Cleveland Indians Roundup: Terry Francona Comfortable with Outfield; Position Player Power Ranking; How Well Will Brantley Return?

How well will the Cleveland Indians’ Michael Brantley play in 2016?

With Spring Training almost here, Henry Palatella ranks all the position players on the Cleveland Indians’ 40-man roster. Where will your favorites players fall on this list? Read the article to find out.

In other news, Merritt Rohlfing of Let’s Go Tribe writes about the three different ways to view Michael Brantley’s return: optimistic, pessimistic, and realistic. As he notes, there is still a chance that he returns pain-free and smashes balls 2014-style. Additionally, he could return as a simply average player. After all, he spent his first few years in the majors as the most average player one could imagine.

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It seems likely that Brantley falls somewhere in the middle. Shoulder surgery is no joke, and even playing extra hard cannot change that fact. Brantley’s performance seems probable to fall in line with the aggregate FanGraphs Fans projection, which calls for a slight regression from last season. The 17 fans have Brantley playing 108 games with a weighted runs created plus (wRC+), which measures offensive output as a percentage of league average, of 124.

Finally, Terry Francona says that he is comfortable with the Cleveland Indians’ outfield options as they currently stand, writes Zack Meisel of Cleveland.com. Francona said that he does not feel the need for the front office to find external candidates for the outfield. Instead he favors a competition among the many in-house options to fill the voids. He does not, however, believe that Clint Frazier or Bradley Zimmer should make the team, as they are not ready for big-league action.

More from around the American League Central:

Cleveland Indians: Power Ranking the Position Players – Wahoo’s on First

Cleveland Indians: Three ways to view Michael Brantley’s return in 2016 – Let’s Go Tribe

Terry Francona comfortable with the Cleveland Indians’ in-house outfield options – Cleveland.com