Cleveland Indians: 5 biggest disappointments of 2021 at quarter pole

1. Cleveland Indians LF Eddie Rosario

It was a surprise the Indians were able to land Eddie Rosario on a one-year, $8 million contract. It seemed like a bargain when the news broke. Now, with his lack of production, we’re finding out that the rest of baseball probably knew something about the former Twin–that his best days were behind him.

No lucrative multi-year offer was ever reported and he took the Indians’ one-year pact. The Indians were losing Lindor, but at least, the lineup was getting a little punch back from Rosario–so we thought.

Rosario is batting .203 with a .580 OPS. He’s homered just three times in 157 plate appearances. His OPS+ is 61 (100 is considered average). It’s the lowest OPS+ of his career. The only other time his OPS+ dipped below league average was in 2016, when he appeared in just 92 games.

Everyone knew Rosario was approaching 30, but at the very least, the expectation was that he’d hit at Progressive Field. He had the track record, batting 353 (60-for-170) with a 1.031 OPS on the corner of Carnegie and Ontario.

Ever since he put an Indians uniform on? He’s batting .152 (.373 OPS) with zero home runs on the The Corner. Holy Shelley Duncan/David Dellucci platoon, that’s terrible.

Everyone thought Rosario would hit. He hasn’t. There’s nothing left to do but hope that he can turn things around.