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Welcome to Tribe Talk, where Bleacher Report’s Cleveland Indians fans weigh in on the ups and downs of the club each week throughout the season.

This week, we present our final installment of Tribe Talk for 2010, handing out our end-of-season awards for the team and sharing our final thoughts on the 2010 Cleveland Indians. 

I would like to thank participants Dale Thomas, Nino Colla, Lewie Pollis, and The Coop for their outstanding contributions this week and throughout the season. 

This discussion is open to all, so please feel free to comment below and pitch in your thoughts on the questions we’re addressing this week. Enjoy the offseason, Tribe fans. Tribe Talk will return at the start of Spring Training in 2011.

Go Tribe!

***

1. 2010 Indians Offensive MVP:

Samantha Bunten: Shin-Soo Choo

Nino Colla: Shin-Soo Choo

The Coop: Shin-Soo Choo

Dale Thomas: Shin-Soo Choo

Lewie Pollis: CHOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!

2. 2010 indians Defensive MVP: 

Samantha Bunten: Lou Marson

Nino Colla: Lou Marson

The Coop: Shin-Soo Choo

Dale Thomas: Shin-Soo Choo

Lewie Pollis: CHOOOOOOOOOOOO! (Honorable mention: Jhonny Peralta)

3. 2010 Indians Cy Young:

Samantha Bunten: Chris Perez

Nino Colla: Chris Perez

The Coop: Chris Perez

Dale Thomas: Fausto Carmona

Lewie Pollis: Chris Perez

4. 2010 Indians Player Who Was The Biggest Disappointment: 

Samantha Bunten: Nimartuena (not including Andy Marte’s amazing pitching performance). Or perhaps not so much the players themselves, but the organization’s complete and total failure to find anyone who could play third base at all at any point in the season. 

Nino Colla: Asdrubal Cabrera

The Coop: Grady Sizemore – unless you are required to play more than than 25 percent of the season. Then it’s Travis Hafner.

Dale Thomas: Luis Valbuena

Lewie Pollis: Grady Sizemore

5. 2010 Indians Player Who Was The Biggest Pleasant Surprise: 

Samantha Bunten: Fausto Carmona

Nino Colla: Jeanmar Gomez

The Coop: Fausto Carmona

Dale Thomas: Chris Perez

Lewie Pollis: Carlos Santana

6. 2010 Indians Most Improved Player: 

Samantha Bunten: Fausto Carmona

Nino Colla: Chris Perez

The Coop: Fausto Carmona

Dale Thomas: Michael Brantley

Lewie Pollis: Chris Perez

7. Which three players do you believe were most vital to the team’s success (however small that was) this season, and why? 

Samantha Bunten: Choo, Carmona, and Perez. These are the three players who came to the ballpark every day and did their job as they’re paid to do, and sometimes even a little better than that. 

These three (along with Santana) gave the Tribe something to build around for the future. In a season wracked with disappointment, these three stood out as the players who not only didn’t fail us, they gave us a reason to keep watching. 

Nino Colla: I think it is quite obvious who the three players are and there probably isn’t much debate. 

Shin-Soo Choo was this team’s rock in the lineup. Fausto Carmona‘s return to decent pitching was much needed. And of course Chris Perez’s dominance in the ninth inning was a breath of fresh air.

The Coop: Fausto Carmona, Chris Perez, and Shin-Soo Choo. Quite simply, without one or more of these guys, the season would have been over in May, much sooner than when it really ended (in June).

Dale Thomas: Choo, Carmona, and Chris Perez. These are the guys that did their jobs well. Without them, we may not have recorded a win in 2010. Okay, maybe that’s overstated, but I’m just sayin’…

Lewie Pollis: Gotta start with Choo here. Baseball-Reference.com has him at 7.3 WAR, good for second-best in all of baseball. His fantastic defense, plus power, and amazing plate discipline should have made him an MVP candidate. 

Next has got to be Carlos Santana. Who cares if he was up for only two months—he was absolutely amazing. Great power, a solid arm, and plate discipline well beyond his years. He’ll be a perennial All-Star, starting in 2011. 

I have to throw a bone to Chris Perez. He made a terrible first impression, but he put his early-season woes behind him quickly. Since April 17, he’s posted a 1.35 ERA, and opposing batters have hit .174 against him with a miniscule .556 OPS. He hasn’t given up a run since August 6 or taken a loss since May 5. That puts him on par with the best closers in the league.

