Tribe 2013 Predictions/Thoughts/Analyzations

i was going to just add this in to my Brantley ST blog, but then, as i tend to do, i ended up writing a lot lol so i figured i'd give it its own blog. now without further ado, let's talk Tribe 2013.


my prediction for the Tribe's 2013 season, assuming everyone plays to the max of their abilities and we don't get hit with too many major injuries, is we go 78-84. a lot of people will predict more wins than that. i think considering where we've finished in 3 of the last 4 years, 78 wins would be a large improvement.


my PD boys, whom i respect a great deal, have made predictions that i will keep on record here. some i just don't agree with and also can't quite understand.

Hoynsie: 84-78, fourth in the central

Livy: 80-82, third

D-Man: 76-86, fourth

Terry: 82-80, second

Bud: 87-75, second


hey Hoynsie (haha), how are we going to have 84 wins and still finish fourth? is the division going to be a very close race this year? assuming we did win 84 games, i cannot believe that Chicago and KC are going to be that good that they will have 85 or more wins and finish ahead of us. who exactly did we beat to get these 84 wins? you might wanna rethink this...said with love lol

Livy, i am more likely to agree with your prediction, as it is closer to mine. i think we could move up to third in the division this year.

D-Man's prediction of 76 wins is also more like where i can see us finishing. if i had to choose between his or Hoynsie's fourth place prediction, i would expect 76 wins to be more fourth place-ish than 84 wins. this could be the best prediction out of the bunch.

Terry has us finishing just above .500, which would be a treat, but i don't think 82 wins is going to be a second place finishing team unless we have a great record against our division foes. (and normally we always struggle against Chicago, as well as sometimes against KC and Minny. how can we beat Detroit but not these teams? lol)

Bud, you have an optimism greater than most. i commend you, but think you're crazy lol


despite some nice offseason acquisitions, it's gonna be very hard to go from 68-94 back to .500 in just one season, even with Tito leading the pack. making the playoffs is not a concern of mine for 2013. this is not our one and only year with a window for contending; we've got time and i believe it will take time to get there. right now with so many questions, particularly surrounding our starting rotation, i don't see us being able to reclaim the Central Division, and i don't see us getting a wild card spot either. but again, i have the patience to not be upset if/when these things don't happen for us this year. doesn't change my passion for the team, obviously.

our lineup is going to have its good and BAD games. true, we have guys who can steal, and stretch a single into a double, and beat out a grounder to safely get on 1st base. we have more guys now who can knock balls outta the park, too. but we also have guys who will strikeout a lot. we will most likely finish with the most strikeouts in the AL this year, after finishing with the 3rd least last year. it will be frustrating at times, but it's something we're gonna have to live with. and remember, we will benefit having guys like Reynolds, Bourn, Swisher, and (hopefully) Stubbs in our lineup this year. more runs will be scored this season.



some things that might make a difference this year that we didn't have last year:

--a full season with Chisenhall in the lineup

--if Bourn, Swisher, Reynolds, and Stubbs get on base and hit home runs the way they are supposed to

--Santana batting lower in the order (hopefully taking some of the pressure off him)

--if Myers can make the transition to starter and be an innings eater for us

--if Kazmir can pitch at least a couple decent months for us

--a very speedy outfield that should be able to run down a lot of fly balls, limiting opposing runners from scoring

--an even stronger bullpen mafia



the biggest question mark for me, and probably a lot of other fans, is our starting rotation. if they underachieve, this year will be ugly. if they pitch decent, then we might be pleasantly surprised. it would be amazing if Masterson could rack up 15 wins this year, and if Ubaldo could win about a dozen. but let's face facts, that may not happen. we certainly do not have the most intimidating starting 5 in the league, not by a long shot.

Brett Myers could be really bad. and with Tito's attitude, they will probably give him a good 2 months as a starter before considering moving him to the bullpen. (and then i'm gonna question putting him in our pen and messing up the mafia...) Scott Kazmir could be the feelgood story of the year, or he could struggle and be inconsistent. then that would make it tougher to accept when any of the other 3 have a bad start. and you can't expect Masterson to win every time out, especially if we don't hit for him, which i hope won't be a problem this year. and even though Ubaldo had a nice spring, you never know what will happen with him when the regular season starts. can he stay confident all season and will that really help him throw more strikes and get more guys out? wanna put all your eggs in that basket? McAllister could also have his bad starts and sometimes be erratic.

if at some point we called up any of the Carrasco-Bauer-Kluber group, they all could be up and down with their performances as well. these pitchers all have potential and there's no denying they have good stuff, but none is an ace.

think the bullpen's not going to give up any runs this year? if these guys become overworked because our starters can't consistently go 5 or 6 innings, we're gonna be in trouble.

think Rage won't blow a couple saves? expect it, because it's gonna happen. no one's perfect and we have to be ready to accept that. but as long as it doesn't happen all the time, no one should really have much problem with it. i'd still rather have him closing over anyone else in our bullpen right now. that's not a knock on Vinnie, that's just my personal preference.

all these things could add one loss here, another loss there, and before you know it, we've got 80ish losses for the season. yes, we have more guys who can hit this year, but you can't expect us to score 6-7 runs every time one of our starters falters. that's not realistic and that's not fair.

there are just way more questions than answers at the moment. so you can see why i am not chomping at the bit right now to declare playoffs and 80 something wins for this team. and i know this probably sounds like i'm being super negative and have no confidence in this team, but really i'm just listing all the reasons i don't believe we are playoff bound this year.


all this certainly doesn't mean i'm not dying for baseball to get started again though. i've been going through withdrawal since that final out was called on October 3, 2012 =P i am not the casual fan, as most who know me can attest. i don't feel sorry for Tribe "fans" who have been waiting a whole 51 days for the season to start; i've been waiting for 181. i'm honestly no more excited about this season than i was last season. huh? well that simply means i'm just always excited about Tribe season, regardless of who we sign or don't sign during the offseason. i love baseball too much to be wrapped up in the front office dealings and ownership's money stinginess. without baseball, i am an incomplete person. even bad Tribe baseball is better than no Tribe baseball in my life. so if the team plays better this year, and if they could possibly get back to a shot at contention in the near future, that just makes it all the more enjoyable for me.


i have spent the last 2 seasons arranging my schedule to ensure that i didn't miss any Tribe games. this year, i vow to try my hardest to go for a 3rd straight year. i realize that's going to be tough, as things have changed and, as i like to say, "life is getting in the way" of my baseball habit lol after looking over the schedule, i would like to go to at least 10 games this year, but again, that just may not be possible. it's pretty strange to think i may have gone to more games last season than i will go to this season. alas, i am in this for all 162, win or lose, good and bad, hair pulling and object throwing, laughter and tears. that's what it means to be Ride or Die. Let's Go Tribe! =D


(and for the record, i'm picking Washington to go all the way this year. while most sportswriters see the Tigers returning to and winning the World Series in 2013, i am going with a matchup of the Nats and Angels. i believe the NL will beat the AL in the All Star Game yet again, so Washington will have home field advantage and win it in 6 games. yeah i might be sippin on the haterade, idc haha)

Brantley's 2013 Spring Training #s and My Expectations

baseball season is back! and so it's that time again. Tribe Time? well yes, but it is also Brantley blog time. i really did miss these lol

as you can see, i have decided to be way more detailed with my Brantley documentation this season. i have a lot of information colored coded in my Brantley 2013 statistics notebook. however, to try and keep these blogs as simplified as possible, i will not be typing all of that information here lol anyone reading these will thank me haha so let's get to it.



Brantley's 2013 Spring Training #s are as follows:

batting average: .354

OBP: .392

SLG: .521

OPS: .913


Michael played in 18 (of 36) games in spring training. he started and played left in 17 games, and he started and DH'd in 1 game. he missed 12 games after getting lacerated on his left forearm by Josh Donaldson while sliding into 3rd base in the 5th game of the spring. he also did not play in 6 games due to just not being in Tito's lineup.

Michael had a hit in 10 of the 18 games he played and reached base in 12 games.


Michael bat 5th in 10 games.

Michael bat 6th in 1 game.

Michael bat 3rd in 4 games.

Michael led off in 1 game.

Michael bat 2nd in 2 games.


Michael played left in 17 games.

