The Hole at DH

Cleveland has made great strides offensively in July, despite a 9-14 record. Over those 23 games the Tribe has posted an .816 OPS and averaged 5.47 runs per game, both season highs for a month. Veterans like Grady Sizemore (1.087 OPS, 7 HR) and Jhonny Peralta (.940 OPS, 22 RBI) are gaining momentum, Kelly Shoppach (1.065 OPS, 6 2B, 6 HR) continues to make a case to start next year, and Asdrubal Cabrera has caught fire after being promoted from Buffalo (.935 OPS in his last 7 games).

The offense finally seems to be coming together, but there has been a persistent hole in the lineup that has yet to be properly addressed.

Out of the 14 AL teams, Cleveland ranks near the bottom in production from the DH spot. A league average DH for 2008 would provide about 15 HR, .336 OBP, .425 SLG and a 101 OPS+. Cleveland’s combination of 10 players splitting time at DH have only managed a line of 8 HR (!), .297 OBP, .344 SLG, and a 71 OPS+ (well below the average major league hitter, let alone a designated hitter).

As of July 30, Sizemore, Francisco, Martinez, Peralta, Michael Aubrey, and Andy Gonzalez had appeared or started at DH in a combined 11 games with most of those appearances due to a player being injured or needing rest. For example, Grady Sizemore has received two starts at DH this month as a way of resting him without taking his bat out of the lineup. The number of at-bats represented by each of those six players is too small to consider statistically meaningful (I included Garko and Choo below only because there was such a big drop-off in PA’s after them, but they’re both very small samples too).

The large majority of starts at DH have gone to Hafner and Dellucci, with Garko and Choo contributing in a number of games as well. Here is how they’ve fared this season starting as DH:

Player	Games	PA	HR	OBP	SLG	OPS+
T. Hafner	43	187	4	.329	.387	80
D. Dellucci	28	113	4	.283	.423	86
R. Garko	9	35	1	.257	.333	57
S. Choo	7	26	0	.308	.364	79

Wow, that’s…pretty bad. Once Travis Hafner was finally shut down with a worn out shoulder after May 25 the team has clearly been struggling to fill his slot in the lineup. I’m not about to let Hafner off the hook here, but like I’ve said before, the situation surrounding how long he was playing with a bum shoulder are cloudy which makes it hard to point fingers about what drove down his performance this year. The bottom line is that even in a down year like 2007, Hafner’s 24 homers and 118 OPS+ would have trumped anything Cleveland has produced at DH without him healthy.

Obviously, compensating for the loss of Hafner and Martinez in the lineup is no easy task, but it’s almost like Manager Eric Wedge could care less who he uses for DH at this point. Since May 25 (55 games), Dellucci has made just five starts in left field with 12 more appearances as a pinch hitter. The rest of the time, Dellucci has been filling in as the team’s full-time DH. If the guy can’t hit and his defense isn’t good enough to even start him in the outfield anymore, why is he still taking up space on the roster?

We get it Wedge, you like to start Dellucci against right handed pitching. Normally this would be a defensible move since the left-handed Dellucci has a career .808 OPS against righties. This doesn’t negate the fact that Dellucci has been terrible for three months now. Dellucci’s season stats have been buoyed by his .871 April OPS, but he has posted OPS’ of .559, .671, and .612 for the past three months and has shown no sign of improvement (.469 OPS the past two weeks). You’d think Wedge would have ditched Dellucci as DH by now and given more at-bats to, well…anybody else.

I realize Dellucci is part of the team’s corps of “veteran players,” but so were Sabathia and Blake, so I don’t see how that exempts someone from a transaction. I think this team is past the point where they need to sign guys for their veteran presence (like Millwood and Nixon). The core guys should have matured enough to handle those duties by now. I’m also aware that Dellucci was injured for much of 2007, but I don’t see how that’s an excuse for his performance considering he’s been healthy for all of this season.

I know the team is out of contention, but if there is a better bat sitting on the bench each night, why not get it in the lineup? The least the team can do is continue to play hard and give the fans something to cheer about; that means putting the best available players in the lineup as much as possible. It’s OK to admit Dellucci is having a bad season by benching him Wedge; really, I won’t hold it against you.

