Early Potential 2015 Indians Line-Up

Placing the 2014 Indians season fully into the rear view mirror, this will be the initial look at next year’s team. While this is likely to change many times throughout the off-season as trades are made and free agents are signed, a starting point is needed to notice any changes that are made. As there is only one player leaving the Indians through free agency and a lesser one at that (Jason Giambi), the expected Opening Day line-up for 2015 will look a lot like the final roster from 2014.

Starting Infield

C: Yan Gomes
1B: Carlos Santana
2B: Jason Kipnis
SS: Jose Ramirez
3B: Lonnie Chisenhall
DH: Nick Swisher

While this is the most likely aspect of the team to change going into next season, for the moment, the Indians do have enough players to fill out each position. Offensively, Gomes is one of the top catchers in all of baseball as is Santana at first. Kipnis and Chisenhall are at opposition with Kipnis expected to be great again despite a poor 2014 and Chisenhall expected to regress after an amazing 2014.

At short, Ramirez is the best option at the moment both offensively and defensively, but that won’t remain the case for long. With Francisco Lindor waiting in AAA, chances are that no replacements will be added during the off-season and because Lindor was not brought up in September, he will most likely start 2014 in AAA. He should however, make his debut at some point next season and when he does, things could get really shaken up. As the Indians will want Lindor to start at short stop, if Ramirez is still playing well, he would be the best defensive option at second base and third.

This brings us to the DH, which is a role that should probably belong to Chisenhall, but will be givento Swisher. Swisher is the unquestionable worst hitter among the starting players and Chisenhall is the worst defender.

Starting Outfield

LF: Michael Brantley
CF: Michael Bourn
RF: David Murphy

Thanks to contractual obligations, these three are almost certain to remain the starting outfield irrelevant of any off-season moves. Also, unlike the infield, the outfield had much less responsibility as part of the the Indians league worst defense. All three outfielders were around league average, so replacement by defense first players is not as much of a priority. The one move that could improve defense while not costing anything offensively would be to flip Brantley and Bourn. As he has aged, Bourn has slowed to the point where Brantley is a more efficient center fielder as he showed while Bourn was injured in 2014. In addition, moving to left could help save Bourn’s hamstrings some wear, an issue that has cost him much playing time over the past two seasons.

Bench

C: Roberto Perez
MI: Zach Walters
CI: Mike Aviles
OF: Tyler Holt

The bench, at least for the moment, should be largely made up of those stand out rookies from the past season. Of those listed above, Perez and Aviles are almost locks to make the 25 man (the Indians will need to use Aviles option for him to be under contract), while the other one or two bench spots will take more effort to decide. Using Walters and Holt would be a great combination of offense (from the former) and defense (from the latter), that would give Terry Francona great options late in game for pinch hitters, pinch runners and defensive upgrades. Of course, Francona prefers to have an eight man bullpen that he doesn’t use, so it is possible the Indians will only have a three man bench again, completely destroying any versatility they could think of having.

Starting Pitchers

Ace: Corey Kluber
SP 2: Trevor Bauer
SP 3: Carlos Carrasco
SP 4: Danny Salazar
SP 5: T.J. House

In the final months of 2014 (after the Justin Masterson trade), the Indians starting rotation solidified and became the best unit in the American League. While this leads to optimism for the future, it is rare when a single pitcher can maintain success across seasons let alone an entire rotation. This could be a place for some external upgrades, especially by adding a number one or number two pitcher and moving everyone else down a spot. That being said, it would be preferable to allow each of these five a decent chance next year as they have all shown promise.

Bullpen

Closer: Cody Allen
RH Set-Up: Bryan Shaw
LH Set-Up: Marc Rzepczynski
RH Match-Up: C.C. Lee
LH Match-Up: Kyle Crockett
RHRP: Scott Atchison
Long Man: Zach McAllister

The bullpen may be the most solid returning unit overall and one with the most depth. In addition to those listed above, Josh Tomlin, Nick Hagadone, Bryan Price, Austin Adams finished the year on the Major League roster with Shawn Armstrong, Tyler Sturdevant and Louis Head among others waiting below. With such depth, it may benefit the Tribe to consider trading one of those towards the top, like Shaw or Rzepczynski, and promoting those looking to be left out, like Hagadone and Tomlin. Based on extreme over valuation of relievers in past seasons, there is a decent chance that the Indians could get a solid offensive player in exchange for some Major League relief pitching and minor league middle infielders.

Overall, the Indians have a solid base for next season, with no obvious holes from departing free agents, upper management can focus on adding to that base this off-season. While some improvements from young players should be expected in the near future, it is hard to imagine this team having a much different finish in 2015 than they did last year. The most positive note is that even maintaining the current roster, they should be at least a .500 team again with any legitimate additions only adding to that total.