Around this time every year, I have a tendency to write something about the Clippers and how they are wasting at bats on AAAA players who will never help the Indians and that they should just clear those players out to get their real prospects more playing time at baseball’s highest minor league level. In general, this opinion has been correct. Michael Choice hung around for two years in Columbus and never played in the Majors. Toru Murata (five year Clipper veteran) did pitch once on the Majors, but the Indians would have been better off if he hadn’t.
This year is different. While there are players who could stand to use some more playing time in AAA (particularly Greg Allen, although Mike Papi, Tyler Krieger and Luis Lugo aren’t far off), the purpose of a team’s AAA squad changes dramatically when a team is in win now mode. While you could say the Indian have been in that mode since signing Terry Francona to lead the helm in 2013, nothing forces a change in perspective more than winning a pennant, but not a World Series.
An even more important change, however, was the construction of the roster. Back then, positions were in flux all over the field, a stark contrast to today’s team that is essentially set. There is some weakness in the outfield between Brandon Guyer and Abraham Almonte, but Guyer is out of options, so he’s unlikely to be going anywhere. There is also a bit of question about the back end of the rotation with Josh Tomlin and Trevor Bauer, but like Guyer, both are MiLB optionless.
This gives the Indians an extremely inflexible Major League roster. For argument’s sake, let’s say Yu-Cheng Chang was Major League ready (he isn’t) and having Richie Shaffer on the AAA roster was holding him back from advancing to the next level. Getting Chang at bats at the next level is less important for the Indians than having Shaffer available should he be needed. While there’s no room on the roster right now, Shaffer has five home runs and is slugging near .550 in AAA while playing first, third and left field. With Jesus Aguilar gone and Nellie Rodriguez struggling to the extreme, any injury to either Edwin Encarnacion, Carlos Santana, Michael Brantley, Almonte or Guyer could necessitate a promotion for Shaffer. While this isn’t something you like to think about, it’s much more important for the Indians to have that low ceiling, but already Major League ready option in AAA ready to go rather than work on the development of someone who could possibly help the team in 2019.
Using this line of thinking, the Indians currently have help available from all angles in Columbus. Erik Kratz is simply pounding the ball and is a MLB veteran who could easily slide in if either catcher should take a turn for the worse. Yandy Diaz and Tyler Naquin each started the year in the Majors and could easily return to fulfill their original roles of starting third baseman and center fielder should the Indians lose Jose Ramirez, Francisco Lindor, Jason Kipnis, Austin Jackson or Chisenhall. If Michael Martinez goes down (heaven forbid!) and the Indians don’t want Diaz to miss out on playing time, Erik Gonzalez would be a great option for utility man.
For the pitching staff, we’ve already discussed how Major League ready Mike Clevinger is and they’ve already went to the pool for Shawn Armstrong and Joseph Colon this year. If they need more, Ryan Merritt is ready to start while Kyle Crockett has been dynamite out of the bullpen. With these eight Clippers, the Indians have an emergency solution should anyone on the team become injured at any point in time this season. They could even sustain multiple injuries if necessary thanks to the versatility of Shaffer, Gonzalez and Diaz and the depth in the rotation and bullpen.
As ready as they are to go, however, except for two (maybe three) situations, no one on the Clippers is better than their MLB counterpart. This Clippers squad isn’t the Major League team of the future (if any one team is, it’s the RubberDucks), they are the potential short term replacements.For those wondering, those three situations where the minor leaguer is potentially better than the Major Leaguer are Clevinger over Tomlin, Bradley Zimmer (or maybe Naquin) over Almonte and Gonzalez over Martinez.
These are essentially the only three moves Indians fans can expect to see this season that would be talent based rather than injury based and they shouldn’t be expected anytime soon. Since he’s out of options, would have to be exposed to waivers and would certainly be taken by another team, the Indians are likely to stick with Tomlin until he absolutely forces them to release him. Martinez plays so rarely his spot isn’t incredibly important and you’ll have to pry him from Terry Francona’s cold, dead hands to get him off the 25 man. The easiest switch over would be Naquin for Almonte and given the current defensive situation, it could be warranted already. Both Zimmer and Naquin are hitting fairly well in AAA, but chances are the Indians would prefer to run with the one with more MLB experience than the one who plays better defense.
In all, there’s little to hate about the ClipShow. They have a different role than the past, but are well suited for it. In fact, I have but a single major complaint about their roster, Jordan Smith. Smith is nearing 700 minor league games after being drafted in 2011 and almost certainly will never play in the Major Leagues. He has almost no power, isn’t particularly adept at stealing bases (although he tries a lot) and has never been known for his incredible defense. It’s time to let Smith go and call Greg Allen up to AAA where he should have started the season. AA catchers have to be fed up with Allen and his eight steals without getting caught in the first month of the season and he’s been ready defensively for years. He’d be the perfect kind of player for a September call-up as pinch runner and defensive replacement and getting him into AAA right now would go a long way to making that possible.
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