Shocking: Cleveland Indians back on track.
Well everyone, we’re back! For those of you who have stuck around for the entire series I can’t say enough about how appreciative I am that you would take the time to read all of these. If I remember correctly I started showing some signs of madness during the 60’s that turned into a full on dissociation from reality during the 70’s and 80’s, but from here on out the baseball is at least solid so while there’s no shortage of frustration and heartbreak, the “they were terrible and I’m not sure how they won even the few games they did” articles have completely come to an end.
When we last saw our not so triumphant heroes they had just been eliminated from the new 1 game playoff by the Tampa Bay Rays. In spite of this disappointment at the time it was hard to see the 2013 season as anything other than an absolute success! Young players like Jason Kipnis and Michael Brantley were taking massive steps in their development, Justin Masterson looked like a legitimate front of the rotation starter, Danny Salazar emerged as one of the premier young arms in the game, and some guy named Corey Kluber had a decent year.
In the immortal words of Kronk from Emperor’s new groove “Oh yeah, it’s all comin together”
So how do you build off a season like that? You go out and sign the two biggest free agents on the market to bolster an already impressive roster, and that’s just what Cleveland did when they went out and signed……. David Murphy and John Axford.
Oh.
Well.
Sure I guess.
So I only remember one thing about the Murphy signing and it’s the reports about “how well he hits at progressive field” which even at the time I was like “doesn’t that just mean he hammered our garbage pitching staff from 09-12?”
The only thing I remember about Axford was that during spring training he correctly guessed all the Oscars winners, and I only remember that because I saw a tiktok about it yesterday.
Axford and Murphy were forgettable, there are 3 performances from the 2014 season that I will simply never forget.
First off we have Lonnie Chisenhall. Chisenhall was a perennial top prospect who was really just getting his first real shot in 2013, he was below average but showed flashes. Earning his way mostly into a platoon role coming into 2014. But the minute 2014 started, Lonnie Chisenhall started hitting, a lot, like good lord. Coming into a June 9th series finale with Texas, Lonnie was sitting at a .365/.413/.538 slash line which is certainly respectable to say the least. That night though was a game I’ll never forget, Chisenhall came to the plate 5 times, he got 5 hits, 3 home runs, a double, and a franchise record (tying or breaking? I can’t remember) 9!! RBI. Chisenhall was on an absolute tear! Unfortunately the hot stretch would only last about another week or two and he would, as they say, come back to earth. Chisenhall finished the second half with a .218/.277/.315 slash line. Chisenhall would have one of the strangest careers I can remember, he always seemed to be just on the cusp of figuring it out before something unexplainable would happen. He remains one of my favorite “what if” stories in the franchise.
I won’t delve too deeply into the other two because, let’s be honest, you think about them regularly. Corey Kluber and Michael Brantley very nearly became the first Cy Young/MVP duo in Cleveland history. Mike Trout absolutely deserved his MVP award that year, but Brantley was spectacular. He hit .327/.385/.506 with 45 doubles, 20 homers, and 20 steals while playing great defense in left field, quietly one of the best seasons by an outfielder in franchise history.
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And Kluber, well you know how that went. Corey Kluber emerged as arguably the best pitcher of the back half of the 2010’s winning the AL Cy Young award after a stellar second half. In fact that second half included one of the best pitching performances I’ve ever seen, straight up out dueling Felix Hernandez in his prime. Rather than tell you about it, I’ll just show you. Truly remarkable stuff:
The 2014 Indians were a frustrating team. Nick Swisher and Michael Bourn, the two key free agents from the previous year, were massive disappointments. Masterson struggled and was traded at the deadline, so was Asdrubal Cabrera. The big pieces were there, they had an ace in Kluber, a dynamite closer in Cody Allen, Yan Gomes and Michael Brantley had emerged as star caliber players on the offensive end, they just lacked some of the nuts and bolts type of pieces that championship teams need, their bad players were bad instead of being slightly below league average. You could see the infrastructure that turned into 2016 start to emerge, with Kluber on the mound there was no game that was unwinnable but after him (and the late season emergence of Carlos Carrasco) it was a lot of Trevor Bauer and Danny Salazar not living up to expectations while TJ House walked the BABIP tightrope.
Like I said, the pieces were all there, it would just take two years before the supporting cast really solidified itself into a championship caliber team
But more on that later.
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