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Your 2018 Cleveland Indians

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Gio sure saved that one that went off his glove/foot against the Yankees in Game 4

Yea and Klubot wasn't the Klubot, a lot of bullshit happened that series, Jose Ramirez is still striking out, Lindor couldn't buy a hit on ebay.

Indians should've traded Gio for a bullpen arm when his glove was on full display if we are going go lose him for nothing.
 
https://www.mlbtraderumors.com/2018/02/indians-to-sign-carlos-torres.html

Indians signed veteran pitcher Torres today. Been a durable and efficient pitcher for awhile, and coming off a down year. Seems like a smart move overall for the Indians after losing Shaw and not being able to retain Smith either.

low K rate, and a high BB rate. If we still had Callaway, I might just blindly believe they'd get something out of him i.e. Manship/Otero, but I'm hard pressed to think he makes this roster.
 
low K rate, and a high BB rate. If we still had Callaway, I might just blindly believe they'd get something out of him i.e. Manship/Otero, but I'm hard pressed to think he makes this roster.

I really doubt he makes the roster as well at the end of the day. I am also factoring in what they are going to do with Merritt as well at the end of the day. With Allen, McAllister, Miller and Tomlin all free agents and Merritt always doing well when given chances, I don't think they want to keep him over Merritt if it won't effect our win/loss at the end of the day.
 
Kipnis was pushing himself to hard in BP and other activities, and now he's a little dinged up... already

At this point I'm surprised he didn't get hurt by getting off the plane. Guy is out of shape, or becoming heavily injury prone.

You know, we're in for another special season, check us down for winning the worst division in baseball, but Kipnis and Brantley being incompetent for the playoffs won't get us anywhere. One of them needs to actually out-produce the other. Our team is good enough to get by, just not dominant to a point we can reach the WS again.

If Kipnis and Brantley returns to their production, we're the best team.
 
low K rate, and a high BB rate. If we still had Callaway, I might just blindly believe they'd get something out of him i.e. Manship/Otero, but I'm hard pressed to think he makes this roster.

I love Mickey Callaway but Carl Willis is no slouch either.
 
https://www.mlbtraderumors.com/2018/02/indians-to-sign-carlos-torres.html

Indians signed veteran pitcher Torres today. Been a durable and efficient pitcher for awhile, and coming off a down year. Seems like a smart move overall for the Indians after losing Shaw and not being able to retain Smith either.

Signing all these veteran relief pitchers makes very little sense. They have 13 excellent pitchers on the staff as is which is one too many. And that doesn't include Cody Anderson. Merryweather, Bieber, McKenzie. Sulzer and Morimondo. They should be looking to trade pitchers...not add them.

The Indians do not need to add any more arms.
 
Kipnis was pushing himself to hard in BP and other activities, and now he's a little dinged up... already

At this point I'm surprised he didn't get hurt by getting off the plane. Guy is out of shape, or becoming heavily injury prone.

You know, we're in for another special season, check us down for winning the worst division in baseball, but Kipnis and Brantley being incompetent for the playoffs won't get us anywhere. One of them needs to actually out-produce the other. Our team is good enough to get by, just not dominant to a point we can reach the WS again.

If Kipnis and Brantley returns to their production, we're the best team.

Indians are loaded. 102 wins with virtually no [production from Kipnis last season. Miller missed significant time as did Brantley, Guyer and Chisenhall. Tribe has an unbelievable pitching staff and should be a strong favorite to win it all.
 
Signing all these veteran relief pitchers makes very little sense. They have 13 excellent pitchers on the staff as is which is one too many. And that doesn't include Cody Anderson. Merryweather, Bieber, McKenzie. Sulzer and Morimondo. They should be looking to trade pitchers...not add them.

The Indians do not need to add any more arms.

Minor league deals never hurt anything.

Right now, the leading candidates are as follows:

Cody Allen
Andrew Miller
Dan Otero
Tyler Olson
Zach McAllister
Nick Goody
Salazar/Tomlin/Clevinger (one will be RP)
Merritt (out of options)

However, if one or two of those goes down, or if they decide to trade one, you now have extra depth with Carlos Torres, Preston Claiborne, Alexi Ogando, etc. They could also be added to our AAA roster for in-season depth. Or maybe one of them is lights out in Spring Training and forces themselves on the roster. Bottom line: there's no negatives to adding them to the mix, only potential positives.
 
Signing all these veteran relief pitchers makes very little sense. They have 13 excellent pitchers on the staff as is which is one too many. And that doesn't include Cody Anderson. Merryweather, Bieber, McKenzie. Sulzer and Morimondo. They should be looking to trade pitchers...not add them.

The Indians do not need to add any more arms.

You know Goody and Otero were picked up off of waivers right? Austin Jackson was signed as a minor league free agent last year. These are moves small market teams make constantly since they cannot always afford to sign big name guys. We have a good bullpen, but injuries happen and you sometimes need to be able to get in guys to replace them.

Torres 2 years ago had a 2 something ERA and has pitched a long time. These are the types of signings all good teams make since the next man up is a veteran rather than a rookie if possible especially in a playoff year.
 
Updated the OP to reflect our latest additions.
 
Looking at the roster, I'd currently break it down as follows:

Locks (19):

Gomes
Perez
Encarnacion
Alonso
Kipnis
Lindor
Ramirez
Zimmer
Chisenhall
Kluber
Carrasco
Bauer
Tomlin
Clevinger
Allen
Miller
Olson
McAllister
Otero

Likely (2):

Goody
Belisle

That gives you 21 players - 9 position players and 12 pitchers.

Brantley will be on the roster, if healthy (22). At least one of Davis or Upton seems likely (23). At least one of Urshela or Gonzalez seems likely (24).

One spot left, possibly two if Brantley isn't available, with the following candidates:

Davis/Upton
Gonzalez/Urshela
Merritt
Diaz

Of course, there are dark horse candidates (Mejia, Allen) and the possibility of a late free agent signing as well.
 

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