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These are not the same old Cleveland Indians
Francisco Lindor #12 and Mike Napoli #26 of the Cleveland Indians celebrate after both scored on a double by Lonnie Chisenhall #8 during the first inning against the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim on August 11, 2016. Jason Miller/Getty Images

These are not the same old Cleveland Indians

It wasn’t so long ago that the Cleveland Indians had quickly run the gamut of preseason breakthrough candidate to underwhelming disappointment, of sorts. Sure, they had managed to walk away with a winning record for the 2015 campaign, but it was a far cry from what was anticipated for the club on the heels of such a promising end to 2014.

Corey Kluber had become the most unlikely Cy Young winner in many years, while Michael Brantley had broken out to the tone of a top three finish in the American League’s Most Valuable Player chase. There was a strong ensemble around their two premier stars as well, but nothing ever seemed to click for the Indians, as they slumped into forgettable 81-80, third place finish, the third consecutive year that the club had seen a decline in its win total since making the postseason in Terry Francona’s first year on the job. 

Fast forward to 2016, where in mid-August all of these struggles seem as wistfully in the past as the lyrics of Paul McCartney’s "Yesterday." The Indians have transformed themselves into a pace setting, well-rounded ball club that has refused to loosen its grip on control of the AL Central since early June, and has stretched its lead out to an impressive six games. And while this has been popularly accredited to the exploits of Kluber and company in the starting pitching staff, a deeper look at the Indians’ success sees that it is far more than AL’s top starting pitching ensemble that has put the club within the sights of its first division title since 2007.

This all because the Indians of the past were a talented, yet clearly flawed club, chockfull of impressive names (and requisite contracts as well), but less remarkable returns. The 2013 Indians had won 92 games on the back of a young core of Brantley, Jason Kipnis, Carlos Santana, Astrubal Cabrera and Yan Gomes, but also sprinkled in with the veteran contributions of Nick Swisher, Michael Bourn, Justin Masterson, Ubaldo Jimenez, Scott Kazmir and more.

However, this collective did not age well together and quickly became more burdensome than an appreciating asset. By 2015, many of those same players had overstayed their welcome and had made the Indians an odd mixture of poor defense, misaligned bats and an overburdened pitching staff. Whiel the emergence of prospect extraordinaire Francisco Lindor was exciting, as well as the maturation of Carlos Carrasco, Danny Salazar and Trevor Bauer was encouraging, it still was not enough to pull Cleveland out of its perpetual haze. Add in the undeniable run of the Kansas City Royals into the mix, and the Tribe had little to no chance at making a run as it was currently constructed.

But how was this done exactly? While the offseason was dominated by the Boston Red Sox, Detroit Tigers, Seattle Mariners and even Chicago White Sox making massive overhauls to their existing offerings in the hopes of seizing the AL crown, the Indians’ names did not exact ring out as impact movers and shakers in attacking the open market.

General Manager Mike Chernoff should be a runaway winner of Executive of the Year for the tactical victories he has achieved in reshaping his roster. Gone are the boulders that Swisher, Bourn, Mike Aviles and Brandon Moss had become, a trio that combined for a .220/.287/.620 split line in a combined 812 plate appearances the year before. Despite the All-Star efforts of the Brantley, Kipnis, Santana and Lindor, this was insurmountable amount of deadweight to carry, and the Indians offense finished out 11th in the AL in runs scored on the year, while also finishing in the lower half of the league in OPS (.725), slugging percentage (.401) and home runs (13th).

This lethargic offensive effort squandered the coming of age of the Indians rotation, who established themselves as one of the top units in the game. Indians pitching finished either first or second in team ERA, strikeouts, complete games, average against and save converted percentage. This was a team that needed a jolt of life shot into it somewhere, and Chernoff went about it in a covert fashion. Instead of attempting to swing for the fences with headline acquisitions on the market, the team opted for tried, but proven veteran additions with similar – but less eroded – skill sets. Mike Napoli and Rajai Davis have proven to be two of the most transformative additions to any team’s offering this year, and have been the perfect complement for the coming of age Indians core.

Despite the fact they were far from the most notable names on the market – coming in at a combined commitment of 1 year and $12.25 million – the pair has been baseball’s most impressive (and unexpected) one-year stimulus package. With Napoli and Davis playing the role of catalysts, the Indians as a whole have morphed into a vastly more diverse, nimble and effective attack. Just a year ago, they finished in the bottom third in the American League in run scored (669-11th), home runs (141-13th), on-base + slugging percentage (.725-9th) and extra base hits (473-12th). They were firmly in the middle of the pack in stolen bases  (86) and batting average (.256), checking in at 6th in the AL in both categories.

