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About Brad Hand’s decline, MLB’s changes, Satchel Paige – Let’s Talk Cleveland Indians
https://www.cleveland.com/tribe/2020/08/...nd-indians.html

By Terry Pluto, The Plain Dealer
ABOUT BRAD HAND

A year ago, Brad Hand struggled after making the All-Star team. The lefty closer was shut down with a “tired arm” in the final month of the season.

In 2018, Hand’s average fastball was 93.6 mph, according to fangraphs.com

In 2019, it dropped to 92.3 mph. By the end of the season it was slightly above 90 mph.

So far this season, Hand’s average fastball is 90.9 mph. The MLB average is 92 mph.

His arm is not as strong as it was when he was a dominating reliever from 2016 to the 2019 All-Star break.

I don’t want bury you in numbers, but the drop of velocity also has been accompanied by Hand allowing far more line drives and fly balls than he did in 2016-18.

Chris Davies of Let’s Go Tribe looks deep into the disturbing analytics about Hand in his excellent story, which I read while researching my approach to writing about Hand.

MEMORIES OF BRYAN SHAW

While Davies gives you spin rates and other high-level data, I’m going to add some common sense to what’s happening with Hand:

He’s wearing down.

The 30-year-old Hand made 283 appearances from 2016-19, second most in the MLB. Only former Indian Bryan Shaw (285) pitched in more games during that span.

This is not to write off Hand’s career, but it is to say he’s been in decline. The hope was a long rest after 2019 would help, but the early signs are not good. Perhaps Hand bounces back -- relievers sometimes do that.

But right now, the Indians have to strongly consider James Karinchak and Cam Hill as possible closers.

It’s also wise to remember how fast closers can lose whatever has been their edge. One of my favorite people in baseball, Cody Allen, went from breaking the Tribe’s All-time save record early in 2018 to being cut by three teams since then. The latest was Texas a few weeks ago.

The big reason the Tribe doesn’t give lucrative long-term deals to relievers is how they can fall apart suddenly. Hand has a $10 million option for 2021, and it’s doubtful the Indians will pick it up.

As for Shaw, he signed a 3-year, $27 million deal with Colorado after the 2017 season. He had a hard time with the Rockies (7-8, 5.61 ERA). Denver is a miserable place to pitch. He was cut a few weeks ago and just signed with Seattle.

With the Indians from 2013-17, Shaw was 21-22 with a 3.11 ERA and was one of the most durable pitchers in the Majors. But there were concerns all the innings and appearances had taken a lot out of his arm.

ABOUT THE MLB IN 2020

If you are a baseball fan, are you happy MLB is back?

That’s the big question.

Do you want to watch baseball for the rest of the season? Would you like to see what the Indians can do in the playoffs?

Even with no fans in the stands, has baseball on TV given you some relief from the dismal news of 2020?

If that’s the case, some of you need to stop whining.

In the COVID-19 world where sports can’t even figure out how to hold practices and play games, at least the MLB is trying to have a season and keep everyone relatively safe.

I was glad Commissioner Rob Manfred was right to put pressure on the Players Association to make sure the guys shape up or he’d shut down the season.

MLB announced Friday it conducted 11,895 tests this week...only 20 players tested positive. There were 18 with the Marlins, two with the Cardinals. This is the best issue, not the rule changes.

So what if they want to avoid long extra-inning games by starting each extra half-inning with a runner on second base? That rule intrigues me. I like how it forces a team to seriously consider bunting and playing “small ball” instead of taking huge swings while not caring if they strike out.

Seven-inning doubleheaders?

Do what is necessary.

Something happened with the Miami Marlins where they have been hit hard with virus infections. Other teams are being impacted. It has already messed up the schedule.

To play 60 games will mean doubleheaders. It could mean lots of doubleheaders.

Tribe fans may not have noticed it because Tribe pitchers have been healthy so far.

But MLB is being savaged by arm injuries to big names such as Corey Kluber, Justin Verlander and others. That was very likely because of the rushed summer camps to get ready to play.

Seven-inning doubleheaders can keep the strain off some pitching staffs.

My guess is they will have to make up other rules as they push to finish the season. The odds are that more than a few teams won’t play all 60 games not only because of the virus, but also old-fashioned rainouts.

That’s OK.

MLB should do the best it can with what the summer of 2020 allows. Have a regular-season champion based on winning percentage. Do whatever is needed to get to the 16-team playoff field.

MLB can sort out the rules for 2021 after this season.

But for now, enjoy the games because simply playing them is harder than ever before.


DON’T FORGET SATCHEL PAIGE!

I loved this note of how this was only the second time the Indians have ever had six consecutive starts by six different pitchers who went at least six innings, allowing two or fewer runs.

