Ed McKean was the longest tenured Spider and the only player to stay with the team from their first season through their second to last in 1898 when he and the rest of the good players were sent to St. Louis. In his career he outpaced every other pre-American League Cleveland baseball player in almost every single career stat. In fact, the only positive counting stat he didn't rank number one in was walks, where he ranked second. This all should seem a foregone conclusion when you see that he played in 500 more games than any other player. Even compared to modern players, McKean would rank in the top two batters in games, at bats, runs, hits, triples, RBI and steals.

McKean was one of the more powerful members of the Spiders, hitting six or more home runs seven times including a team record nine in 1898 (he also set single season Spider records for RBI (133) and triples (24) in 1893). Over his career he had a smooth transition, starting as a speed player and changing over to power as he aged. In his first three seasons he stole 76, 52 and then 35 bases all while his batting average, doubles and RBI increased. He had a significant peak from 1893 through 1894 seeing a dramatic increase in run production, average and a jump up in his speed numbers as well, hitting 24 triples in 1893 and stealing 33 bases the next year.

McKean wasn't a perfect player despite his gaudy offensive numbers as he did have one significant failing. He ranks tenth all time in career errors with 892, twice leading the league in this negative stat. However, back before the modern baseball mitt, errors were much more common, making it very hard to compare this stat with modern players. Poorly maintained fields and no stadium lighting also contributed, but this is an important thing to keep in mind when considering what look like great Earned Run Averages by the Blues and Spiders pitchers.

In 1899 McKean was moved to the St. Louis Perfectos along with the rest of the Spiders who had talent (including Cy Young, Nig Cuppy, Patsy Tebeau, Cupid Childs and Jesse Burkett). This was his last season and he only played 67 games in it after averaging almost 130 games per year while with Cleveland. He died less than 20 years later in 1919 at the age of 55.

Al Lopez was a Major League catcher during his playing career which spanned three decades, playing in almost 2,000 games and making it to two All-Star games during that period. He spent that duration with the Brooklyn Robins, Boston Bees and finally with the Pittsburgh Pirates before ending his career by playing 61 games in Cleveland. Of course, he did nothing during his lengthy playing career to garner any Hall of Fame interest.

After ending his career in Cleveland, Lopez was brought back as manager in 1951, taking over for player manager Lou Boudreau (the most successful manager in Cleveland history). Lopez picked up just where Boudreau left off, setting a new record for highest career winning percentage in club history. After three 90 win seasons, Lopez pulled out the greatest regular season in baseball history, winning 111 games (.721 winning percent) in 1954. What followed was what is considered one of the greatest let downs in sports history as the greatest team in MLB history was swept in the World Series by Willie Mays and the New York Giants.

The next two years Lopez still pushed his team to great finishes, but they never returned to the World Series and Lopez left the team in 1957 as part of the exodus from Cleveland. He then spent the rest of his time in baseball managing the Chicago White Sox. In his managerial career, Al Lopez won 1,410 total games with his two teams, placing him 25th in Major League history. In his Indians career, he ranks fourth all time in wins behind the Indians two great, World Series winning player managers, Boudreau and Tris Speaker, and Mike Hargrove.

Lopez was inducted into Major League Baseball's Hall of Fame in 1977 as a manager by the Veteran's Committee and then into the Cleveland Indians Hall of Fame in 2006. Al Lopez died in 2005 at the age of 97.

Unlike the positional lists, starting pitchers are being broken down into two separate lists, essentially giving them a top 20 instead of a top ten. This is to make sure not to leave out any of the fantastic starting pitchers the Indians have had over the years and to balance out the numbers of position players compared to pitchers. This particular top ten list is of non-ace starting pitchers. These pitchers often go unnoticed, spending the majority of their careers behind the stars of the team, but definitely deserve some recognition of their own. This list includes a couple of numbers that have been retired by the Indians and a Hall of Famer. Forget about Bob Feller and Stan Coveleski for a minute, here is the rest of the rotation. For this top ten, we will not only be listing the years that the player was a starting pitcher in the rotation, but also the main reason they were not an ace during their career, namely, the player that was the ace.

