Antonetti, Francona Talk of Indians Decisions to Send Clevinger and Plesac to Eastlake Following Team Meeting

The Indians held a team meeting in Detroit Friday afternoon, and after it made a decision to send both starters that were on the team's restricted list - Zach Plesac and Mike Clevinger, to the team's alternate training site in Lake County. Team president Chris Antonetti and manager Terry Francona both spoke about the decision to send the two pitchers basically to the minors for now.

The Indians Friday had a team meeting at the team hotel, again to try and clear the air about the distractions this week regarding pitchers Zach Plesac and Mike Clevinger.

Friday afternoon team president Chris Antonetti and manager Terry Francona met with the media via zoom from Detroit, and both went over the team’s decision to reinstate the two starters in the rotation and send them both to the team’s alternate training site in Eastlake.

Antonetti said that both pitchers drove to Detroit on Thursday evening, and both had their baseball gear ready for whatever decision the team made regarding returning to the club.

Both Plesac and Clevinger spoke at the team meeting on Friday, and Antonetti said that he, Francona, and pitching coach Carl Willis came to the ultimate decision to send the pair to Lake County.

“We made the decision and informed Clev (Clevinger) and Zach (Plesac) individually,” Antonetti said.

The Tribe president admitted that it’s been a challenge this week to work through the situation regarding both starting pitchers, but at this point the team has to put all that aside and get back to playing good baseball.

“We’re all a family. Sometimes there are challenges in a family that you have to work through,” Antonetti said.

In 12 of the team’s 19 games, they’ve been unable to score more than two runs, including both losses at home on Tuesday and Wednesday to the Chicago Cubs, games they lost 7-1 and 7-2.

Antonetti was also asked about the Instagram video that Plesac put out Thursday afternoon, a six-and-a-half minute video which detailed he and Clevinger being out on Saturday night in Chicago with friends.

Plesac also took a number of shots at the media in the video, stating that they "do some evil things" and "create stories.”

"I'm not sure Zach was able to convey what he intended to convey in the video, after having a chance to speak with him afterwards,” Antonetti said.

“If he had a do-over, he may have said things a bit differently."

Francona was not so polite when asked about the same video from his second-year starter, answering the question in three words.

"I was disappointed,” the manager said.

The futures for Plesac and Clevinger remain in limbo, as while they will stay on regular throwing schedules while in Lake County, they won’t be eligible to return to the Major League roster for at least 10 days.

For now, Francona and the team look at the moves as ones that will get the two pitchers away from the team, allowing for more time for healing as they try to get back to winning baseball games, which is a priority for the club.

“Like everything we do the best we can as a team, regardless of the circumstances regardless of what it’s about, we do what we think is in the best interest of our team all the time,” Francona said.

The manager wasn’t in the mood to give details about the meeting, other than that it was held in the team hotel and was an open forum which allowed everyone, including Plesac and Clevinger, to speak their minds.

“I’m not going to go over a team meeting word for word, if we would have wanted you there, we would have invited you,” Francona said to a media member about the team meeting.

The club could be heading into a hornet’s nest this weekend in Detroit, as they take on a Tigers team who is playing good baseball, sitting in second in the AL Central at 9-7.

The Tigers could be looking to take advantage of a somewhat distracted Indians team that was soundly beaten in two games this week by a total of 14-3.

“The hope is that we can put what’s been going on the side to play a good game, nobody, myself included is going to stop thinking about those guys because we care about them, but we cannot use anything as an excuse to not play a good baseball game,” Francona said.

“This is a time for me when you find out about a team, we’re getting tested, and now we have to go out and play really good baseball, I am looking forward to this.”