The B-List: 4/13

So much squandering … such bursts of “Gah!” ...

FINAL         1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12  R H E

Indians (8-4) 1 0 0 0 1 0 0 1 0  0  0  0  3 7 1
Angels  (7-5) 0 0 0 3 0 0 0 0 0  0  0  1  4 6 0
W: Takahashi (1-0)  L: Durbin (0-1)

0) Administrative Note

This is one of those times when Real Life intervenes: between a work rush and having to run my son home from school with a fever, this column will be shorter than normal.

1) Hopeful Hope, or One Bad Pitch II

As with Fausto Carmona, Carlos Carrasco’s first start was a Thing of Not Beauty.  I will stop short of calling it Ugly, insofar as Carmona’s set the standard so inachievably “high,” but it sure wasn’t any good.  Carrasco returned with a wonderful outing against the Mariners, although the 10-run outburst from the offense coupled with the truly astonishing ineptitude of the Mariners’ offense made it rather difficult to effectively evaluate his performance.  He had good stuff, and he had good results: beyond that, well … the saying is that if you have two watches that say different times, you don’t actually know what time it is.  You had to figure he wasn’t as bad as his first start (based on his late-2010 run of moderate success), but past that, you didn’t know.

Well, really, except for one pitch, there is virtually nothing to complain about from last night’s start.

The B-List: 4/12

FINAL         1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9  R H E

Indians (8-3) 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0  0 1 0
Angels  (6-5) 0 0 1 0 0 0 1 0 X  2 4 1
W: Haren (3-0)  L: Carmona (0-2)

Sometimes, the other guy is just better than you are.

1) Righted Ship

Is it fair to say that the memory of Fausto Carmona giving up 10 runs in 3-plus (the plus stands for Extra Fail!) innings on Opening Day is simply a Data Point of Badness and we can all move on with our lives now?

This game wasn’t quite as good as his previous start against the Red Sox, but it was still damned good.  Instead of 2 hits, he allowed 4, and of course, instead of 0 runs, he allowed 2.  On the other hand, he actually threw more strikes and struck out more batters (6 to 4) while getting more swings-and-misses (14 to 9).  It’s going to be hard to top a scoreless outing when giving up a home run to Peter Bourjos, and of course he lost the game, so there is no argument for this start being “better.”  Still, it’s equally hard to argue that it wasn’t high-quality.

One of the interesting things about Carmona’s pitch location was that he started only 9 of the 30 hitters he faced with a first-pitch strike.  Usually, I would complain about this: it seems like one of the easier things to control about an outing.  However, given his overall numbers, I wonder if maybe there wasn’t some Method to the Madness involved.  The Angels of the 21^st century have been an aggressive team at the plate, taking the character of their manager and hitting coach.  While statheads tend to deride such things, the fact is that it has generally worked for them, and they went through a stretch where they routinely “out-performed” their “Pythagorean Projection” of how many games they “ought” to have won based on a simplistic calculation based on run differential.

The B-List: 4/11

FINAL         1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9  R H E

Indians (8-2) 1 3 0 0 0 0 0 0 0  4 6 0
Angels  (5-5) 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0  0 5 0
W: Talbot (1-0)  L: Chatwood (0-1)

The only two hitters in the lineup with OBPs under .300 hit 3^rd and 4^th.

 

1) Destination Semi-Known

I have loaned my copy of Jim Bouton’s seminal work, “Ball Four,” to my father for a while, so I am spared the effort of trying to find the exact quote, but for all the alcohol and underpants and ill-conceived behavior, the thing that sticks with me from the book is when Bouton talks about control.  I can’t remember the quote verbatim, but broadly put, he said the idea of “pinpoint control” is nonsense and a myth.  “You can’t hit a spot on the outside corner, exactly where you want it,” I paraphrase him saying.  “I aimed for the middle, knowing I’d be off 6 to 8 inches in some direction, and that would make it a good pitch.”

