Indians: There’s no instant fix for replacing Franmil Reyes

The Indians are going to be without Franmil Reyes until July.

The Indians got some bad news on Sunday when they found out that Franmil Reyes would be out of action for five to seven weeks. Reyes is having a good season, currently sitting at 11 home runs on the year, he was on pace for 44+ home runs for the year. A good year for a power hitter. He also sat with 29 RBI’s through this point in the season and was on pace for breaking the 100 RBI mark.

Now he’ll miss nearly a month and then some recovering from an oblique injury. His return could be as soon as the end of June or as late as after the All-Star game. It all depends on how he heals. He and Jose Ramirez were in the midst of a fun team-based chase, with both men seemingly forcing the other to stay the pace.

Without Reyes, that chase is all but gone. Unless Ramirez gets hurt, it’s very likely that he’ll be leading the team in home runs and RBI’s this year with little competition.

There’s no one to replace Franmil Reyez

Signing Albert Pujols for something more than $420k seems like a bargain now, eh? With the Dodgers securing the future Hall of Famer, the Indians at present have no immediate and obvious piece to improve the lineup with.

Some of the options to fill Reyez’s void would be Bobby Bradley, Bradley Zimmer, and Nolan Jones. All three men have some pop to their bats and they could play DH for the Tribe or force someone else into the spot.

Zimmer has almost as many hits (13) as games played in Triple-A (15), and a .260 average but no home runs. Bradley is hitting .200 with six(eight?) home runs so far, while Jones is hitting just .173.

So there isn’t a quick fix in the minors. The Indians may need to expedite a trade at this point or scour free agency for an affordable replacement who can just help keep the Tribe afloat for now.