CLEVELAND, Ohio -- The Indians and their fans have often accused me of being Chicken Little. Ended up in Lake Erie once in October because of it.
On Monday the team announced that Cy Young winner Shane Bieber was placed on the injured list with a strained muscle in the rotator cuff of his right shoulder. He will not throw a baseball for two weeks. Maybe this time the sky really is falling.
Bieber’s injury leaves the Indians with one legitimate starter -- Aaron Civale. He’s 2 1/2 months into a promising season, but he’s not exactly a hardened veteran. This is Civale’s second full season in the big leagues.
Who is lined up behind Civale? Rookie right-hander J.C. Mejia started Monday night against the Orioles. He’s made two starts at Class AAA Columbus and didn’t get out of the first inning in his last start against St. Louis. On Tuesday, Cal Quantrill will start. He’s in his second full season in the big leagues and lasted 1 1/3 innings in his last start, which just so happened to be against the Orioles.
At least Quantrill has been around. This will be his 23rd big-league start, but since the Indians acquired him from San Diego last year he’s had most of his success out of the bullpen. He also hasn’t pitched more than 3 2/3 innings in an appearance this season.
Civale (9-2, 3.17 ERA) will start Wednesday and the Indians haven’t named a starter for Thursday. Mostly because they’re still trying to figure out who that may be.
The last time they needed a pitching savior they called on Ryan Merritt in the Game 5 clincher of the 2016 ALCS against Toronto. Does anyone have Merritt’s number handy?
The Indians went young this year and are getting kicked in the rear end because of it. Chris Antonetti, president of baseball operations, repeated to reporters Sunday that the organization suffered massive financial losses during last year’s coronavirus-induced 60-game sprint and will need years to recover.
It explains, in part, the trades of established starters Carlos Carrasco, Mike Clevinger, Corey Kluber and Trevor Bauer since 2019. They were cutting payroll long before the pandemic hit in 2020, but that certainly played a part in the stripped-down roster they put on the field this year with the bargain-basement price tag of $50 million.
The roster has talent, but it’s thin and has proven vulnerable to injury. So far they have lost right-hander Zach Plesac, Gold Glove catcher Roberto Perez, power-hitting DH Franmil Reyes, lefty-killer Jordan Luplow and now Bieber. The only replacement who has come close to duplicating the performance of one of those injured players is catcher Austin Hedges.
The pipeline of ahead-of-schedule young starters has slowed. The 2016 draft class produced Bieber, Plesac and Civale. To think the organization could just keep cranking out starters at that pace was unrealistic. Lefty Logan Allen made the opening day rotation, but fizzled and is recovering from a sore elbow in Columbus. Eli Morgan arrived, made one start in a tornado-like conditions, before being sent back to Columbus. Triston McKenzie was optioned to Columbus on Sunday after lasting just two-thirds of an inning Saturday. It’s clear he needs time to reset in the minors, so it’s probably a good thing the Indians can’t recall him for at least 10 days. Left-hander Scott Moss is still dealing with neck and back issues.
Morgan was supposed to start for Columbus on Sunday, but he was pulled out of that start. Perhaps he’ll get a chance to pitch at Progressive Field on Thursday without the 45 mph winds and rain that greeted him in his big league debut on May 28.
The Indians could bring in a starter through trade or the waiver wire. A couple of days ago that wasn’t high on the priority list. Maybe Bieber’s injury has changed that, or maybe they’ll try to hang on until Plesac returns in the next several weeks.
They could go with an opener as well. Phil Maton has already made one such start this season. Just about every pitcher in the organization, outside of Civale, is an option to join the rotation.
At the moment, the Indians are three games into a part of the schedule in which they’ll play 30 games in 31 days. They’re going to do that with one established starter? Manager Terry Francona has been carrying a 14-man pitching staff for much of the season, but you can’t have a bullpen game every day.
The Indians went into Monday night’s game in second place in the AL Central at 34-28. They trailed first place Chicago by 5 1/2 games. The White Sox have continued to win despite serious injuries to position players Eloy Jimenez, Luis Robert and Nick Madrigal. But their starting rotation has remained intact.
Now it’s the Indians who will get a chance to see if they can do something similar.
It’s hard to be bet against the Indians and Francona in these kind of situations. They’ve figured things out time and time again over the years. But there are 100 games left in the season and that’s a long time to stay clear of the sky as it tumbles to earth.
A variety of Cleveland Indians face masks available online today. (Fanatics.com)
New Indians face masks for sale: Here’s where you can buy Cleveland Indians-themed face coverings for coronavirus protection, including a single mask ($14.99) and a 3-pack ($24.99). All MLB proceeds donated to charity.
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