This might be exaggerating a bit, but I do think that it is the exceptional pitcher who has what we’d consider great control.  It bears remembering that while Bouton had an injury-shortened, unspectacular career, in his early days he was a high-effort high-quality high-velocity pitcher.  He wasn’t just some journeyman, even if he career ended up there after he was hurt.  The way I’ve always read this is that sure, there are a small percentage of pitchers who can hit a spot more often than not, the majority of pitchers settle for “quadrants” and leave it at that.

I was reminded of this last night watching Mitch Talbot pitch, because I swear I never saw him throw a pitch that ended up precisely where I predicted it would.  He would throw a pitch, and I’d see in my mind’s eye a “path,” maybe bending down slightly from the middle toward the outside knee area, and all of a sudden at the end of the flight, the ball would “voop” somewhere else (often bending in to right-handers).  He would throw a slider, and it would be singing along, and then at the end, “voop,” it wasn’t there any more.

The B-List: 4/8 - 4/10

FINAL           1 2 3  4 5 6 7 8 9  R  H E
Indians  (5-2)  1 0 0 10 1 0 0 0 0 12 17 1
Mariners (2-5)  0 0 0  0 1 0 0 0 2  3  6 1
W: Carrasco (1-1) L: Vargas (0-1)

FINAL           1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 R H E
Indians  (6-2)  0 0 0 2 0 0 0 0 0 2 7 1
Mariners (2-6)  0 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 1 6 1
W: Masterson (2-0) L: Fister (0-2) S: C. Perez (3)

FINAL           1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 R  H E
Indians  (7-2)  2 2 1 1 0 0 0 0 0 6 11 0
Mariners (2-7)  0 0 0 1 0 0 3 0 0 4  5 1
W: Tomlin (2-0) L: Bedard (0-2) S: C. Perez (4)

Consider this: the Indians had as many hits on Friday as the Mariners managed for the WHOLE SERIES.  And we scored 50% more runs … in that one game.  Then we had two more games worth of offense.  Seattle had two more games of Brendan Ryan and Ryan Langerhans.

1) Son of Rebound

Fausto Carmona’s debut was worse, but this says more about Carmona’s performance than Carlos Carrasco’s.  Carrasco’s first outing against the White Sox was nothing to write home about either, unless it was to write home to say, “Boy, that wasn’t very good, was it?”  Granted, the White Sox have a better offense than the Mariners, which is a bit like saying that jackals are more fearsome than banana slugs armed with salt shakers.  Still, Carrasco looked lousy, and his performance Friday was in no way guaranteed.

All Carrasco did was throttle the Seattle “offense” soundly, getting three swinging Ks in the first two innings and facing one over the minimum through three because he inexplicably walked Ryan Langerhans on four pitches.  After an interminable wait through a half-hour top of the 4^th, Carrasco was able to retain enough concentration to toss another scoreless inning before giving up a run in the 5^th, but was able to end that frame with another swinging K before collecting one last forwards-K in a scoreless 6^th inning of work.

The B-List: 4/7

FINAL         1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9  R H E

Red Sox (0-6) 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0  0 4 0

Indians (4-2) 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 X  1 3 0

W: R. Perez (2-0)  L: D. Bard (0-1)  S: C. Perez (2)

At the beginning of the year, had you told me we’d be 4-2 after playing Chicago and Boston, I’d have taken that.  After the first four innings of Game One, I would have been pretty pleasantly surprised that the team had not all been sold to a cosmetics firm for scientific experimentation.

1) ¡Fausto!

What a difference a week makes.

