Cleveland Sports Forum

Cleveland Indians roster and contract status for each player


By Rich Exner, cleveland.com

rexner@cleveland.com

CLEVELAND, Ohio -- The Cleveland Indians and several of their players will have decisions to make about free agency in the coming months.

Among the free agents are Jay Bruce, Austin Jackson, Carlos Santana, Bryan Shaw and Joe Smith.

Most of the team's 40-man roster is not yet under contract for 2018 and beyond. (See roster below.) However, many of the young unsigned players are under control of the team. Francisco Lindor, for example, cannot apply for arbitration until after the 2018 season.

Already signed for next year are nine players, including Edwin Encarnacion, Jason Kipnis, Jose Ramirez, Corey Kluber and Andrew Miller. The Indians have the option of exercising 2018 club options for four other players.

The chart below shows the status of each player on the 40-man roster, plus Cody Anderson and Dylan Baker, who are on the 60-day disabled list. The Indians do not release financial details. The source for the details below is www.spotrac.com

http://www.cleveland.com/datacentral/in ... iver_index

In retrospect I agree as well. If Kluber was having an issue they should have started Carrasco game 1 and 5.

So what was Tito thinking?

Honestly JR I do think there’s a tendency to want to be loyal to “your guy “. It might have worked.

Similar situation with Strasburg. Was ill but Baker went with his stud.

I am very sure Kluber thought he could get it done.

Baker's pitchers are not doing well tonight!

Cleveland Indians could lose pitching coaches Mickey Callaway, Ruben Niebla; Callaway to meet with Phillies


phoynes@cleveland.com

CLEVELAND, Ohio -- The Indians could lose more than the AL Division Series now that the offseason has officially begun.

Two of their top pitching coaches could be headed elsewhere. Mickey Callaway, the Tribe's big-league pitching coach, has been rumored to be managerial candidate for a number of teams. The Phillies, it has been learned, have officially asked for permission to talk to Callaway and he's expected to interview with them in the near future.

ESPN's Buster Olney was first to report the Phillies' interest in Callaway.

Ruben Niebla, the Indians minor league pitching coordinator, has also been approached about a big-league coaching job from another team. Niebla has been with the Indians for the last 17 years and has worked with a lot of pitchers on the current big-league staff.

The Phillies, who have an impressive array of young talent and a good farm system, created the vacancy at manager when they moved Pete Mackanin into a front office job at the end of this season.

Indians pitchers have flourished under Callaway, 42. This year the Tribe's rotation went 81-38 and posted the top ERA in the AL at 3.52. The bullpen also led the AL in ERA at 2.89.

The rotation boasted two 18-game winners in Corey Kluber and Carlos Carrasco and a 17-game winner in Trevor Bauer. The rotation had five pitchers with 10 or more wins when Mike Clevinger (12-6) and Josh Tomlin (10-9) were included.

The Indians were the only team in the big leagues to have that many pitchers with 10 or more wins.

The staff's 3.30 ERA was the lowest in the big leagues. It was the first time the Indians have done that since 1954. They also set a big-league record with 1,614 strikeouts, while allowing the fewest walks in the big leagues with 406.

Niebla, 47, has played a big role in developing pitchers such as Kluber, Clevinger, Tomlin, Carrasco and Danny Salazar. He served as the Indians' interim pitching coach in 2012 after Scott Radinsky was fired.

If Callaway leaves, it will be interesting to see if John Farrell will replace him. Farrell, fired as Boston's manager on Wednesday, was Francona's pitching coach in Boston. They were teammates on the 1988 Indians.

Farrell was drafted and pitched for the Indians. He served as their farm director before joining Francona in Boston as his pitching coach.

Cleveland Indians, ousted from postseason, now must decide who goes and who stays for 2018
Updated on October 12, 2017 at 9:30 PMPosted on October 12, 2017 at 8:39 PM
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By Paul Hoynes, cleveland.com

phoynes@cleveland.com

CLEVELAND, Ohio - Manager Terry Francona says teams never ease into the end a baseball season. They're going 99 mph one minute and surrounded by burning rubber and squealing tires the next.

It ended that way for the Indians on Wednesday night when they were eliminated from the postseason by the Yankees in a 5-2 loss in Game 5 of the AL Division Series. The Indians won 102 games in the regular season and were dumped in the first round of the postseason after holding a 2-0 lead over New York.


So now what?

