Here are nine Walk-Off Thoughts after Monday's flurry of news, which began with the Indians' nine-player deal with the San Diego Padres that sent Mike Clevinger to the West Coast and ended with the Indians' 2-1 loss to the Kansas City Royals.
1. The Indians' pitching development has long been the organization's backbone. And even if several key members of the rotation are no longer in Cleveland, it is the Indians' starting pitching that has helped to shape much of the roster and allowed the front office to go to that well time and time again on the trade market.
The Indians in 13 months have now traded two-time Cy Young Award winner Corey Kluber, Trevor Bauer and Mike Clevinger from their rotation, the last of whom was dealt to the San Diego Padres on Monday in a nine-player deal.
2. Most if not every team in baseball would bend over backwards to be able to boast those three pitchers within the same starting rotation. The Indians being able to trade all three while still, in the aftermath, being able to deploy one of the better rotations in baseball is a testament to their ability to develop pitchers and the work president of baseball operations Chris Antonetti and general manager Mike Chernoff have done within their financial constraints.
"We felt that we had some options that we could turn to in our rotation that allowed us to fortify other areas of our team. That’s what positioned us to do that," Antonetti said on a Zoom call. "Without the starting pitching depth we have, we wouldn’t have been in a position to make a trade like this. We’re excited to get a couple pitchers back in this deal that we do think have a chance to help us and be successful major league pitchers. We’re excited to partner with them and help them grow and develop into successful major leaguers."
3. Even without that trio, which represents three of the better starters in the game today when healthy, the Indians' rotation still features Shane Bieber, Carlos Carrasco, Aaron Civale, Zach Plesac — who returns on Tuesday — and Triston McKenzie. All five of those pitchers are under club control through at least 2023, and all but Carrasco are under control through at least 2024. Adam Plutko, Logan Allen, Sam Hentges, Scott Moss, Jefry Rodriguez and potentially a few others are all potential long-term options in the minors as well. That group now also includes Joey Cantillo, a left-handed prospect acquired from the Padres on Monday, who instantly becomes one of the Indians' top pitching prospects.
Kluber, Bauer and Clevinger, a group of massive pitching talent, are all gone, but their hand print on the organization via these trades will be felt all over the roster and through the farm system. The total haul for Bauer last July in a three-team deal, not including Yasiel Puig, who is no longer with the team: slugger Franmil Reyes, Allen, Moss and infielder Victor Nova. For Kluber, the Indians brought in highly regarded reliever Emmanuel Clase (who was then suspended for the season after failing a test for performance-enhancing drugs) and outfielder Delino DeShields. That was before Monday's package for Clevinger (along with outfielder Greg Allen and a player to be named later) that included three major-league pieces (outfielder Josh Naylor, right-handed pitcher Cal Quantrill, who for the time being will be in the bullpen, and catcher Austin Hedges) and three prospects (Cantillo, shortstop Gabriel Arias and infielder Owen Miller).
4. The Indians entered the trade deadline needing to address the outfield, which in many respects has offensively been baseball's worst, though Tyler Naquin has been a bright spot as of late. Monday's deal addressed that need without necessarily solving it — Naylor has a relatively high ceiling as a younger outfielder and a solid track record in the minors, and he figures to slide into the left field job — though the larger trade was more about the Indians dealing from a surplus of major-league starters to stockpile long-term value for a pitcher about to become more expensive over the next two seasons after 2020. The tradeoff is dealing a pitcher as talented as Clevinger, even at a position of surplus, will always hurt. But the outfield had to be addressed. To that end, the Indians added Naylor while adding a good deal of future value with a trio of prospects, along with Quantrill in the bullpen and Hedges behind the plate.
5. Naylor, who recently turned 23, is formerly a top-10 prospects in the Padres farm system. At Triple-A last season, Naylor hit .314 with a .936 OPS, 10 home runs and 20 doubles in 252 plate appearances before being promoted to the majors. He's posted a .253/.315/.405 slash line in 317 plate appearances in the big leagues, but he's been much better when away from pitcher-friendly Petco Park. On the road, Naylor that slash line improves to .280/.354/.452. Either line would be an improvement over what the Indians have gotten in left field thus far, but the latter line would signify a significant value on top of the other five pieces the Indians received.
