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Moves the Indians should make for the 2nd half

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Even if the Indians were given a 100% guarantee that 2022 Cesar would produce at his 2020 numbers, I think they decline that option because of the young players they have in the near future.

If they want a veteran stop gap, the following guys signed minor league deals last offseason at 1/4 of Cesar's 2022 option: Joe Panik, Brock Holt, Jed Lowrie, Asdrubal Cabrera, Charlie Culberson. All those guys get thrown back into the FA pool next season along with guys like Starlin Castro, Jonathan Schoop, Brad Miller, Donovan Solano, Wilmer Flores, Josh Harrison.
 
Chicago is in our division. It would require a premium to pry Cesar from us, and there are multiple 2Bs available that they could get for a premium.

SF is interesting, but the two guys they have playing 2B now have hit as well or better than Cesar. Not sure that SF would view him as an immediate upgrade, enough so to spend anything on him. That might change if Longoria has a set back in his rehab, but as of now he is scheduled back before the deadline. LaStella is also starting a rehab next week. I kinda doubt that the Giants see a need of any kind at 2B.
 
Out of the Rafters at the Q said:
I'd prefer to not have him blocking our youth.

Let Gimenez, Owen Miller, Freeman, Arias, and whoever else we want to bring up have their time to shine.

I'm not sure where the puzzle pieces are going to fit, but I know the Cesar Hernandez piece isn't even in the box of the puzzle that is our next WS contender.

Personally, I'd give Miller everyday AB's for the rest of the year. If it's not too late to find out what we have in him, that would be a nice use of the 2021 season.

Gimenez at short, Miller at second, Bradley at first. Put Amed in the OF (CF or a corner). Let's start to figure out the next phase of Indians baseball.
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Definitely makes sense. If they do dump Cesar at the deadline, then I would actually prefer that Gimenez gets recalled and plays 2B for the rest of the season. I think it would be fair to Amed to keep him at SS for the rest of the season and then give him the entire offseason to transition to CF. Plus, this allows Daniel Johnson and Oscar Mercado to assume CF for the rest of the season if/when Zimmer is DFA'd by the end of the month. Here's how I could see things shaking out.

Traded
Cesar Hernandez
Eddie Rosario

Designated For Assignement
Bradley Zimmer

Lineup as of August 1st
2B- Gimenez/Miller
SS- Rosario
3B-Ramirez
DH-Reyes
LF- Ramirez
1B- Bradley
RF-Jones/Luplow
C-Perez/Hedges
CF-Johnson/Mercado
 
Even if we don't trade Cesar, I don't see them picking up his option for 2022. So it makes sense to trade him, for whatever we can get.

Simple bonehead/criznit math: half of this years salary plus 5mil (declined option) = 6.5ish million for someone else next year.
 
Kevalier said:
Definitely makes sense. If they do dump Cesar at the deadline, then I would actually prefer that Gimenez gets recalled and plays 2B for the rest of the season. I think it would be fair to Amed to keep him at SS for the rest of the season and then give him the entire offseason to transition to CF. Plus, this allows Daniel Johnson and Oscar Mercado to assume CF for the rest of the season if/when Zimmer is DFA'd by the end of the month. Here's how I could see things shaking out.

Traded
Cesar Hernandez
Eddie Rosario

Designated For Assignement
Bradley Zimmer

Lineup as of August 1st
2B- Gimenez/Miller
SS- Rosario
3B-Ramirez
DH-Reyes
LF- Ramirez
1B- Bradley
RF-Jones/Luplow
C-Perez/Hedges
CF-Johnson/Mercado
Click to expand...
Why do you want to keep Amed at SS and Gimenez at 2B for the next 78 games if those aren't the positions either is going to play long-term?

I see that as wasting opportunity.
 
Criznit said:
Agreed..

Rather see Gimenez at SS and Amed at 2B if they plan to line both of them up the middle.
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I'd be fine with putting Amed in LF or something, just to get him used to playing out there without him necessarily taking over CF.

If they don't want him in the OF right now, I agree--I'd rather see him at second than SS.
 
Wasn't Amed doing much better in CF when he replaced Gimenez at SS? That's where I would have him playing everyday.

Trade Hernandez as there is certainly a market for a 2B who is good defensively, hitting the ball much better as of late, and has 14 HR. The White Sox are a good match and they wouldn't have to overpay just because the Indians are in the same division. With the current payroll space I would even pay a significant portion of his remaining contract to get a good prospect. They could dump Eddie and his remaining monies to cover a large portion of Cesar's salary.

Give the remaining 2021 SS duties to Gimenez.

Give the remaining 2021 2B duties to Miller. Unless they want to give Freeman a shot and let Miller take on the utility role.

Replace Hedges with Ramos.

Designate Zimmer and Mercado giving OF duties to Johnson.

Get Jones up after the break.

Get Bieber, Plesac, and Civale healthy and back in the mix.

