53IT WAS ANOTHER frustrating winter for
Cleveland fans, who watched their club
spend more time fielding trade offers for
superstar shortstop Francisco Lindor
than trying to improve his supporting
cast. Instead, they dealt ace Corey Kluber
(sensibly, perhaps, given Klubot’s decline) to
Texas for centerfielder Delino DeShields and
reliever Emmanuel Clase–two supporting
pieces for a roster crying out for another star.
From 2016 to ’18, Cleveland played in a
division where the competition simply wasn’t
on its level, and mostly wasn’t trying to be.
Now, faced with strong challenges from theTwins and White Sox, the Indians aren’t
even putting up a fight. The team’s payroll
dropped $20 million from ’18 to ’19, and it’s
projected to drop similarly from ’19 to ’20.
The Tribe’s refusal to get locals excited is
damaging attendance, which fell 9.8% last
year even as the team won 93 games.
Even more frustrating: Cleveland has a
championship-caliber foundation. Lindor
is a top-five player and a marketer’s dream.
Righthander Mike Clevinger is becoming an
ace. Shane Bieber, 24, a control artist coming
into ’19, struck out 259. All-Star infielder
José Ramírez was lost for half a season andstill managed to be a three-win player. The
bullpen could be the hardest to hit in the
game (although Clase will miss three months
with a back strain). But the team won’t
address the bottom 15 roster spots. The big
free agent? Thirty-year-old second baseman
César Hernández, who has a career 97 OPS+.
There’s a path to 90 wins, especially
if Carlos Carrasco returns strong from
leukemia. Still, it’s hard to look at the Indians,
with so much homegrown talent paid so
little, and not wonder whether Larry Dolan’s
aggressive payroll cutting means they’ll never
get back to where they were in 2016.Trading Corey Kluber may not have hurt much, but Cleveland didn’t get better this winter.
86.5 Because the Twins and White Sox improved, standing still was the same as getting worse.| FRANCISCO LINDOR| SS | 8 ]k\iLindfifgk\[flkf]_`j8e^\cj
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C`e[fi`jefkXjkXiXepdfi\#Ylk_\`jYXZbn_\i\_\Y\ZXd\fe\%2030 PREDICTION
MOVING UP
JAMES
KARINCHAK
1.69 ERA | 0.0 WPA
Karinchak,
24, appeared
in only five
MLB games
in ’19, but in
301 / 3 innings
in the minors
he struck out
74 batters—or
22 whiffs
per nine.MOVING DOWN
AARON
CIVALE
2.34 ERA | 1.6 WAR
Civale’s
performance
over 10 late-
season starts
was a bit of
a mirage. He
doesn’t throw
hard, and his
FIP was a full
run higher
than his ERA.INDIANS
AL CENTRALSIMON BRUTY
Now, faced with strong
challenges from the Twins and
White Sox,the Indians aren’t
even putting up a fight.