Time to kick it in gear Tribe....

[SoCalBrownsFan]

Here is a good article about the Tribe I found this morning. If history is any guide, the Tribe is in trouble already, yikes.

 

Yes, it’s time for the Indians to panic

By Jeff Passan, Yahoo! Sports

Apr 14, 11:04 am EDT

 

KANSAS CITY, Mo. – The Cleveland Indians reached the Panic Number on Monday.

 

This is not some nebulous figure. The Panic Number is serious business. It portends doom for those unlucky enough to tumble into it. A sub-.500 record is almost a given. Playoffs? Say it like Jim Mora, because the chances are that slim.

 

And the thing is, because teams reach the Panic Number roughly a week into the season, there’s a natural inclination to scoff at it, to laugh it off as some kind of reactionary hokum not worth discussing.

 

So before burying the Indians with more than 95 percent of their season to play, allow us to present a few facts: Over the past 25 full seasons, 45 teams in Major League Baseball have begun their seasons 1-6 or worse. Of those 45, eight have finished the year with a better-than-average record. And of those eight, only one – the 2007 Philadelphia Phillies – made the postseason. In which they were promptly swept.

 

 

See why we call 1-6 the Panic Number?

 

It gets uglier when looking at the full seasons of the wild-card era. Since 1996, only three teams have finished above .500 after starting 1-6: the ’04, ’06 and ’07 Phillies, who seem to have a knack for reversing ugly starts.

 

The Indians, on the other hand, have started 1-6 twice since 1982. They went 60-102 the first time, 61-101 the second. And after a 4-2 loss to Kansas City on Monday left them staring at that record and the grimy fate that almost always accompanies it, the Indians did what all teams that get off to bad starts do: They got defensive and said they’d turn it around.

 

“What are we, seven games into the season?” Indians catcher Kelly Shoppach said. “I think we’re OK. Still got some time to make up some ground.”

 

Link to rest of article

 

 

So in other words, get your ass in gear and start winning now Indians.

 

 

[Beanpot]

Yeah, it's getting late early, or however that goes. Nice to see them get a W today in KC.

 

Beanpot

[The Italian DawgPound]

It might not be the turnaround, but it feels good to win one!

[ClevelandFanForLife]

eric wedge's m.o. is that his teams always have a bad month that screws them over the entire year. hopefully this will be their only bad month.

[SoCalBrownsFan]

eric wedge's m.o. is that his teams always have a bad month that screws them over the entire year. hopefully this will be their only bad month.

 

 

I still don't like Wedge.

[Beanpot]

eric wedge's m.o. is that his teams always have a bad month that screws them over the entire year. hopefully this will be their only bad month.

 

I kinda like Wedge. He's far from perfect, but I root for the guy.

 

Ocker writes about a pep talk given by Wedge:

 

Wedge gives early pep talk

By Sheldon Ocker

Beacon Journal staff writer

POSTED: 08:18 p.m. EDT, Apr 15, 2009

 

KANSAS CITY, MO.: Indians officials did not send an advisory to the Guinness Book of World Records, but when manager Eric Wedge addressed his troops after only eight games Tuesday night, it might have established an American League mark, at the very least.

 

But there was no use waiting around, inasmuch as the Tribe had only one win.

 

''I talked to these guys after the game,'' Wedge said Wednesday. ''They have to get back on track and think that good things are going to happen.''

 

Wedge sensed that persistent losing — especially the 9-3 loss Tuesday night to the Kansas City Royals — was beginning to play on their psyches.

 

''I felt like yesterday's game really beat them up pretty good,'' he said. ''I want them to have as much confidence in themselves as I do in them.''

 

Wedge is paid to maintain an air of confidence, which is supposed to spread to his players. But he seems genuinely positive about the team, regardless of its horrid start. So the theme of his late-night meeting was not to scold, but to offer encouragement.

 

''The effort, the energy and the attitude are all there,'' Wedge said. ''Nobody is more upset and frustrated than they are, and we as a staff have to help them get the right mind-set.''

