12 moves the Cleveland Indians must make to win 2019 World Series

3. Try to retain Miller, short term

Both Cody Allen and Andrew Miller are free agents this offseason. It’s unlikely the Tribe’s going to re retain any of these hurlers, but they should try to keep at least one.

I’d argue for Miller just because injuries derailed his season and he could just never get on track.

Perhaps after an offseason of getting himself right, followed by a good spring training, he can begin to look like the Miller of old.

Cleveland should seriously look at whether they can sign Miller to a short-term deal. If he doesn’t become his old self, they can’t be locked into a big financial commitment to a free-agent bust.

However, if another team come and throws money Miller’s way, forget about it. The Tribe’s not going to compete for him. Bryan Shaw got $7 million per season and he was the third best reliever in the Tribe’s pen. Miller was earning $9 million. The Tribe just doesn’t have the resources to get into a bidding war.

The front office would be smart to stay away from Cody Allen because its unclear what’s going on with the Tribe’s career leader in saves. He appears healthy, yet posted the worst ERA of his career (4.56).

He also had career highs in blown saves (five) and home runs allowed (11). He allowed about 1.5 home runs per nine innings according to fan graphs. Not idea for a guy who pitches one inning a game.

Allen’s strikeout percentage was also the lowest its been since 2012, which is before he become the Indians’ full-time closer. Allen fanned just 27.7 percent of the batters he faced after fanning at least 32 percent of hitters between 2014-2017.

Adding Miller and keeping him healthy, mixed in with Hand and an up-and-coming Cimber doesn’t leave the Indians’ bullpen in that bad a place heading into 2019.