Tag Archives: Cesar Hernandez

MLB Trade Deadline winners and losers

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The 2021 MLB trade deadline was one to remember as many franchise cornerstone players were on the move. As with any deadline, there are clear winners and losers of the day, let’s take a look.

Winners

Los Angeles Dodgers 

This one is obvious. Los Angeles swung a deal with the Washington Nationals landing both Max Scherzer and Trea Turner. Adding Scherzer to their rotation when they are currently without Clayton Kershaw due to injury and the unknown status of Trevor Bauer, who may never throw another pitch as a Dodger, is a huge win. Inserting Turner into the mix lengthens their lineup and with another year of control after this season gives them a consistent presence beyond this season.

New York Yankees

There are two criticisms when evaluating the lineup of the New York Yankees, too right handed and too all or nothing. They addressed the two areas by acquiring Joey Gallo from the Texas Rangers and Anthony Rizzo from the Chicago Cubs, both are left-handed bats. While Gallo is another all-or-nothing guy, Rizzo has the ability to be more of a consistent source of at least decent batting average. Sure they have some work to do in regards to the playoff hunt, but they can’t be counted out just yet. Additionally, the short porch in right field should be quite nice for both new faces in The Bronx.

New York Mets

The Bronx Bombers were not the only team making moves in New York. The Mets made a big splash of their own, acquiring Javier Baez from the Cubs. At the moment the Mets are without Francisco Lindor, so Baez can slide into the shortstop position for the time being. When Lindor does return Baez can shift to a different position, something he said he would only do for Lindor. Are there concerns with the bat of Baez? Sure, but the Mets do not need him to be The Guy in their lineup, but just another contributor for their offense. While adding another starting pitcher could have helped, they did add Rich Hill and saw the debut of Carlos Carrasco Friday night, two options they could rely on in some capacity down the stretch. At the end of the day it was an overall great deadline for the Mets.

Chicago White Sox

The White Sox have essentially already won the division, so they were looking to solidify a few positions. Adding Cesar Hernandez was a solid option for a team that would later move the injured Nick Madrigal in a deal that saw Craig Kimbrel moving from the north to the south side of Chicago. Additionally, the team also acquired Ryan Tepera from the Cubs in a deal from the previous day. The White Sox are loading up on their bullpen and now have a three headed monster featuring Liam Hendriks in addition to their new acquisitions of Kimbrel and Tepera. Come playoff time the back end of the White Sox bullpen could be scary.

Chicago Cubs

Let’s face it, the Cubs had to blow it up. They had a roster full of extremely talented players on expiring contracts that extension talks had broken down with. Moving Anthony Rizzo, Kris Bryant, Javier Baez, Craig Kimbrel, and Ryan Tepera had to be done. While they could open up contact talks after the season when most of the aforementioned names become free agents. In the end the Cubs had to turn the page on the World Series winning core and begin a new era in Chicago.

Losers

Colorado Rockies

There was speculation that the Rockies could move Trevor Story and Jon Gray. Flash forward to after the deadline and both players remain in Colorado. If the Rockies were going to actually have a successful deadline they needed to move Story and Gray. The fact both are still on the roster is team building malpractice and they deserve all the criticism they get.

Boston Red Sox

This was an underwhelming deadline for the Boston Red Sox. They had the opportunity to bring two former players back in Anthony Rizzo and Craig Kimbrel, yet the only move they made was for Kyle Schwarber. Schwarber is currently injured, but when he comes back there will be a logjam of where to play him. As everyone knows, Schwarber is defensively challenged. There is another defensively challenged outfielder on the roster in JD Martinez, who is currently their designated hitter. Because of this, putting Schwarber at DH, an option that would make sense for most American League clubs, is not available to the Red Sox.

San Diego Padres

The San Diego Padres were on the cusp of acquiring Max Scherzer until the Dodgers swooped in and got the deal done for themselves. Missing out on a player like Scherzer is bad enough, but losing him to a division rival and one that is looking to create separation is not a great outcome.

St. Louis Cardinals

The Cardinals added two pitchers on expiring deals in Jon Lester and J.A .Happ. St. Louis is 9.5 games back in the division and trails by 6.5 games in the Wild Card race. The moves overall are confusing and don’t make a lot of sense. Neither pitcher has been necessarily good this season and are not the answer to fix a rotation they once were. This really seems like they made moves for the sake of making moves.

