I give the Tribe an incomplete since I watched maybe 5 games all year. I give my fanhood a "F"....smh

In the second half, I look for them to unload Wood and Westbrook for the cheapest deal they can find.

wes_mantooth;421680 wrote:I give the Tribe an incomplete since I watched maybe 5 games all year. I give my fanhood a "F"....smh

In the second half, I look for them to unload Wood and Westbrook for the cheapest deal they can find.

PLEASE find a way to trade Peralta. Seems like everytime I hate a Cleveland athlete they stick around for at least a decade.

Anways, I've watched a good amount of Tribe games this year. I would get them a D. I gave them a passing grade because of the injuries that they have had to deal with (Grady, Asdrubal and now Choo) We knew they were going to struggle, its a young team thats a few years away.
I would like to see them get rid of Wood, Jake and Perlata. I dont want to hear any more rumors about trading Fausto

I give the Tribe a "D" also, based on the injuries that KR1245 mentioned and the fact we knew we weren't going to be very good. I'm afraid we are stuck with Moon Pie, like an old maid card. Who would want him? I like Westbrook - keeper. As for Wood - out! I would be satisfied with .500 ball in the second half and escaping the cellar.

Indians
Grade F
Second half worse than the first.

Mets
Grade: B-
Pleasant surprises: Rookie Ike Davis, emergence of pitchers Mike Pelfrey and Jonathan Niese
Worries: Jason Bay's lack of power, 3/5 of original starting pitchers on the DL
Prediction: With Beltran FINALLY starting his 2010 season on Thursday, if the Mets can land one SP (Lilly? Haren?) and move Takahashi to the pen, the Mets have a decent chance to make some postseason noise. I say if they make no trades, they win the wild card, barely. If they land a dependable pitcher, they COULD be a World Series team.

Did I hear that we won today? I completely missed the game and I see there is no thread. NCF will probably be right about the second half. Just remember that I said "I would be SATISFIED" with .500 ball and escaping the cellar!

I'd give the Tribe a D-......won't go with an F since they've had to deal with injuries but the team is frustrating because they have bright moments but are just terribly inconsistent. Bullpen is also still a fiasco of sorts.

When you're 5 games back of the Royals.....well it seems like it's time to just give up

I'd give the Yankees probably an A-. I mean, I'm not sure how you can give them anything else when they have 8 All Stars and have the best record at this point in the major leagues. 3 starting pitchers (Sabathia, Pettitte, and Hughes) have 10 wins a piece at the break and Vazquez has started to give some better quality starts and AJ Burnett has righted the ship a little bit.

My major beef? The bullpen except for Mariano Rivera is mind numbingly inconsistent and Joba Chamberlain has been a massive dissapointment.

The 2nd half schedule doesn't get easy with 15 meetings with the Rays still to go and about as many with Boston

Chicago WhiteSox - B+

Underachieved for first two months of the year and then decided to playt and went 25-5 over the last 30 games. I expect them to win the division and potentially reach the ALCS.

Darby: I wanted to say F your Yankees, but since I like you, I won't!

Indians: F

2nd half expectations: more random horrible players (a la Gimenez and Marte) will be called up to contribute nothing, replacing other horrible random players who were contributing nothing.

I'd probably give the Indians a D. So either way this team was going to be a downer. Here are some disappointments and positives so far.

Negatives

Injuries: Obviously it'd be interesting to see where'd they be without the injuries but I can't say it would have made too much of a difference. Sizemore never looked the same at the beginning of the year and was likely heading for another subpar year, while Cabrera, as much as I love him, wasn't producing much other than singles to boost up the average. Choo is definitely the most disappointing injury as he was really coming on strong and was one of the few reasons to watch this team night in and night out.

Travis Hafner: What more can be said about Hafner. It's not really new news to put him on this list as it's been the case for the last few years. I guess one positive for him is that he could be seen as one of the few Cleveland athletes that remained loyal. Probably because we were the only ones dumb enough to offer him such a long deal but hey, loyal nonetheless!

Tony Sipp: He's shown slight improvements lately but after a strong finish to last season and strong start to this season, it was disappointing to see him go through what might be one of the worst stretches of pitching ever. I'm hoping he can get it together as I really like what he brings to the table when he's on, but that one or two weeks was just atrocious.

Mike Redmond: Just for the simple fact that he got thrown out from right field. I haven't gotten over it yet and I even called it the pitch before it happened.

Luis Valbuena: An awful, awful first half in every sense of the word. His errors in that Blue Jays game were some of the more egregious things I've seen in a MLB game. I'm just glad Nix has emerged a little so he can stay in Columbus where he belongs.