8. Predict the Indians’ record in 2011:

Samantha Bunten: 80-82

Nino Colla: 80-82

The Coop: 75-87, 4th in the AL Central

Dale Thomas: 81-81

Lewie Pollis: 81-81

9. Please share your final thoughts on the Indians’ 2010 season in 200 words or less:

Samantha Bunten: Sadly, the overall impression the 2010 Indians left is that they managed to somehow still be completely disappointing despite the fact that no one expected a thing out of them. 

It’s easy to blame injuries to key players to make their failures as a team more palatable, but truthfully, can we really say they would have done significantly better without these bad breaks? I’m inclined to say yes, because we all have to find a reason to keep hoping, but the truth is, it’s impossible to say for sure. 

It was tough to watch this season: we had to endure those injuries, the perpetual disaster at third base, a lackluster offense, terrible infield defense, and Trevor. 

Luckily, the Tribe did give us a few reasons to keep hoping: Fausto Carmona rising from the ashes, and the better-than-expected rotation as a whole. Shin-Soo Choo continuing to prove that he’s an all-star-caliber player. 

Carlos Santana providing hope for the future. Watching Chris Perez’s pitching and his hair shine. And the young kids putting on a good show at the end of the season when we had nothing to lose. 

Nino Colla: Ah well, what can you say other than we did a lot of what we were expected to do? 

We found out about players we needed to find out about. We answered a lot of questions. 

Fausto Carmona, Justin Masterson, Carlos Carrasco, Aaron Laffey, Michael Brantley, Matt LaPorta, Luis Valbuena, Jason Donald, Trevor Crowe, Carlos Santana, Lou Marson, and Tony Sipp answered a lot of questions for us. 

Sure, there are still more questions to be answered with some of those guys, but we now know a lot of things we didn’t know at the start of this season and the club is going to be better for it in the long run.

The Coop: The Indians’ 2010 season was pretty much a disaster. However, to make an omelette, you’ve got to break a few eggs, and I think that’s what the Indians are doing. 

Getting rid of overpaid, under-talented players like Kerry Wood and Jhonny Peralta opened the door for young guys to get some run and show what they can do. T

The starting rotation was a very unexpected surprise, particularly the reinvention of Fausto Carmona. They definitely have a staff to build around for the future. 

Chris Perez is nasty and is more than capable of being the closer in the near-term. 

The Indians biggest problem is their offense. The complete lack of power in the lineup would be okay if they had a bunch of .300 hitters who could run and advance runners. But they don’t. 

The pitching staff is only going to get better, but they’ll never reach their full potential if they get lackluster run support. 

A lot of position players also struggled in their first extended time up in The Show, so we can only hope that these growing pains manifest themselves into a team that is ready to break through in 2011 (or, realistically, 2012).

Dale Thomas: This was a team that was never seriously expected to contend. 

It was a game camp designed to develop young players. Watch them grow, so to say, under the tutelage of a few select veterans and a new manager who only really asked for two things: Don’t commit errors and don’t issue walks. This team did not subscribe to either. 

No blame, no shame for a team plagued by injury. Grady Sizemore, one of the Tribe’s most reliable players goes down with a knee injury and became one of the Tribe’s most injury-prone players in the last two years. 

Cabrera missed almost 50 games due to a broken forearm, and really never returned to his pre-injury form. Santana, our brightest prospect in eons goes down in a heap after an ugly collision at home plate with a knee injury. 

Hafner continued his part-time status, and it all adds up to a season of gloom. 

Still, there are bright spots: Choo’s 20-20 season, Perez establishing himself as a closer and the absolute sizzle that Santana showed before being injured. 

There are lots of questions yet to be answered, especially in the rotation. Was Talbot’s first half a fluke? Can Masterson pitch at all?

Lewie Pollis: I predicted in the spring that, while the Indians’ season would be filled with pain, frustration, and occasional nausea, we would see glimmers of hope for a brighter future as our tremendously talented young players begins their ascent to the Show. 

I didn’t expect much going into the season, yet I still came away disappointed. 