"Unfortunately we haven’t had outstanding offensive numbers in a variety of areas. We do think that Josh’s track record in the minor leagues will help transition," Antonetti said. "I think even if you look at his small sample in the major leagues, he’s been a productive player and maybe more productive than some of the options, at least to date, than we’ve currently had.
"When you look around the game there were a lot more teams looking to acquire players than trade players. So, acquiring established major leaguers, it was not easy to do at this deadline. We did explore a number of other options both on the offensive side and the pitching side, but ultimately weren’t able to. This is the one that made sense for us and we think it does help us both now and in the future."
6. But the key term in why the Indians pulled the trigger on this deal: control. Five of the six players acquired in Monday's trade are under club control through at least the 2025 season. Only Hedges can hit free agency before then, after 2022. Along with the Bauer deal that added Reyes, Allen, Moss and Nova and the Kluber deal that added Clase, the Indians have tried to take advantage of a roster surplus to deal three players under shorter-term control in an effort to extend their contention window out a few more years, even after Francisco Lindor likely leaves for free agency after next season. Naylor isn't the established, All-Star slugger many fans would have liked to see added to the lineup. He has a high prospect pedigree, and the Indians are banking on his development a bit. But if the Indians can find a deal with enough value to address current and future needs, it's one they've shown they'll take.
"One of the things we’re seeking to do is impact this year and future years. This deal allows us to do that," Antonetti said. "We’re bringing back a blend of players both to our major league team and our system that will position us to do that. We’re excited about bringing Josh and Cal and Austin to our major league team and think they’ll help us in areas of need."
7. Like a man with two left feet trying the Tango, Indians pitchers Monday night struggled with rhythm and tempo. Indians ace Shane Bieber, for the second consecutive start, struggled with his command but managed to pitch through it to deliver a strong outing. Bieber allowed only one hit in six scoreless innings, striking out nine, but he also walked four as he again dealt with some command issues.
"Never really fell into a rhythm," Bieber said. "I’m a guy that kind of depends on getting into a rhythm early and that’s generally when I have my best outings. I struggled to find that rhythm. It was apparent from early on that their approach was kind of to make me throw pitches, not chase anything out of the zone. They weren’t really swinging at breaking balls underneath the zone and they were taking fastballs in the zone."
8. For Karinchak, it was tempo. Karinchak was nearly unhittable for much of the season until his previous outing in St. Louis, when he struggled to find the zone and gave up the tying run. Karinchak was again tagged Monday night in Kansas City.
"Just not executing and ultimately I just let the team down, let the bullpen down," Karinchak said. "Fortunately in St. Louis they picked me up and they scored, but tonight I just let the team down."
9. Bieber remains the front runner for the American League Cy Young Award. Karinchak is in the running to be a Rookie of the Year finalist and has been one of the better relievers in the game. Neither was roughed up Monday night, but both pitchers have started to run into smaller issues mechanically. All of a sudden, two of the more rock-solid pitchers in baseball this season are going to the film to find some answers.
"I was doing some different things with my delivery, which I was doing that last outing as well," Bieber said. "Tonight was a little bit different but that’s what makes it a little more frustrating maybe. I feel like tonight’s outing had the potential of — I pride myself on being able to throw a lot of innings and tonight’s outing had the potential of eight or nine and I didn’t have that consistency there from inning-to-inning. So, I think breaking balls for strikes definitely would’ve helped and then also located my fastball better than normal."
Ryan Lewis can be reached at rlewis@thebeaconjournal.com. Read more about the Indians at https://ift.tt/2WB0NvK. Follow him on Twitter at @ByRyanLewis.
"current" - Google News
September 01, 2020 at 12:10PM
https://ift.tt/3hO3CBQ
Indians again deal from starting rotation to add current, future value: Walk-Off Thoughts - Akron Beacon Journal
"current" - Google News
https://ift.tt/3b2HZto
https://ift.tt/3c3RoCk
Bagikan Berita Ini
0 Response to "Indians again deal from starting rotation to add current, future value: Walk-Off Thoughts - Akron Beacon Journal"
Post a Comment