Before leaving for his team’s new spring training site in Goodyear, Ariz., Indians general manager Mark Shapiro met with the local media Friday at Progressive Field to share his thoughts on a variety of topics. Here are some of the highlights:
Q) How has the nation’s struggling economy affected the team?
A) Shapiro – The challenges are not just ours. The issues are not just or national, but international in scope. A lot of times in sports we operate in a vacuum and are somewhat limited in how we’re impacted. But in this case, no one’s free from being impacted…We feel like we’ve planned pretty well and are in a pretty good position right now. But if things are in the same position a year from now, it will be a very different story…We’ve looked at taking smaller measures across the board operationally on an expense level at every facet of our operation. You won’t see any of those things I would hope, I hope our fans won’t see any of things, but we’ve looked at controlling our costs any way we can…The backdrop of the financial climate will impact every one of our decisions.
Q) What have you heard about designated hitter Travis Hafner as he rehabs an off-season shoulder surgery?
A) Shapiro - He looks great, his head’s in a good place and he’s finishing up his rehabilitation stages. In the next month he’ll move from rehabilitation to game preparation…As long as things go as expected, at some point over the next month he’ll transition over to just baseball…It’s our hope that somewhere at the beginning of the spring schedule he’ll be able to play.
Q) Is there anything with catcher Victor Martinez’s physical condition that needs to be addressed after surgery on his elbow last season?
A) Shapiro – No. He looks really good. He’s 100 percent.
Q) What is your feeling on your starting pitching compared to year ago?
A) Shapiro – I guess I felt better about it a year ago because of Jake (Westbrook) and (Fausto) Carmona and the seasons they were coming off of…My hope is that depth plays a role in our pitching as it unfolds this year. There are some things that will happen that are unexpected, with last year as a case in point. But if you had to point to one aspect of the club that I’m least comfortable with, our rotation would certainly be that area.
Q) Is Carmona a really important guy for you ?
A) Shapiro – Carmona is as important as any one player can be. I don’t look at one player being pivotal to our season. But his maintaining his health and moving closer to where he was two years ago is extremely important for our team…Over the winter his arm strength was good and he was more consistent in maintaining his delivery. There was some good strides for him this winter, but he still needs to get more consistent in his delivery.
Q) In years past, you’ve often had to rely on a young and somewhat inexperienced pitcher to fill the last spot in the rotation. But with more depth there heading into this season, do you have a preference as to who claim’s the fifth spot in the rotation – whether it be guys you know better such as Aaron Laffey and/or Jeremy Sowers or a newcomer like David Huff?
A) Shapiro – My preference is the best pitchers and the best players. Spring training will play some role in that, as will history and prior performance and track record. But we’ll take the guy who, based on those evaluations, gives us the best chance to win.
Q) What clicked for Huff last year?
A) Shapiro - He’s been dominant whenever he’s been healthy, I think from Day One in the New York Penn League. He just wasn’t healthy the year before. His strikeouts have gone up and his velocity may have ticked up a little bit, but there’s been no dramatic change in anything. He’s progressed at a rapid and good pace to put himself on the threshold of being a contributor at the major league level.
Q) Are you going to have a hard time getting innings for all these young guys competing for a pitching spot?
A) Shapiro - There will be a point in time where you have narrow down the starters pretty quickly and get that group down to about eight guys. Or get guys like Fausto Carmona, Cliff Lee and Carl Pavano out to minor league environments soon because we’re going to have some logistical issues fairly quickly.
Q) Does pitcher Jeremy Sowers have options remaining?
A) Shapiro - Yes. Anthony Reyes is the only guy of the starters in that group that doesn’t have options.
Q) What is the deal with Sowers’ inconsistency?
A) Shapiro - Not being evasive, but he’s a very difficult guy to describe what has happened. His fastball velocity and arm speed is as good as it’s ever been. His arm action is a little bit different right now. His game is simply controlling, commanding his fastball and his ability to utilize his intelligence in attacking hitters. His inability last year to control his fastball didn’t allow him to use his intelligence to attack hitters. What’s wrong is not complex or hard to describe. But fixing it has been a challenge for him and for us.
