The end appears near for the Indians and Michael Brantley.Indians NewsFree agent Mic

Morning News and Notes Chipper Jones Jersey , Thursday, November 8"hael Brantley not expected to re-sign with Cleveland Indians | cleveland.com - Brantley has reportedly received offers from Atlanta, Philadelphia and the White Sox. The Indians did not offer Brantley a one-year $17.9 qualifying offer on Friday.Indians radio voice Jack Graney up for award - When Graney joined the WHK team in 1932 to broadcast Indians games, he became the first former player to have a regular role in a radio booth. That fit right in with the rest of Graney's career, which included a number of firsts throughout his time as a player for Cleveland.Remembering 5 new Baseball Hall nominees with Cleveland connections: Bill Livingston | cleveland.com - Albert Belle, pending further review of his stormy career, just might end up in the Baseball Hall of Fame after all.How elite athletes keep their heads in the game | Popular Science - “This game is extremely complex John Smoltz Jersey , and when I’m on the mound or on the box, I can’t think about this stuff,” Bauer says. “You’ve got to train yourself so you can shut off your brain, you have to train yourself not to think.”Unsurprisingly, Scott Boras (Bryce Harper’s agent) is not a fan of rebuilding teams like the White Sox | NBC Sports Chicago - "But the Cleveland Indians are in a division of non-competitive teams. And as a result of that, despite the fact that they are a franchise doing a lot of right things for their fans, they’ve had a decline in attendance. And the reason is that in their division Matt Kemp Jersey , the mystery of the game is lost because of non-competitive teams. And we do not have fans responding to a franchise when a franchise is doing what it should be doing, and because of non-competitiveness throughout the division, they don’t show."Around the LeagueRays, Mariners reportedly near Zunino-Mallex Smith tradeYankees plan to move Sonny Gray A slightly worried preview of what to expect behind the plate"Fangraphs has decided to embrace pitch framing and include it not only on their site, but even in their calculations for both catcher and pitcher Wins Above Replacement. Regardless of anyone’s opinions on WAR and whether or not the controversial statistic should use an even more controversial component, pitch framing is being scrutinized more and more by both statisticians and front offices. So what does that mean for us?The answer is not rosy, but it could definitely be worse. One table in the piece explaining their methodology is very telling about the outlook for Jonathan Lucroy and Kevan Smith.FangraphsThe table has good news and bad news. Let’s start with the bad news.Jonathan Lucroy Hank Aaron Jersey , holder of one of the all-time best seasons of pitch framing in the history of the stat, is just flat-out not good at it these days. Lucroy steadily worsened from 2013 to 2016 before completely cratering in 2017. He bounced back to merely bad in 2018, but could theoretically have a resurgence and become mediocre this year. Kevan Smith and Jose Briceno are merely average and don’t look to help or hurt too much in terms of stealing strikes.Thank goodness there is light at the end of the tunnel. The entire division is basically on that table sans the Rangers. If Isiah Kiner-Falefa wins plate appearances over Jeff Mathis, they could very well be near the bottom of the majors as well. It appears we have no more to fear from employing people who may be unable to do their job than anyone else in the AL West.If Jonathan Lucroy can hit somewhere in the vicinity of a .725 OPS, we will have far more pressing matters to worry about than his framing...Of course, whether or not his framing can hold its own against that of the division might not be very important if the mediocrity he gives us with his glove is completely offset by his game calling. Lucroy gets a lot of credit from many esteemed talent evaluators regarding his game calling and his direction of pitchers.However...on the very same Advanced Fielding table where FRM (Framing Runs) can be found, further to the left is a disconcerting number. It’s worrisome to see that per the dreaded rCERA (Catcher ERA Runs Above Average) http://www.bravesfanproshop.com/authentic-nick-markakis-jersey , Lucroy has been worth -9 runs two of the past three seasons, almost completely tanking his defensive value per Defensive Runs Saved! We might have all scoffed when Mathis was defended with the statistic, but I guess we’ll finally get to see the other side of the coin!