The preparations for next season are coming in a hurry and the Indians have a lot to attend to in terms of free agents and players with options.

Carlos Santana, Jay Bruce, Bryan Shaw, Austin Jackson, Joe Smith and Craig Breslow are eligible for free agency following the last game of the World Series. Michael Brantley, Josh Tomlin and Boone Logan have options for 2018. The Indians need to make a decision on them three days after the last game of the World Series. If they don't exercise the options, they will become free agents.

Santana has played his entire big-league career with the Indians. He'd like to come back, but it depends on what the Indians want and the offers he receives from other teams.

"I want to stay here, but we'll see what happens," said Santana, who hit .259 with 23 homers and 79 RBI. "We haven't talked. I didn't want to talk during the playoffs. I wanted to concentrate and try to help my team."

Santana said losing the Yankees was hard, but added, "I think we can come back next year, finish strong, make it to the World Series and win a championship."

The Indians acquired Bruce from the Mets on Aug. 9. He hit .248 (37-for-149) with seven homers and 26 RBI after the trade. He hits the free-agent market coming off a 36-homer, 101-RBI season.

Late in the regular season, Bruce said he would be interested in re-signing with the Indians.

"I couldn't have asked for a better situation to be brought into," said Bruce. "This is the kind of situation where I've become very comfortable, very quickly. My first nine years of my career were spent in a very similar place (Cincinnati), so this has been a very, very good situation.

"This is the type of place where I feel I'd enjoy playing. ... My biggest thing in my next contract is to be somewhere that we have a chance to win. Obviously, the contract has to be fair. But I would definitely say that being in a place where we have a chance to win and my family is comfortable is very high on the list. Those are two things you can check off here."

If Wednesday night was Shaw's final appearance as an Indian, he threw two scoreless innings with three strikeouts. He went 4-6 with a 3.52 ERA in 79 appearances during the regular season. In five seasons with the Indians, Shaw made 378 appearances, never fewer than 70 in a season. He led or tied for the lead in appearances in the AL three times.

"I would love to stay here in this bullpen," said Shaw. "We have a lot of great guys down here. The position players, the hitters, the guys coming back next year, it's going to be a good team for a while, so I would definitely love to come back."

The Indians hold an $11 million option on Brantley for 2018. He played just 11 games in 2016 because of surgery on his right shoulder and missed most of the second half of this year with a right ankle problem. If the Indians don't exercise his option, they would have to offer him an $18 million qualifying offer to receive draft pick compensation if Brantley signs with another team.

Brantley said it would mean the world to him to be back with the Indians next season.

"I started a quest back in 2009," he said, referring to his first year with the Indians. "I want to finish the right way. I don't want to go out like this if it's my choice. It's not.

"I just look forward to hopefully being back here with this group of guys. I have amazing relationships with everybody in this locker room. I just look forward to being a part of it for a long time."

Brantley hit .299 (101-for-338) with nine homers and 52 RBI in 90 regular-season games. He made the ALDS roster as a pinch-hitter, but struggled when he had to fill in for injured Edwin Encarnacion. Brantley went 1-for-11 against the Yankees.

The Indians hold a $3 million option on Tomlin for 2018. When asked how long it would take him to get over losing to the Yankees, Tomlin said, "Probably a while. I'm not sure how you get over something like this. I'm not really sure I'm over last year, either. The only way to get over something like that is to go out there and win ... and that's not what happened."

The Indians had a 3-1 lead in the World Series in 2016 only to lose three straight to the Cubs.

In spring training the Indians talked about being the last team standing in October. They didn't do it and Tomlin knows that some of those players won't be back next year. One may be him if the Indians don't pick up his option.

It made Wednesday's loss even more difficult.

"It's one of those things where this could be the last game you play with this group of guys you care about, that you enjoy and that you love," said Tomlin. "That's probably the hardest part of everything - you don't want it to end. This is too good of a team to go home and everybody in here knows it. That's why it's so tough on us."

you want to give Brantley 12 million? When he was good, he very very good, but in the last two years he's played one-half season.

I would have no problem bringing Brantley back. At the same time if they wanted to let him and Santana walk and spend that money on a big bat like Hosmer it wouldn't hurt my feelings any either.

I'll accept Hosmer.

I am curious how long ownership will continue to play with big money? We've been making big splashes now since July 2016 but Dolan's not going to invest top dollar for ever. This should have been the October that his investments paid off in a championship.