10. Sonny Siebert - Years Starter: 1965-68 - Ace: Sam McDowell

Siebert wasn't with the team very long and is the only pitcher on the list with less than 1,000 innings pitched, but he earns his spot as a throwback player, posting a career ERA of 2.76 despite playing in the modern age. In fact, he was the first Indians pitcher to hold a career ERA under 2.80 that ended his career after 1917 a feat only accomplished one more time since.

9. George Uhle - 1919, 1921-28 - Stan Coveleski & Joe Shaute

Like the next pitcher on this list, Uhle was a poor average pitcher who managed to stay around for a long time. In his later years, he was preempted as ace by Shaute, who was possibly the worst ace in team history. Uhle's rate stats are the worst of any pitcher listed, but his 2,000 plus innings earned him enough respect to break the top ten.

8. Mel Harder - 1930-39, 1942-47 - Wes Ferrell, Bob Feller, Jim Bagby, Jr.

Harder is the only Indian to get his number retired without making it into the Hall of Fame with good reasons for both. As the longest tenured player in team history, he deserves respect, but his numbers need to be put into perspective as well.  While his counting stats (wins, innings, etc) are among the best of all Indians pitchers in history, his rate stats are among the worst on the list, keeping him low among the top ten. Unlike most of the pitchers on this list who were kept back by one great pitcher (usually Feller, Coveleski, Joss or McDowell), Harder had plenty of chances to take over the rotation for himself, but always took second as a new pitcher became the ace.

7. Jim Bagby, Sr. - 1916-21 - Coveleski

Bagby was an early Indians pitcher and was an amazing innings eater. From 1916 through 1920, Bagby held an ERA under three while throwing more than 240 innings each season. He was undershadowed by the one of the greatest Indian aces ever, Stan Coveleski. In 1920, Bagby set the current Indians record for wins in a season with 31, a record that will never be broken.

6. Mike Garcia - 1950-57 - Feller & Herb Score

The Big Bear had two straight 20 win seasons and four straight with at least 17 wins, but was still pushed back in the rotation time after time, behind Bob Lemon and Early Wynn in addition to those mentioned above. In his career, he is one of very few pitchers to crack 2,000 innings and 1,000 strike outs.

5. Willie Mitchell - 1910-11, 1913-15 - Vean Gregg

Mitchell is another early pitcher who had amazing rate stats and a lot of innings pitched during his Indians career. Mitchell spent a long time with the Tribe and wasn't a great pitcher until his last couple seasons. He spent time as a reliever in between his starting years, setting up his greatest years. He is one of a short list of pitchers who have finished their careers with the Indians with an ERA under 3.00 and a BAA under .230.

4. Earl Moore - 1901-05 - Addie Joss

It's no surprise that half of the 1905 starting rotation is listed in the top ten (the third is in the top 15 and last is inelligible) as pitching was paramount for the early Cleveland teams. There was a large disparancy in talent, as less people played the sport in the early 1900's. Even so, they deserve a lot of credit as they each threw over 1,000 innings and held an ERA under 3.00 for their careers. Moore himself won 82 games, an impressive number considering he only pitched in 161.

3. Bob Lemon - 1948-57 - Feller & Score

Lemon was the closest thing to an ace on this list as he took over for Feller during a two year transition to Score. Even so, he was second or third in the rotation during the majority of career. He ranks first among the non-aces in strike outs and is second to just Harder (who pitched in more than 120 more games than Lemon) in wins and innings pitched. His years at ace were the tie breaker that kept him behind the top two pitchers.