 

That said, there are real problems to resolve.

 

''There are three areas we need to address,'' Wedge said. ''We need better starting pitching; we've got to start making plays, and we need to do a better job with runners in scoring position.''

 

Wedge used Jhonny Peralta's RBI bloop single Tuesday night as an example of how to be more productive with runners on second or third.

 

''It's more of a mind-set than anything,'' he said. ''If we just put the ball in play regularly [with runners in scoring position], we'd be in a lot better shape right now.''

 

The Indians will open the new Yankee Stadium this afternoon, which is regarded as a historic event not only in New York, but also throughout baseball. But all of that is far from Wedge's thoughts.

 

''You know I'm always focused on today, anyway,'' he said. ''And the way things are now, tomorrow is about a week away as far as I'm concerned.''

 

http://www.ohio.com/news/break_news/43070932.html

 

Beanpot

[Beanpot]

Not that this fits anywhere, but it's a terrific article about Mike Chernoff and his contributions to the front office:

 

Falling economy means a whole new ball game

by Ron Kaplan

NJJN Features Editor

April 16, 2009

 

Any baseball fan following the sports and economic news over the winter knows that, with the expected exception of the New York Yankees, the latest batch of free agents didn’t do too well. Salaries weren’t as high and contract lengths weren’t as long as in previous years.

 

Such decisions come from people like Livingston native Mike Chernoff, director of baseball operations for the Cleveland Indians.

 

Chernoff is involved in player acquisitions and analysis. “There’s two aspects,” he told NJ Jewish News while the Indians were in still in spring training. “One is scouting, where [they] will watch players and tell us their gut feelings about how those players are going to do. The other side is actually analyzing a player’s statistics and putting them in context. If you watch a player in Double A, you can get a lot of information from that, but it would be more helpful to know if, at the park that he happened to be playing in, the fences are much further and the wind is always blowing in.”

 

Surprisingly, a lot of the research materials the Indians and other teams use are readily available to the general public, including books like Baseball Prospectus and other publications. “I think a lot of the work that’s being done in the blogger community and Baseball Prospectus community is really cutting-edge stuff, so we’re always on top of that,” Chernoff said. (The Indians even hired a writer from BP to head their analytics department.) On the other hand, he said, the team also developed “a lot of things in-house that no one ever heard of.”

 

Chernoff didn’t plan on a career in sports. As an economics and finance major at Princeton University, he was interested in several other fields, including consulting, banking, and government. “I had done an internship with a senator in Washington, DC, before my junior year in college and loved that work,” he said. “It wasn’t until I completed an internship with the Mets between my junior and senior years that I realized how passionate I was about not only the game of baseball but about working in the game. Heading into my senior year, I began to pursue the field more seriously.

 

“A lot of things I’m working on are not necessarily the things I worked on in school, but…the economics background gives me a base for decision-making.”

 

Like one of his team’s minor league hopefuls, Chernoff — now in his sixth year with the Indians and the third in his current position — came up through the ranks, starting as an intern following his graduation from Princeton.

 

The Indians home ballpark, Progressive Field (originally Jacobs Field), which opened in 1994, was one of the first “retro” ballparks and set a record for consecutive sellouts, a streak that spanned more than seven seasons. That’s no longer the case.

 

“In Cleveland, the economy hasn’t been great for awhile,” Chernoff said. “Since our new ownership came in [Cleveland attorney Larry Dolan bought the team in 2000], we’ve had to cut back on payroll tremendously. So it’s not anything that new to us.” The degree, however, is much more extensive. “This free-agent market over the past off-season really showed some of the realities of this economic uncertainty.”

 

Chernoff married Sarah Keil, his high school sweetheart, in January. The couple lives in Cleveland Heights. They enjoy their surroundings, but Chernoff admits it was “a difficult transition” for a young man who grew up in northern New Jersey. “I couldn’t be happier with my job and the people I get to work with every day,” he said. “But I miss the East Coast for sure.”

