Tribe Talk: 2018 Cleveland Indians Offseason Plan: Opportunity Knocks

By Alex Hale, @TheCLESportsGuy


For the Cleveland Indians, 2017 ended in heartbreak that leaves the franchise at a crossroads. The window for the Indians to finally end a now 70 year World Series drought is still open, but is slowly closing. With the emergence of the Minnesota Twins and their rumored aggressive position this offseason, the Indians can either continue to go for it or prepare for the future rebuilding effort. The Indians have numerous Free Agents hitting the market this offseason including main stays Carlos Santana and Bryan Shaw, not to mention key trade acquisition Jay Bruce. The Indians have numerous options they can go in order to continue to improve their team and continue their reign in the AL Central.

When it comes to the Indians, the big question continues to be the amount of money that is available with the Indians. From estimates of expiring contracts and other big contracts off the books, it’s fair to estimate that the Indians have around the range of $25-$30 million to spend this offseason (with minority investor and revenue from 2017, it could be higher). The Dolan's have shown with the recent winning, they are willing to spend a bit more if it meant improving the team. This would mean the Indians would have the money to at least be able to afford one of Jay Bruce and Carlos Santana and still be able to fill out the rest of the roster with supporting pieces.

As I do every year, I’m going to take off my writer cap and place myself in the shoes of Chris Antonetti and Mike Chernoff and say what I would do if I were in their shoes. The Indians fell short in 2017 and look to return to the World Series in 2018, it’s time to look at my 2018 Offseason Plan.



2018 Indians Offseason Plan

Re-sign 1B Carlos Santana: The Indians are in unfamiliar territory unlike previous years, the Indians are in the position in attempting to keep their own Free Agents and have multiple top tier Free Agents they would like to try to keep in Jay Bruce and Carlos Santana. Unfortunately for the Indians they won’t be able to afford to keep both after the Indians picked up Michael Brantley’s $12 million option. If forced to choose between Bruce and Santana, it’s a no-brainer for me, Carlos Santana is the top priority for the Indians. Although Santana normally struggles in the first half of the season, time after time he turns it on in the 2nd Half and played a major role in the Indians success in the 2nd Half last year. On top of that Santana has improved year after year defensively at 1B and was a finalist in 2017 for the Gold Glove award for First Baseman. Santana always is a force with the bat and has a great eye at the plate that really can’t be taught. The Indians might have to slightly overpay, but in a win-now mode with a great chance to win their 3rd straight AL Central title and contend for the AL crown against the Astros, the Indians must be willing to do what it takes to re-sign him.

Contract- 3 years, $54 million with a Mutual Option for a 4th year

Re-sign RP Joe Smith- The Indians biggest strength over the past few years have been in their bullpen, but it seems that the Indians most polarizing reliever Bryan Shaw will be leaving for greener pastures in the offseason. This would leave the Indians without one of their most consistent and reliable relievers (contrary to popular belief) and looking to replace him. Fortunately for the Tribe, they don’t really have to look that far for that replacement. In a lot of ways, Joe Smith is a better reliever than Shaw, but is a totally different reliever. Aside from Smith being a side arm pitcher, Smith doesn’t throw as hard as Shaw and it would leave the Indians without a hard throwing righty they can rely on. But the key for keeping Smith is his efficiency over the years to get batters out. With all of his ties to Cleveland and knowing he’s in a winning situation, it shouldn’t be hard to convince Joe Smith to stay and maybe get a discount out of it.

Contract- 2 years, $8 million

Re-sign CF Austin Jackson- Amazing what a change of scenery can do for a player. A year ago the Austin Jackson could barely get a Minor League deal after struggling with the White Sox in 2016, he arrives in Cleveland and establishes himself as a great spot starter in the Outfield both defensively and rediscovering his batting approach, resulting into one of his best offensive seasons in the Majors. Not to mention AJax had the catch of the year against Boston. For the Indians and their struggles with the Outfield staying healthy, it’s imperative that they re-sign Austin Jackson because of his ability to contribute on the field and at the plate. It would be costly for a 4th Outfielder, but in a “win-now” approach, if it’s not breaking the bank, it’s worth it.

