Editors note: The first part of this article is 100% fictitious satire. All quotes are completely made up. None of these players were interviewed for this piece and did not make any of these comments. It’s just one man’s attempt at some humor.
When Cleveland Indians’ starting pitcher Carlos Carrasco took a liner from Detroit Tigers second basemen Ian Kinsler off his hand two pitches into Saturday’s contest, the Indians decided in the best interest of their players health, that they would just play out the rest of the regular season and not enjoy their bid into the postseason should they make it.
“We simply just have lost too many players to injuries,” Indians President of Baseball Operations Chris Antonetti said. “With Danny (Salazar) and now Carlos (Carrasco) down along with Yan Gomes and Michael Brantley, we just felt it wasn’t fair to the rest of our players to have to play in the postseason without those guys. There was just no way the rest of this roster was good enough to carry the rest of the load and even stay healthy the rest of the way themselves.”
Normally upbeat Indians Manager Terry Francona agreed that there was just no point in playing out October given the circumstances.
“I know we have a seven game lead. And (Corey) Kluber gives us a really good chance to win a Game 1,” Francona said. “But after that, we just felt we couldn’t rely on Trevor (Bauer) to pitch in Carlos’ spot. Game 3? I wasn’t even allowing Mike (Clevinger) to start until I was forced to. Trust him in a playoff game? I just can’t see how that helps our team. Josh’s (Tomlin) arm already wore out last month. We had to give him two weeks without pitching just to not allow a home run in one start. We don’t have that kind of time in the playoffs. If I could carry 20 relievers in the postseason, I would. Maybe that would give us a chance and keep me getting my exercise walking to the mound. But that’s just not realistic so we decided to just go home when the regular season ends.”
The Indians managed to stay in first place for over 100 games after only getting 11 at bats from Michael Brantley before he was shut down with shoulder injuries. Then Yan Gomes took a pitch in the wrist in his final minor league rehab at bat and was shutdown for the season just hours before he was due to come back. His favorite battery mate and normally stoic ace Corey Kluber agreed this was the only logical decision.
“I can’t pitch every game in the postseason,” Kluber said. “There have been games over the last year-and-a-half where these guys haven’t even scored runs when I pitched my ass off. I would have to try to pitch every game in the postseason after I’m the only guy who survived the year in the rotation from Spring Training. As hard as Roberto Perez tries, he’s not Yan. I don’t feel like having to pitch in the biggest games of my career to him. We gave it our best effort. We’ll just take the division title if we finish this thing off and enjoy the postseason at home like White Sox will when everyone handed them division in May after their hot start because they signed Austin Jackson.”
Without the confidence of their ace and the loss of Carrasco and Salazar from their rotation, vocal team leaders Mike Napoli and Jason Kipnis chimed in that they didn’t even feel like playing the rest of the regular season, let alone the postseason.
“Honestly, with that they’re paying me, they’re lucky I’m still showing up,” Napoli said. “And I have to keep throwing these parties after I homer? I’ve hit 34 homers, the most in my career. At my age, even I can’t handle that kind of partying anymore. I managed to stay healthy this year finally. The way the injury bug is going around here I could be next. I have a chance to cash in again in free agency and playing more games is just too big a risk with the way the training staff and media don’t hold people accountable for their health.”
Kipnis, who is also having a career season, was just too depressed to keep playing when the media told him the team no longer had any shot at winning in the postseason.
“I put my heart and soul into this team and this season,” the Indians second basemen said. “When I read that people were saying we had zero chance to win in the postseason, I’m not going to lie, it was hard to show up to the park today. I considered calling old buddy Vinnie (Pestano) and going to work on our golf games. I already bought Bears and Blackhawks tickets. Anything to cheer myself up after what I read about our postseason chances after Cookie’s injury. I’m not sure I’ll be able to watch any of the postseason on TV considering how good we’ve played this year. We should be playing in those games but after the injuries and the media telling us there was no chance we’d even compete in the postseason, I’m just ready to go home.”