Michael was the DH in 1 game.



in ST, Michael had a total of 51 plate appearances and 48 at bats. here is how he fared:

17 hits

11 singles

5 doubles

1 home run

9 RBI

6 runs scored

2 walks

1 hit by pitch

1 stolen base

3 strikeouts

8 first at bat hits


24 left on base

21 putouts

1 assist

80 innings in LF

ST batting average: .354 (17-48) (18 games)



now let's break down his numbers based on where he hit in the lineup.


when Michael bat 5th in ST, he had a total of 30 plate appearances and 29 at bats in 10 games. breaking down the numbers are as follows:

9 hits

5 singles

3 doubles

1 home run

6 RBI

4 runs scored

1 walk

1 stolen base

2 strikeouts

4 first at bat hits


19 left on base

16 putouts

1 assist

50 innings

ST batting average in the 5th spot: .310 (9-29) (10 games)
ST batting average in the 5th spot while playing left: .310 (9-29) (10 games)


when Michael bat 6th in ST, he had a total of 2 plate appearances and 2 at bats in 1 game. breaking down the numbers are as follows:

2 hits

1 single

1 double

1 run scored

1 first at bat hit


1 putout

3 innings

ST batting average in the 6th spot: 1.000 (2-2) (1 game)
ST batting average in the 6th spot while playing left: 1.000 (2-2) (1 game)


when Michael bat 3rd in ST, he had a total of 12 plate appearances and 10 at bats in 4 games. breaking down the numbers are as follows:

3 hits

2 singles

1 double

3 RBI

1 run scored

1 walk

1 hit by pitch

1 strikeout

1 first at bat hit


3 left on base

3 putouts

19 innings

ST batting average in the 3rd spot: .300 (3-10) (4 games)
ST batting average in the 3rd spot while playing left: .300 (3-10) (4 games)


when Michael led off, he was the DH in ST for 1 game. he had a total of 2 plate appearances and 2 at bats. breaking down the numbers are as follows:

0 hits

1 left on base

ST batting average in the leadoff spot: .000 (0-2) (1 game)
ST batting average in the leadoff spot as the DH: .000 (0-2) (1 game)


when Michael bat 2nd in ST, he had a total of 5 plate appearances and 5 at bats in 2 games. breaking down the numbers are as follows:

3 hits

3 singles

2 first at bat hits


1 left on base

1 putout

8 innings

ST batting average in the 2nd spot: .600 (3-5) (2 games)
ST batting average in the 2nd spot while playing left: .600 (3-5) (2 games)


ST batting average as the DH: .000 (0-2) (1 game)


ST batting average while playing left: .370 (17-46) (17 games)


other ST #s while playing left: 21 putouts, 1 assist, 0 errors, 1.000 fielding percentage (17 games)



here are my game-by-game notes and numbers for Brantley's Spring Training 2013.

Game 1, February 22: 2-2, RBI double (first at bat), run scored, double, run scored. AVG: 1.000
[5th/LF/3 innings]

Game 2, February 23: 2-2, double (first at bat), run scored, single. AVG: 1.000
[6th/LF/3 i]

Game 3/4, February 24: not in either lineup. (split squad)

Game 5, February 25: 1-2, RBI double. AVG: .833
[3rd/LF/2 i]
^^Michael left the game with a lacerated left forearm after going for 3rd base and Josh Donaldson spiked him. he went to the hospital, received 15 stitches, and is day-to-day.^^

Game 6, February 26: Tito announces Michael will be shut down for 3 days and he's expected to miss 10 days.

Game 7, February 27: shut down.

Game 8, February 28: shut down.

Game 9, March 1: Michael resumed lower body strength and conditioning.

Game 10, March 2: ^^

Game 11, March 3: ^^

Game 12, March 4: ^^

Game 13, March 5: Michael resumed all activity except on-field bp. he hit off the tee and did throwing. will have his stitches removed in a few days.

Game 14, March 6: expected to play Sunday.

Game 15, March 7: Michael had his stitches removed today. he returned to full-squad practice and will see game action by Sunday.

Game 16, March 8: Michael took BP today. will play Sunday.

Game 17, March 9: ^^

Game 18, March 10: 0-2. AVG: .625
[leadoff/DH]

Game 19, March 11: 1-3, single (first at bat). AVG: .545
[2nd/LF/5 i]

Game 20, March 13: 0-3. AVG: .429
[5th/LF/5 i]

Game 21, March 14: not in lineup.

Game 22, March 15: 1-2, single (first at bat), run scored, hit by pitch, walk. AVG: .438
[3rd/LF/7 i]

Game 23, March 16: not in lineup.

Game 24, March 17: 0-3. AVG: .368
[3rd/LF/4 i]

Game 25, March 18: 0-3. AVG: .318
[5th/LF/5 i]

Game 26, March 20: 3-3, 2-run double (first at bat), single, run scored, single. AVG: .400
[5th/LF/4 i]

Game 27, March 21: 2-3, 3-run home run (first at bat), run scored, single. AVG: .429
[5th/LF/4 i]

Game 28, March 22: 1-3, 2-run single. AVG: .419
[3rd/LF/6 i]

Game 29, March 23: not in lineup.

Game 30, March 24: 0-2, walk (first at bat), reached on forceout. AVG: .394
[5th/LF/7 i]

Game 31, March 25: 2-4, single (first at bat), stolen base, reached on forceout, single. AVG: .405
[5th/LF/7 i]

Game 32, March 26: not in lineup.

Game 33, March 27: 0-3. AVG: .375
[5th/LF/5 i]

Game 34, March 28: 0-4, reached (2nd base) on fielding error. AVG: .341
[5th/LF/7 i]

Game 35, March 29: 2-2, single (first at bat), single. AVG: .370
[2nd/LF/3 i]

Game 36, March 30: 0-2. AVG: .354
[5th/LF/3 i]



**this offseason, Michael was recovering from hernia surgery that he had on October 11, 2012. unlike the surgery he had in the previous offseason however, this one did not affect his offseason routine.**


despite missing a dozen games because of the forearm injury, Michael had a very solid spring with a very (as his nickname suggests) "smooth" swing. he started out smoking hot, lost his timing a little when he returned from the injury, then settled in once again. i think any player who's had ~50 at bats and finishes spring with a batting average over .300 performed well. i am pleased with Michael's spring.

Michael bat in 5 different spots in the order this spring, and he did great in just about every spot, with the exception of leadoff. now keep in mind, he only bat there in one game, with 2 plate appearances as a DH, right after he came back from his forearm laceration. he clearly still needed to get his timing back and so this does NOT mean he cannot leadoff. i need to point that out to people lol Michael looks to be one of our most consistent hitters yet again this season no matter where he is in the lineup...


it sounds like Michael will mostly be hitting 5th in the order this season. i like that he'll be batting behind Swisher, as opposed to Santana. but for the people who like to get on Michael for his stolen bases, or lack thereof, they better lay off a little because i don't know how many opportunities he will have to steal now batting in this spot. especially if Swisher is on base in front of him, a guy who isn't all that interested in stealing. Michael will have the green light to run, no doubt, but the question is how many times will he get on base with no one ahead of him?

i also want to throw in here that if Bourn doesn't turn out to be the amazing leadoff man that most people keep saying he is, after a month into the season, they better think about swapping him out, just as was done with my Michael after a month last season. #eyeroll #stillbitter #stupidManny lol



My predictions/hopes for Brantley's 2013 season:

first, i really hope this is the year that Michael plays a full season without injury. no more freak injuries in August or September that cause him to miss games or be shut down sooner than the year ends, please.

batting average wise, i would love to see him finish the year close to .300. i'd be very happy with a BA between .295-.300. yeah i'm probably aiming a little high but i have confidence that he can do it. he's been getting better and better every year, and i really think this could finally be attainable for him. with our new offseason additions, i don't know if he'll finish the year with the highest BA on the team again, but he should still be one of our top and most reliable hitters.

also because of our offseason acquisitions, Michael really doesn't need to worry much about home runs. however, i think he can still hit at least 8. and despite those who want him to hit for more power, i think this is fine. he'll make up for it by hitting plenty of doubles.

