Tag: jake bauers

Indians 26 man 2020 Roster

On By Chris ElliottIn baseballLeave a comment

Well, the Indians missed the playoffs, my postseason ticket refund took forever to arrive and the Indians cut payroll. Despite all of this, I remain optimistic. Spring Training is starting so why not do a 26 man roster projection?

I’ll start with a few assumptions. Tito is the manager so we will carry 5 SP, 8 RP, 2 Catchers. The toss up is the extra spot on the bench. Here we go.

Lets start with the rotation. I think Cookie is able to get back into SP form and Civali shows he is major league rotation material. The 5th spot comes down to Adam Plutko or Zach Plesac. Plutko is out of options but there is room in the bullpen. Plesac gets the spot.

SP:

  1. Mike Clevinger
  2. Shane Bieber
  3. Carlos Carrasco
  4. Aaron Civali
  5. Zach Plesac

The bullpen is interesting. Lot of overhaul over the years here. I think the first four are pretty easy. Clase is too electric to not be here as is Karinchak. I think Hunter Wood and Plutko start out here but there is potential for some guys like Jefry Rodriquez, Scott Moss, James Hoyt and Phil Maton to take a spot. None of the non-roster guys this year intrigue me.

RP:

  1. Brad Hand
  2. Oliver Perez
  3. Adam Cimber
  4. Nick Witgren
  5. Emmanuel Clase
  6. Hunter Wood
  7. Adam Plutko
  8. James Karinchak

Catchers are easy. Nothing to say here.

Catcher

  1. Roberto Perez
  2. Sany Leon

The infield is up in the air. First four are locks but what else they do is unknown. I think Chang finally gets his shot and makes the roster.

IF

  1. Francisco Lindor
  2. Jose Ramirez
  3. Carlos Sanatana
  4. Cesar Hernandez
  5. Yu Chang

The outfield has some decisions to make and Domingo Santana is likely to sign soon and make this team. Reyes, Mercado and Luplow are locks in my opinion as well. I think Deshields makes this roster out of spring because of his speed and defense. Tyler Naquin will be hurt to start the season, otherwise he would be on this team.

OF

  1. Franmil Reyes
  2. Oscar Mercado
  3. Jordan Luplow
  4. Domingo Sanatana
  5. Delino Deshields

This leaves one last spot. The new 26th man. My options here are Greg Allen, Jake Bauers, Bradley Zimmer, Mike Freeman, Christian Arroyo, Andrew Velazquez, Daniel Johnson and Bobby Bradley. These last two will start in AAA. Team doesn’t need them yet. No room for Arroyo and Velazquez yet. Zimmer needs some time on the farm after his injury too. This leave us with Allen, Bauers and Freeman. Allen’s role is filled by Deshields for now. Freeman had a fantastic year but we can’t expect that from him. Jake Bauers makes this team as a DH/OF/1B/PH. Welcome back to the show Jake.

26th Man: Jake Bauers

New (Old) Look Tribe

On By Chris ElliottIn baseballLeave a comment

The Indians have done a lot of remodeling lately and unlike my garage door that has fallen off, this doesn’t look so bad.

The Tribe said goodbye to Yan Gomes, Edwin Encarnacion, Yonder Alonso and Yandy Diaz and welcomed back Carlos Santana as well as picked up two young guys Jake Bauers and Alex Call.

Now, Call is still a very young prospect. He isn’t major league ready. Bauer’s is though and played quite a bit last year in Tampa. He is young with power potential and some rankings had him as a top 50 prospect in baseball just a year ago. With him and Santana in Cleveland, that enabled the Indians the flexibility to ship Alonso’s contract out of Cleveland. Santana doesn’t have Edwin’s HR numbers but he actually has a better WAR. He can play competent first base and his contract is obviously less. Coupled with the fact that I think the Indians can see Edwin aging, this was a good trade.

For Yan, that was a pure contract dump. I was about as pleased with that move as I was when my dog ate my bathroom door. Eric Haase and Roberto Perez both better be ready quick. Can’t afford a let down at the catcher position.

I think the thing these trades do best is free up cash. If the Indians don’t add a decent outfield bat in the $6 million to $9 million range from these cash savings, then I believe these end up as trades that make the team worse. However, I’m optimistic the front office will get that done. Time will tell though. But for now, Welcome Back Slamtana!