How will Cleveland Indians react to Carlos Santana, Andrew Miller injuries?

How will Cleveland Indians react to Carlos Santana, Andrew Miller injuries suffered during Monday’s win against the Boston Red Sox?

Monday’s game saw not one but two players leave early with injuries. Carlos Santana tweaked his back making a defensive play in the seventh inning, and Andrew Miller appeared to re-aggravate the knee issue that landed him on the DL earlier in the month.

While it’s still too early to speculate any any potential DL stint for either player, how does the Tribe react to the latest injuries?

Andrew Miller

Replacing a bullpen spot is fairly straight forward. Replacing Andrew Miller is not. There are only so many lights out lefties in the game that are as versatile and dominating as Miller. Adam Plutko joined the team when Miller went on the DL and Ryan Merritt was called up already to take Abe Almonte’s spot on the roster when he was placed on the 10-day DL.

Both Plutko and Merritt are starters by trade, so they could at least replace Miller’s ability to provide length out of the pen. With newly signed Craig Breslow off to a rocky start and Plutko sporting a 6.33 ERA in Columbus, the spot in Francona’s bullpen depth chart has to go to Merritt in the short term. If anyone comes up to replace the roster spot, it should be Shawn Morimando. He’s already had a cup of coffee a the big league level and has pitched well on the year in AAA.

As for the long term, don’t forget about Josh Tomlin, who threw a simulated game on Monday . With his history of arm troubles and Mike Clevinger‘s strong performances, Tomlin is probably best suited for a bullpen role in September. He still doesn’t walk anyone and could help the team in that limited role. This would allow him to get meaningful work in as a true long man in the pen with expanded rosters.

Carlos Santana

While Miller is more likely to miss extended time, Carlos Santana is likely to at least get a few days off. Losing Santana for a handful of games won’t cause too much havoc to the lineup. Edwin Encarnacion is likely to play first base unless Jay Bruce sticks there after taking over on Monday night. He has played a few games there this season while with the Mets. The issue with that is the outfield depth is already in trouble, so that makes little sense.

But what if Santana misses some extended time? If he lands on the DL and needs a couple of weeks of rest, there is a hole at the DH spot that needs to be filled. Lonnie Chisenhall has hit well in his rehab stint, but is out for a few days on the paternity list. Michael Brantley isn’t close to being back and Abe Almonte is on the DL himself.

The most likely player to take over at DH is Jason Kipnis. He gets pulled for a defensive replacement anyways late in games, so this isn’t exactly a crazy idea. This means the Tribe would recall Erik Gonzalez from Columbus to take Santana’s roster spot. That means Giovanny Urshela, Jose Ramirez, and Gonzalez would cover third and second depending on how Terry Francona wants to split that at bats between Urshela and Gonzalez. It would be more prudent to have Urshela play third every day and Ramirez play second, letting Gonzalez be a bench guy capable of playing either spot in a reserve role.

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Ideally, though, this open DH spot would be great for Lonnie Chisenhall to ease his way back into the lineup without having to play the field every day. Between Chiz and Jay Bruce, they could split right field and DH duties until Chisenhall feels ready to play defensively every day. He is a better outfielder and the Tribe simply cannot take Bruce’s bat out of the lineup.