It’s hard to believe, but this is the final series of the first half. The season seems to go by a little quicker each year, doesn’t it? The Yankees wrap up the first half and this ten-game road trip with four games in Cleveland against the first place Indians. The Indians are the only AL team the Yankees have yet to play this season.
What Have They Done Lately?
The Indians did something yesterday they had not done all season: lose to the Tigers. They were a perfect 11-0 (!) against Detroit prior to yesterday’s 12-2 loss. The Tribe have gone 2-3 since their franchise record 14-game winning streak ended Sunday. Yes, franchise record. The Indians have been around for 115 years and that was their longest winning streak ever. Crazy, right? Anyway, Cleveland is 51-33 with a +79 run differential overall. They have a big lead in the AL Central and the second best record in the AL behind the Rangers.
Offense & Defense
The Indians are the most balanced team in the AL. They don’t have a glaring weakness like, say, the Rangers’ bullpen or the Orioles’ rotation. Manager Terry Francona oversees a very good offense, one that is scoring 4.87 runs per game with a team 101 wRC+. They’re doing that even though OF Michael Brantley, their best hitter, has been limited to eleven games by offseason shoulder surgery. He had surgery, hurried back, played eleven games, then felt renewed soreness. Brantley is on the DL working his way back now. He won’t return this series.
Manager Terry Francona uses platoon leadoff hitters; OF Rajai Davis (109 wRC+) bats first against lefties while DH Carlos Santana (124 wRC+) does it against righties. Yes, the slow-footed Santana bats leadoff. It’s all about that OBP (.352), baby. 2B Jason Kipnis (103 wRC+) bats second, SS Francisco Lindor (114 wRC+) bats third, and 1B Mike Napoli (105 wRC+) bats fourth. Lindor is already a megastar. The only position players I would take over him right now are Mike Trout, Bryce Harper, Manny Machado, and Kris Bryant. He’s that good.
RF Lonnie Chisenhall (121 wRC+) plays everyday and so does UTIL Jose Ramirez (113 wRC+), who moves all around and seems to play a different position each day. CF Tyler Naquin (155 wRC+) and OF Abe Almonte (8 PA) join Davis and Ramirez as part of a big outfield platoon in left and center. C Yan Gomes (37 wRC+) and C Chris Gimenez (35 wRC+) handle catching duties. 3B Juan Uribe (67 wRC+) has been better of late, mostly because the Indians stopped playing him every single day. He’s a part-timer at this point of his career.
The Indians have improved their defense tremendously over the last year by calling up Lindor and Naquin, and adding Davis, Napoli, and Uribe. Kipnis is okay at second and Chisenhall will have his “third baseman playing right field” moments, but otherwise this team can catch the ball. Gomes and Gimenez are opposites behind the plate. Gomes is a great thrower and a poor pitch-framer while Gimenez is a poor thrower and a great framer.
Pitching Matchups
Thursday (7:10pm ET): RHP Ivan Nova (vs. CLE) vs. RHP Trevor Bauer (vs. NYY)
It seems Bauer, the third overall pick in the 2011 draft, is starting to figure things out at the big league level. The 25-year-old has a 3.02 ERA (3.46 FIP) in 95.1 innings spread across 12 starts and seven relief appearances. He’s getting way more grounders (50.6%) than ever before, leading to a career low home run rate (0.66 HR/9). His strikeout (22.3%) and walk (8.4%) rates are in line with his career norms, and his platoon split is tiny. Bauer is getting all those ground balls by throwing his mid-90s sinker more than ever before. It’s his main fastball now with his-90s four-seamer being a secondary offering. It used to be the other way around, four-seamer before sinker. Bauer’s wide array of offspeed pitches includes an upper-80s cutter, a mid-80s changeup, and an upper-70s curveball. For a while the knock on Bauer was that he had too many pitches — he used to throw a slider, a splitter, and even a screwball — and would get burned on his sixth or seventh or eighth best pitch. He’s cut down on his arsenal and is sticking to his five best pitches now.
