The Indians are missing Franmil Reyes, Roberto Perez, Shane Bieber, Zack Plesac and Jordan Luplow. The rotation consists of Aaron Civale, Eli Morgan, JC Mejia, Sam Hentges and Cal Quantrill. Mejia and Quantrill are throwing on three days rest and only give Cleveland about 4 innings per start.
The last starter to go more than six innings in a start was Civale on June 11.
They have a +2 run differential and are down to their third and forth string catcher.
And yet, the Cleveland Indians are 38-30, three and a half games out of first place in the AL Central.
How in the blue hell are they doing this?
Missing this many key pieces should tank anyone's season, yet they are within striking distance of the first in the central. Well, I may be able to help.
There are a few reasons they are doing well, some they can control and others are just plain good fortune.
Let’s start with what they can control.
The bullpen has been sensational this season. They hold a 3.43 ERA, fifth best in MLB, they have the seventh best WAR and are stranding 77.5% of runners on base.
It starts with the two fire breathing dragons in the back of the pen. James Karinchak has a 44.4 strike out percentage, good for forth amongst relief pitchers and opposing hitters are hitting 131 off him. We all know the fastball can touch 99 MPH, but the curveball has been spectacular this season for Karinchak. The curveball has made hitters look lost to the tune of 156/219 batting average and slugging percentage. The hook is causing hitters to swing and miss 40 percent of the time it is thrown. The hook dropping almost eight inches definitely helps the quest for swings and misses, but his ability to make the fastball and curveball look the same for as long as possibly (tunneling) is the key to his success.
How are you suppose to tell the difference in those? You have a better chance telling the difference between late Genesis and Phil Collins solo career.
The Drogon to Karinchak’s Rhaegal is Emmanuel Clase. If you are still mad about the Kluber trade, just watch this on a loop.
Sorry for all the math and nerd references. If the last four paragraphs confused you, Karinchak and Clase are this
The only difference between Cleveland and the Tea Totallers (yes, that is the real name of the baseball team Bugs plays for in that episode) is the relievers do not have to catch their own pitches, yet.
Our old buddy Bryan Shaw has been terrific and used frequently out of the pen has been invaluable. He is one of the best at generating soft contact in baseball and has done that often this season. Nick Wittgren had a rough month of April, but has been really good in the last two months when the Indians have needed him most.
The bullpen is your best friend when your starters are injured and not going deep in games.
The other reason this team is eight games over .500 is simply the excellence of Jose Ramirez.
We do not talk about how damn good Jose Ramirez is enough.
He has been an MVP candidate four of the last five years and is on pace to be right there again. He is hitting 270/354/539 with 16 HR. My favorite part of Ramirez is his ability to do the little things, such as run the bases. He is one of the best in baseball at going first to third and first to home. I know we have all seen this play ten times, but an eleventh would not hurt anyone
He is so much fun. I mean, who does not love this dude?
But we knew Ramirez would be excellent, we have come to expect excellence from him. The real questions in the beginning of the season were everyone else on this roster and some of those questions may have been answered.
No one denied Amed Rosario was talented when he came over from the Mets, the question everyone had was if he could slow down the amount he swung and missed. Last season, he struck out 23 percent of his plate appearances and walked 2.7 percent of the time. I could write a joke here, but the joke would be more productive than Rosario’s plate appearances last season. This season he has lowered his strike out percentage to 19 percent and his walk rate is up to 6.8 percent. So he’s got that going for him, which is nice!
Rosario has been a good hitter this season, hitting 283/338/397 so far. I wish he would stop hitting the ball square into the ground, but beggars cannot be choosers with this offense.
The other saving grace of the last 12 games has been Bobby Bradley. Bradley already has four home runs and seems to have slowed down the strike outs a bit. He is hitting 300/364/650 in 44 plate appearances, which is a super small sample size, but the four home runs have already doubled the production of He-Who-Shall-Not-Be-Named. I am over the moon Bradley is finally in the big leagues, but quite angered it took this long.
Harold Ramirez has been a nice addition as well in the outfield. He swings freely, puts the ball in play and occasionally hits it hard. All these things are exactly what this team needs more of.
The ugly secret of this season is the schedule has been pretty soft especially after the Bieber injury. In the last two weeks the Indians has take on the Cardinals, Mariners, Orioles and Pirates, four teams that are not exactly lighting the world on fire. You have no control over who you play when, but the softness of the schedule cannot be ignored.
I won’t lie, if you told me in the beginning of the year four of the five starters who began the season with the club would be hurt or south in Columbus, I would have told you this team would be looking to have a full blown Tobias Funke fire sale
But here we are, sitting eight games over 500 and seem to be doing a little more than treading water. I don’t know if it will hold up, because getting 4 innings a start is not great for the long term health of the bullpen, but right now, life is good,
Three Quick Thoughts
1. I would like apologize to Ty Lue. I long believed he was more of a figure head for the Cavs than an actual coach, then I watched what he did with the Clippers sans Kawhi Leonard, and I was way wrong. Ty knows hoops and the longer a series goes, the more you have to like the Clippers because of Ty’s ability to stop an opposing offense.
2. We do not talk enough about how amazing Simone Biles is at gymnastics.
3. The US Open is one of the finest Father’s Day traditions we have. Many of well earned naps by many of fathers have been enjoyed with the sound of birds and pleasant clapping in the background. Many of kids have attempted to switch the channel to something else on Father’s Day to be greeted with the half awake “hey, I was watchin’ that” from their father.