Here we are again, 2009, a year removed from the first time I handed out feathers.
I like to take this post as an opportunity to wrap the Cleveland Indians season in a bow. This is where we say goodbye to 2009 and move forward. Last year, there was some optimism if you go back and read what happened. I awarded a lot of five feathers and even called the season a good one.
This year... Not so much...
I also like to take this time out to thank the readers. Last year, I believed there wasn't much of an audience. This year, I'd say the readership has grown and I thank you all. Hopefully, this will continue with this impending move by gaining a wider audience so more people can enjoy my ridiculousness. Again. Thanks out there to everyone for everything and hopefully, we'll be able to have more of a jovial season in 2010, instead of this mess.
The Offseason officially begins now for this site. We move into offseason mode and you can bet the search for a manager will take attention like the search for new additions did last year. If you forget how it went down, go look in the archives for 2008. It's going to be a blast.
These are the End of the Year Feathers. I give out ratings for each player/person on this team and this is the scale, sort of like Five Stars, ya know? Five Feathers is the best of the best that the Tribe had. One is not the worst, but the players who didn't get the job done this year. Okay, it might be the worst. Three is average, two is below average and four is exceptional. At the end I'll give out two special feathers, gold and silver. A gold feather is to our Team MVP. A silver feather is the unsung hero of the team.
With that, let's end 2009's season right and get on with it. I've set the standard that traded/released players are not eligible for this, so Victor, Cliff, Ryan, everyone else.. Not included... Last year, I included statistics and team leads and all that fun stuff. This year, I have no time and we're ridiculous off schedule. So here they are, plain as they can be, the End of the Year Feathers for 2009.
Shin-Soo Choo
One of the few bright spots of this team's horrid season was the progression of Shin-Soo Choo into a bonafied Major League corner outfielder.
For years this has been a weakness of the Tribe. They had no corner outfielder that had some pop.
Choo has some pop and it will only get better. He became the first Asian-born player to reach the 20-20 mark in MLB history, showing he brings a little bit of everything to the table.
He also made strides defensively and has no doubt built up the reputation of having an arm in the outfield. He still has some work to do on his routes to the ball, but he's progressed.
Offensively he was a guy that showed the potential to get hot and carry a team. But when he is in his ruts, you don't really notice because he's still finding ways to get on base.
Yes he led the team in strikeouts, but he also led them in walks and carried a .394 OBP, which was eighth in the entire AL. That is the sign of a good hitter, someone who hits in the middle of the order.
Someone you can rely on to still be productive in some way, even if he struggles to hit.
And when he was hot, boy was Choo hot.
I can't even begin to imagine how much better he can get with a full-year now under his belt. It also looks like the Indians and Choo are simply going to ignore this Korean military requirement and Choo will cross that bridge, if he ever has to.
Choo is one of the few Indians that deserves all five feathers this year. Congrats Chooster.
Asdrubal Cabrera
Where would we be without Shin-Soo Choo and Asdrubal Cabrera?
Just a poor year for five-feathers, but Cabrera is one of two that receives them.
The team leader in average, Cabrera made HUGE strides. Wedge had the opinion, as did I, if he just carries a decent stick at the bottom of the lineup and steals a bunch of runs with his defense, I'll stick him in the lineup 160 times a year.
But if he's going to hit .308 at the top of the lineup... No complaints.
Quite honestly, that's the stuff of All-Stars.
42 doubles led the team, 52 extra-base hits in total. This is all with an injury thrown in in the midst of one of his hot-streaks too.
Cabrera had to go down to Triple-A last year for a bit of a lesson. It just is something necessary with some young players and Cabrera is better for it.
I'm so pleased with the progress he's made and now that he's entrenched at short, he's gold-glove bound year after year.
If Cabrera can be a bonafied two hitter for this team for years to come, hit .300 year in and year out and play good defense. I will take that.
Jamey Carroll
Does anyone really have an issue with the job Jamey Carroll did?
I mean for the second straight year, he just went out there and played and played well at all times. He's just a rock solid contributor.
Unfortunately, Carroll was brought in here because he was a championship caliber utility man, however he came at a championship caliber utility man price, which means he's far too expensive for the Indians.
Its nice not having to worry about someone coming off the bench and being able to play defense and at least hit a lick. That's the luxury of Jamey Carroll.
He's as good as always. Last year he was the unsung hero of the team. This year he was yet again a solid contributor. Unfortunately, next year he'll be helping out someone else.
It's been great though Jamey... A solid 2009 makes you a two-time four-feather recipient.
Travis Hafner
I would expect nothing more than a little bit of strange looks and groans for this one.
But can anyone honestly say they are disappointed with Hafner's 2009?
For one, people need to get over the fact that he's isn't Hafner of old. Once that is done, you can fully in-take his 2009 and say, damn, at least he contributed.
For missing some time, 16 jacks and 49 ribbies is something good. But his mere presence and the .355 OBP is all a part of the effort.
I know the next argument though.
But for all that money, he needs to do more!
I know I know. I get it.
This season though... There is slim pickings as far as good things and just a little production from Hafner is something to feel good about.
Tony Sipp
It is down right shocking to have put a relief pitcher in this space.
But I can't argue with the numbers Tony Sipp put up as a ROOKIE!
With all the options, it was unexpected that someone would even need to come up and step into the role Sipp did, especially with another supposed dominate lefty on the team.
But he did and he did well.
A 2.93 ERA in 40 innings is nothing to sneeze at. His best growth was getting time as one of the prime set-up men for this team. With guys like Perez and Betancourt sucking or gone, Sipp was needed to take on more of a late-inning role.
He struggled but he also has success.. If anything that experience will go a long way for the future. It's alright to feel good about Tony Sipp's 2009 becuase it was extremely valuable for the future.
Grady Sizemore
It's almost unfair to classify Grady Sizemore as a three-feather player with those injuries he was playing with.
But it has to be done as he still played and was still sub-par.
I maintain that this team goes better if Sizemore is in the lineup. They do even better if he's healthy and doing his normal things. They do their best and are unstoppable if he's hot. He can carry this team, but when he isn't, he's doing things that help the other players.
He is a catalyst for this offense and it was ever so apparent this year when he was not at his best and this offense was highly inconsistent.
For those of you that wanted to move Grady Sizemore from the leadoff spot. That is a glimpse of what you would have gotten had that been a full-time thing.
Now that this team has a guy that can leadoff and do those sorts of things Sizemore did atop the lineup, we can safely start to think about moving Grady down to the three spot.
Jensen Lewis
I still hold a spot for Jensen Lewis in my bullpen.
And I tell you why.
For one... New Manager, New Life...
Lewis was painfully mistreated by Eric Wedge, something that was probably the biggest flaw Wedge had that I despised.
J-Lew was inconsistently used after he had a few bad outings and a few bad strokes of luck. Mashed together, it downright awful for him and Rafael Perez to start the season.
However, where as Perez plain out sucked, Lewis still showed what makes him a good relief pitcher.
In the end, Jensen pitched in 66 innings and carried a 4.61 ERA. Not incredible, but after the way he started things out, very surprising. He also still showed he can strike people out and even give you some length if you are dead in the pen.
Something I wouldn't do and again, something Wedge insisted upon doing that I hated.
While I'm not absolving Jensen of all his 2009 struggles, I do expect better results in 2010, not just because of Lewis taking upon himself of doing better, but because the new guy won't be, hopefully, using Lewis in a role that just doesn't suit him.
Matt LaPorta
Well it was an up and down year for Matt LaPorta...
