Here’s the latest from around the AL Central…
- Left-hander Troy Patton can opt out of his minor league deal with the Royals on August 15 if he isn’t called up to the MLB roster, Andy McCullough of the Kansas City Star reports. Patton served an 80-game suspension after testing positive for amphetamines last November, and has posted a 3.07 ERA, 6.8 K/9 and a 5.5 K/BB rate over 14 2/3 relief innings at Triple-A Omaha. As McCullough notes, the Royals may not be able to find a place for Patton in the already-stacked K.C. bullpen.
- New Tigers GM Al Avila faces a number of pressing questions about the 2016 team, Lynn Henning of the Detroit News writes. Beyond the payroll, young pitcher development and fixing the Tigers bullpen, Henning also speculates on the future of manager Brad Ausmus. “It would be no shocker if Avila” wanted to hire his own manager to run the team, and if a change was made, Henning believes that the Tigers would pursue an experienced skipper, namely Ron Gardenhire.
- Nick Swisher’s tenure with the Indians is recapped by Zack Meisel of the Cleveland Plain Dealer. While Swisher helped the Tribe earn a wild card slot in 2013, that contribution alone wasn’t worth his $56MM contract with the team. Meisel also hints at a bit of tension between Swisher and some teammates, writing that “his relentless enthusiasm wore on members of the clubhouse” and “when his performance went south…his insistence on being the club’s commander and cheerleader didn’t carry much weight.”
Nick Swisher grating? I can’t imagine hearing the word “awesome!” In the clubhouse for the zillionth time would be annoying at all?
They should have known when they hired Francona to start with that he prefers veterans, preferably the older the better, than rookies and why Cleveland signed both Swish and Bourn to begin with, also why Aviles was brought in, another who has done little with the team since his arrival.
Swisher was known from his Yankee days as one of the few positive clubhouse voices there, could have been why Francona wanted him in Cleveland, along with Giambi when he was hired as aged veterans to help him along.
Francona still needs to learn to integrate younger kids into a lineup and roster more efficiently and quickly, though do think he’s still a good manager overall.
To be fair..it looked like they were about some veteran presence away from being a challenger….but the division tightened up
The Indians had come of of 3 of 4 seasons losing 90-plus games. They had a poor roster and no prospects coming up. The fans had tuned them out. The owner had a windfall from selling his cable station, so with no real plan for the future, like a drunken sailor on leave they went looking for some veterans that would take their money. Swisher was one (after Victorino turned them down and signed with the Red Sox for less money). As for Aviles – he is the first utility player they had in 10 years that could play and defense, and he has won quit afew games with clutch hits.
Francona not playing young guys? Name them He is doing that now with Lindor and Urshela, After that the Indians don’t have any young guys to play that haven’t already been moved up and down from the minors numerous times.
The Indians haven’t been able to get out of 2nd gear for over a decade.
How did SI come up with that World Series prediction? I mean…they kind of seemed like a team that could possibly surprise if things broke right… But not a better team than a few in the division
Beats me. I know the Indians FO plays up to the media, especially the national media. That franchise has a lot of problems. Don’t forget, the people picking the Indians for the WS and other great things (one national writer picked them as the 4th best team in MLB entering the season) also picked the Royals for 4th in the ALC. I’m not sure anymore where a good part of the national media look to evaluate teams, but it’s surely not by watching what they do on the field of play.
It was conceivable that KC could have come back a bit… But they actually continued to develop. I’m just hard pressed to see the Indians at any point being above 3rd.
Was hoping maybe the White Sox would replace Ventura with Gardenhire, if for no other reason than to see if Hawk Harrelson would try and actually hit on him. That would be one man crush fed like a beast
Sox have an organizational set-up going. They want a manager that is more of a supervisor then a manager. With the Sox, the managers position seems be sort of a person that facilitates direction from above to the coaches, and feeds information back up to them. Lots of teams are doing that now. The days of Ozzie running the club are long gone.
I’ll agree…but the Sox are loyal more than anything…Ozzie was just a bit rowdier than most. It’s logical that Paul Konerko or Jim Thome returns
I don’t know what Konerko or Thome return as.
Next time they get a manager they might want someone that’s had experience managing people – as opposed to someone that’s scored high on a leadership test. I managed people. It’s tricky. Didn’t enjoy it at all. Had the best department of its type in the corporate set-up, and didn’t brow-beat people to do it….in fact, just the opposite. But that just created a bunch of new sets of problems for me at one place; while at another they said my department was producing so well that the other departments would get additional resources because they were under-performing, when I needed them.
