Jays Drop Tribe, Take Series

The Indians narrowly lost this recent three game set in Toronto, dropping two games to the Jays. The games the Tribe lost were both close though and Cleveland now sit with a 18-15 record, still atop the AL Central and half a game above Minnesota.

The Trouble With Trevor

I think the vast majority of Indians fans made their peace a long time ago with the fact that Trevor Bauer is unlikely to become the star pitcher we thought he might be when the Tribe acquired him from Arizona many moons ago. Now, in his fifth season in Cleveland, Bauer is scrapping just to hold onto his place in the rotation, let alone reach the heights we once imagined for him.

Most major league ballclubs are content with their fifth starter to deliver over 150 innings and average an ERA between four and five runs over the course of a season; this is an acceptable output for the man you send out there every fifth day. If this guy can last between 5-6 innings a game and give up just a handful of runs, keeping his team within striking distance, then he's doing good work. For the most part, Bauer does this, and in reality he's actually the Indians' fourth starter (as most would consider Tomlin the fifth guy, despite pitching out of order.) As a full-time starter the past three years, he's never pitched less than 150 innings in a season, and even managed a career high 190 in 2016. His season ERA during that span also never surpassed 4.55. So why is it that Bauer in particular seems to receive so much more criticism from his fans than your average fifth starter?

For one thing, it could be the expectations. If your fifth guy is a bit of an unknown, a lucky-just-to-be-on-the-roster type, then whatever he can give you is wonderful. But for former star prospects like Bauer, things become a little more tricky. We expect excellence and when these guys don't reach that, the rot begins to set in, until finally we accept them for what they are, a back of the rotation starter at best. Maybe this is the stage we are at with Bauer. Perhaps we need to finally accept this is as good as he can be, and stop holding onto the slim chance he'll suddenly develop into an All Star.

And of course the other reason Bauer probably receives more grief than your average fifth starter: the controversy. Trevor doesn't shy away from being the center of attention. Whether it be rapping about ex-catchers or tweeting his support for Donald Trump, the 26 year-old Californian can't avoid the spotlight. Don't even get me started on the whole drone thing...

After Monday night's loss, Bauer sits with a 2-4 record and a 7.36 ERA, with 37 strikeouts and 15 walks in 33 innings of work. It's not been an ideal start for the right-hander but looking at the numbers, it's about right for what we should now expect from him. That bloated ERA will decrease as the season wears on and likely settle somewhere between 4 and 5. We must give credit where it is due as well; despite giving up 4 runs before the third inning was over on Monday night, he kept battling out there, and managed to last 6 full innings. This helped save the bullpen for the rest of the series, as only Zach McAllister (2 IP, 0 H, 0 ER, 2 BB, 4 K) was used in relief of Bauer.

Time will tell how long Francona and the front office are willing to put up with Bauer's level or performance. Behind the scenes they could be perfectly content with what he's done so far. Bauer himself seems to think so: "The results are what they are, but if you just look at the quality of the pitches and where I'm locating... I'm executing really well." But if Mike Clevinger sticks around once Corey Kluber returns from the DL, he will certainly have his eye on Bauer's rotation place. This could push Trevor into a long relief role out of the bullpen, but Tito already has McAllister for that job, and he's been doing it very well thus far. Does that then make Bauer an expendable asset and a potential trade chip? Whatever happens, his progress this year will be worth watching, even if it's not always as pretty and efficient as we might have once liked.

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Here are some other notes from the series:

• In Kluber's absence, Carlos Carrasco has taken over as the definitive ace of this pitching staff. Dare I say it, Cookie might still be the ace even once Kluber returns. His game two performance on Tuesday was sublime: 7 shutout innings of absolute dominance, allowing just 3 hits (all of them singles), and striking out 7 Jays. He's had a great start to 2017 and now lowered his season ERA to 1.86.
• Remember just the other day when I said Yan Gomes could be back? Well he's still swinging that lumber better than ever. In Tuesday's game Gomes went 2-for-3 with a mammoth 3-run homer in the top of the eighth inning that buried the Blue Jays, putting the game beyond their reach. Wednesday's game saw Gomes pick up another hit before he had to withdraw from the game in the third inning due to illness. Hopefully it's nothing serious.
• Cody Allen has been playing with fire all season long and finally got burned, taking the loss in Wednesday's rubber game. With the score tied in the bottom of the ninth, Toronto drew 2 walks and 2 hits from Allen to force home the winning run. It was inevitable he was going to get caught out at some stage.

The Indians have today off before opening a three-game set with the Twins on Friday. Josh Tomlin is set to take the bump and he's coming off a strong outing against Kansas City. He'll face Ervin Santana, and the right-hander is off to an impressive start in 2017, although he did have his worst start of the year last time out (4 homers surrendered against the Red Sox.) 

Thanks for reading.