DawgTalkers.net Forums DawgTalk Tailgate Forum 2017 Indians Thread #3

Since the other thread is locked.....

Jordan Bastian Verified account
@MLBastian

Jay Bruce this season: .258, 29 HR, .847 OPS
All Indians outfielders: .276, 38 HR, .787 OPS

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Does anybody know anything about the Minor League pitcher the Indians gave up to get Bruce? Just curious because the Reds just traded Bruce to the Mets this time last year for a 2nd Baseman whose at AAA and the Reds think he could possibly be their 2nd Basemen of the future plus a class A pitcher who they think has some talent but it is struggling.

Jordan Bastian Follow
MLB.com’s Indians reporter.
Aug 10

“We’ve had interest in Jay for years.”

On Wednesday night, the Indians pulled off a trade to acquire Mets slugger Jay Bruce, who recently cleared waivers. Cleveland sent Minor League pitcher Ryder Ryan to New York and agreed to pick up the remaining money on Bruce’s $13-million salary for this season.
Here is the Q&A with Chris Antonetti, the Indians’ president of baseball operations, following the deal.

Opening comments:

CA: “We’re really excited to announce the acquisition of Jay Bruce. Obviously, Jay’s track record speaks for itself. He’s been one of the more productive offensive right fielders in baseball for the course of the last 10 years of his career. He’s been a consistent power threat and a guy that’s been able to hit in the middle of the order and be a really productive hitter over the course of his career. And he’s in the midst of having one of the best years of his career in terms of his power output and his slugging, and he’s a guy that we think will add to our group on the field and complement our team in the clubhouse, because Jay’s also not only known as a really productive player, but a very good teammate and a first-class professional. We think he should fit in well with us and help us out for the stretch run.”

Q: Did the injuries to Michael Brantley (10-day DL, right ankle sprain) and Lonnie Chisenhall (10-day DL, right calf strain) lead to this move?

CA: “Well, I think the combination of the two provided the opportunity to bring someone in like Jay and get him at-bats. Obviously, if both Michael and Lonnie are healthy and unrestricted at this point, we wouldn’t have the opportunity for a player like Jay. But, with Lonnie still at least a little ways off from being able to get out on a rehab assignment and get back to the active roster, and Michael sustaining the injury the other day, now we felt that bringing in Jay will help us while those guys are out.”

Q: Is there any more clarity on how much time Brantley might miss?

CA: “No. We don’t have a lot more information than we had earlier today, other than that it’s an ankle sprain and we’ll have to see how he responds to treatment over the course of the next few days to get a better timetable.”

Q: How long has this trade been in the works?

CA: “We’ve had interest in Jay for years. We’ve tried to acquire him at a number of different junctures in the past. I think what accelerated things for us was Michael sustaining his injury. Once that happened, we reengaged the Mets and were able to work things out.”

Q: You’re picking up all of Bruce’s salary?

CA: “We are. Yeah, we are. And I think that’s an important element to note. As I’ve said consistently, ownership has been incredibly supportive in trying to put the best team possible on the field and give us a chance to earn a postseason berth and advance to the World Series. This is just the most recent example of what’s been a consistent track record for them in trying to do that, and providing us the necessary resources to try to make that happen.”

Q: Did you talk to the Mets about a Bruce trade before the July 31 non-waiver Trade Deadline?

CA: “We’ve had some discussions on and off with the different teams Jay has been with over the course of the last few years. At different points of time, there have been more obvious roster fits than at others. And so, obviously, we didn’t make a trade for him prior to the Deadline, because at that point we weren’t sure where exactly we’d have the at-bats.”

Q: Does this mean Chisenhall’s return is going to take longer than expected?

CA: “Not necessarily, but he’s still a few days at least away from participating in rehab games. And then, with the amount of time Lonnie’s missed, he’s going to have to get some number of Minor League at-bats to be able to get back his timing and get back to being ready to contribute at the Major League level. We’re about to embark on a long road trip and we’re playing some tough competition and we felt it was important to try to bolster our roster until Michael and Lonnie get back.”

Q: What can you tell us about Ryder Ryan?

CA: “It’s actually a great story. A 30th-round pick, but a guy that’s got really good stuff. Good fastball. Good breaking ball. Had success at Lake County this year and has a chance to pitch in a Major League bullpen.”

