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Your 2018 Cleveland Indians

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I'm hoping Melvin will be the next veteran that will be good find for us. Need OF depth desperately. Though I'm expecting Zimmer and Allen to take a step forward
 
It's February 3rd, Pitchers and Catchers report in 11 days, and the following players still don't have a team:

Catchers
A.J. Ellis (37)
Jonathan Lucroy (32)
Carlos Ruiz (39)
Geovany Soto (35)
Chris Stewart (36)

First Basemen
Lucas Duda (32)
Eric Hosmer (28)
John Jaso (34)
Adam Lind (34)
Tyler Moore (31)
Logan Morrison (30)
Mike Napoli (36)
Mark Reynolds (34)
Danny Valencia (33)

Second Basemen
Darwin Barney (32)
Ryan Flaherty (31)
Nick Franklin (27)
Cliff Pennington (34)
Brandon Phillips (37)
Chase Utley (39)
Neil Walker (32)

Shortstops
Erick Aybar (34)
Stephen Drew (35)
J.J. Hardy (35)

Third Basemen
Yunel Escobar (35)
Todd Frazier (32)
Conor Gillaspie (30)
Mike Moustakas (29)
Eduardo Nunez (31)
Jhonny Peralta (36)
Trevor Plouffe (32)

Outfielders
Adam Lind (34)
Alex Presley (32)
Andre Ethier (36)
Ben Revere (30)
Cameron Maybin (31)
Carlos Gomez (32)
Carlos Gonzalez (32)
Chris B. Young (34)
Chris Heisey (33)
Colby Rasmus (31)
Craig Gentry (34)
Daniel Nava (35)
Eduardo Nunez (31)
Franklin Gutierrez (35)
Ichiro Suzuki (44)
J.D. Martinez (30)
Jarrod Dyson (33)
Jayson Werth (39)
John Jaso (34)
Jon Jay (33)
Jose Bautista (37)
Melky Cabrera (33)
Michael Saunders (31)
Rajai Davis (37)
Seth Smith (35)

Designated Hitters
Chris Carter (31)
Matt Holliday (38)

Starting Pitchers
Brett Anderson (30)
Jake Arrieta (32)
Clay Buchholz (33)
Trevor Cahill (30)
Andrew Cashner (31)
Jesse Chavez (34)
Alex Cobb (30)
Bartolo Colon (45)
Yu Darvish (31)
R.A. Dickey (43)
Scott Feldman (35)
Jaime Garcia (31)
Matt Garza (34)
A.J. Griffin (30)
Jeremy Hellickson (31)
Derek Holland (31)
David Holmberg (26)
Drew Hutchison (27)
John Lackey (39)
Francisco Liriano (34)
Jeff Locke (30)
Lance Lynn (31)
Wade Miley (31)
Ricky Nolasco (35)
Jake Peavy (37)
Anibal Sanchez (34)
Hector Santiago (30)
Chris Smith (37)
Chris Tillman (30)
Jason Vargas (35)
Edinson Volquez (34)
Hideaki Wakui (32)

Right-Handed Relievers
John Axford (35)
Matt Belisle (38)
Joaquin Benoit (40)
Blaine Boyer (36)
Trevor Cahill (30)
Jesse Chavez (34)
Josh Collmenter (32)
Tyler Clippard (33)
Jason Grilli (41)
Greg Holland (32)
Dustin McGowan (36)
Jason Motte (36)
Peter Moylan (39)
Bud Norris (33)
Seung-hwan Oh (35)
Tyler Pill (28)
Chad Qualls (39)
Sergio Romo (35)
Trevor Rosenthal (28)
Shae Simmons (27)
Drew Storen (30)
Huston Street (34)
Carlos Torres (35)
Koji Uehara (43)
Tom Wilhelmsen (34)
Chris Young (39)

Left-Handed Relievers
Fernando Abad (32)
Craig Breslow (37)
Jorge De La Rosa (37)
David Holmberg (26)
Ian Krol (27)
Francisco Liriano (34)
Eric O’Flaherty (33)
Oliver Perez (36)
Robbie Ross (29)
Kevin Siegrist (28)
Tony Watson (32)
 
68 of those guys are 33 and older.

Pick the best 25 man roster from that list and is it even a .500 team?
 
MirORich said:
68 of those guys are 33 and older.

Pick the best 25 man roster from that list and is it even a .500 team?
Click to expand...

I think you could build a playoff team.