2. Bob Rhoads - 1905-09 - Joss

Rhoads was the best of the early non-ace starters winning 88 of his 185 games and holding the lowest ERA of all non-aces and the fourth best in Indians history. During Rhoads' first four years as a starter, the Indians had an amazing starting rotation and put forth some of the best seasons in Indians history. From 1905 to 1908, the Indians won more than 55% of their games with Rhoads winning 71 games over that span.

1. Luis Tiant - 1964-69 - McDowell

Tiant had a very special year in 1968, setting an Indians record for best BAA and holding an ERA of 1.60. During his time with the Tribe he was incredible, throwing 1,200 innings and maintaining a career ERA under 3.00, something only one starting pitcher (Gaylord Perry) has done since.

Borderline: Guy Morton, Bill Bernhard, Otto Hess, Cy Falkenberg, Willis Hudlin

Bill Bernhard joined the Cleveland Blues in 1902 (after being released by the Philadelphia Athletics) and immediately became the third of Cleveland's three aces alongside Earl Moore and Addie Joss. The trio stayed on top of the league from 1902 through 1904. During that span none of the three pitchers ever held a season ERA over 3.00 or a WHIP over 1.20 (except for Earl Moore in 1902), the best WHIP of the time being Bernhard's 0.94 in 1902 which still ranks in the top ten all time. Each pitcher also won at least 12 games every year during that time.

In 1905 Bernhard fell off after throwing the best season of his career. His ERA ballooned to near 5.00 and he lost more games than he won for the first time with Cleveland (every year prior he had won at least ten more games than he lost). In 1906 Bernhard returned to form one last time, posting a 16-15 record and an ERA of 2.54. During his swan song season, he threw 255 innings, dropping his BAA (.235) and WHIP (1.11) back to respectable dead ball era levels.

In his career, Bernhard ranks in the top five Indians ever in ERA an is ranked among the top Cleveland starting pitchers of all time. He left the Naps in 1907 after pitching just 42 innings and bounced around the minor leagues for a few seasons before leaving baseball altogether. Bill Bernhard died in 1949 at the age of 78.

The Indians still are without a definite designated hitter for the 2013 and have apparently been linked to two former Indians players, Travis Hafner and Jim Thome. In what is a sad state of events for Hafner, both players are essentially at the same point in their career, despite Pronk starting his career over a decade after Thome. Both players have seen decreases in playing time in recent years with neither player playing in more than 100 games since 2010. If the Indians did sign one of the two former Tribesmen, he should be expected to have at least two stints on the disabled list and not be able to play in more than three consecutive games and never in the field.

As much as bringing either former great back into the fold would warm the hearts of Indians fans, the move just doesn't make sense logically at any price. Picture this prospective situation: Pronk/Thome plays DH for game one of a series with Mark Reynolds at first and Carlos Santana catching. The next game would feature Reynolds at DH, Santana at first and Lou Marson/Yan Gomes at catcher. The third game would see Reynolds and Santana back at their prospective positions with either Nick Swisher or the Pronk/Thome combination at DH. Either way the Indians would handle the situation, the new DH would be likely to play in 60 or less games.

The Indians have no obvious great in house options, but given a chance there are a few players who could surprise if given even those 60 games that the Indians would otherwise be overpaying for. Below is a chart that takes a weighted average of the last five years for both Hafner and Thome and the last three seasons (mostly minor league) for two other players. The numbers have been standardized to see what they would produce in 60 games.

These numbers are incredibly close and are all probably over estimates of how these players will perform. The question is, how much are the Indians willing to pay for a player that will at most hit ten home runs and strike out 50 times. The two options listed below are Yan Gomes and Chris McGuiness in that order. McGuiness has never played above the AA level, but is a rule 5 pick, meaning he has to be on the 25 man roster or be relinquished to his old team. If the Indians sign either Hafner or Thome there will likely not be room on the roster for McGuiness. 

Gomes on the other hand should make the roster either way and unlike McGuiness, has had some Major League experience. He is also more versatile, being able to play catcher, first or DH, making him fit in well in the Santana/Reynolds rotation.

