Cleveland Indians have numerous options to replace Byrd, Brantley

The Cleveland Indians Have Numerous Options to Bolster the Outfield

The Cleveland Indians outfield has gone through some drastic changes over this past week and a half. It all started when Major League Baseball announced that outfielder Marlon Byrd was suspended for 162 games for his second positive test of a performance-enhancing substance, which will effectively end the 38-year-old’s career. 

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This was then followed up by reports that the Cleveland Indians fear that star outfielder Michael Brantley will miss “a significant amount of time” due to inflammation in his surgically repaired shoulder (per Jeff Passan of Yahoo Sports). Brantley started the season on the disabled list, was activated on April 25th and batted .231 with zero home runs and seven RBI in 11 games.

Both of these events leave big holes in the Indians’ outfield, as Byrd was a solid outfielder for the Indians this year, and Brantley has been a franchise cornerstone for the Indians for the past four years. The MLB trade deadline is August 1st, and the Indians front office will have a lot to consider up until then, but here are five ideas should consider before the deadline.

Next: Look Internally for Help or Make a Trade?