He got plenty more regular season revenue with about a half million more tickets sold.
And a less post season revenue without the two biggest grossing rounds.

Cleveland Indians: How it ended will haunt them -- Terry Pluto


By Terry Pluto, The Plain Dealer

terrypluto2003@yahoo.com

CLEVELAND, Ohio -- I hate how it ended.

Not just that the New York Yankees knocked the Cleveland Indians out of the first round of the playoffs.

Losing three in a row...

Losing three in a row when making more errors (seven) than scoring runs (five)...

Losing the final game of the best-of-five American League Division Series at home...

Doing all of that, the Indians deserved to be booted out of the playoffs. When it meant the most, the Yankees were at their best.

Meanwhile, too many players in Wahoo red, white and blue seemed as jittery as many veteran Cleveland sports fans.

After Didi Gergorius belted two homers to give the Yankees a 3-0 lead after three innings Wednesday, a sense of gloom and doom hung thicker and lower than the gray clouds over Progressive Field.

Before the 5-2 loss in Game 5, manager Terry Francona told his players to "remember who we are."

WHO ARE THEY?

But as the series progressed, the Indians appeared to be asking themselves, "What happened to us?"

In each of the last four games, the Yankees scored first.

When the Indians had their epic 22-game winning streak, they won only a single game in their last at bat.

During The Streak, the Indians trailed for a grand total of eight innings ...

That's eight innings out of 181.

Their starting pitchers had a 1.64 ERA during The Streak.

The formula was easy:

Starting pitcher shut down the opposition.
Hitters scored a few runs early to take a lead.
Bullpen held it, defense was superb.

Other than the opening 4-0 victory at Progressive Field, the Indians never put all three of those things together in the same game.

WHAT HAPPENED?

Losing this way means a team that was an American League-best 102-60 in the regular season becomes defined as a playoff failure.

You can't debate that accusation.

Some in the media want to couple this playoff collapse with losing the last three games of the 2016 World Series.

There you are ... the Indians have lost their last six games when they had a chance to close out a series.

That is accurate, but there is a greater truth behind it.

The Indians stunned the baseball world by reaching the 2016 World Series with a beaten-up pitching staff. They were eliminated by the Chicago Cubs, a far more talented team.

Not this year.

The Indians were 11 games better than the Yankees in the regular season.

I know, Edwin Encarnacion (ankle) was hurt. When he played, he was 0-for-7, looking nothing close to the guy who hit 38 homers with 107 RBI.

I know, ace Corey Kluber (12.79 ERA) had something wrong with him -- probably his back.

I know, Francona deserves criticism for starting Kluber a second time (assuming he was hurt) and starting Trevor Bauer on only three days of rest. You can also debate some roster decisions.


But the Tribe was up 2-0.

It had three chances to win one game, but failed.

No excuses allowed.

Not when their defense fell apart.

Not when the team batted .171.

Not when All-Stars Jose Ramirez and Francisco Lindor were a combined 4-for-38.

Not when the Indians had two doubles and one triple in five games.

Not when the Indians had only two hits with runners in scoring position in the last three games.

WHAT'S NEXT?

The Indians now have to deal with ghosts.

Not the demons of the distant past.

The 1997 Tribe losing in Game 7 of the World Series meant nothing to these guys.

Neither did the 2007 Tribe being up 3-1 then losing the final three games to Boston in the ALCS.

Or any other miserable memory about this team that rambles around our heads.

This team is in excellent position to win the Central Division in 2018. But the regular season will have a sense of being a six-month prelude to the playoffs ... when the Indians must confront what happened to them in this series.

That's not a lot of fun. But it is reality.

As it says on most rear view mirrors "OBJECTS MAY BE CLOSER THAN THEY SEEM."

And the only exorcism that works will be a return to the playoffs and winning some rounds.

Both sides now: The Cleveland Indians look back at 2017 and forward to 2018

Cleveland Indians celebrate, mourn the 2017 season

CLEVELAND, Ohio -- The Indians won 102 games during the regular season. They had the top ERA for starters and relievers, the best run differential and committed the fewest errors in the American League.

Then they went into the postseason and all those shiny trinkets didn't carry much weight as they were sent home after losing the ALDS in five games to the wild-card Yankees. After reaching Game 7 of the World Series in 2016, the Indians couldn't get past the first round this year.

Chris Antonetti, president of baseball operations, GM Mike Chernoff and manager Terry Francona met with reporters on Friday to talk about the good and bad points of the just completed season and to look ahead to 2018.

