Yardbarker: Jensen Lewis

Number of Indians on Twitter goes up two in one day

Wed, 02 Dec 2009 12:51:00 -0500

Yesterday, I claimed that the Cleveland Indians only had one player on twitter, one Matt LaPorta.

Well I've unearthed the twitter account of favorite relief pitcher of this blog, Jensen Lewis, through the fact that Tribeinsider was following him.

He is now the second Indian who is officially on twitter and the fact that the Indians are following him, makes it authentic. Hey he's been on it since mid-October as evidenced by his first tweet.

Oh but what is this, the Indians have added a third player to their stable of twittering athletes and it has to do with a signing.

Yes. The Cleveland Indians have signed relief pitcher Jason Grilli to a minor league deal. And according to Grilli, he signed awhile ago.

In fact, according to his twitter account, which he has been using to drop hints and comments about the fact that he's signed, but not telling us who the team was, Grilli signed the contract on Saturday, but basically made it official that he agreed with this mystery team on the 23rd of last week.

Hell, he even tweeted a picture of the contract. Now he tweets it for real, Grilli is an Indian.

For what it's worth though, Grilli provided more details through twitter.. Damn this twitter machine. He said eight teams were interested but there was one clear choice and that he loves where he is going.

Grilli is a charismatic guy. He obviously embraces twitter and the fans and that sort of stuff. It's a minor league deal and hey, eight other teams wanted him, so he was in demand.

It's a nice addition. Shapiro always makes these minor league signings and this one actually is a contender before he produces. Normally with guys like Jorge Julio, you say, alright whatever if he does good then he can be considered, but with Grilli, I feel comfortable in saying he'll compete for a pen spot from the start.

His best year was in 2008 when he shared it with Colorado and Detroit. He ended up with a 3.00 ERA in 75 innings pitched, a vast majority of that in Colorado. After a short time with Colorado last year, he came back to the American League with the Texas Rangers and pitched in 26 innings and carrying a 4.78 ERA.

Grilli is more of a long guy. He started his career as a starter until 2006 when Detroit moved him to the pen and he did well for the next few years.

Hey it's not a bad veteran to sign to a minor league deal. I'm sure the Indians aren't done in this area.

The Denver post link from above includes salary information, saying he'll earn $800,000 if he is on the major league club.

Grilli wants 49. But he'll have to wrestle it away from Tony Sipp, who wore 49 last year. Grilli is the son of Steve Grilli, who pitched for the Tigers back in the 70's for a few seasons.

On a side note, I work tomorrow and Friday, so there probably will be no blogging, but maybe some tweets if things happen (It's been a busy week so far, surprisingly). I wanted to get this out there for those interested.

Tomorrow is the annual Pronkta Clause Toy Drive and it will be at Summit Mall in Akron. If you bring a new or unwrapped toy that is valued at least ten dollars, or a monetary donation, you can get an autograph of Travis Hafner, Pronk himself. Slider dressed as Santa and Hafner's wife Amy will also be on hand for the drive's fifth consecutive year.

Summit Mall is on West Market Street in Akron and the event will be from 7 PM to 9 PM. Check out the Indians community calender for more details about the toy drive. I was actually going to make an effort to go this year because it was in Akron, however as I said, I have to work. So if your in the Akron area, stop on over to the mall and contribute to a good cause and meet the Pronkster.

Lovullo States Case, Roenicke Now a Candidate

Sat, 24 Oct 2009 08:15:00 -0500

Let's talk...

Yesterday before Torey Lovullo faced the media, we had a bit of news break about another candidate being in the running.

When Acta interviewed and Mark Shapiro spoke to the media, he noted that there could be two more candidates added to the process..

He also mentioned that one of the four had current obligations.

Everyone assumed that was Don Mattingly. (And by the by, it appears ever so much that LA has intent on keeping him so he can take over for Torre after 2010 if that's the case.)

But now that Ron Roenicke has been included into the discussion, who really knows?

The general thought to be believed is the three that have interviewed (Acta, Valentine, Lovullo) are candidates with Mattingly, who has yet to schedule an interview or even be confirmed by Cleveland, and now Ron Roenicke. It's also believed to be that Clint Hurdle is the other unnamed candidate.

The LA Times report has the Indians have asked and been granted permission from Los Angeles to speak with Ron Roenicke.

There is still some uncertainty if Roenicke is actually a finalist or if that permission was from when the Indians first had a list of 10 candidates they wanted to speak to over the phone.

Let me just say right now that I had Ron Roenicke in my top five guys to go after. In fact, if you remove Gonzalez and remember I had Bobby V at the top of my list, Roenicke is someone I'm very high on.