The Indians opened the 2020 season with Shane Bieber, Mike Clevinger, Carlos Carrasco, Zach Plesac, Aaron Civale and Adam Plutko turning in those sparkling performances.

It ended with Bieber pitching eight scoreless innings in the Tribe’s 2-0 victory in Minnesota Friday.

In 1948, the Big Six to do it: Bob Feller, Bob Lemon, Sam Zoldak, Gene Bearden, Steve Gromek and Satchel Paige.

I love those names.

Just as Bieber ended the streak by coming back and not allowing a run, Paige took the mound and blanked the Chicago White Sox in 1948.

According to Baseball Reference, Paige was 42 years old when he threw that shutout. He had been in the Negro League for decades. His age was always a mystery. Paige had a 6-1 record and 2.48 ERA in 1948.

Guess what else happened in 1948?

That’s right, the Tribe won the World Series.

Did our window just shut, or am I overreacting?

Gotta get this one on Sunday

As for closers, I would go with dual closers. Closing is as much about opportunity as it is about being lights out.

They might only make 17 pitches a game, but if they do that 4 times a week, that is 68 pitches with little rest. It takes a toll. Those guys usually aren't change-up artists. They usually bring the smoke.

Save the arm. Rarely pitch a guy 2 days in a row until you get in to the playoffs.

I realize that win or loss in May might be the game that makes or breaks things. How many times have you seen a team finish 1-2 games out, or win by 1-2 games? Every win counts. Every loss hurts. They can happen at the beginning of the season or the end or the season. The focus is usually at seasons end, but that game you pulled out or lost in May might have been the game that got you there, or put you out.

Still, I think teams would be wise to go with a closer rotation like a starting rotation. Maybe it is just 2-3 players rather than the usual 4, maybe a 5th mixed in with a starting rotation.

I think that they are concerned about Brad Hand right now. His velocity has dropped by a few MPH over the past few years.

BRAD Hand IS toast , nothing to see here , move along ! The only palce this team is going the with line up the plate is ,home for the play offs..

Hopefully he’s better soon!

Really poor at bats being put up by Indians' hitters today, and pretty much all series-long. Today they look like they'd rather be anywhere other than where they are.

Watched baseball. 4-0 Braves over Mets. 5 wins in a row.

Braves looking good.

In the 9th, we had Ramirez, Lindor, and Carlos Santana coming up - all three hitting into a defensive shift with only one fielder on the left side of the infield. Ask yourself - what do we need at this point, down 3-1? A baserunner, that's what. Each of them had power coming up behind them and should have been thinking of a way to get on - beat the shift. The 3rd baseman was playing SS, the pitcher, a righty, was flying off the mound towards 1B after each pitch. Shouldn't they have been thinking of dropping a bunt down the 3rd baseline just to get on? Instead, all 3 guys were just hacking, looking for the big fly.

Its dumb baseball and it drives me crazy.

Agree with you 100%
But that is the way the game is played today

It's the way Managers allow the game to be played ..

Yeah, I know. That's what announcers and talk show hosts keep telling me: baseball needs casual fans to survive, and casual fans love HRs. How do casual fans feel about losing?

Real similar to cavs blowing big leads and dropping games by throwing up brick after brick from three line. Like there were style points. This kind of hero ball drives me crazy to watch. A little short game would help, especially with the shifts. Not going to sell more beers in the stadium. Might just try to win games.

Go, Tribe! Turn it around.

This is gross.

A snippet from The Athletic on the Tribe's hitting woes...

They haven’t had consecutive hits in 33 innings, dating back to Thursday night, when José Ramírez singled and Lindor homered. As a team, they have posted a — you must be at least 18 years of age to view this obscene content — .193/.285/.278 slash line. That’s essentially a lineup full of Michael Martínezes (career .194/.243/.261 clip).

They have hit six home runs as a team, as many as the Phillies, who haven’t played a game in a week. It’s one more than the Marlins and Brewers have hit, and those teams have been stranded in their hotel rooms. Of the teams that have actually been on the field, only the Diamondbacks have clubbed fewer homers.

The Indians outfield, a nightly grab-bag trio, has produced a .122/.238/.167 slash line and has created runs at a rate 81 percent worse than the league average.

Oscar Mercado has reached base twice in 25 trips to the plate. Jordan Luplow is hitless in 12 at-bats. The catching triumvirate of Roberto Pérez, Sandy León and Beau Taylor has collected three hits in 31 at-bats. Franmil Reyes, who possessed the Midas touch in the spring, has tallied six forgettable hits, none of them the sort of exosphere-reaching long balls he’s accustomed to swatting.