He gets three feathers because of what I saw when he got regular playing time, I liked.
But I can't go much beyond that in the small sample size we saw him.
He got mistreated early when he was brought up and the Indians said they'd make a strong effort to play him at least four times a game. But Eric Wedge let the desire to get out of a bad hole over come that idea and he went upon guys he trusted more.
LaPorta got his shot later in the year and at times, he was a dominant hitter.
He shows the potential to be a middle of the order bat and next year I think he'll be the starting first basemen with a prominent spot in the lineup to drive in runs behind Hafner, Choo, and maybe Peralta.
It was encouraging to see the centerpiece of the CC Sabathia deal come up and at least show something immediately, unlike what happened with Marte when he came up and immediately showed absolutely nothing.
Perhaps that drug on and started some bad karma. LaPorta's bright flashes give us some hope and maybe some reinforcement that we've got a good one in return and we might just be all right, so there is nothing to totally freak out about.
Trevor Crowe
For what Trevor Crowe is, he's good.
Look he's nothing more than a fourth outfielder at this point. He can hit a little, but his game is based off speed and defense. That's a fourth outfielder and I think that's how he'll get used.
Let's not take his numbers or talent and think anything else of him. Let's take it at face value and go from there.
He had a good debut in 2009 and he's much more valuable than David Dellucci. He isn't flashy or spectacular, but you can do far worse than Crowe as a fourth outfielder.
Luis Valbuena
A lot of these feathers are based off the fact that expectations and all that are very low for some of these guys.
Baby Louie is one guy, another rookie, who I'm just pleased produced something.
It was a rough going for Valbuena at one point. But Wedge decided that he was going to actually give him a chance. Instead of a quick yank like he did in the past, he liked what he saw in the gritty Louie and kept him in the lineup to work through his issues.
Valbuena did.
He didn't have a great full-season, but he showed great flashes of brilliance, especially with his glove.
He and Cabrera seem to take well to being a double-play combo. He has a good glove, that is for sure.
And he can hit the double. He was a top rookie in the AL in extra-base hits. At one point all he was hitting was doubles.
When all was said and done, Valbuena was fifth on the team in at-bats. He got a lot of time and for a rookie, a .250 average ain't half bad, especially since it was very poor for awhile.
After the all-star break, Valbuena hit .272 with six homers and 20 RBI.
If he can do that over a season. As a second baseman, play good defense, hit .270ish at the bottom of the lineup, hit 10 homers, a bunch of extra-bases, score 60-some runs.
Yeah I'll take that.
Andy Marte
I'm just glad I had the opportunity to scream.
MARTY COME AND PARTY!
And do it one more than one occasion.
You can groan all you want about Marte, but he showed strides he didn't in the past. He ripped it up in Triple-A (In which he got a Columbus Feather for) and then got his shot at the majors.
In the end, he hit six homers and knocked in 25 runs. The .232 average sucks, but he, like LaPorta, had a streak at one point in which he was un-touchable. He and LaPorta carried the offense for a few weeks at one point and Marte showed some of that flash that once made him a grand prospect.
Is he anything though?
I don't think he's much more than a bench player, if he can learn how to come off the bench and hit. But that's the issue. Marte needs consistent playing time to hit consistently. Especially since it seems like he's convinced himself of this mentality.
He's fixed some issues with his swing, that's a positive. What the future holds for him on the club is unknown to all. Only one can imagine what Mark Shapiro is thinking. But for 2009, and all the strides he made, and all the games against the Orioles he won, I give him three feathers. Marty, Thanks for the Party!
Justin Masterson
When Justin Masterson made his debut as a relief pitcher, I was salivating.
Eventually, J-Mast made his transition to the rotation, where the Indians would love him to be next year and beyond.
It was rough, but there was also bright spots.
We know he CAN do it. It's just a matter if he can do it consistently enough to be a starter.
He's resembled Jeremy Sowers in an instance he struggles after the first few times through the lineup. He's Jeremy Sowers with a fiercer attitude and better stuff.
Masterson ended up 1-7 with a 4.55 ERA for the Tribe in 11 games, 10 starts.
I really love the bald mastard. He's got a great personality and he fits in well with Cleveland. I think with a full-year in the big leagues under his belt as he did last year, the adjustment period of a new team over, and a full-spring as a STARTER under his belt like he will have next season... It can only be beneficial to him.
His last game of the year was a sight to see as he struck out 12 in a complete game. We know he has it in him and that's part of the reason he got three feathers.
Joe Smith
It is hard to take anything that Smith did this year and judge it, either way.
For one, he dealt with injuries at several points this year. He got behind from the start by getting sick during spring training. It just was never a full-year for Joe Smith in his first year with the Tribe.
However he showed some good things at times and in the end, he had points in which, like Sipp, Eric Wedge had to lean on him late in the game.
What he did for New York is something to continue to keep in the back of your mind.
Because of the injuries, it just becomes hard to fairly judge Smith's year, so I'm going to stick him at average, three feathers, and chalk this one up to a bit of a lost-season. The good news is he's now acclimated to the team and he can go into next year, hopefully healthy.
He's going to be a big part of this bullpen next season if that is the case.
Chris Perez
After his first game with the Tribe... We all thought, oh god.
My thought was... Great, we ruined a great young arm by bringing him into the place where relief pitchers go to die.
But Benz turned it around.
His long flowing hair grew and so did his confidence with his new club.
In August, he was lights out, going 10-for-10 in his games, not giving up a single run in all 10 appearances. He picked up a streak that was the best for an Indians relief pitcher since Rafael Betancourt's a few years ago.
He showed flashes of why he was regarded as a future closer for St. Louis.
Oh and his July was very good as well.
That two month stretch was fantastic for Chris Perez. He had some issues September, but I've seen enough to feel confident about him in 2010. So far, there are three arms in that pen you feel a little good about, and Perez is one of them.
Now it's just a matter of them producing.
David Huff
David Huff ended up leading the team in wins when all was said and done.
His ERA didn't reflect that of an 11-game winner. But towards the end of the year, you could start to see Huff putting it all together.
I think he'll have a rotation spot in 2010 and from there he only gets better. He has nothing left to prove in the minors and had nothing at the point of his call-up. He's gotta sink or swim and given his maturity, I think he's going to take it in the offseason and come back with everything, from last year's end, the offseason, the confidence he'll gain knowing he's got a spot, and put together a good year.
Huff gets a three feathers from me. He more than anyone showed flashes that make you upbeat about the rotation not being as grim as it looks. The numbers will get better, hopefully, but if he wins four more games next year, I think we'll take that.
Aaron Laffey
I think Aaron Laffey deserves more, but this team doesn't. Laffey had many positives in this season. However he still needs to take that next step.
It looked like he was doing so, until the Indians moved him to the pen out of desperation. He took to it, quickly, however he got hurt. He came back, had his moments as a starter, but then also threw in his clunkers.
If Laffey is ever going to be more than a bottom of the rotation starter, or another Jeremy Sowers, he'll need to take that next step in 2010. He's likely to have a rotation spot, and he needs to do something with it!
I applaud the selflessness he had when moving to the pen and doing a good job out of it. Aaron can be a bit of a bulldog, so to see him take it in stride was awesome. And again he had his moments back when he was a starter.
I give him three feathers for falling somewhere in between, but extra bonus points for adjusting, the injury and being a good teammate.
Jhonny Peralta
Jhonny... Jhonny... Jhonny.