Trade Wittgren and Maton. There may be a decent market for a good BP arm.

Ride it into the sunset.
 
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He's too good of a runner not to try in CF if they can.

Natural athlete, could cover quite a bit of ground out there with experience.

Deal Rosario, deal Hernandez.


RF - Luplow/Johnson
CF - Rosario
3B - Ramirez (S)
DH - Reyes
1B - Bradley (L)
LF - Ramirez
2B - Miller
SS - Gimenez
C - Perez

Let these guys like Miller, Johnson, Gimenez, Bradley and Ramirez get some run.

Big Ern obviously factors in anywhere in this lineup.
 
At the current moment, it would be hard to see Hernandez, Eddie and Wittgren on the roster if we aren't closer to the White Soxs at the trade deadline...This past week kind of forced to just go with the young guys to finish the season...
 
My prediction is that after the break they bring up Zack Godley (age 31) and Brad Peacock (33) and put them in the rotation. It's almost criminal what they're doing to these kids now that are clearly not ready to pitch in the bigs. Once they get Plesac, Civale and Bieber back they can at least put a veteran starter out there every day.

I agree with bringing up Gimenez and putting him at shortstop which gives Amed a half-season to get used to playing center so he'll be ready to go next year. I don't think Zimmer, Mercado, or Johnson will ever hit well enough to play every day although they have the defensive chops.

I'd go with Clement at second base. He hit much better than Miller, who struck out 50% of his at-bats.

Trade Rosario and Cesar. Put Harold in left and a Luplow/Jones platoon in right.
 
Our present fulltime CF candidates are Zimmer and Mercado. Think about that for a moment.

Neither have a track record of success.

Zimmer has a career OPS of .643 and a K rate of 33%...and has been WORSE this year. His career OPS+ is 74.

Mercado has a career OPS of .684 and OPS+ of 78.

Jake Bauers career numbers are .668....83.

Zimmer is 28. Mercado is 26. Both of them are out of options past this season.

IF...and its a big IF...the FO decides to turn towards next year, the only sensible move for CF is to put Amed there every day, and move on from our two Jake Bauers in center.

The other sensible move would be to play Richie Palacios every day in CF... in Columbus...just to see if we have something. We already know what we don't have in Zimmer and Mercado.

Then, turn to SS. Quit screwing around, and bring Gimenez up and play him every day at short. He's the SS next year anyway, so let's get started. Folks are high on Arias, but Gimenez has been a more productive bat throughout his MiLB career, is a higher rated prospect, and already has MLB experience.

Even if the FO isn't throwing in the towel, these moves make sense for the second half.

Where do we have an organizational hole? OF. Where do we have an organizational cornucopia? MIF. Why fix the imbalance?


Playing two guys, who at best are 4th or 5th OFs on losing teams, makes little sense, esp when you have an option that looks a lot better for today and tomorrow.
 
hmmm.... how about a little dose of reality.. This transition year makes every slight costly...

-Amed in CF has some promise.. but unrealized.. his throwing motion/arm is NOT an OF'ers.. There is NO WAY you put that guy in CF until he learns that part of the job.. He can learn it..but not at the ML level.. that's what the minors are for..

-Andres Gimenez is a solid defensive SS.. As a 2B.. it's a waste of one of his best tools.. don't do it.. his bat appears to be much more ML ready now that he's played a number of games in the minors, btw..

-Replacing Mercado/Zimmer/Luplow etc... etc.. with some guys who are young.. is a bad plan.. don't do it.. Zimmer is a more than capable defensive CF'er.. That's a premium defensive position manned by a premium defender.. Unless the guy replacing him can be Zimmer's equal or better defensively.. Zim doesn't get moved.. and not just no but NO F&^KING WAY is Daniel Johnson close to Zimmer's defense in CF.. Ditto to Amed's defense in CF...There's no way you move a sub-par/unprepared defender to CF for the purpose of improving your defense in another spot.. it just doesn't make sense...

-Corners are an issue for all but one spot.. 3B.. Miller/Clement/Jones/Johnson/Ramirez etc etc.. all have a chance to make some noise there.. Only Hosey at 3B remains intact..

-Our catchers are great defenders.. sometimes they connect.. but mostly, they'e great defenders.. That can change.. but not now and not with who's available in the system.. this is an item that must be addressed in the off season..

-Goodbye Nick-Witt.. Keep Maton.. that guy has ability and an arm that is just starting to matter.. He should be in the pen. Our Pen..

-Young Starters..Hentges as and Mejia need their chances to remain starters. It's not going to be pretty every time.. Right now.. I'd take two good outings for each poor outing.. Maybe three to one....

Fall cannot come soon enough.. you know.. when those leaves turn colors?
 
We are not trading Hernandez to the White Sox. We are not going to eat salary to get a better prospect, because we already have more prospects than we can roster.

I like Hernandez, but he is not as valuable as some of the other reasonably available 2Bs....like Frazier and Escobar.
 
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