Valbuena and Marson took steps back, LaPorta and Brantley took longer than they should have to adjust to big-league pitching, and Sizemore and Hafner were complete wastes of money and roster space. 

And yet, we saw some great things, too. Choo took his game to a whole new level. LaPorta had the first hot streak of his career. Carmona improved, Masterson made strides, and Carrasco was terrific. 

Cabrera made some Omar-esque plays at shortstop, and Marson showed off his cannon arm. And, of course, Santana made us all believe again. 

Since I still have some word space left, I’d like to remind everyone that it’s too early to give up on Masterson. He finished the year with a 3.93 FIP, .332 BABIP, and 66.6 percent strand rate. So don’t start crying for him to be moved to the ‘pen because of his 4.70 ERA. 

CHOOOOOOOO! (exactly 200 words)

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Welcome to Tribe Talk, where Bleacher Report’s Cleveland Indians fans weigh in on the ups and downs of the club each week throughout the season.

This week, we fess up on whether we’re glad the season is coming to an end, discuss the season’s biggest bright spots and disappointments, and share our best ideas for attractions at the Progressive Field Winter Wonderland. 

I would like to thank this week’s participants, Dale Thomas and Dan Tylicki, for their contributions. This discussion is open to all, so please feel free to comment below and pitch in your thoughts on the questions we’re addressing this week.

Go Tribe!

***

1. It’s here! It’s here! It’s finally here! 

No, not Christmas. I’m speaking of the final week of baseball’s 2010 regular season. Most fans probably aren’t quite that excited, but then most fans didn’t have to watch the Indians all season. 

So honestly, are you truly glad it’s finally over? Do you really just feel relieved we can call it a year, or are you always just sad to see the Tribe’s season end, no matter how dismal it’s been? 

Do you think most Tribe fans would agree with your opinion?

Samantha Bunten: The great Bart Giamatti once said the following about the end of the baseball season: 

“It breaks your heart.  It is designed to break your heart.  The game begins in spring, when everything else begins again, and it blossoms in the summer, filling the afternoons and evenings, and then as soon as the chill rains come, it stops and leaves you to face the fall alone.”

I guess what I’m saying is, Giamatti and I feel the same way about this. I never want to see the baseball season end, no matter how bad the season has been. 

We complain about our team a lot, and they deserve it. But in the end, we’re lucky to live in a world where we get to watch baseball.

Even bad baseball. 

I would hope that most fans would agree with this assessment, though I don’t believe they do. And I can’t say that I blame them. 

Here’s to next year! Maybe there will be a better season, maybe there will be a worse season. But at least there will be baseball. 

Dale Thomas: Nah, I’d rather summer stuck around along with the Tribe, even though there are a lot of bugs that come along with the deal. 

Acta has been refreshing, even though he hasn’t exactly been a “wow” factor, and the team has been fun to watch once I got past that pesky thing about wanting to win games. 

Some pretty good ballplayers are going to rise up out of this mess, and that always leaves me wanting to watch one more game. 

Judging by the empty seats at the ballpark, I’d say most fans wouldn’t agree with me at all.

Dan Tylicki: I actually am, just since this season we knew was going to be hard to watch. Cleveland’s a football city first, so once September hit, I don’t think people minded that the Tribe’s season was over. 

The casual fan would agree, though the die-hard baby boomers who have lived through worse teams would not enjoy the offseason, I imagine.

2. What was the single biggest bright spot for the Tribe this season? 

What good can we take from 2010, as Tribe fans?

Samantha Bunten: You have to appreciate what Choo was able to do with his season. He turned in a stellar performance and put up great numbers, despite missing significant time with injury and being on a bad team. 

I like watching the young guys too, even if they’re a long way from looking like they can form a competitive major league team. It’s tough to let go of the idea of having a decent, if not successful season, but once you do, it’s easier to at least appreciate watching the kids learn and improve.

Dale Thomas: One bright spot for me was not feeling like I got sucker-punched by trades and salary dumps. But the one that shines like beacon is getting rid of Jhonny Peralta. 

I think there are some very good things for fans to ponder over the offseason. It looks like we have a viable closer, and that’s just flat-out huge. 

Santana and Brantley show tantalizing promise on both sides of the ball, and our pitching….ummm…well, let’s just say we finally discovered a use for Marte.

