Happy Pi Day
In honor of Pi Day, I decided to see which Indians pitcher had an era closest to Pi.
And the winner is… the legendary Jeremy Hernandez!
Hernandez was acquired from the Padres midway through the 1993 season and posted a 3.14224 ERA in 49 appearances out of the Tribe pen. He was traded to the Marlins in exchange for Matt Turner the following offseason, thus ending his Tribe career with an era of Pi.
Pestano broke 75-year-old rookie record
In 2011, Vinnie Pestano set the Indians rookie record (min. 50 innings) for most strikeouts per nine innings. The previous record, held by Bob Feller, had stood 75 years.
Interestingly enough, Pestano’s performance came in the exact same number of innings pitcher (62) as Feller, who was used as both a starter a reliever, back in 1936. Feller recorded 76 strikeouts (and 47 walks), while Pestano struck out 84 (with just 24 walks).
How the Indians turned Jack Brohamer into Omar Vizquel
How do you turn light-hitting second baseman second baseman Jack Brohamer into future Hall of Famer Omar Vizquel? Well, it took 25 years and eight trades, but the Tribe pulled it off…
Is there hope for Matt Laporta?
Matt LaPorta is still only 27 years old, but he’s already had over 1,000 plate appearances in the big leagues. So at what point do past failures prove more meaningful than the promise of youth?
Through his first three seasons LaPorta’s stat line reads more like a weak-hitting middle infielder than a corner infielder: .238 BA, .304 OBP, .397 Slug pct. In fact, only two others players in Tribe history have posted such a meager stat line through three seasons – both middle infielders from the turn of the century.
| Rk | Player | Year | PA | From | To | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Matt LaPorta | 2011 | .238 | .397 | .304 | 1008 | 2009 | 2011 |
| 2 | Bill Wambsganss | 1916 | .223 | .267 | .292 | 1133 | 1914 | 1916 |
| 3 | John Gochnaur | 1903 | .185 | .239 | .256 | 1018 | 1902 | 1903 |
So is there any reason to hope for a sudden turnaround by LaPorta? Or is has he already cemented himself as the next John Gochnaur?
To answer this, let’s look at how LaPorta stacks up against some similar prospects in recent years.
Among corner infielders and/or corner outfielders to debut in the last 25 years, six players (excluding LaPorta) have posted an OBP < .310 and a Slug Pct < .400 with a minimum of 1,000 plate appearances through their age-26 season.
Given such a modest stat line, in order to stay on the field these players needed to be top prospects (in most cases). Like the Indians with LaPorta, teams wanted to see what these guys could do at the major league level, and were willing to wait out their struggles – to a point.
| Rk | Player | Year | From | PA | From | To | Age | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Matt LaPorta | 2011 | .397 | .304 | 2009 | 1008 | 2009 | 2011 | 24-26 |
| 2 | Andy LaRoche | 2010 | .338 | .304 | 2007 | 1228 | 2007 | 2010 | 23-26 |
| 3 | Jose Guillen | 2002 | .398 | .305 | 1997 | 2202 | 1997 | 2002 | 21-26 |
| 4 | Marc Newfield | 1998 | .375 | .303 | 1993 | 1051 | 1993 | 1998 | 20-25 |
| 5 | Eric Anthony | 1994 | .384 | .296 | 1989 | 1789 | 1989 | 1994 | 21-26 |
| 6 | Carlos Martinez | 1992 | .369 | .294 | 1988 | 1233 | 1988 | 1992 | 22-26 |
| 7 | Charlie Hayes | 1991 | .361 | .276 | 1988 | 1408 | 1988 | 1991 | 23-26 |
The most recent guy on the list, Andy LaRoche, is now in the Tribe system and will complete with LaPorta for a roster spot this spring (won’t that be exciting to watch). And given the fact that he is just one year removed from this list, he offers little insight into LaPorta’s future. From 2005 through 2008, LaRoche was ranked among Baseball America’s top 100 prospects, peaking at No. 19 in 2006 and 2007. But he has never been able to stick at the major league level, despite opportunities with three different franchises. Last season in Oakland, LaRoche appeared in 40 games, with a slightly improved OBP of .320, but failed to show the power necessary to play the corners at the major league level.
