With the Sox and Indians set to start the season against each other for the third straight year, it's a good time to continue our Q&A series with rival bloggers. Representing the Cleveland Indians: Paul Cousineau from the aptly named
The DiaTribe.
Along with his work on The DiaTribe, Paul also manages the Indians in
the Sporting News' Strat-o-Matic replay of the 1986 season, where he's currently tied for fourth in the AL East with the Curt Schilling-managed Boston Red Sox.
You can find
my answers to his questions here.
1. Is everybody over the ALCS yet?Being from Cleveland, it was almost a matter of just waiting for that other shoe to drop when the Tribe went up 3-1 in the ALCS. While the collapse didn’t contain that defining moment in time that puts Cleveland fans’ stomachs in knots (John Elway, Earnest Byner, some guy that wore #23, and Jose Mesa still have that market cornered), it was made more painful knowing that the Rockies were waiting for the ALCS winner. Watching the Red Sox absolutely roll up the Rox made that bitter pill the size of a volleyball. However, the knowledge that the same team returns for the Tribe with the expected continued maturation of the youngsters to fill in some cracks is a balm for the open wound.
2. Is C.C. Sabathia's contract situation having any adverse affect on the team, or does it just suck for fans?Early reports don’t indicate that the situation has had any negative impact on the team and it seems that Sabathia’s suspension of talks until the end of the season to avoid “distractions” may actually contain a reference to Travis Hafner’s contract negotiations, which Pronk has acknowledged as a factor in his poor 2007 because he was preoccupied. It shouldn’t affect the team too much as most of these guys know that baseball remains a business and realized that as soon as C.C.’s agents saw the deal Santana got, they simply closed their briefcases and backed away from the negotiating table.
Outside of that…yeah, it sucks for the fans.
3. Because he pitched so friggin' well, Fausto Carmona saw a dramatic jump in his innings pitched total. How concerned are you about his workload?There has to be some concern about the number of innings that Carmona pitched last year (215 in the regular season and another 15 in the playoffs) given his age (24) and the fact that he threw fewer that half that total in 2006. But the nature of how his sinking fastball induces contact and groundballs limits the amount of pitches he throws per inning, averaging a mere 3.57 pitches per plate appearance (that’s 272nd in the AL). That being said, because he pitched so many innings, he still ranked in the top 20 in terms of pitches thrown in the AL last year and the fact that his previous high in innings was 173 2/3 (in 2005) certainly bears watching as Carmona tries to build on his breakout 2007.
4. About the only thing that didn't go right for the Indians last year was Travis Hafner. Will he be able to rebound?Pronk’s 2007, compared to the standard that he had established in the prior two years, was the biggest disappointment of the year. Of course, his “disappointing” year still saw him finishing the year with 24 HR and 100 RBI. Nothing to sneeze at, for sure, but when his OPS had topped 1.000 for two consecutive years (1.003 in 2005, 1.098 in 2006), falling back to a .836 OPS in 2007 brought out the doubters. I think that Hafner will rebound this year, to an extent, as he will improve on his numbers from a year ago. Will he return to the rarified air occupied by the Pujols, A-Rod, and Big Papi? Probably not, but an OPS around .925 or .950 with improved power wouldn’t be an unwelcome sight for the Tribe.
5. Bigger disappointment: Andy Marte or Josh Barfield?This is not the widely held view in Cleveland, but I’m going with Barfield if only because of how advanced each player was thought to be at the time of their acquisition. Marte has drawn the ire of Tribe fans ever since being acquired as the hyped centerpiece in the deal for the overly popular Coco Crisp and struggling in his brief stints with the parent club. Whether or not Marte ultimately pans out, though, remains a mystery as his 2007 was limited to 57 AB before being injured and losing his 3B spot to Casey Blake. Marte is still young (24) and has shown talent, albeit intermittently, is his young career to give hope that he can still develop into a solid MLB player. Barfield, on the other hand, came to Cleveland as an alleged “established MLB” player with the idea that he would lock down 2B for years to come in Cleveland. He promptly posted an OBP of .270 with 14 BB in 130 games in a more hitter-friendly park not batting in front of the pitcher, as he did in San Diego. His range is impressive only when compared to his predecessor, Ronnie “Jelly” Belliard, and the holes that the Padres must have seen in his game when dealing him to the North Coast were ingloriously exposed to the AL in 2007. Barfield will start the season in AAA to try to work his way back to MLB while the out-of-options Marte will try to find plate appearances in Cleveland. Whether either player even remains in the organization at the end of this season is murky today – a thought that would be ridiculed a mere year ago.
