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Cleveland Indians 2018-2019 Offseason Outlook

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I'm far more worried about the possibility of the injury lingering all year than I am about him potentially missing games to start the season.

Hopefully they take their time. I believe they will.

I'd even be ok with sitting him all of April, and allowing him get a full rehab assignment if necessary.

Missing an entire spring training rarely bodes well for players though.
 
Missing an entire spring training rarely bodes well for players though.

That's why I said for him to get a full rehab assignment prior to returning.

There's not much of chance of him playing in spring training given the 7-9 week timeline, so we just have to make the best of that, and attempt to prevent a lingering injury.
 
That's why I said for him to get a full rehab assignment prior to returning.

There's not much of chance of him playing in spring training given the 7-9 week timeline, so we just have to make the best of that, and attempt to prevent a lingering injury.

If he misses all of April then that’s okay with me if that means he is healthy when he gets back.

Though that being said, how we even remotely replace his production will be the hard part. Chang may be the best candidate in house, but if he doesn’t have a strong spring then we’ve only got non-hitting strong fielders on the roster to play SS.
 
He can miss all of April and May for all I care. The division sucks and Indians are likely to still be close to the front by June.

Don't be the typical Indians and rush him back to play day 1.

Does suck that they traded Erik Gonzales this offseason though.
 
Sucks that we traded away Gonzalez now. Hopefully we can go find somebody in FA to be a stopgap for 4-6 weeks, because I feel like Lindor will be out till around mid-May, or Chang is ready to be an immediate MLB contributor.
 
Sucks that we traded away Gonzalez now. Hopefully we can go find somebody in FA to be a stopgap for 4-6 weeks, because I feel like Lindor will be out till around mid-May, or Chang is ready to be an immediate MLB contributor.

I'm kinda excited to see Chang get a chance. I felt like if he wasn't traded this year, he probably wouldn't be regarded as a prospect with value anymore. Hopefully he gets a chance and at least flashes a bit to increase his trade value.

If Chang and Bradley get a legit shot in spring training, I'll be excited to watch how both bats perform.
 
I'm kinda excited to see Chang get a chance. I felt like if he wasn't traded this year, he probably wouldn't be regarded as a prospect with value anymore. Hopefully he gets a chance and at least flashes a bit to increase his trade value.

If Chang and Bradley get a legit shot in spring training, I'll be excited to watch how both bats perform.


We still have time to sign some minor league free agents so I would put good money on the fact we will sign another middle infielder with an invite to spring training!

This could be Chang’s offseason to really prove himself though so I hope he takes advantage of it. We don’t have a long term 2nd/3rd at the moment, so maybe he can place himself into the picture that way.

Bradley though won’t get a ton of playing time this spring, but he still can impress since it feels like his stock has started to go south in the last season or two. I wish he could have been around EE though to learn from a bit.

I still think we will have some sleepers in the OF, Kreiger, Marabell and Calica all may get a fair amount of more time than projected. Johnson is an interesting guy as well out there. I expect all the guys to be at AAA sometime this season and with our OF depth, could see some MLB time of injuries/guys don’t perform well.
 
I'm far more worried about the possibility of the injury lingering all year than I am about him potentially missing games to start the season.

Hopefully they take their time. I believe they will.

I'd even be ok with sitting him all of April, and allowing him get a full rehab assignment if necessary.

Hopefully you’re right.

Cold weather and muscle injuries don’t mix well.
 
One huge benefit of Santana/Bauers is both can play the field. I fully expect the DH to be utilized as Frankie makes his way back slow and steady.
 
One huge benefit of Santana/Bauers is both can play the field. I fully expect the DH to be utilized as Frankie makes his way back slow and steady.

It will be pretty big if Bauers can prove to play a competent corner OF. Would allow the Indians to target a player like Castellanos (great at the plate, awful in the field) in the summer.
 
Nice to read about Bieber working hard on his change up, thought that was one pitch he needs to master in order take a huge step. This has to be like the best projected rotation ever in Indians history.

I'm expecting great starting pitching, sneaky bullpen success, and awful hitting for the first two months.
 

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