Cesar Hernandez traded to White Sox

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The Cleveland Baseball Club has traded the second baseman to the Chicago White Sox.

The first of what should be several trades has taken place for the Cleveland Baseball Club. Cleveland has agreed to terms on a deal that sends Cesar Hernandez to the Chicago White Sox.

Cleveland will be receiving Double-A pitcher Konnor Pilkington in exchange for their now former starting second baseman.

Cesar Hernandez has had a surprising power output for Cleveland this season, with a career-high 18 home runs and 17 doubles. Hernandez has clearly traded batting average for power, which could have helped Cleveland in their trade discussions with the White Sox.

Hernandez has a $6 million club option for next season which is very affordable for what he has done at the plate this season. Chicago could very well pick up the option and keep Hernandez for an extra year.

Cleveland slugs four homers in 7-2 win over Cardinals

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The Cleveland Baseball Club relied on the long ball as they used four home runs to come away with a 7-2 win over the St. Louis Cardinals.

After the disappointing loss on Tuesday, Cleveland needed their offense to come back in a big way and they certainly did. Cleveland hit four home runs off of St. Louis starter Kwang Hyun Kim as they took the second and final game of their series by a score of 7-2.

The first home run came in the 2nd inning with Cleveland trailing 1-0. Franmil Reyes came to the plate and launched a big fly out of the ballpark.

After a Dylan Carlson homer led to the Cardinals retaking the lead, Cesar Hernandez would come up in the 3rd and hit a two-run shot to give Cleveland a 3-2 edge.

It was the 18th home run of the season for the Cleveland second baseman. Just two batters later it was Jose Ramirez’ turn to get in on the action, slugging a solo home run to extend the lead two.

The very next batter was Reyes who would hit another home run.

 

Cleveland would add two more runs in the 4th inning to cap off their scoring effort. It was a RBI single from Austin Hedges and a sacrifice fly from Cesar Hernandez.

On the mound it was Zach Plesac who got the start for Cleveland. Plesac would allow just two runs on seven hits with one walk while striking out four in 5 innings. Plesac was the only pitcher to allow a Cardinals batter to reach base. The combination of Blake Parker, Nick Sandlin, Emmanuel Clase, and James Karinchak would strike out seven batters in 4 innings without allowing a baserunner.

The win keeps Cleveland from dropping to 10 games behind the Chicago White Sox in the division and even further back of Oakland in the Wild Card race. It is an off day on Thursday before returning to action Friday in Chicago against the division leader.

How should Cleveland approach the deadline?

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With the trade deadline rapidly approaching and the Cleveland Baseball Club pretty far out from contention, how should they handle the next few days?

At this current moment in time the Cleveland Baseball Club is nearly 10 games back of the AL Central leading Chicago White Sox and there are three teams in between ahead of them in the race for the second Wild Card. Considering their current spot in the standings and the fact they are still missing the majority of their pitching staff, it is time to consider selling at the trade deadline. Cleveland needs to reset their roster, get some answers on their younger players, and get ready for next season.

As far as trade candidates go, anyone not named Shane Bieber should be discussed. That does mean that exploring a trade involving Jose Ramirez should be on the table, but considering the high price they will be asking for it is unlikely to happen. However, if a team is desperate enough and offers a king’s ransom for Ramirez, those expirations better turn into serious considerations.

Another player that should fall into this category is James Karinchak. Cleveland has no reason to trade Karinchak, but if a team is looking to solidify their bullpen and offers a worthwhile package, they would be fools not to consider. Add in the fact of the volatility with relievers in general and the fact the team add more talent into their system, it is not out of the realm of possibilities.

Players that could/should be moved

Finally, the section everyone has been waiting for. Who could the team actually move? For starters Cesar Hernandez seems like a no-brainer. Hernandez has a team-option for next season and currently has a career-high 17 home runs on the year. Any contender would love to add someone who can hit from both sides of the plate and extend their lineup just a bit more.

If any team actually comes to the table and offers anything for Eddie Rosario they should take it. Rosario has been a disappointment in Cleveland this season and if they can flip him or anything they should take advantage of that opportunity.