No other teams have been linked with either Hafner or Thome to this point. In fact, the Orioles, Astros and Yankees have all announced that they have no interest in the 42 year old DH, despite having holes on their rosters. Because of that, both players have no market driving their price up, although either could decide to retire rather than play for the league minimum. The Indians can't afford to take on a pity player, monetarily or in roster space.

If the Indians do decide to pick one of the two aging players, Thome seems to be the better fit. It would allow him to retire as an Indian (again) cementing his place in the Hall of Fame as a Clevelander, making him even more worthy of the statue being built for him in centerfield. He also is miraculously less injury prone than Hafner despite the longer career and has produced more in the past few seasons. The final benefit of bringing Thome back would be an increase in jersey and ticket sales for nostalgia's sake. This would help pay for his salary, but will not likely last longer than the first month or so, unless he produces enough to deserve his place on the team.

Doug Jones was the first great closer for the Cleveland Indians and maintains the Indians record for most career save opportunities. He happened to come around at the perfect time for closers as for the first time in baseball history, pitchers were put into save situations simply to earn the save, rather than teams using the best pitcher in the most important situation despite the inning. Jones came to the Tribe in 1985 after being released by Milwaukee. After two good seasons, Jones became the full time closer in 1988 and posted one of the best relief seasons in Indians history. Over the next three seasons, Jones set marks in the top ten for save chances each year and saves twice. When he saved 43 games in 1990 it was an Indians record (broken four seasons later by Jose Mesa)

In 1991 Jones struggled over his first 31 games before the Indians decided to turn him into a starter. After making three straight all-star teams and garnering MVP votes in two of the past three seasons, Jones dropped to a 5.54 ERA (his worst ERA as a closer was 2.56 in 1990). This struggle was enough for the Indians to give up on the 35 year old pitcher and he left the team through free agency to Houston. He then pitched eight more seasons between five other teams, with some great seasons and others where he struggled.

In 1998 the Indians traded right handed reliever Eric Plunk to the Brewers in exchange for an elderly Jones and the Indians were able to take him to his first career playoff appearance. After becoming famous with the Tribe and having his best seasons in Cleveland, Jones had finally returned and had another good partial season. At the end of the season, he joined the Athletics for two years, making the playoffs one more time before retiring.

In his career, Jones remains one of the top closers in Indians history and ranks in the top ten in save conversion percent and top five in total saves (just ten behind Bob Wickman). 

2013 is going to be the first season in the history of professional baseball when there are an odd number of teams in each league, making it the first season with interleague play all year. This has lead to a few peculiarities in the Indians schedule this year that make it a little different than the norm.

• Instead of the regular three game series, the first of the interleague series will take place at the end of April (4/30) in Cleveland against the Philadelphia Phillies. It will consist of two, two game series concluding in Philadelphia later in the month (5/14).
• Instead of playing the normal six games against Cincinatti, the Indians will play consecutive road and home series against the Reds (and new centerfielder Shin-Soo Choo) from 5/27-30. This is the first time in my memory that the Indians have played a team on the road, then immediately played them at home. The Battle for Ohio will be played in just four games in 2013.
• Other NL opponents include three game series against the Nationals (6/14-16), Marlins (8/2-4), Braves (8/27-29) and Mets (9/6-8).
• Because of the new scheduling, the Indians will be playing many more four (and two) game series than normal. They have 12 four game series scheduled along with four 6 game series. There were 8 four game series in 2012 and no scheduled two game series. This will make it a lot harder to judge teams by their series win/loss record as there should be a lot more series ties.
• The Indians will be playing against the Houston Astros as an American League team for the first time ever  on 4/19.
• The All-Star break will be four games for the Tribe this year, spanning from 7/15-18. It should be a good vacation for almost every player as the Indians attempt to trade away every player who ever had a chance at playing in the contest.
• The Tribe won't play the Angels and their new outfielder Josh Hamilton until 8/9, making them the last American League team for the Indians to play their first game against.
• There will only be 14 total games against the Red Sox and Yankees, including just seven home games that will all be over before the end of April. These are two of the best selling series for the Indians, so it will be interesting to see if people will show up during the normally cold month of April to see the AL East teams. Last season the Indians averaged just over 11,000 fans per game in April excluding Opening Day, partially because there were no high profile games.
• The season closes out in the cold open air of Minnesota, in what could be a very depressing four game bout if neither team makes any more improvements before the season starts.

