Spring Training isn’t even underway, but the Indians have already announced a bit of tough news for fans, revealing Friday that star shortstop Francisco Lindor suffered a right calf strain in prepping for camp. Per the team’s announcement, Lindor will be ready to return to “Major League game activity” in seven to nine weeks. Seven weeks would put Lindor on track to be ready for the beginning of the regular season, though if his rehab takes closer to the longer end of that timetable, he’d miss the first couple of weeks of the year.
If Lindor is to miss time early on, the Indians can turn to one of Max Moroff or Yu Chang as a short-term stopgap. While the short-term nature of Lindor’s injury doesn’t necessarily force Cleveland into making a major addition. However, looking at the current assortment of bench options, the argument could already be made that the team is in need of some additional infield depth. At the very least, adding a player such as Adeiny Hechavarria, Alcides Escobar or Jose Iglesias in a reserve role now seems a bit more prudent than it already did, especially given the possibility for lingering effects that are inherent to any injury.
Even missing out on Lindor for a couple of weeks could prove quite detrimental for the Indians, given that the level of payroll approved by ownership forced the front office into a series of moves that have actively weakened the roster. Meanwhile, both the Twins and White Sox have made some improvements, with the latter still actively pursuing some big-name upgrades.
Lindor, one of the game’s most dynamic players, turned in a brilliant .277/.352/.519 slash with 38 homers and 25 steals en route to a sixth-place finish in American League MVP voting. Paired with his defense at shortstop, Lindor was worth nearly eight wins above replacement. The 25-year-old paced the Majors in plate appearances and runs scored, though it’s now decidedly less likely that he’ll be able to replicate either feat.
that’s what you get when you have calves.
You should have got chickens instead.
Why-a-no-chicken?
Because Mary had a little lamb, and everyone knows there’s something about Mary.
and now it goes to school with her between two chunks of bread
Ah, the Chick-Fil-A argument
Veally good!
That’s a fowl bawl.
Well done.
Machado to Cleveland? Lol
@ joshua.barron1;
YES!
It’s time for panic in the MLBTR comment section……..
Lindor might miss a week or two in April. OMG!!!.
The cheap multi-billionaire owner (lol) needs to give up a few of his yachts, a few of his dozens of $30m mansions, and give Manny the 5/$270 he so richly deserves.
If that fails, give the money to Harper. He can play OF and Carlos Santana can slide over and play SS.
You think a team is going to give Machado 54 million per season for 5 years? Yeah, okay. Not even close.
@ nutramax123;
I give you a solution yet you quibble over a measly $54m a year for 5 years? MLB is awash in money. The Dolan family has billions they haven’t even folded yet.
Manny and Bryce as SUPERSTARS! Living legends if you will. Look at all the WS championships they led their teams to already. Just look at Manny last year. He went over to the Dodgers in mid-season – a talent-challenged group of misfits sitting 20 games out of 1st place – Manny Man put that group of vagabonds on his back and single-handedly carried them to the WS.
The man is a SUPERSTAR that is better then Ted Williams, Willie Mays, Roberto Cemente, Honus Wagner and Dave Kingman combined!
Now we’re pitching pennies over acquiring a generational talent?
Being cheap and dumb is no way to win a World Series.
Take your pills and stop babbling..,
@ Bocephus;
You left a comma at the end:
..,
What does that signify?
You need companionship broski. Too much pent up eergy.
I think you’re pushing things. Nobody’s better than Kingman!
Tommy Lasorda angrily agrees with you
hey, I for one appreciate your trolling
Agreed. Samuel’s trolling is stellar.
And he has a point, also. These rich owners could easily pay up for these 2 players if they wanted to.
Might be time to panic especially if you’re a Tribe fan and saw what calf injuries have done to Chisenhall the past couple of seasons.
They should pay him $330m for 7 years since he will be taking the mound every five days under our new plan.
This is why we don’t play basketball in the offseason, Patrick.
Sounds like Lindor wasn’t playing enough basketball and his muscles work ready for the workout.
Different sports work different muscles. I’m reality if he kept up with it he would have been stronger.
That is a huge loss! I hope it does not affect too much of the regular season. Speedy recovery Francisco!
Hope he can return soon, but calf injuries are known to linger, so if it means sitting out the first few weeks to be fully healed it would behoove Lindor to be patient.
That just knocked him out of the first round in fantasy….I think.
More of a reason to trade Kluber
I don’t really see a correlation here
Braves/Phillies fans are desperate to see movement of an ace that would give some room between the leaders in the NL East. If Braves ever got their ace, what would AA do in his day-to-day? That’d be like Golem getting The Ring. We love seeing “obtain a top-of-the-rotation arm” at the top of every offseason checklist.