Friday (7:10pm ET): RHP Chad Green (No vs. CLE) vs. RHP Corey Kluber (vs. NYY)
Two years ago Kluber, who earlier today was named to the All-Star team as an injury replacement for Marco Estrada, deservingly won the AL Cy Young award. He had a 2.44 ERA (2.65 FIP) in 235.2 innings that year. Last year those numbers jumped to 3.49 ERA (2.97 FIP) in 222 innings, and this year he owns a 3.79 ERA (2.96 FIP) in 114 innings. The ERA keeps going up even though his peripherals are off the charts good. Weird. Kluber, 30, has excellent underlying stats across the board — 24.9% strikeouts, 5.9% walks, 48.9% grounders, and 0.71 HR/9 — and lefties have had slightly more success against him than righties. In the past his platoon split was much bigger. The Klubot is a low-to-mid-90s sinker pitcher who uses a four-seam fastball at similar velocity in get-me-over situations. His low-80s slider is not of this Earth …
… and he also throws upper-80s cutters and low-80 changeups. Kluber has filthy, filthy stuff. His combination of raw stuff and command is in the top 1% of all pitchers.
Saturday (4:10pm ET): LHP CC Sabathia (vs. CLE) vs. RHP Danny Salazar (vs. NYY)
Salazar had a strong first full season as a big leaguer last year, and he’s taken his game to another level this year. The 26-year-old has thrown 99 innings of 2.36 ERA (3.30 FIP) ball, though his walk rate (11.0%) is way high. It was much better last season (7.0%). Not sure what’s going on there. Salazar’s strikeout (28.3%), grounder (47.5%), and homer (0.73 HR/9) numbers are all very good though, plus he has a big reverse split. That’s thanks to his nasty upper-80s changeup, which falls right off the table. Salazar sits in the mid-90s with his fastball — he’s hit 99.4 mph this season, per PitchFX — and also has a mid-80s slider and upper-70s curveball. Believe it or not, he only throws the two breaking balls roughly 10% of the time combined. He’s a fastball/changeup pitcher. Salazar made the All-Star team this year and is a candidate to start for the AL. He’s been that good.
Sunday (1:10pm ET): RHP Masahiro Tanaka (vs. CLE) vs. RHP Carlos Carrasco (vs. NYY)
A hamstring injury shelved Carrasco for about six weeks earlier this season, but, when healthy, he’s had a 2.47 ERA (3.90 FIP) in eleven starts and 69.1 innings. He’s been weirdly homer prone (1.30 HR/9), which is unlike the rest of his career. Carrasco’s strikeout (25.1%), walk (6.6%), and grounder (53.3%) rates are all marvelous. This is some rotation the Indians have. The 29-year-old Carrasco has no platoon split because he used five pitches regularly, led by his mid-90s four-seamer and sinker. Both his upper-80s slider and low-90s changeup are legitimate put-away pitches, and he’ll also throw a bunch of mid-80s curveballs per start too. Nasty, nasty stuff.
Bullpen Status
The Indians played a 19-inning game against the Blue Jays last Friday and they’re still trying to get their bullpen in order. They’ve been shuttling guys in and out on almost a daily basis since to make sure they have fresh arms. Bauer, who was scheduled to start the day after the 19-inning game, came out of the bullpen and threw five innings that game, then Cleveland went with a bullpen game the next day. These guys are definitely looking forward to the All-Star break. Here is Francona’s relief crew:
Closer: RHP Cody Allen (3.03 ERA/3.73 FIP)
Setup: RHP Bryan Shaw (4.41/5.01)
Middle: RHP Tommy Hunter (3.48/3.22), RHP Jeff Manship (2.13/4.67), RHP Zach McAllister (5.40/4.93), RHP Dan Otero (1.36/2.32)
Long: RHP Mike Clevinger (7.71/5.50), LHP T.J. House (1.2 IP)
The Yankees agreed to sign Hunter over the winter, you may remember. Then he failed his physical and the team walked away from the two-year agreement. Hunter instead had to settle for a cheap one-year deal with the Tribe. McAllister and Otero are former Yankees who never actually played for the Yankees. New York drafted McAllister in 2006 and traded him as a prospect for Austin Kearns in 2010. Otero spent a few weeks in the organization between offseason waiver claims in 2013.
The Tigers did the Yankees a favor and worked Cleveland’s bullpen yesterday. Hunter (17 pitches), McAllister (24), House (23), and Manship (18) all pitched. No one in their bullpen comes into today having worked back-to-back games though. Our Bullpen Workload page tells you everything you need to know about the availability of Joe Girardi’s relievers.
Leave a Reply
You must be logged in to post a comment.