Things That Still Need to Be Sorted Out for the Cleveland Indians If There Is a 2020 Season

There is still no guarantee that we will see a 2020 Major League Baseball season, as the two sides have to get over a number of issues before one pitch in thrown in a regular season affair.

For the Cleveland Indians, the team was about ¾’s of the way through spring training when the covid-19 shut down most of America, including all pro sports.

The team had its up and downs this spring, including a number of injuries to starting pitchers and some other injuries that the team had to overcome.

Today we revisit some things from Goodyear that you might have forgotten about, and go through a couple of things that this team needs to still have in place if a 2020 season does get underway in the next few months.

A Healthy Squad

The Indians roster was not exactly a walking bill of health as the spring carried on, with the biggest two injuries being to starting pitchers Mike Clevinger and Carlos Carrasco.

Aaron Civale was suffering with a slight groin issue, and reliever Emmanuel Clase (who is suspended for 80 games anyway), had a lat injury that was slated to keep him out till mid-May.

Now with a season that may not get underway until July, this team should be 100 percent when or if this short season gets going.

Having a starting pitching squad that is 100 percent is by far the most important aspect of this team if a 2020 season gets played.

The Pen

Every season there are changes and alterations to a team bullpen, and the Indians over the past few seasons have had to re-construct their pen.

Three players that had a huge impact on the pen over the past few seasons are gone, that being all-time saves leader Cody Allen, 2016 ALCS MVP Andrew Miller, and a workhorse reliever who rarely got credit in Bryan Shaw.

Now you have names such as fireballer James Karinchak, Phil Maton, James Hoyt, Adam Cimber and closer Brad Hand.

The pen was solid for the first half of 2019 and even into the early part of the second half, but Hand started to struggle, and it seemed the rest of the pen followed suit.

Competition will determine who gets the ball and when, and what guys will have to watch and wait their turn for a chance – if they get it at all.

The Lindor Saga

It seems like a week doesn’t go by that there is another rumor about Indians all-star 26-year-old shortstop Francisco Lindor.

The team is in a rock and hard spot with Lindor, who according to comments by baseball author Keith Law won’t come back to Cleveland and won’t at this point even listen to offers from the club.

It’s disheartening to hear that, as we all know the Indians cannot afford to let Lindor just walk without getting a return, which is why there’s almost weekly speculation of a trade of Lindor to a team looking for a star.

Lindor is enough of a pro to where he won’t let the speculation get to him, and he had already told folks in March he no longer wanted to chat about the future and wanted to just help the Indians win.

Until he is no longer a member of the franchise, that’s about all the Indians can hope for, as they would love to see a typical all-star year from their shortstop.

The Outfield

Much like prior to the 2019 season, there are still plenty of question marks about the outfield.

The team has a number of players on the roster, and much like the bullpen the coaching staff will let the competition play out, and whatever player takes advantage of the opportunity is the ones that will play.

The club has a couple new outfield faces like Delino DeShields and Domingo Santana, and a couple players coming back in Jordan Luplow, Oscar Mercado and the hopeful return to health of Tyler Naquin.

Right now Luplow, Mercado and Franmil Reyes are penciled in a number of depth charts as the opening day starters, but it’s truly anyone’s guess on what threesome will play on a daily basis for the Tribe.

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