I wanna know more though. Acta and Lovullo were so impressive in their media sessions. I want to see what Roenicke brings to the table because he's a bit of an unknown. We've got three interviews down and if the Indians are in fact considering both Roenicke and Hurdle, they'll have three more left.

Three down because yesterday, Torey Lovullo interviewed.

And damn.

If he was anything like he was with the media, the Indians are going to have a bit of a tough decision to make and an even tougher decision to tell Lovullo, You are probably the best candidate, but we're going somewhere else.

If Lovullo had an ounce of major league experience, I think he'd be a slam dunk. It seems as if there would be a backlash and a "Eric Wedge 2.0" cry if the Indians made this hire, that it doesn't matter what Lovullo says.

Everyone just hears Wedge 2.0.

Not the case in the least bit.

The guy killed his media interview. He did... Let's go.

You can see five or so minutes of his session in Hoynes' article.

I'll look for the full audio, which is something I had earlier but the Plain Dealer has replaced it. I listened to the whole audio and damnit he rocked.

Familiarity was the key I highlighted in my pre-interview case for Lovullo and that's obviously something he knew was an advantage and he used it. Smart man.

"I've had almost everyone of these guys," said Lovullo, the third man to interview for the Indians manager job in the last four days. "That's a built-in advantage I may have over other candidates. When that's all said and done, how much that impacts their decision, that's up to them."

"I'm familiar with what motivates these players," said Lovullo. "There won't be a feeling-out process. They understand my beliefs. I think that initially will help us get off on the right foot."

While he may be managing in the big leagues for the first time, he may have an adjustment period in that sense. But he's adjusting to being a major league manager as compared to a manager. It will be a learning process, but given some of the success guys like Don Wakamatsu have had recently, is it really that big of a deal?

He's got something all these other guys don't. He's got a bond with the team. He doesn't have to earn as much trust and respect as someone like Acta or Valentine would.

That's huge.

"One might say I was groomed in this system," Lovullo said. "I was groomed by the people who just sat with me and talked baseball with me. There's a great level of comfort in a lot of different areas."

What I came away with in this is how... Assertive Lovullo was. The best part of the whole thing was when someone would ask him a question and he would take it on as if he was the only one that had the answer. The question would get asked, he'd say "certainly," pause and then answer the question.

The media used his as a spot to ask him a lot of questions about the team and about last season. Where as someone like Acta and Valentine weren't asked about Michael Brantley and Matt LaPorta. That is what happened here and Lovullo did great. Along with that, they asked him about certain things you could tell was directed at some of the flaws Wedge had.

Some of the qualities and ideas that Lovullo would bring to the table.

"What I think I'll bring to the team is some young, enthusiastic energy," he said. "I enjoy the art of teaching. I enjoy the idea of going out and being a leader. All managers possess the same qualities and have the same ideas. There are certain things you can do in the structure of being that leader that can help a ballclub. That's what my intentions are."

When asked about someone he looked up to as far as being a manager, he named Terry Francona.

When asked about what he would do to try and eliminate the slow starts, he went back to spring training and proposed an idea that I thought was absolute brilliance and something we should do anyway.

He said he'd take the team on the road three days before the season, as so many other teams are starting to do. End the idea of spring training coming to close and sort of implying that the team might feel a little bit more of a "oh man spring training is finally over!" attitude rather than one that would better prepare them for the season to start.

I loved that answer and idea. He hit it.

He was asked about lineups and bullpens. He was strong on establishing roles for pitchers in the pen, players on the bench, and establishing a set lineup. There isn't a better answer than that. He wants players to know where they are in the lineup or if they are in the lineup on a daily basis and he almost sort of poked at Wedge's misuse of Jensen Lewis in a way. I don't know if he did this knowingly, but he said he thinks some of the relievers last year might have struggled due to being taken out of a position they were comfortable in.

That's Jensen Lewis being turned into a long reliever. Pretty much on point.

Alright sum it up for us Torey.

"I'm a manager that's been in the system for eight years," Lovullo said. "I'm somebody who has dreamed of this opportunity and has prepared for this opportunity. I want the fans of Cleveland to understand I'm ready for this opportunity should it arise."

That is a determined individual that is ready to go. Don't tell him the other candidates have major league experience. Don't tell him possibly three of the other candidates are former major league managers. Don't tell him he's an afterthought because he is looked at as another Eric Wedge.

He isn't Eric Wedge, he is Torey Lovullo and he's bringing something new to the table. Mark Shapiro is going to have to be really convinced to pick Lovullo because of the circumstances and if he does, he'd be making one hell of a move. But Lovullo gave him plenty of reason to do so.