The man who follows the "H Before O Except after J" principle when spelling his name.
Wrong.
Just as wrong as he was in putting up a fight about third base.
Perhaps the Indians should have made it sooner. To make the transition a little more rocky. However the way Peralta handled it, was unacceptable in my eyes.
Add in his poor performance at the plate to start the season for the second straight year.
I had faith in him after what he did in 2008 in the middle of the order. He was the guy and he was doing fan-freaking-tastic. Then 2009 comes and he's the Jhonny of old. He picked up in the second half, but that type of consistency doesn't work on a winning team.
I applaud the transition he made to third, he's really taken well to it, even if he doesn't want to do it. That is something I cannot bash him for because he's actually done a good job after the initial move.
Really his offensive numbers as a whole, don't look awful. But the hole he put himself in made it what they were. For that, I cannot in faith give him higher than two feathers, despite the effort he put in defensively at third. It came, but it came with a fight.
Kelly Shoppach
I would like to painfully point out the fact that I called this coming a mile away.
I said, I'd love to trade Kelly Shoppach while his value is high and move on because he's destined for a drop-back.
He did...
His swing wasn't made to do that type of stuff year around. His plate discipline is just down-right horrid and now his defense is starting to fall off. What was once the hallmark of his game has dropped off considerably and its concerning.
The beauty of this all is that the Indians are probably going to move on and they've been given a second chance to do so.
Shoppach will earn too much as an arbitration eligible player. They could non-tender his ass and offer arbitration and let him walk as a free-agent and get B-Player compensation in return.
That's an option.
Or they could just trade him for whatever they think they can get for him, but it won't be as much as last year.
Either way, Shoppach was not very good this year. He did knock in 40 runs and hit over 10 homers and for a semi-back up catcher, that was okay. But he is what he is and he isn't someone we can afford for the production he's going to give.
Tomo Ohka
But maw... Do I have to?
Seriously this is one of those guys I didn't think I'd be giving a single feather to, but look where we are.
I gave Ohka two feathers because he was actually very helpful. Instead of sending some guys out there to get crushed, we sent out the wasted arm of Tomo Ohka to get crushed.
And he managed to throw out a few good games or appearances. Thanks for being a punching bag Tomo, you weren't as horrible as I thought you'd be.. However the fact you even made the roster makes me very angry inside.
Mark Shapiro: Traded Cliff Lee and Ben Francisco for Carlos Carrasco, Lou Marson, Jason Knapp, and Jason Donald; Traded Victor Martinez for Justin Masterson, Nick Hagadone, and Bryan Price; Traded Ryan Garko for Scott Barnes; Traded Rafael Betancourt for Connor Graham; Traded for Mark DeRosa in exchange for three pitching prospects, then traded DeRosa for Chris Perez and Jess Todd; Signed Kerry Wood to two year deal; Signed Carl Pavano to one year deal and traded for Yohan Pino; Traded Franklin Gutierrez for Joe Smith and Luis Valbuena.
Oh this is always fun...
Mark Shapiro, for my money, is probably the guy irrational Cleveland fan is upset with the most.
He's also the guy just about every rational Cleveland fan is upset with the most as well.
I'm not so upset.
Some of Shapiro's bad moves in the past few years: David Dellucci, Jason Johnson, Masa Kobayashi, Roberto Hernandez.
Really, there are a few more but it's not like he whiffed and was the guy that oversaw the drafting of Luke Hochevar... Or the nimrod that signed Barry Zito to a 100 million dollar deal.
Compared to some of the moves GMs have made that could be considered "bad," Shapiro's made some minor boo-boos.
However the problem with that is minor boo-boos in Cleveland, if made within a short span of each other, can add up and cause one big injury.
This is about 2008's offseason and the 2009 season though. Last winter was the the most active period the Indians have had in a long long time. They made a trade for a veteran to start at third and gave up prospects to do so. They signed a high-priced closer to fill a major void. Hell they even got involved in a three-way blockbuster that many thought Shapiro did well in.
To most, Franklin Gutierrez was just a fourth outfielder and the Indians received a major league reliever and a second base prospect from an organization we've robbed blindly before.
To me, Franklin Gutierrez was more, but again, different time for that, I'm past it.
When it comes down to it. Shapiro isn't the best signing free agents to deals that involve money.
This man has a knack for signing Carl Pavanos though. He's jumped on guys like Bobby Howry, Pavano, Millwood, and gotten what he's needed to get.
The moral of the story here... Let Shapiro sign whatever low-risk high-reward pitcher he wants. Let him organize the trades of superstars. Keep him away from free agents in which he has to shell out money for.
Last year it was easy to give Shapiro high marks for capitalizing on the impending free agency's of CC Sabathia and Casey Blake, regardless of the return (even though at the time, that return brought highly regarded prospects, such at this year's did).
To give him a grade would be impossible due to the fact we have no clue how half of these trades he made are going to turn out. So Lee, Martinez, everyone else aside... His Free Agent Deals and everything else taken into account. Shapiro gets two feathers. Not horrible, but not average.
Last year he was getting rid of something that he wasn't getting back. This year it isn't a slam dunk case.
Kerry Wood
A lot of slack was cut all year by me towards Kerry Wood.
However the end results are not desirable.
Kerry Wood was brought in to close games and in the end of the things, he didn't close as many as he should have.
The bullpen leading up to him was shaky, as was the starting pitching. That led to sporadic appearances and rust. Kerry Wood doesn't deserve a complete failing grade for his first year in Cleveland because a lot of it was out of his control.
But he gets an A for effort. He took to the leadership role early, which is great and with a year under his belt and one of the few veterans left, he'll need to do so even more in 2010.
But 2009 was forgettable. Hopefully he gets enough opportunities to justify the 10 million dollars the Indians are paying him per year, because I think we all know Wood is capable of much more.
No.. I know he's capable of much more.
Jose Veras
I don't even feel like talking about Jose Veras. He met the requirements though.
No really, this is stupid. If this guy is on the roster next year.... I don't care what he showed at the end of 2009. It's just.. BLEHK!
It's Jose Veras. He's a journeyman.. That's all
Jeremy Sowers
Jeremy Sowers is a relief pitcher.
At least in this stage of his career, he's a long reliever.
He cannot, I repeat, he cannot, I repeat... Wait no that's one too many. He cannot go through the lineup more than two times on most nights.
He's fan-freaking-tastic the first few innings, but he sucks at making adjustments.
It just sucks that Eric Wedge and company, Shapiro included, don't take to this and just move him to the bullpen.
Sowers is a far cry from the guy he was as a rookie. The jig is up and hitters know what he's about. He either needs to learn how to make adjustments (he went to Vanderbilt, how does he not know how?) or get moved to the pen or else he should no longer be on this roster.
Eric Wedge: 65-97 Record; Fired
Well this will probably be the last formal farewell to Eric Wedge.
He gets two feathers because we all know that this wasn't totally his fault. I think that's something I've tried to establish for awhile now.
However he deserves to have his hand slapped in this situation.
This year and this year only..
I think Wedge did what he could do with the injuries that happened. You have to remember at one point, a good portion of the team was on the disabled list. Reyes, Westbrook, Scott Lewis, Laffey, Betancourt all were hurt, Jensen Lewis, Rafael Perez, and Fausto Carmona all sucked. So he was left with... Cliff Lee, Kerry Wood, and a bunch of Vinnie Chulks and Greg Aquinos.
No one can win with that.
Injuries are a part of the game, great teams overcome them, but sometimes you don't have enough to overcome. The Indians did not.