Dan Tylicki: Simply put, Shin-soo Choo is the real deal, and will hopefully be the star of the team for many years to come. 

Besides that, a good deal of the new talent looks promising, such as Brantley, Perez, Tomlin, and Carrasco.

3. What was the single biggest disappointment of the 2010 season? 

Do you think this is something that can be fixed in 2011?

Samantha Bunten: Injuries to key players was a huge factor.

That’s the most frustrating disappointment of all because it’s just bad luck. It’s nobody’s fault.

We can’t blame that on Dolan or Shapiro or Nimartuena. I’m not even sure we can blame it on Trevor, but I’m willing to give it a shot. 

Aside from that, I suppose the biggest disappointment was players whose development did not progress at the rate it should have: Brantley, LaPorta, Masterson…and the list goes on. 

As far as 2011 goes, obviously you can never “fix” injuries. We’ll just have to hope we get luckier next year. 

As for the players who didn’t progress at the rate they should have, I do think that can be fixed. Brantley and LaPorta have already shown signs of improvement; let’s hope they continue in that vein. 

Dale Thomas: My biggest disappointment was the lack of an infield. The errors were really hard to take when our pitching is so dependent, and it’s not like they made up for it with their bats. 

The one exception is the guy at short. I don’t expect this will be fixed in 2011.

Dan Tylicki: Injuries. They hurt many teams, but Sizemore, Cabrera, and Santana missed too much time to them, so it made this season a wash very early on. 

It’ll be fixed in 2011, provided they don’t get hurt in the offseason.

4. Fun Question of the Week: The Indians recently announced plans to turn Progressive Field into a “Winter Wonderland” during the offseason. 

There will be games, there will be rides, there will be snow. I know, I know; the joke writes itself. But tell us, what are your best ideas for Tribe-themed rides and attractions for the Progressive Field Winter Wonderland?

Samantha Bunten: Chris Perez hair salon? Second base merry-go-round? Trevor Crowe dunk tank? 

There will also be an empty, unmanned attraction that will just be called “third base.”

Dale Thomas: The Slider—This is the sledding hill with purple snow that smells really bad. 

Choo Express—this train never leaves Cleveland.

Dan Tylicki: Perhaps a game where we have to throw a ball past Nimartuena to score. It’d be a winner every time.

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It’s a strange feeling losing Grady Sizemore for the year because for all intense and purposes he never really showed up.  His name alone had him owned in upwards of 90 percent of leagues entering Week Nine.  Yet in 128 at bats Grady was hitting .211 with only 15 Runs, zero Homers, 13 RBIs, and four stolen bases.  To put things into perspective Kyle Blanks in 103 at bats had 14 Runs, three Homers, 15 RBIs, and one Stolen base (he also hasn’t played in two weeks, and is currently in the minors).  Being the optimist that I am I ask myself what it the upside to this loss?  This was a blessing in disguise, and literally picking up ANY other starting Outfielder will give you an immediate boost.  That’s not good enough though, you want the best available player on the wire to fill your void. 

There are two things you can look at:

   1. Best Available Outfielder covering the five major offensive statistical  areas (R-HR-RBI-SB-AVG)
   2. Your team has one pressing need and consistently loses one of the five categories above, so you grab the best player excelling at that category.

Let’s take a look at who makes the most sense to pick up covering both these perspectives.Option I (Well Rounded Starters)

                             H/AB-Runs-HR-RBI-SB-Avg

   1. Drew Stubbs     42/178-31-6-26-12-.236  Cincinnati Reds
   2. Corey Hart        43/167-23-14-35-3-.257  Milwaukee Brewers
   3. Jason Kubel      37/163-15-6-31-0-.227    Minnesota Twins
   4. JD Drew           53/193-33-6-33-1-.275    Boston Red Sox
   5. Cody Ross        61/205-27-5-30-3-.298    Florida Marlins
   6. Jose Guillen      51/209-33-12-34-1-.244  Kansas City Royals

Option II (Single Stat Upgrades)

Runs

Seth Smith = Scored 19 times in the last month, huge beneficiary of Dexter Fowler’s demotion.
Fred Lewis = Scored 18 times in the last month, Leading off for a team full RBI machines.

Home Runs

Corey Hart = has 11 HRs in the last 30 days.  Enough said.

