Lonnie Chisenhall has been one of the biggest surprises of this season as the top prospect and first round draft pick from 2008 has finally come into his own, coming in second on the team in doubles (32) and batting average (.288), third in hits (137) and OPS (.799), and fourth in RBI (64) and runs scored (57). In addition to this, he is the first Indians third baseman to hit 18 home runs since Casey Blake did so in 2007 and the first to knock in and score more than 50 since Jhonny Peralta in 2009. While these aren’t incredibly high numbers for a third baseman, the Indians haven’t had a consistently great one in a very long time, going back at least until Travis Fryman in the late 1990’s.
Defense aside, Chisenhall has been a large part of an overall very weak offense for the Tribe and it almost didn’t happen. Despite being just 25 years old (most players don’t hit their prime until their 27 through 29 year old seasons) and despite never giving him a full time chance at third base, Chisenhall had to unfairly fight for a spot on the team this year and even though he deserved to make the team and start at third from the very beginning, he was still slated to start the season in AAA until Jason Giambi broke his ribs after being hit by a pitch. Even with this, the plan to start Carlos Santana a couple times a week was thrown out the window and Chisenhall was relegated to the bench, playing just 17 games in April. When he did play, Chisenhall batted above seventh just twice all month and was used as a pinch hitter in four of those 17 games.
During that span, Chisenhall made the most of his limited time, batting .362 with a .901 OPS, but knocked in just a single run as he was almost never allowed to hit with runners in scoring position. As injuries, a lack of offense and poor defense from Santana at third hurt the Indians, Chisenhall was awarded a little more playing time in May, generally batting between fourth and eighth and knocking in 14 including at least one per game for a stretch of six straight games from May 20th through May 26th. On June 9th, when he had the greatest offensive game in Indians history, smashing three home runs and knocking in nine in one night against Texas, he earned a permanent role in the starting lineup, something that should have happened when he batted .306 with 3 home runs in 21 Spring Training games.
Despite all this success and a .326 average (.794 OPS) against left handed pitchers (second on the team behind Yan Gomes), he is still often batting seventh or below in the lineup including 23 games since August 6th. While it makes sense that Jose Ramirez (.300 AVG vs LHP), Michael Brantley (.794 OPS vs LHP) and Carlos Santana (.866 OPS vs LHP) keep their places in the top of the lineup against left handers, there is no reason for Chisenhall ever to bat below or be benched because of other players like Jason Kipnis (.212 AVG vs LHP), Mike Aviles (.666 OPS vs LHP) and David Murphy (.638 OPS). Forgoing the numbers, Terry Francona has instead made his daily lineup based on his own preconceived notions, rather than reality.
From the very beginning of the season, this has been a major problem with maximizing the production of the Indians roster. Due to the team trying to make poor signings look good and giving veterans far too many chances, 695 plate appearances have been wasted on four players with a combined OWAR of -2.3. These at bats given to Jason Giambi, Nick Swisher, Ryan Raburn and Elliot Johnson, who have all had negative WAR on the season, could easily have been given to younger players with positive outputs like Chisenhall, Ramirez and Tyler Holt, who were all underused early in the season. In fact, if these players had been used a little differently, such as with Chisenhall playing third, Santana playing first and Swisher DHing all season instead of just the last few months, both Santana and Swisher may have been able to put together much more positive offensive seasons. It seems obvious that playing more exhaustive defensive positions has effected Santana negatively and while he prefers to play the field, Swisher’s knees and shoulder are proving unable to perform the task.
Unquestionably, the combined mistakes of Chris Antonetti, in signing Swisher, Giambi and Raburn and Francona in playing them on a regular basis has cost an already weak offense many runs this season. The quandary now, is whether they will be able to change. Almost every veteran signing the Indians have made since bringing in Roberto Alomar in 1999 has failed, some on the most extreme level like the three listed above. In addition, talent has been wasted, including players like T.J. McFarland (2.98 ERA, 54 IP for the Orioles) and Zach Putnam (2.06 ERA, 52.1 IP for the White Sox) who were let go in the rule five draft, traded or released due to lack of room on the 25 man roster. Neither of these pitchers received enough playing time while with Cleveland to judge how they would play in the future and the Indians are making the same mistake again.
Even with Swisher on the DL and Giambi held back for mostly pinch hitting situations (where he has gone 2/8 this month), players like Zach Walters, Tyler Holt and Jesus Aguilar have been underused, with others, like Giovanny Urshela and Francisco Lindor held back in AAA. Instead of using the final month of the year to evaluate these players to see if they could be major producers in 2015, they are riding the bench with other players who have already proven their worth (or lack of it), like Michael Bourn and David Murphy getting that playing time. It is possible that things will change going into next season, but it is hard to imagine Francona forgoing his love for veterans who became established with other teams or for Antonetti to avoid signing and keeping a plethora of 30 year old, on the decline utility men. The lease Indians fans can hope for is that if another star like Chisenhall breaks out next year, he will be recognized and utilized in a much more efficient manner.
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