Wedge's glaring weaknesses as a manager appeared this year in a way.
His bullpen management was spotty. Again, he didn't have a lot to work with, but I think he severely misused Jensen Lewis, trying to stretch him out into a longer relief pitcher just for the sake of getting innings.
I will say I love the fact he finally put some pressure on the young guys, like Tony Sipp, however it was as if he had no choice. I would have liked to see him push younger guys earlier.
The Matt LaPorta situation... That was a bad thing for him.
The "versatility" thing. And this isn't just Wedge, but Shapiro. Look I love having a ton of players that can play different positions, but that doesn't mean you play Mark DeRosa at third one day, second the next, right field the third unless you have to.
Playing them in different positions just to do it is stupid.
As much as I hate to say I was wrong, I think I was. In hindsight, we probably should have just had Peralta at third, DeRosa at second and Cabrera at third from the get-go. I said we could always just change midseason, but really, Wedge just did too much mixing and matching and by that time, it was just a disaster.
The lineup thing as well. I know when things aren't going good, you have to switch it up, but he did it too much. One of the things the Rockies said when Jim Tracy took over for Clint Hurdle was that they were relaxed knowing who was in the lineup in what spot and at what position on a daily basis. Not too much shifting.
The Indians did way too much shifting when they had no reason to. Injuries again played a part, but there was no need to do some of the stuff Datz and Wedge did. I throw Datz into this mix because he should be saying stuff like, hey you dumbass, let's settle this down a bit.
Anyway, those are my beefs with Eric Wedge as a manager, and particularly this year.
He does a lot of good things though. One of his positives is the fact that he can learn from past experiences, provided he is willing to. I've seen him do it in cases before and if he can do it here, maybe he'll get another managerial shot down the road and maybe he'll turn out better.
Carl Willis
With the firing of Eric Wedge, the dismissal of every one of his coaches looks very likely. Which means Carl Willis will not return.
You can't fault him for ALL the pitching woes, just as you can't praise him for ALL the success he had with CC Sabathia and Cliff Lee winning back to back Cy Young awards.
However you need to give him credit for having a hand in that, just as you need to hand him a little blame for what happened to the pitching.
Carl is a good pitching coach. He isn't a miracle worker as he was beginning to look like after CC, Carmona, Lee, and what we hoped would be Anthony Reyes. Or at least I hoped.
But he got the job done in some cases.
The development of the young pitchers like Jeremy Sowers is something you have to wonder about. How someone like Sowers could benefit so much from having a guy like Sal Fasano on the team, yet just steadily decline since he entered the majors under Willis' watch.
But again, you take the good with the bad.
Willis wasn't perfect and this season specifically he had A LOT to deal with. Constant bullpen changes, rookies left and right. He had a mashed up rotation of Carl Pavano, Cliff Lee, a brutal Fausto Carmona, and just prospect and young guy after young guy and Tomo Ohka.
He worked with what he had. We would have liked to see better results, but you can't fault him for what good he did do. Hopefully the plan that he and the management have etched out for Fausto Carmona continues its course and we can stick one more feather in the cap of Willis. For now though, he gets three for this season to go along with the five he got last year. Good luck C-Train, we'll miss ya and your Tar Heel-love.
Rafael Perez
Prepare for the worst killing you'll ever see..
If there was one guy I was disappointed with the most in 2009, this would be the guy. Rafael Perez is on my poster for disappointment, the 2009 Cleveland Indians motion picture.
Holy crap how awful did Perez look at times?
After completely dominating international play for the Domican Republic, the guy was a complete turn around for the Indians.
Was it the WBC-curse that got to Rafael Betancourt years ago?
I really hope so. Maybe 2010 will be a new day and I HOPE it is. This was one of the most dominant left-handed relief pitchers in the game for the past two years and now he looks like junk.
Here's to hoping 2009 was just a horrible glitch and some of the old Raffy Left returns in 2010. He may start a little slow but even half of a 2009 next year is unacceptable.
Derek Shelton
There was a point in the season in which the head of Derek Shelton was wanted on a sliver platter.
Was there not a point last year in which that same instance came around as well?
Look, Derek wasn't the best hitting instructor. I disagreed totally with his perspective, but not with his approach. I liked the approach of waiting for your pitch. But there are times do to that and times to not.
He needed to preach more versatility to his hitters. He made too many of them stand-stills in doing one certain thing. Against certain pitchers, especially ones like Justin Verlander who have three very good pitches that he only uses, and throws strikes very early in the count, you can't sit around and wait.
Is it any wonder the Indians had no success off the guy this year?
He was the kyrptonite to Derek Shelton.
He was the type of pitcher that the Indians cannot hit.
The guys who nibble, the guys who try and set you up and use off speed more than they do fastballs right early in the count.. Yeah those are the types of pitchers the Indians have more success against because that approach works.
Which is awesome, Shelton is a good instructor in some ways.
But he's awful in others and that others included being more than a one-trick pony.
It's good to be patient and have good discipline. But sometimes it can be death for a lineup if they sit there and stare at the first three pitches.
I will not miss Derek Shelton much. He was the source of a lot of frustration. But he does have a part in the game because he does have good knowledge of what to do. He just needs to learn from what doesn't work.
Fausto Carmona
Dear God....
No really, Dear God, please tell us what you've done with the real Fausto Carmona.
And please do not tell me this is the real Fausto Carmona.
What has happened here is an absolute train wreck. He's gone from deer in the headlights closer crawled up in the fetal position of the clubhouse after being exposed to the Boston Red Sox, to Cy Young contending tamer of Bugs and the New York Yankees in the ALDS to awful starting pitcher exiled to Arizona.
The next curve has to be up, right?
It can't possibly get worse, right?
Again.. Dear God, please.
Carmona was awful and at one point it felt like the Indians had no clue what to do with him. I think it was at that point they threw their hands up and said, alright let's just start over.
Gentlemen, we can rebuild him. We have the technology.
Basically that was what happened and we are witnessing this sort of, rebuilding.
Not the franchise, hold your horses.
But Carmona is going through a transition into an actual pitcher. And again, Dear God, I hope it works. And if he's bionic, fantastic.
Asdrubal Cabrera
Last year, Cliff Lee was awarded the gold feather in honor of being named the Team MVP. This year there is two choices for this award and it was super tough. But Asdrubal Cabrera takes the cake. Cabrera was probably the most clutch player when all was said and done. His .343 average with runners on base just shows how good he was when you put him in a position to better the team. Of course his defense goes without saying, as always, he was untouchable and now that he's at short, the team is only that much better. Cabrera gets this year's nod for Golden Feather. Congrats Drubes!
Travis Hafner
For those of you who need a reminder, the silver feather goes to the team's unsung hero for the year. The pickings are slim and after my little speech earlier, I feel the need that Travis Hafner is worthy of this award. In any other season, there would be better options, but Hafner, despite being ridiculed by a lot of people, still put up some healthy numbers when it was all said and done. I pin-point one game, that I was at even, in which Hafner's presence was huge. Shin-Soo Choo had a career game, but Hafner had set it all up by scaring the bajesus out of Trevor Cahill and the A's bullpen. Because of that, they avoided him like the plague and it set up Choo beautifully to do HUGE damage. That type of stuff goes unnoticed with Travis, but it really shouldn't.
As noted yesterday, we officially start offseason mode here. This post signifies it all. Tomorrow the All-Daily Team and Wednesday the board debuts. Let the offseason begin!