Michael should have another high RBI total batting in the middle of the order for the year. i'll predict/expect at least 75. then again, it depends on how well the guys in front of him hit, and if they consistently get themselves on base in order for Michael to bring them home.

other numbers i predict for Brantley in 2013:

stolen bases: 15

runs scored: 60

doubles: 50

walks: 50

fielding percentage: .998


good luck this season, Michael! make me proud =D

Michael Bourn is the Player Michael Brantley Will Now Never Become

i just wrote a lengthy blog with some compelling arguments, if i do say so myself, about giving Brantley his shot in the leadoff spot this season. then the Indians shock everyone last night by signing Michael Bourn. so now i have new issues to address. Bourn automatically becomes the leadoff center fielder. there's definitely no longer any opportunity for a debate or a spring training showdown in CF. the title i came up with for this blog says it all. Michael Bourn did not become Michael Bourn by being tossed around in the outfield or juggled around in the lineup, so my Michael will never emulate the new Michael.

left field is the loser position of the outfield. it's one step away from being the ball boy in foul territory really. okay maybe it's not that bad but it can be perceived as the least respected position. left is not flashy. you're not the captain running the outfield. you're not able to make over-the-wall catches in left in our ballpark and a lot more balls can be hit high up that you can't get to, giving off the false impression that you're not a good fielder. not to mention the paycheck is certainly not as fat as a center fielder or right fielder. money talks in this business and it will become an issue in the future. sigh, this is now Brantley's reality.


first, let's get the facts of the Bourn deal straight. it was all over mlbtraderumors that Bourn was close to signing on the dotted line with the Mets. Bourn's first choice was the Mets, he really wanted to play in the Big Apple. the Mets offered Bourn 48 million for 4 years, but were very hesitant when it came to the draft pick compensation situation. so when the Indians heard about this, they decided to sweeten their offer and add an option for a 5th year along with the 48 mill for 4 years. Bourn and Boras had no choice but to listen and then finally decided to accept our offer. i said it about Swish and i'll say it to Bourn, hey man, thanks for settling. =/


before the Bourn acquisition, Francona admitted he was torn about letting Stubbs play center and moving Brantley over to left because he did progress in center quite nicely last season. now i don't know if that was a little bs'd to present himself in a more positive way towards Brantley or completely sincere. but the ease of the decision now just goes to show, Brantley is still not seen the way i want him to be seen on this team. he will be taking another backseat for the immediate future. his development as a center fielder is stifled and he will probably never be viewed as anything more than mediocre now. =/


so, Bourn is our new center fielder and leadoff man for at least the next few years. i admit i didn't know much about this guy, since he's always played in the NL and i don't pay much attention to guys in the NL since we don't play those teams a whole lot. after some research, i see that the man's never hit 10 home runs in a season, and is another guy to put on high strikeout watch. oh my. however, he's super fast and has a ridic amount of steals, which i feel was attributed to by constant placement in the leadoff spot.


now it's time to do some comparisons.

it's interesting to me that Bourn isn't exactly a HR hitter, much like Brantley, and he struck out 3x more than Brantley did in 2012. wow that is gonna get old real quick. how will he perform against pitchers in the AL such as Verlander and the rest of the tough pitching we constantly face in the Central? this is a fair question. just because this guy is speedy and led off more games in his career than Brantley, it shouldn't necessarily deem him the best leadoff man. both Brantley's SLG and OPS #s were higher last season. Bourn is a career .272 hitter, Brantley is at .274 right now. (and don't forget, Brantley played a handful of games injured which definitely brought his BA down some.) Bourn struck out 295 times in the last two years, while Brantley struck out 132 times. Bourn batted .311 in the first half last year, and only .225 after the All-Star break. Brantley bat .288 in both the first and second half last year. at least Bourn can also draw some walks. but again, will that translate over to the AL?

the main thing Bourn's really got over Brantley right now is experience, which has groomed him into becoming a gold glover, and a lot of respect. he also has more runs scored and steals. why? because he was allowed to leadoff consistently, duh. do people really think Brantley is such a shitty player that if given a chance he wouldn't be able to steal and develop into a GG defensive guy? it's easier to pad your runs scored total when you're batting in the top of the lineup. when you're batting lower and you have crap hitters behind you, how many runs do you think that player will score? same with the steals. it's easier to steal when you have no one ahead of you. hitting higher in the lineup allows for that, as opposed to being stuck behind slow pokey Santana or the like. the arguments and assumptions that Brantley just couldn't do any of these things are not very valid imo. Brantley wasn't given enough time to reach his maximum potential and prove himself. Bourn was and now he's the top dog here.


okay now i definitely NEED to clarify that i'm not "throw my computer at the wall" mad that we got Bourn lol this makes us better in a multitude of ways, which is great. i just wish the result didn't mean such a change for Brantley. i've said this a million times before (to the point where even i'm getting tired of it) but he was once projected to be our next Kenny Lofton. that pretty much will never happen now. you can't get really good at a position like Kenny and Bourn have if you're not allowed to constantly play there. i'm super pissed about Brantley not being given enough of a chance here to become a Lofton and Bourn type player. who do i blame? the actions and decision making of Mr. Manny Acta? he's not even here anymore to rectify that situation so that's pretty pointless. i hate that the franchise once saw him as something he now will not be. the direction of his future career here is completely changing. i know Michael's just thankful to have a job and put on the jersey but behind closed doors, come on, the boy is irked. as a #1 supporter of Brantley, i honestly think we screwed him by getting him as the PTBNL in 2008, i really do.


i feel so bad for Brantley. he's saying all the right things, as i knew he would, but deep down i think different thoughts are going through his head. i'm surprised his agent didn't have a stroke yet. he was none too thrilled when we first added Stubbs, but now that Bourn's here, he has no other choice but to accept his client's fate.


here are some quotes from Brantley's agent in December:

Why do the Indians keep adding CF? Brantley had a 2.9 WAR last year. Stubbs 1.3, BJ upton 2.6. I dont get it. Not one bit.

I just hope Mike gets ample time in CF this year. He's earned it.

Reynolds and stubbs are two of the top K guys. I hope for their sake they bounce back this year. I just want Mike to get what he's earned

I just feel he has a greater value in CF add his bat and his ability to get on base you have a burgoning all star.

rarely strikes out and walks a ton. He made many highlight reel catches as well. Stubbs will have to cut down his K's to be a guy

i agree with his agent 1000%. maybe they need to hire me haha


now let's get to Brantley's thoughts on the situation (his public thoughts anyways). this was before Francona told him today that he would for sure be starting in left:

"He's a phenomenal player all the way through on the offense and defense. I'm excited to meet him.

"I'm not sure what this means to me. I'm sure I'll be talking to upper management and Francona."

Asked if it was easier to accept a move to left field because of Bourn's reputation as being one of the best defensive center fielders in the game, Brantley said, "Yes. I've seen it too. He has speed and is a great defender. I'm just looking forward to being by his side no matter what side it is."

"My job is to come out here and play baseball wherever the team needs me...I get a uniform and I got a position I'm happy," Brantley said.


ever the professional. but sometimes i wish he didn't have the reputation that he has. it might help him if he was a bit more vocal and opinioned. maybe he can be now because what's left to lose? imagine if we acquired another closer for our bullpen and he was going to take over Chris Perez's spot. what do you think his reaction would be? lol i'm not saying go all Pure Rage but as i learned back in grade school, your feelings can be disregarded somewhat more easily if you're always agreeable to superiors.

and here's a comment from one of my most respected Tribe twitter boys confirming my thought about the money:

Brantley saying the right things, but move to LF will probably hurt him in wallet down the road.

idc how Brantley tries to spin that, he is not going to happy when it comes time to negotiate for a raise.

all i can do now is hope that this doesn't affect Brantley's place on the team. it's a fear i did not think i'd need to be concerned about so soon, and it doesn't feel good. he could easily be used in a future deal to bring back a starting pitcher. he's no longer a necessity in the outfield now that we have Bourn and Swisher for at least 4 years and Stubbs for 3 years. Brantley is arb eligible after this season. he's definitely going to lose out on some money since he's going to play most if not all of 2013 in left field. my heart really goes out to this man. someone's always ahead of him on this team. doesn't matter if he led the team in BA or played the most consistent ball last season. he's become almost replacable in the eyes of this franchise. and all the fans who argued that he was never going to be anything more than a mediocre ballplayer (despite my protests) will claim to be right now.

at the end of the day, my opinions and input really don't mean much, it's not like what i say will change anything. probably won't change any fan's mind either. but i at least hope people will acknowledge and realize that i have made some valid points, as well as try to see where i'm coming from with this. or, if nothing else, appreciate my passion for my favorite Indian.

Brantley For Leadoff Man 2013

let me start this off by saying i love my Tribe beat writer boys and sports columnists. i love their articles and i respect their opinions. but when it comes to the issue of who should lead off for the Tribe in 2013, i have to set the record straight.

now that spring training is upon us, lineup projections have been on the minds of many. the notion that Brantley should not or simply can not bat leadoff has been mentioned by some, but i'm not sure if those people really have all the facts regarding this. so who better to put things in perspective here than me? this one's for Bast, D-Man, Hoynsie, Camino, and Terry (even though they'll never read it) as well as any other naysayers out there.


some of my boys think Michael should bat 5th or 6th because that's where he hit best last year. this is basically stating the obvious but of course Michael had good numbers in the 5th spot, he played the most games/had the most at bats there. any hitter who is in fact a good hitter will undoubtedly have the best overall #s in the spot where he has the most at bats. i think that should be common sense.


let me compare those 2 spots to show you how batting average #s don't always tell the whole story.

