Cleveland Indians shortstop Francisco Lindor will miss Spring Training and the start of the season after sustaining a calf injury.
The Cleveland Indians have already had a rough start to the 2019 season, as shortstop Francisco Lindor injured his calf while preparing for Spring Training. He is expected to be out for 7-9 weeks after he was checked out at the Cleveland Clinic this Wednesday. According to the Indians, the shortstop has already started rehab.
Last month Lindor was able to avoid arbitration with a one year, $10.55 million deal. A three time All Star, he hit .277 with 38 home runs and 92 runs batted in last season, so he will be missed at shortstop.
Currently, he is not expected to return until early April at best, which means that Terry Francona will need to move some pieces around. His options include moving All Star and former MVP runner up Jose Ramirez to shortstop, and prospect Yu Chang who played in AAA Columbus.
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The good news is although Lindor will be missed, Cleveland still has a great lineup Jason Kipnis, Ramirez, and Carlos Santana.
For Indians fans, I know they are sad that Lindor will be out for the beginning of the season, but if I were to pick any team that would be fine without their star player, it would be the Indians.
The Indians have won the American League Central for three straight seasons, and it does not seem like they will be slowing down based off of the other teams in their division.
The Twins are really the only team that will give Cleveland a run for their money, and even they do not have a good rotation or bullpen, but you look at the Indians and they have Corey Kluber, Trevor Bauer, and Carlos Carrasco in the rotation, and then an All Star closer in Brad Hand.
The Francisco Lindor injury is devastating for baseball, especially when its free agents have not signed and there is a week until Spring Training kicks off in Arizona and Florida, but the Indians will be fine.