Lineup

CF-Dyson
1B-Hosmer
RF-JD Martinez
3B-Moustakas
DH-Morrison
RF-C. Gonzalez
C-Lucroy
2B-Walker
SS-Nunez

Bench - Frazier/Gomez/Ellis/Bautista

Rotation - Darvish/Arrieta/Cobb/Lynn/Cashner

Bullpen - Holland/Watson/Norris/Hernandez/Moylan/Chavez/Liriano
 
The players I have most interest in:

Eduardo Nunez

Nunez is a solid bat that can play SS, 2B, 3B, LF, or RF. He's the perfect utility man and would provide some insurance if Kipnis scuffles.

Jarrod Dyson

Player A: .258/.325/.353 with 50 steals
Player B: .249/.306/.388 with 43 steals

Player A is Dyson's 162 game average for his career. Player B is Rajai Davis in 2016. Davis was such a weapon on that team, and his aggression on the basepaths seemed to get others going too. Dyson would be a fantastic 4th OF for this team.

Tony Watson

Solid left-handed reliever with some closing experience. He was solid for the Dodgers in their playoff run/postseason.

Peter Moylan

Moylan pitched in 79 games last year, the exact same number as Bryan Shaw. He'd eat innings and add a solid arm to the pen.

Lance Lynn

Lynn has pitched 175 or more innings in each of the last five seasons. He holds a 3.38 career ERA and plenty of postseason experience. My plan would be to add Lynn and convert Salazar to a late-inning reliever/future closer. I do acknowledge this one is the least likely to happen.

Thoughts? Who would be your targets?
 
At the moment you may see minor league deals for guys like Franklin Gutierrez, Carlos Ruiz (ton of young pitching at AAA and AA so having a veteran catcher down there would be nice for development)

We all would love a JD Martinez in the lineup, but he is an odd fit in some ways since his defense isnt great and we have a DH. Abad or Watson wouldn't hurt especially if we can get them on a minor league deal with incentives. I am guessing we don't sign any big name starters, but guys like Garza, Hellickson may sign minor league deals to get back on their feet. Guys like Dyson and Revere could be targets as well. I dont see a huge splash now, but I do see us getting the guys like a Garza, Gutierrez, etc on minor league deals with incentives if they make the big league club and player opt outs if they dont make the roster.
 
Why would the Indians target Starting Pitching and left handed OFers?
 
Garza tore his labrum and had surgery last month.

But the Indians should absolutely capitalize to add starting pitching depth and bullpen help, in addition to possibly adding another outfielder.
 
Urban said:
Why would the Indians target Starting Pitching and left handed OFers?
Click to expand...
Brantley is always hurt, Chissenhaul is only good for a half a season, and Zimmer is young and fell off a cliff before his injury. And the bottom of the rotation is always up for grabs.
 
Looking at that list and ages, no wonder the market is so slow. Players expecting way too much
 
Tribe front office has done a good job this off season given the financial parameters they have to work with. As it stands right now, tribe will enter 2018 with a payroll increase between 1 and 2 million over last year pending the arbitration outcome on Trevor Bauer. I don't buy into that the tribe is weaker this season. True they could use a right handed hitting home run bat, but this unbelievably good and deep staff more than makes up for this.

Tribe attendance rose from 1.6 million to 2.1 million last season. Early returns show yet another 25% in preseason ticket sales. That's great news especially if the tribe wants to add this August another rental..
 
Huber. said:
Brantley is always hurt, Chissenhaul is only good for a half a season, and Zimmer is young and fell off a cliff before his injury. And the bottom of the rotation is always up for grabs.
Click to expand...

Brantley has had issues health wise for the last 2 seasons for sure. Prior to that he never missed action. As for the "bottom of the rotation"...there is no bottom of this rotation. They have 5 potential All Stars in the rotation and that doesn't even include Tomlin and Merritt. And their bullpen returns 7 pitchers with sub 3.00 ERA's. People should revel in how good they are. Indians have the second best staff in their 116 years of existence. Only the 54 tribe put up better numbers.

People that complain about this staff don't know much about baseball.
 
Derek said:
Clevinger should be locked into a rotation spot. I don't think there's any chance he's not in our rotation, and as long as he enters and exits spring training healthy, Salazar will have a spot as well.

Tomlin should start the season in the bullpen.

I think Ryan Merritt's only shot to avoid getting DFA'd is to catch on in the bullpen. as a long man/loogy.

I also don't think Upton has much of a shot at all of making this team. Brandon Guyer will be given first crack as a platoon player out there, and Greg Allen is probably next up.
Click to expand...
 
Agrre with this. If the All Star selection were based on the second half production instead of the first, Clevenger, Kluber, Carrasco and Bauer would have all made the team. Down right scary how good they could be this season
 
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