Hey civ - regarding your comment about Sandy Alomar:
The stumbling, sputtering Cleveland Indians and their search for fuel
By Zack Meisel Sep 14, 2020 31
One day last week, when the Indians’ current six-game losing streak was in its infancy, Sandy Alomar Jr. offered a lengthy review of his 2020 managerial experience.
He quipped that he’d need three hours to list all of the decisions that have unexpectedly fallen into his lap. He compared himself to a substitute teacher, suggesting that, “as a student, you can only handle the substitute teacher for so long. … It’s been fun, but I tell (Terry Francona) all the time: ‘Get your butt back, bro.’”
In between those light-hearted remarks, Alomar likened the team to a car humming along the highway as the gas gauge leans toward E. He said he has joked with Francona: “You are the gas station. It’s time to show up.”
“We miss him,” Alomar said. “We miss his presence.”
Alomar has maintained that stance throughout his tenure, frequently stating he wished Francona would return “yesterday.” But at the time of the gas station comment, Alomar had steered the Indians to an 18-9 record. They were surviving just fine without their recovering leader.
It is an appropriate metaphor, though. All season, it has seemed as though the Indians have been waiting for a savior to rescue their offense, for that Sunoco to randomly pop up as they sputter toward October. They have waited for someone to deliver that one, critical hit that triggers a collective exhale from the dugout. They have waited for any outfielder or catcher to contribute to the offense. At the moment, they’re waiting for the pitching staff to morph back into its immortal, early-season form.
The last time the Indians endured a six-game skid, late July 2015, they shipped out every veteran player who stepped foot in the clubhouse. Brandon Moss, David Murphy, Marc Rzepczynski, all gone. About 10 days after the slide, the front office officially (and mercifully) terminated the Nick Swisher/Michael Bourn era.
There will be no mass exodus this time. Even after stubbing their toe for the sixth straight day, the Indians’ playoff odds, per FanGraphs, remain 98.8 percent. They face a Kilimanjaro-high climb toward reclaiming the AL Central title, but this year’s division crown is made of papier-mâché anyway.
The point of this regular season is to determine what could work in October. The Indians have plenty of evidence revealing what will not. More than three-fourths of the way through the regular season, Alomar is still searching far and wide for the (seemingly nonexistent) ideal outfield combination. The pitching staff has proven it’s human this week, too, which has further complicated matters.
Here’s the thing: Playoff seeding is relatively inconsequential. The Indians may wind up costing themselves home-field advantage in the first round, but that carries much less significance than usual. There will be no fans. It’ll be a three-game series, and Cy Young frontrunner Shane Bieber will start the first of those three. The Indians have fared better on the road this season, for whatever it’s worth.
Home: 12-11 record, minus-2 run differential
Road: 14-10 record, plus-33 run differential
No matter where they finish in the top eight, the Indians will have to topple three formidable opponents to emerge from the American League side of the bracket, with the ALDS and ALCS likely unfolding in a Southern California bubble.
At this point, the Indians’ plan is some combination of “pitch at an otherworldly level” and “pray to the heavens for a timely hit or two.” Their blueprint is a sketch of the “This is fine” dog meme with a blazing arrow pointing toward the front yard beneath the words, “Get there somehow.”
The Indians have scored two runs or fewer in 21 of their 47 games. When the lineup has produced lately, the pitching has stumbled. Tribe hurlers have allowed 40 runs during this six-game nightmare. It should be no shock if Zach Plesac, Aaron Civale and Triston McKenzie suffer a hiccup here and there. The three, aged 25, 25 and 23, respectively, have combined to make only 51 major-league starts. The issue is, this team just has such little margin for error.
The manager du jour has scribbled 38 different lineups in 47 games, and only two have been used more than twice. The Indians have pieced together 25 different starting-outfield combinations, including nine different left fielders. They have used only nine outfield combinations more than once. No, Josh Naylor, with a .342 OPS through 37 plate appearances, has not yet solved the club’s offensive problems.
The lineup lacks punch. The Indians rank 28th in the majors with a .364 slugging percentage. The only two teams that sit below Cleveland, the Rangers and Pirates, own a combined record of 31-60. Carlos Santana has drawn a league-leading 39 walks but has collected only nine extra-base hits. The Indians rank last in the majors in slugging percentage (.327) by their first basemen.
That creates pressure to string hits together, which is a tall order for a team with a .227 batting average. To compound that issue, the Indians have been thrown out on the bases 21 times, one gaffe shy of the league-high mark. They have been picked off an AL-high six times. Those mistakes — Francisco Lindor and José Ramírez were nabbed over the weekend — become magnified when runs are at a premium. How much of a premium? After the Indians scored four runs against the Twins on Saturday night, Alomar referred to it as “a step in the right direction.”
Alomar commended Lindor’s desire to put pressure on the Minnesota defense and attempt to manufacture a run, but added: “At times, you have to take a step back and evaluate situations and try to play and not try to force things.”
Cleveland’s outfielders have posted a .186/.271/.289 slash line this season. That’s good for 29th in the league in batting average, 29th in on-base percentage and tied for 29th in slugging percentage. They owe the Pirates’ outfielders a thank-you note.
Cleveland’s catchers have contributed even less at the plate: a .143/.258/.214 slash line, good for 29th in the league in batting average, 27th in on-base percentage and 30th in slugging.
Those two units account for the bottom four in the Indians lineup on a nightly basis, a wasteland of unfruitful at-bats. Meanwhile, the Minnesota starters in spots 6-9 tallied 10 hits in 30 at-bats over the weekend with seven home runs, 13 RBIs and 11 runs scored.
That resulted in a Twins sweep, and now the Indians find themselves mired in third place in the division, staring at the No. 7 or No. 8 seed in the AL and desperately searching for that elusive fuel.
