It has been reported that the Cleveland Indians will be without shortstop Francisco Lindor and second baseman Jason Kipnis to start the season.
The news about Francisco Lindor is not all that surprising. When he suffered his injury it was expected to be out for an extended period of time. While quite a bit of time has passed, the earliest Lindor can play for the Indians is April 4. Jason Kipnis has also suffered an injury and will not be ready for Opening Day. Lindor, along with Bradley Zimmer will start the season on the newly renamed injured list.
As Indians fans know a calf injury can impact a player over the course of an entire season. This is exactly what happened with Lonnie Chisenhall. Chisenhall was limited to 29 games last season due to this exact type of injury. Of course this does not mean Lindor and Kipnis will suffer the same fate as Chisenhall, however it does remain a thought that some will entertain.
For the time being Cleveland will have to explore other options for shortstop and second base. In Friday night’s victory over the Cubs, Max Moroff started at second while Brayan Rocchio manned shortstop. Rocchio is obviously not a realistic option, but Moroff will see time in the interim. Additionally Eric Stamets will replace Lindor at shortstop. This is per Andre Knott who reported the news on SportsTime Ohio. This came during Friday’s broadcast against the Chicago Cubs.
While this is not an ideal start for the Indians, they do not exactly face a tough start to their schedule. Through April 14 the Indians face Minnesota, the White Sox, Blue Jays, Tigers and Royals. Cleveland should be able to manage their way through a stretch of relatively lackluster opponents while they are without their starting shortstop and second baseman.