Michael played 65 games batting 5th, with 237 at bats, finishing with a .308 BA there.

Michael played 19 games batting 6th, with 60 at bats, finishing with a .350 BA there.


does this mean Michael is better in the 6th spot? not at all. because sometimes, the less at bats/smaller sample size you have in a spot can misconstrue your true capability at that spot. this can be proven by looking at Michael's BA in the 8th spot last year.

Michael played 2 games batting 8th, with 4 at bats, finishing with a .750 BA there.

i rest my case.


now let me pull up his leadoff #s from 2012.

Michael played 22 games batting leadoff, with 97 at bats, finishing with a .227 BA there.


i'm not going to lie and say that his leadoff #s were great. they clearly were not. but you can't just go by the #s. the majority of Michael's leadoff at bats came in April. April was a month where he atypically struggled. my argument is that you could have put Michael at any place in the batting order, and he would not have performed well in that first month. his approach at the plate was different and it threw him off for the first few weeks. it had NOTHING to do with him not being able to lead off. i will point this out to people until i'm blue in the face if i have to!

i know a lot of people aren't looking at it that way, but i'm saying you really need to keep that in mind because for the entire rest of the season, he performed much better. Michael was one of, if not the most consistent hitter throughout the season after April. is no professional ballplayer allowed to "slump" at any point in the year? a lot of players tend to do it mid-season. he got his "slump" out of the way at the beginning. doesn't mean he can't hit leadoff.

we faced a lot of tough pitching last year and it seemed like almost half the time that Michael was leading off, he had the task of going against the other team's ace. (more evidence as to why #s just don't tell the whole story.) he was not the only one who failed to hit against certain pitchers, but because he led off, this seemed to be a bigger issue than the other players who whiffed at the plate. [although, Verlander has never phased him, as he is 10-for-23 against the Detroit ace.]

if anyone besides myself remembers, the last 3 games in April that Michael led off, we played the Angels. Weaver, Haren, and Santana started if i'm not mistaken. and what do you know, Michael had a leadoff hit in each of the 3 games against these pitchers. so i'd like to think that by this point, he was finally starting to get back into his groove. however, after that series he was removed from the leadoff spot. i truly believe Manny Acta jumped the gun. because of this, we have no statistical proof that Michael would have been fine had he stayed in the leadoff spot. i can only go off gut instinct. and because my gut instinct about this man has been right since 2009, i think this is a strong argument.

furthermore, in 2011 before Michael started playing injured with his broken hamate bone, he had an approximate .280 BA in the leadoff spot (from April to mid-July). history speaks for itself and i don't know why more people can't give Michael the benefit of the doubt. i don't care if he doesn't hit for power, your leadoff guy doesn't need to hit home runs, he just needs to get on base. and with Michael's professionalism and patience at the plate, i believe we will see him continue to get on base more and more as his career goes on.


so who do people want to see bat leadoff over Brantley? i've heard Kip's name thrown out there because of his speed and ability to steal bases. i'm sorry but Jason is not a leadoff man. i think his placement in the 2 or 3 hole is perfect for him and for us. i've also heard new center fielder (rhymes with) "Boo Scrubbs" is a candidate. you gotta be kidding me with this. although he too is a speedy thief on the basepaths, he has a very high strikeout rate. when you have a guy on your team who's very hard to strike out, aka Brantley, why on earth would you put the guy who Ks all the time in the leadoff spot? Scrubbs should be the second leadoff man as they call it in the 9 hole. Brantley's not exactly a slow poke either, you know. this is not a debate of Pronk proportions lol


and let's not forget, Michael doesn't need to bat in the middle of our order anymore. you could argue that last year, we just didn't have many guys who could drive runs in and Michael did a good job with that. but now that we've acquired Swisher and Reynolds and yes i'll even throw Scrubbs in there, Michael can and should go back to the spot that i believe is rightfully his. with that, i rest my case.


if Brantley is given the chance to start 2013 as our leadoff man, he cannot afford to have another bad April. he won't have the luxury of starting out slow, he needs to get his stance perfected in spring training and really come out the gate with guns blazing. if he doesn't, he may not get another chance to lead off in Cleveland ever again. then it's going to be the same negative things coming from the writers all over again and quite frankly, i don't want to have to repeat myself anymore lol


all i know is, you can't take the man out of center field AND leadoff and expect him to really be happy here. he was groomed to be a CF and leadoff hitter, and now he's on the verge of playing left and possibly batting 5th or lower. he did all he could do in center last season, and made quite an impression there. then uncontrollable circumstances brought an outfielder here who can only play center, so despite his excellent defense and home run robbing catches, Michael is forced to move over. it's sad and it sucks. i won't be surprised if there's some trouble come his arbitration time next year, but hopefully not. i fully expect Michael to handle his "demotion" with the utmost class in public, but behind closed doors he will not be happy and i don't blame him. it's his career and he can "pout" if he wants to, D-Man =P


Go Tribe 2013 and Go Brantley =D


PS--as a longtime avid reader of all the aforementioned writers' articles and tweets, i actually know who originated the nickname "Dr. Smooth" for Brantley. i'm honestly shocked this person doesn't realize that he in fact was the mastermind behind it. one of these days i might clue the boys in. til then, i guess it's just my little secret ;D

A New Outfield

so Choo is no longer an Indian. when the season ended, i really didn't believe we would trade him this offseason. i thought we'd keep him around to start 2013 and then trade him at the deadline. but to my surprise, the Choo deal popped up all over the internet almost immediately after the Cabby trade rumors were put to rest. now we have 4 new Indians: Trevor Bauer, Drew Stubbs, Matt Albers, and Bryan Shaw. welcome to the team, boys.

the main guy we wanted in this deal was Bauer, who the more i read about, the more i get nervous. the kid seems to have an unwarranted attitude problem, is pretty stubborn when it comes to his routines and mechanics, and could be hard to work with. (good luck to Mickey Callaway.) it sounds like there's a possibility he could be worse than a Jimenez Jr, but for the Tribe's sake, i really hope that's not the case. he has a huge upside talent-wise, but his maturity levels could stand to increase.

another "top" player we got in this deal is Drew Stubbs, a gold glove caliber center fielder. nobody really wants to say who's going to play what position yet, well actually my boy Terry did put it out there, but it seems obvious to me that for defensive purposes you HAVE to keep Drew in center and move Brantley to left field. the team would be stupid to do anything other than that. anybody suggesting that Drew move to right or left, your logic is off. left field was HORRIBLE last season. do you really want to put a guy who's never played anywhere but center in left? like really? it takes a while to learn that wall at Progressive Field, and Brantley is already more than capable of handling it. why add more drama to our outfield by taking a chance on someone who's never played left and him possibly sucking at it? i am not interested in that.

and how is Drew's offense? well, he strikes out. a lot. and with our earlier addition of Mark Reynolds, the team should expect to be highly ranked in the K department, an area we had improved on but now will most likely take a step back with. (good luck to Ty Van Burkleo.) i just hope Francona has enough sense NOT to let Drew lead off. he can hit home runs, and he can steal bases if he gets on base because he's speedy, but he kind of reminds me of Grady Sizemore, and that's not necessarily a good thing.


now of course i have to touch on the Brantley issue, because what else would you expect from me? Michael killed it in center last season, and now, in typical Tribe fashion, he'll be rewarded for that by getting moved to left field. i was, not surprisingly, never one of the people who questioned Michael's ability to play center. i know he's capable of playing both left and center but because his preference is center, that's what i continue to push for him to play. besides, i love watching him be the captain in the outfield lol i will miss seeing his home run robbing catches where his arm legit stretches over the wall and brings the ball back. (can Drew do that?) Michael's agent was just as irked with the Stubbs acquisition as i am. he's just as tired of the Indians bringing in CFs despite Michael's ability to be our starting CF. [it just happened to work out that Grady was a bust last year; had he not been, Michael would have moved to left.] and with Drew being as young as he is, i don't think we'll see Michael play much center here again. blah.

i can't keep fighting this battle, so i'm just going to say it one more time: Michael will get his chance someday to be the leadoff center fielder that everyone said he'd be back in 2009 and that he wants to be, but it's just not going to be with the Indians. it's crazy how he actually was leading off and playing center very early in his career, before he could even be considered as reliable in either spot. now he's established himself as a solid ballplayer and we're not going to see him flourish in the places he was projected to be at all along. i cannot and will not be upset with him when he leaves us. his agent says that Michael loves Cleveland and its fans, but i can't forget there was that rumor floating around last season that Michael wasn't getting along with Manny Acta and he wanted out of Cleveland. maybe with Acta gone, things will be different now. although, also knowing what i know about his woman, i still can't see him being in Cleveland longer than a few more years. and he's arb eligible after next season so who knows what could happen. i imagine how he's treated in 2013 will be very important. i only want what's best for him, and i don't think he's going to get that here.