Bryan Shaw is another name that could be on the move. Contenders are always looking for relief help and Shaw is in the middle of a renaissance season after three unsuccessful seasons elsewhere. Shaw’s 2021 ERA of 2.84 is the best since the 2014 season while his 1.331 WHIP has not been bested since his last season in Cleveland (1.213 in 2017).

Bargain options for contenders

Much like what their approach to Eddie Rosario should be, they should apply that same logic to Bradley Zimmer. If a team is looking for someone to be a pinch runner late in games, Zimmer is their guy. From Cleveland’s perspective they need to clear some room in the outfield to get better looks at other options in their system.

Blake Parker is another relief arm that could be on the move. Parker has been steady in his limited role this season (2.70 ERA and 1.260 WHIP in 16.2 innings). Even if Parker is a moderate upgrade over lower end relievers, teams should be interested in some capacity.

The catchers

Cleveland should explore trading one of their catchers. Roberto Perez is making $5.5 million this season with a team option worth $7 million for next year while Austin Hedges is making just under $3.3 million and is entering his final year of arbitration next season. Considering the offensive limitations of both players and the dollar figures the team is spending in this area, moving one of these salaries prior to the deadline should be considered. Hedges has four home runs and 14 RBI in 49 games with a .159/.204/.245 slash line while Perez has six home runs and 15 RBI in 30 games with an uninspiring .153/.272/.357 slash line. To be blunt, the catcher position has been a black hole this season and that is being nice. Moving on and trying to find someone else to man the position beyond this season should be an option for the front office.

Cleveland avoids sweep, beat Rays 3-2

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The Cleveland Baseball Club avoided being swept by the Tampa Bay Rays with a 3-2 win, snapping an 11-game losing streak against the club.

The series between the Cleveland Baseball Club and the Tampa Bay Rays had not been going well through the first three games. Tampa took the first three games with Cleveland facing the possibility of being swept in a four-game series Sunday. Even when things appeared to be heading in that direction, Cleveland rallied late and was able to pull ahead of the Rays and secure the all too elusive victory against Tampa with a slim 3-2 victory. With the win Cleveland snapped an 11-game losing streak against the Rays.

Down by a run in the bottom of the 1st it was Cesar Hernandez who continued his power surge. Hernandez launched a solo home run to tie the game. It was the 17th of the season for Hernandez, a new career-high.

Scoring for both sides was kept in check until the 6th inning. Former division foe Nelson Cruz stepped into the box and as expected crushed a solo home run to break the 1-1 tie. Tampa would hold onto the lead until the 8th when some magic happened.

Hernandez would start things off with a leadoff single. Amed Rosario would be hit by a pitch in the very next at-bat, setting things up for a potential comeback. Harold Ramirez would drive a ball into right center allowing Hernandez to score the tying run and Rosario to advance to third.

Bobby Bradley would drive in the tie-breaking run on a sacrifice fly in the very next at-bat.

Now leading 3-2, Emmanuel Clase would come on to close and things went about as well as they could have. Clase needed only 14 pitches to end the game and preserving a much needed win for Cleveland.

Prior to Clase closing the game, Cleveland got an outstanding start from Triston McKenzie. McKenzie woulda allow two runs on five hits with six strikeouts and only one walk in 6 innings. This was easily one of the better performances for McKenzie this season and could be a sign of good things to come from a pitcher who has been consistently inconsistent.

Bryan Shaw would follow McKenzie and allow just one hit on 13 pitches. James Karinchak would get the win in the contest by pitching during the 8th inning which saw Cleveland mount their comeback. Karinchak allowed just one baserunner on a walk in his lone inning of work.

The win prevented Cleveland from falling even further back in the division and Wild Card races. While they are still trail by a large margin in both, they are not necessarily out of it at this moment in time. It will be an off day on Monday before returning to action Tuesday as they host the St. Louis Cardinals. 

Cleveland manages to hold on for 5-4 win over Astros

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After losing the first two games and facing a sweep, the Cleveland Baseball Club managed to salvage a win Wednesday against the Houston Astros.

After a 9-3 drubbing Tuesday night, the Cleveland Baseball Club was staring a sweep right in the face. Cleveland and Houston traded runs back and forth from the 3rd through 6th innings. It was then that Cesar Hernandez stepped up to the plate and delivered with what ended up being a game-winning solo home run.