Contract- 2 years, $12 million with a Team Option for a 3rd year

Sign RP Matt Albers- Remember this guy? Matt Albers was once a reliable option out of the bullpen in 2013 for the Indians and outside of one bad year in 2016, he’s been lights out since he’s left. Albers would be the perfect Bryan Shaw replacement that allows Joe Smith to still have the same role. Last year in Washington in a situation where the Nationals had no real reliable option in the bullpen, Albers was the most reliable reliever. He throws in the mid-90s which is something the Indians should be looking at when it comes to finding a Bryan Shaw replacement. The Indians lack a reliever who throws with velocity outside of Andrew Miller. While Albers doesn’t throw 100, he might be the most effective reliever who throws with good velocity the Indians are going to find. Other options the Indians could consider are Fernando Rodney, Brandon Morrow, Juan Nicasio and Addison Reed.

Contract- 1 year, $4 million

Sign 3B Eduardo Nunez- This could be a longshot, but with the 3B market being run by Mike Moustakas and Todd Frazier, this might not be as far fetched as one may think. The Indians did have interest in acquiring Nunez at the trade deadline, but the Red Sox acquired him and his bat caught fire. Rumors point to the Red Sox might prefer a power bat like a Todd Frazier at 3B, which could really open the door for this possibility. Let’s address the elephant in the room first, the Indians already have Giovany Urshela and Yandy Diaz to go with Jose Ramirez already projected as the starting 3B. Nunez would provide the Indians a proven starting 3B that would give the Indians the option to move Jose Ramirez to 2B full time next to Francisco Lindor. Nunez could also give the Indians options with him as he can play 2B and the Outfield. Nunez would give the Indians a reliable offensive bat with great speed and solid defense. This move would require a secondary move and likely a controversial one with fans.

Contract- 3 years, $24 million

Trade for OF Marcell Ozuna- The Indians after losing Jay Bruce would be best served to go out and find a potential trade option to replace him with. Marlins new Owner Derek Jeter is making it very clear early on that he has plans to completely rebuild the Marlins immediately. After the Marlins trade Giancarlo Stanton, I would think their next move would be continuing to rebuild their farm system by trading Marcell Ozuna. Ozuna really evolved this past season winning a Silver Slugger and a Gold Glove, developing into one of Baseball’s new rising stars. He’s under team control until 2020 and would give the Indians the perfect replacement for Jay Bruce for right now and moving forward. In a perfect world that would mean Michael Brantley, Bradley Zimmer, and Marcell Ozuna could be your everyday Outfield and for the Indians, that would actually be an improvement to when the season ended last year.

Trade Details- Indians trade 3B Yandy Diaz, SS Yu Chieng-Chang, OF Will Benson and SP Brady Aiken to Miami Marlins in exchange for OF Marcell Ozuna

Trade away 2B Jason Kipnis to Milwaukee Brewers for RP Jared Hughes and SP Kodi Medeiros- In the midst of the Indians trying to add pieces to improving their team in the hopes of winning a Championship, their greatest decision might be in the business of losing a key part of their team. Jason Kipnis is one of the key leaders of the Indians and in ways is the lifeblood of the locker room. In 2017 though, Kipnis couldn’t stay on the field and when he was on the field, hardly produced. It would be an extremely difficult decision to move him and it would have to be for the right offer. The Brewers are led by GM David Sterns, who has some ties to the Indians have been in the market for a veteran 2B and currently have Neil Walker going into Free Agency. Fortunately for the Indians, the Brewers could provide the Indians a solid reliever to offset the loss of Bryan Shaw. Preferably the Indians should target Jared Hughes who has been a very effective reliever over the past few years dating back to his days with the Pirates. Hughes could easily settle into Shaw’s role and fill it nicely, but Hughes alone doesn’t get the deal done. Kodi Medeiros was a top prospect for the Brewers a few years ago, but has struggled through the farm system. This could be an opportunity for the Indians to add a lower ranked prospect who has struggled and potentially fix him. If so the Indians would get the value needed to make it worth trading Kipnis away.