Otto Hess was one of the early pitchers for the Cleveland Blues and Naps, pitching alongside Addie Joss, Earl Moore and Bob Rhoads for the original Cleveland teams. Like the others listed, Hess had an incredibly low career ERA, WHIP and BAA, but unlike the others, he was very inconsistant. His 1904 and 1906 seasons were two of the greatest years ever by an Indians pitcher (his 333 IP in 1906 ranks among the top ten all time), but he had a very below average year in 1905 and wasn't able to pitch 100 innings in his other three seasons.

In his career, the good seasons have outweighed the bad, mostly due to the incredible amount of innings thrown in those two great seasons. He remains among the top ten best Indians ever in ERA and innings per game (7.1). His great rate stats do show through, but his wildness is also apparent as he hit 51 batters in less than 1,000 innings pitched. He also ended his career losing more games than he won (each of the other three pitcher peers listed above had a career winning percent of above .545).

 Hess retired after the 1915 season after being released by the Boston Braves. He had originally been let go by Cleveland in 1908 and played in the minor leagues for a few years trying to make his way back to the pros. Hess is the only player in Major League Baseball history to be born in Switzerland. Otto Hess died in 1926 at the age of 47.

If you are a regular reader of Burning River Baseball, you may come to feel that I hate all utility players and think to yourself, "why does he hate them, it's their job and somebody has to do it." Well, I don't hate utility players, just their improper use.

In general, of the 25 spots in a baseball roster, twelve are pitchers, nine are the starting lineup and another is the back-up catcher (another subject which I have discussed ad nauseam). This leaves three open places for what is typically, a reserve outfielder, middle infielder and corner infielder. Some teams choose to distribute these spots differently based on the unique talents of their reserves, but this is the general idea. Among those three reserve players the team needs to cover a few points.

First, every starter on the team must have a back-up in case they get hurt or tired. This back-up can be another starter as long as that starter has a back-up on the bench. Also, between the three players available there should always be a pinch runner and a pinch hitter (on past Indians teams, a right handed pinch hitter) for late inning duties. The back-up catcher shouldn't be considered in any of this as if the catcher gets injured there is usually no other option.

As most teams cannot afford to field a roster of 25 starting caliber players, utility players are usually a significant drop off from the regular on the field talent. This means the role is taken by one of three types of players, old players who used to be good, players in their prime that will never be good and young players who are still unknown. As with any player, the cost increases with age as they will no longer play for the league minimum and are less flexible as far as minor league options are concerned.

It is my opinion that any team that is not a billion dollar organization should use young players for the majority of their utility positions. This may seem not that extreme of a statement, but the Indians have been overpaying for aging veterans and never-will-be's longer than I can remember. Most recently Jack Hannahan was paid over $1M to make 18 errors at third base in 2012 as a defense-first minded third baseman while Lonnie Chisenhall sat in AAA. While Hannahan was not technically a utility player in 2012, he was originally signed as one and his back-up, Jose Lopez, was even worse. If Chisenhall had at least been used as utility corner infielder at the beginning of 2012, he could have worked on his defense behind the master (.949 fielding percent Jack Hannahan) and the Indians could have saved the entire $800,000 paid to Lopez (because they still had to pay Chisenahall anyway). Using Chisenhall as a utility player all season would have given the Indians their back-up at third, short and first (through Hannahan) as well as an extra pinch hitter.

