a need for a third baseman. Three years later, Brantley is hitting .309 for the Tribe, sixth best among all American League outfielders. He doesn't turn 24 until May 15, meaning Brantley is not at his prime.

As for 24-year-old Green, he's hitting .211 with three homers and nine RBI in Class AAA. Last season, he hit .260 with 13 homers and 81 RBI in Class AA.

So they made the right choice.

Patience is needed
Matt LaPorta has begun to show the extra-base power that could provide the Indians with much-needed punch from the right side of the plate.

Sabathia did pitch the Brewers into the first round of the 2008 playoffs. He then signed with the Yankees.

The Indians have LaPorta at first, where he's hitting .263 (.857 OPS) with four homers and 15 RBI. He's second on the team with six doubles and has been solid defensively.

Brantley can play all three outfield positions and eventually will be the team's leadoff hitter. LaPorta should be the right-handed bat with some pop that the team has needed for years at first base.

"I'm always guarded when it comes to [talking about] these deals, because progress with prospects is never in a straight line," said Shapiro. "Guys have to go back to the minors. The [performance] goes up and down in the big leagues. But I do know that patience is usually rewarded."

That may be the case in this deal. The same is true with the trade of Victor Martinez to Boston for Justin Masterson, Nick Hagadone and Bryan Price.

In the summer of 2009, the Indians were on their way to 97 losses. They knew attendance would dip again in 2010. They knew they couldn't afford to sign Cliff Lee or Martinez -- both free agents after 2010.
They knew they'd be ripped by the media and fans for trading Lee (another Cy Young winner) and Martinez (a popular .300 hitter) when they were 1 1/2 seasons away from free agency.

"It came down to the same choice between picks and prospects," said Shapiro. "Emotionally, the Victor deal was the hardest because of what he has meant to the organization."

That's also the trade paying off the fastest, as Masterson is 5-0 with a 2.25 ERA in six starts. At Class AA Akron, Hagadone has not allowed a run in 14 2/3 innings, striking out 19 and walking only two. The 25-year-old lefty throws 95 mph after having major elbow surgery in 2008. He could be in the Tribe bullpen before the end of the season.

Money is always a factor
Dealing away Victor Martinez was emotional for the Indians front office and the Tribe's fans, but Justin Masterson's 5-0 start to the 2011 season eases memories of Martinez's departure.

What the Indians don't say is economics also drove the Lee and Martinez deals. They would have added nearly $16 million to the 2010 payroll, and the Indians simply didn't think they could afford that. So they traded.

They are still waiting for the payoff of the Lee deal -- Carlos Carrasco, Jason Donald, Lou Marson and Jason Knapp. Carrasco is very close to establishing himself as a viable big-league starter. Marson is a solid backup catcher, Donald is at Class AAA but it's easy to project him as a utility infielder. Knapp throws 95 mph, but he's still preparing to start his Class A season.

The Indians mention "patience" when it comes to this trade. It was made in 2009, a year after the Sabathia deal. At this point last season, Brantley and LaPorta were struggling. Both would eventually go back to the minors before returning to Cleveland after the All-Star break.

These trades are risky. After the 2007 season, Minnesota traded Cy Young winner Johan Santana to the Mets. They received Carlos Gomez, Phil Humber, Deolis Guerra and Kevin Mulvey in return. Only Guerra is still in the Twins' organization, and he's 2-3 with an 8.81 ERA in Class AA.

Gomez, a career .245 hitter, is with the Brewers. Mulvey is 1-2 with a 12.93 ERA in Class AAA for Arizona. Humber was traded twice after joining the Twins, and is now 2-3 with a 3.06 ERA for the White Sox.

The Indians have a remarkable record of dealing for prospects, be it Carlos Santana (Casey Blake deal), Asdrubal Cabrera (Eduardo Perez), Shin Soo Choo (Ben Broussard) and Chris Perez (Mark DeRosa). Grady Sizemore, Lee and Brandon Phillips were obtained for Bartolo Colon in 2002, a mega deal that began this trend of trading veterans for prospects.

Along with the players obtained in the Sabathia, Lee and Martinez deals contributing to the surprising 19-8 start is the fact that Masterson can't be a free agent until after the 2014 season. The other players in these deals don't see free agency until after 2015 or later.

"We feel good about the players we got in return for those trades," said General Manager Chris Antonetti.

"They gave us some depth with young players, and they are guys who we can build with. It means a lot to see them develop and help us win right now -- knowing that we will have these guys under our control for quite a while."

For me, the biggest position player surprise to date is LaPorta.

The biggest concern going forward has to be the starting pitching. It's hard to imagine Masterson keeping at this level.

But boy is this team fun.

rocky raccoon wrote:For me, the biggest position player surprise to date is LaPorta.

The biggest concern going forward has to be the starting pitching. It's hard to imagine Masterson keeping at this level.

But boy is this team fun.