I admire Bochy, Scioscia, Showalter and Gerardi. They’ve had very good results for a long time with what they had to work with. It’s hard to find a good manager, and I think teams have pretty much given up on that – preferring the safety of one that gets in line. As I wrote yesterday, there are a lot of teams out there with no personality, all playing the same low-risk high-percentage baseball.
Yeah..I’d agree on the colorless type of game we’re seeing…but there’s surely a hybrid type out there that is amiable enough to work with an organizations agenda while carrying a bit of old time managers spirit. Truth is that the analysts probably are right about minimal manager impact… But in the best cases I’d say it’s invaluable… Bochy is one for sure. Players just need to believe in their manager.
Guy , was over rated , He’s was a product of Good Lineup in NY, Like some of the Yankees Todays Team !
Actually, I think Heyward profiles a lot like a younger Swisher offensively. Maybe not a true middle of the order bat, but a really solid 2 hole hitter on a contender. Swisher could switch hit…had some pop…obp…could turn the pitchers around
I’d think NY would be the perfect stadium for a guy like Heyward over the next few seasons. They would have to bust the bank, commit to going over the salary cap also the next cpl of years as well again, but that guy is the one FA who is tailor made for the particular stadium.
Who, exactly, do you consider overrated based on the current Yankees’ lineup?
Yeah. Actually this is about one of the few times in the last 20 years where the Yankees come off as maybe underdogs without much overrated tag attached.
Gerardi has always had the veterans playing strong fundamental baseball. Guys like Icherio and Vernon Wells come over to the Yankees, and suddenly they’re wide awake on the field. That’s how the Yankees are winning. I see them make physical errors, but seldom make mental errors.
Ugh, I played football with a guy like how Swisher is described there in high school. He was a pretty good player at least, but he really got on everyone’s nerves and was resented.
I don’t know Swisher…but the type comes off as phoney sometimes. The type that really needs attention and the mic around. That was kind of the m.o. on Swisher with the White Sox where he certainly didn’t mesh well. The type that ends up having a reality show and no one knows why
Swisher was always a rah rah guy. But I hate to see these “good riddance” articles after players leave. I think a lot of times the local media has to help out the front office with PR, so you see this.
Yeah, bit there are aggressive rah rah types on many teams and they can be endearing and well loved by fans and teammates. What makes Swisher so grating? What’s the difference?
Site keeps logging me out….about ready for a working app comment section. Just not what it was with Disqus. I don’t receive any kind of notification now due to the glut of emails it will send.
I couldn’t agree more.. This new commenting system is pretty awful.. Disqus was great.. All you had to do was click the little number next to your name and you could see all of your replies.. With this system I have to try to remember what articles I commented on and have to scroll through the entire page to find the particular comment that I was looking for.. Most of the time I don’t even bother.. I wish the MLBTR staff would realize their mistake and just go back to the way it was.. The old adage fits perfectly here.. If it’s not broken, don’t fix it..
I comment so much that the notification system would make my phone implode
I liked Asmus as a managerial candidate for years. But the guy had no experience managing people in anything. Why Dombrowski gave a guy with no experience the keys to a championship contender with one of the top payrolls in MLB is questionable.
Avila is a guy that worked his way up from scouting, but never really left. I expect him to replace Asmus with a veteran ML manager. Wondering if Gene Lamont is a candidate. It is going to be very interesting the direction Avila takes the Tigers in.
Gene Lamont is a dinosaur who hasn’t managed in 15 years.. He is their bench coach though so I could be wrong.. He did a pretty decent job with the White Sox 20 years ago.. Not so much with the Pirates (except for that very good first year).. The Tigers need a big name manager to go with their expensive big time talent.. Bud Black comes to mind as does Charlie Manuel (if he wants to manage again)..
I don’t know that the Tigers need a ‘big name’ manager. An experienced baseball man that has a broad resume is what I think Aviles brings in. I think Bud Black goes back with Scoscia and the Angels, he lives in north SD and it was said once turned down an Indians offer because he didn’t want to heave his family again. It’s a short commute to Orange County – I buy that he goes back as some sort of GM, with people helping him with the legal and budget issues. Charlie would fit. You might want to keep an eye on Tony Pena – he had success then a mess with the Royals years ago – but he knows the game in and out. Helps Gerardi a lot.