Q: Where will Bruce fit into your lineup?

CA: “He’s been in a middle-of-the-order bat throughout his career. Where exactly he’ll hit, I’ll leave that up to Tito to work through, but I’m sure we’ll talk about that here over the next couple of days. But, ultimately, Tito will decide where that best place is for him.”

Q: He’ll play every day in right?

CA: “I think Jay throughout the course of his career has played regularly as a right fielder. He’s played a little bit at first base here this year, but we certainly expect him to play regularly for us.”

Q: How challenging has it been to deal with the assortment of outfield injuries and issues that have come up all season long?

CA: “It’s been a bit of a complicated thing to work through, because a lot of the injuries, or a lot of the issues we’ve had to navigate, have been short-term or at least uncertain duration. And when you have that uncertainty, it’s hard to plan for it and it’s hard to figure out, OK, what are the right acquisitions to make to help the team? How do the pieces fit together, not only immediately, but as you start to look out a few weeks and a few months. That’s been part of the challenge, and I think we talked about that as we were approached the non-waiver Trade Deadline.”

Q: Will Bruce be with the team in Tampa Bay on Thursday?

CA: “We’re working through the logistics right now. He traveled with the Mets to Philadelphia tonight, and he had his family with him. So, we’re trying to work through that and see when he can join the team and be ready to go. It’ll be in the next day or two. Most likely tomorrow.”

— JB

Article

He was a 30th round pick of the Indians. I honestly had never heard of him until the trade.

Ryder Ryan Profile

The luxury tax just helped a small market team get a player instead of a big market team.

Good info. Thanks.

Ditto Milk Man

Very interesting reads on this acquisition.

30th round pick with a 4.79 ERA in single A YAWN. We gave them next to nothing, but we took 3.7 million off their payroll.

Tribe is making too many banjo pitchers look like CY Young candidates.

Oh no.

Looks like Kipnis is reinjured.

So just to clarify, over the last 3 games, the Tribes starting pitchers have pitched 21.1 innings, given up 3 runs, and had 28 strikeouts... and a 9th inning 2 out rally is the only reason we aren't 0-3...

This is a conservative “hope” for Jay Bruce’s stats for the rest of the 2017 season with the Indians.

I calculated these numbers by taking what Bruce has done so far this season and applied that to the number of games the Indians have remaining.

In other words, this is what Bruce will do if he keeps the same pace he’s been at so far this year.

Indians have played 112 games.

112/162 = 69% of the season has been played. 31% left.

Bruce so far this year:

AB - 407
Hits - 104
2B - 20
HR - 29
Ave - .256

Bruce Remainder of 2017

AB - 182
Hits - 46
2B - 9
HR - 13
Ave - .256

Obviously this is what the Indians hope to see from Bruce for the rest of the year.

Anything more is icing. Anything less is a disappointment.

Fangraphs is probably the best baseball website on the internet. They have three different projections systems that are pretty reliable (they adjust for stadium, league, etc.)

Here is the link for Jay Bruce's page:

http://www.fangraphs.com/statss.aspx?playerid=9892&position=OF

The projections for the rest of the 2017 are the ones with the 'R' in parenthesis (R). Your numbers are not too far off.

Wow. Interesting.

So, let’s see. Clevinger’s pitching today.

I give the Indians a 1 out of 3 chance of winning the game.

Clevinger started the year on fire but lost his confidence over the glove incident. He’s given up 10 earned runs in the last 7 1/3 innings.(12.3 ERA) since then.

If I was managing the Indians, I’d send Clevinger down to the minors probably to never be heard from again.

But that is one of the Indians greatest assets (I’m not the manager).

Pitching Clevinger today is classic “Francona managing for September”.

We’ll probably lose the game. But maybe, just maybe something will click with Clevinger.

Classic Francona.

Hey, have the Indians and Royals been so bad that the Twins are back in the picture?

Cool "throw-back" Indians uniforms tonight from the early 70s.

I don't remember them.

Those are the uniforms that Boog Powell said made him look like the world's biggest blood clot. Worst Indians' uni's ever.

Brooooooooooooooooooooooce!

quote by Dave:



The big ol' Booger.

Tastes good.

j/c...

Postgame interview with Tito...

When asked about tonight's Indians throwback uniforms...