Prior to LaRoche there was Jose Guillen, who is perhaps the most encouraging name on this list. While Guillen struggled early in his career, his age-27 season was his breakout campaign. Splitting the year between the Reds and A’s, Guillen hit .311 with a career-high 31 home runs. Over the remaining years of his career, Guillen would post an OBP of .330 with a respectable .462 Slug pct.
But before Guillen came Marc Newfield, the worst-case scenario for LaPorta. Coming up in the Mariners system, Newfield was a top-50 prospect every season from 1991 through 1995. However, Newfield managed just a .201 average in his days in Seattle and was traded to San Diego in 1995. In 1998, still only 25 years old, Newfield would be given his last chance, this time with the Brewers. He would bounce around the minors with the A’s and Red Sox organizations, but never reached the majors again.
Eric Anthony is perhaps the best statistical comparison to LaPorta. Anthony began the 1990 season as the 8th-ranked prospect but struggled so mightily (10 HR, .192 BA, .297 OBP) that he was off the list all together in 1991. By 1992 the Astros were determined to play their former top prospect every day, and he struggled for two years before being traded to Seattle for Mike Hampton in 1994. While Anthony did show improvement – .344 OBP in remaining years of his career – his inconsistency was too much for teams to handle. After leaving Seattle at the end of his age-26 season he bounced from Cincinati to Colorado to Los Angeles and was out of the majors before the age of 30.
And now for our hometown example, the late Carlos Martinez (also known as the guy who hit a home run of Jose Canseco‘s head). Prior to joining the Tribe, Martinez was a promising young third baseman in the White Sox organization. In just over 100 games in 1989 he hit .300. And when Robin Venteura reached the majors in 1990, they shifted Martinez to first base, where he started until a young rookie by the name of Frank Thomas took over in mid July. While it was hard to ignore Thomas’ promise, it was equally tough for the White Sox to ignore Martinez’s .252 OBP. The Indians signed him that offseason, and in the following two seasons he would post a dismal .298 OBP, while hitting just 10 home runs in 141 games. He remained in Cleveland for his age-27 season, but showed no improvement with a .295 OBP in 80 games. He was out of baseball before the age of 30.
The final name on our list is Charlie Hayes, who began his career with San Francisco in 1988 but was traded to Philadelphia the following season. In his age-25 and 26 seasons, Hayes was the Phillies every-day third basemen and, for inexplicable reasons, played in 294 games during that span, in which his .277 OBP made LaPorta look like a young Jim Thome. But as bad as Hayes was early in his career, he turned it around, with some help from the thin Colorado air. At age 28 in 1993, Hayes belted 25 home runs in Colorado, with a .355 OBP. But he wasn’t purely a product of the Rockies ballpark. Hayes also posted three non-Colorado seasons with an OPS over .725.
So… what’s does all this tell us about LaPorta?
While the results vary dramatically, on average, these players did show some improvement. Their collective OBP rose to .318 in their age-27 season, and then spiked above .340 in both their age-28 and age-29 season. However, it should be noted that while some short-term improvement was apparent, only Guillen and Hayes sustained their careers into their 30s.
So while LaPorta may have a long career left ahead, if he doesn’t turn it around quickly, the clock is ticking.
Garland on both sides of Indians-White Sox rivalry
You don’t often see players of Jon Garland‘s caliber swapping jerseys within a division, especially not between long time rivals such as the Indians and White Sox. 
As a result, Garland will be the winningest pitcher in White Sox history to ever join the good guys, eclipsing Jack McDowell by one victory.
We can only hope the Garland era goes a little more smoothly than McDowell’s, who went just 16-12 in 12 in 36 starts in two years with the Tribe and spend the majority of the ’97 season on the DL.
Why the Tribe likes Jon Garland
It’s easy to dismiss the Indians signing of Jon Garland to a minor league deal. He’s coming off a shoulder injury which limited him to nine starts in 2011, and he’ll be competing against a large group including Kevin Slowey and Jeanmar Gomes. However, it’s a low-risk, potentially high-reward signing for the Tribe, who would love to have Garland establish himself as an innings-eater at the back end of the rotation.
