Love it or loathe it, this week’s unveiling of Akron’s new professional baseball identity has already succeeded in all the ways its crafty devisors intended. The end of the Aeros and rise of the RubberDucks—while admittedly April Foolsy at first glance—has put the Indians’ Double-A affiliate in more headlines and hashtags than any of its Eastern League Championships ever did. It’s not a silly marketing mistake, nor a heartfelt nod to Akron’s industrial past—as some would have you believe. It’s straight up business, Son. And in #QuAkron, it was pretty much inevitable.

Back in 2011-- a full year before ambitious young owner Ken Babby bought the club—the Akron Aeros held a somewhat unexpected “re-branding contest,” in which fans were asked to vote online for one of five potential names for the team. Showing a surprising lack of marketing savvy back then, one of these five options was to keep the name “Aeros”—which had served the club admirably for 15 years with basically zero complaints from anyone ever. Obviously, any good bloodsucking marketer knows that there’s no money to be made from a shirt you already sold, so including “leave well enough alone” on the ballot was a mistake from the get-go. 

The four alternative team names, meanwhile, were selected from fan suggestions and conspicuous in their quirkiness—fitting the mold of recent Minor League notables like the Albuquerque Isotopes, Montgomery Biscuits, and Lansing Lugnuts. Unfortunately, all Akronites seemed united in their disdain for these newly proposed monikers, as “Aeros” was easily re-elected over “Vulcans,” “Gum Dippers, “Tire Jacks,” and… “RubberDucks.”

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After a brief hiatus to decompress from the baseball season and let the postseason sort itself out, the View from the Porch is back and talking about pitching. The Indians have some big decisions to make as they try to make contention a reality for a second straight season.

The San Francisco Giants didn’t do the Indians any favors earlier this week when they re-signed Tim Lincecum to a two-year, $35M extension. With the Indians trying to determine a course of action for Ubaldo Jimenez and Scott Kazmir, the price tag of the Lincecum signing cast a grey outlook. The starting rotation, which was a major question mark entering the 2013 season, looks like a major question mark entering 2014.

A year ago, it was impossible to think of the Indians being priced out of the market for Ubaldo Jimenez. A year ago, a lot of people hoped that the Indians would decline Jimenez’s option, despite the fact that it was obvious that the team would pick it up because the starting rotation lacked depth, proven Major League caliber talent, and Jimenez came relatively cheap. The decision was a no-brainer, solely because the Indians had no better alternatives. It looked to be a terrible decision during the month of April. Jimenez went 1-2 with a 7.13 ERA over his first five starts. He struck out 19 and walked 13 over 24 innings. The Indians struggled their way through an 11-13 start.

Something strange happened after that. Jimenez went from being to punching bag to being the puncher, or if you’ll allow me a cheap pun, the puncher-outer. From the start of May through the end of the regular season, Jimenez was outstanding. He gave up 48 earned runs over his final 27 starts covering 158.2 innings. That’s a 2.72 ERA. He struck out 175 batters and walked 67. Over a 13-start span in the second half of the season, Jimenez posted a 1.82 ERA. And when the Indians needed Jimenez the most, he posted a 4-0 record, a 1.09 ERA, and a 51/7 K/BB ratio in six September starts.

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Justin Toole comes from a baseball family. His dad coached his teams growing up, and his brother Eric just wrapped his sophomore season as a 2^nd-team All-Big Ten outfielder for the Iowa Hawkeyes. His sister was a softball player. Watching Toole play the game, it’s easy to see the influence that his baseball-oriented upbringing has had on his career as a player. Toole can play any position on the diamond (literally), and always knows what to do with the baseball anytime it is hit to him. He’s a patient hitter at the dish, and is sneaky-effective on the basepaths. He’s not a burner, but reads balls well in dirt and goes first-to-third quicker than some players with better raw speed. In short, he does all of the little things well, helping his overall package play greater than the sum of his tools.

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This has been one of my favorite MLB postseasons to watch in recent memory. The four LCS teams (Dodgers, Cardinals, Red Sox, and Tigers) all boast impressive combinations of talented lineups, deep starting rotations, and shutdown bullpens. But, as always, I’m viewing the playoffs through my Tribe-colored glasses,

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