Fortunately, some semblance of sanity has crept into the lineup with Sizemore (3), Francisco (3), Garko (1), and Choo (1) all receiving starts at DH in the past 16 games (July 11-31). That still leaves the other eight games to Dellucci, which is still too many in my opinion. I would like to see a semi-platoon featuring the day’s spare outfielder and Garko continue until Victor comes off the DL in a few weeks (I’ll break down that situation in detail in a later post).

Garko, Francisco, Choo, and Gutierrez figure to be in the team’s future plans and need more Major League experience to improve. If the team hasn’t seen enough of Dellucci in the past two seasons by now, I honestly don’t know what they’re looking for (he may have a year left on his contract, but I would rather see the team eat his salary than have to work around him in the lineup anymore). Plus, if Francisco or Choo is starting at DH it makes more sense to play Gutierrez for his superior defense over Dellucci.

Cleveland has one guarantee and three relative unknowns in the outfield right now and all three of them have a realistic shot at making a positive contribution next season (Francisco is my strongest pick to start next year). Garko and Gutierrez are essentially fighting for their jobs right now. It would benefit the team if they could continue to work with these two players while evaluating them for 2009. This approach is somewhat contradictive to what I said earlier (put the best product on the field), but getting a good grasp of each players’ value heading into the off-season is an extremely valuable commodity in itself.

Allowing struggling players like Garko and Gutz to find a way out of their slumps may also increase their value on the trade market if they catch fire late in the season (just look at what a couple of hot months did for Casey Blake’s value). Cleveland has nothing to lose at present by allowing these four guys to accumulate at-bats and will have an easier time improving the team for the future. Again, I do not expect Dellucci to be a part of this team by the time 2009 rolls around.

This is extended Spring Training, right? I say let the young guys play because that DH spot has no where to go but up.

Shoppach Joins Rare Company

Catcher Kelly Shoppach had a career night against Detroit on Wednesday, going 5-6 with a BB, 3 2B, 2 HR, 4 R, and 3 RBI over 13 innings. Shoppach’s five extra-base hits tied the major league record for most in a game, a feat accomplished just nine times since 1885. The last American League player to do it was Tribe alum Lou Boudreau in 1946.

Carmona Back in Control

The difference between Carmona’s first two starts back from the DL looked like night and day. After getting shelled for 9 ER over 2.1 innings versus Minnesota last week, Carmona had a quality outing against Detroit Thursday. Fausto went 6.1 innings with 3 K, 1 BB, 5 H and 2 ER.

Carmona looked very comfortable on the mound, stayed down in the zone for the most part, and had good movement on his pitches. The most encouraging part of Carmona’s outing was his 11 to 5 ground ball to fly ball outs ratio. Fausto even ran over to first at full speed to assist on a groundball out, showing no discomfort in his hip.

Jacobs Field Magic

After a laughable series in Washington over the weekend, my faith in the Tribe was a bit shaky coming into a four game series against Oakland. I don't care who you are, but a matchup of Cliff Lee versus Dan Haren in Game 2 isn't going to inspire much confidence. Mr. Haren hasn't had much luck in Cleveland over his career though, so there was still a ray of hope going in. The suddenly resurgent Tribe offense maintained their consistent approach against the American League's best pitching staff, racking up 8 hits, 4 walks and 3 runs against Haren, he of the 1.78 era and .90 whip.

The Tribe led 3-1 in the 3rd inning, but Cliff "can't hold a" Lee coughed it right back up an inning later. Despite a couple frustrating innings tonight, Lee continued to show off the breaking pitches from his last few starts. The A's hitters were frustrated all night with his curveball, creating 11 flyball outs. If Lee stays on course with his pitch selection and approach he should continue to be an effective fifth starter this year. It's nice to see him avoid the big inning and give his team a chance to win lately. If he can't go 7 innings, the least he can do is keep the run totals to a minimum.

Oakland brought out former Indian, Alan Embree for the 9th inning to close it out. Grady drew a 1 out walk, but nearly got doubled off first after a near double by Blake was reeled in by Shannon Stewart in left field. Grady had to go into warp speed to get back around second and avoid making the final out at first.

