Lindor & Ramirez Win Louisville Slugger's 2018 Silver Slugger Awards!

hey, Tribe fans. today, on November 8, Fran Charles and Eric Byrnes revealed on MLB Network that the Cleveland Indians have two Silver Sluggers on their team! Francisco Lindor won Louisville Slugger's 2018 American League Shortstop Silver Slugger Award & Jose Ramirez won Louisville Slugger's 2018 American League 3rd Baseman Silver Slugger Award! this is the second Silver Slugger for both and second straight year that the two won the award together. congratulations!👏

photo courtesy of @MLBNetwork on twitter

Brantley Does Not Receive One-Year, $17.9 Million Qualifying Offer from Indians

hi, Brantley and Indians fans. sorry, but i'm about to ruin your weekend. i regret to inform you that this afternoon, on November 2, the Cleveland Indians announced they decided not to extend a one-year, $17.9 million qualifying offer to Michael Brantley for 2019. to say i'm stunned is putting it mildly. none of the Tribe's free agents received a QO, but the news on Brant, one of the most likely candidates for the one-year offer, is particularly unsettling.😟

photo taken from mlb.com/indians article

according to Jordan Bastian's article on mlb.com/indians, Indians President of Baseball Operations Chris Antonetti explained in a conference call, "ultimately,

Brantley News from October 2018

hey, Brantley fans! thought i would put together a post containing some news that's accumulated about Michael since the end of the Tribe's short-lived playoff run. honestly, this is mostly just a lot of speculation regarding whether Michael will or won't be playing for Cleveland in 2019. and i have to say, the verdict isn't good. i tried to prepare you guys all season long because i don't think he's coming back. this club is going to have a lot more players earning double digit millions next year and they just won't have any extra resources to pay Michael what other teams will propose. the only glimmer of hope Tribe fans have right now is that the Indians should extend a one-year, $17.9 million qualifying offer to Michael, which they have until 5 pm ET on November 2 to do. and if Michael doesn't want to start over with a new team in a new city, where he'll have to make new friends and adapt to a new team culture and move his family to all new surroundings, then perhaps there's a small chance he would take the QO and stay with the Indians one more year. but that's really not likely. when money talks, people walk. and Michael will learn to be a leader in a new environment just fine because the man knows how to rise to a challenge and succeed.

looking at it from Michael's perspective, he just finished a full and healthy season and proved to the doubters that he can still play at a high level. so say he did accept the Tribe's QO for 2019, and then he suffers another freak injury. he won't have that safety net of a QO after 2019 to fall back on because

My Final #s for the Cleveland Indians' 2018 Season

this is my annual My Final #s blog, where i go through everything i collected throughout the latest baseball season. i wrote it a little earlier than usual because i'm still having a hard time dealing with the Indians' postseason elimination (which is why i pushed back my Analyzing the Tribe's Season post) and the fact that Michael Brantley is about to explore the free agent market for the first time in his career and he's all but done in Cleveland. yeah.😞

this post mainly features the number of games i went to in 2018, how many games i missed, the number of player autographs and baseballs i got at games, and the grand total of pictures and videos i took at games. there's also a section where i've noted which players usually sign autographs and where it's best to get those autographs, for those looking to increase or begin their own collection. i understand this won't be everyone's cup of tea, and that's why i don't really promote it too much. i'm not trying to come off as bragging. i know i'm very lucky to not only go to the games that i do, but also occasionally come home with a nice souvenir. so my intentions are not to throw anything in other people's faces, i just want to see how this season stacked up compared to past seasons for me personally. if you're not interested, you don't have to read this. i won't be offended and i'll see you in the next one.👊 otherwise,

Brantley Named Finalist For Players Choice Awards' 2018 AL Comeback Player of the Year

hello, Brantley fans! i'm back with more news! this should come as no surprise, but it was formally announced earlier today, on October 16, that Michael Brantley was named as one of three finalists for the Players Choice Awards' 2018 AL Comeback Player of the Year!👏 he's nominated with right-handed pitcher Edwin Jackson of the Oakland Athletics and left-handed pitcher David Price of the Boston Red Sox.

photo courtesy of mlbplayers.com

per the website, this award is described as for those who have overcome adversity and

Brantley Finishes 3rd For Sporting News' 2018 AL Comeback Player of the Year Award

hey, Brantley fans. i've got another (quick) post for you because today, on October 16, Sporting News announced their winner for AL Comeback Player of the Year. Michael received votes, but ultimately finished in 3rd place while David Price of the Boston Red Sox was named the 2018 Comeback Player in the American League.