okay so we lost an RF, gained a CF, and moved our old CF to LF. bottom line at this moment is, and maybe i should have waited until Swisher makes his decision in a few more days but, we still don't have a right fielder. i don't think Swish is going to pick us. i know he really wanted to be near the Bay Area, but the Giants don't seem to have a need for him. so then i thought it made the most sense for him to choose Seattle. with his wife being pregnant and due to have the baby shortly after the season starts, i figured having his home team be on the west coast would be very convenient. but Seattle seems to be wavering. and because Hamilton just signed with the Angels, it appears that Texas is now the favorite for him. the climate will certainly be nicer there than it is up in NEO, and the paycheck will probably be more there as well because "everything's bigger in Texas."

so what do we do if Swisher doesn't take our offer? there's always Cody Ross, and i know we've gone after him before. but if we can't land a free agent OF, or trade for one, then we'll probably be forced to use someone internally to start the year. not an ideal solution imo.

it's definitely going to be a different looking outfield in 2013, and i just hope it doesn't end up being worse than last season. and we still have a hole to fill at DH, not to mention we really should try to acquire another SP. there's 105 days to go until Opening Day, and normally all the moves are made before spring training. in other words, we're starting to get low on time so the front office better keep things moving cause we ain't done yet.

Tribe Needs: Looking Ahead To 2013

before 2012 was even over, the Indians fired their manager. then three days after the season officially ended, we got a new one. welcome to the team, Mr. Terry Francona.

Francona's hiring looks good because he's got a couple World Series rings and his experience should be very helpful to this team. i said before that we are not a 94 loss team. Francona is almost assuredly going to benefit here and come off in a great light because there's a pretty high probability that we will improve at least a little next season. so his return to managing will get him respect again and put him back on the map.

but the Indians are seriously kidding themselves if they think simply firing Manny and hiring Terry is going to be enough to turn things around with this franchise. Francona's not the guy on the field playing the game. he's going to need better effort from a lot of our players. he's also going to need some better players to work with, and i don't think he's going to get them.

the Dolans are not selling this team. and the firing of Manny ensured that Antonetti and Shapiro would be back next season. those facts don't exactly give fans a vote of confidence that positive changes are coming. the checkbook's not all the sudden going to open wide, as it never does. it would be a shock if our payroll even reached 70 million dollars next year. most people believe 2013 will be a lather, rinse, repeat cycle of 2012.

now let me bring it back to Francona for a minute. a big reason he liked this job opportunity was because of his relationships with Antonetti and Shapiro. keep in mind most fans want that duo gone. well, the only way Antonetti and Shapiro are getting pink slips is if we have yet another bad year in 2013. and, as was rumored all over the baseball circuits, if they go, Francona has the choice to go with them. that's kind of ridiculous.

how pleased would nearly all Tribe fans be if we finally got rid of Antonetti and Shapiro? and how displeased would fans be if we had to search for a new manager again because Francona was more concerned about his friends(hips) than this team? that's not exactly the kind of guy i wanna get behind and support, but i really have no other choice. who knows if Francona will actually be here for the full four years of his contract. it's just a very strange set of circumstances and i'm not gonna dwell on the oddity of this situation.

maybe Francona will get sick of the way Antonetti and Shapiro are running things now and will want them gone if next year turns out to be another disaster. Francona is not going to come out and make demands to increase payroll. wouldn't work anyways. and he won't demand that we sign certain players. he may wish it, but he won't openly ask for it. however, he should have enough of a voice to be able to put the kibosh on any dumb Damon type deals. and that alone is a step in the right direction for us.

i can't even pretend to know what the Indians are going to do during the offseason as far as trades and acquisitions go, but we do have some obvious needs. and as has been speculated already, we better hope that some decent players finally think of Cleveland as a desirable place to play now that we have the big name Francona attached to us. but we all know that money talks (and sometimes screams) to athletes, and we don't have much of it. so we shall see what happens.



there will be many rumors during the offseason about who might get traded. a lot of the rumored potential deals will merely be the Tribe's way of gauging interest from other teams. i think certain players are on the chopping block more than others, so i will go through my list and say what i think will happen.

Shin-Soo Choo
--i think he will begin 2013 with the Tribe and then be traded at the July deadline.

Chris Perez
--i think his odds of staying are 50/50. if the right deal comes our way, then he's definitely gone.

Grady Sizemore
--because he did not play 1 game in 2012, i think there's a possibility that the Indians will give him a spring training invite on a small minor league deal.

Asdrubal Cabrera
--i expect his name to be out there, but he's staying.

Justin Masterson
--another name i expect to be out there, but in the end i also think he's staying. (if not, then we're clearly in official rebuilding mode.)

Ubaldo Jimenez
--as much as he frustrates fans, they are not getting rid of him yet. that option will be picked up (3 days after the World Series ends).

Roberto Hernandez
--i've heard from some of my fav reporters already that they expect him to be let go, but honestly i think he's got a good chance of staying because we really need pitching. they won't soon forget how he did have that one good year and that he's an innings eater. so yes i can see him staying, but he'd be getting way less money.


who i think is definitely outta here:

--Travis Hafner (you've been on a long road with us, good luck in your future)

--Casey Kotchman (we're really gonna miss your glove, not your bat)

--Jack Hannahan (Supermannahan made some good memories here and his baby was definitely the cutest on the team)

--Brent Lillibridge (pointless acquisition who got worse defensively as the year closed out)

--Matt LaPorta (harsh reality is you were over-hyped and a huge disappointment)


major Tribe needs for 2013 include:

--a left fielder (but if they can get a center fielder, then Brantley would move to left)

--1st baseman

--DH

(and a few of the above need to be right-handed)

--a couple starting pitchers

--they also could use a backup right fielder for when Choo needs days off. or they might just need an RF from the jump if Choo does end up getting traded before the season begins.

--a pitching coach (hopefully credible and experienced)

--a hitting coach


how are we going to fill all those needs? we can't just go out and bring in free agents. the market's fairly dry to start with. and we probably can't afford anyone decent anyways. we're going to have to get new players by trading some of the players we have now. but we can't trade all our best guys, as that will create more holes. and there aren't many trading chips on the farm team anymore. our resources are very limited. some of the players we currently have are gonna HAVE to step up and perform better next season. and there's no two ways about it, we need help from the outside as well. if we somehow end up getting an outfielder, DH, and one starting pitcher, consider ourselves lucky.



i have a few ideas on how to address some of our problems. let's start with the outfield.

assume we still have Choo to start, then right now for 2013 we have

left - ?

center – Brantley

right – Choo


and who are their backups? i suppose you could keep EZ around if we can't bring in anyone better. there's also talk about Russ Canzler playing more left next year, which i'm not necessarily sold on. and if Choo does get traded during the offseason, then we've pretty much only got 1 good outfielder on the team at the moment. yikes. maybe trading Chris Perez could bring back an OF though.


now i'll move on to the infield.

3rd base – Chiz

shortstop – Cabby

2nd base – Kip

1st base – Canzler


i think that IF has potential to be good together. Russ is better playing 1st base, so i'd like to see him be our main guy there next year if we cannot acquire a 1st baseman from outside. and it's helpful that he's a right-handed hitter. you can also put Santana at 1st a few games a week. once again though, we don't have any tolerable backups for 2nd, short, or 3rd at the moment.


behind the plate:

catchers – Santana and Marson


we are also going to need a good 3rd catcher, even if he's kept in Columbus for most of the time. unless everyone is satisfied with Vinny Rotino, idk what we are going to do about that situation right now.


how about a DH?

well we have the option to pretty much use any position player in the DH spot when they need a bit of rest from the field, but that's not an ideal every game solution. Santana can and will DH sometimes when Marson is catching. Canzler can probably DH as well, but we need one main guy, who can actually hit and also play a position. gotta go outside to find this most likely. and maybe we can use some of our money for this acquisition.


let's do the bullpen next because this is a fairly bright spot for us.

assuming Perez sticks around, then we've got

closer – Perez

set up man – Vinnie

7th inning guy – Smitty


if we lose Perez, then i'd go with

closer – Vinnie

set up man – Esmil Rogers

7th inning – Smitty


another option could be

closer – Vinnie

set up man – Smitty

7th inning – Rogers


and there's always the option to have Cody Allen pitch the 7th or 8th. that'll depend on his progress in spring training though, and whether or not they'd prefer to have Rogers in a long relief role.


other people i wanna see in our bullpen next year:

Nick Hagadone

Raffy Perez (health permitting)

maybe Frank Herrmann (progress permitting)

maybe Scott Barnes

maybe Chris Seddon (depends on if they want him starting in Columbus or not)


definitely NOT Scott Maine or Tony Sipp. those 2 need to go.


we have enough in-house guys to fill up our bullpen. i am confident there. i would hate to see us waste some of our tight funds on acquiring a bullpen guy when we have many other more pressing needs to attend to. also, because we do have a lot of good relievers in-house, a few of the above could always be used in part of a trade.


now to the headache of starting pitching.