Yep, just imaging if LaPorta plays as he was billed to be, and couple that with a rejuvinated Pronk and you do have a fun team to watch. No easy outs (other than Carlos (ducking)), and rallies starting from anywhere. Acta's interactive management style, and Poof, here we are!

Early success might speed up timetables for top prospects By Kevin Goldstein

A strong start has Indians fans excited about the present and the future.

There is little argument that the Cleveland Indians have been the biggest surprise of the year so far on a team level. Whether one thinks this is real doesn't matter in many ways, as having the best record in baseball in early May already changes the team's 2011 outlook significantly.



Given only a 3.8 percent chance of reaching the playoffs on Opening Day, Baseball Prospectus' Playoff Odds still sees Cleveland as a sub-.500 team from here on out, but the hot start has increased their postseason chances nearly tenfold, to 37.8 percent heading into Wednesday's action. For you horse racing buffs, they've gone from a 26-1 long shot to better than 3-1 odds of needing to call the printer about playoff tickets.



As for Indians general manager Chris Antonetti, he's cautiously optimistic. "Going into spring training, we felt like we had a talented roster but one that was very young," he explained to me. "With youth, you are never sure about how fast it will develop. We've had some of these young players take that next step and help us win games, while we've mixed in veterans to not only help us win but provide leadership the young players can learn from."



No matter how you measure the current talent in Cleveland, there is every reason to believe the Indians are going to be an even more talented team on paper in future years. Evaluating the team's minor league collection of talent is a difficult balance. Although the Indians lack those obvious star-level studs, they make up for it with incredible depth, as one could easily argue that no other organization has as many future big leaguers, some of whom could play a role on the team this year.




But the winning suddenly changes philosophies, as giving prospects a look is an acceptable risk for a team that's out of the race, but winning records can leave some players on the farm for a while, as Antonetti indicated that the team's sudden success could change things up. "We want to take advantage of any window of opportunity we have," Antonetti said. "We'll continue to place an emphasis on winning at the major league level, but it's inevitable that injuries and performance issues will crop up and we will need to make adjustments."



One such adjustment came this past weekend, when 2009 first-round pick Alex White was summoned to the big leagues to replace Carlos Carrasco and his sore elbow. Normally, this would be seen as a top prospect getting a reward for his hard work on the farm, but with White putting up a 1.90 ERA in four Triple-A starts, the decision was made with different factors. "We felt White was the best player to start the game in terms of giving us the ability to win," Antonetti said.

Injuries, such as the one that created the opportunity for White, are nearly impossible to predict, and although the science of performance projections is hardly a perfect one, there is certainly some room for further optimism, as two of the team's top hitters, catcher Carlos Santana and outfielder Shin-Soo Choo could be expected to improve from their early-season slumps.



That said, there are certainly also players we can expect regressions from, and the Indians have one prospect who could help in the second half, should a "performance issue" crop up at the hot corner. The position is currently manned at the big league level by Jack Hannahan, a 31-year-old who entered the season with a career batting line of .224/.311/.347 in 290 games -- with both the averages and the service time showing that he has spent the majority of his career as a minor league organizational soldier, and with good reason. If you think players with his age and background normally suddenly hit .284/.359/.481, where Hannahan sits after 23 games, I know of a wonderfully charming bridge in Brooklyn that might interest you, but instead of real estate transactions, let's talk about Lonnie Chisenhall.



A first-round pick in 2008 out of a North Carolina junior college after getting kicked off the South Carolina team for breaking into a dorm room, Chisenhall has put his past behind him and is solely known for his play on the field at this time, quickly moving to the upper part of Cleveland prospect lists thanks to one of the prettiest swings in the minors. After hitting 22 home runs while reaching Double-A in his 2009 full-season debut, Chisenhall was among the hottest hitters in the Eastern League in the second half of 2010, and he has recovered from another slow start this season by going 13-for-33 (.394) in his past eight games for Triple-A Columbus to raise his averages to .277/.378/.426 in 24 games. Beyond the swing, Chisenhall has solid tools across the board, as he has the power to hit 20-plus home runs a year and has fundamentally sound defensive abilities, with his speed the only below-average tool.



The Indians have other prospects at Columbus close to the big leagues, most notably second baseman Jason Kipnis, who is riding a hot streak of his own and hitting .276/.390/.471 in 24 games. A Cleveland team performing as expected (that is, poorly) likely would create a second-half opening for Kipnis, but the nature of the Indians' win-loss record has transformed Orlando Cabrera from midseason trade chip to veteran leader, leaving Kipnis in line for little more than limited big league exposure in September should the club's winning ways continue.



But that same win-loss record could actually accelerate the timetable of Chisenhall. The need to win could create pressure if/when Hannahan turns back into a pumpkin, and although scouts mostly agree that Chisenhall is not a finished product, he's certainly close enough to contribute.



"This can be a humbling game, and precisely laid plans rarely work out," said Antonetti when referring to his team's quick start. And how those plans change will dramatically affect when we see two of Cleveland's top upper-level prospects in the big leagues.