RBIs

Delmon Young = He may not have the pop we would like, but he still drove in 18 over the last month.
Hideki Matsui = More like a Gecko than Godzilla, but still hits fifth on a very good team driving in 18 over the last month.

Stolen Bases
Juan Pierre =  22 Swipes this year
Nyjer Morgan = 12 SBs in 2010 so far, and heating up

Average

David DeJesus  = 33 for his last 94 (.351)
Chris Coghlan = 36 for his last 113 (.319)

Check out www.thefantasyfix.com or hit us up on Twitter.
We’d love to hear your thoughts. Twitter.com/thefantasyfix

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As we have now heard, Grady Sizemore is expected to miss a good deal of the year, if not the whole season due to his knee, which needs surgery. This raises several questions for the Indians, the most important of which is what to do in center field.

Michael Brantley was kept in AAA with the Columbus Clippers not because he was playing bad, but because the Indians wanted him to play every day. Well, with Sizemore gone, he can be brought up and can play every day. We can see how good the young prospect can be under pressure, and it works well for the Tribe.

However, if Brantley is brought up, what do we do with Trevor Crowe? He’s played fine as the replacement for Sizemore up to this point, and it would be a shame to demote him, since I would like to see both him and Brantley get some daily playing time. Unfortunately for Crowe, the other two outfield positions are our two solid positions right now in Austin Kearns and Shin-Soo Choo.

Crowe hasn’t played second base professionally since 2006, so that’s not an option to get him playing time, and he’ll probably end up being demoted. Speaking of second base play, I just can’t stand keeping Luis Valbuena on the roster anymore.

I know we’re trying to develop our young talent and we are not going anywhere this year, but when’s the last time a semi-regular player on the roster has hit .134? You would have to go back to the pitching season of 1968, when Detroit Tigers shortstop Ray Oyler hit .135 in 215 at-bats (29 hits). Valbuena’s nearly halfway there, with 97 at-bats and 13 hits.

The problem is, with how terrible Valbuena is, who do we bring up? Brian Bixler and Anderson Hernandez are not on the 40-man roster, and are not in the Indians’ future plans, but they’e played in the majors, why not see how they can do for a little while? I’d be fine with playing Mark Grudzielanek every day, but we’re trying to develop talent, so handing a spot to a 40-year old does not fit.

With Valbuena, the Indians are in a no-win situation, figuratively and literally. If we get desperate we can promote Cord Phelps to AAA and see if that lights a fire under Valbuena, though honestly if the fires already lit under him haven’t helped, then I say we have to demote him. If nothing else, he can find his hitting confidence again down in Columbus.

At least the Tribe finally promoted Jensen Lewis back up, if nothing else.

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The 2010 season could possibly be over for Indians center fielder Grady Sizemore after news broke Sunday on the extent of his knee injury.

Grady originally injured the knee on a hard slide into second base on May 16 in a 5-1 win against Baltimore and it is now believed that he will miss another 6-8 weeks, at best, depending on the extent of his injuries (which will be discovered after a knee arthroscopy).

Sizemore is scheduled to have the arthroscopy later this week in Colorado with Dr. Richard Steadman.

On the diamond, Sizemore’s teammates have been struggling throughout the month of May posting a 9-17 record and losing series’ to the Jays, Rays, Royals, Reds, and WhiteSox.

One of the bright spots for the tribe takes the hill tomorrow in New York as 26 year old Mitch Talbot faces off against Andy Pettitte. Talbot is 6-3 on the year with a 3.73 ERA in 60.1 innings pitched. Mitch is leading all Indians pitchers in wins and has also allowed the least amount of hits among the Indians starting rotation.

Trevor Crowe is expected to continue to take the center field position in the lineup tomorrow; but it is also expected that Michael Brantley will see the field sometime in the coming weeks as Cleveland tries to fill the void left by Sizemore.

The Indians have one more week left on this road trip before a 10 game home stand against the Red Sox, Nationals, and Mets.

Manager, Manny Acta will have to sure up the rotation and solidify a workable lineup if he hopes to carry Cleveland to a manageable record by the end of June.

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The Cleveland Indians aren’t hitting very well.

According to Yahoo! Sports, the Indians are batting .245 as a team. While that’s not the worst—the worst would be the Houston Astros .228 average—it’s not something Indians hitting coach Jon Nunnally should be putting on his resume should he be let go.