One way to illustrate Reyes’ struggles: He has one barrel in 22 batted balls this season. In simple terms, a barrel is a well-struck ball that, based on exit velocity and launch angle, should lead to a hit, often the extra-base variety. Reyes’ barrel percentage last season, 14.8 percent, ranked in the top 6 percent of the league. So far this season, his percentage sits at 4.5 percent. The Indians, as a team, rank 28th in the majors in barrel percentage.

That about sums it up ..lol

Indians drop fourth straight after eighth inning rally implodes
21
Even calling it an implosion feels charitable

https://www.letsgotribe.com/2020/8/3/213...-rally-implodes
A chance. The Indians had a chance.

Runners on first and second and nobody out. Top of the eighth. A prime opportunity to take the lead and never look back.

To get to that point, they needed another fine start from Zach Plesac. He went seven innings and allowed three runs. His only mistakes came to Nick Castellano’s and Joey Votto, who each meted out long balls as punishment.

Still — a 3-2 ballgame sat in the balance, and the Indians got a couple of nice breaks in to start the eighth. Greg Allen reached via HBP, then César Hernández grounded toward Freddy Galvis. It took a terrible hop on the edge of the infield grass and nearly domed Galvis; he managed to knock it down and flailed while flipping it to second. Allen reached without incident.

It felt like a little bit of luck might propel a rally for the Tribe. Or it might have felt that way to anyone who hasn’t watched the Indians this season.

José Ramírez struck out while flinging his bat all the way to second base. Then, Hernández got a terrible jump to second on a ball in the dirt. He still had a chance to sneak in before Barnhart’s throw reached, but a poor slide ensured the out. Lindor took the inning behind the dugout, shot it twice in the back of the head, then tossed it into the Ohio River with a brick tied to its ankles when he struck out on a not-very-close slider.

Shocking no one, the Indians went in order in the top of the ninth. Daniel Johnson, who made the last out, walked quietly to the dugout with the bat in his hand. The rest of the team packed their bags on the bench, no one chattering, no one making eye contact.

It’s one thing for a team to take some quality hacks and strike out trying to bring the runs home. What we saw in the eighth and ninth tonight — I’m not even sure what you call it. Remember the game when Rajai Davis lost two balls in the sun, or the time Mike Napoli and Jason Kipnis just stared at each other while a foul ball fell to the ground?

This felt worse than both of those because I knew it would happen. As soon as runners reached first and second with no outs, rather than getting excited about a possible rally, I asked myself, “How are they going to screw this one up?”

They’re running out of ways to one-up their own atrocities.

Other things that happened
It wasn’t all bad. Just most of it.

Lindor went yard with two out in the first. Sonny Gray tried to sneak a fastball inside and failed.

Oscar Mercado got a bloop single to left center. He advanced to second base after Votto failed to snare a throw back to first, to third on a wild pitch, and then scored on a second wild pitch. Yes - one of the Indians’ two runs was generated by a gift hit and three mistakes.

Zach Plesac looked good tonight. He mixed his pitches well and managed to freeze a few hitters with a curveball up in the zone. His two aforementioned mistakes were regrettable but not insurmountable for a group of major league hitters. The Indians have yet to convince me that they have any of those this season.

The bullpen is also still good, but it doesn’t really matter when you’re always pitching from behind.

Tidbits to Tribe
Someone, anybody, please, go make sure Franmil Reyes is actually the guy putting on his uniform everyday, because whoever it is sure doesn’t look like a baseball player at the dish.
After the second inning, the Indians sent two batters more than the minimum to the plate. In all but two of those innings they went in order; in one, Lindor was thrown out trying to steal second.
Zach Plesac is 0-1 in two starts with 17 Ks, 1 BB, and a 1.80 ERA.
The Indians play the Reds again tomorrow. Shane Bieber takes the mound and I’m not sure I’d trade places with him for all the whiskey in Ireland.

It's painful to watch this team bat and run the bases.

The starting pitchers have to be getting irritated.

That was funny. Thanks for posting!

Come on OFFENSE

Don't worry, the Reds are trying to let this one get away.

Reyes finally got "a barrel". My man!

Reds bullpen explodes ... timely walks/hitting as well. Good win

Final: #Indians 2 (7-6), #Reds 0 (5-7)

WP: Mike Clevinger (1-1)
LP: Tejay Antone (0-1)
S: Brad Hand (4)

Well, this is a fun change .... 7th inning, and it's 13-0 good guys!

Go Tribe!

Tribe is 1-0 with Delino Deshields in the lineup.

I like me some Deshields

Only saw them because of Reds matchup. Loved watching them again for a change. Nice to see a laugher. Our pitching has been nasty plus!

Wahoo! Go, Tribe!

j/c...

The Indians also made him rent a car and drive it back to Cleveland.

That ... is ... awesome

j/c...