DawgTalkers.net Forums DawgTalk Tailgate Forum Indians: Home Stretch

The other thread is locked so here we go...

I'm glad we pulled off another big win last night. Napoli has been a very good find for us in free agency. We didn't do well with that over the past few years (See: Swisher, Nick... Bourne, Michael).

Side note: Salazar is really worrying me lately. After being on the DL he had to leave the game early again. Hopefully, the training staff can get him righted again....

yeah, salazar looks like a different pitcher. tribe will need him

but I still like the way the Tribe has bounced back the past week or two

I agree. The bullpen was able to grind out a good win for us last night. Between Colon, McAllister, Otero, Shaw and Allen, they only gave up one hit and 2 walks against 4 strikeouts.

They didn't get much length out of Bauer the other day - he went 5. Last night, Salazar only gave them 3-2/3. And now today, we have an apparent "bullpen start", beginning with Clevinger. It would be unfair to expect Clevinger to go much more than 4 after weeks in the bullpen, even if he is a starter normally. Unfortunately, it appears the Indians are in the position of needing Tomlin to regain his early season form, because it doesn't look like they can count on Salazar.

Helps too that Balt is playing DET so these mean something for both teams

Let's go Tribe! (and White Sox, and Orioles, and Angels too!)

Nap has been great, and the fact we picked him up off the scrap heap pays even more dividends...I hope the FO actually pays people that perform, but alot of AL teams will be after him.

Salazar has never proven to be consistently healthy, its mostly his mechanics..with a violent delivery, its easy for him to lose his mechanics and then start to be erratic plus arm injuries are bound to happen, I think he'd be a good long bp guy or setup/close. I really think 80 pitches is his max. I'd even keep in the low 70's if he does come back for the season. Forearm tightness worries me. If i remember that is how it started before he had UCL surgery before. Hopefully it was just a case of him pressing after coming off DL. Give him a start off, come back and keep his pitch count down and hope for the best. I hope they give Clevinger more innings today, a bullpen game just says ok..you can win this one.. Though watching Clevinger more than 5 innings might be tough...Easily the most annoying prepitch routine..lol

IIRC, The Indians have an option on Nap for next season.

I don't think there's an option. According to Spotrac, its a straight 1 year $7M deal with some bonus money for plate appearances. He's UFA in 2017, with a market value of $13.2M ... and worth it, IMO.

http://www.spotrac.com/mlb/cleveland-indians/mike-napoli-445/

There is no option on Nap, the year he is having he priced himself out for us next year, unless we dump Brantley, someone will over pay him next season

Must be Santana the Indians have an option on then.

Yes - I think its about $14M, though. I'd do it, but I don't know if they will.

Correct

If Nick Swisher was worth $15M, then Napoli certainly is. If the Indians decide to pay it, then I think it will be at the expense of losing Santana. Can't see both of them being back next year.

Nap is worth it, for once the Dolans need to spend

They have to. $14M is a steal for that kind of production.

Francona is working his September magic.

His handling of Clevinger and the rest of the pitching staff is masterful.

Tigers are getting their teeth kicked in tonight.

We'll have to win this one in extras if we can get out of the 9th against the Twins. We sure had a few golden opportunities to get some runs tonight.

offense was freaking pathetic tonight, oh and i hate bullpen games...its just dumb and almost never results in a win.

Yes, the Indians have a $14M option on Santana.

As far as Napoli goes, the Tribe can extend him a $16M qualifying offer which may keep him here on a one year deal. All indications from Napoli are that he would like to comeback for another season. Tito might be able to talk him into staying.

Also, the Tribe will have $15M come off the total payroll next year from the Bourne and Swisher deal, as well as, Uribe's $4M and Tommy Hunter's $2M.

Chris Johnson is still on the hook for $9M in retained salaries, however.

With the uncertainty of Brantley's future, I think they try and lock up both Sanatana and Napoli for another year.

Well .... if the Indians had to lose, at least the Tigers also lost. That means the Indians magic number is down to 16.

yep, detroit losing is something i'll never complain about

Really? 10 pitchers gave up 2 runs in nearly 12 innings. If you want to be mad about something, think about Tito not walking Mauer - who owns us - with two outs, man on 2nd, and first base open. That's baseball 101 there, set up the force at any base, etc.

If the Indians manage to blow the division lead, they need look no further than the Twins, a AAAA team IMO. We're 9-9 against them this year, and 28-9 against the rest of the AL Central. Most annoying.

tribe won't blow it, but I agree the record against MIN was awful considering

We just struggle vs the Twins, We own Det this year baseball is a fickle chick

yeah i was mad about that too...i'm still waiting for this Tito magic everyone talks about..i haven't seen it. But yes, I'm still mad about the bullpen game...no reason to wear out your bullpen. If you're going to concede a game, then let clevinger go as far as he could. But yeah our bullpen was amazing, thats not what i'm mad about, just the concept. Our offense was pathetic and so was Tito's managing last night..luckily Tigers lost too.

i don't think satana is worth that kind of money, you can find a bat that can field for that money, Napoli can atleast field, if i had to pick I'd take napoli on a short deal than santana on a longer one...its hard to say, but santana other than home runs kinda sucks at the plate, hits into a ton of DP and strikes out, can't field. But he doesn't hit for average and isnt that great with RISP, and with the Dolans being so cheap i think its going to come down to either or..I'm taking the guy that will have over 100 RBIs

but the fact that we own an option makes it a pretty simple deal for them. Noone to compete against, Napoli will have alot of suitors. Going to be an interesting offseason depending on how far we go

Where can you find a player that hits like Santana hits on a one year deal for $16M?

(You can't.)

Tito's magic involves how our whole team got put together this year. We don't get Napoli here without Tito.That's just the tip of the iceberg.

Our team got built through smart management with the FO, and coaching staff. No way does our team get built like this without Tito here.

A .240 hitter that strikes out over 100 times a season and can't field. Sorry that's not hard

I think you're giving him too much credit, Napoli came here because we have his old hitting coach Burkleo. He never played for Tito

Todd Frazier could be a decent replacement. He's getting $7.5 this year and is a free agent in the offseason.

Here are his stats...

http://www.baseball-reference.com/players/f/frazito01.shtml

Tigers lost and the Indians are up 7-1

At least one Cleveland team is delivering today.

Could get the magic number down to 14.

Magic # is 14.

Kluber with another dominate performance. Nice win today.

7 games up on Detroit.

as Dave would say:

"At this pace the Tribe will finish 94-66"

Although I might add the Tribe still will have to earn it.

I think .500 ball the rest of the way gets us there.

The Tribe finish the season with the cream of the AL Central.

If the Indians play .500 ball over their last 20 games, the Tigers need to go 17-3 over their last 20 just to tie them. Its looking good, but you know what Yogi said ...