The Cleveland Indians been nearly silent this offseason while their compeitiors in the American League Central have added talent.
Do you hear that? No? Exactly. The Cleveland Indians have done very little this offseason to supplement their roster. It was understood that after trading Corey Kluber that the team would use the money saved to bolster the roster. Ouside of signing Cesar Hernandez, they haven’t done much of anything.
Meanwhile, the Minnesota Twins and Chicago White Sox have spent money like it’s going out of style. Minnesota signed Josh Donaldson, Alex Avila, Rich Hill, Homer Bailey, and Tyler Clippard. Chicago signed Dallas Keuchel, Sio Gonzalez, Edwin Encarnacion, Yasmani Grandal, and Steve Cischek. Meanwhile, Cleveland has avoided arbitration with their key players. That’s it. Chicago is clearly looking to close the gap and Minnesota is looking to stay on top. The Indians appear to be attempting to thread the needle yet again.
It appears that the Tribe are waiting out the outfield market for a bargain basement type deal. That’s if they actually look outside the organization for outfield help. They very well could stand pat and sort things out with the likes of Jake Bauers, Bradley Zimmer, Greg Allen, Delino DeShields, and Daniel Johnson. Anthony Castrovince of MLB.com suggests a reunion with Yasiel Puig. A reunion which makes too much sense not to happen. Even a one-year deal can go a long way.
Cleveland needs to do something in order to upgrade their roster. They may able to be competitive in the division, maybe even compete for a Wild Card berth. The current team is far from a lock to make the playoffs. Unless the team goes outside of their current organization to add to the roster, the team could miss the playoffs for a second straight season. If that were to occur, trades of popular players may not be that far behind.