Granted, I’m pretty sure no one out there thought that Fausto Carmona was a 30.00 ERA pitcher, or that Opening Day was anything but an exaggerated pratfall by the nominal Ace, but I’m equally sure that yesterday’s performance was not something many fans would have laid serious money on, either.  All Carmona did yesterday was:

a) Held the Red Sox to 2 hits over 7 innings
b) Allowed only 4 baserunners total
c) Posted four 1-2-3 innings
d) Allowed more than one baserunner in an inning one time

Carmona certainly wasn’t flawless: he threw too many balls and too many overall pitches to get through 7 innings.  He walked two more hitters and only posted a 9:8 GO:FO ratio, which is very low for Fausto.  He had nine three-ball counts before he retired his first batter in the 6^th inning.  And he was the beneficiary of a couple of fine defensive plays, notably a catch of a Youkilis liner by Orly Cabrera in the top of the 2^nd.

The B-List: 4/6

FINAL         1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 R H  E
Red Sox (0-5) 0 2 0 0 0 0 2 0 0 4 7 "0"
Indians (3-2) 2 1 0 0 0 4 0 1 X 8 8  0
W: R. Perez(1-0) L: Matsuzaka (0-1)

You might say that Asdrubal Cabrera’s homer barely cleared the wall, but was it really that much shorter than Adrian Gonzalez’?

1) Managerial Back-Patters

Mitch Talbot was fine last night, with flashes of real goodness (I still love his change) and a surprising 7 Ks. I normally start with the starting pitcher in the first List item, because he normally has the most material to delve into, and there’s plenty to talk about there. We’ll get to it shortly.

To me, it seems like it would be terribly unjust if the first focus didn’t go on Manny Acta’s handling of the 5th inning before anything else.

One thing I didn’t mention about Tuesday’s “save” by Chris Perez was the point at which Acta came out to talk to Perez with a 2-0 count on David Ortiz with two men on base. I called this a “mature, gentle Tony Pena head slap” in a conversation on Twitter (follow me at @stevebuffum) last night. Whereas Pena’s will always live more fondly in Cleveland Lore, especially since it resulted in physical abuse to Jose Mesa, Acta’s was equally effective in that it got Perez to focus, throw quality strikes, and retire the batter.

With this backdrop, Talbot ended up in a bit of low-wattage trouble in the top of the 5th by walking Carl Crawford, watching him steal second, and then getting Dustin Pedroia on a runner-advancing groundout. After falling behind Adrian Gonzalez, the one Boston hitter who has resisted the Global Newtification Process, Talbot decided to use the better part of valor and finished the walk intentionally.

The B-List: 4/5

FINAL         1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 R H E
Red Sox (0-4) 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 4 1
Indians (2-2) 0 0 0 2 1 0 0 0 X 3 5 1
W: Tomlin (1-0) L: Beckett (0-1) S: C. Perez (1)

Joe Tait: It's a beautiful night for baseball!
Everyone else: You're totally lying, dude.
Joe Tait: So I am.

1) All he does is win

Last season, spent a good portion of my time trying to figure out exactly what it was that Josh Tomlin did WELL as a starting pitcher.  His ERA was solid enough, but seemed a little lucky.  He wasn't a complete puffball, but his 5.30 K/9 rate wasn't anything to write home about.  (Not that I ever actually write home.  Look, I'm 46: I *am* home.  I guess I text home fairly frequently.  I wouldn't text Josh Tomlin's strikeout rates home, either.)  He had good enough control, sporting a K:BB ratio over 2, so that's good (especially compared to yoots like David Huff and Aaron Laffey).  He just didn't seem like he had some singular, signature skill on which to hang his hat.  Like a monocranial Zaphod Beeblebrox, he was just this guy, you know?

One thing he most certainly did NOT do well is keep the ball on the ground.

The B-List: 4/1 - 4/3

FINAL           1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9  R  H E
White Sox (1-0) 2 0 4 8 0 0 0 1 0 15 18 0
Indians (0-1)   0 0 0 0 0 4 3 2 1 10 17 0
W: Buehrle (1-0) L: Carmona (0-1)


FINAL           1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 R  H E
White Sox (2-0) 1 4 0 0 0 1 2 0 0 8 11 2
Indians (0-2)   0 3 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 3  7 0
W: Ed. Jackson (1-0) L: Carrasco (0-1)


FINAL           1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 R H  E
White Sox (2-1) 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 1  7 0
Indians (1-2)   0 0 0 0 0 2 2 3 X 7 11 1
W: Masterson (0-1) L: Danks (0-1)

I’m not sure which was more exciting: the Indians turning a triple play, or me punching a hole through my monitor in the 4th inning on Friday.

