Shin-Soo Choo Out Two Months: Indians Need to Call Up Jerad Head
Cleveland fans’ hearts were broken Tuesday when the Indians announced that Shin-Soo Choo would miss eight-to-10 weeks as he recovers from surgery on his left thumb. The time off could do Choo some good, but the void both in right field and Tribe fans’ hearts won’t be easy to fill.
So far, the hole in right field has been filled by Travis Buck (hitting .226/.274/.340), Austin Kearns (.194/.286/.269), and Shelley Duncan (.212/.244/.353)—none of whom really bring much to the table. The trio has combined for -0.4 WAR in 97 games this year, and none of the three has been above replacement level.
Anyone who fills Choo’s shoes will look overmatched by comparison—for the Indians to truly replace Choo’s solid bat and terrific glove, they’d have to make a blockbuster trade—but there is a better way. The solution to the Indians’ right-field problem could be a guy most fans have never heard of. (more…)
Is Cleveland Indians’ Lineup in Trouble?
The wheels are starting to come off the wagon for the Cleveland Indians.
The Tribe had lost five games in a row before last night’s victory over the Twins. Scoring wasn’t the Indians’ biggest problem through the rough stretch—they’d given up 6.5 runs a game this month heading into Tuesday’s action. But with just seven runs scored in their last five games amidst Manny Acta’s lineup shuffling—even last night, Cleveland won 1-0—questions have begun to arise about the reliability of the Tribe’s lineup.
But before any judgment is passed down, we Indians fans owe it to ourselves to ask the question: Are Cleveland’s hitters playing poorly, or are they just getting unlucky?
To answer this question, we turn to Batting Average on Balls in Play, also known as “hit rate.” BABIP is exactly what it sounds like: the proportion of balls hit inside the confines of the diamond that result in the batter reaching base, which for most hitters is about 30% of the time. While some players have abnormal natural hit rates, most major variations from the mean—especially this early in the season—are due to random chance.
Thanks to The Hardball Times’ super-special awesome xBABIP calculator, we can get an estimate of what players’ hit rates would be in a luck-neutral environment based on factors like speed, power, strikeout rate, and batted-ball profile. By plugging his expected hit rate (xBABIP) in for his actual BABIP, we can get an idea of how a player would do in a completely neutral context.
Using their xBABIPs and Power Factors, I calculated luck-neutral slashlines for all 15 Indians to have come to the plate in 2011. Here are the results, sorted by the differences between their expected and actual OPS+’s: (more…)
Nine Cleveland Indians Would Qualify for Free Agent Compensation Picks
It’s way too early for the Cleveland Indians to be thinking about free agency—only four Tribe players are not under team control for the 2012 season, and there will (hopefully) be a pennant run at Progressive Field between now and November. But the latest updates of the Elias free agent rankings are still noteworthy.
Every offseason, the Elias Sports Bureau designates the top free agents on the market as either “Type A” or “Type B.” If the Type A or B player’s team offers him arbitration after his contract expires and the player rejects, his former team is compensated for its loss in the coming year’s amateur draft.
In every case, the team that unsuccessfully offered arbitration to a ranked free agent gets a “sandwich pick” between the first and second rounds of the draft. In addition, whoever signs a Type A free agent must give its first-round pick to the player’s former team (unless the signing team has one of the first 15 picks, in which case they lose give up their second-round pick).
According to MLBTradeRumors.com’s latest Elias Rankings Update, nine Cleveland Indians players would qualify as either Type A or Type B picks if their contracts expired tomorrow. (more…)
Austin Kearns’ Lawyers File to Dismiss DUI Charges, Hearing Postponed
Cleveland Indians outfielder Austin Kearns is trying to dismiss charges stemming from his DUI arrest in February, according to the Jessamine Journal.
Kearns is being charged with one count of operating a motor vehicle under the influence of alcohol and one count of driving without required insurance, according to the Jessamine County District Court Docket. If convicted on both charges, he will face between two and 120 days prison time.
The defense is trying to dismiss the case on the grounds that Kearns’ arrest was illegal. The Jessamine Journal‘s Jonathan Kleppinger writes:
Kearns’ attorneys, Brent Caldwell and Noel Caldwell, allege in the motion filed April 15 that the Lexington police officer, referenced only as “E. Hart,” did not have the authority to stop Kearns since Hart was out of jurisdiction. Kentucky law allows officers outside their jurisdiction to arrest if the local law-enforcement agency requests assistance, but the motion claims the Jessamine County Sheriff’s Office never officially requested the assistance of Hart. The motion also complains that, if Hart had the authority to stop Kearns, the Lexington officer should have been the arresting officer since Hart witnessed Kearns driving on U.S. 68 prior to pulling him over.
A hearing initially scheduled for Tuesday was postponed until May 17.
Indians right fielder Shin-Soo Choo was arrested for a DUI Monday.
Austin Kearns DUI Case: Everything You Need to Know
It’s not easy to get information about Cleveland Indians outfielder Austin Kearns’ DUI case. Between the involved parties’ silence, the lack of publicly available information on the legal side, and the attention diverted to Miguel Cabrera, who is embroiled in a similar scandal, it’s hard to find out what, exactly, is going on.
But that doesn’t mean the issues the Tribe is facing are trivial. If Kearns is found guilty, he will face prison time, and the Indians could lose their just-acquired free agent for up to four months.
Luckily, your trusted friends here at Wahoo Blues have done all your digging for you. Here’s a breakdown of all the relevant information about the case, complete with sources, so you can see for yourself. (more…)
