The Indians have announced a pair of notable roster decisions, as MLB.com’s Mandy Bell was among those to cover (Twitter links). Hanley Ramirez has been informed he’ll be on the roster, while star shortstop Francisco Lindor will begin the year on the 10-day injured list.
Neither of these moves represents much of a surprise, but they’re still notable. Ramirez will earn at a $1MM rate in the big leagues under his minors deal, which also includes incentives — the details of which remain unreported. It’s not yet known if he’ll be asked (and whether he’ll agree) to sign an advance-consent form.
Lindor was already a candidate to open the year on ice owing to a calf strain, but he’ll now need treatment on another lower-leg ailment as well. The club says that the shortstop suffered an “acute ankle sprain” in a baserunning mishap yesterday. It’s a “mild to moderate” sprain, Paul Hoynes of the Plain Dealer tweets. His precise timeline is not yet known.
Indians could win the division with 76 wins.
Sadly you aren’t wrong lmao
And they could double their payroll and still hope for a one game wild-card like the Red Sox and Yankees do every year thank you very much…
Agreed
Indians would finish 4th in the NL Central
You’ve had too much brew….
It’s a stretch to say the Brewers, Cubs and Cardinals are all better? I don’t think so.
Yup brewcrew is right
You build the team to advance in your division they built theirs and will still advance. If you don’t like it get Bugg Selig to change leagues again…
They’ve been a shoe-in in the ALC for years. It’s time to aim a little higher than a division title. Wasting premier talent.
It’s absolutely a stretch to say they would finish 4th. If it played out and the Indians finished 4th, I wouldn’t be surprised. I also wouldn’t be surprised to see any of the other 3 teams finish 4th in that scenario. The Indians have the best rotation and 2 best position players out of those 4 teams. That alone will keep them in most games.
Extra innings of game 7 of the World Series wasn’t enough? Then come back and watch their prized bullpen implode and move on to bigger paydays is on them for not aiming higher? Okay….
A World Series loss three years ago and two ALDS losses following is nothing to be proud of.
Indians have had a lot of talent in recent years. They trimmed the talent this offseason and added deadweight.
They shed ~$25 million in salary.
They replaced Encarnacion with Santana. (both about the same AAV, and a downgrade in production.
They let Brantley walk. He was not very expensive either. Now he’s playing for the team that’s going to knock them out in the ALDS. His replacement? A .200 hitter.
The subtraction of EE and addition of Santana brought them a top 100 to fill a hole, gave them a much more versatile option in Santana and also millions, so research it a bit before saying they’re the same AAV.
Brantley was nice supplementary piece and sad to see go, but he is constantly hurt and not a guy this franchise can afford to tie up millions to knowing that.
PS: from an article discussing the swap:
So the Indians picked up two years of Santana at $17 million (2019) and $18 million (2020). But as they say on an info-commercial, there’s more. The Indians also receive $6 million in cash from Seattle to help the deal go through.
3. That’s right, this is the second time this winter Santana has been traded. Philadelphia traded him to Seattle last month. Santana batted .229 (.766 OPS) with 24 HR and 86 RBI. Now Seattle has shipped him to the Indians.
4. Encarnacion had $25 million left on his contract: $20 million for 2019 and a $5 million buyout in 2020.
5. So let’s add it up: The Indians get two years of Santana for $29 million, thanks to the cash in the trade. So they actually have Santana for about $4 million more through 2020 compared to one year at $25 million for Encarnacion.
Same AAV to you actually translates to two years of Santana for $29million or one year of an older EE at $25milllion.
Nothing to be proud of ? Are you kidding me 90% off Baseball Fans would love to see their home team be that competitive . It’s that level of success that made otherwise unknown names into house hold names
I think the 1973 Mets won 82 games and the division and played in WS. Mets put Willie Mays in CF and he had rough time out there especially with the sun..
The Twins look like they’ll be over .500 though
Twins will win more then 80.
Just like last year?
Isn’t Ramirez Hurt too ?
That’s the other Ramirez.
Jose right ? Imagine him and Lindor not in their already slim lineup, yikes indeed. They are fortunate the central is terrible
Jose will play tomorrow though
When it rains, it pours.
Without Lindor in the lineup the Indians offense is weak. Better get some awesome pitching cause this team is going to struggle to score runs.
The Tigers, Royals, & Whitesox will still struggle more to score runs. :)
If Nelson Cruz and CJ Cron don’t hit HRs galore the twins probably will struggle as well.
Result, Indian’s fans no reason to panic.
That’s not the problem though. As much as I hate to say it, they’d get absolutely steamrolled in the playoffs again. They probably have enough for the regular season but the Astros/Red Sox/Yankees will expose them.
They could add $90mil in payroll and it wouldn’t change that…
So you are saying they could add Harper, Machado, and Trout (roughly $90m) and things wouldn’t change?
Yes that would be brilliant for a team in their market to lock up $1 billion. One guy never hit the he open market and Machado will never see the end of that contract in a Padres uniform, it will end like ARod in Texas and Stanton in Miami.
This is just a preview of the types of teams the Indians and their cheap ownership group are going to roll out in the not so distant future. #forevermediocre
Do you know anything about their minor league system? Check it out sometime.
They’ve done a really good job drafting the last few years. They’ll be just fine.
Yes they have done such a good job of drafting that a grand total of 2 players (Ramirez and Naquin) will be in their opening day lineup that was originally drafted by the org.
They drafted Ramirez out of the DR? Hmmm….
And to bang on them for the draft system but not give them credit for making some pretty shrewd trades to give them some of the talent they have isn’t right.
PS: Naquin, Perez, Allen, Bieber and Lindor were all draft picks….again, cherry picking…
Did you not see the part where I said last few years? Few usually means three. My comment was in reply to Silent Service’s bleak personal outlook of the Tribe’s future.
The guys drafted in the last few years will be arriving at just the right time, when reinforcements are necessary.
Time for Twins to win Central
Honestly the ankle might be a blessing in disguise. He was already going to miss a few games to start and was going to want back in asap. If the ankle holds him out a few more days it’s a little extra time for the calf to strengthen and less games he has to play on it in the cold April weather. Just have to hope the rest of the team can pull together without him.
Put Hanley at short. I’d pay to see that.
I’d close my eyes every time the ball is hit to him.
Likely Hanley would as well.
The Indians lack of depth (thanks Dolans) is about to show big time. Take a look at their lineup tomorrow and try to keep a straight face. If they finish April with more than 10 wins I consider that a resounding success.
Do you consider yourself a Tribe fan?
I do. I’m just more realistic than all the Kool Aide drinkers out there. I’m sick and tired of the Dolans ruining this franchise.
1st place in the division 3 years in a row. No fans support. That is on the city and the fans, not the owner.
Well, life could be worse. You could have Bob Nutting as your owner and you’d have players like Lonnie Chisenhall and Melky Cabrera on the roster who came from…oh.
And I’m just sick and tired of the. Internet general managers that know how and where they should spend their money and move their players
Relax, its baseball talk. Stop taking everything so damn personal
It’s nonsense talk, there’s not that many true Tribe fans out there so when you get those posing as fans and then just post 100% negative it gets old.
Sick and tired of it? Well then, why don’t you buy the team, or any team, and show us how it’s done? What’s that? Can’t afford to? Geez, now are you starting to understand how expensive owning a team can be? Why certain financial decisions have to be made?
@Polish Hammer
This was not meant for you. Just so ya know.
You don’t have to pay $300 million to lock Hanley up.