I like to take this post as an opportunity to wrap the Cleveland Indians season in a bow. This is where we say goodbye to 2009 and move forward. Last year, there was some optimism if you go back and read what happened. I awarded a lot of five feathers and even called the season a good one.
This year... Not so much...
I also like to take this time out to thank the readers. Last year, I believed there wasn't much of an audience. This year, I'd say the readership has grown and I thank you all. Hopefully, this will continue with this impending move by gaining a wider audience so more people can enjoy my ridiculousness. Again. Thanks out there to everyone for everything and hopefully, we'll be able to have more of a jovial season in 2010, instead of this mess.
The Offseason officially begins now for this site. We move into offseason mode and you can bet the search for a manager will take attention like the search for new additions did last year. If you forget how it went down, go look in the archives for 2008. It's going to be a blast.
These are the End of the Year Feathers. I give out ratings for each player/person on this team and this is the scale, sort of like Five Stars, ya know? Five Feathers is the best of the best that the Tribe had. One is not the worst, but the players who didn't get the job done this year. Okay, it might be the worst. Three is average, two is below average and four is exceptional. At the end I'll give out two special feathers, gold and silver. A gold feather is to our Team MVP. A silver feather is the unsung hero of the team.
With that, let's end 2009's season right and get on with it. I've set the standard that traded/released players are not eligible for this, so Victor, Cliff, Ryan, everyone else.. Not included... Last year, I included statistics and team leads and all that fun stuff. This year, I have no time and we're ridiculous off schedule. So here they are, plain as they can be, the End of the Year Feathers for 2009.
- 150 ABs (Or Half a Season) to be considered for Feathers
- 30 IP (Or Half a Season) to be considered for Feathers
Shin-Soo Choo
One of the few bright spots of this team's horrid season was the progression of Shin-Soo Choo into a bonafied Major League corner outfielder.
For years this has been a weakness of the Tribe. They had no corner outfielder that had some pop.
Choo has some pop and it will only get better. He became the first Asian-born player to reach the 20-20 mark in MLB history, showing he brings a little bit of everything to the table.
He also made strides defensively and has no doubt built up the reputation of having an arm in the outfield. He still has some work to do on his routes to the ball, but he's progressed.
Offensively he was a guy that showed the potential to get hot and carry a team. But when he is in his ruts, you don't really notice because he's still finding ways to get on base.
Yes he led the team in strikeouts, but he also led them in walks and carried a .394 OBP, which was eighth in the entire AL. That is the sign of a good hitter, someone who hits in the middle of the order.
Someone you can rely on to still be productive in some way, even if he struggles to hit.
And when he was hot, boy was Choo hot.
I can't even begin to imagine how much better he can get with a full-year now under his belt. It also looks like the Indians and Choo are simply going to ignore this Korean military requirement and Choo will cross that bridge, if he ever has to.
Choo is one of the few Indians that deserves all five feathers this year. Congrats Chooster.
Asdrubal Cabrera
Where would we be without Shin-Soo Choo and Asdrubal Cabrera?
Just a poor year for five-feathers, but Cabrera is one of two that receives them.
The team leader in average, Cabrera made HUGE strides. Wedge had the opinion, as did I, if he just carries a decent stick at the bottom of the lineup and steals a bunch of runs with his defense, I'll stick him in the lineup 160 times a year.
But if he's going to hit .308 at the top of the lineup... No complaints.
Quite honestly, that's the stuff of All-Stars.
42 doubles led the team, 52 extra-base hits in total. This is all with an injury thrown in in the midst of one of his hot-streaks too.
Cabrera had to go down to Triple-A last year for a bit of a lesson. It just is something necessary with some young players and Cabrera is better for it.
I'm so pleased with the progress he's made and now that he's entrenched at short, he's gold-glove bound year after year.
If Cabrera can be a bonafied two hitter for this team for years to come, hit .300 year in and year out and play good defense. I will take that.
Jamey Carroll
Does anyone really have an issue with the job Jamey Carroll did?
I mean for the second straight year, he just went out there and played and played well at all times. He's just a rock solid contributor.
Unfortunately, Carroll was brought in here because he was a championship caliber utility man, however he came at a championship caliber utility man price, which means he's far too expensive for the Indians.
Its nice not having to worry about someone coming off the bench and being able to play defense and at least hit a lick. That's the luxury of Jamey Carroll.
He's as good as always. Last year he was the unsung hero of the team. This year he was yet again a solid contributor. Unfortunately, next year he'll be helping out someone else.
It's been great though Jamey... A solid 2009 makes you a two-time four-feather recipient.
Travis Hafner
I would expect nothing more than a little bit of strange looks and groans for this one.
But can anyone honestly say they are disappointed with Hafner's 2009?
For one, people need to get over the fact that he's isn't Hafner of old. Once that is done, you can fully in-take his 2009 and say, damn, at least he contributed.
For missing some time, 16 jacks and 49 ribbies is something good. But his mere presence and the .355 OBP is all a part of the effort.
I know the next argument though.
But for all that money, he needs to do more!
I know I know. I get it.
This season though... There is slim pickings as far as good things and just a little production from Hafner is something to feel good about.
Tony Sipp
It is down right shocking to have put a relief pitcher in this space.
But I can't argue with the numbers Tony Sipp put up as a ROOKIE!
With all the options, it was unexpected that someone would even need to come up and step into the role Sipp did, especially with another supposed dominate lefty on the team.
But he did and he did well.
A 2.93 ERA in 40 innings is nothing to sneeze at. His best growth was getting time as one of the prime set-up men for this team. With guys like Perez and Betancourt sucking or gone, Sipp was needed to take on more of a late-inning role.
He struggled but he also has success.. If anything that experience will go a long way for the future. It's alright to feel good about Tony Sipp's 2009 becuase it was extremely valuable for the future.
Grady Sizemore
It's almost unfair to classify Grady Sizemore as a three-feather player with those injuries he was playing with.
But it has to be done as he still played and was still sub-par.
I maintain that this team goes better if Sizemore is in the lineup. They do even better if he's healthy and doing his normal things. They do their best and are unstoppable if he's hot. He can carry this team, but when he isn't, he's doing things that help the other players.
He is a catalyst for this offense and it was ever so apparent this year when he was not at his best and this offense was highly inconsistent.
For those of you that wanted to move Grady Sizemore from the leadoff spot. That is a glimpse of what you would have gotten had that been a full-time thing.
Now that this team has a guy that can leadoff and do those sorts of things Sizemore did atop the lineup, we can safely start to think about moving Grady down to the three spot.
Jensen Lewis
I still hold a spot for Jensen Lewis in my bullpen.
And I tell you why.
For one... New Manager, New Life...
Lewis was painfully mistreated by Eric Wedge, something that was probably the biggest flaw Wedge had that I despised.
J-Lew was inconsistently used after he had a few bad outings and a few bad strokes of luck. Mashed together, it downright awful for him and Rafael Perez to start the season.
However, where as Perez plain out sucked, Lewis still showed what makes him a good relief pitcher.
In the end, Jensen pitched in 66 innings and carried a 4.61 ERA. Not incredible, but after the way he started things out, very surprising. He also still showed he can strike people out and even give you some length if you are dead in the pen.
Something I wouldn't do and again, something Wedge insisted upon doing that I hated.
While I'm not absolving Jensen of all his 2009 struggles, I do expect better results in 2010, not just because of Lewis taking upon himself of doing better, but because the new guy won't be, hopefully, using Lewis in a role that just doesn't suit him.
