Anyone see an offense?
Posted April 19th, 2008 by Ron
The Tribe continues to scuffle with their bats. A 3-0 loss to another rookie Saturday.
Some folks, think that the Travis Hafner contract is out of whack (Me included) and his lack of production is killer. Others point to Casey Blake's poor production in the clutch.
Those are valid points, but the real problem is the amount of strikeouts.
There is no base-runner movement on a strikeout; it is not a productive out. And with little speed on this team, it is not built to manufacture runs.
I will always point to the White Sox in this case. The year they won the World Series, many folks hammered them for trading Carlos Lee for Scott Podsednik. Yes, they traded away a power bat for not much of a pedigree in Podsednik. But the leadoff hitting outfielder got on base and made things happen. In the end, GM Kenny Williams had won a World Series.
By the way, since they have let Podsednik go, they haven't won.
Now Grady Sizemore gets on base a lot, but it is different. He strikes out too much, too.
In fact, the Tribe would be better with him lower in the lineup, if and this is a big IF, they find a leadoff guy who can get on base.
With the way this team is set up, it will need to be a second baseman or corner outfielder in that role. Maybe Asdrubal Cabrera can pull it off, otherwise I don't see one on this version of the Tribe.
April 20th, 2008 at 8:26 pm
FACT: Shapiro is about 1-year too slow in his reactions. Last year's prolonged "slump" was not a normal abberation, but a continuing trend. It was less noticable, perhaps, because the pitchers kept us in 2-1 and 1-0 games. But this offense cried out for hitting help in the off-season. Now it's too late. No one will be parting with a slugger or "pro hitter" at this stage. It's utterly amazing how Shapiro and Wedge have overvalued a team of nice, underachieving, mediocre MLB players.
April 21st, 2008 at 12:03 pm
If a guy is mediocre, I don't think he can be considered to be underachieving. You're only underachieving if you're not average.
I've said it multiple times, but it needs to be said again. Hafner's new wife has to let Hafner go back on the steroids. Stop being whipped, Pronk. Who should you listen to, your wife or the fans? Sure, the wife will turn you down for sex if you tell her to go to hell and start jabbing your butt again, but there's plenty of baseball groupies to go around. We need your stroke.
April 21st, 2008 at 12:38 pm
As some guy pointed out in Sheldon's comments section, Texas traded two minor league pitchers to Cincy in the off season for Josh Hamilton, an impact outfielder with more hits, doubles, HR, RBI and total bases than ANY player on Cleveland's roster. His .545 slugging pct. would also be #1. And he only made $360,000 last year in finishing second in the NL rookie of the year balloting.
The kid's problems are long gone, but the talent is just blossoming. THIS is the kind of hitter our lineup needed, but Shapiro prefers to let his talented arms rot in Buffalo rather than make a sensible trade for a 5-tool player like Hamilton.
Unreal.