this award, given out by Sporting News since 1965, is voted on by the players. there is no set criteria for what makes a player eligible for the Comeback Award, so the players get to decide on their own which of their peers' "career downturns" was significant enough to be considered. the fact that someone missed a year due to an injury is not always a factor in the voting for a Comeback Player. ballots were cast in early September and 14 players in the American League received at least one vote.

according to the article by Ryan Fagan, Price led the way with 20 votes. Edwin Jackson of the Oakland Athletics got 16 total votes, Michael got

Wrapping Up Brantley's 2018 Season + Postseason

hi again, Brantley fans. i'm back with a final blog to wrap up Michael's year. this was extremely hard for me to write, knowing in my heart that 2018 was his last season with the Cleveland Indians. a lot of tears have been shed since October 8 and i'm not afraid to admit it's been difficult looking back on things that we're not going to see Michael do with the Tribe ever again, so i needed extra time to put this together and i apologize that i didn't get it published sooner.😔

the culmination of my wrap up series features a selective set of Michael's final numbers, but it mostly contains a season sum-up, my favorite moments from the year, comparisons to past seasons, and a review of my preseason predictions vs. what really transpired. and at the very end, i also included countdowns to 2019 and personal thank yous to all of my top Tribe sources that i look to for news on Dr. Smooth, as well as the people who visited, read, and shared my posts in 2018!👏

before i get started, here are the previous Brantley wrap up blogs i wrote earlier this month, detailing things like Michael's daily game lines, BOP breakdowns, situational #s, career highs, team leads, league rankings, and

Brantley's 2018 ALDS #s

hi, Brantley fans. so it would appear as though we have watched Michael play in a Cleveland uniform for what most likely was the last time. that's because yesterday, on October 8, the Cleveland Indians were eliminated from postseason play when they lost the American League Division Series to the Houston Astros in a very quick three-game series. i wish i could say i didn't see this coming, but i think a lot of us did. the only thing that surprised me is that the Tribe got swept. i really thought they'd make it a close series and go the full five games. i was at Game 3, the first and only game in Cleveland, so my blog is going up a day late. my apologies.

the format of this is much like a monthly post, except i've added some pre-ALDS news to start with. also, because i only had three games to cover, i went ahead and listed out all of Michael's at bats in my redesigned Game Talk, At-Bat Details, Pictures, and Quotes section.

while many want to say that the top of the order didn't perform well, i'm about to prove that Michael was actually one of the top performers and did

Brantley's 2018 Situational #s & Statistics

what's up, Brantley fans? this is the third installment of my series of wrap up blogs detailing Michael's season and it has a lot of numbers, as it features all his situational #s and statistics for 2018. more specifically, that includes Michael's batting averages and stats against right-handed and left-handed pitchers, at home and on the road, with runners in scoring position, with runners on base, with the bases loaded, and with the bases empty. you're also going to see his team highs, career highs, offensive league rankings, and some defensive league rankings, as well as his final numbers versus every AL Central Division team and each National League team the Indians played in 2018. in addition, i've incorporated things like his K rate, LOB, types of outs he made, number of times he reached base, and number of times he was left stranded. Michael's WAR, wRC+, BsR, UZR, and DRS are all in here, too. no offense to Michael's game lines and BOP #s, but i'd bet that this is the blog you really wanna see because it's got all the meat of his 2018 numbers. enjoy!😁


in 2018, Michael had

Brantley's 2018 Batting Order Position & LF/PH/DH #s

hi, Brantley fans! hope you are well. this is the second Michael Brantley wrap up blog, which contains all of his number breakdowns based on his batting order positions and LF, PH, and DH #s for the 2018 regular season.

let's take a quick dive back into the past before i get into the present. in case you don't remember, prior to this season, Michael was the Indians' 3 hole hitter. in fact, he'd been regularly batting 3rd in the order since May 3, 2014 (minus the couple of games he played in 2016). even when Michael was out hurt, he would always return to the 3 spot, which he rightfully earned after his outstanding 2014 and 2015 seasons. even manager Terry Francona admitted to essentially building the lineup around Michael in the 3 hole. but while Michael was on the 10-Day DL battling his right ankle sprain in the second half of 2017, Jose Ramirez replaced him in the 3 hole. and Tito liked what he brought to that spot so much that he decided to continue letting Ramirez bat 3rd whether Michael was playing or not.

Michael started the 2018 campaign on the 10-Day DL and he remained in Arizona as he continued to build up endurance after spending another offseason/spring training rehabbing, this time from right ankle surgery. once he returned to the Tribe, Michael alternated between the Tribe's cleanup hitter and 5 hole hitter, depending on