The Indians don't have much time to feel sorry for themselves. They have several free agents -- Carlos Santana, Jay Bruce, Bryan Shaw and others -- to make decisions on. They also have players such as Josh Tomlin and Michael Brantley, who have club options for 2018 that must be exercised right after the final game of the World Series.

"We have a good team," said Francona. "We're going to continue to have a good team. Some of the names might change, but we're going to continue to have a good team."


Michael Brantley: Will he be back?

Brantley played in 90 games this year, which is a lot more than the 11 he played in 2016 because of an injury to his right shoulder. He hit .299 (101-for-338) with nine homers and 52 RBI, but spent most of the second half on the disabled list with a sore right ankle.

The Indians put him on the ALDS roster thinking he'd could pinch hit, but when DH Edwin Encarnacion injured his right ankle, Brantley replaced him and went 1-for-11. The Indians hold an $11 million club option on him for 2018. It sounds like they'll exercise it.

Antonetti: "It's a signification decision for us, but as we told Michael, we've always envisioned him being a part of the organization, not only for 2018 but beyond. That's been our mindset from the beginning. There's a process we need to work through with making those decisions.

"At the same time Michael needs to go through the process of just getting healthy and figuring out what his plan needs to be. There is no player on our team that goes about things better than Michael does -- the teammate he is, how hard he's worked and prepared. He sets that standard for our guys. We have a profound appreciation for what he's done and how he does it."

Francona: "I don't know if it was a tough decision (to put Brantley on the ALDS roster). I didn't think we all anticipated that he would have to play as much as he did. Or if he did, he would kind of work his way into it.

"You saw the at-bat he had when he came off the DL (pinch-hit RBI single vs. White Sox on Sept. 30). We kind of envisioned that at-bat in a playoff game. We lost Edwin and it seemed to make sense to me, facing some right-handers, to not put him in the outfield. Our other alternative was Lonnie, who didn't have a heckuva lot more at bats than Michael."


Bryan Shaw: Would be hard to replace

Shaw just keeps pitching and since he's a free agent this winter he may be pitching for another team next year.

In the regular season he was 4-6 with three saves and a 3.52 ERA in 79 appearances. In the ALDS, he pitched six scoreless innings. He has led or tied the AL in appearances in three of the last four years. Over the last five years, Shaw has made 378 appearances, the most in the big leagues.

Francona: "He's almost like an offensive lineman who shows up every game and the only time people talk about him is when he misses a block. He took so much pride in being available. And he carried so much of the load for us for five years.

"It is remarkable. The other day in the postseason he's throwing 97 mph. And I think because of his personality, people laugh it off at times. But my goodness sakes, he is so reliable and if he’s not in our bullpen, it will probably take two guys to do what he did. It’s amazing."

Jose Ramirez: MVP candidate, but what happened in ALDS?

In the regular season, Jose Ramirez was the Indians' most dangerous hitter. He batted .318 (186-for-585) with 56 doubles, 28 homers and 83 RBI. He went to the All-Star Game with four of his teammates and tied for the MLB lead with 91 extra-base hits.

In the ALDS, however, the Yankees rendered his bat mute. Ramirez hit .100 (2-for-20) with seven strikeouts and two walks. Look for Ramirez to finish high in the AL MVP award balloting this offseason.

Chernoff: “It was really fun to watch Jose. We’ve seen it with some other guys who have struggled, like (Corey) Kluber, where he has his ups and downs in his first couple of years, then just turns into this tremendous pitcher. Jose, the same thing. He had been through a lot in his minor-league career, some ups and downs. To see the day-to-day consistency that he had, when he went into a little bit of a slump at one point, to be able to pull himself out of that. It was tremendous to be able to watch that.”

Francona on why the offense didn't hit in the ALDS: "We did not swing the bats as a ballclub real well. I think (New York pitching) they have a lot to do with that.

"We got to Game 3, and then when you have guys that aren't swinging the bats well and you have a guy like (Masahiro) Tanaka, who exacerbates that with his style of pitching, it kind of overwhelmed us.

"The Yankee bullpen is fantastic, a lot like ours. Our bullpen, we got to our bullpen in the third inning (in Game 5) and held them for the rest of the way until the end when we got sloppy again. But those are two of the best bullpens in the game."

Yandy Diaz: Will he land at third base?

