What's with McAlister?

[Prosecutor]

July ERA: 2.56 in five starts
Aug ERA: 5.06 in six starts
Sep ERA: 10.14 in two starts

His strikeout totals have been dropping. Through the end of July he struck out 59 batters in 51 innings. Since then he has 33 K's in 40 innings.

Last night against the Twins he threw 87 pitches and did not get a single swing-and-miss. The Twins hit 32 foul balls in three innings. It was excruciating to watch as they fouled off pitch after pitch.

At the end of July I had this guy penciled in as a starter next season. His ERA was 3.18 and he was striking out more than a batter per inning. Since then he's been a different pitcher. Hard to believe he couldn't get a single Twins batter to swing and miss a pitch last night. He'll probably start for the Tribe next year, but only by default.

For one thing his velocity seemed to be down from earlier in the season. He was throwing a lot of 92 mph fastballs whereas he usually is at 94-96. Joe Mauer hit a line drive that almost killed McAlister on a pitch that wasn't even in the strike zone.

Maybe he has a tired arm or something.

[indians1]

Or maybe he isn't that good. !!!!


Remember, we got him in a trade for kerry wood. Our rotation is a mess. The only guy really worth bringing back in masterson as a #3 or 4 pitcher. We need to completely revamp this rotation and it starts with a FO and coaching staff that can draft and develop pitching from within.

[A.Zajac]

I think too many people formed too high of hopes and expectations for the guy. I'm not saying he's a bad pitcher, but his success was also somewhat unsustainable. IMO, he's a solid #3-4 starter, nothing more.

[MadThinker88]

I think too many people formed too high of hopes and expectations for the guy. I'm not saying he's a bad pitcher, but his success was also somewhat unsustainable. IMO, he's a solid #3-4 starter, nothing more.

I'd take a solid 3 or 4. The sad thing is the numbers shown at the start of this thread don't indicate a solid 3 or 4. Those numbers will suggest a guy that yo yos between roles along with the majors and minors.

[ironmike]

Zajac, solid 3-4 starters are capable of winning 12-15 games per year on a team that can score runs. McAlister has the ability to do that. All comes down to pitching for a team that can score runs.

At the moment, with this pop gun offense, NO pitcher could have a good year. The players just want to go home and no free agents or traded players want to come to Cleveland.

Any good baseball GM will want to trade for Masterson or Ubaldo this offseason because they realize getting them into a winning situation is the missing ingredient in gettting them both back to being .500 pitchers or better. Of course, the Indians will trade them for more prospects which will be counterproductive. Fans are not going to support a rebuild. Did the White Sox rebuild?

Good proven baseball people and a new owner are needed to solve the issues including getting performances out of the current roster. Very bad environment.

Hey I hear there will be many openings in the marketing dept. soon. This franchise is in more trouble than being reported and it goes far beyond financial in nature.

[Edible14]

Fans are not going to support a rebuild. Did the White Sox rebuild?

Good proven baseball people and a new owner are needed to solve the issues including getting performances out of the current roster. Very bad environment.

The fans are going to be unhappy no matter what. Making or not making any move because of what you think the fan reaction will be is utterly pointless. There is almost no getting worse from a PR standpoint. There's certainly nothing you can do which will actually satiate the fan base. You could fire everyone in that FO, fire Acta and spend $20M on free agents and you still won't have a competitive team next year. You'll still have people bitching about the Dolans. Do what's best for the team long-term, no matter what that means. The fan reaction is noise at this point, ignore it.

[ironmike]

Edible14, disagree about ignoring the fans. They are the teams most valuable asset. Without them you have no revenues and no Cleveland Indians, so that is just the opposite of what needs to be done.

Ignoring the fans would be part of a bad business model which we already have in place.

[Edible14]

Edible14, disagree about ignoring the fans. They are the teams most valuable asset. Without them you have no revenues and no Cleveland Indians, so that is just the opposite of what needs to be done.

Ignoring the fans would be part of a bad business model which we already have in place.

I'm not saying ignore the fans. I'm saying that dictating hiring/firings and free agent signings based on perceived fan reaction is pointless. There will always be a lot of negative press as long as you're losing, especially with this town and especially with the Dolans as owners. The Browns have made a ton of front office and coaching changes and it hasn't eliminated any negative press. There is nothing that ownership can do to actually change the tone of conversation in this town, so any argument that starts with something like "the fans have been clamoring for..." is pointless. If you're rebuilding the team (as they probably should given what's happened this year), there's going to be a lot of apathy and anger. There is no changing that. And people are going to come out less to see what will probably be a very bad team next year. There is no changing that.