1) CFL All-Star

One of the exciting things about the Canadian Football League is that there are only 3 downs. Instead of third-down conversions, there are second-down conversions, meaning that you really pretty much have to get 5 yards a play in order to move the ball. Other exciting things include 12 players per team, a wider, longer field, scoring points on tremendous punts, occasional yetis devouring unwary cornerbacks, and teams owned by Meat Loaf.

It takes some getting used to, though, realizing that an incomplete pass on second down pretty much means you have to punt, so the game is fast-paced, pass-oriented, and completely devoid of interest. Still, you could imagine this kind of innovation being carried over to baseball: you could see, for example, an effort to squeeze an entire baseball game into the 4 hours of daylight Canadians are rationed in Spring Training by going to 3 balls for a walk and 2 strikes for a strikeout. We’ll call this sport Canadian Rules.

In Canadian Rules Baseball, Fausto Carmona was AWESOME.

Contractural Obligation and Chanelling the Stooges in the N.L. West

No fun to hang around
Feelin' that same old way
No fun to hang around
Freaked out for another day
-- J. Osterberg et al, "No Fun"

This seemed like such a reasonable thing.

In retrospect, I should have targeted say, five teams and looked at who was blocked.  Alex Rodriguez, Ryan Zimmerman, David Wright, Evan Longoria, maybe Kung Fu Panda.  But since I've given every other Division a comprehensive look, I guess it seems silly to stop one short.

In any event, there are teams in the N. L. West, one of which actually won the World Series.  I go to bed before N. L. West teams finish playing a lot of the time, and Cleveland's in the A. L., so my familiarity with these teams is ... dilettantish (meaning 1).

Ordering a Short Stack in the A.L. West

From the majors' only 6-team division to its only 4-teamer, the move to the A.L. West would be 33% easier to write, except that the N.L. Central was so paltry that it doesn't work out that way.  At least in terms of third base targets, that is.

As an administrative note, I will not be writing over the holidays, so this is my last post until November 29th.

In any event, in looking around the A.L. West, we see a variety of ... gunk.  Do you realize that the Very Best Starting Third Baseman in the Division was Michael Young ... who is a third baseman in name only?  Defensively, Chone Figgins could play third, but his bat was well and truly execrable in 2010.  He is back on the ESPN "Depth Chart" as a 2B for 2011.  His replacement will be Matt Tuiasosopo, who was converted to 3B from QB.  The Angels boast any number of horrifying choices at third (although they're rumored to be a prime suitor for Adrian Beltre), and the A's feature the kind of cast-offs and patch jobs you expect from a team like ... well ... the Oakland A's, I suppose.

And these guys are the STARTERS.  Maybe they have some hotshots on the way?

Maybe not.

Snipe Hunting in the N.L. Central

Look, someone who roots for a team in the A.L. Central should probably not be throwing Wasteland Rocks™ at another Division.  I understand this.  There are more good teams in the N.L. Central (and a higher proportion thereof) than in the A.L. Central.  The Indians' Division features one truly good team (Minnesota), two average-but-flawed teams in Chicago and Detroit, and two crummy teams in Cleveland and Kansas City.  Of course, KC's farm system looks like it will produce a pretty good team in a couple-three years, Cleveland may join them, and Chicago and Detroit have innovative general managers, but in 2010, it wasn't a very good Division top-to-bottom.