Yandy Diaz, the Indians' opening day third baseman, bounced between Cleveland and Class AAA Columbus three times this year. He was promoted for the third time on Aug. 22 and spent the last six weeks with the Tribe.

Diaz hit .263 (41-for-56) with eight doubles and 13 RBI for the Tribe. He did not make the ALDS roster, but was missed when Encarnacion was injured in Game 2 because the Indians were short a right-handed hitter.

The question is what do the Indians do with Diaz?

Chernoff: "He certainly has some versatility in different positions that he played this year. Tito can probably talk more about it, but he came up and really helped us at a time when we were kind of sorting through things. Especially in September.

"We were able to tap into a lot of the depth on our roster and kind of mix and match. As we head into next year, we'll have to figure out what the alignment is defensively with guys like Jason Kipnis, Jose Ramirez, Erik Gonzalez and Yandy. But, I think we certainly have options with the depth that we have."

Francona: I could see Yandy potentially being our third baseman. He could probably do other things also. It'll be nice to have a whole spring with him where the major league staff is with him and he can work at one position.

Francona (on Diaz and the playoff roster): "The idea was that he hadn't played a ton and he wasn't swinging the bat like he had been. And then, when we tried to put our roster together, we had Brantley and Chisenhall, and the idea was to be really good defensively and we could pinch-hit where we wanted.

"As we saw, things unfolded vastly different. All of a sudden, Edwin's not available. There goes one of our hitters. And we didn't particularly catch the ball all that good, either. So, it didn't work out the way we anticipated."

Danny Salazar: Will he ever be dependable?

It was another season of injury and inconsistency for Danny Salazar. He made two trips to the disabled list with right shoulder and elbow problems and made only 23 appearances, including 19 starts, for the Indians.

If Salazar had been healthy and consistent in September, they would have opened the ALDS with a four-man rotation and not felt compelled to start Trevor Bauer on three days' rest in Game 4. Salazar made the postseason roster and made one relief appearance.

Francona: "We have to find a way to get him more consistent. That’s such a big word in our game. And he’s had times, you look he made the All-Star team (2016). He's still very young and with young players, young pitchers especially, you can’t give up on good young pitching or they’ll be pitching good for somebody else.

"It’s not always perfect, but we've got to keep working at it because there is work to do, but if we can get it figured out, we’ve all seen what he’s able to do."

Chernoff: “Well I think it gets back to what Tito was talking about with consistency. So whether that’s consistency of performance or just consistency in his durability and ability to go out and make 30-plus starts in a season. It all comes back to that.”

Jason Kipnis: What's his role?

Kipnis spent three stints on the disabled list during the regular season and moved from second base to center field when he returned in September. The two-time All-Star hit . 232 with 12 home runs and 35 RBI.

Antonetti was not willing to commit to anything specific about Kipnis’ role with the club defensively, saying the organization will take a few weeks to configure the roster internally.

Antonetti: “Kip deserves a lot of credit for working really hard and going out there and becoming an option as an outfielder. He put in a lot of work to make that happen. To have a guy that now has the versatility ... to play multiple positions is an asset for us.”

Carlos Santana: Can the Indians re-sign him?

Santana's typical slow start to the season gave way to another scorching finish. He hit .259 with 23 home runs and 79 RBI but batted .295 with 15 HR after moving out of the No. 4 spot in the order after mid-June. His improved defense also helped solidify the Tribe’s infield.

Francona: “It was one of the bright spots and we had a lot of bright spots this year. Not just his defense, but his advancement, being a teammate, just his attitude. He was fun to be around. I think he’s expressed to me so many times how he wants to stay here and I know these things happen to work out, but he was a joy to be around this year.”

Santana hits the free agent market once the World Series ends. Antonetti expressed the club’s desire to re-sign the slugger, “if there’s a way where we can make that happen.” Other options at first next season would include Encarnacion and Chisenhall internally, if the Indians do not bring in another player.

If they pick up Brantley's option, he could be a candidate for first base as well.

Antonetti: “That’s something we need to work through. Edwin’s obviously played there. Lonnie’s played there some. We have some other guys that have some experience at first base. And then there’s a litany of guys on the trade and free-agent market that we’ll explore.”

Tyler Olson: What's his ceiling?

One of the biggest surprises out of the bullpen in 2017, rookie Tyler Olson did not allow a run in 30 appearances (20 innings) after joining the club in late July.