Matt LaPorta
Well it was an up and down year for Matt LaPorta...
He gets three feathers because of what I saw when he got regular playing time, I liked.
But I can't go much beyond that in the small sample size we saw him.
He got mistreated early when he was brought up and the Indians said they'd make a strong effort to play him at least four times a game. But Eric Wedge let the desire to get out of a bad hole over come that idea and he went upon guys he trusted more.
LaPorta got his shot later in the year and at times, he was a dominant hitter.
He shows the potential to be a middle of the order bat and next year I think he'll be the starting first basemen with a prominent spot in the lineup to drive in runs behind Hafner, Choo, and maybe Peralta.
It was encouraging to see the centerpiece of the CC Sabathia deal come up and at least show something immediately, unlike what happened with Marte when he came up and immediately showed absolutely nothing.
Perhaps that drug on and started some bad karma. LaPorta's bright flashes give us some hope and maybe some reinforcement that we've got a good one in return and we might just be all right, so there is nothing to totally freak out about.
Trevor Crowe
For what Trevor Crowe is, he's good.
Look he's nothing more than a fourth outfielder at this point. He can hit a little, but his game is based off speed and defense. That's a fourth outfielder and I think that's how he'll get used.
Let's not take his numbers or talent and think anything else of him. Let's take it at face value and go from there.
He had a good debut in 2009 and he's much more valuable than David Dellucci. He isn't flashy or spectacular, but you can do far worse than Crowe as a fourth outfielder.
Luis Valbuena
A lot of these feathers are based off the fact that expectations and all that are very low for some of these guys.
Baby Louie is one guy, another rookie, who I'm just pleased produced something.
It was a rough going for Valbuena at one point. But Wedge decided that he was going to actually give him a chance. Instead of a quick yank like he did in the past, he liked what he saw in the gritty Louie and kept him in the lineup to work through his issues.
Valbuena did.
He didn't have a great full-season, but he showed great flashes of brilliance, especially with his glove.
He and Cabrera seem to take well to being a double-play combo. He has a good glove, that is for sure.
And he can hit the double. He was a top rookie in the AL in extra-base hits. At one point all he was hitting was doubles.
When all was said and done, Valbuena was fifth on the team in at-bats. He got a lot of time and for a rookie, a .250 average ain't half bad, especially since it was very poor for awhile.
After the all-star break, Valbuena hit .272 with six homers and 20 RBI.
If he can do that over a season. As a second baseman, play good defense, hit .270ish at the bottom of the lineup, hit 10 homers, a bunch of extra-bases, score 60-some runs.
Yeah I'll take that.
Andy Marte
I'm just glad I had the opportunity to scream.
MARTY COME AND PARTY!
And do it one more than one occasion.
You can groan all you want about Marte, but he showed strides he didn't in the past. He ripped it up in Triple-A (In which he got a Columbus Feather for) and then got his shot at the majors.
In the end, he hit six homers and knocked in 25 runs. The .232 average sucks, but he, like LaPorta, had a streak at one point in which he was un-touchable. He and LaPorta carried the offense for a few weeks at one point and Marte showed some of that flash that once made him a grand prospect.
Is he anything though?
I don't think he's much more than a bench player, if he can learn how to come off the bench and hit. But that's the issue. Marte needs consistent playing time to hit consistently. Especially since it seems like he's convinced himself of this mentality.
He's fixed some issues with his swing, that's a positive. What the future holds for him on the club is unknown to all. Only one can imagine what Mark Shapiro is thinking. But for 2009, and all the strides he made, and all the games against the Orioles he won, I give him three feathers. Marty, Thanks for the Party!
Justin Masterson
When Justin Masterson made his debut as a relief pitcher, I was salivating.
Eventually, J-Mast made his transition to the rotation, where the Indians would love him to be next year and beyond.
It was rough, but there was also bright spots.
We know he CAN do it. It's just a matter if he can do it consistently enough to be a starter.
He's resembled Jeremy Sowers in an instance he struggles after the first few times through the lineup. He's Jeremy Sowers with a fiercer attitude and better stuff.
Masterson ended up 1-7 with a 4.55 ERA for the Tribe in 11 games, 10 starts.
I really love the bald mastard. He's got a great personality and he fits in well with Cleveland. I think with a full-year in the big leagues under his belt as he did last year, the adjustment period of a new team over, and a full-spring as a STARTER under his belt like he will have next season... It can only be beneficial to him.
His last game of the year was a sight to see as he struck out 12 in a complete game. We know he has it in him and that's part of the reason he got three feathers.
Joe Smith
It is hard to take anything that Smith did this year and judge it, either way.
For one, he dealt with injuries at several points this year. He got behind from the start by getting sick during spring training. It just was never a full-year for Joe Smith in his first year with the Tribe.
However he showed some good things at times and in the end, he had points in which, like Sipp, Eric Wedge had to lean on him late in the game.
What he did for New York is something to continue to keep in the back of your mind.
Because of the injuries, it just becomes hard to fairly judge Smith's year, so I'm going to stick him at average, three feathers, and chalk this one up to a bit of a lost-season. The good news is he's now acclimated to the team and he can go into next year, hopefully healthy.
He's going to be a big part of this bullpen next season if that is the case.
Chris Perez
After his first game with the Tribe... We all thought, oh god.
My thought was... Great, we ruined a great young arm by bringing him into the place where relief pitchers go to die.
But Benz turned it around.
His long flowing hair grew and so did his confidence with his new club.
In August, he was lights out, going 10-for-10 in his games, not giving up a single run in all 10 appearances. He picked up a streak that was the best for an Indians relief pitcher since Rafael Betancourt's a few years ago.
He showed flashes of why he was regarded as a future closer for St. Louis.
Oh and his July was very good as well.
That two month stretch was fantastic for Chris Perez. He had some issues September, but I've seen enough to feel confident about him in 2010. So far, there are three arms in that pen you feel a little good about, and Perez is one of them.
Now it's just a matter of them producing.
David Huff
David Huff ended up leading the team in wins when all was said and done.
His ERA didn't reflect that of an 11-game winner. But towards the end of the year, you could start to see Huff putting it all together.
I think he'll have a rotation spot in 2010 and from there he only gets better. He has nothing left to prove in the minors and had nothing at the point of his call-up. He's gotta sink or swim and given his maturity, I think he's going to take it in the offseason and come back with everything, from last year's end, the offseason, the confidence he'll gain knowing he's got a spot, and put together a good year.
Huff gets a three feathers from me. He more than anyone showed flashes that make you upbeat about the rotation not being as grim as it looks. The numbers will get better, hopefully, but if he wins four more games next year, I think we'll take that.
Aaron Laffey
I think Aaron Laffey deserves more, but this team doesn't. Laffey had many positives in this season. However he still needs to take that next step.
It looked like he was doing so, until the Indians moved him to the pen out of desperation. He took to it, quickly, however he got hurt. He came back, had his moments as a starter, but then also threw in his clunkers.
If Laffey is ever going to be more than a bottom of the rotation starter, or another Jeremy Sowers, he'll need to take that next step in 2010. He's likely to have a rotation spot, and he needs to do something with it!
I applaud the selflessness he had when moving to the pen and doing a good job out of it. Aaron can be a bit of a bulldog, so to see him take it in stride was awesome. And again he had his moments back when he was a starter.
I give him three feathers for falling somewhere in between, but extra bonus points for adjusting, the injury and being a good teammate.
Jhonny Peralta
Jhonny... Jhonny... Jhonny.
