Cleveland Indians: More Than One Lefty Needs To Be Added
By Ryan Rosko
The Cleveland Indians bullpen is a mess and their pitching staff in general needs to see changes be made.
Last night versus the Kansas City Royals was just the latest example of the Cleveland Indians bullpen falling short of be reliable. As we have seen, a good portion of the bullpen’s struggles does fall on right-handed reliever Bryan Shaw.
However, at the end of the day, both the pitching and coaching staffs share responsibility. Indians manager Terry Francona is overusing his bullpen, while also putting them in difficult situations to succeed in.
Despite the Cleveland Indians success with their pitching staff, there still is no balance. Not only is there no left-handed pitcher in the rotation, but the bullpen also is without key, reliable lefties.
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Right-hander Josh Tomlin is having a great season, but because of his success he will not be removed from the rotation. Tomlin would be the likely starter to be removed in favor of a lefty should Cleveland add one, with Trevor Bauer a close second.
How do the Cleveland Indians succeed in key matchups where a lefty is needed versus right-handed batters? Such an answer to that question is not necessarily as easy one may believe.
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As great as the Tribe’s starting pitching staff is, the nonexistence of a lefty needs to be fixed. Cleveland’s rotation consists of some of the top pitchers in MLB, but without a LHP, the lack of adjustments by opposing teams will continue.
Still, it all comes back to the bullpen. One player who has been rumored in a deal with the Indians is New York Yankees left-handed reliever Andrew Miller. Miller has experience starting too but he has done a very good job in the Bronx working out of the bullpen.
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Should Cleveland be able to land Miller, he is not moving to the rotation. Given how the back-end of the bullpen has pitched, it could be possible at some point in the future to replace Cody Allen with Miller as the closer and in turn replace Shaw with Allen, reducing Shaw’s role.
There is no doubt the Cleveland Indians must acquire talented arms to upgrade what they have and hopefully remove their on-going struggles. When/if a trade(s) is completed for a player(s) to do exactly that, it would be wise to acquire left-handed arms.
I am tired of seeing the pitchers on the roster being right-handed. Sure, there has been on occasion a LHP pitching here and there, but every meaningful role is occupied by a RHP.
Championship contending teams do not rely on only one type of pitcher. To make sure Cleveland does that, acquiring at least one lefty in the rotation (ideal) and/or the bullpen (a must) has to happen by August 1st.