A Hypothetical Scenario

Kipnis for Donaldson?- This would be a dream scenario if the Indians can’t re-sign Jay Bruce and the Marcell Ozuna trade doesn’t work out. The Blue Jays have been slowly trying to rebuild the team, but the opportunity hasn’t presented itself yet. For Mark Shapiro, he’s going to want at least a veteran presence that he can depend on for leadership. Kipnis would be the type of leader that Shapiro already is familiar with and would have under team control over the next couple of years with Donaldson approaching Free Agency in 2018. For the Indians they don’t really go after guys who are approaching Free Agency so this would be something bold by the Front Office. But if there’s a player who fits what the Indians might be looking for to be the missing piece, Donaldson fits perfectly. A good defender over at 3B, who back in 2015 was the AL MVP. Even missing 49 games this year, Donaldson still hit 33 HRs and drove in 78 runs. Adding Donaldson to a lineup with potentially Edwin Encarnacion, Francisco Lindor, Jose Ramirez, Carlos Santana, and maybe a healthy Michael Brantley gives the Indians a legitimate lineup to challenge the Astros. I would go as far as saying the Indians should explore Josh Donaldson even if it meant giving up a couple of prospects instead.

Trade Details- Indians trade 2B Jason Kipnis and SP Shane Bieber to Toronto Blue Jays in exchange for 3B Josh Donaldson

This plan would be a bold strategy that would definitely improve the Indians on paper, but would test the Indians team chemistry early on. This is where the benefits of having Terry Francona as Manager come into play. With mostly any other manager, the team chemistry concern would be a major factor for most fans, but this is Tito’s specialty. As much as I might criticize Tito, this is where I know I can make these moves and feel good about the team going forward. With these moves the Indians lineup would look like this.



Potential 2018 Indians Lineup

3B- Eduardo Nunez
SS- Francisco Lindor
RF- Marcell Ozuna
DH- Edwin Encarnacion
2B- Jose Ramirez
1B- Carlos Santana
LF- Michael Brantley
CF- Bradley Zimmer
C- Yan Gomes



That’s a lineup that’s even more balanced than what it was a year ago, and as long as things fall into place, this lineup could be good enough to truly challenge the defending World Champion Houston Astros. The Indians strength again would be in their pitching and with the moves made would fortify their bullpen and easily offset the loss of Bryan Shaw. The Indians head into 2018 with major competition and the path back to the World Series won’t be easy, but with these moves, the Indians might just stand a fighting chance to return back to the World Series and this time win it. Bottom line for the Indians is the window is still open, in order to reclaim the AL crown, they must be able to take some chances and do what is necessary to get back to where they want to be. This offseason offers what they need and the opportunities just might fall into place for them. It’s up to the Tribe to execute on them.

On Deck Circle 5/14/17: Stay Optimistic, Tribe Fans!

By Pat Luhta, @PLuhta


Corey Kluber is on the DL.

Danny Salazar has not been pitching well.

Trevor Bauer has been atrocious, and that’s putting it lightly.

Edwin Encarnacion has been struggling with providing the power that all Indians fans hoped for.

Jason Kipnis is still trying to get back in the groove after starting the season on the DL.

The defense is just down right bad.

So, with all of these problems, why should Indians fans stay optimistic? There’s only 1 reliable starter, poor defense being played, and offense that ranks in the lower 3rd of the league in majority of categories. That normally would spell out a team that has too many deficiencies to overcome and reason to not buy in to their squad.

Many reasons, the first one being that despite all of their current issues, they are still 18-17 and only 2 games out of first in the AL Central. And I know it’s way too early to start dissecting the playoff picture, but they are still right in the thick of things as a wild card team. This is essentially saying that if only half of the issues mentioned turn around then the Indians will have no problem with taking control of the division and regaining their place atop the entire American League.

If Kluber comes back from the DL and starts pitching well along with Salazar finding his groove then that will be more than enough, add in that Mike Clevinger very well may take Bauer’s starting spot in the rotation and now the starting pitching is exponentially better. Or if the Indians start getting that big pop from Encarnacion’s bat and Kipnis raises his batting average, the offense improves and these 3-2 or 2-1 losses turn into 5-3 or 3-2 wins. A lot can change still, the season is still relatively young and it’s too soon to throw in the towel on this team just because things aren’t going as planned right now.