The man who follows the "H Before O Except after J" principle when spelling his name.
Wrong.
Just as wrong as he was in putting up a fight about third base.
Perhaps the Indians should have made it sooner. To make the transition a little more rocky. However the way Peralta handled it, was unacceptable in my eyes.
Add in his poor performance at the plate to start the season for the second straight year.
I had faith in him after what he did in 2008 in the middle of the order. He was the guy and he was doing fan-freaking-tastic. Then 2009 comes and he's the Jhonny of old. He picked up in the second half, but that type of consistency doesn't work on a winning team.
I applaud the transition he made to third, he's really taken well to it, even if he doesn't want to do it. That is something I cannot bash him for because he's actually done a good job after the initial move.
Really his offensive numbers as a whole, don't look awful. But the hole he put himself in made it what they were. For that, I cannot in faith give him higher than two feathers, despite the effort he put in defensively at third. It came, but it came with a fight.
Kelly Shoppach
I would like to painfully point out the fact that I called this coming a mile away.
I said, I'd love to trade Kelly Shoppach while his value is high and move on because he's destined for a drop-back.
He did...
His swing wasn't made to do that type of stuff year around. His plate discipline is just down-right horrid and now his defense is starting to fall off. What was once the hallmark of his game has dropped off considerably and its concerning.
The beauty of this all is that the Indians are probably going to move on and they've been given a second chance to do so.
Shoppach will earn too much as an arbitration eligible player. They could non-tender his ass and offer arbitration and let him walk as a free-agent and get B-Player compensation in return.
That's an option.
Or they could just trade him for whatever they think they can get for him, but it won't be as much as last year.
Either way, Shoppach was not very good this year. He did knock in 40 runs and hit over 10 homers and for a semi-back up catcher, that was okay. But he is what he is and he isn't someone we can afford for the production he's going to give.
Tomo Ohka
But maw... Do I have to?
Seriously this is one of those guys I didn't think I'd be giving a single feather to, but look where we are.
I gave Ohka two feathers because he was actually very helpful. Instead of sending some guys out there to get crushed, we sent out the wasted arm of Tomo Ohka to get crushed.
And he managed to throw out a few good games or appearances. Thanks for being a punching bag Tomo, you weren't as horrible as I thought you'd be.. However the fact you even made the roster makes me very angry inside.
Mark Shapiro: Traded Cliff Lee and Ben Francisco for Carlos Carrasco, Lou Marson, Jason Knapp, and Jason Donald; Traded Victor Martinez for Justin Masterson, Nick Hagadone, and Bryan Price; Traded Ryan Garko for Scott Barnes; Traded Rafael Betancourt for Connor Graham; Traded for Mark DeRosa in exchange for three pitching prospects, then traded DeRosa for Chris Perez and Jess Todd; Signed Kerry Wood to two year deal; Signed Carl Pavano to one year deal and traded for Yohan Pino; Traded Franklin Gutierrez for Joe Smith and Luis Valbuena.
Oh this is always fun...
Mark Shapiro, for my money, is probably the guy irrational Cleveland fan is upset with the most.
He's also the guy just about every rational Cleveland fan is upset with the most as well.
I'm not so upset.
Some of Shapiro's bad moves in the past few years: David Dellucci, Jason Johnson, Masa Kobayashi, Roberto Hernandez.
Really, there are a few more but it's not like he whiffed and was the guy that oversaw the drafting of Luke Hochevar... Or the nimrod that signed Barry Zito to a 100 million dollar deal.
Compared to some of the moves GMs have made that could be considered "bad," Shapiro's made some minor boo-boos.
However the problem with that is minor boo-boos in Cleveland, if made within a short span of each other, can add up and cause one big injury.
This is about 2008's offseason and the 2009 season though. Last winter was the the most active period the Indians have had in a long long time. They made a trade for a veteran to start at third and gave up prospects to do so. They signed a high-priced closer to fill a major void. Hell they even got involved in a three-way blockbuster that many thought Shapiro did well in.
To most, Franklin Gutierrez was just a fourth outfielder and the Indians received a major league reliever and a second base prospect from an organization we've robbed blindly before.
To me, Franklin Gutierrez was more, but again, different time for that, I'm past it.
When it comes down to it. Shapiro isn't the best signing free agents to deals that involve money.
This man has a knack for signing Carl Pavanos though. He's jumped on guys like Bobby Howry, Pavano, Millwood, and gotten what he's needed to get.
The moral of the story here... Let Shapiro sign whatever low-risk high-reward pitcher he wants. Let him organize the trades of superstars. Keep him away from free agents in which he has to shell out money for.
Last year it was easy to give Shapiro high marks for capitalizing on the impending free agency's of CC Sabathia and Casey Blake, regardless of the return (even though at the time, that return brought highly regarded prospects, such at this year's did).
To give him a grade would be impossible due to the fact we have no clue how half of these trades he made are going to turn out. So Lee, Martinez, everyone else aside... His Free Agent Deals and everything else taken into account. Shapiro gets two feathers. Not horrible, but not average.
Last year he was getting rid of something that he wasn't getting back. This year it isn't a slam dunk case.
Kerry Wood
A lot of slack was cut all year by me towards Kerry Wood.
However the end results are not desirable.
Kerry Wood was brought in to close games and in the end of the things, he didn't close as many as he should have.
The bullpen leading up to him was shaky, as was the starting pitching. That led to sporadic appearances and rust. Kerry Wood doesn't deserve a complete failing grade for his first year in Cleveland because a lot of it was out of his control.
But he gets an A for effort. He took to the leadership role early, which is great and with a year under his belt and one of the few veterans left, he'll need to do so even more in 2010.
But 2009 was forgettable. Hopefully he gets enough opportunities to justify the 10 million dollars the Indians are paying him per year, because I think we all know Wood is capable of much more.
No.. I know he's capable of much more.
Jose Veras
I don't even feel like talking about Jose Veras. He met the requirements though.
No really, this is stupid. If this guy is on the roster next year.... I don't care what he showed at the end of 2009. It's just.. BLEHK!
It's Jose Veras. He's a journeyman.. That's all
Jeremy Sowers
Jeremy Sowers is a relief pitcher.
At least in this stage of his career, he's a long reliever.
He cannot, I repeat, he cannot, I repeat... Wait no that's one too many. He cannot go through the lineup more than two times on most nights.
He's fan-freaking-tastic the first few innings, but he sucks at making adjustments.
It just sucks that Eric Wedge and company, Shapiro included, don't take to this and just move him to the bullpen.
Sowers is a far cry from the guy he was as a rookie. The jig is up and hitters know what he's about. He either needs to learn how to make adjustments (he went to Vanderbilt, how does he not know how?) or get moved to the pen or else he should no longer be on this roster.
Eric Wedge: 65-97 Record; Fired
Well this will probably be the last formal farewell to Eric Wedge.
He gets two feathers because we all know that this wasn't totally his fault. I think that's something I've tried to establish for awhile now.
However he deserves to have his hand slapped in this situation.
This year and this year only..
I think Wedge did what he could do with the injuries that happened. You have to remember at one point, a good portion of the team was on the disabled list. Reyes, Westbrook, Scott Lewis, Laffey, Betancourt all were hurt, Jensen Lewis, Rafael Perez, and Fausto Carmona all sucked. So he was left with... Cliff Lee, Kerry Wood, and a bunch of Vinnie Chulks and Greg Aquinos.
No one can win with that.
Injuries are a part of the game, great teams overcome them, but sometimes you don't have enough to overcome. The Indians did not.