Masterson and Ubaldo are for sure still going to be in our rotation. whether they continue to be our #1 and #2 remains to be seen. that will depend on how things go in spring training and whether or not we can acquire anyone with better track records than them.

Carlos Carrasco is almost guaranteed to be part of the rotation because we have too many open spots at the moment. unless he does a horrendous job in ST, i think the Tribe will give him a chance to open the year as a starter. and it would be HUGE for us if he could perform well.

McAllister could be in the rotation to start the year as well, if he does a good job in spring.


we also have other possibilities with Kluber, Gomez, and Hernandez. Huff could still be around too if we give him another contract. i think they also mentioned Slowey getting another shot, but with the way he was hurt last season and the fact that he couldn't even pitch well in Columbus, i wouldn't bat an eyelash at him. we really have to try and bring in at least one decent pitcher from another team. two would be ideal but i doubt that's realistic since we have other important holes to fill as well.


and it's almost certain that we will have/acquire the usual "scrub" suspects in the role of utility players, otherwise known as guys who aren't noisemakers offensively or defensively. that's classic Tribe. we better not waste our precious money on too many of those guys.


as far as the pitching and hitting coaches go, it'd be nice to get some proven and experienced guys on the staff. guys who are very knowledgeable that the players would respect, and guys they could really learn from. i don't think an inexperienced young coach is the way to go here. we need more of an accomplished expert type. especially with the pitching coach because our pitchers clearly need help. (it's so disappointing that Belcher's out of the picture. he did such a great job when he was here.)



there are just too many "ifs" and "what ifs" (haha) right now, but i honestly believe that if we can get our starting pitching straightened out, we might do okay next year. at the very least, we should be able to avoid any long losing streaks and be closer to .500. we're working with incredibly meager finances here, so once again we will have to count more on internal improvements rather than big free agency splashes. we just have to keep our fingers crossed that bringing in Francona will interest some good players into coming here who may not have considered it before. yeah, idk if that's gonna happen lol

Go Tribe 2013!

Tribe 2012: What Happened & Boy Was I Wrong

68-94. never saw that coming. what a season. it wasn't all ugly, but it was mostly ugly. let's start with the problems we had before the season even began.

the biggest problem going into 2012 was left field. it was a concern from the jump and an ongoing issue all year. i think it was unfair to count on Shelley Duncan and hope he would turn his good September 2011 into a respectable full season both offensively and defensively. and bringing in Johnny Damon, who had no spring training under his belt, wasn't the answer either. not getting Willingham was the dumbest thing ever. it's right up there with actually believing Sizemore was going to come back and play well. so not.

then we had the 3rd base issue. Hanny was not supposed to be anything more than a backup platoon guy. he was not supposed to be our regular starter at the hot corner, and after a while, he got worn out. it was disappointing that Chiz didn't have a strong enough spring to take control of that job. but i do give him credit for how well he did right before he got injured, and then how great he played when he came back from the injury. sadly for the Tribe, by that time it didn't matter who was manning 3rd because too many other problems had arisen and taken us out of contention.

1st base could have used some help also. i was really excited about having Kotchman's glove over there, but we needed someone else who could swing the bat. platooning with Santana didn't quite work because what we lost defensively with Kotch on the bench, we didn't even make up for offensively, as Santana really struggled with his bat in the first half of the season. and Matt LaPorta certainly didn't pan out. the guy ended up being nothing more than a Triple A slugger, putting up good numbers only in Huntington Park. huge disappointment and now that CC trade can be deemed a fail. love Brantley, obviously, but he was not the big piece the Indians wanted when that deal was made. throwing Shelley or Lopez or Hanny at 1st wasn't a great solution either. the sad fact is our corner infielders were nothing to brag about.

we also didn't exactly have strong backups for any fielding position. if we had issues with the starters at 1st, 3rd, and left field, what does it even matter who the heck backed those guys up? we also didn't have a decent bat/arm to put in center or right when Brantley and Choo needed a day of rest. sorry to Cunningham, EZ, and Donald, but those names in the starting lineup didn't thrill anybody. and poor Kip and Cabby on the infield. once again, Cabby faded out in the second half, which could partly be attributed to playing a little too much in the first half. and Kip was not immune to the hardships of a first full year in the big leagues. he could have used some more days off as well. given who we had to work with, it took just about everyone playing to perfection on a nightly basis in order to be competitive. and for us, that just wasn't realistic.


to go along with the problems we had going into the season, we also developed other problems as the season got underway. first it was our hitting, or lack thereof, by many of our regular guys. then our starting pitching fell apart. we also did nothing at the trade deadline, much to the dismay of fans everywhere. although, by that time we probably could have used five new faces and bats, and even that may not have helped us break out of our slump and avoid those horrid losing streaks. let's start with dissecting the pitching.

finishing the year with a 5.25 ERA is nothing to be proud of. clearly our starting rotation was doing something wrong. at one point we had more Columbus kids in the rotation than veterans, never a good sign. between unexpected injuries, guys who just lost it, and guys who really never had it, it's amazing we were able to stay in 1st place in our division for as long as we did.

our ace, Justin Masterson, looked great on Opening Day. but over time, he became inconsistent and when he got beat, he really got beat. he was getting pounded by lefties, he couldn't stay out of the big inning, and just about every game he lost was a blowout. now i'm not saying an ace has to be perfect, put up nothing but 0s, and win every game he starts. but an ace is supposed to set the tone for the rest of the rotation and should be able to stop the bleeding before we flat line. an ace should not be 2nd in the AL in wild pitches. Masterson has a lot to work on for next season if he's still going to be our #1 guy.

when your ace is struggling, the #2 should be able to pick the team back up. Jimenez was NOT that guy. i've never been shy about expressing my unhappiness with the acquisition of Ubaldo. we traded for an ace type caliber pitcher, and what he displayed this season wouldn't even satisfy most teams for the backend of their rotation. he lost 17 games, led the AL in wild pitches, let just about everyone steal bases off him, rarely pitched deep into games, etc. since the All Star Break, he was 1-10 with an ERA of 6.96. does that resemble an ace to you? the scarier thing is, we have another year with this guy, and i don't see any signs of him becoming more reliable or consistent.

before Lowe's time with the Indians was over, he went from the top to the bottom. he was a first half of the season wonder. at one point, Derek was the best guy in the rotation. and then later, we saw why the Braves got rid of him. but he did what we brought him in here to do. he pitched decent in the first few months before he faded out. i don't have any issues with this acquisition, although i did have a problem when they waited a little too long to get rid of him. unfortunately, Roberto Hernandez was not ready to come back when Lowe began to lose it. so we had to plug a Columbus kid into the #3 spot and hope for the best. that's usually not how top of the line major league rotations operate.

poor Josh Tomlin. who expected him to still have elbow problems this year, and who thought he'd end up having Tommy John surgery? it was obvious something was wrong with him when he kept giving up all those hits and 2- and 3-run homers. Josh is a good pitcher, and what we saw this season was not his normal self. now we won't see him be a factor in our rotation again until 2014. why couldn't they just have done the surgery when he went on the DL last year? alas, it put another hole in our rotation, and gave another Columbus Clipper an opportunity to begin to prove himself in the bigs.

