Sports Time Radio

The Cleveland Indians are currently in 2nd place in the American League Central just 1 1/2 games behind the division leading Minnesota Twins, but they find themselves in a bit of a quandary with a couple of their starting pitchers.

Let’s do a quick recap. On August 8th Zach Plesac made a start against the Chicago White Sox. Plesac picked up the win; he pitched 6 innings gave up 5 hits and no runs while walking 1 and striking out 7. It was Plesac’s first win of the season in 3 starts and it lowered his ERA to 1.29. So he was off to g a good start this season.

Now Plesac was born in Crown Point Indiana and went to college at Ball State which is in Muncie Indiana neither of which are too far from Chicago. After the game Plesac decided to go out to dinner with some friends. Now this is against MLB’s protocol due to the Covid-19 situation. Now Plesac got caught sneaking back into the Indians hotel and the team got him a rental car and made him drive back to Cleveland by himself just in case he had been exposed to the Covid-19 virus while he was out.

As it turned out unbeknownst to the Indians another of their starting pitchers was out that night with Plesac. Mike Clevinger joined Plesac on his night out in Chicago, but apparently made it back into the team hotel without being caught and even flew back to Cleveland on the team plane before it was found out that he was out with Plesac.

Once back in Cleveland Plesac and Clevinger where both placed in quarantine and tested for the Covid-19 virus now luckily neither player has had a positive test, but the incident has caused a bit of a rift with their Indians teammates. With both Plesac and Clevinger going through their 10 day quarantine with no positive tests they where eligible to rejoin the team. Now before the Indians game Friday night against the Detroit Tigers there was a team meeting and players spoke their minds about what Plesac and Clevinger had done. Now apparently Francisco Lindor spoke and was very critical of Plesac and Clevinger’s action, but the player who really made an impact at the meeting was veteran reliver Oliver Perez who went so far as to say that if Plesac and Clevinger where put back on the roster he’d opt out of the remainder of the season.

Now I thought they might all be able to get together and work something out so Plesac and Clevinger could rejoin the team, but as of right now they are both at the teams alternative training site, but that can’t last forever.

So what do you do if you’re the Indians?

Clevinger is 29 years old and has really come into his own as a starting pitcher. He had some injury issues last season, but still went 13-4 in his 21 starts with an ERA of 2.71. Plesac is even younger; just 25. Last season he made 21 starts going 8-6 with a 3.81 ERA.

Is it possible that the Indians might be forced to trade away two young starting pitchers? If they did go that route; what could they get for them? and which team would be willing to make a deal?

Not only are both of these starters young, but Clevinger has two more seasons of arbitration while Plesac is still in pre-arbitration and doesn’t reach free agency until 2026. That’s a lot of value in two young starters, but do the Indians have to trade them?

Now look what they did was wrong and they got very luckily that neither of them contracted Covid-19 while they where out especially Clevinger who endangered his entire team, but I’m not sure if this is an offense that  means banishment from the team. I can understand their teammates being upset with them and they should be, but there’s got to be a way to work this out without them being forced off the team.

Now if the Indians where to trade them; what would they be looking for? Don’t forget that Lindor only has one more year of arbitration before he becomes a free agent and there’s very little chance of him staying in Cleveland unless he’s willing to sign a contract they way under his value. Is it possible that Cleveland could use either Plesac or Clevinger to try and get their future shortstop? There are some shortstops ranked in the Top 10 major league prospects, but would their current teams be willing to deal them for a young starting pitcher; it’s difficult to say. It’s possible that the Indians might want young pitchers who are still in the minors for their major league young pitchers and it also might be that Cleveland could be looking for a cornerstone type of outfielder since they haven’t had much luck with their own outfield prospects.

Now only time will tell which way the Indians go with this situation, but it might be sooner than you think. I believe that since Plesac and Clevinger where on the 40 man roster they can only spend a maximum of 10 days at the alternative training site; so we might get a answer as soon as next week.

I definitely need your opinion on this one. How do you feel about what Plesac and Clevinger did? Then what do you think the Indians should do? Do you think they should trade them? Or do you think they should let them stay with the team and try to regain their teammates trust? Now if you think they should be given a second chance by the Indians; do you think this affects the way the team plays? I’m also wondering if you think that other players have done something similar to this and gotten away with it?

I do know if I was many of the rebuilding team in MLB I’d be in contact with the Indians very quickly to find out if we could work out a deal. A pair of starters like Plesac and Clevinger could really speed up a teams rebuilding process.

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