Cleveland Indians’ Rotation: The Real Problem With Mitch Talbot
The big story out of Indians camp on Sunday was Cleveland starter Mitch Talbot’s seemingly redemptive performance in his fifth appearance of the spring.
After allowing 11 runs in 6.2 innings in his first three outings, he’s allowed just two earned runs in 10.1 frames in his last two starts. On Sunday, he threw 5.1 innings of three-hit ball, holding the Arizona Diamondbacks to two runs (one earned) and notching his first victory of the preseason.
Talbot entered the spring a virtual lock to make the rotation (if there had been any doubt, his first starts would have done him in), and none of his potential challengers have looked particularly sharp. Just looking at the box scores of his last couple outings, it seems like he’ll be fine slotted into the Tribe’s rotation as the No. 3 starter. But is it really that simple?
Mayday, Mayday! Why Jack Hannahan Will Be a Catastrophe for Cleveland Indians
Word out of Cleveland Indians camp is that Jason Donald’s hand injury will keep him out of MLB action for Opening Day. With Lonnie Chisenhall demoted and Jared Goedert forgotten about, the natural choice to start at third base for the Tribe is Jack Hannahan.
Hannahan, 29, had a great spring for the Tribe. In 41 trips to the plate, he’s hit .400 with a 1.014 OPS. That’s a big deal for a guy with a career .658 OPS and a 79 wRC+ (i.e., he’s been 21% worse than the average MLB hitter). Does this mean the journeyman has finally become a worthwhile player? Unfortunately, the answer is no.
Spring Training: Cleveland Indians’ Pitching Isn’t As Bad As You Think
If you’ve been following Indians baseball this spring, you’ve undoubtedly heard about the team’s pitching woes. Cleveland gave up 41 runs in a three-game stretch earlier this week. The Tribe’s 5.65 ERA is the second-highest in baseball—more than double that of the Detroit Tigers’ staff (2.76).
Fausto Carmona has pitched better than his 7.88 ERA would suggest. (photo by Eric Kilby, from flickr.com)
But has it really been that bad?
Make no mistake, the Indians’ pitching has looked awful. But there have actually been some good signs beneath the ugly surface.
Remember, we have to take Spring Training stats with a huge grain of salt. The 113 innings Cleveland pitchers have thrown are a tiny sample size for a team. More importantly, the few games the Indians have played don’t count for anything and they’re playing against minor-leaguers.
But, with that in mind, Tribe pitchers’ peripherals this preseason look far better than they did in 2010. (more…)
Cleveland Indians Spring Training: Is David Huff For Real?
The first rule of baseball statistics is to not overreact to small sample sizes. It’s not explicitly expressed, but one can infer that the results of a couple games should be taken with an enormous block of salt when the games don’t actually count.
In other words, I am fully aware of how meaningless the five innings David Huff has thrown this Spring Training are. But that hasn’t stopped me from being really excited about what we’ve seen.
The 26-year-old righty hasn’t had much success since making his major league debut in 2009. In 38 career starts, he’s gone 13-19 with a 5.84 ERA; last season, he went 2-11 with a 6.21 ERA en route to posting a below-replacement-level -0.4 WAR.
Huff’s problem is one that he shares with most of the other warm bodies to have earned places in the Indians’ rotation over the last couple years: the complete inability to strike batters out. In 15 starts last year, he racked up just 37 K’s in 79.2 innings for a K/9 rate of 4.2. In 208 career innings pitched, he’s whiffed just 4.4 K/9.
The weird thing is, Huff was a completely different pitcher in the minor leagues. He dominated opposing hitters to the tune of 8.1 K/9 in his professional career before getting called up to the majors. In 2008, his last full season in the minors, he struck out 8.8 K/9 and posted a K:BB ratio of just under 5.0 in 146.1 innings split between Double-A and Triple-A.
That’s why I’m so excited about what Huff has done this spring. In five innings of work so far, he has five strikeouts and hasn’t allowed any runs or walks, giving him a 0.00 ERA, a 9.0 K/9 rate, and a K:BB ratio of infinity. Yes, that’s only two appearances, and sure, he’s facing minor-league hitters in games that don’t count. But it’s something.
But even this small sample is progress. He’s struck out more than five batters just twice in his career, and he’s walked at least one batter in 37 of 38 outings since making his MLB debut.
Does this mean he’s rediscovered the stuff that made him so successful in the minors? There’s no way to know yet, but there’s at least a chance. Huff’s is a story to watch as the preseason unfolds.
Indians, White Sox Battle to 16-16 Stalemate in Slugfest
If I had been able to watch yesterday’s Spring Training contest between the Cleveland Indians and Chicago White Sox, I would probably say it was the strangest game I’d ever seen. Having tuned in for Tom Hamilton’s radio broadcast, though, I can declare it was the weirdest game I’d ever heard.
The Tribe and Pale Hose (playing as a split squad) combined for 32 runs on 39 hits while allowing 10 walks and committing five errors. The game consisted of 106 plate appearances—more than double the minimum required for a nine-inning game (52).
A strong wind was blowing towards left field in the dry desert air. That was good news for the hitters who got to play home run derby, but, as Cleveland starter Mitch Talbot discovered, it was a bad day to be a breaking-ball pitcher.
The Indians jumped out to a quick 3-0 lead in the first thanks to consecutive singles by Ezequiel Carrera, Asdrubal Cabrera, and Travis Hafner to start the game and Nick Weglarz’ two-run homer. The White Sox responded with two runs in the bottom of the inning, but the Tribe made it 6-2 with Luis Valbuena’s two-run shot and Matt LaPorta’s RBI single in the second.
Things got out of hand in the bottom of the second, when Chicago got 12 at-bats against Talbot and Jess Todd and scored seven runs, all of which were charged to Talbot. It was a bad day for the 27-year-old righty, who gave up nine earned runs with six hits, two walks, and a pair of homers in 1.2 innings.
After three innings—which took nearly three hours—the Indians had put two more runs up the scoreboard, but by the end of the fourth the White Sox were up, 13-8.
Heading into the eighth inning, the score was 14-10. After a Delvi Cid RBI single and a Luis Valbuena three-run bomb in the top half of the frame, the game was briefly tied, 14-14, but the White Sox promptly answered with two more runs.
The Tribe came back in the top of the ninth, with Cord Phelps’ single and Juan Apodaca’s double knotting the score at 16-16, and when the White Sox failed to respond in the bottom of the inning, the game was declared a tie—much to the chagrin of Hamilton.
Valbuena was the clear MVP for Cleveland, going 2-for-5 with two homers, a walk, three runs scored, and five RBI. Weglarz and Carerra also had big games; the former hit 2-for-4 with a double, a homer, and three RBI, while the latter went 3-for-5 with a pair of walks.
There wasn’t much to like pitching-wise for the Indians, but Doug Mathis and Vinnie Pestano deserve some credit for being the only pitchers to keep the White Sox from scoring over a combined three innings of work.
