The Indians announced that they have placed outfielder Delino DeShields on the 10-day injured list. The team didn’t give a reason for DeShields’ IL placement, but it’s worth noting he recently tested positive for COVID-19.
DeShields’ positive test forced him to sit out the beginning of Summer Camp, though he did fly to Cleveland last week after a negative test and take batting practice at Progressive Field on Saturday. However, the 27-year-old had not been cleared to rejoin the Indians for instrasquad workouts at that point, as Joe Noga of cleveland.com notes.
The hope is that DeShields will return to the field as soon as possible, but considering what he has gone through in recent weeks, it seems unlikely he’ll be ready to make his Indians debut when their regular season commences on July 24. The 27-year-old was a key offseason pickup by Cleveland, which acquired him from Texas in a trade for two-time American League Cy Young winner Corey Kluber.
Even without DeShields, the Indians have no shortage of options in the outfield. Oscar Mercado, Jordan Luplow, Tyler Naquin, Greg Allen, Jake Bauers, Domingo Santana, Daniel Johnson and Bradley Zimmer are among the team’s other choices in the grass, but as is the case with the light-hitting DeShields, most or all of those players come with question marks.
would be great to see an article with all 40 man guys who may not be ready for the year due to these new protocols, whether due to IL placement or not being in camp.
I was thinking the same thing. Or just a list, like the “roster roundup” (was that what it was called) by Jason Martinez on wed and sun from a few years back. Those were a nice, tidy, transaction summary of the half week(each series) players up/down and included demotions on just the big league level as far as roles were concerned ie. remove from rotation, out as closer etc. I say bring that back, while I’m on my soap box, I really looked forward to it to stay tuned into each team…
The Prize player in the Kluber deal. Still think they didn’t nearly enough for Kluber
Lol no way was DeShields the primary acquisition. You might be forgetting about a young closer with five more seasons of control by the name of Emmanuel Clase
Every GM has that really bad decision on their resume and this one is Chernoff’s. I have no doubt that Class/DeShields was the best offer at the time. Kluber is a huge risk so nobody would be willing to pay much.
Chernoff should have given Kluber the chance to show he still had it. Worst case scenario, Kluber is terrible and he gets nothing for him, but that would only be a SLIGHTLY less than what he got.
Kluber was also a beast before encountering issues last year. i think they got such poor offers simply because they showed their hand and made it obvious that they intended to trade Kluber.
I think it had more to do with ownership demanding they cut payroll. Chernoff isn’t the type of GM that shitcans a player with Kluber’s history over one minor injury riddled season.