If anything, if anything at all. PUT HIM ON THE STAFF! Not much left to prove in Triple-A. Whoever you hire, you tell them, this guy is going to be on the staff, because he has way too much promise to continue to be at Triple-A. He's going to be a major league manager someday and he would be an asset to us.

Fire Everyone! - Carl Willis

Mon, 14 Sep 2009 11:40:12 -0500

This is the third installment in a 12-part series. The case is simple: Our pitching stinks, fire the pitching coach. While we've seen consistently good-to-great lineups for the past four years or so, our rotation has gone from a wonderfully deep collection of quality pitchers to an utter wasteland. As for our bullpens, the words "historically bad" have been used — without hyperbole — to describe four of the last six. In fairness to Willis, a recap ...

Tribe recall Jensen Lewis, Justin Masterson reports

Sat, 01 Aug 2009 12:39:02 -0500

According to an Indians press release dated today, the Tribe have called up Jensen Lewis from Columbus. Newly “acquired” RHP Justin Masterson is reporting with the team as well. To make room on the roster, the Tribe have designated LHP Mike Gosling and RHP Winston Abreu for assignment. The team has 10 days to cut, trade, [...]

Jensen Lewis Makes Annual Visit to Triple-A

Sat, 27 Jun 2009 16:50:24 -0500

We will likely never know the answer, but if the decision to send Jensen Lewis to Columbus was made before yesterday, he surely didn’t help his case very much by walking the first two batters he faced in yesterday’s 9-2 win over Cincinnati. Lewis (2-3, 5.03 ERA) will head down Rt. 71 to make room for [...]

Morning Update: Jensen Lewis Sent Down

Sat, 27 Jun 2009 07:39:00 -0500

Aside from Kerry Wood, Jensen Lewis is the only relief pitcher that has been on the active roster since opening day.

Until now.

Lewis couldn't run any longer, as he was optioned to Triple-A Columbus to make room for Jose Veras, who was acquired from the Yankees earlier this week.

I'm sort of sad that AC pointed this out right in the start of the article. Considering I had two spend two minutes going through all the names and trying to think if this was true.

Only to actually read the first line and see that my two minutes spent thinking could have been eliminated.

Jensen really pisses me off.. I want to get behind him so much, because I love what he brings to the table. But the constant home runs and inconsistency is really making it difficult to do. Wedge had a few words of advice and praise for Lewis, who he publicly criticized earlier this season.
"He's gotten a lot of experience in a short time," Wedge said of Lewis. "He has the heartbeat and the guts. But he needs to be more consistent controlling the baseball. He needs to drive the ball down where he's trying to throw it more consistently." So it looks like all Lil' Jeremy needed was a few runs to make him be aggressive.

WHY CAN'T YOU DO THAT ALL THE TIME JEREMY!
"Fortunately, we were able to score some runs," Sowers said. "That put me in a position to be more aggressive."If you are at your best when you are aggressive, you need to be aggressive. It got you through more than five innings for once, and you even won. If you can go 6-7 innings every night and turn in a game like that, that's all you need. You might not win every game, but that's okay. It's a lot more productive than going five innings every single time out and killing this bullpen.

Aside from Sout Pitches' start, the big story was the fact that for the first time since April, Travis Hafner, Victor Martinez, and Grady Sizemore were all in the same starting lineup.

And while those three only knocked in three of the runs, the offense as a whole blew up in a big way.

That's the good thing though... A guy like Hafner doesn't have to go 2-4 with four RBIs to have an impact. He can go 0-4 with a run scored and still create some opportunities for other hitters.

Now...

The even bigger story that was floating around before game time was Mark Shapiro addressing the media about Eric Wedge.

I think AC was pretty funny about what he said yesterday in the opening of his daily rundown. What's said is, that's true.

However I don't hold those reasons when I say Wedge should be excused from managing the Cleveland Indians.

What I can take from what Shapiro said is two things.

1. He has no intention of firing Eric Wedge, but he's also putting a heavy load on his own shoulders.

2. He likes to use the word juncture a lot.
"The accountability and responsibility for what has been a bad year is broad-based and shared," Shapiro said. "The arrow should not be pointed at Eric. It should point toward a broad spectrum -- players, our staff, Eric, myself, the front office. There's shared responsibility, and I'm accountable for all those groups." By saying he's accountable for all the groups, he's really putting himself on the line, which is pretty stand-up if you ask me. Indians.com Twitter page had this entry and it says a lot, which you might not understand unless you read the quote I just pasted above.