Michael Brantley: I really like him but I can't give him a free pass. I know they want to put him in the leadoff spot but yikes, talk about an automatic out.

David Huff: Just haven't seen anything in his game that makes me believe he'll be a serviceable MLB starter. Even the games he won he had to get himself out of some jams and it wasn't pretty. He's done pretty solid for the Clippers but hey, so has Valbuena.

Kerry Wood: No comment.

Positives

Carlos Santana and Jayson Nix: Don't really want to jump to conclusions with them as neither of them have even had 100 at bats with the Tribe, but I've liked what I've seen. I have no doubt Santana is going to be the real deal, I have no reason not to. Nix on the other hand, has been a very welcome surprise. It could be that this could all be a fluke but hey, hitting that many homers in that short a timespan is at least worth a positive nod for this team.

Jason Donald: Hasn't exactly been a world beater but has appeared to be pretty serviceable both at the plate and in the field. Again, nothing really too crazy about what he's done but hey, it's better than Valbuena.

Shin-Soo Choo: It's hard to put him as a positive because of the injury but he deserves it because he was on his way to a very very good season.

Fausto Carmona: Not quite all the way there yet but there have been some signs of returning to that '07 form. Probably not All-Star material but hey, someone had to fill the spot. I'm hoping he'll get all the way back, but with our luck it will probably be just in time to get traded to a contender.

Mitch Talbot: The fact that we got him for probably my least favorite player in recent Indians history just makes me giddy. I don't think he's a front of the rotation type guy or anything but there are elements of his game that show he could be a very solid piece of this rotation. Very, very nice surprise.

On the last two posts: good reading! Mulva and burt07. I Enjoy reading takes from others. Good thread...seal of approval from BRF!

I have to disagree with the take on Donald. The guy makes Jhonny Peralta look like Omar Vizquel. Stone hands and no arm.....maybe you can make a second baseman out of him but he'll never be good at turning the double play from there. Everybody rips on JP, but he's hardly the problem. As I've said for the past two years...he is a slightly above average major league veteran both offensively and defensively. You can expect him to hit .265 and drive in 80-90 runs. What he lacks in range, he makes up for in his ability not to screw up the routine stuff. A lot of guys get to balls that he won't get to, and make spectacular plays....but then they boot the easy ones.

Just how bad is Donald compared to Jhonny? This year, JP has committed 5 errors in 240 chances ... Donald had committed 9 in 180....and that doesn't include the guys who beat out 'hits' on him that should have been outs. Ok, SS vs 3rdbaseman...apples to oranges right? Well consider JP's last season at SS:

Peralta (2008)14 errors in almost 700 chances.... field% .979...range factor 4.56
Donald (2010) 9 errors in 183 chances...field% .952....range factor 4.52

B+ for the Reds

Solid fucking first half.

^^^i'd have to even go A- for the Reds...I certainly never expected them to be in this position at the break;

hopefully the pitching remains solid, and the bullpen relatively sturdy...and i hope for good things for the second half.

even more so if Jocketty is ready to pull the trigger for a little insurance by the trading deadline.

unfortunately I've seen more than a few September folds in the past, so I'm cautious.

but.."in it" at the break is a better place to be than we have been most of the last 15 years.

KR1245;421686 wrote:PLEASE find a way to trade Peralta. Seems like everytime I hate a Cleveland athlete they stick around for at least a decade.

Anways, I've watched a good amount of Tribe games this year. I would get them a D. I gave them a passing grade because of the injuries that they have had to deal with (Grady, Asdrubal and now Choo) We knew they were going to struggle, its a young team thats a few years away.
I would like to see them get rid of Wood, Jake and Perlata. I dont want to hear any more rumors about trading Fausto

+1.

I also expect a better second half...... maybe.

HitsRus;421973 wrote:You can expect him to hit .265 and drive in 80-90 runs.

That's an over-inflation of his stats and abilities. .265 is average at best (and probably below), especially for a guy who's consistently a middle of the order hitter. Not to mention his career OBP is .330, which is also below average.

He also only averages about 78 RBI for his career, so he doesn't even reach the low end of what you can 'expect him to get'. In fact, he's NEVER driven in 90 runs in his career. He's only on pace for about 72 this season.

I'm definitely all in favor of trading him if someone makes a decent offer.