Since 2004, Garland has thrown at least 200 innings in six of his eight healthy seasons (and 196 in another). That type of stability at the back end of the rotation could do wonders for already strong Tribe bullpen.
And let’s be honest, this contract can’t possibly go as wrong as the last Garland the Indians signed.
| Pitcher | Yrs | From | To | Seasons |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Mark Buehrle | 8 | 2004 | 2011 | Ind. Seasons |
| Dan Haren | 7 | 2005 | 2011 | Ind. Seasons |
| Roy Halladay | 6 | 2006 | 2011 | Ind. Seasons |
| Cliff Lee | 6 | 2005 | 2011 | Ind. Seasons |
| Bronson Arroyo | 6 | 2005 | 2010 | Ind. Seasons |
| Roy Oswalt | 6 | 2004 | 2010 | Ind. Seasons |
| Jon Garland | 6 | 2004 | 2010 | Ind. Seasons |
Should pitchers be in MVP discussion?
I’m intrigued by the Justin Verlander-for-MVP debate.
It’s a debate that I’ve been interested in for awhile but have never fully formed an opinion on the matter, primarily because there hasn’t been a pitcher seriously in the discussion in quite some time. But Justin Verlander has captured the attention of the baseball world and appears to have a realistic shot this season.
Most MVP voters these days either stick to their guns and argue that batting average and RBI are the stats to consider. Those trying to join the new era of stats tend to lean toward WAR (without having any real concept of what WAR is in most cases).
For the purpose of this discussion, however, I’m going to analyze pitchers and hitters using win probability added (WPA). Without going too deep into the explanation of the stat (check out the link for Fan Graph’s definition), I will say this: I like WPA because it evaluates each plate appearance and puts it into perspective, something which WAR and other raw stats fail to do. In other words, all 20 home run seasons are not created equal, and WPA recognizes that.
The argument against pitchers being involved in the MVP discussion is that they only appear in roughly 30-35 games per season. As a result, they have zero impact on roughly 1/5th of their team’s season. Based on this it should come as no surprise that the WPA leaders are typically hitters.
Looking at cumulative numbers, however, probably isn’t the best way to compare hitters and pitchers. In theory, a player could increase his team’s chances of winning by three percent in all 162 games and post a WPA of 4.86 – good enough to warrant MVP consideration. However, he would have done so without ever impacting his team in any real meaningful way. For a more realistic example consider this: there have been 55 games this season in which Jose Bautista impacted the Blue Jays WPA by 1 percent or less.
So to determine an MVP shouldn’t we look at the games in which the candidates – hitters or pitchers – actually made the difference?
Let’s look at games in which players increased their team’s chances of winning by at least 20%.
The names on the list are similar, but the margin is considerably smaller. Jose Bautista, despite playing everyday, has only had one more 20%-impact game than Verlander and James Shields (who probably deserves more Cy Young consideration than he’s getting).
So is Verlander the MVP?
Well, the debate shouldn’t end here but clearly he deserves to be considered. Bautista may appear in more games, but he and Verlander truly impact the outcome at roughly the same rate. I’m not willing to weigh on who should win just yet, but after looking closer at these numbers I am comfortable putting pitchers into the MVP conversation.
Shelley Duncan enters rare club
Shelley Duncan belted two home runs off Justin Verlander on Wednesday afternoon, joining Carlos Quentin as the only players to do so this season.
But that’s not that rare club.
It was Duncan’s second multi-home run game of the season, despite the fact that he’s hit just eight homers all season.
Assuming he fails to hit another home run this year (a very realistic possibility) he’ll join Jose Hernandez, Frank Duffy and possibly Jack Hannahan as the only Indians with two multi-home run games in a season in which they hit eight or fewer total homers (since 1970).
David Huff’s remarkably improbable performace
Last season David Huff became the 14th pitcher in Indians history to make at least 15 starts with an ERA over 6.00. In fact, he entered his start on Monday with the 3rd worst ERA in franchise history (min. 200 innings).
So what he did in Minnesota – seven shutout innings – was nothing short of remarkable. And yet, it’s becoming common in Cleveland.
