The Cleveland Indians are playing well above expectations, sitting at 23-18 at the quarter poll of the season. Yep, the quarter mark of the season actually game a few games ago, but since this is the marathon of baseball, we’re good with being around the 25 percentage-ish mark.
Entering May 21, the Tribe is 23-18, 2.5 games behind the Chicago White Sox in the AL Central’s division. For fans who’ve been watching all year, it’s a miracle. After Franmil Reyes bats, the Indians lineup seriously lacks punch. They’ve been no-hit twice and are 28th in MLB with a .213 average.
Yet, somehow, someway, the team with the lowest payroll in baseball is hanging around the top of the standings. Tribe fans of the 60s, 70s and 80s will who saw Tribe teams serve as the AL’s doormat certainly aren’t taking this team for granted. Terry Francona’s current roster is flawed, but it looks like they’re going to make things interesting all summer long–and as a baseball fan, that’s all you can ask for.
One wonders what the Dolans could’ve done with some minor investments in the club, instead of the total teardown we bore witness to last winter.
Then, there’s the moves that aren’t working out. Here’s five of the biggest disappointments with a quarter of the season in the books.
1. Cleveland Indians LF Eddie Rosario
It was a surprise the Indians were able to land Eddie Rosario on a one-year, $8 million contract. It seemed like a bargain when the news broke. Now, with his lack of production, we’re finding out that the rest of baseball probably knew something about the former Twin–that his best days were behind him.
No lucrative multi-year offer was ever reported and he took the Indians’ one-year pact. The Indians were losing Lindor, but at least, the lineup was getting a little punch back from Rosario–so we thought.
Rosario is batting .203 with a .580 OPS. He’s homered just three times in 157 plate appearances. His OPS+ is 61 (100 is considered average). It’s the lowest OPS+ of his career. The only other time his OPS+ dipped below league average was in 2016, when he appeared in just 92 games.
Everyone knew Rosario was approaching 30, but at the very least, the expectation was that he’d hit at Progressive Field. He had the track record, batting 353 (60-for-170) with a 1.031 OPS on the corner of Carnegie and Ontario.
Ever since he put an Indians uniform on? He’s batting .152 (.373 OPS) with zero home runs on the The Corner. Holy Shelley Duncan/David Dellucci platoon, that’s terrible.
Everyone thought Rosario would hit. He hasn’t. There’s nothing left to do but hope that he can turn things around.
2. Cleveland Indians back end of rotation
The White Sox became the popular pick in the offseason, and the way things are going on the South Side, prognosticators look to be correct.
However, the reason the Indians were picked to hang around was their rotation. They have three great pitchers in Shane Bieber, Aaron Civale, and Zach Plesac.
The back-end of the rotation was filled with potential at the beginning of spring training, but once the games started to co until, the young arms provided a cold, hard slap to the face of the viewing audience: Young, unproven starters don’t always work out.
We’re spoiled by Bieber, Civale and Plesac, all plucked from the 2016 draft. Sure, there have been some growing pains with the later two, but for the most part, they’re very good.
The Indians entered camp with a glut of contenders for the back-end of the rotation. Triston McKenzie wowed us all last season, but you can see he’s still developing, while being asked to pitch at the major league level. He seems to struggle to get through five innings and at times.
He leans on his four-seam fastball way too much, throwing 66.5 percent of the time. Trying to constantly run fastballs by big league hitters usually isn’t a recipe for longevity, a least when it comes to being a starter.
McKenzie is in the first percentile of exit velocity, so when batters connect, they really connect.
Despite, his 1-2 mark (5.79 ERA), McKenzie has 40 strike outs, which ranks in the 83 percentile.
Logan Allen was probably the biggest disappointment of the rotation. He had supposedly spent the offseason making adjustments and looked good in Spring Training. However, it became clear after his first few starts of the season that he was a liability, Every time he’d pitch, the Tribe would find them in a 5-0 hole heading into the second inning.
The Tribe’s trying out Sam Hentges in the fifth spot, and while his potential is also evident, he’s going to come with growing pains.
3. Cleveland Indians 1B lingering problem
With 25 percent to the season in books, the Indians are no closer to fixing first base than they were in spring training.
One could even argue that if the Indians still had Carlos Santana, they’d be two games better in the standings. We must not forget the Tribe lost a game when their first basemen (Yu Chang) threw to second base and hit a runner in the back, while Josh Naylor let a routine grounder Bill Buckner itself under his legs in Cincinnati.
As for hitting, first base is amounts to an automatic out. Think about it. They might as well as have the pitcher hit. Triston McKenzie is batting 1.0000 after ball. No, I’m not serious, these are the jokes, folks.
Jake Bauers still can’t hit. Yu Chang only mashes when the games the games don’t count. Josh Naylor is needed in the outfield. Bobby Bradley is in the minors ,where he still strikes out too much.
It’s so bad, one has to wonder if middle infielder Owen Miller will be given a first-baseman’s mitt just so the Tribe can get his hot bat into the lineup. He’s played one game there with the Clippers this season.
Not bringing Santana back was a mistake. Wouldn’t you rather have Santana earning Rosario’s $8 million? Santana is batting .250 with 8 home runs (.852 OPS). I know, no one saw this coming after his 2020 season when it looked like his career was toast.
An argument could’ve been made for his veteran leadership and defensive work at first, though.
Alas, here we are. First base is still a mess. Bauers took Shoehei Ohtani deep the other day, so perhaps he’ll finally start to hit, although I’m not holding my breath.
4. Cleveland Indians SS Andres Gimenez
Were unfair expectations put on Andres Gimenez, maybe a little ,but let’s not forget. He had a great spring. He won the shortstop job, beating out Amed Rosario for the second time in two seasons.
Once the games started to count, Gimenez had trouble at the plate, in addition to a some mishaps in the field. The Tribe recently sent him down. Keep in mind, he had never played in Triple A until his demotion. He skipped over Triple A when he was with the Mets because they badly needed help at shortstop.
I’m not sure how much of a difference it will make, but I do wonder how Gimenez would’ve performed if he wasn’t swapped out with Amed Rosario. The Indians moved Rosario to center, but they’d also have him start a couple games at short.
Alas, Gimenez was given enough opportunities and didn’t hit (.179, .534 OPS). He’s only 22, which is also the age of one of the Tribe’s top prospects, Gabriel Arias. Arias was acquired in the Clevinger trade.
Arias is off to a decent start, bating .262 (.838 OPS).
5. Cleveland Indians OF Jordan Luplow
Six home runs from Jordan Luplow in April left us believing the Cleveland Indians finally had found a piece of the outfield puzzle.
It turns out, Tribe fans were witnesses to one-long game of April Fools.
Despite the quick start, which also included a walk-off homer, Luplow’s bat went silent once the calendar flipped to May. He hasn’t homered since April 26. For the month, he’s batting .148 and slugging a dismal .222. When you’re making Jake Bauers look like Joe DiMaggio, something’s wrong.
I don’t know where the Indians go with Luplow. I suspect he’ll get another month to right the ship because for a couple weeks in April, we were actually talking about him being an everyday player in the lineup.
Everyday players don’t hit .148, though and the Indians are desperate for offense.
If Luplow gets demoted, I’d like to see more of Daniel Johnson. Then, I’d like to see the Indians really give him a chance. Johnson came up for a cup of coffee when Franmil Reyes went on the paternity list earlier in the season and was awful, striking out almost every time he came to the plate.
He had to know he was only up for a short time and must’ve been pressing. He’s not exactly off to a great start in Columbus though, where he’s batting .231 (.707 OPS).