However, just a year later, nothing sort of everything is different in what the Indians offense brings to the table. They have taken the jump to elite levels of offensive production, checking in currently in the top three in runs scored (590), OPS (.770) and batting average (.265-3rd). Meanwhile, the most sizable jumps have been in Napoli and Davis' specialty areas: home runs and stolen bases, respectively.

This current incarnation of the Indians has already out homered and stolen more bases than last year's teams did over the full course of the season. Cleveland leads all AL teams with 97 stolen bases, which has made their improved overall ability to reach base mean far more.

The spike in both effective power and speed have obviously been responsible for the uptick in run creation this year, which, unlike last year, has converted strong Indians’ pitching efforts into wins. Cleveland pitching has stayed largely stayed consistent with their strong levels from a year ago, however their starting staff has a 52-33 on the year, which is on pace to fly past last season’s 65-64 record for the largely the same rotation.

Napoli has become a powerful game-changer in the middle of a lineup that a year ago had no bat that could change the scoreboard instantly. With his team-leading 29 home runs, this year’s team has already out homered last year’s model by mid-August. A year after seeing no player reach 20 home runs, the Indians already have three on the year, with Santana (25) and Kipnis (20) joining him. Outside of being able to create instant offense, the addition of Davis has inspired as drastic of a strategy change on the bases as Napoli has at the plate. As ESPN's David Schoenfeld points out, the Indians have created the second most runs in the game via taking the extra base, fueled by Davis’ AL-leading 32 stolen bases, but joined by Lindor, Kipnis and Jose Ramirez, each of whom are in double digits in steals as well.

And while home runs and stolen bases are easy to identify reasons for any offense to be improved, the overall maturation of the team has been vastly important as well. Lindor has continued to build on his impressive rookie year, contributing nearly a 5.0 WAR on his own. In addition to stealing bases, Ramirez’ average is up almost 100 points from a year ago, to .311. Kipnis has rediscovered his power stroke while not sacrificing speed. Rookie outfielder Tyler Naquin is firmly in the Rookie of the Year hunt, carrying a .314/.378/.594 slash line, while playing a solid center field.

What is more is that while things are clicking so well, it is easy to overlook that they are doing this all while still being below their full potential. The team’s top everyday player coming in to the year has barely been a part of this season at all. Brantley, who's season was officially called off last week, made it to the plate only 43 times on the year, producing a .231 average and nine hits on the year. But a collection of Indians have still managed to produce at a .302/.363/.458 split at the position in his absence, a respectible level of replacement value for a player that was good for a 10.6 WAR figure from 2014-15. 
In addition, everyday catcher Yan Gomes has been sidelined for the majority of the year as well, and was subpar to his usual levels of production when available. All the while, the team has compensated for this pair of substantial losses and continued on as the pacesetters in their division.

What a difference a year makes. It should be no wonder that Indians pitching seems so much more effective this year. It is easy for average pitching to work with run support, so it is extremely workable for the talented Indians’ staff to make what they are receiving work well for them. And while it is true, that a team will only go as far as its pitching will carry it in the end, there will be no shortage in equality in sharing the load for this version of the Tribe.

 

Can you name every Cleveland Indians player or manager in the MLB Hall of Fame?

This quiz includes Cleveland Naps players. An asterisk (*) denotes non-consecutive years played. 

SCORE:
0/35
TIME:
8:00
1999-2001
Roberto Alomar
1929-1939
Earl Averill
1999
Harold Baines
1981-1985
Bert Blyleven
1938-1950
Lou Boudreau
1987
Steve Carlton
1916-1924
Stan Coveleski
1947-1958*
Larry Doby
1975-1977
Dennis Eckersley
1936-1956*
Bob Feller
1902-1910
Elmer Flick
1947-1960*
Joe Gordon
1933-1935
Walter Johnson
1902-1910
Addie Joss
1955
Ralph Kiner
1902-1914
Nap Lajoie
1941-1958*
Bob Lemon
1947-1956*
Al Lopez
1994
Jack Morris
1994-1996
Eddie Murray
1954-1955
Hal Newhouser
1986-1987
Phil Niekro
1948-1949
Satchel Paige
1972-1975
Gaylord Perry
1934
Sam Rice
1974-1977
Frank Robinson
1920-1930
Joe Sewell
1913,1915
Billy Southworth
1916-1926
Tris Speaker
1991-2011*
Jim Thome
1957-1958
Hoyt Wilhelm
1957
Dick Williams
1995
Dave Winfield
1949-1963*
Early Wynn
1909-1911
Cy Young

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