In the N.L. Central, Cincinnati won the crown with a good young team that looks to stay in contention for the foreseeable future (in baseball, this is two years), and St. Louis still has the finest player on the planet and some excellent pitching when healthy.  Chicago and Milwaukee have what chicken magnates one termed "pieces-parts," while Pittsburgh and Houston ... well ... look, let's not mince words.  They stink.  Those are bad baseball teams.  Projecting the next playoff run by the Pirates or Astros is truly an exercise in "asteroid hits Earth" probability theories.  Still, the N.L. Central has two good teams making up 33% of the Division, while we have one good team making up 20%.  Of course, you could argue that St. Louis isn't REALLY an order of magnitude better than the Sox or Tigs, or that the N.L. is a Silly Place from the start, but the point remains: my Division is bad, so who am I to complain about the quality of someone else's?


I dunno ... a sentient biped?

Objects in Mirror May Be Closer: the A.L. Central

You remember how we found a bunch of minors league third basemen in the Eastern Divisions?

Yeah, that's not gonna happen here.

There are a variety of reasons for this: some guys that started in the minors already arrived.  Some guys are pretty much untouchable.  Some systems are laughably void.  But the fact is, if you want to find a third baseman from another team in the A.L. Central, you're better off just opening up the major-league rosters.

Beating the Bushes in the N.L. East

You know where they have some good entrenched third basemen?  The N.L. East.

Consider this: for whatever abuse he takes for being "non-clutch" or "too tight" or "looking like the Great Gazoo," David Wright is a very good third baseman who is likely to be a very good third baseman for the New York Mets for a very long time.  He is not going anywhere.  And down I-95 from there, Ryan Zimmerman is in some ways and even better third baseman who is even more likely to be in Washington for a very long time.  Chipper Jones is an icon in Atlanta, but he is not as mobile now that his legs have fallen off.  Philadelphia has Potato Head and Wilson Valdez, and Florida ... well, let's face it: it's kind of hard to tell what Florida is doing at any given time.  Suffice it to say that if you're looking for an inexpensive player, he's likely to be hoarded with clawlike covetousness in South Florida.

So surely there are some hidden gems and blocked prospects (or even veterans!) lying around the Division, right?

Well ...

Beating the Bushes in the A.L. East

This was supposed to be pretty straightforward.

The original idea was pretty simple: identify a team with a long-term solution at third base and see if they have someone "buried" in the minors (or on the bench) who could be targeted as a worthwhile acquisition.  For example, Tampa Bay is pretty set at third base for a while with Evan Longoria.  We are not going to trade for Evan Longoria.  Tampa is not going to replace Evan Longoria with a minor-leaguer any time soon.  Of course, they have to have SOMEONE in case Longoria is seriously injured, but predictably, the "someones" Tampa has are not players I want the Indians to pursue.

In walking through the teams in the A.L. East, though, I hit any number of potholes, not the least of which is that MILB.com is a horrific site to navigate.  The rosters don't come up fully.  It's hard to work organizationally.  Maybe I'm overlooking some simple navigational tools, but I found dealing with the site to be extremely frustrating.

Nevertheless, here's what a few hours of high-level digging found:

Reframing the Debate

At this point, I'd like to take a break from a solo harangue and check in with readers.  Some nice comments have come across the blog recently, and I'd really like to encourage that.  In addition, I'd like to recognize a column that used my columns as a jumping-off point to make a very interesting suggestion.

"rrhunter" has made two salient points:

Why not bring back Casey or do you figure he'll end up in Seattle with his buddy?

Why not indeed?  I just said in the body of that post that Blake was likely to outperform anyone we had in the slot, and although he's on the wrong side of the aging curve, I stand by the assessment.  My guess is that Blake does not want to relive his formative years with a rebuilding squad (one on which he was, in fact, one of the rebuilding blocks, as it were).  And there is something to the idea of Blake playing in Seattle, given that Jose Lopez is likely to leave and this would allow Chone Figgins to move back to 2B, where he appears to have been more comfortable.  But let's hold onto the thought for a moment.