This is why the Indians shouldn’t be just sitting back and actually look to improve. Imagine if this happened in April or worse September. The offense is already heavily relient on Lindor and Ramirez and losing either is a major blow. Plus it’s a calf injury and we have seen what that can do to a players season with Chisenhal and Donaldson.
Ok go gather up 2000 of your friends and all of you buy seasons tickets. Team has been a big time contender the last couple seasons yet haven’t been sold out for every game. Otherwise look up what budget means.
spot on
Ok, but even if they aren’t some team that’s selling out game after game after game, they should be able to add pieces that will help them. Not saying like Bryce Harper or Machado, but like Marwin Gonzalez, Adam Jones, and/or Gerardo Parra.
I used to drive 2 1/2 hours into Cleveland 3 or 4 times a season. As ownership raised his commitment, I did too going to 8 or 9 games a season. I can’t afford season tickets. We need to improve attendance. This team has and is worth watching and investing in.
Budget means rich guys not wanting to spend money.
No worries. Everyone in the AL Center has agreed to not try very hard this year.
lol
Damn union pacts.
Jose Iglesias Or Adeiny Hechaverria to Cleveland.
Or Jose Reyes for a 2 day contract
Reyes doesn’t play SS. He didn’t play SS in Toronto either at least not Mlb or even AAA quality
Clearly, the “let’s do nothing” plan is going to pay off really well for the Indians’ Front Office this season.
Injuries happen. And when you make no effort to improve your team whatsoever, here’s where you find yourself.
Yeah I kind of agree. I’m trying to take the glass half full approach with them, but if Lindor or Jose were to miss extended time, that offense is probably toast.
7-9 weeks for a calf strain? Oh I think it’s more than a strain and they’re just calling it an”strain”. He tore something.
A strain is a tear, but I agree. 7-9 weeks is a pretty serious calf strain – I would guess a grade 3 strain. I would assume they’d announce if he needed surgery, but hope he returns to health quikcly.
Torn calf muscles are technically called “calf strains”. I’ve had one. They suck and pretty much take a month to get out of the walking boot, then another month to be running again.
They never technically heal all of the way either – you always have pain at times and become susceptible for more of them in the future.
You lose a ton of “explosiveness” and quick first step too. Permanently. For fantasy players, I’m betting Frankie’s SBs will be way down this year.
Sign Marwin Gonzalez, 2 years, $18 million. He can fill in at shortstop until Lindor is 100%, and then you can move Marwin to second base or the outfield once Lindor is healthy.
Serious question: Can Jose Ramirez fill-in at SS for a week or two? Because if so, now’s the time to sign Moustakas, slide Joe-Ram to SS until Lindor is back, then when Lindor returns, scoot Ramirez to 2B to permanently keep Kipnis from ever seeing the infield ever again.
He could, but if it’s just for a week or two they’d probably be better served keeping Jose where he is and playing a utility guy (Moroff, Flaherty, etc.) there in the meantime.
They’re not gonna pay what Moose would want.
But will they pay what Moose would accept? No one is paying him what he wants. In fact, he’s currently not being paid at all.
Sounds like a very long time for a calf strain! Must be the worst kind. If Harper signs with PHI, there could be a match for a bandaid type OF from the Phillies. Altherr or Williams. Still on rookie deals. Tell your GM to call our GM
How about Rosario from the Mets for Bauer
That certainly is an overreaction to Lindor possibly missing a couple of weeks., jvent.
Stop hanging out with Lonnie!
I have a really bad feeling about this season. Despite their position in the AL Central, they really don’t have that much room for error. Hopefully I am terribly wrong.
It’s already feeling to me like 2014. They were coming off 92 wins and the playoffs in 2013 and then came out and laid an egg in 2014 finishing in 3rd place.
I guess I place more trust in the Indians front office than some Indians fans, I still feel that with our pitching we are a contender for the World Series. Once you are in the playoffs, anything can happen. Did you think that the Indians would make the seventh game of the World Series in 2016 with an injury riddled pitching staff.
It is not that I have no trust in the front office. I think they have earned our respect. I just think they are beginning the transition to the next team while assuming that they will win the central. I understand the transition. They will need to move the current stars in order to create the next group. I just think that they have left themselves way too little room to maneuver if things go wrong this season…..and I think there is a decent chance things will go wrong. Lindor’s injury is an example. (I also think teams in contention are way undervaluing established players over the prospects. This is the reason they can’t trade Kluber. Teams are devaluing experience and overvaluing potential.)
Teams are valuing the lower salaries of potential over the high salaries of experience.