It was the 16th home run of the season for Hernandez, which is a single-season high for the second baseman. Hernandez would finish the game 2-4 with two runs driven in, including a RBI double in the top of the 3rd which got the scoring started.

Houston would fire back after Cleveland’s first run with solo home runs from Jose Altuvve in the 4th and Kyle Tucker in the 5th. The 6th inning set up an epic moment for Ernie Clement. Big Ern stepped up to the plate with the bases loaded and drove in Oscar Mercado, Franmil Reyes, and Bobby Bradley to give Cleveland a 4-2 lead. The Astros would again answer with RBI hits from Altuve and Yuli Gurriel. This all led to the solo shot from Hernandez in the top of the 7th.

Eli Morgan was the starter for Cleveland and it was one of the better starts of his young career. Morgan allowed three runs on three hits over 3 innings while striking out five. Bryan Shaw would relieve Morgan in the 6th, allowing the game tying single from Gurriel. Phil Maton was the last Cleveland pitcher to allow a baserunner, an infield single to Myles Straw. The combo of Emmanuel Clase and James Karinchak handled the 8th and 9th, earning a hold (5) and save (11) respectively.

With the win Cleveland trails Chicago by 8.5 in the division while trailing Oakland by 5 for the second wild card spot. A trip home awaits the team as they begin a huge series with the Tampa Bay Rays Thursday.

Cleveland bounces back, wins 3-2 in Oakland

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The Cleveland Baseball Club bounced back from Friday’s loss to the Oakland Athletics.

After losing a heartbreaker Friday night, the Cleveland Baseball Club was able to rebound and come away with a 3-2 win Saturday afternoon.

After trailing by a run early, it was Cesar Hernandez and Amed Rosario who came through in the 5th. It was a RBI double from Hernandez that tied the game and a sacrifice fly from Rosario to give Cleveland a 2-1 lead.

Then in the 8th it was Franmil Reyes who came up big, clobbering a solo shot to extend the lead to two.

That run would come in handy as Oakland was able to come within one in the 9th. Luckily this time the bullpen was able to hold onto the lead. While James Karinchak did give up a run, it didn’t come at the expense of a win.

Cleveland got 5 impressive innings from Cal Quantrill. Quantrill allowed just one run on four hits and two walks while striking out five. The trio of Nick Sandlin, Bryan Shaw, and Emmanuel Clase would follow, allowing just one base runner, a hit off of Sandlin.

Cleveland has a chance to come away with a huge first series win after the break. They still trail by 8 games in the division and are 4.5 back of Oakland. A win today could make some headway in the Wild Card race while a loss would bring them closer to what has seemed to be inevitable, a sell off.

Cleveland uses 17 hits and 14 runs to top Royals

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The Cleveland Baseball Club pounded out 17 hits en route to a 14-6 win over the visiting Kansas City Royals.

While the Cleveland Baseball Club did not win via the walk-off home run for the third straight game, they did manage to come away with a comfortable eight-run victory over the Royals. The Cleveland batters were all over pretty much everything that the Royals pitchers had to offer. Mike Minor was Kansas City’s first pitcher and he surrendered six run on nine hits in just four innings. It was the 4th inning which gave Minor the most trouble as Bobby Bradley drove in the first for Cleveland on a RBI double. Cesar Hernandez would come up later in the inning and add three more to the scoreboard with a three-run shot.

In the 6th it was Roberto Perez taking Erving Santana deep for his fifth of the year.

Santana would give up another run as Amed Rosario drove in Bradley Zimmer on a RBI double.

The homer-fest did not end in the 6th as Oscar Mercado crushed a three-run homer for his first of the season.

Jose Ramirez would cap off the 14-run effort in the 8th with a solo shot. It was Ramirez’ 19th home run of the year.

Cleveland pitching did just enough

Cal Quantrill got the start for Cleveland Saturday and pitched admirably. Quantrill did have two mistake pitches which resulted in two home runs, one to Salvador Perez in the 4th and another to Andrew Benintendi in the 6th. Quantrill would finish the game allowing just the three runs on rive hits while striking out and walking one.

Nick Sandlin would follow Quantrill with three runs coming across to score, although none of them were earned.

