The Cleveland Spiders are once again proving that consistency is overrated.
They finished 80-82, which sounds disappointing until you realize the season unfolded exactly how everyone expected it to. The offense mashed. Runs were scored in bunches. Home runs flew out of ballparks. And every fifth day the pitching staff gathered together to see what new and creative ways they could stress the bullpen.
In other words: a very Cleveland season.
This remains one of the more entertaining teams in the league because they have a clear identity. They aren’t trying to win games 3-2. They’re trying to win games 9-7 and hoping the pitching survives long enough to make that happen.
The problem, of course, is that the pitching often doesn’t.
Bret Saberhagen looks increasingly like a former solution rather than a current one. Sterling Hitchcock has demonstrated that his future may lie in the bullpen rather than the rotation. Beyond that, there are simply too many question marks for a club that wants to move from “interesting” to “contending.”
So despite some intriguing bats remaining on the board, Cleveland turns its attention toward the mound.
The top four pitchers are long gone, but we’re now entering a tier of arms that are remarkably similar in overall value while being very different stylistically. This is where scouting departments earn their paychecks and where mock drafters pretend they know exactly what every team is thinking.
For Cleveland, the choice is Matt Clement.
Clement isn’t the flashy pick.
He isn’t going to headline prospect lists. He probably isn’t winning Cy Young Awards. Fans won’t spend the next decade telling stories about where they were when the Spiders drafted Matt Clement.
What he might do, however, is become exactly what Cleveland needs.
The raw profile is appealing: solid stuff, solid movement, enough pitch development potential to envision three quality offerings, and perhaps most importantly, the stamina to shoulder a significant workload.
The control remains the biggest concern. It isn’t disastrous, but it isn’t ideal either. There’s development still required before Clement reaches his ceiling, and that uncertainty is part of why he’s available at Pick #11 rather than sitting comfortably in the top five.
But the upside isn’t the story here.
The fit is.
Cleveland doesn’t necessarily need another ace. They need innings. They need reliability. They need someone capable of taking the ball every fifth day and preventing the bullpen from warming up in the third inning.
If everything develops properly, Clement profiles as a quality mid-rotation starter. A No. 3 type. The sort of pitcher contenders quietly rely on while everyone else talks about the stars.
And for a franchise desperately trying to stabilize a pitching staff that has spent years surviving on hope and offense, that’s a pretty valuable player.
Not the sexiest pick.
Possibly one of the smartest.
PICK #11
Cleveland Spiders select SP Matt Clement