Cleveland Indians: Team preview and prediction for 2020 season

Cleveland Indians: Team preview, prediction for 2020 season

If we look top to bottom of the Cleveland Indians lineup going into 2020, it’s hard to find a weak link outside of maybe the catcher’s position. Carlos Santana is coming off a huge 2019 in his return to Cleveland and he seems to be more at home with this team.

Jose Ramirez had a poor start to his 2019, but slowly got himself back in a groove as the season went on. And Francisco Lindor will, as always, put up his usual MVP numbers even with extensions and trade talk looming over his head.

In addition to those core guys, the Tribe added Cesar Hernandez and Domingo Santana in the offseason. Hernandez is an upgrade from Jason Kipnis and Santana had himself a monstrous 2019 for Seattle. They also brought on Sandy Leon to be the backup catcher, where, I believe he will serve a very big role in developing the younger pitchers on the Tribe’s staff such as Shane Bieber, Mike Clevinger, Aaron Civale, and Zach Plesac if you remember how good he was in Boston upping the games of Chris Sale and Rick Porcello.

Oscar Mercado, after his big rookie season, seems to be a little banged up early this Spring with a wrist sprain. But once he gets himself right, he may just be the third or fourth-best player on this team depending on who you ask.

The Indians’ lineup is stacked, and it’ll only get better as guys get healthy and make their way back to the big leagues. Mercado falls in that category as do Bradley Zimmer and Tyler Naquin. There’s home run power and contact hitting everywhere in this lineup and what the Tribe will have this year that they haven’t had in a long time is depth.

Look at all the outfielders they can roster. Look at all the speed they have at various positions. This Indians team has found ways to produce offense with a lot less talent in the past couple of years. Now, they have as much talent as they’ve had in a long time. Watch for them to potentially lead baseball in scoring.