P.M. Cleveland Indians links: Tribe reportedly waives Jensen Lewis

Cleveland Indians waive Jensen Lewis, who is due $650,000 regardless under his contract signed the past off-season.

View full sizeChuck Crow,
The Plain DealerJensen Lewis, who signed a guaranteed $650,000 contract in the offseason, reportedly was waived by the Indians on Monday.

Jensen Lewis, whose pitching this spring would have to improve to be called bad, has been released by the club, despite a $650,000 guaranteed contract, according to sbnation.com and several other outlets.

Lewis has spent a majority of the past four seasons with the Tribe, even taking a turn as the team’s closer in 2008 when he was 13/14 in save opportunities and finished the season with a 3.82 ERA.

Lewis struggled in 2009, going 2-4 with a 4.61 ERA, while giving up 13 home runs in 66 innings. He seemed to have righted the ship in 2010 finishing with a 4-2 record with a 2.97 ERA while giving up just one home run in 36 innings.

Plain Dealer Indians beat writer Paul Hoynes on Sunday chronicled some of Lewis' difficulties.

(In his last outing) Lewis allowed three runs on two hits in two-thirds of an inning. In his previous appearance, he gave up two three-run homers to turn a 6-1 lead into a 7-6 Milwaukee advantage.

"There has to be some concern," Acta said. "He's a two-pitch pitcher [fastball, changeup]. When you're a two-pitch guy, you have to have command of both of them at this level to have success. Right now, he's not commanding any of them and getting himself in trouble."

The move caught Aaron Gleeman of msnbc.com a bit by surprise.

Lewis is under contract for $650,000, which any team that claims him would also assume, but as far as veteran relievers available in late March go he should be a fairly attractive target.

On the other hand, for a non-contender like the Indians to willingly cut bait on a cheap 27-year-old reliever with a strong track record suggests he did something to fall out of favor in a hurry. I’ll give them the benefit of the doubt and assume it wasn’t based entirely on his pitching poorly for five innings in exhibition games.

Funny how a little thing like perspective changes your interpretations. Gleeman says he's giving the Tribe the benefit of the doubt and assuming there's more to the waiver than just bad pitching. Here at Starting Blocks, we're giving the Tribe management the benefit and assuming that they released him FOR bad pitching.

We find it encouraging -- and frankly a bit out of character -- that this organization is willing to take a fiscal hit and rid itself of a substandard performer.

Everything's coming up roses
Well, maybe not full-blown, parade-size roses. But at least the cute little minature ones. Kind of like teeny dobermans, ya know? Not nearly as lethal as their full-sized kinsmen, but scary enough in an ankle-biting sort of way.

One website, mlbcenter.com, expects the Tribe to be a fairly decent team this year, and contend for third place in the division. That's known as damning with faint praise, but it's better than what most prognosticators are saying: that it'll be a neck-and-neck race to the cellar for the Indians and Royals.

The future is bright in Cleveland, as it is in Kansas City and Seattle, two other cities that long for yesteryear when baseball mattered past the month of April. However the Tribe will likely reap the rewards of the past four seasons of trading away back-to-back Cy-Young winners and fan favorites much sooner than the Royals or the Mariners will. In fact, the Indians will probably finish the season a strong contender for third place in the AL Central, which should be a huge improvement over back-to-back 90 plus loss seasons. For anything outstanding to happen, the Tribe will have to stay healthy, and they will have to see production from their core group of young players that will take them back to contention within the next three seasons.

Offensively the Indians look very good on paper. With the return of Grady Sizemore looming, the team will get their true-tested lead-off hitter back. If Grady can return to the 30-30 player he was just a few seasons ago, opposing pitching will have an awful lot to worry about. Follow that up with Asdrubal Cabrera and Shin-Soo Choo, and the Tribe has a potent 1, 2, 3 knock-out at the top of their line-up.

Hey, the Tribe's magic number is now down to 162!

From The Plain Dealer
It's been 10 long months since the public address announcer at Progressive Field boomed, "Now batting for the Cleveland Indians, Graaaaaadyyyyyyyyy Siiiiiiiizzzzmooooooooore." It's going to be a bit longer, but it sure as heck doesn't look like it's going to be another 10 months.

Beat writer Paul Hoynes chronicled Sizemore's return to the lineup two months shy of a year after having microfracture surgery on his left knee. The Tribe centerfielder, in the lineup as the designated hitter, saw five pitches from Armando Galarraga, grounding out once and flying out the second time. Most importantly, he ran ... and ran hard.

One thing that was apparent in Sizemore's two quick at-bats: He can still run. He ran out the first-inning grounder like he has his whole career -- hard and fast. The same with the fly ball to center field.

"It was good to see him run effortless," said manager Manny Acta. "If you didn't know what he's been through, you wouldn't know."

Columnist Terry Pluto, also in Goodyear, Ariz., with the Tribe for the last few days of Spring Training, also witnessed Sizemore's return ... and came up with a bit of sage advice.

But the Indians must know that it's unreasonable to expect Sizemore to have 500 at-bats this season, or to be ready for baseball in early April. It would be a near miracle for him not to have a minor setback at some point, be it swelling or general fatigue.

As Terry pointed out, the Indians really are pretty thin at the outfield position. The one saving grace is Michael Brantley, who simply must put together a decent year.  If Sizemore is healthy and able to go, Brantley is in left. If Sizemore can't go, Brantley likely will remain where he's projected to start the year as Sizemore completes his rehab: in center field.

Finally, Hoynsie's recap of Sunday's 5-3 win over the Diamondbacks focused on a solid pitching performance by Mitch Talbot, his second such quality outing in as many starts.

Source: http://www.cleveland.com/ohio-sports-blog/index.ssf/2011/03/pm_cleveland_indians_links_tri_6.html

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