Tales from the Teepee Volume 8: Alex Cole

With the Cleveland Indians of 2008 in desperate need of a true leadoff hitter, (Grady should be batting third), we decided to go back 18 years and look at who the Tribe felt would be their leadoff hitter for the next decade.

The year was 1990, and the John McNamara led Cleveland Indians were in need of a spark. Hank Peters had noticed that the St. Louis Cardinals possessed a slick fielding speedy outfielder who sported motorcycle goggles. With Mitch Webster not exactly tearing the cover off of the ball, the Indians went ahead and traded catching prospect Tom Lampkin for Centerfielder Alex Cole.

When Cole arrived in Cleveland, he was immediately put into the leadoff spot during a double header against the New York Yankees on July 27th. He went a combined 3-8 and stole his first base off of pitcher Jeff Robinson. That was the first of 40 stolen bases he would accrue over the next 63 games, a staggering feat. Just one week later he would set a Major League record by stealing 5 bases against the lollypop arm of Kansas City Royals catcher Mike MacFarlane. He ended the season batting .300 and driving in 13 runs. As an 11 year old back then, he instantly became my favorite player and I waited over 2 hours to get his autograph at a local baseball card shop that summer.

The Front Office was so excited about this projected future phenom patrolling center field for years to come they immediately moved back and increased the height of the center field wall in old Cleveland Municipal Stadium for the 1991 season. This was done to apparently maximize Cole's range and potential gap hit opportunities. Alex Cole was subsequently caught stealing 17 times that year and never showed his gold glove potential. The wall experiment didn't work as the Indians finished a dismal 57-105 and John McNamara was fired in the middle of the season. Murray Chass wrote about Cole's struggles in the New York Times on July 28, 1991. Here is what he said;

Alex Cole of Cleveland has posed this season's greatest stolen-base puzzle. As a rookie last season, starting a year ago yesterday, he had 40 stolen bases in 49 attempts in only 63 games. This season, he got his 12th stolen base last Thursday night in his 64th game, and he has been thrown out 12 times.

Ironically, Cole's performance in 1990 was pivotal in prompting the power-poor Indians to move back the Cleveland Stadium fences. They figured they would win with speed, primarily Cole's.

"I think it goes back to spring training when Alex fell coming out of the batter's box and dislocated his shoulder," Mike Hargrove, the Indians' manager, said, trying to explain the outfielder's enigmatic effort. "He's been tentative as a baserunner since. He's been hesitant about sliding headfirst, especially going back into first base. It's made him more cautious. He's not aggressive, and he doesn't get a good jump like he did."

Cole, Hargrove added, has played "like he doesn't want to make a mistake" and that, too, has made him cautious. "We did some things to calm his fears," the manager said. "We said if we make mistakes on bases, do it on the base ahead and not on the base behind. Go out and put pressure on the other team. We've let him know that no one's going to shoot him for being thrown out. No one's ever given him that idea. It's just a perceived notion of his that he's under pressure not to make mistakes."

Even though he has tried to steal only 24 times, Cole ranks second in the American League in number of times caught.

It was the beginning of the end for Alex Cole in a Tribe uniform, as he was traded on July 4th, 1992 to the Pittsburgh Pirates for minor leaguer Tony Mitchell to give way to former University of Arizona point guard Kenny Lofton. Cole bounced around the majors the next 4 1/2 years with the Pirates, expansion Rockies, Twins and Red Sox. He was out of the league after the 1996, while bouncing around the minors a few years after that. Unfortunately this is not where the Alex Cole story ends.

In 2002 he plead guilty to possession with the intent to distribute heroin and served 18 months in jail. Four years later, a judgment in excess of $30,000.00 was entered against him for running up credit card bills under a friend's name and then not repaying them (i.e. stealing money).

I prefer to remember Alex Cole as I did 18 years ago, as a speedy centerfielder with the cool goggles. There wasn't much to root for with the Wahoos back then, and he provided hope for a prosperous future. Hopefully the current Indians regime can find a spark plug that they can stick at the top of the order to set the table so we don't have to suffer through anymore disappointing summers.

Down on the Farm Report: Kelvin De La Cruz

Today we will look at Lake County Captain pitcher Kelvin De La Cruz. This guy is ripping up Single A with a 4-2 record with a 1.57 ERA in 51 2/3 innings. Kelvin idolizes fellow countryman Fausto Carmona, who are both from the Dominican Republic. He boasts a 94 MPH fastball to go along with a change and a curve. The amazing thing is his dominance at the level has occurred at such a young age. De La Cruz is 19 years old, and a towering 6'5, but still needs to gain weight as he is listed at only 187 lbs. With the depth of the pitching in each level, this guy may be a pitcher other teams target in future dealings with the Tribe. Look for him to be at Kinston sometime later this year with a spot in the Akron rotation looming in 2009.

"It is What it Is"

Manager Eric Wedge is the king of cliches. Grinding, battling, taking one day at a time, tomorrow is another day, and we're close, are all phrases used by the skipper. Well Wedge decided against using any of these today as he pretty much layed into Rafael Betancourt after he blew yet another game for the Tribe today. Betancourt was abused by his fastball staying up in the zone and his inability to pitch inside.

