The First Two Months of the Season Could Very Well Dictate the Direction of The 2020 Indians

The Indians are staying pat with the current roster while they could still use an outfielder to help their lineup. Could the first two months of 2020 and the success or lack of it dictate if this team makes a move to grab someone on the open market?

While many Indians fans are still waiting on a daily basis to see if the team is going to add another bat to their questionable lineup, there seems to be a feeling that this very well may be it when it comes to what this team is going to roll out with on March 26 at Progressive Field.

While the Dolan’s see content with the franchise taking the field with a payroll of about $90 million, there’s still plenty of frustration among the fans that think this team can easily go ‘all in’ and pickup a player or two that will help their chances in 2020.

The one player whose name continues to come up is outfielder Yasiel Puig, who became a favorite among the fans in his short time with the franchise last year after he was acquired via trade from the Cincinnati Reds.

Making a deal to get Puig back in the fold would be a win all the way around for the Indians, as not only would be a benefit for their team on the field, it also would stop a fellow AL Central team (like the Chicago White Sox) from signing him.

Nothing has been said about what the asking price is for Puig, but it seems like it’s going to have to come down if he’s going to want to land a deal, as no one has jumped on signing the outfielder.

Fangraphs has reported that the asking price for Puig should be about $39 million for three seasons, but again if that’s the case no one has taken the bait to sign him as of yet.

Could the Indians potentially offer him a two-year deal worth say $24 million for two years? One would think that it wouldn’t shake the payroll enough to not want to make ownership and the front office do it, but again so far there’s been no activity on the Tribe’s end.

The Indians mindset could be to see how the start of the 2020 season goes before they commit to making many moves, more so moves that are going to involve spending money on a payroll that has been slashed the last two seasons.

It’s no secret that a lackluster start to last season saw this team looking up at the first-place Minnesota Twins by the time they found their footing in June.

The team started March and April going 16-12, but the injuries and offensive issues hurt them in May, as the team went just 12-17 while the Twins were running away with the division.

If the team is going to wait out potential free agents to sign allowing them to get say a month into the season, or if the team is going to rekindle talks of trading superstar shortstop Francisco Lindor, the club’s first 30 to 60 days of play may be the key to both those scenarios.

If there is one thing about this franchise they are always looking to tinker with the roster, making moves and looking to add to positions of need.

Right now it makes almost too much sense for them to need to get some outfielder to help out, but it looks more and more like fans are going to need to be patient before that potentially happens.