^^^^ I never said he was a great player...I said slightly above average. Okay If you want to quibble...he's an average player at worst. My problem is people on here regularly hate on Peralta, when there is no real reason to do so. The guy is remarkably consistent, doesn't get hurt and does a decent job. ALL teams have players like Peralta, even championship teams. The problem therefore is not JP but a front office that relies on players like Peralta to provide great numbers or 'hit middle of the order', because the other guys who they pencilled in there aren't doing their job or are hurt or both. Peralta is a #6 or 7 hitter....but often he is put higher in the order, and when he doesn't produce like a 3,4,5 hitter, people get on him...'he sucks'. That's not Peralta, that's on the front office.


you want to trade Peralta...go ahead. I don't mind moving him. but don't expect it to make much difference. The problem is not keeping Peralta...it's dumping your productive players for players WORSE than Peralta.

You could have moved Peralta long time ago...except that he is your only consistent productive infielder over the past several years. Ever since Phillips was dumped, we have been understocked at middle infield.

darbypitcher22;421746 wrote:I'd give the Yankees probably an A-. I mean, I'm not sure how you can give them anything else when they have 8 All Stars and have the best record at this point in the major leagues. 3 starting pitchers (Sabathia, Pettitte, and Hughes) have 10 wins a piece at the break and Vazquez has started to give some better quality starts and AJ Burnett has righted the ship a little bit.

My major beef? The bullpen except for Mariano Rivera is mind numbingly inconsistent and Joba Chamberlain has been a massive dissapointment.

The 2nd half schedule doesn't get easy with 15 meetings with the Rays still to go and about as many with Boston

How many years did you have to wait for tickets onto that bandwagon? Is it like Packer season tickets where you have to wait years? Or do you just have to wait for them to fall out of first place and BSPN to run a story about the sky is falling in NY?

Pirates: D-

Positives:
1. Evan Meek has gone from a Rule 5 pick to a pretty elite reliever.
2. The team is playing their young prospects who will be a major part of the next few years and letting them experience their growing pains this year.

Negatives:
1. Very poor starting pitching. Probably the worst in the majors by far.
2. Team is abysmal with runners on base. I think the last 14 or 15 homers they've hit are with bases empty. When they have guys on, they do a great job of minimizing any potential damage they can cause by grounding into double plays and striking out. They've lost a lot of close games (including 3 straight to Milwaukee by one run each entering the All-Star break)...this is the biggest reason for that.
3. Ryan Doumit's the worst defensive catcher in baseball and his offensive numbers don't come close to negating that.
4. A TON of potential minor league prospects have had their development slowed this year due to being injured.

Rays: B

The only reason they are getting a B is because of the overall record of 54-34, 2 GB from the Yankees. If I were to break down the first half the first 2 months were an A+, June was a C-, July looks to pick back up where they left off in May. David Price has made real strides this season in terms of his control. Since the last five or so starts last season he has been the most consistent pitcher for TB. Longoria and Crawford have been about as expected, John Jaso is a nice surprise but the rest of the lineup has gone down the shitter. BJ Upton and Carlos Pena are such teases in that they can show flashes of brilliance or put together a few games where it looks like Pena can hit for avg higher than .200 and BJ Upton to hit higher than .230.

Pitching has been strong, I've been critical of Wade Davis but the more I think about it they are letting him have a full rookie season without worry of being replaced. They stuck with Price through his up's and down's and are now doing that with Wade. It is just hard to stick with the plan when Jeremy Helickson is lighting it up in Triple-A.

Overall a B because of the potential they started off with. Glad to see they started strong in July, the first series after the ASB vs. the Yanks will be huge in setting the tone for the second half.

Like I said, take the positives for what they are with the Indians, have to take what you can get. I don't expect Donald to be anything special but like I said, he can be pretty serviceable, similar to what you're saying about Jhonny. Notice I didn't rip on Jhonny, he is what he is, which is why I didn't really put him in either category. With Donald, I can't say for sure without looking it up, which I don't feel like digging for, but it seems most of his errors have come when he was at short, which is clearly just not his position. I'm interested to see what happens when Asdrubal comes back after the break, do you go with Donald or Nix at 2nd? Nix has provided some pop yes but there also might be some pressure to squeeze Donald in to show some worth out of the Cliff trade. Either way they're both still below-average to average, along with most of the rest of the team.

I expected F baseball from the Tribe and that's what I got. In the second half, I expect them to maintain a 102+ loss pace. Now the Cavs will be giving us some good old Cleveland-style F basketball to go with it. Great times!

I give the Detroit Tigers a B thus far. The bullpen started great but has tailed a slight bit but I expect them to be very solid in the second half. Starting pitching started slow but has picked up with Verlander and Scherzer throwing great right now. Defense needs to be much better. Too many errors thus far so that must be shored up. Offense has been very good from 1-7 with Cabrera probably being the MVP right now and Boesch being the ROY with Jackson in second. Probably need to add another guy in the pen or another starting pitcher and the Tigers could certainly win the Central and make a run in the playoffs.