Cleveland Indians won’t waltz to AL Central crown, says Voice of Fan

The Cleveland Indians underwhelmed their fan base this offseason, and our Voice of the Fan is less than optimistic about 2019.

The way the Cleveland Indians treated the off season was a bit like rats leaving a sinking ship! But it wasn’t rats, it was Edwin Encarnacion and Yan Gomes and company.

They have more, more or less, devastated their outfield. With Michael Brantley and Lonnie Chizenhall gone in free agency there is a distinct loss of power and hitting in general!

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They basically have a young unproven outfield and there’s talk of Carlos Santana playing there on occasion if need be. Not much major league experience in any of the three positions.

They continue to sign players off the scrap heap with little regard for this team winning!

Hanley Ramirez? OK. He was a name. But he’s not the player he used to be and he DH’s and plays first base. That wasn’t exactly a position of need for the Tribe. Perhaps this frees up Jake Bauers to play some more outfield.

They are banking on their pitching and Francisco Lindor and Jose Ramirez to carry this club.

After Corey Kluber, Carlos Carrasco and Trevor Bauer what’s left? Mike Clevinger showed some good things. Some think he’s an ace in waiting.

But what if one or two pitchers go down?

Kluber threw a lot of innings last year and had problems in the playoff series! Carrasco also has proven he can a trouble year as experienced in his time here.

But with Gomes, Encarnacion and Brantley gone the offense will suffer. The management, in their infinite wisdom, saw fit to tighten their purse strings and not really replace them with anything close to their offensive production!

Yet the owners cry about attendance or lack there of. The section of Northeast Ohio and surrounding area to which the Indians have fans has proven if you put a WINNER on the field, not just talking about the Central division, but a chance to go back to the Championship, they will come out in droves to support that team!

Speaking of wimping even the Central division Score came out with their picks for each division and they have the Minnesota Twin winning the Central! They too can see what some fans have a fear of.

Except for a few players that must have close to career years to carry this team, it could get bleak if there are long lasting injuries or failure to have that really good season.

There just isn’t much room for error on this team and Lindor is already ailing!