The Cleveland Indians need to suspend Mike Clevinger and Zach Plesac

Public comments from a teammate and the skipper himself have made a suspension necessary for Mike Clevinger and Adam Plesac.

It’s looking like the only way the Cleveland Indians could get through this mess that Zach Plesac and Mike Clevinger created is to suspend both pitchers for a duration of time. The team is beyond upset with the two men, who put everyone at risk for a night out in Chicago and it’s being made clear that a simple “I’m sorry” won’t be enough to smooth things over.

A suspension, on top of a league-record fine, is needed.

Speaking with the media, both manager Terry Francona and the man who replaced Clevinger in the lineup, Adam Plutko, shared their thoughts on the situation involving Clevinger and Plesac.

Francona was very aware that the teammates have screwed up in the most major way possible.

"The players have been pretty upfront that [Clevinger and Plesac] have to earn their trust back. And I understand that. I’d rather be talking about us trying to win a game. But it’s the reality of where we are now.They made a mistake and they made some pretty bad errors in judgment after their mistakes. And now they have to figure out a way to try to get the trust back of his team."

Plutko also made his opinions known, refusing to hold back from criticizing his teammates.

"They hurt us bad. They lied to us. They sat here in front of you guys and publicly said things that they didn’t follow through on. It’s gonna be up to them. It really is. I’ll let them sit here and tell you how they’re gonna earn their trust back.I don’t need to put words in their mouths. The term that I continue to hear — and excuse my language — is ‘grown-ass man.’ So those grown-ass men can sit here and tell you guys what happened and tell you guys what they’re gonna do to fix it. I don’t need to do that for them."

That seems to be the feeling around the locker room, that Clevinger and Plesac royally screwed up, and more so that Clevinger lost the most respect. Some are even suggesting that he be done for the year, a decision that would be warranted considering the amount of audacity it took to lie to your teammates during a team meeting the night after Plesac got caught going out.

Clevinger was out with Plesac and then defended Plesac to the locker room during the meeting. That’s what has made many in the clubhouse beyond upset. Clevinger has tried a weak attempt at damage control following the aftermath of his lies being exposed. The press release apology was expected and unimpressive but it clearly didn’t smooth things over.

The funny thing about his apology? Never once does he actually apologize. Shows you the kind of man he is. Plesac, to his credit, apologized in the first five words of his statement.

Despite an apparent need for a suspension, at the very least for Clevinger, Francona doesn’t seem to agree.

"My goal would never be to be vindictive or put somebody in the penalty box. I don’t believe in that. I do believe in being accountable to your teammates. And I know that they’ve got some trust to earn back and they’re going to have to earn that back. And I don’t know how easy that will be. If I did, I’d tell you. If I had the exact solution, I’d snap my fingers and we’d do it.There’s been a lot of conversations. There will continue to be conversations and we will try to do what we think is best for our entire team."

The team needs to suspend at the very least Clevinger while dolling out huge fines to both. If the team feels they got off too light, some might resent management, while others may just opt out of the season if they feel they’re not being protected to the best possible degree. Others, yet still, may see this as a sign the Indians aren’t serious and may themselves want to test the boundaries.

There is no good reason to not suspend Clevinger at the very least. It’d show the team you’re serious about the protocols and would reassure players and their families that the club is doing everything possible to protect them in these challenging times.

*Authors Note: Article was updated to the correct first name of Zach Plesac*