While watching the game last night, and listening to the play-by-play from Tom Hamilton on the radio, Hamilton noted Grady Sizemore’s swing had gotten longer in an effort to generate more power.

The reason to generate more power would be to hit more home runs. Since Sizemore’s only home run this season was wiped off the books due to a rainout, Sizemore currently has no home runs.

But Hamilton’s comment exposed the problem, that being Sizemore seems to be TRYING to hit home runs.

I’m not going to pretend to be an out-of-work hitting coach, or tell you I’m a guru on the art of hitting a baseball, but I do have a philosophy, and that philosophy is: HIT THE BALL!!

Sizemore currently is sitting just above the proverbial Mendoza line with a .208 BA as we head into Saturday night’s game versus the Baltimore Orioles. The only reason he’s hitting that high is he’s actually started getting a few more hits in the last two weeks that allowed his 0-4 Friday night to still keep him above .200.

But back on point, Sizemore should stop worrying about hitting home runs and start worrying about just getting hits.

Most knowledgeable baseball fans will tell you they’ll take a lineup that’s hitting an average of .340 with few home runs over a team that’s hitting .240 with two power-hitters getting all the home runs.

Getting men on base always is a good thing, and while I obviously have no idea what Fannelly is telling Sizemore (or the rest of the lineup) in the batting cages before the game, he should be stressing good contact and putting the ball in play—not home runs.

The Cleveland Indians only have hit 18 home runs as a team, so if Nunnally has been stressing the longball, he’s not doing a very good job of it.

The Indians aren’t a very good team this year, so this isn’t some kind of frustrated, “get your head out of your keisters” rant. It is a plea to the powers-that-be to keep things simple, and stress the basic art of just getting a hit.

There’s nothing wrong with smallball.

To invoke one of the game’s greats, Ty Cobb never was known as a big home run hitter. In fact, Cobb disdained guys who tried to always hit the ball over the fence, believing the proper way to play the game was a hit-and-run style.

While home runs are sexy and dramatic, Cobb wasn’t wrong. Getting baserunners and then moving them around the diamond is not only an effective way to score runs, it’s an effective way to wear down the pitcher and get into the opposing team’s bullpen.

No one is expecting miracles here, but it would be nice to see the Indians, Sizemore specifically, to start hitting closer to .300 than .200.

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Welcome back to this running series on the Cleveland Indians titled, “The Problem,” where we examine one issue surrounding the current club. Although there is probably more than one problem with the Indians, you have to fix one issue at a time.

Today’s problem involves the club’s biggest star, Grady Sizemore, and the lack of power production. Not only has the power not been there, Sizemore hasn’t even been getting on base as much as the Indians had hoped.

Sizemore’s success is crucial to the Indians’ success offensively, so it isn’t any surprise that Cleveland is near the bottom in many offensive categories in all of baseball.

Where is the answer to Sizemore’s power failure? Can we find a solution to ignite a Sizemore power surge?

The Subject  

Victor Martinez is gone, Travis Hafner is no longer the MVP-caliber hitter he was a few years ago, and a lot of the other familiar names are no longer familiar names.

But Grady Sizemore, he’s the guy in his prime. He was and is supposed to be the lifeblood of this team’s offensive order, regardless of where he hits.

He was supposed to be a perennial MVP candidate since 2008, but so far, his numbers  have only gone down year-by-year. The worst of it was in 2009, when he struggled with injuries and time spent on the disabled list for an extended period of time.

Most assumed 2009’s production was because of those injuries, and that 2010 would be the year he got himself back on track.

The Problem

Grady Sizemore has been off to a horrendous start this season at the plate, and it is mighty puzzling. Last year, Sizemore battled injuries to his midsection and elbow, and both led to surgery before the season even ended.

Sizemore ended up being 100 percent healthy for spring training, and even put on a performance that made Mark Shapiro say it was the best he’s ever seen Sizemore swing the bat.

If we can conclude that the injuries don’t seem to be the issue for his lack of power and overall lack of production, what can we conclude?

Sizemore was moved down a slot to the two-hole, in an effort to give him more RBI opportunities, and some have even suggested the move has been the reason for his struggles.