Francona: "No offense to the the 70's, but I work too hard to dress this ridiculous."

Ha!

Those unis were hard to watch but the shutout was a beautiful thing.

So Clevinger can't wear a grey glove because it's too "distracting", but they can wear those red jerseys??

yeah, i thought my TV was broken for a second when i saw the uniforms

If we want #2 in the AL, we have to start playing better now.

We have ground to make up

ACID FLASHBACK

Indians' lead goes to 4-1/2 games in the Central; Twins blew a 5 run lead in Detroit and lost 12-11. Its nice to have two shutouts in a row and THEN have Kluber on the hill. Amazing how much better things look when starting pitching is going well. Still need to wake up those bats, though.

Clevinger threw a nice game last night. Hopefully, that helps boost his confidence a little.
Bruce has fit in nicely so far and contributed when needed.

I guess I'm in the minority on the uniforms. I really like the red jerseys, especially with the font that is on them. I would just like to see them wear pants that were white or maybe blue.

Either way.... Go Tribe!!!

Same for me. I love the style of those jerseys. In fact, I have a button-up version like those instead of the pullover. Don't like the all red at all, though. With white pants they would look great. That would make for an awesome fourth jersey.

Would love to see them use those hats instead of the block C, too. Much more distinctive.

Looking forward to being able to watch one of the rare Indians games I get to see out of market on tv today on TBS. With Klubot, too! Roll Tribe!

Tomorrow's makeup game against Boston was to be on ESPN as well to make up for the rained out one a few weeks ago, but apparently they dropped it in favor of the Yankees-Mets game instead.

Haven't seen you post before - welcome to the board. Always good to have another Indians' fan. Try as I might, I have not been able to find a decent Indians' message board. Its kind of funny that I have to come to a Browns' message board to talk Tribe, but there it is.

I'd only seen the red jersey's on old baseball cards .. they are VERY stark, especially in HD. I don't mind them a few times per year

I remember the players complaining that they were hot as balls to wear on a summer day. Back in the 70's, they were made of doubleknit fabric, which is what they made those wretched leisure suits out of. It just doesn't "breathe" - guys were having heatstroke, cramps and dehydration from wearing them on hot summer days.

I can see that, which makes sense. Obviously they wouldn't have that trouble today (I think)

Thank you! I've only posted a few times and usually just lurk.

It's nice to have a place to get my Browns and Indians fixes living such a distance away and hear what the other fans think instead of the media.

Used to have the Kinston Indians just down the road from where I live here and got to see a lot of the prospects in the past. Also, Chisenhall played ball at the local community college and Shawn Armstrong at the local university. Hoping to make it to see Lynchburg play the new team in Kinston later this season.

quote by 252:



Hey 252, you should be able to get a "remaining season" special price from MLB.com for ~ only $20.

That's not only every Indians game (48 more games) but every MLB team.

I did it last year (like this time for ~ $20) and got to watch some great September Indians games last year.

This year I waited until ~ July 4h and paid ~ $50 for the rest of the year.

Yeah, I actually just got an email the other day that it was available for $17.99. Unfortunately I don't have a way to stream the games to the TV at the moment. I was using my laptop but it just died on me recently. So hoping to sign up for the package next year.

Crazy thing with that is I'm considered to be in the Nationals and Orioles regions, even though MASN (their local broadcast channel) isn't available through my cable company. So those games get blacked out with no way to watch. Glad the Tribe doesn't play them often.

252:

I live in Connecticut which is a Yankee, Mets and Red Sox black-out area.

That's too many good Indians games too miss.

But there's an easy way around this using a web-site called Unlocator.com.

It somehow makes your PC address look like it's somewhere else (like Timbuktu). And it's very cheap. (under $10/month).

I get all the Red Sox and Yankees games no problem on MLB.com.



Timbuktu

Boy, did Kluber pitch badly today. 4 hits, 2 walks, only 9 strikeouts and THREE earned runs. Glad we have Shaw and Allen.

I kid. I kid!!

He made one bad pitch to give up the two run homer to tie the game. Austin Jackson put up a heck of an at bat to hit the solo go ahead for good homer.

Shaw and Allen still make my blood pressure go up and give me heartburn. But, they held on for the win.

Shaw takes a lot of abuse, some of it deserved, but he was lights out in the 8th today. Ajax was a heckuva pickup this year.