Gomez started out strong. he rightfully earned that 5th spot in spring training, as no other guy really came close to pitching as well as he did. but, as with most of the rest of our rotation, he fizzled out after a while. insert another Clipper here.

the last of the bunch all had their ups and downs. McAllister did well to start and then began to tire out. Kluber struggled in the beginning, then finished the year strong. Seddon pitched much better after we put him in the bullpen. Huff had some good outings at a point in the year when looks can be deceiving. and when Hernandez finally got back, we only saw a small sample size before he sprained his ankle. but it was enough to know that while his name may have changed, his delivery was the same. any combination of these guys in our starting rotation for an extended period of time was not going to help us make a run for the division.

when we were lucky enough to get a good start from Masterson or anybody else, there were countless times when our hitters did not back them up with much, or any, run support. pitching match ups pit our ace against other teams' aces quite often, and we'd end up losing games even after seeing a quality start from whoever took the mound. in turn, some losses came unfairly to our pitchers, but i will dive deeper into our offensive woes in a bit.

in total, we allowed 845 runs. a team like the Indians needs to have reliable starting pitching in order to be competitive. we got into all those losing streaks because our starting pitching failed us. bottom line, our entire rotation underperformed this season, and we cannot expect to contend when that is happening. some of these guys, the capability is there, but fans are losing patience waiting for everyone to reach their full potential and get themselves turned around.


another unexpected problem arose as a result of the first unexpected problem. because our starters were not getting deep into games, we ended up overworking arguably the best weapon of our team—the bullpen. consequentially, our strength became weakened. you can't go to your bullpen in the 3rd, 4th, 5th, and 6th innings as much as we did and still expect all those guys to remain sharp. on several occasions, when we finally had the ability to use our Smitty-Vinnie-Rage trio, usually one of them would be rusty due to not getting into games regularly. so, through no real fault of their own, there were times when they would either make the game interesting, or straight up blow the lead.

and speaking of blowing leads, no one should have been panicked after Chris Perez blew the Opening Day game. it was most likely because he was over-hyped and didn't get a normal amount of work in during spring training. losing Game 1 was disappointing, but it didn't mark the end of the season as we knew it. (lots of other things did that.) Chris had 39 saves this year. he was basically a rock. let's not even think about how many more save opportunities he could have had if our starters had pitched better. maybe he should thank his lucky stars that he finished the season with the 39 saves that he did.

coming out of spring training, i openly disliked Asencio. i felt he would be our weakest link in the pen, and over time he proved me right. Wheeler also wasn't helping the bullpen's ERA any. eventually, we DFA'd both those guys. Tomlin in the bullpen was a disaster, but as i covered above, that was due to his elbow ailment, and he wasn't part of the mafia for long. as the season went on, many a Clipper got his chance up here as a reliever. again, there is some nice potential with Allen and Barnes, and the acquisition of Esmil Rogers may have been the best of the entire year. going into next year, i see another strong bullpen mafia as long as the starters don't force them to be overused and wear them out.


now let's move on to the other side of baseball: the offense. so many guys struggled this season and, inconveniently for us, at the same time. when we started losing game after game, guys were pressing, trying to hit home runs instead of putting good swings on pitches and just getting themselves on base. strike 3 was called way too much, and a few specific players were more prone to it than others. we rarely managed to get guys home when they were in scoring position, and the fact that we might have loaded the bases with less than 2 outs was never feared by the opposition. we left 1,162 runners on base. fail.

blowout games were few and rare, as getting blown out was more our speed. most of the games we won were by close margins. we only scored 667 runs and that's why we had the worst run differential in the AL. we averaged a measly 3.6 runs after the All Star Break, and honestly i'm shocked it was even that high. the team's batting average for the year was .251, we had a .324 OBP, and we were shut out in a total of 12 games.

remember all those times we faced a rookie pitcher or a pitcher making his big league debut, and then lost because we couldn't hit against him? we also had a tendency to make sub-par pitchers look like Cy Young winners. it was an all too familiar pattern, or as i always say, it was classic Tribe.

the team as a whole sucked against left-handed pitching, finishing with a whopping .234 average against the south paws. our heavy left-handed lineup was rendered useless quite often against lefty starters, as is evidenced by our 18-35 record. and teams always had the option to counter in late innings with a left-handed reliever in hopes of shutting us down. the arguments to having so many left-handed hitters on the team—Progressive Field is a good left-handed hitter's park and most of the teams we're going to face in the AL have more right-handed pitchers—fell flat. no right-handers down on the farm were hitting well enough to help us, and knowing that we don't have any amazing prospects there does nothing to reassure fans that things are gonna get better in the near future.


should i continue on and mention our lackadaisical defense? okay well first off, left field was a mess all season. Choo had a few mental mishaps in right and came off to some people as not even caring towards the end of the season. one infielder would commit an error, and then inexplicably, someone else would mess up, resulting in 2 or 3 errors in 1 inning several times. this, in turn, negatively effected the psyche of the guy on the mound. more than one ball ended up in the photo bay area or outfield when we were trying to pick off or throw out a base runner. (on the flip side of that, we displayed some ugliness on the base paths ourselves.) players were looking like total newbies on the field at times. it was unacceptable, oftentimes embarrassing, and really just brutal. this team has a laundry list of things to improve on for 2013.



before the season began, i listed a few reasons why this season would be better than last. specifically, here is what i was banking on for 2012.

what can make a difference this year that we didn't have last year:

--Kipnis will be in our lineup for a full season

--Brantley hopefully will be healthy all season and we won't lose out on his bat in August and September

--Choo should have a bounce back season and be much more like the Choo from 2009-2010 than the guy we saw in 2011

--we have better defense at 1st base this year (sorry LaPorta lol) and may end up with more run production coming from that corner too

and who knows, if we manage to get a better outfielder in a couple months and if Jimenez actually turns into the player we traded for, this team could be in a pennant race.

my prediction for the Tribe's 2012 season, assuming everyone plays to the max of their abilities and we don't get hit with too many major injuries, is 84-78. last year i said we'd finish 82-80, and we were 80-82.

Hoynsie says 86-76, Livy: 76-86, D-Man: 84-78, Terry: 76-86, Bud Shaw: 84-78.


basically we got a total of 2 of those things this year. Kip did decent, he was a thief on the base paths and was tied for the most RBIs on the team. but he also had some defensive issues and was pressing at the plate at times in the second half. that batting average was not pretty. now that his first full season's out of the way, next year we can probably count on him to perform the way i hoped to see from him this year.

Brantley's bat was in our lineup in August and September. well, most of September. he was playing hurt in the second half again this year, except this time his numbers didn't take a nose dive. he was a very consistent hitter, hitting righties and lefties well, and led the team with his .288 batting average.

Choo was not much like the guy from 2009-2010. yes his OPS was over .800, and he led the team in doubles and runs scored, but his home runs were below what he's capable of. he didn't come close to being a 30-30 guy. not to mention how now he can only hit well in the leadoff spot and nowhere else. his defense was lazy at times and he also needs some serious work against left-handed pitching.

the production we got from 1st base was laughable. yes defense is important, and i realize we were extremely fortunate to witness Kotchman digging all those balls out of the dirt. but when you look at all the top offensive 1st basemen in the league, we looked pretty pathetic.

the better outfielder never came, and Jimenez was still an erratic mess and pitched nothing like a #2 guy. after all was said and done, we should consider ourselves very lucky that we didn't end up finishing the year in the AL Central cellar.


my optimism was cute, and my hopes of building on last year were not all that far-fetched, but the lack of moves made by the front office combined with the unforeseeable collapse of our starting pitching killed the dream. nobody thought we'd lose over 90 games. we are not a 94 loss team. it was upsetting and sad that things turned out this way, but the positive to pull from all of it is that there's really nowhere to go now but up. right?

Wrapping Up Brantley's 2012 Season

i'm going to do this Brantley wrap up blog differently from how i did it last year, reason being i blogged his numbers per month this season and don't need to repeat all that again. those monthly blogs can be found here: April, May, June, July, August, September, and October.


now for the last time, here are Brantley's final #s for the 2012 season:

Michael had a total of 609 plate appearances and 552 at bats in 149 games. in total, he had 159 hits, 112 singles, 37 doubles, 4 triples, 6 home runs, 60 RBIs (4 sac flies), 63 runs scored, 53 walks (12 intentional), 56 strikeouts, and 12 stolen bases (9 caught stealing).

2012 batting average: .288 (159-552)

OBP: .348

SLG: .402

OPS: .750

other overall #s while playing center: 336 putouts, 5 assists, 1 error, .997 fielding percentage (144 games)

Michael played in 149 of 162 games. he had a hit in 111 of 149 games that he played and reached base safely in 126 games, including his final 10 games of the year. he played 132 complete games. he subbed into 6 games, by way of PR, PH, and/or late innings defensive replacement. he was subbed out early in 8 games. he was the DH for 3 games. he did not play at all in 13 games. he missed 10 games due to injury.


this year provided many highlights for Michael. he had numerous hitting streaks throughout the season, including a 13-game, 9-game, and 8-game streak. but probably the biggest highlight of his season was his career high 22-game hitting streak in May and June. no other Indian came close to that streak. in 2010, he had a 19-game hitting streak, so i knew he was more than capable of achieving another long streak. once he passed 19 games this season, i was beyond thrilled and so proud.

another highlight for Michael was his batting average. he started the year out slow and was really struggling to relax and find an approach that worked for him. but all that was behind him by the time June rolled around, and his BA remained very respectable from then on. July was easily his best month this season, when he peaked at .302. after that, he never got below .281. who else on the team can say that? not to mention Michael hit both righties and lefties very well, and was our best and most consistent left-handed hitter against left-handed pitching. another display of his consistency comes from the fact that Michael's BA was exactly .288 in both the first and second half of the season. Michael maintained the highest batting average of all the regulars on the team several times and, as of August 5, he took sole possession of that honor for the rest of the season. congratulations to Michael for finishing the year at .288, his best year yet.

i know Michael was excited when he tied and then passed his father's career high RBI total in a season. he said when that feat happened, he would have to make the nightly phone call to his father, because his father would not be calling him lol some of Mickey Brantley's numbers from 1988, when he also played a total of 149 games, are very similar to Michael's this season. like father, like son, right? i anticipate that Michael will beat all his father's career numbers, except maybe for the home runs, at some point in his career.

