Behind the Struggling 2019 Cleveland Indians
The Cleveland Indians were one of the elite teams in baseball a few years back, but now they are ten games back of their division. Let’s examine their struggles.
The Cleveland Indians won the American League Central to make the postseason in 2016, 2017, and 2018. They had arguably the most dominant rotation in baseball with the likes of Corey Kluber, Trevor Bauer, and Carlos Carrasco.
The Tribe made it all the way to Game 7 of the World Series and if it wasn’t for the rain delay and Ben Zobrist doubling down the line, they might have won the 2016 World Series.
After winning over 90 games and making it to the postseason for the third year in a row, they got swept by the Houston Astros in three games to end arguably the best run in the franchise’s history.
During the off-season, general manager Mike Chernoff and his team added Carlos Santana, Jake Bauers, and Oliver Perez, but the real story was who departed from Progressive Field.
Here are the names of the notable players who left Cleveland:
- Michael Brantley (Outfield)
- Josh Donaldson (Third Base)
- Andrew Miller (Reliever)
- Cody Allen (Closer)
- Edwin Encarnacion (First Base)
- Yan Gomes (Catcher)
- Yonder Alonso (First Base)
- Melky Cabrera (Outfield)
- Lonnie Chisenhall (Outfield)
- Yandy Diaz (Infield)
The Indians lost their best outfielder, both first basemen, their All-Star catcher, and their top 2 bullpen arms.
Cleveland arguably had one of the best rosters in all of baseball, and the amazing part was the owner wasn’t paying the roster a lot of money.
Cleveland Indians owner Paul Dolan told The Athletic’s Zach Meisel that fans shouldn’t keep their hopes up when it comes to keeping Francisco Lindor.
“Enjoy him,” Dolan said. “We control him for three more years. Enjoy him and then we’ll see what happens.”
That is probably a punch in the gut to Indians fans because they have been a playoff team for multiple years and Lindor may be on his way to getting a plaque of his own one day in Cooperstown, but the owner is not even telling the fans he will attempt to re-sign him.
The first reason for Cleveland’s early downfall was not retaining any big players.
Let’s take a look at the struggles of the current roster this season…
The Current Roster’s Struggles
Those three pitchers are still intact, but Kluber is on the Injured List with a broken arm. He got his cast removed a few days ago, which is a good sign for Cleveland Indians fans. He was hit on the arm by Marlins’ Brian Anderson on May 1.
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Trevor Bauer has been forced to lead the rotation and he has been good. He is 4-4 with a 3.99 ERA in 12 starts.
Behind him is Carlos Carrasco (4.60 ERA), Shane Bieber (3.11 ERA), and Jefry Rodriguez (4.08 ERA).
By the numbers, the rotation has been decent, but the problem has been the offense.
Francisco Lindor was on the IL to begin the season, and he has gotten off to a slow start. Lindor is hitting .279 with just 16 RBI’s and an OPS of .815.
Jose Ramirez has been playing the entire year, but he is hitting .197 with just 4 home runs and 15 RBI’s.
Obviously, the offense is not hitting as they are now a game under .500, and are now 10 games back of the Twins, so it may be time for the front office to begin to explore trading pitchers like Trevor Bauer.
If Cleveland ownership is owning up to the fact that they will enter a rebuilding stage after Francisco Lindor departs, then they need to trade their top tier players.
San Diego has been reportedly interested in acquiring Trevor Bauer to lead a young rotation that includes Chris Paddack, and the Indians would easily get an outfielder and a bundle of young prospects back from the best farm system in the league.
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The Cleveland Indians need to notice their problem, and start calling opposing teams to look at their options or else they will endure another long period of time not in contention.