Now, as lame as it may sound, Jacobs Field seems to have gotten its old aura back this season. Cleveland fans know what I'm talking about, the feeling you get with your team down late in the game: top of the lineup on deck, the closer looks rattled, the crowd gets to its feet, Jon Adams' booming rally cry floats down from the bleachers, rally caps on. That aura. Mojo, swagger, grit, call it what you want, but the Jake has a ton of the stuff floating around right now. Crazy stuff happens at Jacobs Field when the offense is capable of exploding at any moment.

So, Grady and Victor on base and Pronk steps off the path he's been wearing down between the dugout and the deck. Embree tosses a fastball inside, which Pronk smokes down the alley in right-center to plate the two runners and tie it at 5 all. Oakland intentionally walks Peralta to face either Rouse or a player off the bench (there's only one left). Wedge calls up the backup catcher Shoppach to pinch hit. Shoppach may as well be Pronk Lite at this point, batting .373 with a 1.074 OPS on the season. But Embree has no choice but to pitch to him now, since he wanted no part of Jhonny Peralta.


















The second pitch from Embree flies waist high, down the middle and Shoppach doesn't miss. The Jake watches Shoppach shoot the moon over the mini-monster for a walk-off 3 run homer. Shoppach races across the diamond, fist pumping as the Indian's dugout gathers around homeplate. Shoppach heads home and gets absolutely mugged by his teammates; it's a good thing he's not catching tomorrow because he's going to be sore. As the mob migrates towards the mound, poor Paul Byrd gets knocked down along with several other players, but no one seems to mind.

I really can't remember the last time the team was so charged up. If this game doesn't spark the offense somehow, nothing will. With Carmona pitching tomorrow, this team has got to be confident as hell.

This is why I love baseball. Go Tribe.

Finally...

Cleveland seems to have put a hit out on the game's best pitchers this year, beating Johan Santana twice and the red-hot Cole Hamels and Dan Haren. It's a long season, but Cleveland has continued to play some of its best baseball against the league's elite pitchers, which is quite a bold statement.

Fun with Rosters

David Dellucci injured his knee running to first on a groundball in the bottom of the fourth inning against the Phillies Tuesday. A little more than halfway to the bag, Dellucci’s knee gave out, forcing him to slide head-first to reach base. While Dellucci’s hustle on the play was commendable, the damage was done; he had to be helped off the field by two trainers.

As bad as Dellucci has been this season, you never want to see a player get hurt and I hope the injury is not as serious as it looked. However, the injury did appear to be quite serious, which likely means a trip to the DL for Dellucci and a call up from Buffalo to take his place. Wedge has options at several positions, but it will be interesting to see how he adapts to losing an outfield platoon member with 173 at-bats this season. Here are the positions affected by Dellucci’s injury, with the available players:

LF: Michaels / Blake
RF: Nixon / Blake / Gutierrez
3B: Blake / Rouse

Michaels is a near lock to collect the majority of starts formerly assigned to Dellucci, given his success this season. Blake has never started in LF, but plays a solid outfield and can handle the occasional appearance in left.

Nixon and Gutierrez will likely continue to platoon, but I would still like to see Gutz get the majority of starts as the team heads into the All-Star break. I’m a big Nixon fan and while I was frustrated with his epic slump at the plate, I figured he would have at least stabilized by now. Instead, his OPS has continued to sink, due in part to an ugly .332 SLG. Trot has a career .470 SLG and slugged .394 in 2006 and .446 in 2007. The last time he hit more than 10 homeruns in a season was 2005 (13).

As far as I know, Nixon is healthy in 2007, so his stats are in all likelihood the best we will see out of him. What’s worse, Nixon’s range in right field has deteriorated to the point of being a liability on defense. As I’ve said before, Nixon is arguably canceling out the benefit of his batting against rightys with his all-around poor play. The lineup would also get a major speed boost with Nixon and Dellucci benched. I don’t know how much longer Wedge can justify starting Nixon with Gutierrez and Blake available.

Gutz has only seen 20 major league at-bats in 2007, so a sub-par offensive line is difficult to project (he was hitting .341 with an .872 OPS in AAA, so his bat is more likely to come around than Nixon’s), but he has shown great range in the outfield. Under the current platoon regimen, the Tribe’s best defensive outfield of Michaels, Sizemore, and Gutierrez only appears against left-handed pitching. Dellucci’s injury may allow the superior corner defenders to solidify a regular presence in the lineup.