This is out of the ordinary for Wedge, as he usually spits out hyperbole. Maybe the manager shouldn't have pulled out Rafael Perez when he put two runners on in an obvious sacrifice situation? The first runner got on due to a Mandy Marte error, and the second runner got a bloop broken bat hit. With no outs and the White Sox trailing by two, you would figure Ozzie Guillen would have Orlando Cabrera bunt (he did). Then with one out and runners on second and third, lefty A J Pierzynski was due up. Why not keep the lefty on lefty matchup prevail and force the Sox to make a move? Well Betancourt proceeded to give up back to back doubles and the game was over right there.

Why bring this up? Wedge is not the reason this team can't hit or pitch out of the bullpen. He is becoming frustrated and feeling a bit helpless. That is not a good sign for Tribe fans when the usually stoic Wedge is fuming publicly. I unfortunately do not have the answer to the Indians problems, but as stated earlier I believe a deal for a polished hitter would at least shake things up.

Here were some of the Highlights:

Aaron Laffey: 6 IP, 7 hits, 1 earned run. Pitched out of trouble a few times, continues to show grittiness and calmness on the mound. Should not even be considered in any trades as he looks to be a staple in the rotation for years to come, especially with the injury to Adam Miller (my friend Ryan says he told us so).

Jhonny Peralta: 4-13, 2 Homeruns. At least he drove in a runner than himself today. Still sucks at shortstop, but hit the ball hard Wednesday. Hopefully his flailing away at third strike curveballs in the dirt are over.

Tuesday's Game: They won a game, which was a nice change of pace.

Areas of Concern:

Grady Sizemore: 2-13. Regressed a bit from a solid weekend. If this team can ever find a leadoff hitter, he needs to be batting 3rd to alleviate the pressures of getting on base.

Rafael Betancourt: Blew the game Wednesday, giving up back to back doubles. His control has been off and on. Need him to staighten himself out before the season is lost.

Ben Francisco: 2-13. Seems to have caught "the sickness" from the rest of the lineup. It is a sad state of affairs when a guy who was not good enough to start the season on the 25 man roster is now our 3 hitter. He may be pressing. Also his rightfield defense has been shaky at best.

An 11 game homestretch begins Friday in Kansas City as Cliff Lee takes on Gil Meche. There are still 109 games left, so I guess anything can happen.

Believe it or not, Jorge isn't at home

Anthony Castrovince of indians.com is reporting that Jorge Julio will be designated for assignment tomorrow when Jake Westbrook is activated from the disabled list. Jorge has been horrible as of late, laying proverbial eggs against the White Sox and Rangers. Management liked his fastball, and apparently so did opposing hitters. Everytime he came in to pitch, Tribe fans everywhere I think died a little. Surprisingly, Scott Elarton and Edward Mujica survived to pitch another day, but neither are on solid ground. The Bullpen now consists of...

Borowski

Kobayashi

Perez

Betancourt

Elarton

Mujica

Not exactly reminiscant of the Nasty Boys. Hopefully guys like Mastny and Lewis can figure out there issues in Triple A. Also I imagine that they will eventually stick Travis Hafner on the DL and promote Shin Soo Choo over the weekend. With Interleague play coming up, the current lite hitting Hafner won't be needed until the end of June.

Not So Indian Summer

I will not be doing a recap of the Rangers series because who really wants to discuss anything about this lifeless team anyways. The Indians are a bad baseball team right now in need of some help. Minor league moves like promoting Shin Soo Choo or Josh Barfield will not do the trick. Some sort of impact bat is needed for the immediate future to help ignite the smoldering offense. With Travis Hafner sucking and now apparently having some sort of shoulder injury, the middle of the order has no power threat whatsoever. You may say, "Jhonny Peralta has 10 homers!" He also has driven in only 7 runners besides himself. The stat line of 10 HR, 17 RBI looks video game-esque.

The Tribe still has a pretty deep minor league system, especially when it comes to pitching. I would hope GM Mark Shapiro would stop sitting on his hands and make the impact trade for major league talent that he has yet to make in his seven years as general manager. They can ill afford to be afraid of dealing a potential top prospect anymore, this team is on the cusp of disaster.

I really do feel for Eric Wedge. People can blame him for lineup issues or relief pitching matchups, but really what can he do at this point? With the extreme lack of clutch hitting, it taxes the bullpen and starters. The pitchers can't give up any runs or the game is over. He could pull a Jim Leyland and swear up a storm, but that would go against everything Wedge's character as manager.

Mark Shapiro and company must let the fans know what their focus is for the rest of 2008 and beyond. GM speak is getting old quickly, so if he feels that this year may be a bust, then it his duty to cut bait (trade CC, Byrd, Blake) and focus on the future.

Fausto to DL, Lewis sent down, Mujica, Elarton called up

A whole bunch of roster moves were made Saturday, as apparently Fausto Carmona's hip hurt him enough for the Indians to place him on the 15 day DL. Also, the Tribe sent down Jensen Lewis in a move to help locate his velocity. Lewis has not pitched horrible, but if his fastball is not clocking in at least the high 80's, it is a problem. Scott Elarton returns to Cleveland to fill a role in long relief. The team did not really have an innings eater out in the pen all year. Edward Mujica was added for the time being until Jake Westbrook is activated from the DL. Mujica has been pretty bad in the big leagues so far, so I would imagine he will only come in in mop up duty, Elarton took the place of Breslow on the 40 man roster. Finally, the Tribe won last night for the first time in 8 games. It figures the first game I don't watch in a week they win.