The point is, make moves for the right reasons.

[daingean]

Edible14, disagree about ignoring the fans. They are the teams most valuable asset. Without them you have no revenues and no Cleveland Indians, so that is just the opposite of what needs to be done.

Ignoring the fans would be part of a bad business model which we already have in place.

I'm not saying ignore the fans. I'm saying that dictating hiring/firings and free agent signings based on perceived fan reaction is pointless. There will always be a lot of negative press as long as you're losing, especially with this town and especially with the Dolans as owners. The Browns have made a ton of front office and coaching changes and it hasn't eliminated any negative press. There is nothing that ownership can do to actually change the tone of conversation in this town, so any argument that starts with something like "the fans have been clamoring for..." is pointless. If you're rebuilding the team (as they probably should given what's happened this year), there's going to be a lot of apathy and anger. There is no changing that. And people are going to come out less to see what will probably be a very bad team next year. There is no changing that.

The point is, make moves for the right reasons.

I hear ya but we were told this was the window of contention and the off season was more like Nero playing the fiddle. I understand there are 4 other teams competing for the same division title and just by law of average you're gonna fall short 80% fo the time, I understand about budgets and that puts us at a disadvantage compared to Detroit and Chicago but at least try to get better when it's your "window of contention". I think the lack of moves this year justifies that it's the right time for a move.

[Prosecutor]

Nice outing by Zach last night. His velocity was back up to 94-95, he got 6 K's in 6 innings, and he held the Rangers to one earned run in Arlington. Maybe his arm isn't too tired after all. No Josh Hamilton in the lineup, but they still have a lot of good hitters.

[TonyIBI]

I think expectations have to be in check for McAllister. He's just as much an unknown going into next season as anyone else. He just doesn't have the long sample size where you know what you should expect next season. Now, of course, he should go into next season as one of the starting pitchers.....but he's more of a middle to backend of the rotation guy that the league is adjusting to right now. I think he could carve out a very long ML career provided he stays healthy and continues to make adjustments, but the Indians are going to need a lot more than just him next year....and they will need BETTER options than him as well (which is unrealistic to expect obviously)

[Prosecutor]

His next start is against the Twins but after that he gets a start against the White Sox, who are battling for the division title. How he does in that game should tell us something.

Against the Rangers he managed 9 swings-and-misses in 87 pitches, so his stuff was a little better than the last outing. Still, he's not overpowering. Kluber had 16 swings-and-misses against the Tigers last night in five innings. The changeup was working well for him. McAlister is pretty much a two-pitch guy; fastball and slider. I'm not sure if that's enough for him to be successful except on days when he has complete command of both pitches.

[danh8]

ZacMac needs a decent third pitch that he can show in his mix. He does have two excellent pitches but adding a change or slurve ... Something that just adds a little more guess work really can take what he already has, up another notch, IMHO. He's young and close enough to finding that perfect mix to where he could become even more than a middle or back of rotation pitcher. Has, to me, a John Denny type of mix to his game that can bring great results eventually.

[Prosecutor]

He's still only 24 years old. If he can add a decent off-speed pitch and get a little better command of his slider he could be a solid starter for a long time.

In 19 big league starts this year he has a 4.15 ERA. Not bad considering his age and it's his first extended exposure to ML hitters. I think he has a chance to be a Jake Westbrook type. Not a bad return for Austin Kearns. So far, so good.

[homerawayfromhome]

I completely agree McAllister could be a Westbrook type. It's hard to dislike the Kearns signing after getting McAllister back from the Yanx in return.

[ironmike]

Prosecutor wrote... I think he has a chance to be a Jake Westbrook type. Not a bad return for Austin Kearns. So far, so good.

Agree on McAlister. Problem is a blind squirrel at times finds an acorn. Our bad moves and drafting far outweigh the good moves. Need to reverse that.

We need better baseball people in the front office making hirings and decisions. Kenny Williams, Billy Beane, Ruben Amaro Jr., guys with those types of backgrounds.

John Hart ain't coming back, but a guy the Indians should consider is Rick Manning IF he would even want the job. He'd be a good baseball evalutor for our front office and surround him with a couple of spread sheet geeks and and add a good administrator supporting cast. Manning has the experience and knowledge to make decisions on players.