The main purpose behind this line of thinking is the money saved. Reserve players only play a few games a year each and are not that important to the ultimate fate of a team. They are also usually replacement level players. Since this is the case, there is no reason not to use replacement players from within your own system. Another benefit of using younger players is speed. Using the example already mentioned, while Chisenhall is no speed demon, he is faster than Lopez, but here a different example suits better. 

Shelley Duncan was the primary starter in left field in 2012, leaving Johnny Damon as the utility outfielder. The Indians have done this type of thing over and over again in recent years, signing aging outfielders like Austin Kearns (the second time), David Delucci and Jason Michaels. In every case, a future Indian has lost playing time when he almost certainly would have produced more at a smaller cost. With Michaels it was Ben Francisco; Delucci, Franklin Gutierrez while Kearns (and Damon) kept back Ezequiel Carrera. All three of the outfielders held back were better fielders and base runners than their replacements and all were pushed to the sidelines for some unknown reason. Two of the three were even traded away as throw-ins during mega deals because there was "no room" for them on the roster. The Phillies and Mariners obviously saw their value even if the Indians couldn't. 

There are hundreds of examples over the years where the Indians would have been better served by using a younger player as a utility player instead of a veteran, but there is no point in listing them all. The whole argument boils down to the decrease in cost to the team in payroll and the increase in major league playing time of the developing player. If the Indians did follow this system, they should give each young player a two year maximum at the utility position. After this time a decision would have to be made. There are exactly three possible solutions, two of which could have great benefit to the team.

First, they could trade the young utility player. This has been the Athletics operating mode for the past decade, taking undervalued players, giving them enough playing time to look good and selling them high to other teams. One of the few times the Indians did this right was when they traded Kelly Shoppach to the Rays for top pitching prospect Mitch Talbot. Shoppach had been a young reserve for a few years, got enough starting time to impress and was sent away for another teams top pitching prospect when the Indians found a better option.

Second, promote the utility player. When something really special comes along (like Chisenhall) he should be moved into the starting role as soon as possible. When this is done, the team still has control of the original player and can use him as a trade piece to other teams before losing him. The Indians did a terrible job of this during 2012 as they held on to Hannahan during the regular season, even after Chisenhall was made starter. Once the season was over he was released and the Reds signed him for $4M. If they were willing to pay that much for him, they certainly would have been willing to trade something for him earlier in the year.

Finally, the utility player can be released. If a player has been around, playing in 60 or more games a year for multiple seasons and hasn't proven himself, he probably never will. If this is the case, give up on the player and release him, giving a different young player a chance. This is what the Indians should have done with Matt LaPorta years ago. LaPorta has been used as a reserve DH/1B the past few seasons when it was made obvious his ceiling is much lower than previously thought. If there is no trade market for the player, then just release them. This is not only best for the team as it frees up a roster spot and gives another young player a chance, but it is best for the player being released as well as he is free to find a job somewhere else whether it be with another team or Taco Bell.

So, there you have it. I don't hate utility players for being utility players. I just dislike it when the Indians waste money, then complain they don't have any and when they sit on tremendous talent in the minor leagues and just let it waste away (Brad Mills who? Remember Brad Snyder? Nick Weglarz is still in Akron at age 25).

The Indians picked up Harrah in 1978 from the Rangers in exchange for third baseman Buddy Bell. He then spent the next five seasons for the Tribe, building up some impressive numbers and adding himself to the list of top ten Indians third basemen. Harrah was among the Indians top hitters every year he spent with the team, including the strike shortened 1981 when he lead the team in hits and runs scored. The next season (Harrah's best), he joined Andre Thornton as the Indians representatives in the 1982 All-Star Game.

In 1983, the Indians picked up new starting third baseman, Brook Jacoby, making Harrah expendable and he was traded to the Yankees for George Frazier and Otis Nixon. He then finished his career with the Rangers, the same team he made his name with. Most recently, Harrah was the bench coach for the Colorado Rockies in 2002, but has since been away from baseball.