Cleveland Indians Activate Michael Brantley

Cleveland Indians Activate Brantley From Disabled List

The Cleveland Indians have officially activated outfielder Michael Brantley from the 15-day disabled list today.

Brantley returns after having offseason shoulder surgery last October. Brantley missed almost all of spring training and had been rehabbing at both Double-A Akron and Triple-A Columbus the last couple weeks.  While the Indians have gone 9-7 in his absence with some surprisingly solid offense, his return is more than welcomed. Brantley should help solidify the Tribe’s lineup, which has seen many different iterations in the early going.  Expect Brantley to slot into his usual 3-hole spot with the rest of the lineup falling into place around him.

The big question with Brantley now is how regularly can he play? Is he ready to play every single day or will he still require a few off days as he eases back into play?  The Indians have seen guys return too soon from injuries in recent years (notably Yan Gomes and Jason Kipnis) and hopefully, that’s not the case with Brantley. How he plays in the next two weeks will be very interesting… 

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Carrasco Goes on the Disabled List

The news isn’t all great with the Indians as starting pitcher Carlos Carrasco will take Brantley’s place on the 15-day disabled list. Carrasco hurt his hamstring covering first base in yesterday’s ballgame versus the Detroit Tigers. Carrasco will be out “four to six weeks” according to the team, which is far from the best news they could have gotten though also far from the worst. The left hamstring was not torn and is being called a “moderate strain of the hamstring” by the team.  He’ll be out likely until Memorial Day at the earliest with a mid-June return also possible.

With Carrasco out the Indians will turn to their vast pitching depth to stem the tide until his return. The team has not announced who will officially take Carrasco’s spot in the rotation though an early guess would be right-hander Trevor Bauer. Bauer, of course, was a starter for his entire big league career until late last season when he was moved to the bullpen. He came into camp this season expecting to be in the rotation but was beat out by Josh Tomlin and Cody Anderson. Bauer has been working out of the bullpen and replaced Carrasco in yesterday’s game following the injury.  He could definitely slide right into his spot and with the bullpen currently at eight men (instead of the typical seven) the move could be rather seamless.

A couple other options could be left-hander T.J. House and right-hander Mike Clevinger. House began the 2015 season in the Tribe rotation before injuries derailed his season. In three starts for the Clippers, House is 2-0 with a 4.80 ERA and 4.09 FIP.  Clevinger has also made three starts for the Clippers and is 1-0 with a 4.40 ERA and 3.71 FIP. He’s struck out over 10 batters per nine innings though has walked almost 4.5 per nine innings. A long-shot/darkhorse option could be left-hander Ryan Merritt. He’s on the 40-man roster, having been added along with Clevinger back in November, and is off to a very good start with the Clippers posting a 3.24 ERA and 3.78 FIP in 16.2 innings.

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That all said, I still expect Bauer to end up being the man replacing Carrasco. He has the experience to step right in and help the club. Of course, the Indians could opt to wait on making a decision as they do not need a fifth starter again until Saturday, May 7th when they face the Kansas City Royals at Progressive Field. Bauer could remain in the bullpen for another week before making the transition to the rotation though Francona could decide to give everyone an extra day of rest early in the season and stick to the five-man rotation.  Either way, the Indians will need to come together yet again as a team and try and overcome an injury to a key member of the team. They did it once with Brantley, can they do it again with Carrasco?