Wedge's glaring weaknesses as a manager appeared this year in a way.
His bullpen management was spotty. Again, he didn't have a lot to work with, but I think he severely misused Jensen Lewis, trying to stretch him out into a longer relief pitcher just for the sake of getting innings.
I will say I love the fact he finally put some pressure on the young guys, like Tony Sipp, however it was as if he had no choice. I would have liked to see him push younger guys earlier.
The Matt LaPorta situation... That was a bad thing for him.
The "versatility" thing. And this isn't just Wedge, but Shapiro. Look I love having a ton of players that can play different positions, but that doesn't mean you play Mark DeRosa at third one day, second the next, right field the third unless you have to.
Playing them in different positions just to do it is stupid.
As much as I hate to say I was wrong, I think I was. In hindsight, we probably should have just had Peralta at third, DeRosa at second and Cabrera at third from the get-go. I said we could always just change midseason, but really, Wedge just did too much mixing and matching and by that time, it was just a disaster.
The lineup thing as well. I know when things aren't going good, you have to switch it up, but he did it too much. One of the things the Rockies said when Jim Tracy took over for Clint Hurdle was that they were relaxed knowing who was in the lineup in what spot and at what position on a daily basis. Not too much shifting.
The Indians did way too much shifting when they had no reason to. Injuries again played a part, but there was no need to do some of the stuff Datz and Wedge did. I throw Datz into this mix because he should be saying stuff like, hey you dumbass, let's settle this down a bit.
Anyway, those are my beefs with Eric Wedge as a manager, and particularly this year.
He does a lot of good things though. One of his positives is the fact that he can learn from past experiences, provided he is willing to. I've seen him do it in cases before and if he can do it here, maybe he'll get another managerial shot down the road and maybe he'll turn out better.
Carl Willis
With the firing of Eric Wedge, the dismissal of every one of his coaches looks very likely. Which means Carl Willis will not return.
You can't fault him for ALL the pitching woes, just as you can't praise him for ALL the success he had with CC Sabathia and Cliff Lee winning back to back Cy Young awards.
However you need to give him credit for having a hand in that, just as you need to hand him a little blame for what happened to the pitching.
Carl is a good pitching coach. He isn't a miracle worker as he was beginning to look like after CC, Carmona, Lee, and what we hoped would be Anthony Reyes. Or at least I hoped.
But he got the job done in some cases.
The development of the young pitchers like Jeremy Sowers is something you have to wonder about. How someone like Sowers could benefit so much from having a guy like Sal Fasano on the team, yet just steadily decline since he entered the majors under Willis' watch.
But again, you take the good with the bad.
Willis wasn't perfect and this season specifically he had A LOT to deal with. Constant bullpen changes, rookies left and right. He had a mashed up rotation of Carl Pavano, Cliff Lee, a brutal Fausto Carmona, and just prospect and young guy after young guy and Tomo Ohka.
He worked with what he had. We would have liked to see better results, but you can't fault him for what good he did do. Hopefully the plan that he and the management have etched out for Fausto Carmona continues its course and we can stick one more feather in the cap of Willis. For now though, he gets three for this season to go along with the five he got last year. Good luck C-Train, we'll miss ya and your Tar Heel-love.
Rafael Perez
Prepare for the worst killing you'll ever see..
If there was one guy I was disappointed with the most in 2009, this would be the guy. Rafael Perez is on my poster for disappointment, the 2009 Cleveland Indians motion picture.
Holy crap how awful did Perez look at times?
After completely dominating international play for the Domican Republic, the guy was a complete turn around for the Indians.
Was it the WBC-curse that got to Rafael Betancourt years ago?
I really hope so. Maybe 2010 will be a new day and I HOPE it is. This was one of the most dominant left-handed relief pitchers in the game for the past two years and now he looks like junk.
Here's to hoping 2009 was just a horrible glitch and some of the old Raffy Left returns in 2010. He may start a little slow but even half of a 2009 next year is unacceptable.
Derek Shelton
There was a point in the season in which the head of Derek Shelton was wanted on a sliver platter.
Was there not a point last year in which that same instance came around as well?
Look, Derek wasn't the best hitting instructor. I disagreed totally with his perspective, but not with his approach. I liked the approach of waiting for your pitch. But there are times do to that and times to not.
He needed to preach more versatility to his hitters. He made too many of them stand-stills in doing one certain thing. Against certain pitchers, especially ones like Justin Verlander who have three very good pitches that he only uses, and throws strikes very early in the count, you can't sit around and wait.
Is it any wonder the Indians had no success off the guy this year?
He was the kyrptonite to Derek Shelton.
He was the type of pitcher that the Indians cannot hit.
The guys who nibble, the guys who try and set you up and use off speed more than they do fastballs right early in the count.. Yeah those are the types of pitchers the Indians have more success against because that approach works.
Which is awesome, Shelton is a good instructor in some ways.
But he's awful in others and that others included being more than a one-trick pony.
It's good to be patient and have good discipline. But sometimes it can be death for a lineup if they sit there and stare at the first three pitches.
I will not miss Derek Shelton much. He was the source of a lot of frustration. But he does have a part in the game because he does have good knowledge of what to do. He just needs to learn from what doesn't work.
Fausto Carmona
Dear God....
No really, Dear God, please tell us what you've done with the real Fausto Carmona.
And please do not tell me this is the real Fausto Carmona.
What has happened here is an absolute train wreck. He's gone from deer in the headlights closer crawled up in the fetal position of the clubhouse after being exposed to the Boston Red Sox, to Cy Young contending tamer of Bugs and the New York Yankees in the ALDS to awful starting pitcher exiled to Arizona.
The next curve has to be up, right?
It can't possibly get worse, right?
Again.. Dear God, please.
Carmona was awful and at one point it felt like the Indians had no clue what to do with him. I think it was at that point they threw their hands up and said, alright let's just start over.
Gentlemen, we can rebuild him. We have the technology.
Basically that was what happened and we are witnessing this sort of, rebuilding.
Not the franchise, hold your horses.
But Carmona is going through a transition into an actual pitcher. And again, Dear God, I hope it works. And if he's bionic, fantastic.
Asdrubal Cabrera
Last year, Cliff Lee was awarded the gold feather in honor of being named the Team MVP. This year there is two choices for this award and it was super tough. But Asdrubal Cabrera takes the cake. Cabrera was probably the most clutch player when all was said and done. His .343 average with runners on base just shows how good he was when you put him in a position to better the team. Of course his defense goes without saying, as always, he was untouchable and now that he's at short, the team is only that much better. Cabrera gets this year's nod for Golden Feather. Congrats Drubes!
Travis Hafner
For those of you who need a reminder, the silver feather goes to the team's unsung hero for the year. The pickings are slim and after my little speech earlier, I feel the need that Travis Hafner is worthy of this award. In any other season, there would be better options, but Hafner, despite being ridiculed by a lot of people, still put up some healthy numbers when it was all said and done. I pin-point one game, that I was at even, in which Hafner's presence was huge. Shin-Soo Choo had a career game, but Hafner had set it all up by scaring the bajesus out of Trevor Cahill and the A's bullpen. Because of that, they avoided him like the plague and it set up Choo beautifully to do HUGE damage. That type of stuff goes unnoticed with Travis, but it really shouldn't.
As noted yesterday, we officially start offseason mode here. This post signifies it all. Tomorrow the All-Daily Team and Wednesday the board debuts. Let the offseason begin!
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