 

http://www.njjewishnews.com/njjn.com/04160...ewBallgame.html

 

Beanpot

[Oldcrow1945]

Bean, you and I on the same page on a lot of stuff but not on Eric Wedge.

I like Eric personally. I think he seems like a really good guy. But I'm not a fan of his managerial skills.

 

He does things at times that just makes me scratch my head.

One of my biggest complaints is his constant changing of the lineup, especially just when a player seems to be coming out of a slump. He did it so many times last year I couldn't keep count. He has already done it this year. Mark Derosa hit his first HR of the season....Started looking better at the plate. ....The next game? Tony Gaff is playing third! Why would you sit a guy just as his swing seems to be coming into place?

I honestly think that Wedge has guys penciled in to play at certain points and in certain games in advance and regardless what is happening with the team at that time he sticks to that plan.

 

I about fell over (But I shouldn't be surprised) when I saw the lineup the day after Derosa hit his HR.....One of the things we see in baseball more than any other sport is players getting into zones....They get into zones where the ball looks like a grapefruit and they hit everything thrown at them....This being the case, why would you ever sit a guy when he's just starting to hit? If I'm the manager and you hit a HR for me today, you are going to be playing tomorrow too!! I'll rest you when you cool off.

Wedge did this so many time last year that my family started making a joke about it....If someone had a big day we'd all say 'Well, he'll be sitting tomorrow!"

 

I think these are the kind of nuances that make a difference between a good manager and a bad manager.

 

If the Tribe doesn't turn things around soon I hope you guys won't mind but I have to start a Wedge death watch thread.

I heard Shapiro on the radio the other day and I was surprised that he sounded a bit pissed....He wasn't happy at all.

I figured we'd hear a lot of PC junk about it being early but it wasn't that at all.

[The Italian DawgPound]

Ehm...is anybody watching the game in New York? Oh boy, oh boy!

[LCDawgFan13]

They've officially kicked it into HIGH gear!!! At least for this game! Go Tribe!!! Way to break in the new ballpark! I'm sure the Yankees love it!

[SoCalBrownsFan]

Beat the Stinkin Yankees!!!

 

GOOOOO TRIBE!!!!!!!

[The Italian DawgPound]

Home sweet home at the new Yankee Stadium!

Good job, Tribe!

Now: KEEP GOING!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[manbearpig]

How about Cliff Lee outpitching C.C. in the first game at the new stadium? How about the first grand slam in the new stadium?? How about massive waves of boo's flooding the field from every Yankoff fan in the new stadium?? Go Tribe!! Way to give them some good memories of the opening day in their precious new stadium!

[SoCalBrownsFan]

How about Cliff Lee outpitching C.C. in the first game at the new stadium? How about the first grand slam in the new stadium?? How about massive waves of boo's flooding the field from every Yankoff fan in the new stadium?? Go Tribe!! Way to give them some good memories of the opening day in their precious new stadium!

 

 

I love how they kicked the Yankees ass, let's keep it rolling today with another win.

 

Good stat:

 

First grand slam in the Old and New Yankee stadiums were hit by Indian center fielders, Grady Sizemore's blast yesterday, and Tris Speaker in the original Yankee Stadium.

 

 

[Beanpot]

Bean, you and I on the same page on a lot of stuff but not on Eric Wedge.

I like Eric personally. I think he seems like a really good guy. But I'm not a fan of his managerial skills.

 

I can't really disagree with much of your post. I'm not in death watch mode so much, but I understand and agree with many of the criticisms.

 

As for his lineup changes, I don't have the numbers from last year but he led baseball in 2003 with 145 different lineups. That number has shrunk a bit recently as he was in the mid-teens from 2004-2007: 114, 111, 111, 117.

 

Not that those numbers mean much, as discussed in this article:

 

There's a very slight relationship in which teams that use fewer lineups tend to win more games. As you can see from the scatter chart, it's not very strong, and explains only a portion of variance. Of course, the cause and effect are important to consider: teams that are healthy and winning have less incentive to voluntarily change lineups, since what they are doing is working. It's the teams who are losing who might as well try something different, from changing the batting order to taking a look at some prospects. Injuries will force any team to adapt. Mostly, though, strong teams lead to using fewer lineups, not vice versa.