Francona was asked if Olson’s performance was a surprise, and how he figures into the plans for next season’s bullpen.

Francona: “I think the natural first question is, ‘is it real?’ And I think as he continued to pitch, he was legit. I mean, he can probably actually handle more than he was given. I think during a regular season, you will see him start to throw full innings because his two-seamer is so good down in the zone and he’s got so much movement that he might be a guy that won’t just face lefties, but pitch full innings.”

Austin Jackson: Did he exceed expectations?

Jackson made the club on a minor-league deal with a spring training invite after recovering from knee surgery in the 2016 season with the White Sox. He blossomed into one of the team’s most productive hitters when injuries ravaged the outfield. In 85 games, Jackson hit .318 with 7 home runs and 35 RBI.

Antonetti said at the time the team signed Jackson, they felt he was a good fit as a right-handed bat with the versatility to play multiple outfield spots.

Antonetti: “We knew he had some success in the past, but it would be hard to say we would fast-forward to today and he would be one of the more productive hitters on our team. I’m not sure we could have envisioned that at the time. To Austin’s credit, he did a tremendous job through that rehab process, getting himself back healthy and strong and then taking advantage of opportunities when he was given them. Not only against lefties, but there were times against righties when some of our other guys were down and he was a big part of our offense.”

Antonetti was asked if the club would bring him back if the opportunity presented itself: “Absolutely. Austin did a great job.”

Yan Gomes and Roberto Perez: Who's No. 1?

Yan Gomes and Roberto Perez combined for 22 home runs and 94 RBI during the regular season, while throwing out nearly 40 percent of would-be base stealers. Gomes delivered the game-winning RBI hit in Game 2 of the American League Division Series, but it was Perez that got the bulk of the playing time behind the dish.

Francona joked that he was not going to name a No. 1 starter in October.

Francona: “I think we have two pretty good catchers. You make decisions, and the decision to start (Perez) the last game (Game 5) was really hard. I went back and forth, talking to coaches, talking with Mickey, talking with (Brad Mills). I think what I said was that there wasn't a wrong decision, but I don't think we would go out and name somebody the number one catcher right now. We thought we had two pretty good catchers during the season, and during the playoffs you do things because you're trying to win. That has nothing to do with moving forward, who will catch more games."

Jay Bruce: Can Tribe bring him back?

The Indians acquired Jay Bruce on Aug. 9 from the Mets and he did a nice job at the plate and in right field. He'll be eligible for free agency at the end of the World Series and has said he'd be willing to listen if the Indians tried to re-sign him.

Bruce hit .254 (141-for-555) with 29 doubles, 36 homers and 101 RBI this year for the Mets and Tribe. He hit .248 (37-for-149) with seven homers and 26 RBI for the Tribe. The Indians went 33-8 in his 41 starts.

Chernoff: "He was phenomenal at coming in here and just fit in immediately in the clubhouse. He was a real pro around the other guys and came in at a big time of need with Lonnie and Brantley both out.

"I think as we head into the next few weeks and into the free agency period, we've got to kind of get together as a group and figure out which of the internal guys or external guys can we play on or do we need to play on, and we'll take those decisions and start working through them over the next few weeks.

Chernoff: "He seemed to really enjoy his time here. He talked a lot about Tito and the environment that he created here, and he seemed to really like it. So, there's certainly, I would think, a mutual interest. Whether that can actually work out, free agency is always a different question."

Don't know if Mickey Callaway really wants to be a major league manager or he just wants to be paid like one.

Seen a lot of position coaches who think they can be a Manager only to validate the Peter Principle.

Callaway was the most valuable coach, including Tito, on the team for the past 2 years. I'm sure they won't stand in his way if he gets an offer to manage a team.

Tribe must do everything possible to keep him in the organization even if they have to invent a title and pay him mucho bucks.

Hail Mickey!

Here is an article on whether we should keep Santana or Bruce. http://www.cleveland.com/tribe/index.ss ... box_sports
I would let them both go and get Hosmer.

The Indians announced on Thursday that outfielder Michael Brantley underwent surgery on his right ankle to stabilize ligaments in the joint, and will likely be out four to five months before resuming full baseball activity. That added another wrinkle to an already complicated situation for Cleveland, which can either keep Brantley in the fold for 2018 with a $12-million team option, or send him to the free-agent pool with a $1-million buyout. That deadline for that decision is three days after the conclusion of the World Series.

