The Indians designated centerfielder Leonys Martin for assignment today, tweets The Athletic’s Zack Meisel. The move makes room for Aaron Civale, who is set to make his major league debut. This might be just the first of a number of moves coming for the Indians in the next couple of days, tweets Meisel.
The Indians somewhat surprisingly entered the season with Martin, 31, as their everyday centerfielder, and through the end of April he managed a 91 wRC+. That kind of offense from a plus defensive centerfielder would be palatable, but Martin’s defensive metrics have taken a dip this season (-1 DRS, -3.3 UZR).
Making matters worse, his offense has fallen off to where he now owns a .199/.276/.343 slash line and an abysmal 62 wRC+. It’s pretty shocking that a team’s valuation of a player can shift so suddenly from starting 65 of the team’s first 75 games to designation for assignment – but such is the state of affairs for the Indians in 2019. June has been particularly tough on Martin, as he has hit just .125/.192/.333 this month.
Hopefully they will shift Bauers back to the OF, Santana to first, and bring up Bobby Bradley to DH. If not I would like to see Greg Allen get some consistent ABs in place of Leonys
Bradley might strike out in 50% of his ABS in the majors but he is putting up some eye popping power numbers in AAA right now.
I would like to see Barnes get a shot first, but would love to see Bradley get a shot soon
Barnes isn’t on 40 man roster
Mercado will go to CF, Bauers will get ABs in LF and Naquin/Luplow will get RF.
Luplow played LF yesterday and looked good out there. I think we’ll see a lot of Naquin in RF, Mercado in CF, and Luplow in LF.
Bauers scares me playing OF.
kid needs more reps… he’ll be fine
Thank you tribe. Thank you. It is long overdue.
He certainly went out of his way to earn this. Not only has production dropped, but also his effort.
You could see this train coming from a long, long ways away.
To the Yankees?
Guy immediately hits 20 homers in July
Unless you have a garden gnome in the outfield, he is not an upgrade in any sense.
Martin to the Yankees for Severino, judge and Frazier……who says no?
Yup, Jose Severino, Judge Judy and Walt Frazier, they just flipped him for a whole outfield…
To the Giants ?
Obviously to the Giants … what released OF doesn’t go to the Giants?
Most
Why? Doesn’t fit what they are looking for.
I think it is also the improvement shown by the younger outfielders as well as Martin’s regression.
Agreed, Naquin is really coming out of it and rewarded Tito in last nights game getting the start vs LH.P.
Mercado, without him providing stability they continue playing musical OF chairs.
So why not Mercado? Why did they trade for him if they didn’t think he could play?
Anyway thanks for Connor Capel.
Why not Mercado ?
Mercado will be the center fielder now. He is not going anywhere.
Yeah, I mean he’s the better player at this point.
Had a feeling that this was gonna happen. After Martin’s horrible defense the other day, followed by having to be separated from Lindor in the dugout (after getting his butt chewed out by Frankie), the writing was on the wall.
Now Mercado can play his normal position of CF.
Long overdue, I would even hope they move Mercado to lead off to see how it plays out. But glad to see Luplow and Naquin can get more at bats.
Why mess up a good thing? The top three have been performing brilliantly!
I’d keep Mercado batting second. He’s doing fine, and has the ability to bunt when called for, which comes in handy at that spot in the order.
Thank goodness Mercado has been adjusting so well or else we’d be stuck with Martin. I think after tonight’s start Civale will be sent down and Bradley recalled.
That would be the logical thing to do so it probably won’t happen.
Bobby Bradley not in the Columbus lineup tonight (June 22).
Leonys has shown that he is a real good Minor leaguer not an everyday Major Leaguer caliber player
Maybe a change of scenery will help him
This guy is extremely talented. What’s sad is that if he had better work ethic he could probably be an all-star. He has all the natural tools but just doesn’t seem to have the effort. Still I could see the Phillies offering him a minor league deal (He has to be better than Nick Williams)
In being a terrible player
Thank god now they need Bobby Bradley
The spinners will say that his offensive performance justified this decision.
There were certainly times when his defense was suspect at best.
But I really believe that the last straw on the camel’s back was his spat with Frankie Lindor on Thursday afternoon in reaction to Lindor’s rightful chastisement of what seemed to be a lack of substantial effort on Martin’s part.
I wish him well, and I applaud the decision to cut our losses. Leonys Martin was most likely not going to improve going forward.
The spinners will say that his offensive performance justified this decision.
We really need to take into account the times when his defense was suspect at best.
But I really believe that the last straw on the camel’s back was his spat with Frankie Lindor on Thursday afternoon in reaction to Lindor’s rightful chastisement of what seemed to be a lack of substantial effort on Martin’s part.
I wish him well, and I applaud the decision to cut our losses. Leonys Martin was most likely not going to improve going forward.
I called this decision now I’m waiting on my second decision by promoting Bradley to the big leagues
Gold star for you, the only guy to see a guy batting .199 getting released.
You called it? Ha. You and any fan with eyeballs knew this would happen.