 

http://www.baseballprospectus.com/article....&mode=login

 

I do consider lineup construction to be the barometer of a manager and I find it unconscionable to have Tony Graffanino's name near the lineup card. That's on the organization as much as it is Wedge. The organization is guilty of giving Wedge the option and he's guilty of using it. Shame on both of them.

 

That said, I'll defend Wedge a bit on his ever changing lineups - he's used nine of 'em this year: This team has the somewhat unique makeup of one of their best hitters having the ability to catch and one of their other best hitters having the same ability. That's a pretty cool problem that'll explain several different lineups. Won't begin to explain away the Graffanino nonsense, but I think it's a fair explanation for multiple lineups in general.

 

Just FWIW, here's a neat article from last year that deals with the ever evolving strategies of field managers:

Baseball Dares to Be Different

No Longer Hidebound, Team Managers Toss Their Own Rule Books

By DARREN EVERSON

 

Aside from when they take umbrage with an umpire, baseball managers are obedient, orthodox people. For years, they've all basically managed the same way, arranging their hitters and deploying their pitchers in strict adherence to accepted practice. Even those nose-to-nose spats scream conformity.

 

But a number of major-league managers have been more creative this season, making moves that challenge the sport's sacred status quo. Pitchers -- generally the weakest hitters on National League teams -- are often batting before stronger-hitting position players in the Milwaukee Brewers' and St. Louis Cardinals' lineups. Three teams, influenced by nasty pregame weather reports, have used relievers as starting pitchers. And on the Atlanta Braves, the pitchers aren't always pitchers.

[The Texas Rangers' Ron Washington, Atlanta Braves' Bobby Cox and St. Louis Cardinals' Tony La Russa.]

 

Managers of Invention: From left to right, the Texas Rangers' Ron Washington, Atlanta Braves' Bobby Cox and St. Louis Cardinals' Tony La Russa.

 

When Chris Resop, a Braves relief pitcher, was warming up in the bullpen during an April 3 game against the Pittsburgh Pirates, the coaches asked when he had last played the outfield. "I said a few years ago in the minors. And that's where they left it," Mr. Resop says. "I had no idea why they asked."

 

Braves manager Bobby Cox was desperate, and he was plotting an ingenious plan. He was nearly out of right-handed pitchers, and players can't re-enter a game after they've been removed. If Mr. Resop, a righty, could play the outfield, that would allow Mr. Cox to replace him on the mound temporarily -- and use a lefty specialist to pitch to Adam LaRoche -- without losing him entirely. So after Mr. Resop pitched to three batters in the top of the 10th inning, Mr. Cox had him go to left field. When Mr. Resop returned to the pitcher's mound one batter later, it marked the first time a pitcher had pitched, played the field and pitched again in the same game since Jeff Nelson of the Seattle Mariners in 1993, according to the Elias Sports Bureau.

 

Though Mr. LaRoche struck out, Mr. Resop allowed a go-ahead single after he returned to pitch. The Braves went on to lose, 4-3. But Mr. Resop says he still thinks it was a wise move, not to mention a fun one. ("I was ready to throw somebody out at home," he says.) Teams around the league took note. "We talked about what Bobby did," says Doug Melvin, the Brewers general manager. "We said, 'We've got to keep that in mind.' We thought about what pitchers of ours could do that. David Riske [a Brewers reliever] used to play shortstop."

 

Thanks to Mr. Cox's tenure and standing in the game (he ranks fourth on the all-time managerial win list) he has more latitude than most managers to try new things. But baseball has long discouraged such outside-the-box thinking, and the manager who makes an unusual move has to answer to second-guessing fans and reporters if it backfires.

 

"A blunder by a manager is a move that is A) unconventional, doesn't work and C) occurs at a moment of focus in the game," says Bill James, senior baseball-operations adviser with the Boston Red Sox. "If you put those three things together, you have a blunder. As long as you do what's conventional, you won't be accused of a blunder."