You might be saying, Why is Shapiro a total pro?

That quote is why he's a total pro. Other General Managers would have thrown their manager under the bus by now if you ask me. Not Mark. He's willing to put his job on the line in order to achieve success with this group of people, most specifically Eric Wedge.

Either that, or he believes he has an INSANE amount of job security to keep Wedge around as long as possible.

One thing that I think needs point out though is this.
"That's one area I'm not real sympathetic to," he said. "Championship players deal with distractions. They need to focus on their job. Good players and good teams filter distractions out." Shapiro is referring to the distraction of Eric Wedge being fired leading the Indians playing so cruddy at times.

I say that isn't the case.. But is there a possibility that Wedge had a strange stranglehold on this team that is preventing them from playing consistently?

I don't really think that's the case, but maybe I don't know anything.

I thought Bob Melvin holding his team back was for real. It sounded legit as far as him losing the clubhouse.

I also thought Clint Hurdle being fired wouldn't cure anything in Colorado and that their struggles were just because they overall weren't that much better than their record indicated.

Guess what, I was wrong in both cases.

Even though I've been on the fire Eric Wedge bandwagon for a week or so now, I've never waivered from the fact that Wedge commands his players repsect and they play hard for him.

But... As I said with those two examples, I could be dead wrong. They do play hard for Wedge, they play hard in general. But is there pressure of him getting to them? Who knows.

Terry Pluto's latest is very interesting. He has a scout say that out of the four lefties, Laffey, Lewis, Sowers, and Huff... That Huff is probably the closest one in terms of having the most potential as far as effectiveness.

Pluto also did some research that proves he's a just about a God.
6. Meanwhile, the Indians are talking about Sowers eventually moving to the bullpen. I did some searching on the Web, and I could only find a breakdown of how hitters do against him in the first 60 pitches. In pitches 1-30, they bat .210. In pitches 31-60, it's .413. Yes, there is a message in those numbers. Or try this: First time around .209, second time .281 and third time .500. All of that was heading into Friday's start.A three inning relief pitcher? It could work.. Let's piggy-back him with another starter and we've got ourselves one good pitched combined.

Brandon Backe was designated for assignment by the Astros. Too bad this didn't happen a few weeks ago when we needed starters. We still kind of do, but Aaron Laffey is almost ready and Scott Lewis might not be far behind. He's looking for a starting gig, but he's also relieved in the past. We've taken chances on a whole lot worse this year, why not Backe?

He had a injury to start his season, only really made on start for the Astros in the month he's played and has given up runs in each appearance. He's been a decent option in the past. Maybe given him a minor league deal, we are one team that anyone would love to hop on because you could get a shot at any point, as proved with Michael Gosling.

At this point, kind of stupid to even bother with Laffey coming back, but had this happened a few weeks ago, I bet we would have been on it.

Finally. It looks like Asdrubal Cabrera is going to need at least another game or two in Akron before they activate him. Some thought he'd be ready for today, but that isn't the case. Meanwhile, Aaron Laffey is expected to.. Or at least he is expecting to... Make one final rehab start on Sunday before being activated.

Indians Blow 7-0 Lead to Rays; Are We Having Fun Yet?

Fri, 15 May 2009 23:27:57 -0500

Long about the top of the fourth inning of Friday night's game, just about the time Shin-soo Choo blasted his two-run homer giving the Tribe a 7-0 lead, I began to think - "I'm finally having fun."

The baseball season is just about six weeks old now, and not one of those weeks has brought any enjoyment to Tribe fans.

That started to change this week.

Going into Friday's game, the Tribe had won 3 of their last 4 games, put together their first winning streak (2 games) since mid-April (also 2 games) and had whittled their deficit in the A.L. Central to 4 1/2 games.

And for the first 3 1/2 innings Friday, they were blowing out Scott Kazmir and the Rays.

And then all the ugliness of the first five weeks returned.

The offense shut down completely, putting up just two hits in the final 5 2/3 innings.

Starting pitcher Anthony Reyes was unable to get out of the sixth.

The bullpen - which seemed to be getting itself together at least a bit recently - took a sharp turn back toward hideous.

Tony Sipp, brought in to get out one lefty, walked that lefty.

Jensen Lewis followed, getting smacked for 3 hits and a run over 1 inning and leaving a mess for Raffie Betancourt in the seventh.

Betancourt came in with one out and runners on second and third and the Tribe still clinging to a 7-6 lead. A strikeout, an intentional walk and a popout later and it looked like maybe things might be OK.

Until the eighth inning, when Betancourt gave up a dinger to the first batter of the inning - Ben Zobrist.