That is true, but the odds of the higher salaried guys succeeding is much greater. When making a trade – especially for a guy like Kluber – offering several high ceiling prospects should be a given. It is not, this year, and I think that is silly. I understand that it is real – I just think it is short sighted.
If the injuries start, will he be more eager to sign an extension?
Geez, don’t fret, Tribe fans. Yu Chang will hold down SS until Lindor is ready.
Michael Martinez will rise from the ashes and take Cleveland by storm
Unironically I am looking forward to this as we can see if he is a viable replacement for Kipnis. I just hope they dont deploy Moroff, Stamets or… Mike Freeman instead.
Or Ryan Flaherty.
I wish the padres would make a little noise today so I don’t have to keep seeing jtr as the first post.
It begins. Tigers win Central!
That’s one helluva calf strain to almost require 2.5 months to heal….. broken bones heal faster.
Yikes, I love watching this guy play but every injury he sustains is going to make him wonder if turning down that extension was a bad idea.
This is bad. Calf injuries can be chronic. He’ll be back, but……
First it was the Curse of Rocky Colavito. Now it’s the Curse of Lonnie Chisenhall.
We’re doomed, I tell ya…….doomed.
can Kip play SS ??
At least we have the Browns!
(How is this something I’m actually saying?)
Any port in a storm?
Any Moscatel would suffice too.
Now that’s something you don’t hear every day.
Unfortunate — especially given the injury occurred during a workout. The way players prepare for the season now days definitely makes them stronger/more explosive, but the programs they use gear them for a “sprint” rather than the marathon a baseball season is.
A guy like Ichiro’s regime should be stressed a little more. He’s been a remarkably healthy player for a long time — even more impressive given he’s a player who ran a lot.
Bummer, that’s a terrible injury takes notoriously long to heal and throws the entire body mechanics off for months.
Incomplete sentence
“While the short-term nature of Lindor’s injury doesn’t necessarily force Cleveland into making a major addition.”
proofreader of the day award
Yu can not be at SHORT. .. I don’t give a darn is at short!
What, someone really down votes Abbott and Costello?.
kind of like the newbies saying now playing pitcher or now playing catcher, instead of now pitching or now catching
Did a division winner ever finish under .500? ’cause I see it happening this year in the AL Central.
Yup. The 1994 Rangers won the division with a 52 – 62 record. That was a strike year.
pretty sure the winner of this division is going to be like an 83 win team
The Pecota projections from Baseball prospectus came out this week and the Indians were projected for 96 wins. The Indians have the best pitching staff in the league. They will still win the division handily.
We’re gonna win Twins, we’re gonna score!
We’re gonna win Twins, watch that baseball soar!
Knock out a homerun, shout a hip-hooray!
We’re gonna sell ticket like never before
Remember kids the important part of baseball is having fun, after all if you have fun you buy tickets and that is the best part of the game
geyyy
You’re hired! You’re fired! You’re hired!
You know as painfull as it is I had to let a few people go over the years. Yogi Berra, Lou Pinella, Bucky Dent, Billy Martin, Dallas Green, Dick Houser, Bill Virdon, Billy Martin, Scott Marrow, Billy Martin, Bob Lemmon, Billy Martin, Gene Michael, Buck Showalter, …
My sources tell me Cleveland is signing Jose Iglesias to play SS. They plan on taking it slow with Lindor (Primarily DH) .Calf problems can linger if rushed too soon.
Iglesias is not going to play backup for anyone unless he has no choice. He hits well enough to start on a lot of teams and his glove is A-1
This division is so bad that I’m not sure it will matter. Cleveland can take it slow.
Right now there is not a pitching staff in the AL I’d take over the Indians. And right now there is not one team in the division other than the Indians that will finish 500. But the window is not going to last forever, it’s closing fast. The White Sox are a couple years away, but they are coming.,
The window thing is overused and makes it sound like they have no players headed for the majors in the future. The Indians build through drafting, signing international free agents, and smart trades. Always have. It’s how they do business.
They have a few guys who are real close, and their last couple of drafts were fantastic. So by the time the current guys (eventually) move on, they should be just fine.
Sox and Twins likely to play .500 ball, though not much over that.
Hope it doesn’t become a chronic condition. Truly the best SS in the game today.
As a Pirate fan, I would be interested in seeing what Moroff can do. He never got a chance with the Bucs IMO. I don’t expect great things, but he could be ok or better.
lindors seasonn stats have already been written off here
Some guys will do anything to avoid SP
You mean ST?
Wish I’d thought of that.
Sign Erick Aybar to fill in. Low cost/Low Risk veteran.
A nagging calf on Lindor could make this division more up for grabs