If that is true, it would be purely mental. Who really knows if that is the case or not—only Sizemore knows.

The Evidence

Grady Sizemore’s Past Five Seasons

I used to say that his drop in average doesn’t matter as long as his on-base percentage isn’t drastically dropping. Well, now it’s dropping—drastically.

His 2007 season was an MVP year, but it was probably abnormally high. However, 2008 measures comparably to 2006 in terms of OBP, despite a moderate change in batting average.

Grady Sizemore’s 2010 Left/Right Splits

Shockingly Sizemore has actually been killer on right-handed hitters this season, as all but one RBI have come off a right-hander and all his extra-base hits have as well. The home run that did not count against Detroit came off a right-hander as well, Jeremy Bonderman.

He can’t even hit left-handers period, but one thing that doesn’t change whether or not he’s facing right or left-handed pitching is his strikeout rate. Against the left-handers, he’s striking out every 3.2 at-bats. Against right-handers, it’s 3.8.

Grady Sizemore’s 2010 Hit Location

As you can see from his hit location numbers, Sizemore has not been going the other way with much success, if at all. He’s just got two hits to the opposite field, but hey, shocker, they’re both doubles!

Let’s see how he’s done in previous years, as far as pulling and going the opposite way.

2009

In case you can’t believe your eyes, no, Grady Sizemore has not hit an opposite field home run in the past four season. In fact, he’s only go one in his entire career, which is saying something.

Jhonny Peralta has 13 career opposite field home runs. How can someone like Sizemore only have one? Probably because he’s a pull hitter. He murders the ball when he pulls it—that’s a fact and it always has been.

Grady Sizemore Batting Second

Percentage of at-bats with runners on base

Sizemore 2010: 43 percent

Sizemore 2009: 40 percent

Sizemore 2008: 38 percent

Cabrera 2010: 29 percent

Cabrera 2009: 45 percent

How interesting is that? The increase in opportunities so far has been minimal, but still, his opportunities with runners on have gone up. Last year would indicate that Cabrera did get more opportunities to hit with runners on base.

The Solution 

I don’t think there is a solution that you can just initiate. There is no real answer to this, because simply put, Grady Sizemore is in a slump.

Injuries are not an issue, so this isn’t a disabled list situation. Is there anything wrong with his swing? Most people around the club that have been asked this question haven’t really been able to see anything wrong.

He’s just in a slump.

That’s all we can really deduct from the numbers. The scope of the other numbers here suggest a bigger problem though. Grady Sizemore has become a slugger.

He has gone from all around good-hitter and high-on-base guy to a pull-hitter who only has successful power numbers when he tries to pull the ball. He has enormous success when doing so, but as we’ve seen this season and even last year, he isn’t even doing that.

What’s the reason for the percentages of at-bats with runners on base?

I just wanted to see and compare the move that Acta made. While it is only a month and a half, there only is an increase in three percent in terms of how many at-bats Sizemore is getting with men on.

Even then, he’s knocked in 12 runs this year, which is good enough for fourth on this team. With runners on base, he’s hit .280, which isn’t horrible.

Heck, it is way better than his actual season average, but it still isn’t what the Indians are expecting from him, especially now that he’s in a position to get more RBI opportunities.

There may be no solution that the Indians can initiate, so it is all up to Grady Sizemore.

He has to work with Jon Nunnally if his hitting coach sees something wrong, but from what it would look like, there is nothing wrong mechanically.

So, if it’s all upstairs, he has to get out of his own head.

I’m sure it did nothing for his confidence to see that home run he hit taken away from him because when he steps into the batters box. He still sees that big ugly zero staring back at him.

The Indians need Grady Sizemore though, especially if they are going to turn things around offensively, and be the offensive threat we think they can be.

Read more MLB news on BleacherReport.com

It’s no secret that fans across the nation cringe at the sight of a poor performance from their team on a given night.

Often times, fans will use the excuse that it is still early in the year and these players and teams will turn it around.

The 2010 MLB season has offered up its fair share of great moments and performances from some of the league’s best; but as we head into mid-May, there is still some doubt amongst even the most faithful of fans that the following players will turn it around.

Some players aren’t living up to their massive contracts, others may have finally hit rock bottom, and some are playing under the guise that the season hasn’t even started yet.

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