This leads right into my second reason, this is a proven team with proven players. It would be a bit different as far as optimism goes had this team not gone to the World Series last season, if they were just a .500 team last year then likely there wouldn’t be a sense to stay positive about this team. But this team is good, with a lot of returning players from last season and got even better in the offseason.

There’s reason to keep faith in Kluber and Salazar pitching well because we know they can, just like there’s reason to believe that Encarnacion’s bat will be there. This isn’t a team that’s just hoping that they can get production from some unlikely places, gone are the days of pinning their hopes on Ubaldo Jimenez and Jason Giambi to provide the pitching and hitting even though they are well out of their prime. Getting production out of Mike Napoli was great, but he eventually bottomed out so they replaced him with a guy that has hit at least 34 home runs in 5 straight seasons. This is a real good team, probably the best 25 man roster in the AL, they are weathering the storm right now and keeping themselves in a position where there’s little no ground to make up once they start clicking, which they will.

Aside from all the negatives, the one main constant positive is how great this bullpen is. That has been the Indians’ saving grace so far, the fact that if they have a lead through 5-6 innings then the bullpen is a steel trap and protects that lead no matter how small it may be. Andrew Miller and Nick Goody still have not given up an earned run this season, Cody Allen has saved 9 games and has not blown a save, and Bryan Shaw, who has been a target of frustration for fans, along with Boone Logan have held their own in relief opportunities. This is all happening with some poor starting pitching, once the starters turn it around then this is going to be an incredibly scary pitching staff as a whole. The bullpen alone should keep Indians fans optimistic, they will win every game that gets turned over to them while in the lead. They’ve been the reason why the record is what it is right now and will continue to be a solid part of the team going forward.

And finally, the biggest reason may just be the division that they play in. There are no teams in the division that are as good and talented as the Indians, Cleveland looks like they are sandbagging right now and no team in the AL Central has been able to capitalize on it. The only other quality team that could give the Indians a run for their money are the Detroit Tigers, and they have just as many, if not more, glaring issues than the Indians do right now. There’s no team like the Houston Astros or Washington Nationals in this division, no team that just looks stunning on paper that the Indians will struggle with. If the Indians are able to compete in the division currently with all of that they are lacking from key players, just imagine what they will do when those problems get resolved and those key players start performing accordingly. It’s a good spot to be in for the Indians, they’ve been given a nice buffer to work out all the kinks since no team is starting to run away with the division. This is still Cleveland’s division to win, they are the favorites to be crowned AL Central champs so there’s no reason why any fan shouldn’t be optimistic about this team making the playoffs still.

So there you have it, tribe fans. I know watching these games can be painful at times and I know that there were high expectations going into this season and the team has not played up to those expectations, but there’s plenty to remain positive about this team as the season goes on. This team will win the division and make the playoffs and will be a favorite to win the American League pennant, just keep the optimism flowing as the season continues.

Tribe Talk 8.22.15: 2015 Was EXACTLY What The Indians Needed #Indians

By @DaSportsGenius7

Let's all be honest, the Cleveland Indians season hasn't gone the way most of us had hoped or planned.  But maybe, while fans don't see it now, in a few years I think this season will be deemed as more of a success than a failure.  Yes Sports Illustrated picked us to win the World Series and we haven't lived up to expectations.  Now there's a lot of blame to go around from the people that assembled the team, to the manager, to the players themselves.  But after 2 years of above .500 baseball and a Wild Card Game appearance, now is not the time to blow things up.  In fact throughout the past few weeks, I think Chris Antonetti, Terry Francona and the players have shown that they deserve another year.  So let's rewind to right before the deadline to review what has happened and at the end of all of this, Indians fans trust me, this season was exactly what we needed.