With Sunday’s game postponed due to rain, Cleveland enters the All-Star break with a 45-42 record. Cleveland is 7.5 games back of the Chicago White Sox entering Sunday and four games back of Oakland for the second Wild Card spot. A trip to Oakland after the break should provide some intrigue in regards to the playoff hunt.

9-8 loss to Rays is seventh straight for Cleveland

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The Cleveland Baseball Club lost to the Tampa Bay Rays by a score of 9-8, their seventh straight loss.

Seven straight losses and nine in their last 10. That is how badly things have gone for the Cleveland Baseball Club as of late. Monday’s 9-8 loss was gut wrenching as the team actually had a chance to buck the losing trend, but an absolute meltdown from Emmanuel Clase in the 9th led to the loss.

Clase came on with a chance to close out the game and earn the save, but failed to record an out while allowing two runs on three hits and one walk. Tampa started the inning off with three straight singles, the last of which drove in the game-tying run. Clase then intentionally walked Austin Meadows to load the bases after which an errant throw from Cesar Hernandez to home allowed Randy Arozarena to score the game-winning run.

Clase was not the only Cleveland pitcher to struggle in the loss. Logan Allen got the start and was not fooling any of Tampa’s batters. Allen allowed five runs on seven hits and two walks.

The frustrating aspect about this loss in particular is that Cleveland matched their run total from the three previous games combined and they still lost. Franmil Reyes led the way with three hits, including a two-run homer in the 5th and a two-RBI double in the 6th. Jose Ramirez and Cesar Hernandez both collected two hits with two runs scored and a run driven in. Amed Rosario went 2-5 with a run scored as well. Oscar Mercado had a surprisingly productive day at the plate as he went 1-2 with two walks and two runs scored.

Cleveland will have an off day Tuesday due to that game being postponed ahead of time. Both teams will play a doubleheader Wednesday at Tropicana Field.

Cleveland dominates Detroit in 13-5 win

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The Cleveland Baseball Club completely dominated the visiting Detroit Tigers with a season-high 13 runs in their eight run victory.

After a weekend that saw the Cleveland Baseball Club drop two of three to the Minnesota Twins and lose Josh Naylor for the foreseeable future, a big offensive showing was desperately needed. Luckily for the Cleveland, the Tigers came to town and they teed off on the Detroit pitching staff.

Cleveland raced out to an early 2-0 lead in the 1st with a RBI groundout from Jose Ramirez and a sacrifice fly from Eddie Rosario, driving in Cesar Hernandez and Amed Rosario respectively. After the Tigers scored a run in the 2nd, Cleveland added three more to their total. Bradley Zimmer drove in Harold Ramirez to bring their lead back to two. Austin Hedges would follow with a two-run homer, his fourth of the season.

Detroit would score again the 4th to cut into the Cleveland lead yet again. Just like earlier in the game Cleveland would answer with four runs in the inning. Cesar Hernandez would drive in Ernie Clement to make it a 6-2 lead. Jose Ramirez came up next and clobbered a three-run homer to increase the lead to seven.

The Tigers would answer again on a two-run homer to cut the lead to five. Cleveland’s lead would again grow back to seven thanks to a RBI single from Harold Ramirez and a sacrifice fly from Austin Hedges.

Eddie Rosario would double home Jose Ramirez in the 6th to make it a 12-4 game. Then in the 7th Jose Ramirez would drive in his fifth run of the game on a RBI single allowing Ernie Clement to score.

Cleveland’s pitching does just enough

With the way that Cleveland’s offense has been this season, giving up five runs in a game might end up with a loss. Thankfully the offense decided to unload on the Tigers allowing a lot of breathing room for a depleted pitching staff.

Eli Morgan won his first career game despite allowing four runs on six hits with four strikeouts. Three of the four runs allowed by Morgan came on the long ball as Miguel Cabrera and Jake Rogers took him deep.

Nick Sandlin would pitch a scoreless 6th inning with two strikeouts and Blake Parker struck out all three batters he faced in the 7th.

Nick Wittgren was the only other Cleveland pitcher to allow a run. Wittgren surrendered a solo home run Robbie Grossman in the 8th. Bryan Shaw would pitch the final frame, walking one and striking out another.

Game 2 between Cleveland and Detroit will take place at 7:10 P.M. Tuesday at Progressive Field.