Don't Just Give Shane Bieber The Cy Young, Rename It After Him
Well folks, when you don't have it, you simply don't have it. And we all got a glimpse into what it looks like when Shane Bieber simply doesn't have it last night.
6 innings, 1 hit, no runs, and 9 strikeouts. And a no decision because the bullpen blew it for him.
We're going to need you to be better going forward, Shane. Your 6-0 record, 1.20 ERA, and 84 strikeouts (all 1st in the league) aren't getting it done right now. We just traded our #2 pitcher for a bag of balls and a couple mid-level prospects yesterday, even though we were in 1st place in the AL Central, so we're going to need you to win literally every single time you take the mound from now on. 105 pitches through 6 innings? What are you trying to do, kill our bullpen? Tonight was simply unacceptable.
Speaking of unacceptable, the Indians have the worst offense in Major League Baseball. Plain and simple. Ugh. If only we had a huge trade piece that the entire MLB was battling over that could've brought in some major offense to help this team this year. But hey, at least we have enough shortstop prospects to fill a school bus down in our minor league system!
There is good news through all of this though: help is on it's way! We recalled Oscar Mercardo (.111 average) yesterday. And the Padres sent us a quantity or quality bunch of average players to fill out our roster!!! That's right folks, we snagged Josh Naylor right under everyone's noses at the deadline. I'm talking a .253 (!!!!) career average and 4 (!!!!!!!!) RBIs this year. And that comes with no sarcasm. That type of offensive production will be welcomed with open arms here in Cleveland. I mean, my goodness, these Padres we just traded for have to be chomping at the bit to know that they don't have to produce AT ALL to stay in our lineup. Heck, if they keep hitting .200, we'll have to move them up in the order!
Listen, my two cents is that we better trade Bieber while we still can. I know he's the best pitcher in baseball by far, but there's only so many average prospects and .250 hitting outfielders out there. Gotta scoop them up while we still can! I think if we play our cards right, we can ship out our 4th Ace in 2 years this offseason and bring back a pretty nice haul of nobodies.