July 30th- Indians trade Brandon Moss to St. Louis for LHP Rob Kaminsky- Brandon Moss was the Indians key acquisition this offseason and although he provided some power in the lineup, he wasn't working out.  In the weeks prior, Chris Antonetti had stated he wasn't interested in trading Moss, but in Antonetti fashion, he got a deal too good to pass on.  Analysts have said this trade is an absolute steal for the Indians, adding a nice young lefty pitcher to the organization.  The Indians could've kept Moss as they did have some club control left on Moss, but Antonetti got a great offer and took it.  While maybe not really popular, Antonetti I think once again stole a prospect from arguably the best organization in baseball.

July 31st- Indians trade Mark Rzepcynski to San Diego for OF Abraham Almonte- While Almonte is a Cleveland fan favorite for now, I'm not expecting huge things from him.  But the Indians found a possible bench player in exchange for a reliever who wasn't pitching like we've been used to.  The Indians can now utilize young lefty Kyle Crockett.  Crockett is more than capable as he's shown before to pitch at the big league level.  Remember this kid had a 1.80 ERA in 43 games in 2014 and in 16 games had a 2.79 ERA in 2015.  Um...what does Francona have against this kid to begin with?

August 7th- Indians trade Nick Swisher, Michael Bourn, and cash to Atlanta for UTIL Chris Johnson- Remember this trade Indians fans, this is the move that turned everything around.  Bourn and Swisher were brought in to be these veteran leaders that produced, but in the 3 years they've been in Cleveland they've done next to nothing and from rumors with Bourn, were hurting the Clubhouse.  In this deal, Cleveland gets a lefty masher in Chris Johnson.  While the Indians have to pay Johnson a good amount of money, to get rid of Swisher and Bourn, it was the best move they could've made.

Now after reviewing the deals made in the past few weeks, eliminate the fact that Cleveland has actually played better for me.  The key is that the Indians have finally told the young core of Kluber, Kipnis, and Brantley that it's their team now.  The veteran leaders like Bourn, Swisher, and Giambi are gone.  In the players minds its time for them to put up or shut up.  In a lot of ways, this is exactly what the players needed.

Since August 8th, the day after the Bourn and Swisher trade, the Indians have gone 7-5.  Now although its not great, its a nice sight to see the core of the Indians that Chris Antonetti and staff have identified as the core have stepped up.  In this 10 game span, we've seen Danny Salazar dominate batters and look like the pticher we were hoping to see on a consistent basis.  We've seen Jose Ramirez return to the bigs and although more recently has slumped, has shown for the most part he can contribute.  And possibly the most promising sight, Lonnie Chisenhall is showing he can play some outfield and be that guy who can give players a night off next year.

While there are bright spots, there remains a lot of questions to be answered.  One of my biggest concerns is the position of Right Field.  One of my targets would be Yoenis Cespedes, but I get the feeling that he's not in their plans.  I do feel however that this is going to be one of, if not the biggest priority over the offseason.  There are plenty of potential big time trade targets that the Indians can look into (I'll dive into that in the offseason).  But the sense I get from people I know, it's an area that will be addressed.

In hindsight if I myself had looked at the roster more closely, I wouldn't have gotten as all hyped up.  I got hooked, I think we all got hooked honestly.  This year proved to me that the Indians have the pitching to put themselves into contention, but they need the offense.  Look at the Mets, outstanding staff, lackluster offense, then they add Yoenis and they're a major threat.  I think the Indians right now are stuck where the Mets were.  One of my biggest beliefs is if you have the true cleanup hitter, the rest of the batting order will fall into place.  It's Chris Antonetti's job to explore every option that becomes available this offseason.

At the end of the day, the Indians had a bad year, think of it like 2006.  But in a lot of ways, this was the best thing to happen for the Indians.  The Indians now are forcing their core players to become the leaders.  I think with the rest of the season to let Brantley, Kipnis, Kluber and co. to establish their leadership in the clubhouse, plus the right moves to fill in the rest of the gaps on this team, the Indians will make a run in 2016.  But what if I told you that maybe it was best if the team waited until 2017 to make their run?  But that's a topic for another day.  Just remember the future is bright Cleveland, the Tribe has a young core that finally have assumed leadership.  All in all, while we won't probably reach our goals, we're setting ourselves up to a better 2016 season.