Indians Miss A Chance
When the Indians had to place Travis Hafner back on the Disabled List, many fans in Cleveland saw it as an opportunity to promote Matt LaPorta. The International League isn’t proving much of a challenge, as he’s hitting .352/.427/.676 in 82 plate appearances so far, and the team could use an injection of hope after another disappointing start to the season.
Instead, they decided to recall David Dellucci, who had been rehabbing in Triple-A. Dellucci is a decent left-handed bench bat, but let’s be honest, he’s no LaPorta. Usually, I’m fairly supportive of teams not rushing prospects to the majors after a good month, especially if it might just be a short term promotion. However, in this case, I’m not sure I get it.
LaPorta is 24. He played four years of college ball, and now has played nearly two years in the minors. His bat just doesn’t need any more development. He’s a major league quality hitter right now, and there’s little to be gained by having him continue to feast on inferior pitchers.
The Indians are good enough to contend for the AL Central title this year, but they’re off to a rough start. Their window to win with this roster is probably through 2010, at which point they might have to take a step back while they reload. They aren’t building for the future with this bunch, and they could use all the help they can get to dig themselves out of a bit of a hole.
The Indians might have missed an opportunity here. If they lose the division by a game or two, this is the kind of decision that could lead to a lot of regret in October.
Dave is the Managing Editor of FanGraphs.
i hope this isn’t some super 2 game where the indians are holding out until june just to save some money (potentially) down the line.
i think tom is right and this might be a service time issue…
honestly, as an Indian’s fan, I’m looking forward to Carl Pavano turning into David Huff, moreso than Laporta’s eventual call-up
In this economy in a city like Cleveland that could really be rocked if even more blue collar jobs are lost, of course it’s a super 2 game. And they’re good enough to compete? I think that says more about how bad their division is than anything else.
If you need a bat in the ineup everyday to replace Hafner, I’d rather it be LaPorta than Delucci. If service time is an issue, they can send him back down for a month or so after Hafner comes back.
“Their window to win with this roster” Didn’t you rank them in the 4th best shape to compete long term over the offseason? I’d say their window is a bit bigger than that.
Even if it is a service time issue, it’s dumb since you honestly don’t care _that_ much on missing out on LaPorta’s age 30 or 31 season.
Not a LaPorta question, but Tribe related….
Rafael Perez: wha’ happened? Is there any explanation for his suckitude this year? Please tell me it’ll get better.
LaPorta isn’t on the 40 man roster and the Indians don’t have room to add him. That’s why he wasn’t called up.
The projection systems had projected LaPorta as around the 330/430 hitter coming into 09. How much does a hot start change that?
It may well be that LaPorta is ready to mash in the big leagues right now but it’s entirely defensible for the Indians to keep him down for more development. Also, they may not like the idea of bringing him up to DH.
Um, I’d hope for the sake of Indian fans they don’t like the idea of him trying to butcher left field…
If the Indians get two relievers to pitch well outside of Kerry Wood, they should win the division. However, after watching the relievers cough up 5 runs in the 8th inning to make a 6-0 game a little too interesting, I’m not convinced those relievers can be found.
I am more influential than I knew – LaPorta comes up tomorrow.
Silva DFA, Dave. Get to work.
@Alex – Tony Sipp is one of those guys. Heaven knows who the other one is, though. Whoever it is, he’s not on the team probably.
Dave,
Can you write a similar article on Wieters to force the Orioles to call him up the day you post it?
Please, Dave, I beg that that you write about Felipe Paulino and Justin Masterson.
I want to start a petition to keep them in their respective rotations.
How can you bump two young pitchers with promising k/bb and gb/fb ratios for russ ortiz and brad penny (seriously look at his peripherals)?
Houston is worthless but the Red Sox may respond to a logical argument.
laporta is up now
http://www.minorleagueball.com/2009/5/2/862439/cleveland-calls-up-laporta?login=1241290016
Laporta HR!!! Let the Laporta era begin