Would Have, Should Have, Could Have: A Cleveland Indians Story
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by user Ross K.
First of all, I'd like to point out that part of the reason the Cleveland Indians are in fourth place in the AL Central is because the Detroit Tigers and Chicago White Sox are good teams. I don't want to take anything away from their accomplishments. That being said though, it's time to vent a little about the Tribe.
Cleveland's last five losses have been by these scores: 6-7, 5-6, 8-9, 3-7, 1-3. Only one of those games wasn't close. But even in that 3-7 blowout, the loss fell completely on the bullpen who gave up four runs in the 9th inning.
The 6-7 game (against Detroit last night), the 5-6 and 8-9 games (both against the Boston Red Sox and the last two (both against the Seattle Mariners were all winable games. The problem fell on the bullpen.
This would be understandable if it wasn't for one small fact: Last year the Indians had the best bullpen in the Majors.
Let's play "Where Are They Now" with the player that time in the 2005 Cleveland Indians Bullpen:
Bob Wickman - Recently traded to the Atlanta Braves
Bob Howry - Signed ludicrous contract with Chicago Cubs, has 3.33 ERA
David Riske - Traded to Red Sox in Coco Crisp deal, later traded to White Sox, has ERA of 3.33
Scott Sauerbeck - On Oakland A's DL, has ERA of 5.06
Rafael Betancourt - Still with Tribe, has appeared in only 33 games due to injury, has ERA of 4.14
Arthur Rhodes - Traded to Philadelphia Phillies in Jason Michaels deal, has ERA of 5.50
Jason Davis- Still with Indians, has spent most of year in AAA, ERA at 4.70
Fernando Cabrera- Still with Indians, has spent time in majors and AAA, ERA of 6.10
Matt Miller - Still with Indians, has been on DL almost the entire year
Jeremy Guthrie - Still with Indians, has spent most of year in AAA, ERA of 6.59
Brian Tallet - Traded to Toronto Blue Jays has ERA of 4.89
Kazuhito Tadano - Traded to Oakland, released and is currently a free agent
What a group of misfits. I never knew how they were the best bullpen in the majors last year. I don't think they would have still been had they all stayed together this year. But that's not the point. The point is, the Tribe did have the best bullpen in the league and now only a few are left and they're either in the minors or hurt. And since the bulk of them were gone before opening day, there's no way to know if they could have still been the best.
Either way though, 2006 is over for the Cleveland Indians in large part thanks to this year's bullpen. Looking ahead, it would be nice if the Tribe added a bat in the offseason, and maybe a starting pitcher, but they're proving every day that the bullpen needs to be the center of attention this winter.
They have an offense that scores 3 or 4 or 5 runs a game, they have starting pitching that can go 7 and give up only 2 or 3. That's completely irrelevent if you don't have a few guys that can pitch an inning and not give up how ever many the other team needs.
All they have now is a recipe for ulcers and long sighs.
Date
Sat 08/05/06, 11:18 am EST