And then the ninth inning when Luis Vizcaino - making his Tribe debut - gave up a blast to B.J. Upton - the first batter Vizcaino faced as an Indian - and we were right back where we've been for the past five weeks.

There was a time when this game was fun. I swear it. Sometimes it feels like it will never be that way again.

First Win At The New Stadium!

Thu, 14 May 2009 13:36:34 -0500

Well, Derek Jeter did it again. He was what many people call, “clutch”. As the game with the Cleveland Indians was tied 5-5 in the bottom of the eighth inning, and with two outs, Jeter stepped to the plate against Jensen Lewis and reminded everyone why he will be known as one of [...]

Indians Bullpen Update

Thu, 20 Nov 2008 19:06:27 -0500

I intentionally held off on this news until today as we had quite a bit of Indians news go down yesterday.A And heaven forbid we talk about all of our teams year rounda?? If you would have asked me a week ago about the Indians bullpen coach, I would have told you that it was a [...]

Perez Delivers His Message

Wed, 27 Aug 2008 11:29:05 -0500

CLEVELAND, OH - Rafeal Perez, left-handed relief pitcher for the Cleveland Indians, had

Whoa Nelly, How About a Tribe Win?

Tue, 12 Aug 2008 23:41:11 -0500

Jensen Lewis slams the door shut in his second save chance and the Cleveland Indians pick up their fifth straight win after a defeat of the Baltimore Orioles. Multiple players knocked in runs, but Asdrubal Cabrera had the big night.

Eric Wedge's Bullpen Management

Fri, 25 Jul 2008 11:05:29 -0500

Taking a closer look at the bullpen management of Cleveland Indians manager Eric Wedge. Tom Mastny's struggles, Jensen Lewis and former Indian Craig Breslow's success with the Minnesota Twins.

The Tribe offense - simply unwatchable

Tue, 20 May 2008 21:53:46 -0500

OK tell the truth. How many of you out there felt that, down 2-1 in the third inning against the Sox tonight, things seemed bleak. Almost hopeless. Another night, another miserable performance by the Tribe offense. Just how much more of this can you watch? I know I'm reaching the breaking point. Don't expect any pertinent points here, or any analysis worth a damn. We've done and read more than enough of that and the bottom line is you don't win if you don't score. It may be getting to be time to pull out that off-season list of literary classics four and and half months early. There is not one guy on this team hitting right now. Not a single one. In the only inning the Tribe had any real opportunity they played small ball and got their only run on the board. That was the highlight for the night. Eric Wedge keeps complaining that his offense isn't performing. Wedge's boss keep saying he can't turn things around with just one new bat from outside the organization. Maybe not. But at some point you have to try. On the other hand, the other teams have to be willing to cut guys loose. It's probably about a month too early for that. In the meantime, how can it hurt to give Andy Marte and Michael Aubrey a look. Just a little aside. It appears even the Web master at Indians.com is in a slump. In the eighth inning, with the Tribe sporting four base hits - three of them of the infield variety - the lead headline on the site read as follows "Indians' bats coming alive in support of ace" Indeed. Jensen Lewis is blowing up the ballgame right now. It's well past my bedtime. Good night nurse!

Sabathia continues his salarly drive

Sat, 05 Apr 2008 17:48:21 -0500

CC Sabathia's walk season is not starting out so well, to say the least. The big man - with big salary numbers dancing in his head - is putting up big numbers of his own, big, crooked numbers on the other team's side of the scoreboard. On Opening Day CC didn't make it out of the sixth, allowing 5 runs in 5 1/3 innings. Sabathia gave up 6 hits (2 of the them homers) and 3 walks in that aborted outing. He did strike out 7, indicative of the fact that CC was overthrowing, just as he did last year in the playoffs and often over the early years of his career when he was inconsistent. Today's outing, against the AAAA team masquerading as the Oakland A's, was a repeat of the man of girth's Opening Day performance. He logged 5 1/3 innings, 4 runs, 6 hits, four walks and just 2 Ks before giving way to Jensen Lewis. With FOX monopolizing coverage on Saturdays, and with two NY teams playing afternoon baseball, there was no shot at me seeing the Tribe today, so I can't really comment on how Sabathia looked. But the numbers paint a rather ugly picture. Sabathia was obviously tight during the playoffs, leading directly to his unacceptably bad performance in the post-season. With his walk year unfolding, it seems as though CC still has the apple stuck in his throat. He claims he didn't want to talk contract during the season because it would affect his concentration on the field. So far this year, it seems clear the contract - the big one that awaits him if he gets out onto the open market - is messing with his mind.