 

In recent years, however, the sport has grown more accepting of alternative views, and particularly of the statistics-based analysis pioneered by Mr. James. In addition, a new breed of owners who made their money in media or on Wall Street -- arenas where unorthodox ideas and strategies are more central to success -- has embraced forward-thinking, chance-taking front-office staff.

[illustration]

 

Second-year skipper Ron Washington, whose Texas Rangers had been pounded for years by Los Angeles Angels star outfielder Vladimir Guerrero, continues to employ a novel defense against him: the "infield shift," in which three infielders play on the left side of the diamond, preying on Mr. Guerrero's tendency to hit in that direction.

 

The shift has been around for decades -- it was used famously against Ted Williams, the Boston Red Sox Hall of Fame outfielder, and teams commonly use it today against David Ortiz, Jim Thome and other sluggers. The difference is that those are all left-handed hitters. Shifting against lefties is easier because, by shifting toward right field, the infielders have a reasonably short throw to first base. Conversely, right-handed hitters like Mr. Guerrero almost never face a shift.

 

It's worked for the Rangers, relatively speaking. Before Mr. Washington's arrival, Mr. Guerrero hit .431 with 20 home runs as an Angel against Texas, averaging a homer every 10.6 at-bats. Since Mr. Washington took over, Mr. Guerrero is hitting a still-robust .333, but with just one home run total in 84 at-bats. "Maybe, if nothing else, it gets in his head a little bit," says Jamey Newburg, author of The Newberg Report, a Rangers blog and annual book.

 

An Angels spokesman says Mr. Guerrero isn't focused solely on home runs, and that he has gotten base hits by hitting away from the shift. Mr. Guerrero is "somebody who's not affected by things," he says.

 

New York Yankees manager Joe Girardi, in his first month leading the club, let the weather forecast dictate his choice of starting pitchers in an April 9 game against the Kansas City Royals. He figured the game might be shortened due to rain, and didn't want to risk wasting Ian Kennedy, his scheduled starter.

 

Mr. Girardi made the unusual decision to start a relief pitcher instead -- in this case Brian Bruney. (The teams played through the rain, and the Yankees lost, 4-0 -- although Mr. Bruney held the Royals scoreless in his two innings. Mr. Kennedy came into the game in the sixth.) The San Francisco Giants and Los Angeles Dodgers used the same strategy in a game against each other on April 2.

 

In defiance of longstanding National League tradition to hit pitchers ninth and last, the Brewers this season began to hit their pitchers eighth, in front of catcher Jason Kendall on the days he plays. The decision was based on mathematics. The team -- whose principal owner, Mark Attanasio, is an investment banker who bought the club before the 2005 season -- computed that the move could bring an additional 30 runs scored over the course of the season, says Mr. Melvin, the Milwaukee general manager. Management figured Mr. Kendall's skill at getting on base would give the hitters at the top of the order more baserunners to drive in. Tony La Russa, manager of the St. Louis Cardinals, has been doing this as well.

 

No matter what the math says, though, whenever their weak-hitting pitchers come to the plate in a key, run-scoring situation, the Brewers invite dissent with their unconventional move. "I must say: I've got a wary eye toward the pitcher batting eighth," says Jim Powell, a Brewers announcer. "What the statistics can't show you is it undermines your No. 7 batter." The reason, he says, is opposing teams will pitch around the No. 7 batter, knowing the punchless pitcher is next.

 

But if Mr. Melvin had his way, the Brewers organization might be even more progressive. He has another counterintuitive idea: using relievers to start the game, and delaying the "starting" pitcher's entrance until the third inning or so. The thinking is that starters are typically among a team's best pitchers, yet nowadays they often pitch only through the fifth or sixth inning, well before many games are decided. By having them pitch later, they'd be around for the higher-leverage innings.

 

The idea would need to be tested first in the minor leagues, Mr. Melvin says. The only problem, it appears, is that it's too unconventional. "I can't get anybody to do it," he says.

 

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB120907935062743195.html

 

Beanpot