In the event Gutz is not ready for a full time gig, Blake would have to take the majority of starts in right, with Andy Marte getting called up from Buffalo to start at 3b (Rouse is strictly a utility fielder). This is the least likely scenario in my opinion, given the team’s handling of Marte this season. Marte has turned up his offense in June (.302 AVG, .970 OPS), but is in Buffalo because of his offensive struggles in Cleveland. He will need to show a consistent improvement at the plate and Gutz will need to struggle for Marte to get the call.

More Roster Madness

I was simultaneously shocked and thrilled to see Josh Barfield bat second in the lineup against the Phillies on Monday and Tuesday. Barfield has been knocking on the door for a promotion, batting .355/.354/.387 in June so far. His power may not have caught up yet, but it's nice to see him hitting consistently right now.

Batting Sizemore and Barfield at the top of the lineup is wicked smart and a huge departure from Wedgie's usual lineup (Dellucci in the two-hole!?!). Once J-Barf's bat locks in for good (I'm extremely confident it will), can you imagine the chaos that much speed would do at the top of the lineup? Pitchers are going to have a hard time focusing on Victor or Pronk at the plate with that much speed on the basepaths. (ed. note: Casey Blake resumed batting second today, so it looks like Barfield was just getting a cup of coffee while Blake and Hafner rested those two days. I know I got a little carried away about Barfield batting second, but Blake is definitely the better choice, at least this season.)

Finally, Kelly Shoppach is now batting .391/.458/.656 in 64 ABs this season. His batting line is even more impressive, given his irregular appearances.

Did anyone else wonder if Shoppach catching Lee on Monday was for more than just lineup purposes? Lee and Victor were definitely unhappy with each other during Lee's last outing and he looked much more comfortable on the mound in his most recent start. Probably nothing, but something to keep an eye on.

The Cobra Strikes Again

Paul Byrd overcame a few speed bumps, but earned a win at the Jake Sunday to improve to 4-1. Byrd scattered 9 hits over 7 innings with no walks, but found himself with the bases loaded and nobody out in the 8th. Then the Indians dropped the grit bomb on Cincinatti, getting out of the jam with only one run scored.

Fultz came in to relieve Byrd with the bases loaded, holding Griffey Jr. to a sac fly. Raffy Betancourt comes on to face Brandon bleepin' Phillips. In the signature moment of the game, with Phillips batting, Kelly Shop-vac guns down Ryan Freel trying to steal 3rd, shortly followed by Reds manager Jerry Narron going berserk and getting gunned down by umpire Gary Darling. Betancourt proceeds to strike out Phillips with a nice breaking ball to end the inning. Awesome.

Borowski came in for the save with a 1-2-3 9th inning behind a sick sprawling catch from Pronk (yes, you read that right, a web gem from Pronk).

Shoppach Plays Bigger Role in '07

This is why the fans in Cleveland love Shoppach, he just keeps racking up these key put-outs in big innings. It's a tough break for him that he's blocked by Martinez, but he has been getting a lot more playing time this season. Here's a breakdown of Victor and Kelly's positional splits for the past two seasons:

Victor Martinez
Position	GS (2006)	GS (2007)
C	127	29
1b	19	5
Kelly Shoppach
Position	GS (2006)	GS (2007)
C	31	12

Shoppach has started at catcher in about 30% of games this year, compared to starting in only about 19% of games the entire 2006 season. Martinez has gotten more days off from catching since he is now a legitimate option at first, allowing Wedge to rest him without removing his bat from the lineup. Wedge has also not been afraid to play Hafner at first on occasion, giving Martinez some starts as DH. Shoppach has put up solid offensive numbers (for a catcher) and has earned a reputation for his cannon arm, throwing out 34% of baserunners in 2006, well above the AL average. Wedge's backstop rotation will reduce wear and tear on Victor, while shoring up the Tribe's defense at backstop.

Finally...

According to the game recap for May 20, Cleveland has tied the 1995 club for the best home start in team history, with a mark of 16-4 at the Jake and Miller Park. Even better, the fans are starting to come back too, with 102,016 people attending the three game Cincinatti series over the weekend.