OK – the rest of this is actually real stuff
If you’ve read this long – you are either wondering why the heck I decided to make up all those quotes or you know that Cleveland.com and the Plain Dealer’s Paul Hoynes wrote after Carrasco’s season ending non-displaced fracture to his pinky finger on his pitching hand, that the that was the moment the Indians chances of advancing in the playoffs died. Without Brantley, Gomes, Salazar and now Carrasco, he said the Indians have zero shot at going anywhere in the postseason.
Hey, a least he didn’t say the Indians were going to blow their seven game lead in the AL Central with 14 games to play, right?
Hoynes has been doing his job likely longer than I’ve been alive. With that kind of time does come with a bit of respect because over the last half-decade the media has been a terrible place to work, let alone survive. With that being said, he could have probably made his point without being so over the top. I’m not linking to the article. If you follow any Indians fans on Twitter, it shouldn’t be hard to find and I don’t advocate sharing click bait journalism.
Sept. 17: Remember the date because that's when Indians' postseason dreams ended before they began. https://t.co/4fNAMyn1oi
— paul hoynes (@hoynsie) September 18, 2016
Realistically, are the Indians the favorite to win the AL Pennant now? No, they’re not. Without their second and maybe third best starting pitcher, the odds are stacked against them. They’ve managed to endure and flourish without Brantley, an offensively productive Gomes and then all together, without Salazar most of the second half (productively anyways) and an ineffective Tomlin.
Not having Carrasco or Salazar in the postseason doesn’t make things any easier, but to say they might as well just go home after what they’ve managed to do all season is a huge overreaction. The visceral reactions from Kipnis and Bauer (who wasn’t exactly sending Hoynes fan mail before his piece) were pretty telling of how this was received in the clubhouse.
Then don't bother showing up the rest of the way… Can write from home if you already know how this one plays out! https://t.co/RmjFCQeAcB
— Jason Kipnis (@TheJK_Kid) September 18, 2016
I notice @hoynsie wasn't at the game today doing his job like the rest of us were. To say what he did then not show up for work? #coward
— Trevor Bauer (トレバー・バウアー) (@BauerOutage) September 18, 2016
Did the Indians chances at postseason success take a hit? Absolutely. I think that was implied and that point could have been conveyed without basically saying they might as well not even play the games. Hoynes is entitled to his opinion and despite what some people think, beat writers paid by media companies are usually asked to write columns that are opinion based. That he did that wasn’t his mistake, it was how he conveyed it. I would think he’s been doing his job long enough to know that there was going to be some serious blow back from this.
He’s right that the Indians postseason chances suffered a major blow. He could and probably should have worded it better than “Write it down. On Sept. 17, the Indians were eliminated from serious postseason advancement before they even got there,” if he didn’t want the kind of firestorm responses he’s currently getting. It’s not the first time he’s made incendiary statements about the team this season.
@TheRealLA__ @RuiterWrongFAN Who says they're ready to contend? Not with this offense.
— paul hoynes (@hoynsie) March 7, 2016
Hoynes said he truly believes what he wrote is true and I’m sure at the time he sent that tweet, he believed that too. When he writes things like that, he better stick to that opinion or he’d look even worse. Writers aren’t supposed to be paid PR for the team they cover, but the wording of his opinion could have been better. But that’s also my opinion.
Are the Indians in prime position to get to the World Series for the first time since 1997? Probably not. But did anyone give the Kansas City Royals a chance in 2014 or 2015? Did anyone give the Red Sox a chance to win four straight games against the Yankees in 2004 to go on to break their World Series curse? Did anyone give the Indians a chance to be in first place with only 11 at bats from Brantley or to be in position to win the division without Gomes or Salazar in the second half? Not a chance.
That’s why they play the games. And unfortunately for Hoynes, the Indians probably have at least 17 games left in the season and nobody is going to forget what he wrote.
— Craig ⛳️🏀 (@cwheels91) September 19, 2016
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