Michael also finally proved to every doubter that he is a legitimate center fielder. he prefers playing center, and because the Indians had no other reliable CF on the team, every game he played in the outfield this year was in center. he made some web gem highlight worthy catches against the wall, taking a couple of home runs away from the opposition. more importantly, in 144 games, he only committed 1 error. he also had 5 assists and turned 3 double plays, the latter being another career high.


when looking at his numbers for 2012, a few things stick out to me, mainly his runs scored and stolen bases. i believe not leading off took away a lot of his opportunities to try and steal bases. being lower in the order, many times when we he came to bat, someone was on base ahead of him. it's also clear that most of the players batting behind Michael were not necessarily the strongest hitters, so Michael didn't cross home plate as much as he could have had he been leading off with stronger clutch batters behind him.

however, batting lower in the order did give Michael more RBIs for the year, so there's a bit of a tradeoff there. his .444 batting average with the bases loaded is not too shabby. then again, there were times when nobody was on base ahead of him, a big disadvantage to the team when he hit his doubles. and later in the season, when Michael started becoming recognized as a good hitter, he was being intentionally walked by opposing pitchers, disallowing him to get the big hit and even more RBIs.


now let's compare his 2012 numbers to his 2011 numbers.

Category	2012	2011
Batting Average	.288	.266*
Plate Appearances	609	496
At Bats	552	451
Games Played	149	114
Hits	159	120
Singles	112	85
Doubles	37	24
Triples	4	4
Home Runs	6	7
RBIs	60	46
Sac Flies	4	5
Runs Scored	63	63
Walks	53	34
Intentional Walks	12	2
Strikeouts	56	76
Stolen Bases	12	13
Caught Stealing	9	5
First At Bat Hits	36	DND**
OBP	.348	.318
SLG	.402	.384
OPS	.750	.702
Putouts	336	236
Assists	5	5
Errors	1	3
Double Plays	3	2
Fielding %	.997	.988
*if you remove the 19 games he played injured, he has a re-calculated .281 batting average for 2011
**i did not document this number last season
red denotes he did better last year in that category

Michael had a better year in almost all categories. his batting average, no matter which one you go by from 2011, was an improvement. he played 35 more games this year. last year he missed a lot of August and all of September due to the hamate injury. this year, he missed 10 games due to injury, most in September and October because of his groin.* even so, 149 games is a pretty full year, so i'm happy he finally had what can be considered a full season.

one area that Michael did not particularly excel in this year was the home run category. in 35 more games this year, he had 1 less home run than last season. now we all know Michael will never be a power/home run derby type hitter, but with over a month's worth more games and all those extra at bats, it is a bit odd that he couldn't hit a few more balls out of the park. he did miss a couple home runs by mere inches though, so he could definitely stand to gain a little more muscle during this offseason. and Michael is always talking about getting better, so maybe we can expect to see that come spring training.

Michael's runs scored remain the same from a year ago. and again, with playing 35 more games this year, you'd think he would have scored more. but, as i touched on earlier, that probably has to do with the fact that he wasn't batting leadoff all season and the batters behind him were not the greatest when it came to clutch hitting with Michael on base and in scoring position. unless Michael hits more home runs and drives himself home, he really can't do much to control his overall runs scored.

another issue is the stolen bases/caught stealing ratio. this year Michael was 12-for-21, while last year he was 13-for-18. so he made three more attempts to steal this year, which i like, it shows more aggression from him, but he still had 1 less stolen base this season and got caught stealing 9 times. now, one or two of those calls may have been sketchy due to blind umps, but Michael is one of the more speedy guys on the team and should probably be up in the 18-20 stolen bases range. part of the blame, once again, could also be put on his batting order position as stated above. or maybe that abdominal/groin issue in the second half of the season attributed to him holding back some. at the end of the day though, i'd rather have a healthy, cautious Michael than see him make one bad slide and take himself out of commission for a few months. still, this is something else for him to try and improve on in 2013.


before this season began, i wrote a blog about what i expected and hoped to see from Michael in 2012. to refresh everyone, here is exactly what i wrote:

my expectations for Brantley, assuming he stays healthy and plays a full season, are that he maintain a batting average between .280-290. will that be enough for Tribe fans to be content with his production and not consider him a mediocre player? i think he's got a chance to hit 10-12 home runs this year and drive in 50-60 runs. i love him in the leadoff spot and think he will get on base and set the table plenty. i wanna see him steal around 20 bases, because i believe he can. i also expect to get his autograph on my baseball card this year too lol


so i got a few things right and a few things dead wrong.

--Michael did stay relatively healthy (that we knew of anyways*) and played a full season. and he did end up with a .288 batting average. that's great. that's good progress. (i'm not going to let any ignorant comments about Michael irk me this time. i just don't care that some people are so negative about the Indians as a whole that they can't even give Michael props for a much improved season.)

--as for the home runs, no go. i will probably hope for 10-12 once again for 2013 though. i think he's got at least that in him somewhere.

--he did drive in 60 runs, so i nailed that one. really happy about that.

--the leadoff spot situation didn't work out for him this year, but maybe he will get more of a shot at it in 2013 now with a new manager.

--the 20 stolen bases may have been a little too ambitious, although he did attempt to steal 21 times. i know he set a goal of at least double digits for himself this year. next year i want 20 for real though lol

--and yes i did get him to sign my baseball card. both of them actually =D


after Michael was taken out of the leadoff spot, i recognized that that would probably affect his numbers, so i made a few new predictions. i reduced them all considerably due to the fact that i believed he would lose at least 1 plate appearance every game from then on. to curtail those revised predictions, i said: .265 BA, 10-15 SB, 8-10 HR, and 40-50 RBIs.

--well i guess i underestimated Michael's ability to hit lol or i was just thinking worst case scenario. either way, i'm happy to be wrong in this case.

--lowering the stolen bases helped me be correct. he definitely lost opportunities to run.

--even lowering my home run hopes, Michael still couldn't reach my minimum of 8. hopefully next year.

--and, as with the batting average, i worried that he would struggle not leading off and therefore not drive in as many runs. glad that wasn't so.


overall, i really can't complain about his numbers for this year. he finally played a full season, even though he did miss some time at the end with the left groin injury*, but i am happy that he was not seriously hurt at any point during the year and was not shut down like last year. it's also encouraging to see that he didn't let where he hit in the batting order affect his game. i like that he proved he can hit and hit well in other places in the lineup besides leadoff. he turned into one of the most consistent reliable hitters on the team and improved in almost every category from a year ago. he really did incredibly well this season and i am very happy for and proud of him. i can't wait to see how he does in 2013; i expect nothing less than what he accomplished in 2012.

you did good kid. you made these blogs enjoyable for me to write. it was a pleasure to document, analyze, and break down all your numbers all year long. you make me proud to be your #1 fan. have a fun, relaxing offseason, stay Smooth, and i'll see you again next year at the opener.


*Brantley just had sports hernia surgery today, October 11, and i learned that he had in fact been playing with some pain for the entire second half of the season. sigh. okay, first, i'm not happy that he once again played through pain and that it was kept under wraps. second, i am very grateful that he was even able to keep playing through the pain, that he wasn't shut down during the season, and that he still managed to hit well and put good swings on pitches this time around. (but if this left abdominal pain did hinder him in any way, imagine how much higher his BA/OBP/SLG numbers could have been…) and third, because he's had injuries in the second half of the season two years in a row, and as he now recovers from surgery during the offseason for the 2nd year in a row, there's the fear that he might be starting to become injury prone. hopefully that's not the case. but i am very thankful the surgery went well and i hope next year he can really be injury free and continue to build on his great 2012 season going into 2013 and beyond.


for even more Brantley details, be sure to read my other blogs:

Brantley's 2012 Game-by-Game Notes & Numbers

Brantley's 2012 Batting Order Position & CF/DH/PH #s