Q) Is it a fair comparison to signing pitcher Carl Pavano to when you signed Kevin Millwood a few years ago?
A) Shapiro – No. Not even close. No, (a better comparison) would have been like signing Brad Penny.
Q) What are your thoughts on the American League Central Division this year?
A) Shapiro – It’s a winnable division, and I like our chances in the division. But it’s a winnable division for all five teams. When I look at it, I don’t see a bad team in it.
{ 9 comments… read them below or add one }
What’s the Penny comparison supposed to mean?
Personally I think it was closer to signing John Montefusco, if the Count is still alive.
I’m perfectly content with our pitching. In fact (knock on wood), we appear to have too much good talent, so that some bodies will be forced to the minors.
I’m still worried about the offense, though. We’ve all seen it, time after time, where this team just cannot score. Sure hope I’m wrong.
I see a steep decline in the starting pitching from a year ago. Shapiro says he was more confident last year because of Westbrook and Carmona–still with the Tribe–while ignoring the loss of Sabathia. It’s ludicrous.
In essence the team has replaced Sabathia and Byrd with longshots Pavano and Reyes.
The best case scenario would have Lee coming close to his 2008 level and Carmona recapturing his ’07 magic. Maybe it’s just me but those two possibilities seem unlikely.
The Pavano-Penny comparison is absurd. With much appreciation for Larry’s posts I would add that at least the near 60 year old Montefusco would give you 100%. The common feeling in NY was that Pavano took the 40 million then absolutely laid down for four years. If one buys the idea that playing there was simply too much for him mentally, well then maybe he rebounds and gives the Indians a good season. But that would indeed seem like a long shot.
And speaking of long shots….said it before I’ll say it again…these young soft tossing lefties remind me more of Scott Bailes than Scott Kazmir. Reyes has the talent but remains a long shot in terms of health.
On the plus side….the pen should be better and if he can stay healthy Wood will be the best closer we’ve seen here in years. Also, looking at the rest of the division, at least on paper going in there doesn’t appear to be a dominant staff.
BTL
I agree that starting pitching is still a huge concern, but there’s not a lot we can do about it at this point, other than hope some of the young arms pan out.
What has me worried is the state of the offense if Hafner can’t regain his form. As Adam Dunn still sits on free agency I would love to see the pricetag on him come down far enough to where we could get him in here on a 1 or 2 year deal. He strikes out a lot, but he has a great OPS and would be a logical replacement at DH for Hafner, or could play first if Hafner pans out (see ya Garko). Then there would be plenty of playing time for the 1B/DH/C combos with something like… Hafner – 130 games, Dunn 130 games, Martinez – 120 games, Shoppach 100 games.
Of course I hear that we’re done spending, but maybe Shapiro finds a suitcase of cash in his office in Arizona or something.
Please, NO Adam Dunn. With Grady fanning 150 times a year consistently, and half of the rest of the lineup whiffers or singles hitters, we sure don’t need another “sure out” in the lineup four times every game. The days of Dave Kingman-types are long gone.
So, Maybe Gorman Thomas is out there somewhere?
You see a sure out, I see a guy with a .380 OBP. I don’t mind the strikeouts if they’re balanced out with walks. A .380 OBP is very good. Combine that with his slugging percentage and you’re talking about a guy with a very good OPS+.
You can make a couple of valid arguments why bringing Dunn aboard would be bad, I’m not buying his bat as one of them however.
I’m with dwhit for the most part, but see the other side of it too. A guy who fans a lot does have more potential to take the air out of a team’s sails, but if that’s balanced by a juice free .900 ops, I’ll take it. Folks do tend to over react to high K guys. First thing is, everybody strikes out more nowadays, not just the big boys like Dunn or Ryan Howard. And the big stat is runs….guys who walk a lot and hit the ball out of the park generate a lot of runs.
Russell Branyan would be a welcome addition to this 2009 Tribe roster.