Chris Antonetti, the Indians’ president of baseball operations, and Lonnie Soloff, the team’s senior director of medical services, spoke with local reporters via conference call Thursday to discuss the situation. Here is the transcript of that Q&A:

Q: Did the team know this surgery was a possible outcome before the playoffs?

Antonetti: “We knew it would be a possibility. We had confirmed with the doctors and they had assured us that Michael wasn’t really at risk for additional injury to the ankle, and the best course of action would be to get through the season and then, at the end of the season, reassess where his ankle is, do some additional testing and then determine the best path forward. Following the season, Michael had another opinion by Dr. Anderson in North Carolina. Dr. Anderson confirmed and shared a similar opinion with Dr. Clanton in Colorado and recommended that they go and do surgery to stabilize the ankle, because that would give Michael the best path forward. And so that’s exactly what we did.”

Q: Did Brantley have a setback with the ankle in the ALDS?

Antonetti: “No, he didn’t sustain a setback. It was a ligament issue that he was experiencing through most of the season.”

Q: How will this impact the decision on Brantley’s team option?

Antonetti: “That’s something we’re still working through.”

Q: Brantley obviously means a lot to the organization and is valued as a player and a leader. But how does his durability factor into these decisions?

Antonetti: “I think the good news about this is we have clarity about the path forward with his ankle and the outcomes with this surgery are really good. Based upon the time frame we’ve been given from the doctors, we expect him to be ready for the start of the season or very close to the start of the season next year, which would make him available to us. I think, what we’ve seen, when Michael has been healthy and on the field, he’s been an exceedingly productive player and he continues to be a critical and important person within our organization.”

Q: Is there a possibility that Brantley could change positions as a result of the injury issues?

Antonetti: “That’s something we would have to work through and think about the best composition of our roster, but also have a better understanding of what would be the best position for Michael to stay healthy and succeed. Any discussion of that right now would be far too preliminary and not something we’ve really engaged in any sort of detail.”

Q: Could Brantley miss most of Spring Training?

Antonetti: “I think it’s exactly what we said, that we expect it — based upon the doctors — to be in the four-to-five month time range.”

Q: If you guys were to decline the option, would you try to work with Brantley on a restructured contract?

Antonetti. “I’m not sure it’s productive for me to get into hypotheticals. I think it would make the most sense for us to work through that option decision and then deal with anything at that point. As I’ve always told you and shared when we got to together at the end of the year, we’ve always envisioned Michael being part of our organization, not only in 2018, but beyond.”

Q: How much does the recent injury history influence any contract talks or decisions?

Antonetti: “What we know about Michael is, when he’s healthy, he’s been really productive. So, the things we have to weigh are the expected level of productivity and how available he’ll be to perform. Those are the things that we’ll have to weigh, and that’s what we’ll spend some time here working through over the next couple weeks.”

Q: Can you provide a little more specifics on the nature of the surgery?

Soloff: As Chris alluded to a bit, the ankle, it progressed from a hyper-mobility issue — so, just having extra motion in the ankle — to a level of instability. And, when it became unstable, that was when we tapped into to Dr. Clanton in Vail, his assessment, and that’s when we understood that a surgical procedure to stabilize the inside of his ankle may be a real possibility. The procedure itself is done and they pull up the ligaments that have been sprained or partially torn from the bone, and then they anchor them back down to that bone.”

Q: Did any ligaments tear away from the bone in Brantley’s case?

Soloff: “Any time you have an instability of a joint, and specifically the ankle, it can be a combination of tearing of ligaments or ligaments that have been overstretched and become what’s called attenuated or redundant. In essence, they’re not doing their job. So, regardless of if they’re torn or if they’re overstretched, they weren’t doing a good enough job to allow his ankle to be stable enough, and that’s when they are repaired back down.”

Q: We all saw Brantley’s 10-pitch, pinch-hit at-bat when he came off the DL and it was easy to picture that type of moment in a playoff game. That said, could better use have been made of his ALDS roster spot?

Antonetti: Just for clarity on that: His ankle was unaffected when hitting. The places where he would have been limited are when he was running, and he didn’t have a whole lot of opportunities in the series to run. But, to give you an idea of how Michael was feeling and the subjective reports, we were actually considering him as an option in the outfield based upon how he felt about his ankle, both the strength and the discomfort. So, I’m not sure. I mean, I know Michael didn’t have a ton of success in the postseason, but I don’t think the ankle was at the root of that.”