Prior to Huff, the two Tribe pitchers with with an ERA over 6.00 were Cliff Lee (2007) and Fausto Carmona (2009). The following year each pitcher became the Indians’ ace, with Lee winning the Cy Young.
Carmona, of course, has regressed back into his 2009 version, but the fact remains that the Indians coach staff (mostly the minor league staff I would assume) has done a remarkable job rebuilding these pitchers.
It’s hard to know who to give credit to because the staff has changed so much in recent years, but someone is clearly doing something right. Let’s hope Huff can keep up the good work.
Trade options for the Indians
If the Indians are going to win the AL Central, it’s safe to say they’ll need to upgrade the offense, most likely with an outfield bat.
What the Indians really need here is someone to replace Grady Sizemore. He may be the worst everyday player not named Yuniesky Betancourt. [Not willing to admit how bad Sizemore's been? Then consider this depressing stat: when he gets two strikes on him with runners in scoring position, he's 0-25.]
But we know the Tribe front office is too stubborn to sit Sizemore down, so realistically all we’ll get in the outfield is someone to replace Austin Kearns.
Here are some options (ordered from most to least realistic):
Laynce Nix, Nationals
Nix is a similar player to Morse and is also one of the Nationals’ expiring contracts. He can play all three outfield positions, but is really more of a corner outfielder at this point in his career. His OBP (.314) is nothing special, but he could provide some pop off the bench (12 HR, 25 XBH).
Jeff Francoeur, Royals
After an impressive start to his career, Francoeur has fallen flat in recent years. He’s only 27, but his .303 OBP over the last four seasons has limited his playing time in Atlanta, New York, Texas and now Kansas City. He plays good defense though and has some pop (12 HR) which makes him a decent candidate for the Tribe.
Mike Morse, Nationals
Since the Indians aren’t looking for an everyday player, Morse makes a lot of sense. He can play both corner outfield positions as well as first base and even could even play third base in a pinch. This season he’s batting .302 with a .351 OBP and 15 home runs. He’s a free agent at the end of the season, meaning he could be a reasonably cheap option.
Josh Willingham, A’s
Willingham would be another two-month rental who could provide some pop off the bench (12 HR this year). The downside is he’s a liability on defense and has limited experience playing anywhere but left field.
Casey Blake, Dodgers
It’s been five years since Blake played the outfield consistently, but he’s worth mentioning in the discussion. He could be had for a relatively cheap price, and would provide the Indians with depth at third and first as well as right field. He definitely isn’t he most exciting option on the market, but could be a nice veteran addition who could platoon at a few positions. Blake has a team option for next season, which likely would not be picked up.
Marlon Byrd, Cubs
Byrd is one of the more expensive options out there (he’s still owed $6.5M in 2012), but may be worth it if the Indians have any doubts about Sizemore’s ability to stay healthy (which they definitely should). Byrd can play all three outfield positions. He was somewhat of a late bloomer, but has blossomed into a consistent player. Over the past five seasons he’s batting .296 with a .350 OBP – and he’s right on target to match those numbers this season (.307/.349).
Reed Johnson, Cubs
Johnson is an ideal fourth outfielder who can play all three positions reasonably well. In limited playing time in Chicago he’s batting . 325 with a .368 OBP. He may give you the most bang for buck, as the Cubs are paying him just $900,000 this season, the last year of his contract.
Coco Crisp, A’s
Crispy wouldn’t give the Tribe the power they’d ideally like to get, but his versatility and speed make him an ideal candidate to be the fourth outfielder. He’d be a two-month rental who could be valuable in pinch-running situations down the stretch and in the playoffs.
Ryan Ludwick, Padres
The former Indian will be a hot commodity and may be too expensive for the Indians to rent for two months. He isn’t having a great season (.305 OBP) but there’s reason to believe his power will increase once he’s out of Petco Park. The Tribe could reasonably rely on him for 8-12 home runs down the stretch.
Hunter Pence, Astros
Pence is undoubtedly the best option if the Indians have questions about Sizemore or Choo’s health. He’s just 28 years-old and is still subject to arbitration through 2012. He’s a consistent 25 HR-per-year guy who would give the Indians offense a huge boost. However, they’ll need to part with Sizemore, Brantley or Choo sometime in the near future to make room for his bat.
