Indians Roster Needs Small Makeover

The Indians are coming off a terrible series is San Francisco. I should rephrase that, the Indians offense and defense are coming off of a terrible series. The pitching was phenomenal, as even Fausto had a good outing.

Just on Sunday, the hitters were struck out a combined 16 times against Madison Bumgarner and Jeremy Affeldt. Bumgarner was coming off of a start against the Twins in which he could only get one out in the first inning before he was taken out of the game. Everyone in the starting lineup, besided Orlando Cabrera, struck out at least once, with Shelley Duncan leading the team with 4.

Just from watching this series, it is clear that there are some players on the roster that do not belong there. The obvious two that first come to mind are Adam Everett and Austin Kearns. They are good veteran leaders to have on a young team, but they are not capable of helping this ballclub. They are a combined 19-153 on the year with 3 RBI. They also have a combined 48 strikeouts.

With the current roster, and the possibilities, there is no reason to have these two on the team. Everett plays third base, but we already have Hannahan and even Orlando Cabrera who could play there. Instead of bringing in Everett when Hannahan gets a day off, it would just be better to start Phelps at second and put O-Cab at third.

A much more exciting possibility is to call up Lonnie Chisenhall. He could be in a similar situation to what Cord Phelps was in, and eventually take over the position at third. Hannahan is a great defensive player, but his offense is too poor to help the Indians try and contend.

With Kearns, there is an easier solution. The Choo injury opened up some possible playing time for Kearns, but he has not earned it. The other solutions to this problem include Travis Buck, Shelley Duncan, or even Ezequiel Carrera. Buck would be the best option for now, even though he has been struggling at the plate as of late. Duncan appears to be more of a backup and pinch hit specialist, but I would rather have him on the bench than Kearns or Everett.

The addition of Carrera would make sense, even if he served as a backup to Buck. He is a young player with a ton of upside, and is surely better at the plate than Austin Kearns.

As the All-Star break nears, so does the trade deadline. It might not take that long to see some players get released, or even some called up from the minors. Whatever must be done needs to happen soon, before the Indians fall out of contention in the Central.