6. Joe Borowski isn't exactly highly respected as a closer, but the Indians aren't the only team in the division to use its best reliever in the eighth inning. Would you rather have Rafael Betancourt as a closer or setup man?At some point this season, I think there will be a shake-up in the back end of the Tribe bullpen, more than likely precipitated by a couple of consecutive blown saves by JoeBo or maybe even an injury. That being said, I’m not sure if I see Senor Slo-Mo (Betancourt) as the obvious heir apparent as I think that his phenomenal 2007 is unlikely to be duplicated this year. Talented young relievers like Rafael Perez and Jensen Lewis, to me, represent 9th inning options just as much as Betancourt does. For some reason, I see Betancourt comfortable in his 8th inning role and, when the dust settles, I think that he will remain there – perhaps setting up Jensen Lewis. As for Borowski, I think he’ll be relegated to middle relief at some point…that is, if his arm holds up all season.
7. How do you see the corner outfield situation playing out?Matt Holliday and Vlad Guerrero should iron things out.
Oh, you mean seriously? I’d like to see the Indians phase out the veterans in LF (Jason Michaels and David Dellucci, lovingly referred to as Dellichaels) as the season progresses with their plate appearances eventually going to Ben Francisco (at this point slated to start the season in AAA after winning the International League batting title in 2007) and Shin-Soo Choo (or Big League Choo) who is scheduled to return from an elbow injury in May or June. RF should belong to Frank the Tank Gutierrez, if only for his defensive prowess, as the promise that he showed at the plate in 2007 merits his inclusion in the everyday lineup. In an ideal world, I’d see Francisco and Gutierrez flanking Sizemore with Choo as the LH complement off the bench, but it’s going to take some roster shuffling to make that happen. If one of the corners is deemed to be lacking by July 31st of this year, a rent-a-player for the stretch run could be in the cards…but that should be explored only if the internal options have been exhausted.
8. Even though he's entering his sixth season as manager, I can't say I have any grip on Eric Wedge's true ability -- for a manager who's overseen a successful rebuilding effort, he has a lot of bona fide disappointments on his resume. How would you rate him?I’d say he’s a pretty by-the-book, vanilla manager when it comes to game strategy, lineup construction, and bullpen usage. His greatest attribute is the even keel that he brings to the clubhouse, bringing consistency and steadiness to a young team, as much as it drives Tribe fans crazy to constantly hear the phrases “respecting the game”, “ability to separate”, “grinding it out”, and “taking it game to game”. I have no idea if this plays in the locker room, if this is even the language that Wedge uses in front of his team, or if he just hates talking to the media and giving them anything of worth. But these old, tired clichés have worked their way into comments by Indian players, so they must be buying into it somewhat…or at least are reading from a list of Wedgisms when approached by reporters. Wedge’s greatest downfall, however, seems to be a predilection to choose a few players (generally veterans) and stick with them far too long, when it is obvious to even the most obtuse fan that better alternatives exist. Maybe sticking with vets is part of “respecting the game” or maybe it’s just bullheadedness.
9. Progressive Field? Really?While the moniker of “The Jake” became part of any Clevelander’s vocabulary since 1994, a good deal of that can be attributed to the success that the team enjoyed in the ballpark. Would it be nice if it wasn’t called “Progressive Field”? Sure, it reeks of the corporate America (though Jacobs is really just the old owner’s name and was bestowed on the park mere weeks before the grand opening when nobody came up enough cash in 1994 for naming rights), but isn’t this the direction that the names of these stadiums is going anyway?
I suppose there are worse names that spring to mind…like The Cell, or maybe The Joan.
Speaking of The Joan, given the choice of picking a wireless company pitched by Catherine Zeta-Jones or one pitched by Joan Cusack, which one are you picking?
Yeah, I’m pretty shallow too…when looking for a car recently, I couldn’t help but thinking that I had to “put Mercury on my list”.
10. Who's your favorite White Sox player?While (or maybe because) he has yet to play for the White Sox, I’ll go with Nick Swisher. The fact that his player photo on ESPN from last year looks like he just emerged from a college dorm room after a late-night viewing of “Dazed and Confused” tops the list, but Swisher is a quality hitter (who may or may not be able to play CF) who should improve the OBP of the Sox immediately. I’ll be interested to see how his free-wheeling personality fits in with Ozzie, A.J., and the rest of the Boys in Black, but until I hear Hawk Harrelson imply that Swisher has the ability to turn water into wine, Swish gets the nod.